The Baha’i faith… Haven or deviation?

This is an English translation of an article that appeared recently on Al Waqt:

The Baha’i faith… Haven or deviation?

By: Ali Ahmad Al-Diri

Could a religion be an avenue for deviation?

I am addressing this issue in the wake of the campaign against the Baha’i faith in Egypt, which has, unfortunately, attracted the contribution of writers and journalists who have added fuel to the controversy. For example, the journalist Mahmoud Issa has made virulent observations about an incident related to the citizens of Suhaj, one of the villages of Upper Egypt, who burned down four of their neighbors’ houses because they embraced the Baha’i faith: he pointed out to the mistake of considering the Baha’i faith a religion, the presence of proselytizers and missionaries who propagate this deviant thinking, and the existence of incentives that are mostly of a pecuniary nature and that attract those simple souls to the Bahai faith, which is lacking spiritual incentives. The religious establishment should have been more aware and should have been ready with a plan to confront this dangerous deviation which would transform into heroes and martyrs. (1)

From a religious perspective, it is possible to describe a religion with deviance. As a matter of fact, every religion accuses the religions that come after it of deviance, which is inadmissible from an epistemological, sociological or legal perspective, especially where human rights are concerned. The legal perspective is not the same as that of the canonical law of Islam rightfulness; it is a modern concept and is the product of the human mind, which has created it as a regulatory system for the organization of life and in order to provide people with a framework that would guarantee them their security and the right to live in freedom and justice. As such, the legal system is a human endeavor and is amenable to amendment without the risk of apostasy or heresy; whereas the canonical law of Islam cannot be amended, without the risk of apostasy and heresy.

From a sociological perspective, the followers of the Baha’i faith are human groups of diverse ethnic origins, who practice their life according to teachings which they believe emanate from God; they have their own rituals, their own scriptures and their systems for communicating with and envisioning the universe. We cannot describe these groups as deviant. The common law that governs any modern state necessitates the protection of different groups in its interpretation of deviance and should not adopt the perspective of one religious group in its perception of deviance against another. .modern state has to remain neutral in confronting religions.

In the short film prepared by the blogger Ahmad Ezat, a Baha’i girl says “I do not feel that I am living normally within society”, and the Baha’i boy says: “Baha’is are allowed to live, but they are inexistent in the eyes of the state.” (2)

If the state deems a religious group as deviant (and hence lost), it cannot give it any recognition., which is a way of acknowledging it, and once a group loses this recognition it cannot exist normally within society. The state is the product of the modern legal system, not of the canonical law of Islam.

The canonical law of Islam recognizes human beings according to its definition of deviance, whereas the state recognizes them according to its perception of the individual, who is not defined according to criteria of deviance or revelation but as existent or non-existent. The state recognizes an existing being in its records, and once this being is deceased, the name of this being is deleted from its records and added to its archives.

From the perspective of the state, religion is not a corpus of beliefs determined by either truth and revelation or denial and perdition, but a sum of the many living manifestations of humanity, and these manifestations have as much right to subsist as they have to be recognized by the state.

I have had intimate contacts with Baha’is. I had the opportunity of meeting many of them and attending their weddings, their religious celebrations and social gatherings. These contacts have led me to acquire an informed opinion of their religious dealings and of how religion governs their vision and frames their moral codes. Indeed it is a very strict system in terms of purity and spirituality, and it always gives ample leverage to the inner voice of each individual. Sociology has taught us that minorities always rely much more on their inner moral code than the external one, as is the case with groups that constitute majorities, and the Baha’i religion is no exception. If it becomes a majority anywhere in the world, it necessarily follows that it will have to transform its system to one where the external code takes precedence over the internal one. It is also not exceptional for it, as a religion, to want to spread itself, and to believe in its own superiority, its reasoning, its inclusiveness, its righteousness, its theological dialectic and the fact that as a religion, it brings salvation to humanity, and its reliance on parables, stories, metaphors and dreams in its educational and persuasive process.

At a Baha’i wedding ceremony in Bahrain, I was accompanied by my friend Ali Al-Jalawi who had published a book on the Baha’is of Bahrain. During this event, he drew my attention to the ubiquitous presence of the Arabic language, even in the ceremonial text and the accompanying prayers, in spite of the fact that most of the Baha’is of Bahrain are of Persian extraction. This was the text that was read during the ceremony: “Oh God, oh God, the sun and the moon are wed through Your love, and united in the worship of Your sanctity. They have vowed to serve you. Bless this union as a manifestation of Your abundance.” This prayer instantly clung to my heart like a moon clings to the heart of a lover, because of the excessive love and spirituality that overflow from the term ‘the sun and the moon’.

The Baha’i faith, as I experienced it closely, overflows with ‘lunar’ spirituality; in fact it ‘lunifies’ a person and ‘lunifies’ his or her spirit. During one of my visits, my Baha’i friend offered me a book entitled “Warq’a” as a present. He told me that the Baha’i faith teaches us about love and passion, and the love of light, splendor and mankind and that I would find that Jalal Eddine Al-Roumi expresses the essence of this approach in this book. I opened the book and read the following writing of Jalal Eddine: “you are what you seek”. All religions seek God, the absolute, through man and all the paths create unto you a religion and a path that connect you to him.

The great Sufi Ibn Arabi said “say of the universe what you wish” (3) because one cannot lose the way that would lead to God, for God is omnipresent and whatever one says and in whichever direction will always connect one to Him..

Baha’a Allah says “the word is the number one teacher in the university of existence, and it is the first drop that emanated from God. All names emanate from His name and the beginning and end to all things is within His grip.” (4)

The Muslim Sufi Ibn Arabi Mohieedin saw in the names of the Divine a manifestation of the existence of God. In his book “Fusous Al-Hikam” (Explanation of the rules of governance and Sufism) he talked about the universe and existence through the names of God, by considering them metaphors and ways of seeing the world, understanding it and living in it.

Could a religion be an avenue for deviation? If there is such thing as deviation, the shadows of God should not be seen in all avenues and branches that Baha’ullah talked about in his call upon the world: “O people of the world, ye are all the fruit of one tree, the leaves of one branch, the flowers of one garden and the drops of one ocean. Walk with perfect charity, concord, affection, and agreement.” (5)

Sources:
1. Mahmoud Issa, Baha’i turbulence, Alwatan Qatari newspaper, 10 April, 2009
2. View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drAe_hSCaxI&feature=PlayList&p=841A4BCE9E873E26&index=0&playnext=1
3. Ibn Arabi, Fusous Al-Hikam.
4. http://rands1957.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7CE1906B800AE160!128.entry?_c=BlogPart.
5. http://rands1957.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7CE1906B800AE160!128.entry?_c=BlogPart