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Transformation. Society Builders.

Society Builders with
your host, Duane Varan.

Welcome to Society Builders and
thanks for joining the conversation

for social transformation.

In our last episode, we explored the rise
of a network of over 60 Baha'i schools

in Iran that emerged in the first 30
years of the 20th century in the midst

of a society that was almost entirely
illiterate. In some of the towns and

villages where these schools were built,

they provided their communities
with literally the only schooling

available to the population at large.

And a key characteristic of these
initiatives was that they provided

schools for girls just as much as
for boys, providing Iranians with

just about the only opportunity to
provide for the education of girls.

And these schools quickly developed a
reputation as being Iran's best schools.

In fact, key ministers and
even the Shah sent many of their

children there for their education.

It's such a remarkable achievement.

But today we're gonna explore the impact
that this network had, both for the Baha'i

community and for wider Iranian society.

And we're going to discuss the very
sad and unfortunate circumstances

that led to the shutting down of
these schools by imperial edict.

So our story continues, and once
again, we're fortunate to have

imminent Baha'i historian,

dr. Moojan Momen, guide us through this
remarkable chapter in Baha'i history.

So today we continue our discovery
of educational reform in Iran,

part two of my interview with

dr. Moojan Momen.

Moojan jan, welcome back to Society Builders.

Momen: It's a great pleasure to be back.

Varan: Now let's talk more about the
impact this had on these students.

So we mentioned earlier that
Iranian society was almost entirely

illiterate, but within the Baha'i
community, very quickly the literacy

rate became almost universal.

How did this change their lives?

How did this contrast, you know, in
this illiterate society, a community

that's almost entirely 100% literate?

How did that change the fortunes,
if you will, of the Baha'i community?

Momen: Yes.

Again, this was a gradual thing.
Just because your children are going

through school and becoming literate,

you don't become literate necessarily.

So, so it was the question of these
children gradually growing up and

coming up through the ranks of the
Baha'is as educated in a modern sense.

In, in modern schools, educated children
and, and then youths and then young

men, and then young families and so on.

And, and so it was a, a gradual process
of the Baha'i community becoming literate.

But in fact, the Baha'is did help this
along, by later in the sort of 1940s

and 1950s when they were trying to achieve
a hundred percent literacy, they also

set up adult literacy classes for any

adults in the community
who weren't yet literate.

So that they pushed the agenda of
literacy very energetically and achieved

this more or less universal literacy.

And of course, the fact that the
children were literate led onto them,

well first of all, quite a number of
them then went on to university.

They went to Beirut, where there was
the American University in Beirut,

which was a favorite place for.

Baha'i young people to go and then
onto Europe and North America, and

they had a university education there.

And then they returned to Iran as very
highly educated people who could play

an important part in developing Iran,
whether as teachers or as government,

officials, or as just as
businessmen, helping to develop

industry in Iran.

So they came back and
played an important part in that.

Varan: What about for girls?

So, so this is a society that doesn't
really have a lot of roles for women.

I mean, in the traditional society.

What would happen to these girls
when they got their education?

How, how would they put
that education to use?

Momen: Well, there were very few
opportunities for women to work.

Most, I guess, the fact is
that most of them probably

got married and, and brought up children.
But of course they would then bring up

children as educated women and, and would
help to educate their children better.

But a few definitely became teachers
and gradually the other opportunities

opened up as such as nurses. In
fact, the first person to return

from abroad as a having been

trained as a nurse in, in
America, in fact was Ashraf.

And she was the first
Iranian woman to return from

abroad as a trained nurse.

And so these opportunities
gradually came and started.

And, and then, you know, as we go
into the 1940s and 50s, some

businesses started to employ

women and, and of course the Baha'i
businesses, in particular, would employ

women, so it was a gradual process.

Varan: Now Moojan jan, earlier you referred
to, you know, some of the American

teachers who who came across
to help with these schools.

There was, in fact, a really interesting
link between the Iranian and the

American Baha'i communities that

came about because of
these, these schools.

You know, there were of course, you
know, a number of American believers

like, you know, Susan Moody, Dr.

Susan Moody, who came and helped with
clinics and with the schools;

Miss Lillian Cappes, who, who, you know,
of course, was a teacher as well.

And, and these were people who,
who passed away ultimately in Iran.

And, and, and that very much touched
the American Baha'i community, who,

who was also contributing financially
in support of these schools.

Could, could you talk a little
bit about this interaction between

East and West that was coming
about as a result of these schools?

Momen: Yes.

Abdul-Baha began as early as
1910, really began encouraging

Americans to go to Iran and help
contribute to the development of Iran.

And, and this was in two main
areas, health and education.

And in, in education.

He, he encouraged a number of American
Baha'is to go to Iran, and they became

headmaster in one case of the.

Boys school and head mistress of
the girls school, and also teachers

in the, in the girls school.

And again, they had the knowledge of what
a Western curriculum was because they'd

been educated in America and they, they
had teaching qualifications from America.

So they were able to guide the Baha'is
in terms of setting up the schools

and the curriculum to use and so on.

But also they, they were an example

to Iranian women because if you've
got a society that's just simply not

used to women playing an active role
in society and who've been told by

their religious leaders, the Islamic
clerics, that for women to take an

active role in, we inevitably lead to
corruption and moral degeneracy and

all of these sorts of things.

It was a daunting process to think
of, you know, how are we gonna get

women active in our communities and
these American women coming across

to Iran, taking an active role in
the community, becoming teachers,

having a profession interacting
freely with the men in society.

All of these things really set a,
an example for the Baha'i community

of how that could happen,
without the moral degeneracy.

Without the degeneracy, yes.

That society is not in danger of
collapsing into moral degeneracy if

women have an active role in, in society.

And that was a very important
demonstration, if you like.

Like that, it was possible for this
to happen and, and gave both the

men the confidence that, you know,
this could happen and the women,

the inspiration to make it happen.

And so they started to do this and, and
as I say, these American women, very

important right up into the 1930s and
forties and even the 1950s, the, the.

When the Iranian community first allowed
women to be elected onto assemblies,

because initially there was this
feeling that if women were sort of

consulting with men in a private house,
there must be immorality going on.

So they, the Iranian Baha'is
were very anxious to avoid this

image being perpetrated
in the general population.

But eventually they came to the
stage where they said, 'okay, we we're

gonna now take the step of allowing
women to be elected onto assemblies.'

And the very first woman who was elected
to the Iranian National Spiritual

Assembly was in fact one of these
Americans who had come across and who

had been initially a teacher in the
Baha'i schools, but had stayed on in

Iran after the Baha'i schools closed and.

Ms. Sharpe

her name was, she was the
first woman to be elected to the

Iranian National Spiritual Assembly.

Varan: So Moojan joon, it's such
an amazing achievement.

I mean, for, for the Iranian society
as a whole, you have these schools,

they're best in class, amazing schools
spread out all over the country in

places that are not receiving an
education through any other means.

I mean, this all seems like a good thing.

How was it that this all came
to a screeching halt in 1934?

Momen: The context for that is that, when
Shoghi Effendi took up his leadership of

the Baha'i community, when he became the
Guardian, one of his goals, I mean, he

had lots of different things that he was
engaged in, but one of his goals was to

establish the independent nature of the
Baha'i community because, and this

wasn't just in Iran, even in the West.

I mean, many people had the impression
that the Baha'i Faith was not a,

an independent religion, but was
rather a movement that was trying

to reform all religions from within.

So it was perfectly okay to
remain, say, in a Christian

Church and still be a Baha'i.

And so, That was true in the
West and in Iran as well.

The Baha'is were outwardly,
they appeared to be following

Islamic customs and practices.

So when they had a a Baha'i wedding,
you would actually get the local

Islamic cleric coming along and
reading the traditional, that,

that would be the sort of,
marriage ceremony if you like, and

funerals would be the same and so on.

So, The Baha'is were not that
distinguishable from the general

population in terms of their practices.
You know, behind closed doors, they

would have their meetings and, and
they would have the Baha'i fast and

say the Baha'i prayers and so on.

But to outward seeming, they
were following the Islamic

practices and, and customs.

And when Shoghi Effendi became guardian and

one of his aims was to establish the in
independent nature of, of the Baha'i Faith.

So gradually he started giving
instructions to the Baha'is, for example,

that they should have weddings and
funerals that were exclusively Baha'is,

that didn't have any Islamic component to
the wedding ceremony or to the funeral.

And, and similarly, he sent similar
instructions to, to the Western Baha'is

that they shouldn't really continue to
be members of a church and be a member

of the Baha community at the same time.

And part of this was that he
gave instructions that all Baha'i

businesses and institutions
should close on Baha'i Holy Days.

They should observe the Baha'i Holy Days.

Now at that time, The Shah at that
time, Reza Shah was setting up a very

highly centralized, very high, tightly
controlled state, and he expected

all institutions to obey his rules.

And one day he noticed that there was
no noise coming from the Tarbiyat school.

The Tarbiyat school had
its playground right next

to one of the royal palaces.

So he was in a position to
personally observe the fact that

they were keeping them by Holy day.

So he asked, what, 'what's happening?

Why is there no noise coming
from the Tarbiyat school'?

And his officials told him 'when
it's one of the Baha'i Holy days

and they've, the school is closed.'

And he was very annoyed that a school
had closed down on a day that was not

one of the designated days for schools
to close because he, his government had

designated certain days for schools to
close and the school was closing on a

different day.

So he said to the Minister of Education
that if they close down again on

a day, that's not an official holiday,

then they should close the school down.

Any school that closed down on a
day that wasn't an official day for

closing down should itself close down.

And so a message was sent to the Baha'i
Assembly that if you close the school

down again on a day, that's not an
official day for closing down schools,

we'll close the school down and the
assembly of course, consulted with

Shoghi Effendi about this. You know, what,

what should they do given that
there was this threat happening?

And Shoghi Effendi said, 'well,
it's a matter of principle that

Baha'is don't at any business
or institution that's actually

run by Baha'is and the ownership of
Baha'is cannot open on a holy day.

So it's a matter of principle so
that you should continue to close

the school on Baha'i Holy Days.'

So the very next Holy Day that came along,
the Baha'is school closed, and, and the

next day the government issued a, an order
for the Baha'i School to be closed down.

This was the one in Tehran.

And, and

fairly shortly afterwards, instructions
went for other schools, all the

other Baha'i schools to be closed.

And, well that's
what happened, basically.

Varan: Do you think that the, the King and
the ministers ultimately regretted that?

Momen: Well, I mean, the Shah was
actually sending some of his own

children to the Baha'i School.

Other ministers and government
officials were sending children to the

Baha'i schools, so I expect they did.

I think the, the problem was that
the Reza Shah was a very determined man.

He was not the sort of
person who would, as it were, bend, and

he met his match in Shoghi Effendi, who also
wouldn't bend on a matter of principle.

And so, I think everyone was very
surprised by this sudden and very

unexpected turn of events, and for
a time everyone waited expecting

that things would get resolved.

In Iran, things usually managed to get
resolved through negotiation. You resolve

these sorts of situations.

But in this case, it wasn't gonna happen.

I mean, initially, the children who
weren't Baha'is at these Baha'i schools went

out and found other schools to go to.

The Baha'i children hung on a bit
longer hoping that the schools

would reopen, that some way would
be found through the problem.

Because this was, I think, more
or less university expected that

something would happen and, and

the schools would reopen. But they didn't.

So eventually the
Baha'i children also had to sort of

start looking around for the schools
to, to go to, and, and they had, in

the larger cities, they had plenty of
choice because there, by that time,

there were the government schools and,
and other religious communities like

the Christians and the Jews and the
Zoroastrian had opened their own schools.

And so there was a choice of
schools to go to. And well, there

was some problem because there was some,
I should say, reluctant to take on some

of the Baha'is in some of the schools, but
overall it was, it was a solvable problem.

But, but of course, in the
smaller schools, in the, in the

small towns and in the villages,
there was not an alternative.

And, and the Baha'i children were
sort of just suddenly thrown out

of the education process at
whatever stage they were in. And in

some of these small towns and villages,
the, the Baha'i assembly consulted and

one of the solutions that they
came to, for example, was to set up

education not in a formal school, but
rather informally in the houses of

the members of the community, using
teachers brought in or, or using the

teachers that that had been in the
school that had been closed down, but

having the classes in, in people's
homes. For example, in Najaf Abad,

which was a small town in, in near
Isfahan, they, set up these classes

and, and it was in fact, um, Mr.

Mr. Fazee, who was later a Hand of the
Cause who came to the town and taught

in these schools and, and sort of
organized the, the, the schools and

taught there for a, for a number of years.

And I guess it would be decades
in many of these communities

before they had any other kind of
formal education opportunities.

Yes.

I mean the, the schools were being
built in Iran at the time, but it

was the, the, in the larger towns
initially that they were being built.

But eventually the schools did reach
the, down to the level of, of the

villages and, and if a school was
opened in a village, then by and large,

the Baha'i children would, would go to
that school and, and stop any informal

education that they were receiving.

Varan: You know, Moojan jan, this is
such an amazing chapter

of Iranian history - not, not the Baha'i
history of Iranian history, but it's

remarkable when you look at so many
of these scholarly articles on the

history of education in Iran, that,
that this chapter, this story is

not really a part of that narrative.

I mean, they, they all talk about,
you know, the Christian education in

the northwestern part of the country,
the Christian schools, but, you know,

the Baha'i story just seems to be such
a blind spot in Iranian history.

Certainly you get why the government
doesn't tell that story, but why is it

that Iranian scholarship has, has had
such a blind spot to this story?

Momen: Well, I don't think it's just this story.

The Iranian scholarship has had a
blind spot towards Baha'is in general,

and, and the story of the Baha'is
schools is, is just one aspect of that.

So in the

histories generally
that have been produced.

there's no mention of the Baha'i
contribution to society, even of the

existence of a Baha'i community in Iran.

And this is just, well twofold
really, but mainly it's the sort

of prejudice of, of the historians.

We have clear evidence of some of
the leading historians in Iran being

very prejudiced against the Baha'is.

Actually printing in their
supposedly academic histories.

Just lies about the Baha'is and the Babi
community and the Baha'i community.

Even things that are very easily
disprovable, they, they put in their

books for some unexplained reason.

They make statements that it's
so easy to, to refute because the

evidence is, is out there.

But, you know, this is, this is
scholarship in Iran and, and,

Baha'is have had to live with this
for, for a hundred years or more.

And of course, Western scholars who are,
who are trying to do work on the history

of Iran and the history of education in
Iran are, are dependent on these, for their

sources on the material produced in Iran.

So they reflect what the Iranian

scholars have produced, and so they have
generally ignored the Baha'i presence in

Iran generally and the Baha'i presence
within the education system of Iran

because that's what their sources tell
them because the sources that they consult

or the what's published in Iran and
that's, that's what's published in Iran.

Very few Western scholars had access
to Baha'i sources of information about

these matters, and Baha'is themselves
have been not very good at, at

producing historical accounts of
these events. But that's all changing.

Recently an Israeli scholar has
produced a, a whole book on the Baha'i

schools in Iran, and this was published
by an academic publisher in, in Britain.

And, and, and so there's no
longer an excuse for people not to

know about this story that they.

It's now there for people to read.

There's been another book that,
that had articles about the Baha'i

community in Iran published by an
academic publisher in, in Britain

and, and that had a chapter
on the Baha'is schools in Iran.

And there's also been an article in
an academic journal about the Tarbiyat

schools in, in Tehran and so on.

So it's, it is gradually
changing and even

iranian scholars are now reading
about these things and, and

starting to introduce it into
their accounts of, of Iran.

Varan: So Moojan jan, this is
such a good lesson for us.

I mean, now the Baha'i communities,
of course, have this focus on

society building and really when we
look to the example of this early

Iranian Baha'i community, we have,
you know, this amazing example.

What, what can we learn about society
building today from the experience

of the early Iranian Baha'i community
around this educational discourse?

Momen: Well, we are today being asked to
engage in society building, and that

means looking around the reality
of our society and identifying

the needs of our society, and then
looking at the capacities within the

community and among like-minded people
and, and then addressing those needs.

And that's exactly what

the Iranian Bai community did in
the early years of the 20th century.

They looked at their society and they came
to the conclusion that what they needed

was schools, modern schools, and
then they worked together, collaborated

to bring this about overcoming the
obstacles that they faced in bringing

this about, and also working with
like-minded people in the community who

shared their vision of what the needs

of their community were, and, and
were willing to collaborate with them.

They, through this joint effort,
brought these schools into being,

and, and that's much same as what
we are being asked to do today.

Varan: It's a wonderful and inspiring example.

So thanks again, Moojan jan, and,
and thank you also for your

contributions to Baha'i Scholarship.

Keep at it.

You're doing such an amazing,
prolific job in this arena.

Momen: Thank you for giving me an opportunity
to talk about this fascinating chapter

in the history of the Baha'i Faith.

Varan: And of course, I want to thank you
the audience for joining us today.

Thank you for joining in the
Conversation for social transformation.

In our last four episodes, we've
explored how Baha'is in the cradle

of our Faith in Iran engaged with
Society building in their time.

In our next episode, we shift our
attention westward as we explore how

the early American Baha'i community
engaged with the race unity discourse

of their day, leaving an enduring
impact that continues to shape the

Civil Rights movement even today.

It's truly a remarkable history,
so make sure you tune in.

That's next time on Society Builders.

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