University students pray for the Bahá’ís of Iran

Joining countless friends across Canada, participants at three seminars organized by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity remembered the Bahá’ís of Iran and reflected on their example.

In August, a year one seminar took place at the Bethany Bahá’í Centre of Learning in Ontario.

On August 23, 2022, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to “the sore tried and faithful followers of the Beloved of the world in the Cradle of the Faith,” speaking to them in light of the fresh wave of attacks suffered during that month, and which continue. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada forwarded the message to all Bahá’ís in Canada, calling for each to study and reflect on it, to acquaint themselves with the situation of their coreligionists in Iran, to “intensify their daily prayers,” and to organize “a wave of special devotional gatherings” for the Bahá’ís in Iran.

Another year one seminar took place about an hour outside of Edmonton, Alta.

In three concurrent seminars for university students organized by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP), held in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, organizers and participants responded to this call by making time to immediately read and reflect on the message, and to say prayers together for those suffering in Iran.

The message from the Universal House of Justice helped many of the youth recognize the living example of the approach to social transformation they were studying about in the seminars. In the context of increasing polarization in the North American media landscape where one or another group are demonized, and ignoble means are often justified against them, the example of the Bahá’ís in Iran demonstrated for the youth the heights of sacrifice called for in order to realize the efficacy of the means promoted by their Faith.

A recent ISGP seminar took place representing all four years on Vancouver Island, B.C. at a facility called Brentwood College School.