Imagine a man who has brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and a wife. Over the years, he disowns one by one ALL of his other relatives for disagreements with him over almost anything, until only his wife is left; and she never dares to disagree with him and is completely obedient to him. Then he dies and leaves his wife his entire estate.

The Baha’i administration claims there is no resident Baha’i population in Israel. The 650-700 Baha’is who can be found here at any given time are all volunteers who have come from some 85 countries to do service for periods ranging from a few months to a few years. The Baha’is who live here as tourists or temporary residents do not engage in any form of missionary activity. Some people erroneously believe that this is in accordance with the country’s anti-missionary laws, but in fact it is a self-imposed Baha’i prohibition against seeking or accepting new believers into the Baha’i faith in the Holy Land that dates back to the time when the country was still under Ottoman rule. No one knows why. It is one of several inexplicable Baha’i regulations.

     Iraq, with historical backgrounds has been one of the oldest centers of Asian civilization and is regarded by many Muslims as one of the most important countries in the cultivation of clerics and Shi’ites. Due to the significance of the West region and its long-standing neighbors, Iran and Iraq has been exposed to the plot of adversaries. The great role of the Shi’a and the MARJA (Imitation authorities) in organizing popular movements against the colonialists has led to the formation of a wave of cults and extremist schools among religious scholars, in order to neutralize the awareness of the leaders of Shi’ism.

Nadeem Alam Qurayshi