Changing Times Blog

Onemusician – Baha’i Lyrics, Guitar Tabs, Song Sheets

Get on it now and sing your heart out! Onemusician.org brings you Baha’i music on crack featuring guitar tabs and song sheets along with the lyrics. The website is new and live as of today, and while there seem to be some details to work out, it’s hot!

For instance, search for “Dawnbreaker Collective” and have all their lyrics brought right to your screen.

We encourage young musicians and artists to get in touch with those guys and help them bring more music to the website. Guitar tabs and song sheets are always of preference.

Visit Onemusician now at http://www.onemusician.org/

Today is Baha’i Rights Day

The Baha’is in Iran and Egypt face ongoing persecution in form of human rights abuses and denial of basic civil rights.  Their homes are raided and burned, their businesses closed, their children and youth denied education, their members arrested and killed.

Today we can take action against these grave injustices by raising awareness throughout the world about the plight of the Baha’i communities. Visit http://www.bahairightsday.org/ now!

March 18 Movement

The following is an example of fantastic use of new media in bringing attention to a cause.

The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger.

The clip is a creation of the Mideast Youth Network.

Majnun 2.0 – Baha’i Search Engine

The only Baha’i search engine launches back with a new design and a complete overhaul of the engine itself. Majnun brings all valuable Baha’i resource websites together to help you find:

• games for your next children’s class
• this one amazing letter from the House you once read
• music from your favorite Baha’i artists
• the truth about the Kitab-i-Hearsay
• and soo much more…

This is a brilliant tool for your research or scholarship projects. Use it at http://www.majnun.net

UK university’s support for Iran’s Bahá’í students

(BNUK) Students at Durham University  have passed a motion expressing their concern for young Bahá’ís in Iran who are excluded from higher education.

The motion - passed last night by Durham’s Student Union (DSU) - affirmed that  all people should have equal access to higher education on the basis of merit.

Since 1979, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has systematically sought to deprive members of the Bahá’í Faith of access to higher education. Countless young Bahá’í’s have been refused entry to universities and colleges. Others already studying have been expelled on the basis of their religion.

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Postcards for Iran

Under the guise of protecting its “national security”, the Iranian government has orchestrated a crackdown on rights activists, outspoken critics and ethnic and religious minorities. To stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings in Iran, and to call on the Iranian government to uphold its commitment to protecting the rights of its citizens, Mideast Youth is launching a new campaign – “Postcards for Iran“. You can send two types of postcards to Iran:

• to Iranian officials, urging them to bring an end to the violations occurring within Iran.
• Imprisoned prisoners of conscience as well. We wish to send them a message that we are aware of their plight and supports them in their struggle. (You can choose a specific prisoner too)

Combined with pressure from governments and human rights bodies and unabated media attention, grassroots initiatives such as “Postcards for Iran” have proven to be effective. Furthermore, former detainees have testified that prisoners receiving mail received better treatment, as authorities were aware that the world is monitoring their situation.

GET INVOLVED NOW. We’re looking to send hundreds of Postcards. Do your small part and send a postcard free of charge by filling out the form online at: http://www.postcards-for-iran.org/

8 Details from the Guardian’s Life

“Like a cloud-break in a stormy sky these words [Salutation and praise..rest upon..the Primal Branch], even as a mighty shaft of sunlight, broke through the gloom and tempest of dangerous years and shone from on high upon a small boy.” – Priceless Pearl

• The Greatest Holy Leaf would take Shoghi Effendi’s hands into hers and remark: “These are like the hands of my father [Baha'u'llah].”
• As a child, he had memorized some touching passages written by ‘Abdu’l-Baha after the Ascension of Baha’u'llah and when he chanted these, the tears would roll down the earnest little face.
• During his 1922 stay in Switzerland, the Guardian bought a bicycle and cycled over many passes and although he had “a lack of mechanical sense”, he always arrived home safe.
• Queen Marie of Rumania and her daughter had already docked with their boat in Haifa, when she was informed her visit was impolitic and not permissible, was put in a car and whisked away to another country.
• During World War II, the Guardian, Ruhiyyih Khanum and Sutherland Maxwell left Haifa to seek safety in England. They passed through Italy just three days before Italy declared war on the Allies. They took a train through France amongst thousands of refugees and were finally stranded for two weeks in the coastal town of St.Malo until they caught the last ship to England, only hours before the Germans captured St. Malo.
• Although he never travelled across the Atlantic, the Guardian travelled twice through Africa from South through to Palestine. Once during his studies in Oxford, the other time when returning from England during World War II. On the way, they made excursions into the jungles and took a boat up the Nile
• In spite of the commotion caused by the seizure of the keys to the Shrine of Baha’u'llah by the Covenant-breakers, Shoghi Effendi gave instructions calmly as to where the lights should be placed inside and outside the Shrine, as it was in process of being illuminated.
• “He is extraordinarily unidirectional. His persistence is irresistible, there is no dissipation of his forces. He only wants one thing, he wants it passionately, immediately, completely, perfectly. He descends on it like a hurricane and never lets up until its done.” – Ruhiyyih Khanum

From Ruhiyyih Rabbani’s Priceless Pearl

Nineteen Days Blog

Take a look at this fantastic blog “nineteen days” created for the Baha’i fast.

Its makers write: “Nineteen Days started in 2008 as a collaborative project between friends and fellow bloggers amy and leila. …. Now in its second year, nineteen days is a way to share with each other and all of you moments of our early mornings and early evenings for the nineteen days of the Bahá’í Fast. We will be waking up before dawn to have breakfast, pray and prepare for the day. We will be sitting down at sunset to break the fast, pray and reflect on the day. Both of us will also include inspirational passages from the Bahá’í Sacred Writings in our daily postings and, at times, our own personal thoughts.

This year we will be adding a third dimension to the project – every day we have invited a different Bahá’í photographer from around the world to join us in sharing his/her fasting experience and photographs with all of us.”

It truly is a wonderful project and we hope it will inspire you as much as it has us.