From: minhaszt@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Reply to  Bahaies  gang
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:44:31 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

In article <1992Apr8.143550.14138@rdg.dec.com>, hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim) writes:
> 
> In article <ku171rINNoip@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, smortaz@handel.Eng.Sun.COM 
> (Shahrokh Mortazavi) writes:
> 
> SM> observe what a warped image of other religions and prophets a typical
> SM> kid growing up in iran can develop.  _especially_ toward bahaayees.
> 
> In article <1992Apr6.214428.1050@ucbeh.san.uc.edu>, minhaszt@ucbeh.san.uc.edu 
> you write:
> 
> Z>it is very saddening the treatment the baha'is
> Z>have been receiving at the hands of the geovernment. any bahais on the net, i
> Z>as a muslim apologize for what other muslims have done, 
> 
> Zafar I appreciate your concern. No need to apologize. You are not responsible
> for the collective evil which has been done to the Baha'is. What is done 
> is done. The challenge for the individual Iranian citizen, on a personal 
> level, is perhaps to identify why Baha'is were persecuted, and what can 
> be done to PREVENT such a thing from happening in the future! Implications 
> of such a PERSONAL undertaking is far-reaching and will positively affect 
> our relationship toward all those who may be different from us by the virtue 
> of ethnic, religious, class, language, wealth, etc...
> 
> Z>....it is a violation of
> Z>the teachings of islam, it should be made clear.
> 
> I am confused about this statement in light of the following paragraph:
> 
> Z>if there are muslims who try to uplift islam by putting down the prophets, then
> Z>they are doing a terrible job because all of the prophets are prophets of islam
> 					^^^	   ^^^^^^^^^^^^	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^	
> Z>from adam all the way down to mohammad. by insulting the prophets one is for
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Z>all practical purposes trying to put down islam.
> 
> I am quite sure that you are sincere about the fate of the Iranian Baha'is.
> However, I'd like to point out that what you are suggesting above is the 
> ENGINE which has historically powered the Muslim prejudice against Baha'is.
> 
> Beliefs are an integral factor in the formulation of one's mentality and 
> attitude. The BELIEF of: "all of the prophets are prophets of islam from 
> ADAM all the way down to MOHAMMAD.", may be a reasonable safeguard for
> granting certain rights to Jews and Christians. However, it COVERTLY equates
> a Baha'i with a KAfar in the mind of a Muslim believer (thus the formation
> of a harmful MENTALITY), since, neither The Bab, nor Baha'u'llah fall under 
> this theological umbrella. From this point onward the issue for a faithful 
> Muslim is no more "being morally concerned about the rights of a Baha'i in 
> a Muslim society". His ultimate task and moral responsibility becomes "what 
> is my religious duty in dealing properly and effectively with a KAfar".


The ultimate duty for dealing with Kafirs is that they are to be protected and
that their rights shall always be safeguarded. The status of Dhimmi is an
abbreviation for Dhimmatullah, protected by God. Mohammad said that "...anyone 
who harms a dhimmi harms me and anyone who protects a dhimmi protects me."
Therefore it is out of the question to do any sort of harm to any non-muslims
whether they are ahl-e-kitab or not because it would be a violation of the
islamic principles. Those secular so-called scholars of islam on this net who
might think that though the above statement might be well and good, but does
not answer the doctrine of islam as a whole of the question as to how to deal
with kuffar, the kuffar in any of the muslim empires have historically been
dealt with better treatment than non-beleivers in empires that espouse other
ideologies, like secularism. though this might not answer the question as to
what is going on in iran, one has to understand that whatever the government is
not necessarily in line with the teachings of islam. in countries like
indonesia and malaysia, there is little or no discrimination against the hindu
countrymen. this is because of the islamic ideal of fairness and justice to
all.


> Such a mentality translates to "prejudice" and "abuse" displayed, on a
> social level by the believer, and "punishment" (loss of jobs, property and 
> life) displayed, on a judicial level by the religious leaders. I do not
> think that it is necessary to remind you of the examples of these in Iran.


I understand, however, like I said above, whatever the iranian government does
can not always be equated with islam.

> 
> The reason I have mentioned this here is to point out that acknowledging
> the symptoms, ALONE, will not remove the ROOT CAUSE of religious prejudice 
> in our country. Further steps must be taken by the individuals to identify
> the root cause and effectively deal with it.


The root cause of this is unquestionably ignorance of the religion. if the
government of Iran was as Islamic as it portrayed itself to be, it would not be
abusing minority religions. if the people in the country were as musim as they
claim to be, they would not be so harsh in their treatment of people who go out
of line sometimes.

> 
> Please understand that no disrespect is intended here toward you. I am 
> simply attempting to highlight an issue of social concern as honestly 
> and directly as possible.
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
> Kamran Hakim

Thank you for yor thoughts

peace be with  you

zafar

Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian