Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani speaks with, and for, the Baha’is

September 4, 2013

A number of Baha’i activists met with Ayatollah Abdolhamid Masumi Tehrani, a dissident Shia cleric, in his office yesterday following the murder last week of Mr. Ataollah Rezvani, a Baha’i, in Bandar Abbas. Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani expressed his sorrow regarding Mr. Rezvani’s murder, and criticized the violation of the civil rights of Iran’s Baha’i community. Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani is one of the few clerics who has defended the Baha’is in Iran in the past.

In remarks published on his website, and which he was reported to have expressed in the meeting, Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani said, “We do not have the right to limit or deny the personal and social rights of any individual who has not interfered with another person’s life, property, honor or reputation. In today’s world, personal and social rights, or in other words, an individual’s civil rights, are not defined by his or her religion, sect, ethnicity or gender. A human being, on account of being a human, is entitled to human rights without any consideration of belief, ethnicity or gender, and no one has the right to limit these rights for a person who has not violated others’ rights. Every government is responsible for defending the personal and social rights of all citizens without any exceptions and in an impartial manner, and to prosecute anyone who violates the rights of others for any reason or due to subscribing to any opinion.”

Contradicting most other Shia clerics, Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani stated that arguing about the legitimacy of religions and cults has proved fruitless throughout history, and that such arguments have resulted in humans killing their own kind. At the end of his comments, Ayatollah Masumi Tehrani expressed optimism regarding the respect for human rights of all Iranian citizens in the future and said, “ I hope that one day in this country Shias, Sunnis, Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, Baha’is and even atheists will have equal rights and be accorded the same respect. It is in such a society that talents flourish and the country is strengthened. Thankfully this positive development is spreading in Iranian society, and it is becoming institutionalized. Hopefully this trend will continue.”

Bahaismiran: Mr. Abdulhamid Masumi Tehrani, Whether you don’t know or you don’t want to know that in the current era, these Baha’is have become a means against Iranian people or it is better to say against Islam… . Aren’t those Palestinian, Syrian, Mianmari and Afghani kids and all the world that you are speaking about them Muslims who are being killed with tanks and bombardments? What is their guilt? You are continually speaking about affection; so don’t these human beings need affection? Have you asked for a calm and relaxed lives for them, too? Which Islamic logic has caused you to sympathize with the murderers of Abargou and hundreds of thousands of other crime agents? Which approach of Imams has given you a verdict to do such behavior? It is better for you to refer and think about the spiritual guides opinions regarding Baha’is. Although for an empty-headed person like you these lasting concepts are for distant last eras. Be careful not to be deceived by Dalgourkis and not to be said continually that you are the very person for whom the Islamic Ummah are waiting….