The Funk family, Sharaf (left) and Mahnaz, along with their children Jinan, 14, Shahd, 11, and Bahhaj, 8, are concerned about a relative who is in an Iranian prison. She is pictured at the far right in the photo that Bahhaj is holding.

Denial of an education, of jobs, of passports for emigration.

That scenario of religious repression in present-day Iran should sound familiar to the Christian-based West.

And the recent trial and 20-year sentences meted out to seven Baha’is in Iran is just the latest outrage against humanity in a country where the first declaration of human rights was made more than a thousand years ago.

Mahnaz Funk, a member of the Baha’i community in Chilliwack, says she knows “very well how unjust the Iranian government is to Baha’is” as her own aunt was jailed for no reason, he father denied the right to work, and her friends denied the right to go to school because of their faith.

Now she consoles her cousin Hedieh Abbasi, whose aunt [Mrs. Mahvash Sabet – arrested in Mashhad on 5 March 2008] is imprisoned with six other elderly Baha’i.

“She was arrested just because of being Baha’i,” Abbasi said in a telephone interview Thursday from Seattle.

“I’m not sure how we can help her – we’re all the way on the other side of the world,” she said.

“But I think if we talk loud about it, make them more aware that what they do is not how they should deal with human beings,” she added, “maybe it will make them more aware the whole world is not happy with what they do and they might stop.”

Chilliwack, British Columbia

She urged Chilliwack residents to email their local MP – or the Iranian government directly – and make their views known.

They would not be alone.

In June, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called on Iran to “cease persecuting” the Baha’i community. [also see Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/6338]

“Iran’s continued, blatant disregard for the rights of its citizens must end,” he said.

The governments of the United States, Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have also condemned the harsh 20-year sentences.

But such treatment is “nothing new” to Baha’is living in Iran, Funk said, as the government has tried to “systematically” rid the country of the troublesome faith.

“There is no priest or mullah or head of the (Baha’i) faith who interprets the writings of Baha’u’llah on our behalf,” explains Sharaf, Funk’s California-born husband.

Each Baha’i is expected to search out the Truth for themselves, and to accept all religions, an idea which did not sit well with the revolutionary plans of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 to create an Islamic nation.

Thousands of Baha’i were put to death by the revolution’s leaders “to protect their own power,” Mahnaz said.

“We want the people of the world to know who are Baha’i, to conduct an independent investigation of the Truth for themselves,” she said.

“At least they will know who we are.”

A public prayer meeting is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Chilliwack library.

rfreeman@theprogress.com
—
Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/theprogress/news/102627179.html

Download: Prayer by Fariba Kamalabadi (MP3 – 2.2 MB)

Iran Press Watch is pleased to offer the following provisional translation of this moving supplication as means of remembering all those who suffer at the hand of injustice, cruelty and repression.  

He is God!

O God, Thy sincere servants are afflicted by the malice and cruelty of such as oppose Thee: do Thou deliver them!

The beloved of that Resplendent Beauty are as oppressed sheep in the claws of ignorant malicious wolves: do Thou release them!

The nightingales of Thy Garden of Sanctity are sobbing among the owls of deceit and treachery: be Thou their defender.

The fair-faced lovers of Thy Precious Cause are caught in the machinations of cruel and oppressive fiends: set them free!

Although calamity is the well-spring of bounty, yet the hearts of Thy kindred are more delicate than a breeze from the East. While the tyranny of enemies is the herald proclaiming this Most Great, this glorious Cause, yet the weakened and fainting Friends are being pierced by the ceaseless darts of a hostile people.

The servant of Thy threshold,

Shoghi.

[A biography of the Aminu'l-'Ulama is available in 'Azizu'llah Sulaymani, Masabih Hidayat, vol. 2, pp. 357-389, http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/authors/sulayman/masabih2/masabih2.htm.]

Persian Copy: Persian Original (PDF)

The friends of Mr. Dana have requested prayers from people of good will everywhere, so that the Almighty may continue to watch over all those who are incarcerated in Iran because of their religious beliefs.

Mr. Dana is an uncle of Sina Dana, whose expulsion from Tabriz University was reported by Iran Press Watch some time ago.

As more details become available, they will be immediately reported in these pages.

He is the All-Glorious!

O God, my God! Verily, Thou seest Thy servants acting with sincerity toward the whole of mankind, even the ill-disposed enemy. They are serving the entire human race with pure hearts and sanctified breasts and are exposed to grave danger. Darts are aimed at them, arrows directed towards them. Spears are pointed at them, swords drawn against them.

O Lord! They are victims of tyranny, at the mercy of the enemy. They are prisoners in the hands of blood-thirsty wolves and ravenous dogs from amongst the wicked. They have no refuge, no haven save the stronghold of Thine all-encompassing protection. Shelter them, O my Lord, with the eye of Thy loving-kindness neath the shadow of Thy shield and protection and guard them in the shelter of Thy care from the wicked-doers among Thy people. O Lord! They have no helper except Thee, no protector besides Thee.

Ordain, O my Lord, all manner of affliction for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Make me a target for the darts of men and protect Thy faithful servants from the wickedness of the ignoble. Grant that I may offer up my life for the whole body of Thy lovers so that my heart may find rest, my soul may be quieted, and my eyes may be solaced in the arena of supreme martyrdom. Verily, Thou art the All-Powerful, the Almighty, the Most Exalted.

O ye beloved of the Lord! Be calm and composed.

– ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’

Source:  http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/ab/MMA/mma-388.html#pg385

]]> http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/1245/feed 1 http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/942 http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/942#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:17:19 +0000 admin http://www.iranpresswatch.org/?p=942 Editor’s Note: Iran Press Watch is pleased to share an authentic prayer of Baha’u’llah in Arabic for protection and delivery of Baha’i prisoners. This prayer is accompanied by special instructions revealed by Baha’u’llah pertaining to its use. We also share a provisional translation of the same prayer.

Baha’u'llah instructs that believers must detach themselves and recite this prayer nine times.

He is, in truth, the Omnipotent, the Unconstrained! O Lord of Names and Fashioner of the Heavens!

Free Thy lovers from the prison of the enemy. Verily, Thou art the Sovereign Ordainer of Thine irrevocable decree. He who alone shineth resplendent on the horizon of creation. O Everlasting Root! By the life of the All-Glorious, deprive them not of hope, nay rather aid and assist them. Verily, Thou rulest as Thou pleasest and within Thy grasp lie the kingdoms of creation. The fangs of Thine enemies have been whetted, ready to bite into the flesh of Thy lovers.

Protect these companions, O Thou Who rulest over all humankind and art the Judge on the Day of Judgement.

Download: Original Prayer for Prisoners – Arabic (PDF)

Editor’s Note:  The Baha’i Faith holds Islam, and indeed all divine religions, in the highest esteem and considers them all to be “the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.”  Towards contributing to a more positive Islamic-Baha’i dialogue, Iran Press Watch is pleased to share a translation of the following prayer of Baha’u'llah contributed by one of our readers.

He is God – Exalted be He, the Lord of Majesty and Power!

I plead my grief and sorrow unto God, the Lord of all humankind. The affairs of men have been shaken, the nations have become perturbed and Islam has been weakened thereby. The enemies have afflicted it from all sides and it remains encompassed by them. Thus it behooveth the people of God to invoke Him in the morning and the night-season, to beseech Him to graciously aid the Muslims, one and all, to do that which is pleasing and seemly, to exalt them by His Command and through the power of His Sovereign Might, to make them aware of that which will exalt their stations, to change their abasement into might, their poverty into wealth, their destruction into advancement, their distress into peace of mind and their fear into security and tranquility.

Verily, He is the All-Merciful. There is none other God but Him, the Compassionate, All-Bountiful.

[Provisional translation of a prayer revealed by Baha’u’llah. The original Arabic of this prayer was published by the Baha’i International Community in a short compilation of Baha’i Writings on the station of the Prophet Muhammad. This compilation is available for download at the following site: http://reference.bahai.org/download/mra-ar-pdf.zip. The prayer is found on pp. 8-9.]