Vladimir Lenin once said that a lie told often enough becomes truth. If one takes a look at the way Bahá’ís have been viewed and treated by their adversaries, particularly Muslim clerics from Shaykh Fazlollah Nuri to Falsafi to Dorri-Najafabadi and other leaders of the current Iranian regime, they will see an unfortunate truth to Lenin’s assertion.
Several baseless claims have been put forth as truth in various public forums and media. Over time, these have been accepted as “truth” due to repetition and a general apathy by the Iranian masses towards independent investigation of such claims. Gradually, most of us have simply come to accept a variety of often conflicting claims about the Bahá’ís. For instance, the Bahá’ís were created by the British AND Russians in the 19th-century (while both were actually competing for influence in Persia!). Or that the Baha’is held positions of power in the Pahlavi regime and were also agents of Israel, international Zionism, and American Imperialism. During the Iran-Iraqi war, some Bahá’ís were even labeled as Iraqi agents!
Adib Masumian puts forth a challenge to these theories in his new book “Debunking the Myths: Conspiracy Theories on the Genesis and Mission of the Bahá’í Faith.” In 89 pages, this work provides an analysis of the most widespread anti-Bahá’í allegations raised by clerics and Iranian polemicists over the past century or so. These include such myths as Prince Dolgorukov of Russia acting as the prime motivator of the Báb, the British General, Arthur Conolly, as the one who persuaded Mulla Husayn to push the Báb into starting his religion, or considering `Abdu’l-Bahá’s knighthood in 1920 as irrefutable evidence of Bahá’í ties to British imperialism.
The book also discusses whether any of the influential members of the Sháh’s regime were Baha’is from Amir Abbas Hoveida to General Nassiri or Parviz Sabeti of SAVAK to Farrokhroo Pársá and others. And unlike anti-Baha’i polemicists who hardly ever provide credible sources for their claims, this book offers about 140 citations with a bibliography of over 50 different books and credible websites (both Baha’i and non-Baha’i) to substantiate its assertions.
Iran Press Watch highly recommends this book to their readers. It is available for purchase in two versions. It has been reviewed and accepted by the NSA of the United States.
Black and White ($9.95):
“I hope those who have always wondered about the credibility of claims against the Baha’is take a look at this book and decide for themselves where the truth is. Just as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been proven a farce, so must the Dolgorukov Memoirs and other fabrications be exposed, once and for all, for what they are – insults to scholarship. I have attempted to do that, too, in this work.”