Influential Baha'is in Iran

THE FACTS ARE THAT HOVEIDA'S GRANDFATHER WAS A BAHÁ’Í, HIS FATHER WAS EXPELLED FROM THE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY BECAUSE HE BECAME INVOLVED IN POLITICAL ACTIVITY, AND HOVEIDA HIMSELF WAS NEVER A BAHÁ’Í. ROUHANI'S FATHER WAS A BAHÁ’Í, HIS MOTHER A DEVOUT MUSLIM, BUT ROUHANI WAS NEVER A BAHÁ’Í. SABETI'S [Director-General of 'SAVAK' that functioned as the Iranian secret police during the Shah's reign] PARENTS WERE BAHÁ’ÍS, AND THEY REGISTERED HIM IN THE COMMUNITY AS A BAHÁ’Í CHILD. HOWEVER, WHEN HE CAME OF AGE HE DID NOT HIMSELF REGISTER AS A BAHÁ’Í AND NEVER BECAME A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY UNLIKE CHILDREN OF OTHER RELIGIONS, BAHÁ’Í CHILDREN DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY INHERIT THE FAITH OF THEIR PARENTS. WHEN THEY COME OF AGE THEY MUST OF THEIR OWN VOLITION EXPRESS THEIR BELIEF IN BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND HIS TEACHINGS. DR AYADI, HOWEVER, IS A BAHÁ’Í HE HELD TWO POSITIONS: ONE AS DIRECTOR OF THE ARMY MEDICAL SERVICE; THE OTHER AS PRIVATE PHYSICIAN OF THE COURT. NEITHER OF THESE TWO POSITIONS WAS REGARDED BY THE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY AS POLITICAL IN NATURE.

(Message from the Universal House of Justice, 17 October 1979)