Mrs. Nahid Vahdat Sho’ar is a truth seeker who reached the truth through continuous research. Despite the deep differences, even the obvious contradiction, between what she had found and what she had seen and learned since childhood, she was willing to accept the truth with open arms. The following is the second part of an interview with her which we hope it is interesting and readable for the respected audience.
Q: When did the motivation for research start in you to verify the things you were taught in the ethics class and what sparked your mind? What made you decide to do more research and then finally abandon Bahaism?
A: In the ethics class, something that was a question for me since childhood was that they said that it is necessary to leave prejudices and imitations and to suppress the truth and to leave myths and superstitions, but in the books they dealt with superstitions, for example, they said that Bob and Annis tied Bob’s cellmate together to the rope of hanging. They hanged them and shot them seven hundred and fifty bullets, but the bullet hit the rope and they survived!
Q: Just as it was shown in the Bob’s film?
A: Yes, they survived. And they saw them in their room! Then they tied them again. After killing those two, smoke rose and the weather became dark and there was such a wind and storm that everyone lost their way and could not go to their homes. This is what they told us in ethics class! I felt that they were saying superstitions, well this is superstition and they were brainwashing the children. Then I came and referred to history and many things in history became clear to me.
For example, in the ethics lesson, they told us that when Bob was studying in Seyed Kazem Rashti’s classroom, one day he was sitting by the window and the sun was shining on his legs. And you don’t know. They emphasized these things a lot, but didn’t say anything about the fact that that Imam Zaman ordered to buy weapons and attack and kill and they rebelled. They imposed three wars on the government and Amir Kabir really had to fight against them. Of course, in history, it seemed to me that Amir Kabir was killed by these Babis, that is, Nasereddin Shah’s mother, Mahd Olia, was in contact with the British Embassy and she carried out the plot to kill Amir Kabir under the guidance of the British.
If I hadn’t been in Baha’i meetings, I wouldn’t have known these things. I had attended ethics classes and had read their contents. I came to university; my major was history. I saw that these things they told us in the ethics lesson are incorrect. For example, they told us that when Baha’u’llah claimed to be a prophet, they took him to Tehran’s dungeon and chained him for four years. Later, when I referred to history, I saw that Baha’u’llah was one of the accused in the assassination of Nasereddin Shah. That is why he was arrested and imprisoned. Not because of prophetic statements and many other issues, which I will tell you one by one if I get a chance.
Q: Did these issues make you doubt and say that I should do research?
A: Yes, they really didn’t come to tell the truth. They hid the facts. Let me tell you this, at the banquet, they not only hide their religious truth from the Muslims, but also hide their rules and laws from among the Baha’is who are there. I remember when I was a child, we used to go to banquets, they said that you should not interfere in politics, whoever interferes in politics is not one of us. One thing that was very strange for me, I was ten or twelve years old then, before the revolution. They said that if you want to be employed in one of the departments, put a dash in the religion column. Then we found out how many Baha’is worked in the Shah’s apparatus from the prime minister Hoveida to others. They do not come to say these things. Hojabr Yazdaniev, the Shah’s physician, the justice chief, Sabet Pasal, who brought the television. How much influence did Baha’ism have in Iran that they had taken all the important affairs of the country around the Shah?!
Q: You said that I realized that this slogan of suppressing the truth and abandoning prejudices is not a real one. When you yourself researched and discussed with some Baha’is or organizations, what was their reaction when facing this slogan?
A: I did not discuss it with the Baha’i organization, because I was far from them. I have been educated since I was twenty when I went to the boarding school for two years. After that, I was in Tehran University. My parent and sister used to go to the feast, but I didn’t go and I was separated. My parent were in the city. That is, my family situation was such that fortunately I had no contact. The times were like this, then we separated and came here with my sister.
Q: Didn’t they oppose you?
A: Since I had no relationship with them publicly at that time, nothing happened. I cut from them when I realized that they are after power and money. In the first place, I saw that I have read their history and this is a religion that is not true and they told us a false history. At that time, I said that whoever believes has an opinion and likes to worship his God in this way.
Thanks God, my family did not pester me maybe because of my circumstances. A few things happened. Thanks God who wanted this to remain in my mind forever. First, I said that this is a religious belief and it is their religion. Then when I read more, I saw that no, it’s all a lie; as far as I know, Baha’u’llah had the right to be an English citizen at all, he had an English passport, he was seen with the Freemasons in Baghdad. I said that I have nothing to do with them, whatever religion and opinion they have is for themselves; But I realized that they are a security danger at all, and are looking for politics at all. They check all the personal issues of the families; who has how much money? Who has an heir, who doesn’t? They are terribly involved in people’s personal matters.
