Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Every Bahá'í member who walks through the door of the Bahá'í Center in Willow Glen is greeted with a hug, kiss or warm handshake.
Bahá'í Faith believe in one God, one race
Local members make numerous contributions
By Moryt Milo
On Oct. 13, members of the Bahá'í Faith living in Cupertino found an unofficial record for the number of discarded hubcaps lying on the shoulder of Interstate 280.
They say they found 11, which beats the previous record by two.
"We also found a lot of American flags," said Cupertino Bahá'í Jenny Purushotma. The flags fly off the antennas of the cars and trucks that zip along the highway.
The Bahá'í of Cupertino clean up a section of 280 every four weeks. They do it as a community service that goes along with the church's sponsorship of that stretch of the highway. However, the Cupertino Bahá'í's community service isn't limited to picking up litter. For years they have been involved in the Cupertino Community, working to make the city a better place.
The Cupertino Bahá'í attend a little church sitting on Willow Street, a few blocks east of Lincoln Avenue. The sign out front says The Bahá'í Center, but many people still wonder what Bahá'í, the world's youngest religion, is.
What it's not is a sect or outgrowth of another religion. Although its prophet, Bahá'u'lláh, and early followers came from Islamic society, the Bahá'í Faith is a separate religion with its own laws and scriptures, and a following of more than 5 million people worldwide.
The fundamental principle of the Bahá'í Faith is unity and oneness of humanity. The main elements of its teachings are the belief in one God and one human race, the elimination of extremes between poverty and wealth, full equality of the sexes, elimination of all forms of prejudice, universal education, a balance between science and nature and an acceptance that "all world religions have been stages in the revelation of God's will."
"One of the biggest misconceptions about the Bahá'í Faith is you can keep your religion and join, like a club," says Greg Weiler, 47, the center's youth workshop director.
Weiler, who was raised Catholic and considered joining the priesthood says, "The reason so many people from different religions join the Bahá'í Faith is because they found there aren't any conflicts. They don't have to give up what they learned as a Christian or Jew to become Bahá'í because we teach all other religions. It has a very ecumenical feel."
To study and understand all religions is a fundamental principle in the Bahá'í Faith. It is taught to children in Sunday school and studied among followers. Weiler says the faith is trying to bring about changes in people's hearts throughout the world.
"I think that's the basic goal of all religions," he says. "But in the Bahá'í Faith it is much more in the forefront of who we are and what we are all about."
The Bahá'í Center, 945 Willow St. in San Jose, has 300 members, some coming from as far away as Redwood City, Fremont and Milpitas.
Farhad Moshtagh, another local resident and member of the Bahá'í Faith, estimates that there are about 30 to 35 Bahá'í in Cupertino. Some of them are like him, who fled from Iran after the country's revolution. Moshtagh said he left Iran with his parents in 1975, moving to Canada. He said he later left Canada with his wife and children and moved to Cupertino in 1995.
The Cupertino followers of the Bahá'í Faith meet for monthly prayer sessions after doing the highway clean-up. Moshtagh says that at these sessions they recite prayers for the unity of mankind. "We discuss how to deal with those problems. We want to create unity between all people," he says.
Moshtagh says they also meet when a situation arises where a session may be necessary, such as the Sept. 11 tragedy.
"Tragedies like that remind us of the importance of what we're doing," he says.
Moshtagh is the vice chair of the Spiritual Assembly of Bahá'í of Cupertino. He says many of the Bahá'í in Cupertino have been working actively in the city for years in efforts to bring the community together.
The Cupertino Bahá'í organized World Religion Day in the city for the past six years. On that day, the Bahá'í invites representatives of many religions, such as Christians, Jews and Muslims, to come together and recognize and celebrate the similarities between their faiths. The next World Religion Day will be held Jan. 20, 2002.
Through World Religion Day, the Cupertino Bahá'í became involved with the Community Congress. According to Purushotma, through the celebration they spoke to then-Mayor Patrick Chang about ways to help unite the Cupertino community. He mentioned the idea of the congress. Since then, the Cupertino Bahá'í have been involved in organizing and facilitating the event. The second Community Congress in the city took place on Oct. 5.
This young religion first emerged during the mid-1800s through a doctrine that broke away from the Islamic faith. This doctrine was called the Bábí Faith, founded by a young merchant born in 1819, who took the name "Báb" meaning "gate" or "door" in Arabic.
The Báb came from a wealthy merchant family, yet he was recognized for his generosity to the poor and his integrity within the business community. He was seen as extraordinarily wise and, at age 25, announced he'd been chosen to help prepare the way for the second messenger of God--in many religions known as the Messiah. He told followers this messenger would be greater than himself and bring forth a new era of peace and prosperity.
His message spread rapidly throughout Persia and religious opposition and persecution followed.
The Báb replaced certain Muslim laws with new tenets that included equity for women and the poor and the promotion of education, useful science and a high moral standard. It was a message Persian society anxiously embraced, as it looked for ways to break out of philosophies that discriminated against women and the poor and didn't value learning and science.
As the Báb's following grew stronger the established religions called him a heretic and ordered his execution. On July 9, 1850, he was sentenced to death. In a recorded account by a British foreign officer and according to Bahá'í religious texts, the Báb and one of his followers were suspended by ropes against a wall and shot at by 750 Armenian soldiers. When the smoke cleared, the follower was "uninjured and untouched" and the Báb was found back in his cell giving "final instructions to one of his followers," according the Bahá'í texts.
The Báb, having completed his instructions, was taken out a second time, with his first companion, to be executed. The Armenian troops refused to fire, and a Muslim squad was ordered to shoot. Although the bodies of the Báb and his follower were shattered, their faces remained untouched, according to Bahá'í texts.
For almost 60 years, the Báb's body was secretly transferred to different locations to prevent its theft. In 1909 it was interned on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, on what is now the main Bahá'í headquarters--the exact spot pointed out by the Báb's predicted prophet, Bahá'u'lláh.
It was the teachings of the Báb that lead the way for the prophet Bahá'u'lláh, who was born in Tehran, Iran in 1817. The son of a wealthy government minister, the Bahá'u'lláh was brought up as an aristocrat but chose not to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead he devoted himself to philanthropy. By the 1840s he became known as "the father of the poor" and a leading advocate for the Bábí movement.
After the Báb was executed, the Bahá'u'lláh was arrested and brought to Tehran. The only thing that saved him from execution was his family's political status and Western protesters. He was locked up in the infamous "Black Pit" prison in Persia, where authorities hoped he would die. Instead the "dungeon became the birthplace of a new religious revelation," according to Bahá'í historical accounts.
Four months later the Bahá'u'lláh was released and banished from his native homeland. Although he initially lived in Baghdad, he left and went into a two-year seclusion in the mountains of Kurdistan. At the urging of his Bábí followers, he returned to Baghdad. But as his teachings of unity, equality and appreciation of human diversity spread among Persian citizens, the government authorities felt threatened and forced him out of their country.
For 40 years he was persecuted and forced to wander. He was then sent to the penal city Acre, where he lived the remaining 24 years of his life. During his time at Acre, he created what his followers consider his most important work. It was during this period that he outlined the central laws and principles of the Bahá'í Faith.
Bahá'u'lláh died in May 1892, and his remains rest in a restored mansion outside the city of Acre.
Bahá'u'lláh's fundamental principles of unity and appreciation of diversity are still viewed as a threat to the political structure in Iran. Several teenagers in the Sunday Bahá'í youth workshop said their families, while living in Iran, either practiced their faith in secret, were executed for their beliefs or escaped persecution by fleeing the country.
In addition to the religion's progressive spiritual philosophies, it also has a unique governing system. Unlike most Judeo-Christian religions which have clergyman, the Bahá'í Faith has none. On a local and national level, nine individuals are voted in annually to a body called the spiritual assembly. There is no campaigning or nominations. The only requirement is the individual be over 21 and receive the most votes. These individuals have administrative duties and also provide counsel to members.
"You could have a Ph.D., a ditch digger and a doctor all serving together," says Jim Jam, one of the spiritual assembly members from the San Jose Bahá'í community, who has served for more than 30 years.
Jam also says that donations and funding are received differently in the Bahá'í Faith. They do not accept any money from non-Bahá'í--all money comes from Bahá'í only, so they are not obligated to anyone. The amount and the individual always remain anonymous, which maintains their ideal of universal participation.
"When you give in the Bahá'í community," Jam says, "it is between you, the treasurer and God."
When the Bahá'í headquarters, located in Haifa, Israel, was being planned, donations were sent from all over the world. In 10 years, the Bahá'í collected more than $250 million but "no one knew if the money came from selling chickens in Africa or through large checks," Jam says.
"Workshop is an amazing tool not only for the youth to come together, but to understand what they would like society to be," she says.
The Bahá'í's holiest days are the anniversary of the birthday of the Báb, Oct. 20, and the anniversary of the birth of the Bahá'u'lláh, Nov. 12. They also celebrate the Day of the Covenant near Thanksgiving.
Rollins Winslow, a Bahá'í member and converted Catholic, offered the following story as an example of the faith.
"There was a young boy who passed away in Israel. His mother was Christian but his father was Jewish. The father wanted to bury his son in a Jewish cemetery, but according to Jewish law he was not allowed because the boy's mother was not Jewish. The Orthodox Christians gave him permission to bury the boy in their cemetery but only if he had a Christian burial, which the father did not want. So he buried the boy in a Bahá'í cemetery where the father was allowed to bury his son as he wished."
Interfaith devotionals are held at the center on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. For more information, call 408.277.0510 or visit www.bahai.org. The Power of Race Unity, a Bahá'í documentary showing different races working together, will be aired on KNTV/Channel 11 Nov. 8 at 1:30 a.m.
Additional reporting by Jesse Ducker
Cupertino, California Since 1947
