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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 a warm handshake.
One God, one race for the Bahá'í Faith
Sunnyvale members of faith interact with larger Silicon Valley
By Moryt Milo
"We do everything in our power to educate people about the oneness of humanity," says Simin Parvani, Sunnyvale resident and follower of the Bahá'i faith. "We are lucky as Bahá'i that we can continue to teach this."
Parvani and her husband, Cyrus, who have lived in Sunnyvale for the last five years, are two members of an estimated 50-member Bahá'i community in Sunnyvale. The Parvanis say they meet with the other community members at each other's homes during the week and on weekends to talk and discuss their religion.
About once or twice a month, the Parvanis say they journey to a little church in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. The church sits 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 religion 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 in San Jose, 945 Willow St., has 300 members, some coming from as far away as Redwood City, Fremont and Milpitas.
Cyrus Parvani says he is a fourth generation Bahá'i. He says that no one is "born into" the Bahá'i faith.
"Becoming a Bahá'i is through choice," he says. "Not through birth."
He says that at the age of 15, children of Bahá'i parents decide whether they want to become a Bahá'i. Obviously, both he and his wife, Simin, did.
Cyrus says both he and Simin lived in Persia (now Iran) until 1969. They moved to North America and spent some years living in both the United States and Canada. They finally have settled in Sunnyvale.
Simin says being a Bahá'i member has made constant moves easier for them.
"Because it's one faith, with no separate sects, you immediately are a part of any Bahá'i community anywhere you go," she says.
"When Persian people fled Iran during the revolution there, many didn't know where to go," she continues. "The Bahá'is just picked up the phone and connected to whichever Bahá'i community they wanted to go."
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--what is present-day Iran--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 eagerly 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 to 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 clergy, 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 are 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.
Members prefer the term "devotional" when referring to services at their interfaith gatherings. On Wednesday evenings, Bahá'ís gather in the Willow Glen center and walk up to the podium to read prayers and scriptures. On Sundays, the children and adults gather from 10 to 10:30 a.m. to listen to music, devotional readings and announcements. Then the children and adults go to classes where various issues and topics are discussed. The youth also have workshops on Sunday afternoons.
Mei-Ling Leong, a 28-year-old workshop coordinator who is Chinese and Australian, calls her workshop youth an "army of justice upholders."
"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.
Cyrus is the public information officer of the Sunnyvale Bahá'i. He says in 1985 he produced and directed "Promise of World Peace," a 20-minute documentary that was made to "promote peace and hope in the world." He says that it was originally broadcast across the United States via satellite and was broadcast in six different languages.
He says the video's message was for "the unification of mankind, which is the purpose of the Bahá'i faith."
"We love America," Cyrus adds. "We love this country. We do everything in our power to respect this country. We want to help and see the growth and success of this country."
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.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
