Clarion call to Iranian Baha’i students

The Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of the Baha’i community, has recently written the most beautiful and challenging letter to Iranian Baha’i students, who continue to be cruelly denied access to higher education by the Iranian government purely because they are Baha’is. The letter encourages these brave young Baha’is to respond with composure, perseverance, and a redoubled commitment to work towards the common good in Iran.

With an illumined conscience, with a world-embracing vision, with no partisan political agenda, and with due regard for law and order,strive for the regeneration of your country. By your deeds and services, attract the hearts of those around you, even win the esteem of your avowed enemies

It has become even more clear that the Iranian government is playing a double game as it puts its long-term plan to block the development of the Iranian Baha’i community into effect.

A major element of that plan has been to prevent Baha’i youth from obtaining higher education. More than half of the Baha’i students in university last year have been expelled for no reason other than their religion. Recently, the Baha’i International Community disclosed the existence of a confidential government memorandum instructing Iranian universities to expel any student who is discovered to be a Baha’i, refuting statements by Iranian officials who say Baha’i students face no discrimination.

So far this year, more than 800 of the 1,050 Baha’is who sat for entrance examinations have not received their test results, allegedly because their files are “incomplete,” even though Baha’is made every effort to comply with the application process. No explanation has been given to them as to how their applications were incomplete. Without the test results, the students have been unable to apply to university for the coming academic year.

“These official acts are disappointing and shameful,” wrote the Universal House of Justice. “This action of the government in obstructing youth, Baha’i or otherwise, from access to higher education stands in contrast to the noble history of Iran’s past attainments.”

The letter reminds the young Baha’is of the way their ancestors responded to persecution and challenges them to react positively to the challenges they are facing:

Recent events, however, “call to mind heart-rending episodes in the history of the Faith, of cruel deceptions wrought against your forebears,” the letter continued. “It is only appropriate that you strive to transcend the opposition against you with that same constructive resilience that characterized their response to the duplicity of their detractors.”

In that regard, the Universal House of Justice urged Iranian Baha’i youth to avoid any impulse to “rise against their oppressors,” “flee for refuge,” or “capitulate to their fate.”

The letter closes with this clarion call:

Service to others is the way. Let it be your watchword, ‘Abdu’l-Baha being your exemplar. Like Him, you can find practical ways of serving your fellow citizens. Strive to work hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, with your fellow citizens in your efforts to promote the common good.

This surely is the time for the gallantry of illumined souls. Very dear friends, we pray that you may be counted among this noble company.

I can’t help but compare this call to service and nobility with the way in which some other religious groups have embraced an ideology of victimhood and have lashed out violently against those they see as oppressors, whom they all too frequently define as being anyone who is not a member of the “victim” group. These young Iranian Baha’is are being exhorted not to be victims, but to use their sufferings as a springboard for action to make Iran a better place.

You can read about this letter on the Baha’i World News Service.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, persecution, human rights, religious freedom, education, service, nobility

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