I had never heard of the Baha'i Faith when I began college, but a
Baha'i (the only one on campus) roomed down the hall from me in the
same dorm. He and my roommate got to be good friends, and actually
roomed together (again on my hall) the next year. That first year,
I had no interest whatsoever in his religion. I learned to pronounce
it, but never found out anything about it. The Baha'i was a unique
individual, and I thought him very strange.
The next year, with him right next door, things changed a bit. There
were two or three other Baha'is on campus that year, and they decided
to have evening prayers, every evening, in my friend's room. At that
time, my roommate and I made a secret arrangement with another set
of roommates that we would pool our furniture. We put all the beds
in one room and all the desks and the stereo in the other. That way
we had a twenty-four hour "study" room. I put that in quotes because
it turned out to be about an eighteen-hour study room and a six-hour
party room. Everybody on the hall, and most of the hall's visitors,
ended up in our room, because we had so much room and no sleeping
people to deal with.
The Baha'is, being on our hall every night, frequently visited our
room. We began to debate religion (and every other subject) on a fairly
regular basis. They gave me a small book: The Baha'i Faith, by Gloria
Faizi. I didn't read it. They also gave me Thief in the Night, by
William Sears. I didn't read it, either. Just before spring break,
in March, while the Baha'is were fasting, they mentioned to me a single
historical fact that threw all my preconceived notions out the window.
They said that in 1850, in Tabriz, Persia, the Bab was tried and
executed in an open section of the town, in front of thousands of
witnesses. This miraculous event had to take place twice, as the
first time, all 750 members of the firing squad apparently missed,
although the ropes were severed, and the Bab and his companion were
free. It seemed unlikely to me that this could have been faked in
front of so many witnesses, and made me wonder if I was shutting this
religion out without proper investigation.
Over spring break, I read the Faizi introduction and Thief in the
Night, and I was convinced of the truth of the revelation. I called
the local Baha'i number and told the startled woman who answered that
I wanted to become a Baha'i, and could I do it that day? After we
struggled a bit trying to find a time when we could get together, she
suggested that I might want to wait until that weekend and declare back
at college. I decided I could live with that, so I waited and signed
my card the day I got back, March 21, 1976. I had a bit of trouble
getting enrolled, once the Baha'is at the college came to believe my
declaration was real, but that's another story.
The funny thing about this whole thing was that I really didn't have
any trouble with the social teachings of the Faith (the 12 principles
on the back of the "temple cards", for those who remember those), nor
did I have much disagreement with the concept of Progressive Revelation
or any of the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. It just took something
to hit me over the head and make me decide that it applied to me. If
that specific miracle had not come to my attention, I may not have
investigated with such an open mind at that time. Oddly enough, I have
never followed up on looking for contemporary historical accounts of
the miracle at the Bab's execution, nor felt any need to. Once I read
more of the teachings of the Faith with an open mind, I accepted the
Faith whole-heartedly and have kept my commitment more or less strong
all these years.
--Alan Alexander-Manifold
Lafayette, Indiana
alanam@sage.cc.purdue.edu