BAHÁ'ÍS celebrate founder

May 15 2009 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

BAHÁ'ÍS in Dumfries and Galloway recently gathered to celebrate the start of their most important festival of the year which marks the declaration in 1863 of their founder, Bahá'u'lláh, of his mission to bring about the unity of mankind.

This celebration covers a period of 12 days during which members of the local and national governing bodies of the faith are elected (there being no clergy in the Baha’i Faith).

Several members from Dumfries and Galloway made their way down to Llandudno in Wales for the national convention for which Mrs Jacqeline Mehrabi of Dumfries was the elected delegate.

This year Bahá'ís were particularly delighted by the message sent from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and other political leaders, to the annual reception held for this occasion in the House of Commons by the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá'ís Group.

In his message, Mr Brown expressed his “respect and admiration” for the British Bahá’í community which, he said, “makes a contribution to British life out of all proportion to its size.”

Mr Brown also referred to the “tragic” persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran and the British government’s support for the Bahá'ís there subject to severe “prejudice and discrimination”.

In a message written on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the leader of the Church of England expressed his solidarity with the Bahá‚í leadership imprisoned in Iran.

The message said that the Archbishop “has made clear to the Iranian authorities his profound disapproval of the way in which the leadership has been treated since their arrest and detention in harsh conditions and without charge last year.

“The charges now brought go against all the experience of Baha’is as peaceful people and loyal citizens of their countries.”