Opponents of the Baháʼí Faith have accused the faith's followers of committing various acts of political mischief, such as having a supposed "dual loyalty" and being secretly in the employ of foreign powers supposedly inimical to the interest of their home state. These accusations, together with others with a more theological bent, have been used to justify persecution of adherents of the Baháʼí Faith and the religion itself.
In support of government and clergy-led persecution of the Baháʼís, Iranian government officials and others have claimed that Baháʼís have had secret ties to foreign powers such as the Russians, British, Americans and Israelis, as well as being responsible for Zionism and the policies of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
These accusations against the Baháʼí have been disputed, and described by historians as being based on misconceived, and exaggerated interpretations of the historical records. Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, preached that Baháʼís are to be loyal to one's government, not be involved in politics, and to obey the laws of the country in which they reside.
Historical context The Baháʼí Faith and its predecessor, the Bábí religion, originated in the nineteenth-century Persian Empire, arousing considerable opposition, initially on purely theological and doctrinal grounds; it was perceived by many Iranians as threat to established power and authority in Persia.
In 1852, two years after the execution of the Báb, a fringe element in the Bábí community made an unsuccessful assassination attempt against the Shah of Iran, Naser-al-Din Shah, in retaliation for his decision to order the execution of Báb.The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and violence, by Moojan Momen, 2011The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and Violence, by Moojan Momen, 2011 While Baháʼu'lláh strongly condemned the assassination, and renounced the movement's early anti-Qajar stance, on 15 August 1852 radicalized Bábís once again attempted to assassinate the Shah, with this second attempt proving likewise unsuccessful. Notwithstanding the assassins' claim that they were working alone, and that Baháʼu'lláh had not participated in the planning of the assassination attempt, the entire Bábí community was pronounced guilty of the plot, and a massacre of several thousand Bábís followed. From that point onwards, Naser held a deep-rooted suspicion of the Bábís and Baha'is, viewing them as political agitators similar to the anarchists of Europe.
The Shah of Iran and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ʻAbdu'l-ʻAziz, successively exiled Baháʼu'lláh from Persia to Baghdad, then Constantinople, and eventually to the fortress of Acre for lifetime incarceration.
By the end of the 19th century, there was growing dissension within the Qajar state, and in an effort to draw public attention away from the government and instead toward the evils of the 'devious sect', charges of subversion and conspiracy against the Bábís and Baháʼís increased. In the early 20th century, the Baháʼís were seen as being non-conformist in a society which looked to comfort in unified ideals and fearful of losing its perceived unique Shiʻa culture due to increasing influence from outside the boundaries of Persia. During the 1940s, the Iranian government and Muslim clerical groups started espousing the belief that the religion had been intentionally manufactured by Western powers to destroy the "unity of the Muslim nation", and that those who did not share the beliefs of the Muslim majority were agents of foreign powers.
By the 1960s opponents of the Baháʼí Faith increasingly placed charges of spying on Baháʼí, along with other forms of connections to foreign powers rather than simply labelling Baháʼís as heretics. These new charges helped define a new 'other' and reaffirmed a threatened Shiʻi self. This new attitude towards the Baháʼís was now not confined to the clerics, but was also rampant among the secular Iranian middle-class. In the 1970s accusations of Baháʼís being numerous in the Shah's regime surfaced, as well as there being a perception that Baháʼís were generally better off than the rest of the population. Historian H.E. Chehabi notes that while the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith mitigate the possibility of a preferential attachment of Baháʼís to Iran, Iran is seen by Baháʼís as the "Cradle of the Cause" to which it owes a degree of affection by Baháʼís worldwide.
Since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, there have also been several accusations of Baháʼís being associated with Zionist activities, largely on the grounds that the Baháʼí World Centre is located in the modern boundaries of Israel, even though the centre was founded prior to 1948, and was not established at the invitation of the Israeli government. The Baháʼí World Centre has its historical origins in the area that was at the time part of Ottoman Syria. This dates back to the 1850s and 1860s and the repeated forced exiles of Baha'i leaders.
Since the Iranian revolution After the overthrow of the Shah during the Iranian Revolution, the new Islamic regime targeted the Baháʼís in Iran, since they held a deep hostility toward them as they saw them as infidels. As nationalistic beliefs increased in Iran, Baháʼís were viewed as unpatriotic and connected with foreign elements. During this time the Baháʼís were accused of being anti-Islamic, pro-Zionism agents, supporters of the Shah's regime, and being engaged with the governments of foreign powers. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran, both privately and publicly, addressed the charges against them point by point, but received no response to their rebuttal.
In January 1980 with the election of President Bani Sadr and the continuing anti-Baháʼí sentiment, the Baháʼí Faith was officially described by the government as a political movement against the Iranian Revolution and Islam. Before the revolution, Bani Sadr had claimed the universal message of the Baháʼí Faith was connected with Western powers. In February 1980, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations stated that Baháʼís were SAVAK agents and repeated the cleric's charges; only later when he broke with the regime in 1982 did he recant his previous statements.
By 1981, however, revolutionary courts no longer couched the execution of Baháʼís with political terms, and they instead cited only religious reasons. Also documents were given out to Baháʼís that if they would publicly embrace Islam, that their jobs, pensions and property would be reinstated. These documents were shown to the United Nations as evidence that the Iranian government was using the political accusations as a front to the real religious reason for the persecution of the Baháʼís.
In 1983, Iran's prosecutor general once again stated that the Baháʼís were not being persecuted because of their religious belief, but that instead they were spies, and that they were funnelling money outside the country. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran, once again, addressed the issues raised by the prosecutor point by point; the letter was sent to various government agencies. The letter acknowledged that funds were being sent abroad as Baháʼí contributions to the shrines and holy places, but denied all other points, and asked for proof of the charges. No response was obtained from the government to this letter. The clerics continued to persecute the Baháʼís and charged the Baháʼís with "crimes against God" and Zionism.
In 1983 to a report to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the official view of the Islamic Republic was published in a twenty-page document; the document stated that Western powers had encouraged the founding of the Baháʼí Faith; that it was not actually a religion, but a political entity created by foreign powers, and that there was a link between the Baháʼí Faith and Zionism and SAVAK. The United Nations Human Rights Commission Sub-Commission Expert Mr. Eide stated that the publication provided by the Iranian government "recalled the publications disseminated in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, which had contributed to severe prejudice costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of peoples. The Sub-Commission should be on guard against any recurrence of such campaigns".
The Iranian government's statement was not accepted by the United Nations as the UN had received no evidence from the Iranian government regarding its claims. The representative from Germany stated that "the documents concerning the Baháʼís showed that the latter were persecuted, not for criminal offences, but simply for their religious beliefs". The Iranian delegate dismissed the text of the Commission's resolution, and persecution of the Baháʼís continued.
In 1991, the Iranian government again gave a statement to the United Nations stating that since the administrative centre of the Baháʼí Faith is located in Israel, it is directly controlled by "Zionist forces", although the Baháʼí World Centre has its historical origins in the area that was once Ottoman Syria. In the late 1990s during Muhammad Khatami's presidency, the name-calling and outrageous accusations did not end, and with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, the frequency and intensity of these accusations has increased.
Russian and British ties During the 19th century, the Indian subcontinent was part of the overseas possessions of Britain; at the same time Russia had been expanding its influence south and east into the Caucasus and Central Asia toward India, and a rivalry started between Britain and Russia over the influence of one another in Central Asia. The middle zone of land that was located between India and Russian holdings included Persia, and was a region of great significance, where both Russia and Britain worked to gain influence.
The support of the British government during the Persian Constitutional Revolution, the Anglo-Russian Convention which clearly defined the borders of Russian and British influence in Central Asia (thus bringing an end to the Great Game), the occupation of Iranian territory during the First and Second World Wars by Russian, Ottoman and British forces, all encouraged the development of antagonism in Iran towards these foreign powers. Muslim clerics and other anti-Baháʼí groups connected the Baháʼí Faith, and its predecessor the Bábí movement, to the governments of Britain and Russia to project the sentiments towards these two groups onto the Baháʼís.
Russian ties In God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi alludes to the protection the Russian ambassador gave Baháʼu'lláh on different occasions, first after the attempted assassination of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar and again after the decision to exile Baháʼu'lláh from Iran, expressing his "desire to take Baháʼu'lláh under the protection of his government, and offered to extend every facility for His removal to Russia." In his Súriy-i-Haykal, Baháʼu'lláh included the Lawh-i-Malik-i-Rús, praising Czar Alexander II of Russia in these terms: "when this Wronged One was sore-afflicted in prison, the minister of the highly esteemed government (of Russia)—may God, glorified and exalted be He, assist him!—exerted his utmost endeavor to compass My deliverance. Several times permission for My release was granted. Some of the ʻulamás of the city, however, would prevent it. Finally, My freedom was gained through the solicitude and the endeavor of His Excellency the Minister. …His Imperial Majesty, the Most Great Emperor—may God, exalted and glorified be He, assist him!—extended to Me for the sake of God his protection—a protection which has excited the envy and enmity of the foolish ones of the earth." When Baháʼu'lláh and his family traveled from Iran to Baghdad subsequent to his exile in 1853, they were accompanied by a representative of the Russian legation.