From: CCMAHTAJ@mizzou1.missouri.edu
Subject: Re: Some more info on Baha'is
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 14:46:11 CDT

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 08:59:15 CDT
Organization: University of Missouri
 
 
In article <1992Jul26.003358.1573@ucbeh.san.uc.edu> on
26 Jul 92 00:33:58 EST you write:
 
>
>In article <1682E8B81.CCMAHTAJ@mizzou1.missouri.edu>, CCMAHTAJ@mizzou1.missouri.edu writes:
>> In article <1992Jul23.173605.1974@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
>> minhaszt@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Zafar T Minhas) writes:
>>
>>>
>>>  Some stuff deleted
>>>
>>>Another aspect of the telling of whether a person is a true prophet or not
>>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>is by the action of his followers. It seems that among the 4 groups that I am
>>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>talking about, Baha'is are no better and no worse than anyone else. I have not
>>>seen anything special about Bahais, if I wanted to be strict, I thin k the
>>>nation of Islam are the best followers of their religion. They pray 5 times a
>>>day. They fast more consistently than people of other religions do (even
>>>regular Muslims) they are more strict in abstaining from alcohol than regular
>>>Muslims and even eating pork. They are healthier because their youth are forced
>>>to exercise and abstain from smoking and their standards of morality are
>>>higher. They are actively involved in fighting the problem of drugs in this
>>>country. Their are bad apples in every group but I have never seen a group with
>>>fresher apples. "By their fruits ye shall know them..."
>>                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>
>>>In essence I have not seen anything in Bahai that would distinguish  itself as a
>>>true religion, the more I read the more I am ambivalent about it.
>>>
>>>sincerely
>>>
>>>zafar minhas
>>
>> Dear Mr. Minhas,
>>
>> Would I be correct to conclude, from the two underlined sentences in the
>> above paragraph, that "ye shall know the religion of islam from the
>> actions of its followers" ? If so, then I would like to know, on a large
>> scale, who you consider the followers of islam in today's world.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Mahtaj Khamneian
>
>dear mr. khamneian,
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Hmmm... it sounds masculine, but I like to stick to Mrs. :-).
Dear Mr.(I hope) Minhas, thank you for responding to my post.
 
 
 
>
>you would not be correct in that conclusion. one can not and should not judge
>any ideology from the action of the ones who follow it or try to follow it
>because people are not perfect and will always have faults. even the best
 
I agree completely. But it seems that you are willing to apply this
principle only to certain ideologies and not all of them. In the above
paragraph, you start by writing that true prophets are known by the
actions of their followers and that among the four groups you mentioned
"Baha'is are no better and no worse than anyone else", then you go on
explaining why you think that nation of Islam are the best followers
of their religion. You close your paragraph by quoting "By their
fruits ye shall know them...". I assume that, unlike Mr. Sadeghi who
believes its correctness has to be checked by moslem sources, you
believe in the integrity of the above verse (or else, you would not
use it to support your view). Recently, I have been contemplating on
the meaning of this expression, in and outside the context of religion.
When I saw your post, I thought you had an insight to offer into the
meaning of this verse from the Bible. My understanding from your
writing was that assuming the tree represents ANY ideology, one can
conceive its fruits being the actions of its followers. Since you had
applied this measure to the four groups you had mentioned, I was
wondering if you would also apply it to our religion of Islam. Please
let me know if I have misunderstood your post. Also, since my conclusion
was based on what you wrote in the above paragraph, I was hoping in your
response you would make references to it (i.e. your paragraph) and
the reason(s) for quoting that verse.
 
On the actions of the Baha'is I like to offer my own experiences as
a Moslem dealing with Baha'is in different capacities both inside and
outside of Iran. I have found them open-minded and peaceful people with
high moral standards who practice what they preach. I find their
courteous conduct on SCI yet another indication of their tolerant
mentality. Please note that the above is a general characterization     d
based on my own experiences with Baha'is and I am well aware of the fact
that there are bad apples everywhere.
 
I like to add that I have enjoyed the recent exchange of thoughts on
the subject of Baha'i faith. I consider the efforts of both groups in
this discussion neither preaching nor propaganda ( I trust their
judgement not to underestimate the intelligence of SCI readers)
I want to thank our Baha'i friends (specially Mr. Hakim) and Mr. Behnam
Sadeghi for sharing their knowledge and beliefs. Furthermore, I find
SCI an appropriate forum for discussing this subject. Baha'i faith
was born in Iran and it is a part of iranian culture.
 
 
>
>tried to answer your question as best as i could.
>
 
I appreciate the effort.
 
 
>sincerely
>your friendly neighborhood zafar
 
Sincerely,
Mahtaj Khamneian