Sunday, March 30, 2008

Baha'i Faith in Egypt

Cairo's Baha'is Celebrate in a Park

Posted: 29 Mar 2008 02:30 PM CDT

In an unprecedented coverage, one of Egypt's major newspapers reported in its front page on some of the Baha'is of Cairo celebrating their new year in one of the city's parks.

Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, in its 27 March 2008 issue, published an article on the Baha'is celebrating the end of their annual fast and the advent of their new year on the 21st of March. The article was accompanied by a photograph of the group of families gathered in Maryland public park of Cairo.

The newspaper reported that the Baha'is were free to celebrate and that the celebration not interfered with by the state security. It also mentioned that during the celebration, called Naw Ruz, they read from their Holy Book, after which each family returns to its home and resume its usual devotions.

Baha'is in the Park (Cairo, 21 March)

The following paragraphs regarding the Baha'i Fast are quoted from the website of the Baha'i International Community:

As has been the case with other revealed religions, the Bahá'í Faith sees great value in the practice of fasting as a discipline for the soul . Bahá'u'lláh designated a nineteen-day period each year when adult Bahá'ís fast from sunrise to sunset each day. This period coincides with the Bahá'í month of Ala (meaning Loftiness), from March 2 to 20, inclusive. This is the month immediately preceding the Bahá'í new year, which occurs the day of the vernal equinox; and the period of fasting is therefore viewed as a time of spiritual preparation and regeneration for a new year's activities. Women who are nursing or pregnant, the aged, the sick, the traveler, those engaged in heavy labor, as well as children under the age of fifteen, are exempt from observance of the Fast.

"The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days starting as a rule from the second of March every year and ending on the twentieth of the same month, involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset. It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires."
Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man's thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God, and through this awakening and stimulation surely ideal advancements follow... Fasting is of two kinds, material and spiritual. The material fasting is abstaining from food or drink, that is, from the appetites of the body. But spiritual, ideal fasting is this, that man abstain from selfish passions, from negligence and from satanic animal traits. Therefore, material fasting is a token of the spiritual fasting. That is: 'O God! As I am fasting from the appetites of the body and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and make holy my heart and my life from aught else save Thy Love, and protect and preserve my soul from self-passions... Thus may the spirit associate with the Fragrances of Holiness and fast from everything else save Thy mention.'
It must be said that this example represents the true face of Egypt, and not the other face that is occasionally promoted by extremist elements. Egypt, by nature, can be quite tolerant and open to various beliefs and points of view. Peaceful Egyptian citizens, regardless of their religious affiliation, deserve to be always treated with dignity and respect and to enjoy their full citizenship rights. The Baha'is of Egypt are still awaiting the issue of ID cards, birth certificates and all other required official documents.
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Monday, March 24, 2008



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Baha'i Faith in Egypt


Egyptian Baha'i Student on TV
Posted: 23 Mar 2008 04:49 PM CDT
You may watch Cairo's TV program which was referred to in the previous post regarding the Egyptian Baha'i student (Kholoud), who was ultimately allowed to sit for her high school final exams. The program's title is "the Egyptian Street."

Her case is being presented and defended by a prominent Egyptian journalist, Mr. Nabil Omar, who is the vice-president of Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper. Mr. Omar is not a Baha'i.


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Saturday, March 22, 2008






Baha'i Faith in Egypt

Egypt's Ministry of Education Allows Baha'i Student into Exams
Posted: 21 Mar 2008 05:02 PM CDT
As the Baha'is of the world celebrate today the end of their yearly "fast" and the advent of their new year, the case of Kholoud,
the young Egyptian student who was--because of belonging to the Baha'i religion--prevented from registering for her exams by the head of "Examination Control" in Cairo, captured the outrage of the Ministry of Education as well as the public opinion in Egypt.

As a result, Egypt's Ministry of Education overruled the administrator's decision and allowed Kholoud admission to the examination process for graduation from high school. Dr. Rida Abou Sareeyh, First Deputy Minister of Education, confirmed the right of Kholoud to admission to the examination. And that the initial decision to deprive Kholoud of her right to the exam had neither legal nor procedural basis.

Kholoud during a TV interview (Cairo)

Kholoud's colleagues in her school were also outraged by the decision of the "head of control" describing his behavior as "prejudiced." The entire student body was taken back by the way Kholoud was treated and they stated that she was wronged by that decision. They indicated that "no one has the right to interfere with another's religion." One of the students stated that they all knew that Kholoud is a Baha'i and that they all admire her, love her and respect her. They were indeed shocked by the way she was treated by this administrator.

The school's headmaster and teachers were also highly supportive of Kholoud's case and promised her father that they will ensure the prompt procession of her application and acceptance into the examination process.

This case garnered extensive media coverage, including a major television interview and newspaper coverage in Cairo's Al-Badeel and Egypt's semi-official Al-Ahram newspapers.

Officials in the Ministry of Education described the behavior of the administrator as "his own doing and not--in any way--in accordance with the policies of the Ministry." Based on the recent (29 January 2008) administrative court decision allowing the Baha'is of Egypt the right to obtain official documents, the Ministry of Education resolved the matter by asking Kholoud to fill-out another application form with dashes "--" entered in the religion field of the application.

On another front, since Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice decision to allow the Baha'is of Egypt to leave the religion field on official documents vacant, or to enter dashes "--" or "other" instead of identifying their religion, several Egyptian Baha'is attempted to obtain ID cards. In all cases, they were asked to return in ten days. When they returned as requested, they were told again to return in ten days! Thus far no Baha'is in Egypt have been issued ID cards since the court's verdict.

To this date, the Ministry of Interior has not shown any intention of appealing the administrative court's verdict to the Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt.

It is indeed refreshing to note that, unlike Iran's treatment of its Baha'i religious minority, Egypt is quite different--and one can be sure that it will remain so--not because of its sense of responsibility towards its citizens and towards the rest of the free world, but because of its basic nature as a civilized society that cannot overstep certain boundaries in human relations and decency.
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Monday, March 17, 2008



Baha'i Faith in Egypt






Egypt: a Student Denied Entry to Exams Because of Her Religion Posted: 16 Mar 2008 06:31 The Egyptian newspaper Al-Badeel reported today on a high school student who was prevented from sitting for her final graduating examinations simply because of being a Baha'i.
Kholoud Hafez Abdou is a 17 years old Egyptian student who, like all other students in her stage of education, must sit for the final exams that allow her to graduate from high school and enter university education.
Students are required to enter their religion on the application form necessary for admission to the examination. Based on the documentation in her birth certificate, Kholoud entered "Baha'i." The high school system's admissions administrator located in the central office rejected her application because she entered "Baha'i" and prevented her from sitting for her final exams.
Kholuod was even willing to be examined in "Islam" under the subject of "religion." However, when the administrator was informed of such by the student's father, the administrator simply stated: "if you are not a Muslim, I have nothing to do with you and your daughter will be deprived from entering the examination."
The instructions given for filling-out the application form clearly state that all information must be accurately & truthfully entered, and any deviation from that would invalidate the application. The officials, however, demanded that the only way for Kholoud to be allowed entry to the exams is that if she enters "Muslim" under religious affiliation, thus asking her to lie if she wants to be examined.
The 29 January 2008 administrative court decision allows the Baha'is to enter "other", "--" or leave the religion field on official documents vacant. Based on the court's ruling, Baha'is of Egypt cannot be forced to lie about their religion on official documents.
The student is now in a state of shock. Her future is placed "on hold" simply because she is being truthful. Is this what Egypt wants for her emerging young generation? That is: teaching them to be dishonest and untruthful if they want to advance in their education!
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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Baha'i Faith in Egypt

Decree-263 and the Persecution of Egyptian Baha'is (Part-2)

Posted: 05 Mar 2008 04:44 PM CST

This series on Decree 263 and its impact on the rights of the Baha'is of Egypt began in this previous post. The entire report is cited from a publication by the Baha'i International Community on the persecution of this religious minority in Egypt. Pictures are added by the author of this blog.

The Decree and International Law
By any moral standard, the Decree is unfair and unjust. The principles of the Bahá'í Faith stress obedience to duly constituted governments, and the Bahá'ís of Egypt, in keeping with the teachings of their Faith, do not and have never become involved in partisan politics. They are committed to non-violence. They desire only to be recognized as full citizens of their country, actively promoting the progress and advancement of Egyptian society at large. The persecution and discrimination they face comes only because of their religious beliefs.

Baha'is of Alexandria, Egypt (circa 1940)

In theory, the Egyptian Constitution upholds freedom of religious belief. However, The Egyptian Supreme Court issued a decision in 1975 that upholds the Decree. The Court characterized the Bahá'í belief system as "evil," immoral, and a threat to public order. As the "Constitution guarantees the freedom of practice only to those religions recognized by Islam, i.e., Judaism and Christianity," the Court concluded that: "Belief in the Bahá'í Faith is considered apostasy. Therefore, the practice of that Faith is against Public Order, which is essentially based on Islamic Law
(Shariah)."

However, religious discrimination such as that faced by the Bahá'ís of Egypt is clearly counter to international human rights treaties and covenants to which Egypt is a party. Specifically, Egypt was one of 48 members of the United Nations that in 1948 jointly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which recognizes that "everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion," including the right "to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance," either alone or as a community.

Moreover, Egypt in 1982 ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an international treaty that further codifies the rights outlined in the UDHR. The Covenant even more clearly spells out the right to freedom of religion, stating in Article 18 that:

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to

3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

While Egyptian Government officials have told the United Nations that the "public order" provision of Article 18 applies in their refusal to recognize the Bahá'í Faith as a legitimate religion, international human rights experts have rejected Egypt's argument and stated that Article 18 clearly applies to Egypt in the case of the Bahá'ís.

Egyptian delegation to signing of Universal Declaration of Human rights, San Francisco, USA (10 December 1948)

In 1993, for example, the UN Human Rights Committee that oversees implementation of the Covenant, said this about Egypt's compliance under the treaty in relation to Bahá'ís:

"[T]he Committee is worried about restrictive legal provisions existing in Egypt with regard to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, assembly and association. Restrictions not in conformity with article 18 of the Covenant regarding various religious communities or sects, such as Bahá'ís, are a matter of particular concern."

The Bahá'í Faith is, of course, widely recognized as an independent world religion, clearly falling under the terms of the Covenant. And even if Egyptian statements that the Faith is an apostasy were to be accepted, it would nevertheless be no excuse under the framework of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Through the years, Bahá'ís have fought for their rights in the courts — with no success. They have also sought to deliver corrective statements to the press, virtually none of which have been published. Representatives of the Bahá'í International Community have also sought redress for their co-religionists in Egypt at various international forums. Bahá'ís can only guess at the reasons for the Government's unresponsiveness.

Some of the fatwas also wrongly connect the Faith with Zionism and/or colonialism — buzzwords that seem calculated to incite hatred.

To be continued....
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Saturday, March 01, 2008

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A Baha’i home firebombed

calendar February 29th, 2008 by Admin

We received an unfortunate e-mail this morning:

Last night, Feb 25, the Dana family in Shiraz, which consisted of four believers, came together for the evening meal. As they began dinner, the sound of breaking glass and then a loud explosion rocked the house. Soon the entrance of the house was engulfed in flames and the roar of a motorbike speeding away was heard. The Dana family immediately started bringing buckets of water and pouring it over the fire, while the glass in all windows were being shattered because of the intense heat. Meanwhile, the family called the police and reported the terrorist attack. After some time, despite broken glass throughout the house, the fire was brought under control and by midnight the police arrived. Evidences of a Molotov cocktail were evident and collected.

Attached report in Persian includes pictures of this firebombing and the shameful and coward act of terrorism.

Please download the report here.

Here are relevant pictures of this brutal incident:


Filed under : Human Rights, Iran, Baha'i Faith

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We received an unfortunate e-mail this morning:

Last night, Feb 25, the Dana family in Shiraz, which consisted of four believers, came together for the evening meal. As they began dinner, the sound of breaking glass and then a loud explosion rocked the house. Soon the entrance of the house was engulfed in flames and the roar of a motorbike speeding away was heard. The Dana family immediately started bringing buckets of water and pouring it over the fire, while the glass in all windows were being shattered because of the intense heat. Meanwhile, the family called the police and reported the terrorist attack. After some time, despite broken glass throughout the house, the fire was brought under control and by midnight the police arrived. Evidences of a Molotov cocktail were evident and collected.

Attached report in Persian includes pictures of this firebombing and the shameful and coward act of terrorism.

Please download the report here.

Here are relevant pictures of this brutal incident:


Filed under : Human Rights, Iran, Baha'i Faith
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