Rumble at interfaith brunch!
Well no, not really. But it seems that when William L. H. Roberts, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the US, spoke at the annual Interfaith Brotherhood-Sisterhood brunch in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, there was, shall we say, a little friction. Mr Roberts was speaking about threats to religious freedom, including the recent report released by the UN concerning the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran and it seems a few of the Muslims attending the event were less than pleased with Roberts’ presentation:
Several Muslims said after the speech that they were offended by what they saw as Roberts’ singling out of Islam as a persecuting religion.
“I felt that he’s bashing Islam indirectly,” said Mehdi Eliefifi, president of the New Jersey Outreach Group, which works to bring different faiths together.
“It feeds into the stereotype, putting examples of bad behavior of individuals and governments as being the main theme of Islam,” he said.
Now, I understand Mr. Eliefifi’s concern and if I was in his shoes I would be mad as hell, but I think his anger is misdirected. I would suggest that perhaps it be more rightly focused on a government who seems intent on exterminating the Bahá’í community as a viable entity in Iran and erasing all traces of its culture. A government that claims to be following the same Holy Teachings as he does and as a result is in large part responsible for the stereotype that he so deplores. Just a thought.
Of course, in keeping with the spirit of unity that the Interfaith Brotherhood-Sisterhood stands for I’ll just like to highlight this final bit from the article:
Darul Islah Imam Saeed Qureshi, who spoke after Roberts, apologized for the persecution of Baha’is in Iran, but also asked those gathered not to judge all Muslims by the actions of a few.
“Today we are together with Muslims who you see and experience as peaceful humans. There are others that call themselves terrorists.” If you judge all Muslims by the actions of the terrorists, he said, “there will never be peace.”
March 29th, 2006 at 11:11 am
If a muslim feels unconfortable about Baha’i criticism concerning persecutions in Iran, that is a natural reaction. Catholics have the same reaction when Inquisition and persecution to the Jews is mentioned.
But what I don’t understand is why we don’t hear many Muslims speaking against the situation of religious minorities in Iran (several would rather shut up the baha’i protest!). A tremendous majority of Catholics speaks out today against Inquisition; they assume it was a grievous error. Even Pope John Paul II apologized about that.
March 30th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
I’m getting ready to be shouted down by Muslims when I speak about the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. So far, I’ve not experienced a reaction like this, but it can’t be long before I do.
I’m afraid there’s a collective amnesia/denial on the part of some Muslims about who is actually denying freedom of religion or belief and to whom.
March 31st, 2006 at 2:29 pm
The evidence of the persecution of Baha’is in Iran at the hands of the government is incontrovertible, not least because it comes from numerous documents of the government itself.
I believe that Muslims will weaken their own position on human rights by attacking such genuine concerns as being somehow Islamophobic. To suggest that is inherently hostile to Islam to express concern at the actions of a government of a Muslim state in actively persecing another group is rather like suggesting that criticism of Guantanamo Bay is a phobia against America.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Innnteresting. Good final words from that Imam.