Up Close: Baha'i Teacher Abbas Bashir

By Charity Corkey (Contact)

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

After investigating the claims of many other religions, Abbas Bashir left the Muslim faith to become a Baha'i at the age of 15. More than 50 years later, the Northern Virginia resident holds firmly to the faith, which is based on the philosophy of "one light, many lamps."

Bashir, who is in his late 70s, lives with his wife and relatives in Mclean, but teaches regularly at the new Northern Virginia Baha'i Center in Sterling.

In this e-mail interview, Bashir explained to us the basic tenets of Baha'i, the religion's history and its recent growth in Loudoun County.

Q: Please tell us about your decision at age 15 to leave the Muslim faith and to embrace the Baha'i faith. What drew you to becoming Baha'i?

A: When I was in the Muslim community, all my family, relatives were Muslim. I became close with a Baha'i, and he asked me if I had investigated the Baha'i faith, and I said no.

So then I started reading about it, and suddenly realized, yes religion had to be renewed - the basic teaching of the Baha'i faith - that God in his mercy sends a messenger every now and then to guide humanity to make more progress.

Photo: Charity Corkey

Abbas Bashir teaches at the Northern Virginia Baha'i Center in Sterling, which serves people of the Baha'i faith across the region.

Q: Now, almost 60 years later, can you tell us how your faith has changed and grown?

A: As soon as you become a Baha'i, it is the beginning of the spiritual journey.

Q: The religion was founded in Persia in the 1800s and has grown to become the largest religious minority in modern-day Iran. How do you think the history of the region where Baha'ism was born has influenced its teachings?

A: This was the prophesy in the Koran and the Bible and the Torah that was fulfilling itself. These prophecies pointed out to the coming of Bahá'u'lláh. The Baha'i faith was beyond time. It was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the Baha'i community in Northern Virginia. How many people are affiliated with your center and is the number growing?

A: Although the Baha'i faith started in Persia in 1844, it has spread all over the world within 100 years, and is considered by encyclopedia Britannica to be the second most wide-spread religion in the world.

The Northern Virginia Baha'i community has been growing heavily in the past 40 years. When I came 45 years ago, there was only one assembly in Fairfax County, and now there are over 30 assemblies in all Northern Virginia, and Loudoun County. There are over 3,000 Baha'is in Northern Virginia, and the Baha'i Center in Loudoun County is the first center in Northern Virginia. Thousands of people come to the center.

Q: The Baha'i Center in Sterling was only completed in the last few years. Can you tell us why Loudoun was chosen as the location for the Northern Virginia regional center?

A: Although we had bought a piece of land in Fairfax County, we didn't like it. So we sold that place, and then a Christian church in Loudoun wanted to get rid of their piece of land, so we put in a bid for it and we won.

Q: You have now been speaking at the Sterling center for two years. How did this role as a speaker/teacher come about? What topics do you tend to discuss?

A: We have the fireside: informal meetings where we talk about the Baha'i faith and all religions. And we have speakers for the fireside, and I'm one of them. And as a result, many have become Baha'is.

One of the [common] topics [I speak about] is the progression of revelation, one of the corner stones of the Baha'i. There is one light, God, but many lamps. There is only one religion, but there are many mouthpieces. Religion is renewed every time a new revelation comes. There was Abraham, then Krishna, then Moses, and then Zoroaster, a Persian prophet, and then Buddha, and then after Buddha, Christ came. And then after Christ, Mohammad came. And then the Bab, who was the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, came in 1844. And Bahá'u'lláh declared his mission in 1863 as the universal redeemer of mankind. He came to bring this oneness, and said the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.

Q: Can you tell us about the most important tenets of the Baha'i religion and how they affect the day-to-day lives of believers?

A: Baha'is believe that all religions are from the same god, and that they promote the same truth and proclaim the same faith. Although all religions teach the same spiritual principles, there is a time for every religion. Whenever the new one comes, it renews the spiritual principles but changes the social principles, according to the requirements of the time.

In all Holy Scriptures, there are prophecies about the coming of a universal redeemer of mankind who will bring all religions and nations together and establish oneness of

humanity and the most great peace. Bahá'u'lláh, the glory of the father, has come to do exactly what has been foretold in the Holy Scriptures and establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Q: How do you view Loudoun County in terms of religion and its openness to faiths like yours that are not as well known in this country?

A: We find many times that people come to the Baha'i center, and they say I never heard this before, and this is what humanity needs, and they are wide open, and they love what they hear. You would be amazed [at] what we see.

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