Letter to Anthony Albanese, Australian Leader of the Opposition
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: N.W. Azal < >
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 1:20 PM
Subject: Your comments re: Baha'i faith
To: <A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au>
13 November 2020
Dear Honourable Anthony Albanese, MP; Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Australian Labor Party:
I write to you as a former Baha'i in protest given your comments in this video https://youtu.be/ocx7zUvqwFg where you congratulate the Australian Baha'i Community for the centenary of its existence in Australia. As distressing as it is for those of us who know the true nature of this organisation, regularly congratulating the Australian Baha'i community for an assortment of things has become a fixture in Canberra between both parties: a fixture that speaks to the entrenched hypocrisy among the Australian political class on both sides of the aisle. To my knowledge, no other religious-oriented organisation in Australia enjoys such undeserved plaudits continually from consecutive prime ministers, ministers of parliament, and leaders of the opposition as this organisation has.
That aside, I also draw your attention to the fact that presently there is not a single, unified Baha'i organisation in Australia. Rather, and despite what those Baha'is loyal to the organisation located in Haifa, Israel may try to tell you, there are three (and possibly four) rival Baha'i organisations in existence on this island continent simultaneously, so it is not clear precisely who is being congratulated by you (see, https://www.thesectsofbahais.com/and https://orthodoxbahai.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/GuardianshipOfTheBahaiFaith/).
Whilst grievances with this organisation are many -- and I say an organisation and not a bona fide religion -- you may note that your comments at 26 seconds onwards may not be entirely accurate. For example, Baha'i patriarch ʿAbdu'l-Bahāʾ's view on the Jews of Palestine have been noted as follows:
On occasion, his holiness ʿAbdu'l-Bahāʾ would travel to Tiberias. The qāḍī of Haifa sent a letter to His holiness inquiring of the state of Tiberias. While responding to this request, he said, "If you wish to know about Tiberias, know that its stones are black, its inhabitants are Jews, and their appearance is apish (kal-qirdi).
Memoirs of Khalīl Shahīdī, p. 122-123, http://bahai-library.com/pdf/r/rabbani_reminiscences_khalil_shahidi_persian.pdf.
On Africans:
The inhabitants of a country life Africa are all as wandering savages and wild animals. They lack intelligence and knowledge; all are uncivilized; not one civilized and a wise man is not to be found among them. These are the proofs of the wise men. The prophets also acknowledge this opinion, towit: That education hath a great effect upon the human race, but they declare that minds and comprehensions are originally different. And this matter is self-evident; it cannot be refuted. We see that certain children of the same age, nativity and race, nay, from the same household, under the tutorship of one teacher, differ in their minds and comprehensions. One advanceth rapidly, another is slow in catching the rays of culture, still another remaineth in the lowest degree of stupidity. No matter how much the shell is educated (or polished), it can never become a radiant pearl. The black stone will not become the world-illumined gem." (Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha p.567 vv.3-4) https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TAB/
"It is, therefore, certain that sins such as anger, jealousy, dispute, covetousness, avarice, ignorance, prejudice, hatred, pride, and tyranny exist in the physical world. All these brutal qualities exist in the nature of man. A man who had not had a spirutal education is a brute. Like the savages of Africa, whose actions, habits and morals are purely sensual, they act according to the demands of nature to such a degree that they rent and eat one another." (Some Answered Questions 29:5)
"As ignorance is the cause of crimes, the more
knowledge and science increases, the more crimes will diminish. Consider how
often murder occurs among the barbarians of Africa; they even kill one another
to eat each other's flesh and blood!" (Some Answered Questions
77:13)
https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/
"If a child is left in its natural state and deprived of education, there is no doubt that it will grow up in ignorance and illiteracy, its mental faculties dulled and dimmed; in fact, it will become like an animal. This is evident among the savages of central African, who are scarcely higher than the beast in mental development." (The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.311)
"The black man must ever be grateful to the white man, for he has manifested great courage and self-sacrifice in behalf of the black race. Four years he fought their cause, enduring severe hardships, sacrificing life, family, treasure, all for his black brother until the great war ended in the proclamation of freedom. By this effort and accomplishment the black race throughout the world was influenced and benefited. Had this not been accomplished, the black man in Africa would still be bound by the chains of slavery. Therefore, his race should everywhere be grateful, for no greater evidence of humanism and courageous devotion could be shown than the white man has displayed. If the blacks of the United States forget this sacrifice, zeal and manhood on the part of the whites, no ingratitude could be greater or more censurable. If they could see the wretched conditions and surroundings of the black people of Africa today, the contrast would be apparent and the fact clearly evident that the black race in America enjoys incomparable advantages. The comfort and civilization under which they live here are due to the white man's effort and sacrifice. Had this sacrifice not been made, they would still be in the bonds and chains of slavery, scarcely lifted out of an aboriginal condition. Therefore, always show forth your gratitude to the white man. (The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.12)
https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation-universal-peace/
Thus it is proved that the world of nature is imperfect and dark. If a child is born and we do not nurture him and we abandon him in his natural state what will happen? Without a doubt, he will remain ignorant and without cognition and he will be an animal. Look at the inhabitants of black Africa who are like animals and even inferior. Thus we can see how divine nurturing influences the world of humanity. The world of nature is the world of the animal.” (Khatabat 2:236-7)
"A Baha'i nigger is better than a non-Baha'i
nymph!" (Khatabat, p.237)
یک کاکاسیاه
احباب بهتر از یک حوریه اغیار است
https://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/ab/
"…You should all be very grateful to Christopher Columbus who discovered such a great country for you as this one in the extreme West…What he discovered became famous as America but in truth it should have been named Columbia, which was the truth and justice.." (trans.)
https://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/ab/G-L/K/khitab2/Khatabat-i-Hadrat-i-Abdu'l-Baha2.doc
There are many more such controversial statements recorded on the part of the Baha'i central figures.
Besides this, the organisational form of Bahaism is completely undemocratic and authoritarian in nature and so thoroughly inconsistent with what you and others have elsewhere called "Australian values," so one is at a loss to understand how the Australian political class can possibly view Bahaism as sharing in anything resembling democratic ideals. Baha'is believe in the theocratic infallibility of their organisational institutions, and especially where the Haifan organisation is concerned, their Universal House of Justice -- a body to which by scriptural edict women are barred from being elected to and serving on. While Baha'is may argue in their defense that they hold elections, as any political scientist will tell you, elections by themselves do not a democracy make since even authoritarian regimes and dictatorships hold elections (i.e. the Islamic Republic of Iran, Putinist Russia, Baathist Syria, Viktor Orban's Hungary, etc)
Additionally, the well-documented abusive treatment of dissidents, critics and ex-members by the Haifan organisation especially, on several notable occasions has directly ventured into territory that can be classified as nothing less than being genuine human rights violations of these dissidents, critics and ex-members by the Baha'is. This is especially egregious given the extent to which the Baha'is have actively canvassed and lobbied consecutive Australian Commonwealth governments as well as governments elsewhere in the West for their support given what they claim is their plight under the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Much more can be said. But I will leave it here for the time being, and merely wish to record my trenchant disagreement with your comments regarding the Baha'i faith as recorded in the video linked above.
With best regards,
Wahid Azal
