Day Five... another update

---

Another fantastic day, each day is so different and so wonderful, today was our small group visit to the archives display. This is the only place you can actually see a picture of the prophet founder of the faith - Baha'u'llah and the forerunner the Bab. There was a painting of the Bab, 3 small paintings of Baha'u'llah (approved of by his daughter who said that they were authentic and perfect down to the color of his lips) and a photograph, amazing does not begin to share the emotions I had this morning gazing upon their faces. All I can say is that I was so moved and in those moments the only thing I could do was communicate with my Lord, the rest of the world outside did not exist, there was not a single person with me in my thoughts (there were 9 other pilgrims with me) perfect number to still be small and intimate (this was about a 1/4 of our pilgrimage group and there are approximately 270 pilgrims on this pilgrimage).

I then spent the afternoon in the Monument Gardens, saying very special prayers, the weather was perfect, the sun was shining and there was a breeze, with a little warmth, no need for a coat today. I took pictures, prayed, walked around in the gardens and then took care of a little business. I then met my friend Saba, who is a friend of mine back from my Chicago days, we were actually in the Bahá'í Youth Workshop together, so we spent a wonderful afternoon, walking down the terraces, taking pictures, talking about our personal journeys at this time, our healing and work and just enjoying one another's company. We ate on an outdoor patio with a beautiful view of the Shrine of the Bab and the meal was delicious, a fantastic lentil soup, the best tabouli I've ever had and then a great chicken breast over salad and grilled vegetables, my body is so happy with me, I've been putting the most delightful foods in it!

And then there was a very special treat tonight, one of the members of the Universal House of Justice gave a presentation tonight about some of the things that are going on in the world, it was so inspiring. He talked about how he had the greatest view in the house, how beautifully diverse we are, representing the human family from all over the world and that really "when the pilgrims come specifically he can really see the 'Kingdom of God on Earth.'" He talked about how really we are the life blood of the center and that we give everyone who works there so much joy every time another group comes.

He wanted to tell us about some of the things that are going on with Bahá'ís in Egypt and Iran. Unfortunately, both of these communities are still today persecuting the Bahá'ís and specifically what has been going on in Egypt the last number of years is that the government has instituted a new form that every citizen in Egypt must fill out and one of the questions it asks if "your religion," if you put Bahá'í, they automatically decline your application for citizenship and there is no way you can put other, the only recourse you have is to say that you are another religion, this is the governments way to systematically oppress and get rid of the Bahá'ís there. You must have one of these citizenship cards to go grocery shopping, to go to university, to drive, to rent/buy a house, to send your children to school, they have random checks on the roads and you can be arrested if you don't have a card. So a few years ago a number of people got together and took this matter to court and the court said that the government was wrong and needed to change this ruling. Then a higher court overturned this ruling. In 2006 the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter to the Bahá'ís of Egypt and told them that as a response to the oppression of their community they were to arise to serve the greater community at large and help make their society better, until they could participate in the civil liberties that should be afforded to them as citizens, for we are promised by God that when we do our part correctly, even when we are being oppressed unjustly, it will be made right eventually.

At the same time, the Bahá'ís in Iran are still suffering very greatly, he told us about 54 youth that were arrested last year for teach children's classes, and how just in the past 10 days there was a court ruling that stated that these 54 youth and young adults would be sentenced to 1 year in prison. The children's classes that they were teaching had to do with character development, and a copy of what they were teaching has been put online so that the outside world could get a better understanding of what is happening there. The court then said that they would suspend the 1 year sentence if they went to mandatory Islamic training for one year, these young adults could not do this and therefore started their one year prison sentence. When Amnesty International got word of what had just happened they organized their members to start writing letters and the United States Congress got involved as well (sorry I don't remember exactly what they did, but apparently a lot of news has been covering this over the past week to 10 days). While this was happening in Iran another group in Egypt took their case to court and again the court ruled in their favor (now we don't know that this will stick, but it is a good sign that now two courts have given the same ruling).

Also in Iran, many Bahá'í children are not allowed to go to school, however some Head Masters have lightened up on this and one of the stories that was told tonight was about a young girl who was 8 years old, whose teacher stood up and started telling the class lies about the Bahá'í community, so she stood up and told the teacher that he was wrong and corrected the information that he gave. She was sent to the Head Master who then brought in a Mulla to address this issue, when the Mulla came in, he too was giving misinformation about the faith and again she stood up to correct him, again she was sent to the Head Master, who this time expelled her from school. When he did this, the other 800 students at the school protested (she was the only Bahá'í at her school), but the rest of the students did not feel this was fair, she was expelled for "teaching her religion," she told them that she was not teaching, only correcting wrong information that was being given. It created such a big commotion (not from the Bahá'ís, but the larger Muslim community) that they finally let her back in. Another similar story was shared about 3 young Bahá'í musicians, who were a part of a community concert and awards ceremony, the government came in and said that if the Bahá'ís participated the concert would be cancelled, so they had the 3 of them sit out, the other students were so upset by this ½ of them also did not play. When the awards were being given, they were not allow to award the Bahá'í children, and one of the people who did receive an award, took hers in front of everyone and said this is in your honor and gave it to the Bahá'ís.

I share these stories because for me (because I am an activist at heart and I really feel the need to fight injustice) it was a good reminder for me that we need to find alternative ways of facing oppression. If we rise above, serve and love our oppressor (which is what Baha'u'llah called for while he was being tortured, imprisoned, oppressed and exiled) then we never have to sacrifice our humanity. The Cause of God needs sacrifice and with it comes divine blessings.

And last but not least he talked about how full our lives get, especially in the West and that we need to find a way to have such disciplined lives to create quality time to be of service to the betterment of our communities, we have so much that pulls at us, but we need to sacrifice if we are going to make the world a better place and bring this kingdom of God on earth. He said that he hoped that while we are on our pilgrimages we would spend some time praying and meditating on how we can reshape our lives to become participants in this very important time.

Again I am so blessed and so happy to be here, there is no place on earth I would rather be than right here, right now. My prayer for each of you is that someday you will get to experience this special place in the world and what it has to offer. Know how loved each of you are and you continue to be in my prayers, Faith

---

Photos

Day Five
Corner of the Shrine of the Bab

Day Five
The Monument Gardens - Where the Purest Branch and the Most Exalted Leaf is buried...

Day Five
Seat of the Universal House of Jusitce

Day Five
The Seat of the Universal House of Justice

Day Five
The Greatest Name