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Bahá'í Chronology: 1983-09-03
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1983-09-03
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| 1983 3 Sep |
In response to the Iranian authorities banning all Bahá'í administrative and community activities and the making of membership in a Bahá'í assembly a criminal offence, as their last act the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran sent an open letter to the Prosecutor General of the Islamic Revolution refuting the false charges made against the Bahá’ís and informing him of their willingness to obey the government and disband the Bahá'í administration. [BW19:43]
In this letter, which was delivered to some 2,000 government officials and prominent persons, the National Spiritual Assembly called
on the authorities to end the persecution, arrest, torture, and imprisonment of Bahá’ís “for imaginary crimes and on baseless pretexts,
because God knows—and so do the authorities—that the only ‘crime’ of which these innocent ones are guilty is that of their
beliefs... .” Emphasizing the implausibility of the espionage allegations, the letter asked: “What kind of spy is an 85-year-old man
from Yazd who has never set foot outside his village? … How could students, housewives, innocent young girls, and old men and
women… be spies? How could [village farmers] be spies? What secret intelligence documents have been found in their
possession? What espionage equipment has come to hand? What ‘spying’ activities were engaged in by the primary school
children who have been expelled from their schools?” The letter further emphasized that “spying is an element of politics, while
noninterference in politics is an established principle of the Bahá’í faith.” Responding to the accusation that Bahá’ís had been
“hoarding” spare automobile parts, the National Spiritual Assembly objected: “[i]f the Prosecutor chooses to label the Bahá’í administration as a network
of espionage, let him at least consider it intelligent enough not to plan the overthrow of such a strong regime by hoarding a few
spare parts!” The letter also drew attention to the fact that while Muslims were praised for sending money abroad (e.g. to Iraq
and Jerusalem) for the upkeep of religious shrines, when a Bahá’í did the same, it was considered “an unforgivable sin and…
proof that he has done so in order to strengthen other countries [particularly Israel].” [A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran]
In a gesture of good will and in accordance with their law of obedience to the government the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Iran and all local assemblies were dissolved. In its place, they formed groups of three persons in cities and villages called Khadimeen (“Servants”), and on the national level named the Yaran-e Iran to address the immediate needs of the community such as births, marriages, divorces, burial ceremonies and other services. [BW19:62]
Since the 1920s when the Bahá'í administration was introduced in Iran they had made considerable progress.
1950 Local Spiritual Assemblies: 280 Localities: 712
1968 Local Spiritual Assemblies: 560 Localities: 1,541
1979 Local Spiritual Assemblies: 679 Localities: 1,699 [BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
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National Spiritual Assembly, Iran; Persecution, Iran; Persecution; National Spiritual Assembly, dissolved; Local Spiritual Assembly, dissolved; Yaran; Khadimeen; Statistics |
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