Searching about Bahaism, I figured out that some Baha’is [1] are residing Bostan Abad, nearby Isfahan [2]. I went to the region and interviewed with. Ms. Shahryari, a retired Baha’i teacher. Here is the interview:
– Speak about your devotional programs and commandments?
– Concerning worship, I should say that the Baha’is pray three times and are fast for 19 days and have a 19-day reception along with chanting. They refer to a 9- people Baha’i council for their legitimate problems. Nowadays; in Isfahan city, this council is consisting of three people to resolve the Baha’is legitimate problems.
– How is a family difference between a couple resolved?
– In the case, they write a letter to this 3-people council. They must wait for a year. During a year, the council tries to resolve the man and the woman’s problem. During this period of time, they mustn’t have any relationship with each other. However, the man is bound to pay the woman’s alimony. After a year, if the council can’t resolve their problem, they will divorce without reciting concubine. The man can get married with another woman and the woman can immediately get married with another man.
– How do the Baha’is got married?
– In marriage ceremony, the boy and the girl’s views are important, but parents must be satisfied. If the boy and the girl get married without parents’ satisfaction, they must be boycotted. When they want to marry, 9 people must be present as contract witnesses. For urban girls and boys, the dowry (marriage payment) is 1-5 methqals of gold and for rural ones, it will be 1-5 methqals of silver. The boy says:
«انا کل الله راضون»
and the girl says:
«انا کل الله راضیات»
– Speak about your educational programs for your offspring?
– We pay more attention to educating our offspring. For this reason; Friday mornings, we hold an educational and praying meeting for our 3-6-year-old offspring called” Golshan-e-Towhid” in Baha’is houses and at the same time, we hold an ethics class for 6-year-old kids. Educating kids is stressed in the Baha’i books. Everybody who violates the rule, he/she will be boycotted out of the Baha’i community. Meanwhile, electing good friends for our offspring has been emphasized very much.
– Please, speak about Baha’i women’s cover?
– According to the Baha’is, exposing hair is free. If you enter a house, it will not be necessary for the lady of that house to cover her hair. However; concerning covering other parts of the body and not mixing men and women, we have the same laws as Muslims; because a particle of chastity is greater than thousand years of worship.
Notes:
I) Most Baha’i commandments and orders are seriously contradictory with the verses of the holy Quran [3] and the holy prophet’s (P. H.) order.
II) Ms. Shahriyari’s statements are different from what are done by the Baha’is. This lady is claiming for covering all members of the body by the Baha’is while both in the past and now, the abnormal behavior of the Baha’i women and their mixing with men and their lack of proper clothing can’t be denied at all and the young girls and women are placed next to boys without veils and they attend in ethics classes. The current Baha’i programs particularly in Shahin Shahr and Baharestan and etc and the kind of relations between men and women are evidence of this claim.
Source: Majid Mahdawi, the darkness land, a criticism over Bahaism function, pp. 195-197.
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