“If I were a Baha’i”

Egypt is a wonderful country. Its people are hospitable, rich in history and are blessed with many wonderful talents, laureates, and notable figures that have brought a positive impact to the world.

Unfortunately, in the past few years it has faced many difficulties. Egypt went through a difficult period of history where injustice, prejudice, war, intolerance and poverty were prevalent. Among those suffering from such calamities are the Baha’is in Egypt. An example includes how Baha’is were not provided with the Egyptian national ID because of their Faith. The IDs are similar to the Social Security system in the United States, which is essential for its citizens to register their children to go to schools, getting medication, and having access to government benefits.

There has been progress in Egypt for the Baha’is; however, it marks a small step to the many steps needed to bring forth true justice. Recently, news circulated that Egypt’s Minister of Education publicly announced that the Baha’is will not have access to education in Egypt. In addition to Baha’is, members of the Coptic community are fleeing the violence, and women are facing the challenge of defending themselves from being sexually abused due to lack of security. Egypt has to strive to seek justice; a justice that is all-encompassing.

What lead me to write about the Baha’is in Egypt? My father forwarded me an email that caught my attention, and I decided to share its content here. To give a brief background, a prominent Egyptian intellectual and author, Dr. Tarek Heggy published an article in Arabic that was first noted to be posted in “Civic Egypt” website, and titled “If I Were A Baha’i”. The article covers the tribulations the Baha’is faced; placing himself in the shoes of those who face such hardship and express their wishes. The following is the English translation of the article I linked above, and various translations are available online, too:

If I were Bahá’í: I would have brought to the attention of all the great personalities and the intellectuals of the world the respect and regard with which their peers in Egypt received ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Son of Bahá’u’lláh) during His visit to this country in the early 20th. Century, and with what filth and disregard today’s pretentious personalities and false intellectuals of Egypt smear the fair name of Bahá’í and the Bahá’ís.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the Al-Azhar Establishment and say to its honourable Ulamá: How could you decide today that Bahá’í is not a religion when the Superior Shar’ia Tribunal of Beba/Souhag ruled in 1925 that “Bahá’í is an independent religion.”

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the Al-Azhar Establishment which with all the mosques, mesdjids and kettab schools at their disposal in Egypt, have found it necessary to disown the Bahá’í Community of their main Centre building to use it for a Qur’ánic school.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the subject of the imprisonment of some 92 Bahá’ís–men and women–aged between 2 and 80 years. They were arrested between midnight and dawn from all over Egypt and transferred to jail in Tanta; then falsely accused of treason, misconduct and espionage, far and wide in the media, for no other reason than because they are Bahá’í.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Justice in the world on the frequent arrest of Bahá’ís, men and women, their incarceration in jail for days, weeks or months for interrogation. The courts have never found them guilty of neither crime nor fault, but they were Bahá’í.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Art in the west and in the east, to the case of one of the greatest and most admired artists of Egypt, Hussein Bikar, who was arrested in his home and driven to jail with other renowned Bahá’ís for days of interrogation regarding his and their Bahá’í Faith.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the concourse of Art in the west and in the east, and would say to them: Hussein Bikar, one of the greatest and most admired Artists of Egypt had no Identity card at his death at almost 90 years of age. The Egyptian Authorities refused to issue one with “Bahá’í” mentioned in the space for religion.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: imagine that in Egypt of the 21st. Century, individual Identity Cards have to include the binding indication of the religion of the individual?

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: imagine that in Egypt of the 21st. Century, individual Identity Cards must include the binding indication of one of only three religions notwithstanding the individual’s wish or faith?

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and said to them: in Egypt of the 21st. Century, the sons and daughters of Bahá’ís are issued individual Identity Cards with a dash (–) for religion while their parents are refused identity cards: WHY? Because the Egyptian State does not recognize Bahá’í marriage! O people of the world: come and take stock of administrative excellence!

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness all the Ministers of Education of the world and informed them that: the Minister of Education of Egypt has declared that he will refuse admittance of children–yes children of Bahá’ís to the government schools because the children are Bahá’í!

If I were Bahá’í: I would have informed the world that the new Egyptian Constitution contains the necessary elements for the elimination of the Bahá’í minority in Egypt.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have informed the world that burning the homes of Bahá’ís takes place with impunity in Egypt.

If I were Bahá’í: I would have taken for witness the world Organizations of Mass Media, of Law and Justice and of Human Rights, government and non-government alike, and informed them that in Egypt, inciting to kill Bahá’ís, through TV and speeches is normal and is done with impunity!

In spite of all this:

If I were Bahá’í: I would have said to those in authority in Egypt: I am loyal to my country, I love my country, I strive for the success and progress of my country and I consider the children of my neighbors as my children without consideration of religion or creed. How wonderful would Egypt be were you, who are in authority, to follow in this same path.

The Courage of Malala Yousafzai

Who is Malala Yousafzai?

Malala Yousafza, born 1998, is an eighth-grade Pashtun student from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, known for being a children’s rights activist. Her little town was dominated and controlled by the local Taliban, whom they’ve shut down local school for girls in her area. During those periods, young Malala, under the pseudonym “Gul Makai”, shared with BBC Urdu of the experience of her little town under the order of the Taliban.

Due to her courage and advocacy for the rights of Children and Education, The international children’s advocacy group KidsRights Foundation included Yousafzai among the nominees for the International Children’s Peace Prize, making her the first Pakistani girl nominated for the award. South African Nobel laureate Desmund Tutu announced the nominations during a 2011 ceremony in Amsterdam, Holland, but Yousafzai did not win the prize.

Today, Malala was shot in the head while she was heading to school by a Taliban Militant. Different stories recount that she was waiting for the school bus to arrive as the gunman was searching for her. Fortunately, her injury was not severe, and by the decree of the Pakistani government, she was transfered to a better hospital to be hospitalized and receive care. In addition, security measures were put in place to protect her against the Taliban, as they waged their threat towards her.

Significance of her Work

“Education is the fundamental right for every child” – Malala Yousafzai

After the closing of the schools in her town, through the help of a local BBC journalist, she blogged about the condition of her classmates and her fellow residents under the military operation of the Taliban. The blogs were published on BBC Urdu, shedding light to the reality and horrors of the rule under the Taliban regime. Given her courage and strength, she was nominated for multiple Peace Awards, one of which she was awarded within Pakistan.

What is amazing for me is the fact that a 14 year old has taken the initiative to rise against the outrageous and venomous conditions of her community. And after the removal of the Taliban rule in Pakistan, she returned to her school and resumed her advocacy publicly.

These are stories of true courage, this is the story of Malala Yousafzai

Media
BBC Report
Interview with BBC (November 2011)

Women and the World

In the teachings of the Baha’i Faith, women are considered as important elements in our society that promote education, spiritual and ethical values, and instruments that direct their energies in social growth and prosperity. Unfortunately, there exists many inequalities against women in both the East and the West. For example, in the current global economy, institutions and organizations hold the view that women are not “rational” for decision processes since they believe they are emotionally motivated and that women base their judgement on impulsive motives (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Thesis by Roslin Growe and Paula Montgomery – Women and the Leadership Paradigm: Bridging the Gender Gap). Other stereotypes include that women are not “educated” enough to be leading workers in an organization. Unfortunately, such prejudices lead to women being discouraged from attaining higher goals, or values, in their lives. According to the 2007 Census for the United States, from the 210,019 individuals who participated, woman are 50.1% of the working industry. However, the mean, or average, income of women is 62% of the mean income of working males in the industry.

Even though there are global forces that are working in narrowing the gap between male and females, certain cultural elements in our society and even media pressures them through the negative stereotype that is amplified in our economic system. What’s even more disheartening is that the effect of such stereotypes and mental framework are directly effecting the performance of women, too. In the book Predictably Irrational – The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions, Dan Ariely discusses the influence of our environment in our decision making through series of experiments conducted by scientists, behavioral economists and psychologists. In chapter 9, “The Effect of Expectations – Why the Mind Gets What It Expects,” Ariely describes an experiment testing Asian American and women stereotypes, he states:

“Research on stereotypes shows not only that we react differently when we have a stereotype of a certain group of people, but also that stereotyped people themselves react differently when they are aware of the label that hey are forced to wear (in psychological parlance, they are “primed” with this label). One stereotype of Asian-Americans, for instance, is that they are especially gifted in mathematics and science. A common stereotype of females is that they are weak in mathematics. This means that Asian-American women could be influenced by both notions…Those who had been reminded that they were women performed worse than those who had been reminded that they were Asian-American. These results show that even our own behavior can be influenced by our stereotypes, and that activation of stereotypes can depend on our current state of mind and how we view ourselves a the moment.”

In my opinion, it is a shame that such prejudice holds in our community when in fact women are the first educators of the child.

The question to now ask are:

What is the role of women in the society?

What purpose do their role play?

And how can we eliminate these prejudices from our community?

To help you answer these questions, I have gathered some beautiful quotes from Baha’i Writings, Philosophers and other renowned figures. I believe that these quotes are universal, and are suitable for this current time and age for our society to diagnose this prejudice and heal the wounds and the suffrage that women felt. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

Women, Education and Abolition of War:

“…imbued with the same virtues as man, rising through all the degrees of human attainment, women will become the peers of men, and until this equality is established, true progress and attainment for the human race will not be facilitated.

The evident reasons underlying this are as follows: Woman by nature is opposed to war; she is an advocate of peace. Children are reared and brought up by the mothers who give them the first principles of education and labor assiduously in their behalf. Consider, for instance, a mother who has tenderly reared a son for twenty years to the age of maturity. Surely she will not consent to having that son torn asunder and killed in the field of battle. Therefore, as woman advances toward the degree of man in power and privilege, with the right of vote and control in human government, most assuredly war will cease; for woman is naturally the most devoted and staunch advocate of international peace.”

– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá During His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, p. 375

First Educators of Mankind:

“The duty of women in being the first educators of mankind is clearly set forth the Writings. It is for every woman, if and when she becomes a mother, determine how best she can discharge on the one hand her chief responsibility a mother and on the other, to the extent possible, to participate in other aspect of the activities of the society of which she forms a part.”

– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Lights of Guidance, p. 619

Women should devote their energies to Sciences:

“Woman must especially devote her energies and abilities toward the industrial and agricultural sciences, seeking to assist mankind in that which is most needful. By this means she will demonstrate capability and ensure recognition of equality in the social and economic equation.”

– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá During His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, p. 238

Liberation of Women can be achieved through equality:

“To be liberated, woman must feel free to be herself, not in rivalry to man but in the context of her own capacity and her personality.”

– Indira Gandhi, Selected Speeches and Writings of Indira Gandhi, September 1972 – March 1977

Being a mother and an instrument in the transformation of society:

“In my memoir, I wanted to introduce American women to Iranian women and our lives. I’m not from the highest echelons of society, nor the lowest. I’m a women who is a lawyer, who is a professor at a university, who won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the same time, I cook. And even when I’m about to go to prison, one of the first things I do is to make enough food and put it in the fridge for my family.”

– Shirin Ebadi, from 2006 interview by New America Media editor Brian Shott (translator, Banafsheh Keynoush) about her newly released book, Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope

Education can unleash the potential of women:

“The woman who is forbidden to educate herself save in the duties of the servant, or is limited in her educational pursuits is indeed a slave, because her natural instincts and God-given talents are subordinated in deference to her condition, which is tantamount to moral enslavement.”

– Qasim Amin, Al-Marat Al Jadidah

Education can reveal the treasure of our capacities:

“Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.”

– Baha’u’llah, Tablet of Maqṣúd