Current Events in the Land of Ta
By John Taylor; 2009 June 22, Nur 16, 166 BE
As I write, the streets of Tehran, the birthplace of Baha'u'llah, are torn with crowds of protesters rioting in the name of democracy. The shouts of the people are raised against a regime dominated by a clerical order that Baha'u'llah called "veils of glory,"
"What veils of glory more grievous than these embodiments of error! By the righteousness of God! To pierce such veils is the mightiest of all acts, and to rend them asunder the most meritorious of all deeds!" (Baha'u'llah, quoted in Promised Day is Come, p. 82)
At this point it is not at all clear whether these veils will be pierced and torn asunder or not, but if they are it would be appropriate that it be the people en masse who do it, rather than yet another run-of-the-mill coup d'etat.
It was by mass consent, a unified agreement among all levels of society that there was no choice but regime change that the original Iranian revolution started out in 1979. When this revolution took place, I remember being astonished at its peacefulness, at least in the early stages. It seemed to me that it had to be different from any earlier revolution, most of which were foisted upon a reluctant people by a fervid minority. In the French Revolution it was an anti-clerical merchant class, in the Russian it was a small number of Bolsheviks who forced collectivism and atheism down the throat of a large, diverse country.
The Iranian people saw that they had no choice but act in unison. They knew well how easily in the early 1950's fledgling spy Kermit Roosevelt for the newly formed CIA had handed out fists full of dollars, created confusion and an illusion of popular revolt, and ousted an elected, populist leader Mohammad Musaddiq, who had dared nationalize the hated British-owned oil concession. That was how the young Shah had come to power, and it was with American support that he stayed in power for decades. There was no way that the Iranian people could rely upon a small number of representatives to determine their fate on their behalf. As a result, it was the entire society that hit the streets next time. The Shah, already ill, had no choice but board the next jet out of the country.
What a contrast that was to other regime changes and other revolutions! Only when the Iranian people handed power over to the professional body that Baha'u'llah called the "embodiments of error," did things turn bloody.
Nonetheless, I cannot help but think that it was the Iranian revolution's example of radical change by means of pure unity, a peaceful, mass consensus to take to the streets rather than violent tumult that inspired the "velvet" revolution in Czechoslovakia and eventually led to the overthrow of Communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe a decade later. Let us hope that something just as good comes out of the present troubles taking place on the ground where Baha'u'llah first walked upon this earth. I cannot but think of the prophesy that He made about His birthplace, the "land of Ta," in the Aqdas, His Most Holy Book:
"Let nothing grieve thee, O Land of Ta, for God hath chosen thee to be the source of the joy of all mankind. He shall, if it be His Will, bless thy throne with one who will rule with justice, who will gather together the flock of God which the wolves have scattered. Such a ruler will, with joy and gladness, turn his face towards, and extend his favours unto, the people of Baha. He indeed is accounted in the sight of God as a jewel among men. Upon him rest forever the glory of God and the glory of all that dwell in the kingdom of His revelation." (Aqdas, para 91, p. 54)
John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
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