On the Baha'i Faith as a Big Pink Elephant in Egypt: How can we not talk about it?

Image of Egyptian newspaper article accompanying current post on Baha'i Faith in Egypt

Baha'i Faith in Egypt is one of the best Baha'i blogs in the world, a blog of substance and topical interest, covering, as it does, the controversy surrounding the treatment of Baha'is in Egypt. This background adds another layer of significance to this post on the blog Randomness: My random thoughts. The randomness of my life. Boring tidbits from a blogger in Cairo by the name of Dee-Vine. -gw

I have this friend. Let's call her Sammy. We run in different crowds so we were not that close, but this one day she called me and she was feeling terrible. She had broken up with her boyfriend; they’d basically been together their entire lives and he was the only comfort in her life. I don’t know why she thought of me, but she said she just wanted to talk and I immediately went over with chocolates and a bucket of ice cream and spent the entire day there. I did what I do best; I listened, and I comforted her. That was about a year and a half ago. That day brought us a lot closer.

Now Sammy, she is one of the most intellectual people I’ve ever met. She seems to know everything; art, politics, literature, religion, philosophy, psychology, poetry… etc, she even speaks 5 languages. I always feel enlightened with knowledge and ideas after I meet her. Our get-togethers always give me food for thought.

I was over at her place earlier and just as I was leaving she said she wanted to tell me something before I go. She sounded happy so I sat there smiling, anticipating good news.

“Well... I’m a Baha’i now.”

Uploaded on September 30, 2005 by alias65

I didn’t know how to react. I just kept silent, a smile frozen on my face. She probably sensed that I was uncomfortable. So she went on speaking. She told me that she converted a few weeks ago and that she would love to tell me more about Baha’ism.

“Um… sure,” I said.

Just then, she got a phone call. I waited for a couple of minutes but then I told her that I had to go, which I did, and I left.

Why do I feel weird about it? I shouldn't, right? I mean, as long as she's happy.. .

Many people who know me may not realize it but religion is actually very important to me. I almost never talk about it because I consider it a private thing. And I usually hang out with the non-religious, because well frankly speaking, I have more fun with them.

So naturally, I don't like it that she converted but I'm not going to preach, that's not who I am. Besides, there isn't anything I can say to her. She knows a lot more than me about Islam, and other religions. And I really don’t know that much about Baha’ism. In fact, up until 3 years ago, I didn’t even know it existed.

I remember I was talking to a good friend who was telling me about his new girlfriend at the time. Apparently she was with this guy for almost a year and things were getting kind of serious so he took her to meet his family. Only then did she find out that he was Baha’i. His family kept trying to convince her to convert. She broke up with the guy and never spoke to him again.

At the time I was like, “Baha’i? What’s that?”

He explained to me the basic principles of Baha’ism, which I honestly don’t even remember right now. So I don’t know. What exactly is Baha’ism? And how exactly am I supposed to react?I suppose I’m not going to love her any less just because I don’t believe in her religion. I love my agnostic friends just the same even though I disapprove. We just don’t discuss the issue.

I would very much rather not discuss this with her. But it’s the big pink elephant in the middle of the room, how can we not talk about it?

Dee-Vine, "The Big Pink Elephant," Randomness

Dee-Vine has a NeoCounter to track visitors to her site. Where have the visitors who clicked over to read this post come from? -gw

Since 19/11/2006
Egypt: 162

United States: 18

Kuwait: 4

United Arab Emirates: 3

Canada: 3

United Kingdom: 10

Japan: 2

Saudi Arabia: 1

Ukraine: 4

Israel: 1

Portugal: 1

Austria: 1

210 visitors in 12 countries
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{Re-posted wth permission}