On I Spy: Conspiracy Theories and the Baha’i Faith

The website I am SPY is apparently an advertising vehicle for spy equipment. It draws traffic by picking up on any blog content that mentions the word conspiracy. Hence, it picked up this post from Iran Press Watch. Conspiracy theories have broad appeal in many countries, a prime example of which is Iran today, which has a long history in this arena going back to the Persia of old. Adib offers a succinct summaryof the conspiracy theories that have specifically involved the Baha’i Faith. -gw

Vladimir Lenin once said that a lie told often enough becomes truth. If one takes a look at the way Bahá’ís have been viewed and treated by their adversaries, particularly Muslim clerics from Shaykh Fazlollah Nuri to Falsafi to Dorri-Najafabadi and other leaders of the current Iranian regime, they will see an unfortunate truth to Lenin’s assertion. Several baseless claims have been put forth as truth in various public forums and media. Over time, these have been accepted as “truth” due to repetition and a general apathy by the Iranian masses towards independent investigation of such claims. Gradually, most of us have simply come to accept a variety of often conflicting claims about the Bahá’ís. For instance, the Bahá’ís were created by the British AND Russians in the 19th-century (while both were actually competing for influence in Persia!). Or that we held positions of power in the Pahlavi regime and were also agents of Israel, international Zionism, and American Imperialism. During the Iran-Iraqi war, some Bahá’ís were even labeled as Iraqi agents!

“Debunking the Myths: Conspiracy Theories on the Genesis and Mission of the Bahá’í Faith” … provides an analysis of the most widespread anti-Bahá’í allegations raised by clerics and Iranian polemicists over the past century or so. These include such myths as Prince Dolgorukov of Russia acting as the prime motivator of the Báb, the British General, Arthur Conolly, as the one who persuaded Mulla Husayn to push the Báb into starting his religion, or considering `Abdu’l-Bahá’s knighthood in 1920 as irrefutable evidence of Bahá’í ties to British imperialism.

The book also discusses whether any of the influential members of the Sháh’s regime were Bahá’ís from Amir Abbas Hoveida to General Nassiri or Parviz Sabeti of SAVAK to Farrokhroo Pársá and others. And unlike anti-Bahá’í polemicists who hardly ever provide credible sources for their claims, this book offers about 140 citations with a bibliography of over 50 different books and credible websites (both Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í) to substantiate its assertions.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/debunking_the_myths/5483633

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/debunking_the_myths/6430166

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