Baha’i Musician Imprisoned In Iran

I am concerned to learn that a Baha’i musician has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran.

Behnam Rohani-Fard, a Bahai Musician and composer  who had resided in Tehran for some time traveled to the city of Yazd to participate in the mourning ceremony arranged for one of his family members.  In the morning hours of Monday, October 12, Mr. Rohani-Fard was detained by Intelligence agents while driving in his private car; he was taken to an undisclosed location.

In repeated follow-ups made by Mr. Rohani-Fard’s wife, she was told that her husband would be released in one week and his detention was related to his change of residence, as well as chanting religious Bahai songs. 

Readers are reminded that Mr. Rohani-Fard was a target of investigation by agents from the Intelligence Ministry in March 20 of this year.  During the investigation, Mr. Rohani-Fard’s computer and some of his personal effects were confiscated.  The agents carried a search warrant and an issued sentencing for a one-year suspended jail term, effective for the next four years.

Source:http://iranian.com/main/blog/faryarm/music-and-arrest-bahai-musician-behnam-rohani-fard

Minoo’s Recipe For ‘Khoresht-e-aloo va esfenaj’

‘Khoresht-e-aloo va esfenaj’ or Persian spinach and dried plum stew is another popular dish in the Beech household. This recipe should serve 4-5 people.

Ingredients

• 750 g lamb chopped into cubes
• 750 g fresh spinach
• 2 chopped large onions
• 12-15 dried plums
• Salt
• 1 ½ cups of split peas
• 3-4 cups of water

Instructions

1. Boil split peas separately until almost soft
2. Fry the lamb, onions and dried plums in a medium pan over a moderate heat until they turn golden-brown, adding salt to taste.
3. Add 3-4 cups of water, add split peas, put lid on pan and simmer for c. 25 minutes
4. Add spinach and simmer for a further 15 minutes
5. Serve with Persian-style white rice

Baha’i Abducted And Tortured In Shiraz

In a case of shocking brutality a member of Shiraz’s Baha’i community has been abducted and tortured.

According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], based on reports from the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Mr. Rouh’u’llah Rezaie, a 45-year-old Baha’i in Shiraz, was stopped, kidnapped, and moved to an unknown place as he was returning home, to his wife and child, from a gas station early in the morning on 8/8/1388 [October 27,2009]. There, he was threatened, insulted, and subjected to a simulated hanging in a show-execution. He was left naked in extreme cold, and different parts of his hands, chest, and forehead were burnt by cigarettes. Finally, he was released on a road in the suburbs of Shiraz.

Source: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5272

Eve As Symbol Of The Human Soul

 

I have always admired ‘Abdu’l Baha for his appreciation of the symbolic nature of religious language. A good example is his exegesis of the biblical story of Adam and Eve- 

Question.—What is the truth of the story of Adam, and His eating of the fruit of the tree? 

…We must reflect a little: if the literal meaning of this story were attributed to a wise man, certainly all would logically deny that this arrangement, this invention, could have emanated from an intelligent being. Therefore, this story of Adam and Eve who ate from the tree, and their expulsion from Paradise, must be thought of simply as a symbol. It contains divine mysteries and universal meanings, and it is capable of marvelous explanations. Only those who are initiated into mysteries, and those who are near the Court of the All-Powerful, are aware of these secrets. Hence these verses of the Bible have numerous meanings. 

We will explain one of them, and we will say: Adam signifies the heavenly spirit of Adam, and Eve His human soul. For in some passages in the Holy Books where women are mentioned, they represent the soul of man. The tree of good and evil signifies the human world; for the spiritual and divine world is purely good and absolutely luminous, but in the human world light and darkness, good and evil, exist as opposite conditions. 

 The meaning of the serpent is attachment to the human world. This attachment of the spirit to the human world led the soul and spirit of Adam from the world of freedom to the world of bondage and caused Him to turn from the Kingdom of Unity to the human world. When the soul and spirit of Adam entered the human world, He came out from the paradise of freedom and fell into the world of bondage. From the height of purity and absolute goodness, He entered into the world of good and evil.  

Source: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/saq-30.html

 

Significantly Eve is not the temptress of the literalist story and is rather a symbol of the human soul. Of course as ‘Abdu’l Baha says

these verses of the Bible have numerous meanings.