Political objections to the Baháʼí Faith
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Opponents of the Baháʼí Faith have accused the faith's followers of committing various acts of political mischief, such as having a supposed "dual loyalty" and being secretly in the employ of foreign powers supposedly inimical to the interest of their home state. These accusations, together with others with a more theological bent, have been used to justify persecution of adherents of the Baháʼí Faith and the religion itself.[1][2]
In support of
These accusations against the Baháʼí have been disputed, and described by historians as being based on misconceived,[4] and exaggerated interpretations of the historical records.[5][6] Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, preached that Baháʼís are to be loyal to one's government, not be involved in politics, and to obey the laws of the country in which they reside.[7]
Historical context
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.[9]
In 1852, two years after the execution of the Báb, a fringe element in the Bábí community made an unsuccessful assassination attempt against the Shah of Iran, Naser-al-Din Shah, in retaliation for his decision to order the execution of Báb.[10][11][12] While Baháʼu'lláh strongly condemned the assassination, and renounced the movement's early anti-Qajar stance, on August 15, 1852 radicalized Bábís once again attempted to assassinate the Shah, with this second attempt proving likewise unsuccessful.[13][14] Notwithstanding the assassins' claim that they were working alone, and that Baháʼu'lláh had not participated in the planning of the assassination attempt, the entire Bábí community was pronounced guilty of the plot, and a massacre of several thousand Bábís followed.[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
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.[18] During the 1940s, the Iranian government and Muslim clerical groups started espousing the belief that the religion had been intentionally manufactured by Western powers to destroy the "unity of the Muslim nation", and that those who did not share the beliefs of the Muslim majority were agents of foreign powers.[19]
By the 1960s opponents of the Baháʼí Faith increasingly placed charges of spying on Baháʼí, along with other forms of connections to foreign powers rather than simply labelling Baháʼís as heretics.[20] These new charges helped define a new 'other' and reaffirmed a threatened Shiʻi self.[20] This new attitude towards the Baháʼís was now not confined to the clerics, but was also rampant among the secular Iranian middle-class.[20] In the 1970s accusations of Baháʼís being numerous in the Shah's regime surfaced, as well as there being a perception that Baháʼís were generally better off than the rest of the population.[21] Historian H.E. Chehabi notes that while the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith mitigate the possibility of a preferential attachment of Baháʼís to Iran, Iran is seen by Baháʼís as the "Cradle of the Cause" to which it owes a degree of affection by Baháʼís worldwide.[21]
Since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, there have also been several accusations of Baháʼís being associated with Zionist activities, largely on the grounds that the Baháʼí World Centre is located in the modern boundaries of Israel, even though the centre was founded prior to 1948, and was not established at the invitation of the Israeli government.[21] The Baháʼí World Centre has its historical origins in the area that was at the time part of Ottoman Syria. This dates back to the 1850s and 1860s and the repeated forced exiles of Baha'i leaders.[citation needed]
Since the Iranian revolution
After the overthrow of the
In January 1980 with the election of
By 1981, however, revolutionary courts no longer couched the execution of Baháʼís with political terms, and they instead cited only religious reasons.[1] Also documents were given out to Baháʼís that if they would publicly embrace Islam, that their jobs, pensions and property would be reinstated. 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.[25] The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran, once again, addressed the issues raised by the prosecutor point by point; the letter was sent to various government agencies. 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] No response was obtained from the government to this letter. The clerics continued to persecute the Baháʼís and charged the Baháʼís with "crimes against God" and Zionism.[25]
In 1983 to a report to the Human Rights Commission of the
The Iranian government's statement was not accepted by the United Nations as the UN had received no evidence from the Iranian government regarding its claims.[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".[29] The Iranian delegate dismissed the text of the Commission's resolution, and persecution of the Baháʼís continued.[30]
In 1991, the Iranian government again gave a statement to the United Nations stating that since the administrative centre of the Baháʼí Faith is located in
Russian and British ties
During the 19th century, the
The support of the British government during the
Russian ties
In God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi alludes to the protection the Russian ambassador gave Baháʼu'lláh on different occasions, first after the attempted assassination of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar and again after the decision to exile Baháʼu'lláh from Iran, expressing his "desire to take Baháʼu'lláh under the protection of his government, and offered to extend every facility for His removal to Russia."[36][37] In his Súriy-i-Haykal, Baháʼu'lláh included the Lawh-i-Malik-i-Rús, praising Czar Alexander II of Russia in these terms: "when this Wronged One was sore-afflicted in prison, the minister of the highly esteemed government (of Russia)—may God, glorified and exalted be He, assist him!—exerted his utmost endeavor to compass My deliverance. Several times permission for My release was granted. Some of the ʻulamás of the city, however, would prevent it. Finally, My freedom was gained through the solicitude and the endeavor of His Excellency the Minister. …His Imperial Majesty, the Most Great Emperor—may God, exalted and glorified be He, assist him!—extended to Me for the sake of God his protection—a protection which has excited the envy and enmity of the foolish ones of the earth."[37] When Baháʼu'lláh and his family traveled from Iran to Baghdad subsequent to his exile in 1853, they were accompanied by a representative of the Russian legation.[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
The memoir states that Dolgorukov used to attend gatherings of Hakím Ahmad Gílání, where he would meet Baháʼu'lláh. However, Gílání died in 1835, three years before Dolgorukov's arrival in the Persia. There are numerous other errors relating to the dates and times of events that the memoir describes; the memoir describes events after the death of personages, or when the people involved were young children, or when they were in different parts of the world.[39]
Dolgorukov actually only became aware of the Bábí movement in 1847, three years after it started, and his dispatches show that he was initially afraid of the movement spreading into the Caucasus, and asked that the Báb be moved away from the Russian border.[39][40] In 1852, after a failed assassination attempt against the Shah for which the entire Bábí community was blamed, many Bábís, including Baháʼu'lláh, who had no role in the attempt and later severely condemned it, were arrested in a sweep.[41] When Baháʼu'lláh was jailed by the Shah, his family went to Mírzá Majid Ahi who was married to a sister of Baháʼu'lláh,[42] and was working as the secretary to the Russian Legation in Tehran. Baháʼu'lláh's family asked Mírzá Majid to go to Dolgorukov and ask him to intercede on behalf of Baháʼu'lláh, and Dolgorukov agreed.[42]
The memoirs, however, extend this assistance to all facets of Baháʼu'lláh's life. In one edition of the memoir, Dolgorukov is said to have provided money for Baháʼu'lláh to build a house in Acre, but Dolgorukov died in 1867, before Baháʼu'lláh arrived in Acre. Thus newer editions of the memoir state that Dolgorukov sent money for a house to be built in Edirne.[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.[39]
Communist Soviet sources produced Baháʼí communities in 38 cities across Soviet territories ceased to exist.
British ties
There have also been claims that the Bábí movement was started by the British, and that the Baháʼí Faith maintains ties with the
Accusations of supposed ties to the British have also arisen from the
Political contacts in the Ottoman Empire
During this period, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá communicated with a number of different actors who were civilian, parliamentarians of the
‛Abdu'l-Bahá also had contact with military leaders as well, including such individuals as
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also met
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.[57] Subsequent to the Young Turk Revolution ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was released from his imprisonment and allowed to travel away from Palestine. He freely expressed his disapproval of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his policies.[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.[59]
Baháʼí ties to Zionism
Baháʼís have also been accused of ties to Zionism, a movement that supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel (roughly corresponding to Canaan, the Holy Land, or the region of Palestine). This claim is typically advanced by noting that the most holy shrines of the Baháʼís are located in current-day Israel.[21] However, Baháʼu'lláh was banished from Persia by Naser-al-Din Shah, at which time Baháʼu'lláh went to Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire.[60] Later he was later 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 only a century later was incorporated into the state of Israel.[39]
On February 23, 1914, at the eve of World War I, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking family who was a leading advocate and financier of the Zionist movement, attended a general meeting at the home of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá during one of his early trips to Palestine. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá is recorded saying in part "Unless the souls are believers in God and assured in the verses of God, wealth causes the hearts to be hardened and without light."[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. If not, they will meet certain resistance. For the present I think a neutral government like the British administration would be best. A Jewish government might come later.
There is too much talk today of what the Zionists are going to do here. There is no need of it. Let them come and do more and say less.
The Zionists should make it clear that their principle is to elevate all the people here and to develop the country for all its inhabitants. This land must be developed, according to the promises of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zachariah. If they come in such a spirit they will not fail.
They must not work to separate the Jews from the other Palestinians. Schools should be open to all nationalities here, business companies, etc. The Turks went down because they attempted to rule over foreign races. The British are always in power because they keep fair and promote harmony.
This is the path to universal peace here as elsewhere - Unity. We must prevent strife by all means.— Star of the West (8 September 1919)[65]
Baháʼís have from time to time negotiated with the government of Israel over such matters as the acquisition of properties that currently compose the
Similarly, the mansion of Mazra'ih was transferred by the nascent Israeli government from a Muslim waqf to the Baháʼí administration in 1951.[67][68]
"Masra'ih is a Moslem religious endowment, and it is consequently impossible, under existing laws in this country, for it to be sold. 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. This means that we rent it from the Department of Moslem and Druze affairs in the Ministry of Religions. The head of this Department is also a Rabbi, Dr. Hirschberg. Recently he, his wife and party, visited all the Baha'i properties in Haifa and 'Akka, following upon a very pleasant tea party in the Western Pilgrim House with the members of the International Baha'i Council."[67] (Baháʼí News, no. 244, June 1951, p. 4)
The mansion was ultimately purchased by the Baháʼís in 1973.[68]
Since the Iranian Revolution there have been accusations that the Baháʼís support Israel because they send fund contributions to the Baháʼí World Centre which is located in northern Israel.[25][69] The donations are used in the Baháʼí World Centre for upkeep of the Baháʼí properties, as well as the administration of the worldwide Baháʼí community.[25] The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran in a 1983 letter to the Iranian government stated that while Muslims were praised for sending money out of the country to Iraq and Jerusalem for the upkeep of their religious shrines, when Baháʼís sent money for the upkeep of their own shrines it was considered an unforgivable sin.[70]
Baháʼís as agents of the Shah's regime and its secret police
Another criticism claims that the Baháʼís, during the time of the Pahlavi dynasty, collaborated with the
The
The 1955 attacks were particularly destructive and widespread due to an orchestrated campaign by the government and clergy who utilized the national Iranian radio station and its official newspapers to spread hatred which led to widespread mob violence against Baháʼís.[75][76][77] The Shah's military also occupied the Baháʼí centre in Tehran, which was destroyed in the violence.[75][76] Mottahedeh states that under the Pahlavi dynasty, the Baháʼís were actually more a "political pawn" than a collaborator, and that Reza Shah's government toleration of Baháʼís in the early 20th-century was more a sign of secular rule and an attempt to weaken clerical influence than a signal of favour for the Baháʼís.[75]
There is also evidence that SAVAK collaborated with Islamic groups throughout the 1960s and 1970s in harassing Baháʼís.
With regards to the accusation that Baháʼís held many prominent positions in the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, there is no empirical study that endeavours to determine the truth of such an accusation.[71] There were a number of individuals who were part of the government and who had Baháʼí backgrounds, but were not Baháʼís themselves. One problem that arises is the definition of a Baháʼí: a Baháʼí is a member of a voluntary association that admits people only when they meet certain religious qualifications, and one can choose to become, remain or cease to be a Baháʼí.[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 .[28]: 110
Baháʼís have used the term Baháʼízada to refer to people of Baháʼí background who are not Baháʼís themselves or part of the Baháʼí community; there is no Muslim equivalent of the term.[71] Of the Baháʼís who held positions near the Shah, the best known is the Shah's personal physician, Abdol Karim Ayadi. While Asadullah Sanii, another Baháʼí, was appointed Minister of Defence, the Baháʼí community of Iran revoked his administrative rights — as he had accepted a political position and Baháʼís are prohibited from involvement in partisan politics — the public, however, still continued to associate him with his previous religion.[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.[71]
Other people who were associated with the Baháʼí Faith either had Baháʼí backgrounds or were not connected with the religion at all.
Baháʼí ties to Freemasonry
Iranian critics of the Baháʼí Faith have accused the religion of having ties to
Specific accusations connecting the Baháʼí Faith to Freemasonry often include an assertion that Dhabih Qurban, who was a well-known Baháʼí, was also a freemason.[39] This assertion is based on an Iranian book publishing documents related to Freemasonry in the country; that book states that in specific pages of Fazel Mazandarani's book on the Baháʼí Faith there are statements that Dhabih Qurban is a freemason, but in fact Freemasony is not mentioned in the pages of the referenced Baháʼí book.[39] Furthermore, the Iranian book that is the source of the accusation includes a discussion between the grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Iran, and the grandmaster notes that "no Baháʼís have become masons and this is repeated by others present with no-one disagreeing."[39]
Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Baháʼí Faith in the first half of the 20th century, stated that the teachings of the Baha'i Faith expressly forbid membership in secret societies, and asked all Baháʼís to remove their memberships from all supposed secret societies, including the freemasons, so that they can serve the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith without compromising their independence.[80]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Ghanea 2003, p. 103
- ^ a b Keddie 1995, p. 151
- ^ Ghanea 2003, p. 294
- ^ Cooper 1993, p. 200
- ^ Simpson & Shubart 1995, p. 223
- ^ Tavakoli-Targhi 2008, p. 200
- ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
- ^ Momen 1981, p. 70
- ^ Momen 1981, pp. 71–82
- ^ The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and violence, by Moojan Momen, 2011
- ^ The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and Violence, by Moojan Momen, 2011
- JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2008.12.1.57.
- ^ Cole, Juan (1989). "Baha'-allah". Encyclopædia Iranica.
- ISBN 0-87743-182-5.
- ^ Balyuzi 2000, p. 72
- ^ a b Amanat 2008, pp. 177–178
- ^ a b Buck, Christopher (2003). "Islam and Minorities: The Case of the Baháʼís". Studies in Contemporary Islam. 5 (1): 83–106.
- ^ Amanat 2008, pp. 180–181
- ^ Tavakoli-Targhi 2008, p. 202
- ^ a b c Amanat 2008, pp. 171–172
- ^ a b c d Chehabi 2008, pp. 190–194
- ^ Sanasarian 2000, p. 114
- ^ a b c Sanasarian 2000, p. 115
- ^ a b c Sanasarian 2000, p. 116
- ^ a b c d e Sanasarian 2000, p. 119
- ^ Ghanea 2003, p. 114
- ^ Sanasarian 2000, p. 121
- ^ a b c d Ghanea 2003, pp. 109–111
- ^ Ghanea 2003, p. 112
- ^ Ghanea 2003, p. 113
- ^ Ghanea 2003, p. 132
- ^ Sanasarian 2008, p. 157
- ^ Amanat 1989, pp. 23–28
- ^ a b Ashraf, Ahmad (1997). "Conspiracy theories and the Persian Mind". Iranian.com. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ a b c Chehabi 2008, pp. 186–188
- ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
- )
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Momen 2004
- ^ a b c Balyuzi 1973, p. 131
- ^ Balyuzi 2000, pp. 77–78
- ^ a b Balyuzi 2000, pp. 99–100
- ^ a b c Kolarz, Walter (1962). Religion in the Soviet Union. Armenian Research Center collection. St. Martin's Press. pp. 470–473.[ISBN missing]
- ^ Momen, Moojan (1994). "Turkmenistan". draft of "A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith". Baháʼí Library Online. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ "Clamour in the City, Part 4, Version 1.2" (PDF) (in Persian). pp. 180–182.
- ^ Luke, Harry Charles (August 23, 1922). The Handbook of Palestine. London: Macmillan and Company. p. 59.
- ^ Religious Contentions in Modern Iran, 1881-1941, by Mina Yazdani, PhD, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, 2011, pp. 190-191, 199–202.
- ^ Blomfield, Lady (1967) [1940]. "Part III: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá". The Chosen Highway. London, UK: Baháʼí Publishing Trust. p. 210.
- ^ "The Knighting of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá". Star of the West. Vol. 13, no. 11. February 1923. p. 298. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1848856318.
- ISBN 978-1848856318.
- ISBN 9780203928578.
- ^ Cole, Juan R.I. (1983). "Rashid Rida on the Bahai Faith: A Utilitarian Theory of the Spread of Religions". Arab Studies Quarterly. 5 (2): 278.
- ^ Cole, Juan R.I. (1981). "Muhammad ʻAbduh and Rashid Rida: A Dialogue on the Baha'i Faith". World Order. 15 (3): 11.
- ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
- ISBN 978-1848856318.
- ISBN 978-1848856318.
- ISBN 9781607240921.
- ISBN 978-1848856318.
- ^ Balyuzi 2001, p. 99
- ^ Taherzadeh 1977, pp. 56–58
- ^ Balyuzi 2001, p. 452
- ^ Balyuzi 2001, pp. 452–483
- ^ "February 23, 1914". Star of the West. Vol. 9, no. 10. September 8, 1918. p. 107. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ^ "Declares Zionists Must Work with Other Races". Star of the West. Vol. 10, no. 10. September 8, 1919. p. 196. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ISBN 978-0877430360.
- ^ a b Holley, Horace (June 1951). "International Baha'i Council Haifa, Israel". Baháʼí News. No. 244. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0-87743-076-4.
- ^ Clamour in the City, Part 4, Version 1.2 (PDF) (in Persian), p. 163
- ^ Iran Human Rights Documentation Center 2007, p. 34
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Chehabi 2008, pp. 186–191
- ^ Tavakoli-Targhi 2008, pp. 224
- ^ Clamour in the City, Part 4, Version 1.2 (PDF) (in Persian), p. 111
- ^ Momen 1981, pp. 477–479
- ^ a b c d Mottahedeh 1985, p. 231
- ^ a b c d Sanasarian 2000, pp. 52–53
- ^ Iran Human Rights Documentation Center 2007, p. 9
- ^ Keddie 2006, pp. 431–32
- ^ Keddie 2006, p. 5
- ISBN 81-85091-46-3.
References
- ISBN 978-0-203-00280-3
- ISBN 0-8014-2098-9
- ISBN 0-85398-043-8
- ISBN 0-85398-048-9
- ISBN 0-85398-328-3
- Cooper, Roger (1993), Death Plus 10 years, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-255045-8
- ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
- Chehabi, H.E. (2008), "Anatomy of Prejudice", in Brookshaw, Dominic P.; Fazel, Seena B. (eds.), The Baha'is of Iran: Socio-historical studies, New York, NY: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-203-00280-3
- Ghanea, Nazila (2003), Human Rights, the UN and the Baháʼís in Iran, Martinus Nijhoff, ISBN 90-411-1953-1
- Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (2007), A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Baha'is of Iran (PDF), Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, retrieved 2008-07-14
- Keddie, Nikki R. (1995), Iran and the Muslim World: Resistance and Revolution, Basingstoke: Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-61888-2
- Keddie, Nikki R. (2006), Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-12105-9
- Momen, Moojan (2004), "Conspiracies and Forgeries: the attack upon the Baha'i community in Iran", Persian Heritage, 9 (35): 27–29
- ISBN 0-85398-102-7
- ISBN 1-85168-234-1
- Sanasarian, Eliz (2008), "The Comparative Dimension of the Baha'i Case and Prospects for Change in the Future", in Brookshaw, Dominic P.; Fazel, Seena B. (eds.), The Baha'is of Iran: Socio-historical studies, New York, NY: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-203-00280-3
- Sanasarian, Eliz (2000), Religious Minorities in Iran, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-77073-4
- Simpson, John; Shubart, Tira (1995), Lifting the Veil, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0-340-62814-6
- ISBN 0-85398-071-3
- ISBN 978-0-203-00280-3
Further reading
- Political Non-involvement and Obedience to Government - A compilation of some of the Messages of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice (compiled by Peter J. Khan)
- Debunking the Myths: Conspiracy Theories on the Genesis and Mission of the Baháʼí Faith, by Adib Masumian, 2009.
- Letter from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran about the Banning of the Baháʼí Administration, 3 September 1983.
- Letter from the Iranian Baháʼí community to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, November 2004
- The "Memoires of Dolgorukov and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion", Prof. Moshe Sharon (see latter half)