Why dont Bahais teach in Israel?
This question was asked on wiki answers, 29 August 2010.
The rule that Bahai do not teach their Faith in Israel goes back to the time of Baha’u'llah, and was confirmed by Abdu’l-Baha. There’s a blog in Persian that quotes Baha’u'llah’s words, forbidding teaching in “Sham” (the Ottoman province of Syria which includes present-day Israel and Palestinian territories).
http://negahedigar9.blogfa.com/post-137.aspx
However I don’t get a clear reason for the prohibition from the quotes. I don’t think anyone understands it – we obey because Baha’u'llah said so. It seems to be a permanent rule, only the boundaries of the area around the Bahai World Centre where there is no Bahai teaching activity have changed, as governments have come and gone.
Nevertheless people did become Bahais in Palestine at that time, and there were small Bahai communities in various towns and villages in the north. However in the 1940′s, as the Israel/ Palestine conflict developed, Shoghi Effendi asked the whole Bahai community to emigrate. To this day, there are only a minimum staff serving at the Bahai shrines and gardens and in the offices there, there is no “Israel Bahai community” as such. People who do become Bahais are asked to leave. Again, so far as I know the reason has not been stated, but the Bahai teachings hardly favour the idea of a state that is designed primarily for people of one ethnic and religious identity. Bahais favour unity in diversity and the abandonment of prejudices of all kinds. Perhaps Shoghi Effendi’s decision was a quiet expression of disapproval for the zionist foundations of Israel (which I recognise today is much more diverse than just a zionist project). As a sidelight on this, at one time in the 1920′s there were rumours of plans to bury a leading zionist on Mount Carmel, and Shoghi Effendi was engaged in raising funds to buy land around the Bahai shrines to prevent it (See Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl, p. 97).
Postscript, 27 November 2010.
The following tablet seems to me to indicate that Baha’u'llah intended Palestine to have a unique role in the future, as a land dedicated to God:
… Leave hath, moreover, been given to whosoever may desire to raise, throughout the length and breadth of this land, noble and imposing structures, and dedicate the rich and sacred territories adjoining the Jordan and its vicinity to the worship and service of the one true God, magnified be His glory, that the prophecies recorded by the Pen of the Most High in the sacred Scriptures may be fulfilled, and that which God, the Lord of all worlds, hath purposed in this most exalted, this most holy, this mighty, and wondrous Revelation may be made manifest.
We have, of old, uttered these words: Spread thy skirt, O Jerusalem! Ponder this in your hearts, O people of Baha, and render thanks unto your Lord, the Expounder, the Most Manifest.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 116)
What that future is, and whether it has any relation to not teaching the Bahai Faith in the region, I leave to the reader.
Share this page
Short link: http://wp.me/PcgF5-1uN
رضا said
Why dont Bahais teach in Israel?
very easy answer : whom made a poisonous food prohibit them selves and their familly to eat.
Bahaism and domneism is made by international Jews to simply dis-effect Islam power, other wise which world religion(Islam, Christianity , yahoodi) have such prohibition?
Sen said
You just made this up, without evidence. If you had thought a little, you would realise that at the time this ban on teaching the Bahai Faith in Palestine was put in place, there were hardly any Jews living in Palestine. It was an Arabic country, ruled by Ottoman Turks. If the Bahai Faith really was made by international Jews to reduce Islamic power, surely they would want it preached among the Arabs of Palestine, above all.
The Bahai Faith was created by Iranians: by the Bab and Baha’u'llah and Abdu’l-Baha. But it is very difficult for Iranians today to believe that something so good, so widely appreciated around the world, could have come from Iran. They say the Jews did it, the Russians did it, the British did it, the Freemasons did it … simply making up stories that have no logical plausibility or historical evidence, and all to avoid the plain fact: the Bahai Faith is one of Iran’s great gifts to the world.
desir0101 said
Good day.
I believe that the Babis also has gone through slaughter of muslim at that time just before the construction of the surroundings shaykd Tabarsi tomb,the attempted murder against the head of Persia state and the great convulsion in Persia and Iraq caused by the birth of these revelations Bab and Bahaullah which I believe the negotiation between the by then authority in Israel and Shoghi Effendi to buy this plot of land following these events has let to the agreement ” teach not Bahai doctrines and have your plot of land on Mount Carmel”. Just to say that many verses inthe Bayan promote violence against non babi.
Sen said
There is no possibility at all that this was the reason, because the policy of not teaching the Faith in what is now Israel was established by Baha’u'llah, and the first land on Mount Carmel was not purchased until the time of Abdu’l-Baha. At the time Baha’u'llah arrived in Ottoman Palestine, and said that the Bahais should not teach in that area, neither he nor the Bahais owned any property, and they had no basis for negotiating anything with the Ottoman authorities: they were prisoners under close confinement.
desir0101 said
Sen.It’s just my opinion and supposition. Any way you are right to say that Bahaullah, who stated not to teached in now Israel, because after so many hardship exiled and the hostile crowd that welcomed the coming of the Family in Akka, may be Bahaullah decided to make a halt and enjoy some tranquility.But to promote the Bahai doctrine in this country which cause so much convulsion in Persia and Iraq would in no wise favored him and his family.And if He did so, may be again another exile.Don’t teach and there would be a win-win situation.
Sen said
It’s possible: Baha’u'llah must have had some purpose in mind, but if he ever stated it, I have not heard about it. From what we know about him, it is unlikely that the purpose was tranquility for himself. Perhaps he foresaw even then that the remains of the Bab would be taken to that area, and wanted tranquility for them and for the pilgrims who would come.