Backlogging the blog-Reporting

I forgot to write on this yesterday --still not in the habit of blogging. Sunday night before leaving for work I saw on the CNN, BBC and VOA websites articles about the bombing in the mosque in Shiraz. All three said according to the Fars news agency that the Mosque officials had been preaching against the Baha'i Faith, and Wahhabi Sunni Islam and then went on to talk about previous terrorist attacks against Mosques in Iran. Not one site mentioned the peaceful nature of the Faith, but let an unstated assumption go by that the Baha'is could be responsible. I mean what do they think the readers are going to assume when they say a bomb went off and here's who they were making "enemies" of. Of course, while Baha'is are the target of discrimination by the Iranian government by no means do Baha'is think of Muslims or Islam as the enemy, but does the public at large know this? Anyway, I e-mailed the BBC about this. Interestingly, the following quote was one of the reasons the Egyptian High Court used to justify persecuting the Baha'is in Egypt --they found abrogating the Law of Holy War an offense against Islam.


O people of the earth! The first Glad-Tidings which the Mother Book hath, in this Most Great Revelation, imparted unto all the peoples of the world is that the law of holy war hath been blotted out from the Book. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Lord of grace abounding, through Whom the door of heavenly bounty hath been flung open in the face of all that are in heaven and on earth.

The second Glad-Tidings It is permitted that the peoples and kindreds of the world associate with one another with joy and radiance. O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. Thus hath the day-star of His sanction and authority shone forth above the horizon of the decree of God, the Lord of the worlds.

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 21-22)

It now appears that the cause of the explosion in the Mosque was related to the storing of munitions there. Still, I'm concerned for the believers in the cradle of the faith, imagine living in a place where where innocent children are indoctrinated to hate you. Reminds me of Nazi Germany, but then the Iranian government has been denying the Holocaust too. I guess those who don't remember their history are doomed to repeat it. Here's a prayer for protection:

In the Name of God, the Lord of overpowering majesty, and All-Compelling.

Hallowed be the Lord in Whose hand is the source of dominion. He createth whatsoever He willeth by His Word of command "Be," and it is. His hath been the power of authority heretofore, and it shall remain His hereafter. He maketh victorious whomsoever He pleaseth, through the potency of His behest. He is in truth the Powerful, the Almighty. Unto Him pertaineth all glory and majesty in the kingdoms of Revelation and Creation and whatever lieth between them. Verily, He is the Potent, the All-Glorious. From everlasting He hath been the Source of indomitable strength and shall remain so unto everlasting. He is indeed the Lord of might and power. All the kingdoms of heaven and earth and whatever is between them are God's, and His power is supreme over all things. All the treasures of earth and heaven and everything between them are His, and His protection extendeth over all things. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and whatever lieth between them, and He truly is a witness over all things. He is the Lord of Reckoning for all that dwell in the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. Verily, He is the Supreme Protector. He holdeth in His grasp the keys of heaven and earth and of everything between them. At His Own pleasure doth He bestow gifts, through the power of His command. Indeed His grace encompasseth all, and He is the All-Knowing.

Say: God sufficeth unto me; He is the One Who holdeth in His grasp the kingdom of all things. Through the power of His hosts of heaven and earth and whatever lieth between them, He protecteth whomsoever among His servants He willeth. God, in truth, keepeth watch over all things.

Immeasurably exalted art Thou, O Lord! Protect us from what lieth in front of us and behind us, above our heads, on our right, on our left, below our feet and every other side to which we are exposed. Verily, Thy protection over all things is unfailing.

- The Bab

(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers, p. 132)

-jeff