Political objections to the Baháʼí Faith

[7] The Baháʼí Faith and its predecessor, the Bábí religion, originated in the nineteenth-century Persian Empire, arousing considerable opposition, initially on purely theological and doctrinal grounds;[8] it was perceived by many Iranians as threat to established power and authority in Persia.

[15] From that point onwards, Naser held a deep-rooted suspicion of the Bábís and Baha'is, viewing them as political agitators similar to the anarchists of Europe.

[16] The Shah of Iran and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ʻAbdu'l-ʻAziz, successively exiled Baháʼu'lláh from Persia to Baghdad, then Constantinople, and eventually to the fortress of Acre for lifetime incarceration.

[17] By the end of the 19th century, there was growing dissension within the Qajar state, and in an effort to draw public attention away from the government and instead toward the evils of the 'devious sect', charges of subversion and conspiracy against the Bábís and Baháʼís increased.

[16] In the early 20th century, the Baháʼís were seen as being non-conformist in a society which looked to comfort in unified ideals and fearful of losing its perceived unique Shiʻa culture due to increasing influence from outside the boundaries of Persia.

[citation needed] After the overthrow of the Shah during the Iranian Revolution, the new Islamic regime targeted the Baháʼís in Iran, since they held a deep hostility toward them as they saw them as infidels.

[23] During this time the Baháʼís were accused of being anti-Islamic, pro-Zionism agents, supporters of the Shah's regime, and being engaged with the governments of forieng powers.

[23] In January 1980 with the election of President Bani Sadr and the continuing anti-Baháʼí sentiment, the Baháʼí Faith was officially described by the government as a political movement against the Iranian Revolution and Islam.

[24] In February 1980, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations stated that Baháʼís were SAVAK agents and repeated the cleric's charges; only later when he broke with the regime in 1982 did he recant his previous statements.

These documents were shown to the United Nations as evidence that the Iranian government was using the political accusations as a front to the real religious reason for the persecution of the Baháʼís.

[1] In 1983, Iran's prosecutor general once again stated that the Baháʼís were not being persecuted because of their religious belief, but that instead they were spies, and that they were funnelling money outside the country.

The letter acknowledged that funds were being sent abroad as Baháʼí contributions to the shrines and holy places, but denied all other points, and asked for proof of the charges.

[25] In 1983 to a report to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the official view of the Islamic Republic was published in a twenty-page document; the document stated that Western powers had encouraged the founding of the Baháʼí Faith; that it was not actually a religion, but a political entity created by foreign powers, and that there was a link between the Baháʼí Faith and Zionism and SAVAK.

[27][28] The representative from Germany stated that "the documents concerning the Baháʼís showed that the latter were persecuted, not for criminal offences, but simply for their religious beliefs".

The middle zone of land that was located between India and Russian holdings included Persia, and was a region of great significance, where both Russia and Britain worked to gain influence.

[38] Opponents of the faith base much of their amplification and exaggeration of these "ties" on a document, allegedly a "memoir" of Dolgorukov (also known as Dolgoruki), who was the Russian ambassador to Persia from 1846 to 1854.

[39] As Dolgorukov left the Russian diplomatic service in 1854 and died in 1867, he was unable to interact with Baháʼu'lláh in the manner in which the memoir states.

[45] According to Harry Charles Luke, an official in the Colonial Office who served as assistant Governor of Jerusalem, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá "on the 4th December, 1919, was created by King George V a K.B.E.

[50] ‛Abdu'l-Bahá also had contact with military leaders as well, including such individuals as Bursalı Mehmet Tahir Bey and Hasan Bedreddin.

[51] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also met Muhammad Abduh, one of the key figures of Islamic Modernism and the Salafi movement, in Beirut, at a time when the two men were both opposed to the Ottoman ulama and shared similar goals of religious reform.

"[55] Due to the concerns of Hamid II views of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's activities, a Commission of Inquiry interviewed him in 1905, with the result that he was almost exiled to Fezzan.

[56] In response, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote the sultan a letter protesting that his followers refrain from involvement in partisan politics and that his tariqa had guided many Americans to Islam.

[58] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá would continue to praise the Committee of Union and Progress, and during his tour of North America in 1912, the Ottoman embassy in Washington, D.C. held a dinner in his honor.

[60] Later, he was exiled by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, at the behest of the Persian Shah, to territories further away from Iran and finally to Acre in Syria,[61] which was only incorporated into the state of Israel a century later.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá is reported to have commented on Rothschild's arrival to Haifa in the gathering that evening, although it does not appear the two had interacted at all that day.

"[64] Subsequent to the British mandate over Palestine following the First World War, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá remarked, If the Zionists will mingle with the other races and live in unity with them, they will succeed.

However, as the friends are aware, the Ministry of Religions, due to the direct intervention of the Minister himself, Rabbi Maimon, consented, in the face of considerable opposition, to deliver Masra'ih to the Baha'is as a Holy Place to be visited by Baha'i pilgrims.

[70] Another criticism claims that the Baháʼís, during the time of the Pahlavi dynasty, collaborated with the SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, and held positions of power in the government.

[71] However, Muslims who do not recognize the possibility of apostasy (leaving one's religion) may not understand that individuals are free to reject their previous, in this case Baháʼí, beliefs .

[71] Parviz Sabeti, a SAVAK official, was raised in a Baháʼí family, but had left the religion and was not a member of the community by the time he started working with the agency.