Illumination Responses to three representative books printed in Iran attacking the Baha'i Faith Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the suppression of the Baha'i community in Iran to be one of its official policies. In addition to summary executions, arbitrary arrests, confiscation of property, and denial of basic human rights to the members of the Baha'i Faith, the Islamic Republic's state apparatus has been mobilized to produce defamatory propaganda and fabrications in order to justify the persecution of the peaceful Baha'i community for the Iranian public and to an increasingly alarmed international community. Dr. Tavangar's book is a comprehensive and thoughtful work that addresses the numerous misrepresentations and baseless attacks that are continuously published and promoted by the authorities in Iran against the Baha'i community - its largest religious minority. Being a respected Islamic and Baha'i scholar, Dr. Tavangar has gone beyond mere rebuttals by laying out in this book clear historical as well as scriptural and philosophical notions that explain and expose the roots of the arguments put forth against the Baha'i Faith by the typical publications and so-called research centers in Iran.
About the Author: Dr. Ali Tavangar is a scholar of Islamic studies and Persian literature with an emphasis on mystical works in Farsi such as those of Rumi, Attar, Hafez among others. He obtained his doctoral degree in Iranian literature and Islamic studies from the University of Tehran, and subsequently has been a lecturer and researcher in this field for several decades. Among Dr. Tavangar's primary research interests have been Iranian mystic works such as those of Rumi and Attar as well as the fundamental unity between the core teachings of the world's major religions as evidenced through a study of the various scriptural sources and books of commentary. In addition to his works and research on Iranian and Islamic topics, he has been engaged in an in depth study of the verities of the Baha'i Faith and has worked extensively with other scholars in studying original Baha'i texts. The following are a few of Dr. Tavangar's works: * Member of the team of scholars in researching and preparing for publication a 10-volume in depth commentary on the Quran attributed to the 12th century AD Islamic scholar Khajeh Abdullah Ansari and authored by Abulfazl Rashid-Addin Meibodi - This work was researched by a team of scholars and published under the direction of Professor Ali Asghar Hekmat of Tehran University. * Member of the research team for the publication of a book on the sources of the stories in Rumi's Mathnavi - . This book was published under the direction of Professor Badi'u'zaman Forouzanfar. * Researching, categorization and publication in Persian calligraphy, of a 392 page collection of poems by Mirza Husayn Tavangar (Qarra). * Provisional translation of one of the major works by Baha'u'llah in Arabic: .