Yalla Bye-Bye, Ya Baha'i

Not content to arrest peaceful demonstrators, jail leading opposition figures for years on trumped-up charges, or have plainclothes security officers photographed kicking defenseless civilians in the streets, the Egyptian regime has pulled another doozy: denying the Baha'i religion exists.

We've been following the plight of Baha'is in the Middle East for a while now, though primarily in Iran - where 100,000+ Baha'is are not only outlawed but face a range of official persecution (and a covert yet official policy of ethnic cleansing). The problem is that Baha'is follow a prophet who came after Muhammad, thus breaking the glass ceiling that allows for "tolerated" dhimmi religious minorities. That sticky fact has created problems for Baha'is across the region. (One random example: Baha'is are not legally recognized in Tunisia.)

While Egypt apparently has only 2,000 Baha'i citizens, they have now become a political hot potato. (Read a quick overview of Baha'is in Egypt over the past 150 years.) A Baha'i couple recently wrote "Baha'i" in the "religion" section of a government form - and promptly had their IDs confiscated. Egypt does not recognize Baha'is, and so the case has gone to court. Unsurprisingly, the Muslim Brotherhood and other hotheads have weighed in on the infidel-ity of the Baha'i. And now Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court has ruled against the Baha'i family.

But Kudos to the Egpytian Initiative for Personal Rights - which has boldly defended individual religious freedom despite the odds and helped represent the Baha'is in court. EIPR describes a nasty scene there:

Lawyers and other individuals seated in the courthouse interrupted and heckled defense counsel  each time they tried to address the court and yelled insults at them, calling them “infidels” and  threatening them with physical violence during the hearing. Unable to impose  order in the courtroom, the Court briefly adjourned the hearing before resuming the proceedings in camera.  When the hearing was adjourned, courthouse security officers refused to protect lawyers who were surrounded by members of the crowd, verbally threatened, pushed, shoved and not allowed to walk away from the area.

Sounds like the good ol' days in the American South, when African-Americans seeking basic legal rights not only lost rigged court cases but had to face a hostile mob. Today, in 2006, the treatment of Baha'i in Egypt - and in states across the Middle East - is a litmus test of civil rights repression. Hopefully the court ruling can be reversed and a glimmer of light can at last shine on one of the region's proud indigenous religions.

UPDATE: Here is a moving appeal by the Baha'i community:

- We cannot move securely in Egypt, our dear nation.
- We cannot document our marital contracts.
- We cannot obtain birth certificates for our children. Obtaining death certificates has also become a problem.
- We cannot get passports.
- We cannot deal with banks.
- We cannot deal with traffic departments.
- We cannot put our children in schools and universities.
- Our sons cannot clear their position with regards to military conscription
- We cannot get medical care in hospitals.
- Our widows cannot get pensions.
- We cannot buy, sell or even own …

We the Bahais are committed to the law regardless of the fact that administrative authorities reject us and force us to deny our creed."

Comments

[Hissam]

What's sad is that whether the Baha'i Faith is a divine religion or not, the problem remains that these are citizens born and raised in Egypt, yet they are left without ID or other official papers, and their lives are affected very adversly because of that. Their haters say that allowing them to write Baha'i in the religion field is tantamount to recognizing their religion. So what's the solution? Why should there be a religion field to start with, or why don't they change the word to say creed, or belief? The interesting thing is that in the Qur'an itself, in one of the verses in which the unbeleivers are addressed, the word used to describe their beleif system is still the word "religion" ... : "I worship not what ye worship, neither do ye worship what I worship, to you your RELIGION and to me mine own" .

[Hindawi]

The Egyptian Baha’is, aside from needing official documents without them they are unable to function normally in society, love their country. Many of the closed-minded attackers and persecutors of that community forget that fact. The individuals of that community marked with unjust and unfounded accusations truly love their homeland. They were born there, they live there and many of them will eventually die there. That created an unbreakable and an intimate bond between them and their Egypt.

I am truly grateful to the balanced view that you maintained on this Blog. Please continue your good work.

Also, allow me to invite you to visit my Blog at http://truthexaminer.blogspot.com.

Thanks again,
Hindawi

[kholoud rushdy]

i am an Egyptian Bahai. i love my country , i love being an Egyptian and i am proud of it.And just like how proud i am to be an Egyptian, i am also very proud to be a Bahai and wouldnot never change who i am. i ask the readers to broaden their mind, seek the truth and not let comments influence their judjments. seek the truth from your own reading. to find out more about the bahai faith please visit:www.bahai.org. and you will find all the information you need. this is the official bahai web-site.

thank you

[jo dholah]

"Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same..." -- Bahá'u'lláh

There is only one God, the Creator of the Universe. Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers--each of whom has founded a great religion. The Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.
This succession of divine Teachers reflects a single historic "plan of God" for educating humanity about the Creator and for cultivating the spiritual, intellectual and moral capacities of the race. The goal has been to prepare the way for a single, global and ever-advancing civilization. Knowledge of God's will for humanity in the modern age was revealed just over 100 years ago by Bahá'u'lláh, who is the latest of these divine Messengers
That is the essence of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings about God, religion and humanity. Bahá'ís often express these beliefs simply by speaking of the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, and the oneness of humankind. Unity is at all times the overarching theme of Bahá'í belief; in theological terms, it manifests itself in the understanding that the sole Creator has a single plan for the one humanity.
Coupled with these ideas is an understanding that human nature is fundamentally spiritual. Although human beings exist on earth in physical bodies, the essential identity of each person is defined by an invisible, rational, and everlasting soul.
please visit the official web site www.bahai.org

jo and syl from MAURITIUS

[Mr. Brightside]

The religion is a reminder of the western colonialist divide and conquer strategies. It was created and founded by the british to cause unrest in Iran. They should be as recognized as The Branch Davidians in the US or any other wacko cult for that matter. I dont believe they should be beaten in the streets, they can pray to their bahai god anyway they want, because in the end, it doesnt matter where or how u pray, just as long as u think god is listening..

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The religion is a reminder of the western colonialist divide and conquer strategies. It was created and founded by the british to cause unrest in Iran. They should be as recognized as The Branch Davidians in the US or any other wacko cult for that matter. I dont believe they should be beaten in the streets, they can pray to their bahai god anyway they want, because in the end, it doesnt matter where or how u pray, just as long as u think god is listening..

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