Source: Mohammad Nourizad
Translation by Iran Press Watch
Earlier I had kissed feet of four-year-old Artin1. This time I kissed Bashir’s feet. Bashir is a six-year-old boy. Bashir, with his little age, soul, and body, is very sharp-witted and gifted. Bashir with all that is missing from his age ‒ toys and entertainment ‒ is very well-mannered, kind, very loving and talkative. I went to see him. I took him a storybook where all the heroes are children. Although he is experiencing the early days of the first year of primary school, he simply read the book’s title and its preface. His substitute mother in response to my amazement said that Bashir learned Persian early. This young boy is full of questions. He is also full of creativity and comments that cannot be found in children much older than he. From the perspective of Islamic rulers, this young boy has a major issue, which if it is not fixed, will cause him to be persecuted everywhere. This persecution is so stubborn and persistent that it will not stop until he ceases to exist; it will deprive him of many of his social rights; it will not stop harassing him. And it is that he has been born into a Baha’i family. Bashir’s recent problems ‒ which probably are not related to the support among Muslims for the Guardianship of the Jurist2, but it is still his problem ‒ is that now both his father and his mother are incarcerated in an Islamic prison, guilty of teaching academic books. Yes, both of Bashir’s parents3 have been teaching Baha’i boys and girls physics, chemistry, language and other academic lessons.
I invite you to visualize the scene: if in between the valleys of fear, torturous mountains in blizzards, and in the middle of the turbulent oceans you face savages and infidels and polytheists ‒ people who are godless but are teaching their young ones physics and chemistry ‒ would you be pleasantly surprised? Or would you rely on Islamic rules, giving them all a taste of your Islamic whip, and then send them all to prison and confiscate all their belongings? Baha’is, regardless of the creed they have, have lived in the context of the hate of our mullahs and with the orders and religious decrees of these clerics, which sometimes have caused them to cease to exist or have seized their belongings, for the last hundred and fifty years. They are innocent monotheistic people who respect the Qur’an and have not countered or retaliated against any of the damage which has been meted out to them by Muslims. I would like to see evidence that a Baha’i who has been beaten and wrecked has used a harsh word or lifted a fist in response.
Oh God, I would love for you to designate this shepherd of Gharahchai Hills a prophet. If you do this, I would go to the House of the Leadership tomorrow with my miracle which is a smile and knock on the door. “Who is it?” “I am the messenger,” I would respond. “We have one, we do not want one,” they would say. “I have brought a message from Imam Hussein for Aqa Sayyad Ali Khamenei (the Supreme Leader of Iran).” “Well say it, why are you waiting?” “Imam Hussain has given me a message: Aqa Sayyad Ali, if you are not a Muslim at least be noble.” “Are you insulting me, you impetuous one? Can you find anyone more Muslim than the Supreme Leader?” “I am just bringing my message; I am not concerned about the level of their belief in Islam.” “What then?” “I have come to tell him: Aqa Sayyad Ali, let’s assume you are a real Shiite Muslim, but because of bad luck you were born in Saudi Arabia. How would you like Wahhabi rulers who are thirsty for Shi’ite blood treat you?” “Are you a prophet?” he asks. “Yes,” I respond. “And what is your miracle?” My smile, I say. “Take this rude, arrogant liar and crucify him, who has made a mockery of the dignity of a prophet, and his miracle gives me hives,” he tells his people. “Do not let this liar hick go: if his miracle had been a keffiyya4 we might have paid some attention to his nonsense. However, he says his miracle is ‘My smile.’ Curse!”
Well, now I am in the Guardianship dungeon; until when we’ll see what comes to me. My crime? A prophet whose miracle is a smile. I wish fairness and wisdom were drawn into this corner of the world combined with a sincere smile. I am proud of Hafiz whose understanding was way beyond that of the top Guardianship supporters. This one line of his poem could be of much use in this country: “The ease of the two worlds is the explanation of these two words: ‘With friends, kindness; with enemies, forbearance.'” In the Guardianship dictionary5, the same line from Hafez’s great sonnet would be much welcomed, but with a small difference. The friends of the Guardianship have labored and have decisively switched the place of friend and foe. I also need to say: this young Baha’i boy now, in the absence of his parents, not only does not live in his relatives’ home, but he lives at the home of his parents’ Baha’i fellows. By the way, in the old days they wrote things about Islamic chivalry, in the books. Let me pass, and go back to my dark catacombs of my failures. I open my mouth wide, and I shout: Dear Bashir, be patient as in the days to come honor, courtesy, smile, wisdom, prosperity, and law belong to you and to all Iranians. Despite the fact that these days a clique, using deception and coercion that have nothing to do with Iran and Iranians, using massacre, plundering and destruction on the one hand, and so-called Islam and its progress on the other hand, have seized the moment. They will be bygones, without fail. My dear son, Bashir, read this book in which all the heroes are children. Oppression is not supposed to last forever like this.
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1. See here https://tavaana.org/en/content/artins-dad-responds-nourizad-prison for a letter to Mr. Nourizad from Artin’s father.
2. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurist
3. See here http://iranpresswatch.org/post/14274/
4. A traditional Arab headdress.
5. A reference to the extent to which proponents of clerical leadership have their own definitions for many words
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