Interview with a Bahá’í Who Escaped From Iran:

I grew up in a Bahá’í family in Iran. On my mother’s side I am the fifth generation, and my father was third, and my grandfather became a Bahá’í during the time of Bahá’u'lláh.

In Iran the Bahá’í Faith was never recognized officially, so we were always under pressure. They cursed us in the streets, the children were beaten in school, and always I remember when I was a small child they broke our windows and put dirt behind our door because we were Bahá’ís. But we never tried to get revenge. My parents told me, and I always told my children later, that Bahá’u'lláh said to love people, even your enemies. So even when they beat us, we showed them love, and we helped them.

They burned my father’s business in Hamadan when I was two or three years old. This sort of thing happened to all the Bahá’ís in Iran. In the last century 20,000 Bahá’ís were martyred — put to the death in an attempt to eliminate the Bahá’í community — and their houses were looted and they were tortured.

Mehri Mavvaddat

If we have real love for each other, this solves every problem. Because with animosity and revenge and hatred we don’t go anywhere. If we try to revenge, we only bring more animosity and it never ends. Love is the most important thing. Then we can establish unity and peace.

Read the entire story here.

Many Muslims, including ourselves at this network, agree with Mavvadat’s approach and we truly believe that people should stop fighting for dominance. Both religions preach tolerance, interfaith and respect. We at this network entirely accept our Baha’i friends and condemn any crimes against them, because these are crimes against humanity, which our religion doesn’t justify at all. The Baha’is were never threatening and in fact have always defended Islam and Muslims. This is why we choose to fight for their human rights within our Muslim world. It’s the very least we can do to help the harmless Baha’i communities.