Allegation:
8.
<<was actively involved in performing Navjotes of Moslems and that was
likely to have serious repercussions for Zoroastrians now living in Iran under
the Islamic regime.>>
<<Please bear with us that we have to maintain equitable and cordial relations with the large and active Muslim community in India as well as we have to maintain brotherly relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran where thousands of Zoroastrians still reside. In view of Dr. Jaffrey's active proselytizing of Muslims to his brand of Zoroastrianism, we feel very strongly that his presence at our congress will endanger our cordial relations with the Muslim communities both in India and in Iran.Already his activities appertaining to converting Muslims to Zoroastrianism, had been discussed in the Iranian Majlis some years ago, forcing the Zoroastrian representative to disclaim Dr. Jaffrey's activities outside of Iran.>> (Bombay Punchayet's Letter)
Truth:
A FALSE ALARM AND A HOLLOW HOAX
This entire rumor mongering by certain Traditionalists
among the Parsi community amounts to a direct INSULT to all Iranian
Zoroastrians. Are Iranian Zoroastrian so dull, dumb, deaf, and drugged that they
cannot realize the supposed danger hanging over their heads for more than a
decade?! What about the present and past Zoroastrian Representatives in the
Islamic Parliament of Iran? What about the Council of Mobeds in Tehran? What
about the Council of Iranian Mobeds in North America? What about other active
leaders of the community? What about a seasoned diplomat like Prof. Farhang
Mehr, incidentally a Founder of the Assembly? What about Dr. Ardeshir
Anoshiravani of the California Zoroastrian Center and Dr. Borzinmehr Soroushian
of the Iranian Mobeds Council who are the Congress Committee Members -- the very
persons who proposed my name? What about many other outstanding Iranian
Zoroastrians all over the world? All asleep for good because certain Parsi
Traditionalists are hyper alert to the danger they alone can imagine! And what
about the Iranian Government which was the
support that made the World Zoroastrian Congress to be successfully held in
Tehran?
And above all, do these persons think that the Iranian Government does not know as to what is happening?! It knows well. It knows of the Christian missionaries who have so far converted thousands of Iranian Muslims all over the West. In this Los Angeles of ours, there are three Churches operated by Iranian converts who advertise their activities in Persian newspapers and invite people to attend their services. The Iranian Government knows well that the Baha'is are active among Iranians abroad and are doing their job. Have these activities endangered the lives of Christians in Iran? Are Baha'is being massacred for what their co-religionists are doing in safe havens? And what about thousands of Jews in Iran at a time when the Islamic Government is firmly against recognizing Israel? If any minority community in Iran faces a danger, it should be the Jews. They are not. A trial of 13 Jews on charges of espionage is purely a political matter. Otherwise the Jews are leading a normal life led by other minorities.
And let us keep in mind that the Zoroastrians are the best treated of all the minorities. Most of the top Government officials have expressed their pride that their pre-Islamic Iran had a great monotheistic religion. Or would the entire Government machine go wild, only because a particularly person participates in the Congress following the government-backed WZC of Tehran, and let the hell loose on the Zoroastrian natives? And who LIED that <<Already his activities appertaining to converting Muslims to Zoroastrianism, had been discussed in the Iranian Majlis some years ago, forcing the Zoroastrian representative to disclaim Dr. Jaffrey's activities outside of Iran.>> Any proof???!!!
Should one
call all this a hollow hoax or a jolting joke or a limping lie?
The hollow hoax becomes
hollower when one looks at what the
Iranian Council of Mobeds, Tehran declared 17 years ago when the present regime
of Iran was much stricter. This how it appeared in The Zoroastrian, monthly bulletin of the California Zoroastrian
Center, No. 1-5, June 1983:
ACCEPTANCE AS
ZOROASTRIAN
In reply to a query by Mobed Bahram Shahzadi of Chicago,
the Council of Mobeds, Teheran, Iran has hailed the Navjote of Mr. Joseph
Peterson in its letter No. 466 of May 24, 1983 (day Spendarmad, month Khordad,
1352), a copy of which has been sent to this center.
This letter cites a number of instances from the Gathas and
other religious scriptures and proves that Good Religion is a missionary
religion and that it is a universal faith and not a monopoly of any particular caste or nation.
The
Zoroastrian religion, it says, is open for all people. Asho Zarathushtra does
not advocate force . . . but he has laid down rules for the propagation and
promotion of the religion as well as the acceptance of non-Zoroastrians. It
continues to say: A study of religious scriptures would show that the
propagation and promotion of the religion is a meritorious deed. If we
Zoroastrians believe that our religion is one of the great living religions of
the world, the letter concludes, and that it is beneficial to all the peoples of
the world, we must persevere to propagate it We must accept the person who wants
to embrace the Zoroastrian religion....
The letter is signed on behalf of the Council by its
President, Mobed Ardeshir Azargoshasp and bears the Council seal. The matter was
discussed at an official meeting.
The Council of Mobeds, with its headquarters in Teheran, is
well represented by priests from Yazd and Kerman and is officially recognized by
the Government as representing the Zoroastrian minority in Iran and looking
after its religious affairs. [The end of the quotation]
It may be added that the Mobedan Mobed Ardeshir Azargoshasb
has a book Sadreh-pūshi (Navjote)
that repeats the statement of Acceptance of those who wish to choose the Good
Religion. The book also gives a photograph of the Initiation of Mr. Joseph
Peterson.
Had there been the slightest danger posed to the
Zoroastrians in Iran, the above mentioned letter and/or the book would have
cautioned or prohibited the Mobeds from accepting and performing the Initiation
of a Muslim.
It is well known that Mobed Kamran Jamshidi, grandson of
Mobed Azargoshasb, when requested performs the Initiation of those who
knowledgeably want to choose the Good Religion. This holds true about other
Iranian Mobeds in North America.
Who is fooling whom and/or harming whom by spreading rumors
and resorting to blasphemy! Not the Iranians. But certain smart persons are out
to fool the simple folks of theirs, and as a result harm their future interests.
And within their hearts they want an incident to happen in Iran so that they can
say "Ha, we told you!" But neither the Iranian Government nor the
Iranian Zoroastrians are fools to fall into such a dreamed trap of certain
Traditionalists.
These very false alarms by certain non-Iranian persons may
pose an incentive for some opportunists to cause a hit-and-run harm to a few
Iranian Zoroastrians.
It is easy to
say <<I, for one, would not like to have the death of even a single
Zoroastrian on my conscience>> but not that easy to dump Iranian
Zoroastrians as fast asleep and raise a false alarm for a selfish gain in the
World Zoroastrian Congress. Where goes the conscience then?
But what makes the Hollow
Hoax turn into a Jolting Joke is
the sentence in the letter of the Parsi Punchayat Funds & Properties. It
reads: <<Please bear with us that we have to maintain equitable and
cordial relations with the large and active Muslim community in India
>>
The Muslims of India have been converting Hindus, and
whenever possible Parsis, for the last 1400 years, and reports say that
missionaries, backed by Saudi Arabia, are still working to convert, at least,
the low caste people of India. Yet these very Muslims are living their life in a
Hindu dominated India. Sporadic religious outbreaks have far deeper causes than
voluntary conversion through study or inter-marriage.
Christian missionaries have been active since the
Portuguese landed in India 500 years ago. The result is the growing Christian
community. We saw how India paid her tributes to Mother Theresa whose mission
was conversion coupled with welfare aid to needy non-Christian Indians. She was
followed by Pope John Paul II, the Head of the Catholic mission. His recently
visit to India was a triumph. Christians are more active among Hindus, Sikhs,
Jains, Buddhists, Muslims and Parsis today
than in the past. Yet the relations are cordial enough.
An Irani Zartoshti converted to Baha'ism told my father in
1928 {and as a seven-year boy, I was holding his hand] that there were only 200
Baha'is in pre-partition India, almost all of them Iranian Zoroastrian converted
to the new faith. Today, the Baha'is claim that there are 700,000 Baha'is in the
partitioned India (Bharat). They speak about their missionary success in Sri
Lanka, Bangla Desh and Pakistan. And they have their cordial relations with
Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians in the Indian Sub-continent. I have not
heard or read any news of a protest against them.
It is only one person in far off Los Angeles, Jafarey, who
would jeopardize the Parsi position among Indian Muslims! A jolting
joke, isn't it!
Yes, it is a false
alarm, a hollow hoax and a jolting joke. It is also an insult hurled at Iranian
Zoroastrians. Not by Parsis but by a vociferous small circle of Traditionalists.
Let me make a comment on the letter signed by Mr. Jamshed
Guzdar. It looks very odd, very strange that a person who knows me from the 1964
Congress in Bombay and was the person who, for the opinion he had about me for
the last 36 years, recommended me for an award; suddenly turned 180 degrees in
about two to three days. He writes (?) a letter in which, without presenting any
evidence or mentioning the source which made him change his mind, he repeats
what other distorting -rumormongers have been harping on for the last ten years.
Was he convinced to write it? Or was he misled by a clever person? There appears
a clue:
<<Please note that I wish to disclaim the letter I
signed dated the 14th of December, 1999, in which I supported the
candidature of Dr. Ali Jaffrey for an award. In no way, can his achievements be
compared to Professor Mary Boyce or Professor John Hinnells. I did not know of
Dr. Jaffrey's motives against the community then, as I do now. Had I known of
his apostasy then, we would not have recommended his name, AT ALL.>>
The presence of Professors Boyce and Hinnells is revealing.
I am quite confident that some one, belonging to the Mary Boyce school,
has been the person to have met with Mr. Guzdar, rolled out lies, misled him
to change his mind, and possibly drafted the letter for him to sign. The future
will expose the falsity, especially when Mr. Guzdar comes to know the Truth and
Punchayat politics permit him to speak.
* * * * * *
LINKS:
TO Return to the Relevant Original
Allegation, CLICK
Introduction
& the Gist of "The Plain Reality Behind The Intricate Falsity"
(Allegation No. 8)
TABLE OF CONTENTS and Their Links
Introduction & the Gist of "The Plain Reality Behind The Intricate Falsity"
Analysis of the 26-page "Global Protest"