January 26. On this date in 2000, Adib Taherzadeh, a member of the UHJ since 1988, died. He was previously a member of the NSA of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971 and later of the NSA of the Republic of Ireland from 1972 to 1976, when he was appointed a Counsellor for Europe.

 

January 26. On this date in 2000, Adib Taherzadeh, a member of the UHJ since 1988, died. He was previously a member of the NSA of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971 and later of the NSA of the Republic of Ireland from 1972 to 1976, when he was appointed a Counsellor for Europe.

Adib Taherzadeh was born on April 29, 1921, in Yazd, Iran, into a family who had a strong association with the Bahá'í Faith since its inception. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Tehran, and then moved to Coventry, England in 1948 and pursued advanced studies. He moved to Ireland in 1950 working as the chief engineer of an industrial concern until 1988. He married twice, first to Zarin Moosezadeh Cohen with whom he had two children, a son Tahir Ronald and a daughter Bahiyyeh Vida. He married Belfast-born Lesley Gibson in the 1970s, and they had two children, a daughter Maryam (Baskin) and a son Bahhaj. At the time of his death, he had several grandchildren. Taherzadeh served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971. He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Republic of Ireland when it was formed in 1972 and was appointed in 1976 to the European Continental Board of Counsellors. He was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1988. A prolific writer and gifted public speaker, Taherzadeh wrote several books on the Bahá'í history and teachings, including The Child of the Covenant, The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, and the four volume The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

His career is typical for individuals in the Bahá’í hierarchy, whether in an elected office or in an appointed offce from which the higher elected officials invariably come from. 

At all levels, including the LSAs, Bahá’í leaders generally as if not more authoritarian than clergy from other religious faiths, which as Dale Husband points out, is one of the Four Ways to Create a Religion of Hypocrites:

1. State that religion no longer needs clergy……and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.

2. Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.

3. Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.

4. Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address. Any one of these makes a religion not worth following, but what do you do if you find a religion that has all four such contradictions