Baha’i Society for Persian Arts and Letters

Under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom

Iran and the Baha’i Faith through the Mirror of History

20th Annual Conference in the UK

26-30 December 2016

Hilton Hotel Terminal 5London

The first utterance of Him Who

is the All-Wise is this: O children of

dust! Turn your faces from the

darkness of estrangement to the

effulgent light of the daystar of

unity. This is that, which above all

else, will benefit the peoples of the

earth.

Baha’u’llah

Monday 26 December

11.00 Registration

15.00 Devotional and Music 15.45 Opening remarks and welcome Minou Foadi 16.00 Opening of the conference Shapour Rassekh 16.25 Message from the NSA of the Baha’is of UK Wendi Momen 16.40 Opening of the art exhibition Rozita Pourtaheri 17:40 Introducing Recent Baha’i Books Vahid Ra’fati

18.00 Dinner

20.00 Persian Music and artistic presentations 22.00 End of programme

Tuesday 27 December

Dawn prayers open to all, daily 7-8 am

09.45 Devotional and music 10.00 The Social and Religious Situation of Iran in the Late 19th Century Moojan Momen 10.45 Break 11.30 Iran and the Emergence of the Babi Faith Vahid Ra’fati 12.15 Questions and Answers Moojan Momen, Vahid Ra’fati

13.00 Lunch 15.00 On the Success and Failure of Modernity in Iran Erfan Sabeti 15.45 Break 16.30 Iran and the Emergence of the Baha’i Faith (1) Vahid Ra’fati 17.15 The Concept of Light in the Emerged Persian Religions Vanecha Roudbaraki

18.00 Dinner 20.00 Persian Music and artistic presentations 22.00 End of programme

Wednesday 28 December

09.45 Devotional and music 10.00 Abdu’l-Baha, Religious Leader or a Leader of Modernity

Fereydun Vahman

10.45 Abdu’l-Baha and Ottoman Reformers Necati Alkan 11.30 Break 12.15 The Secret of Divine Civilization by Abdu’l-Baha

Mina Yazdani

13.00 Lunch 15.00 Abdu’l-Baha’s Vision of the Past, Present and Future of Iran Shapour Rassekh 15.45 Round table discussion Shapour Rassekh, Fereydun

Vahman, Mina Yazdani & Necati Alkan 16.30 Break 17.15 Introducing the book: From Tehran To Akka

Fereydun Vahman

18.00 Dinner

20.00 Persian music and Artistic Presentations 22.00 End of programme

Thursday 29 December

08.00 Service to Shoghi Effendi’s Resting Place (with prior booking)

09.45 Devotional and music 10.00 Iran and the evolution of the Baha'i world community

Robert Weinberg (Representing NSA) 10.45 Break 11.30 Modernity and the New Concept of Time Mashallah Adjoudani 12.15 Religious Pluralism, a Modern Philosophical Explanation

Yasser Mirdamadi

13.00 Lunch

15.00 Round table: Baha’is of Iran, Iranian Citizens Farah Doostdar, Maryam Faghih Imani and Behrooz Afagh

15.45 Iran and the Emergence of the Baha’i Faith (2) Vahid Ra’fati 16.30 Break 17.15 Poetry in Motion, the Origins of Indo-Iranian & Persian Dance Farima Berenji

18.00 Dinner

20.00 Persian music and Artistic Presentations 22.00 End of programme

Friday 30 December

09. 45 Devotional and music 10.00 The Social and Political Conditions of Qajar Iran as Reflected

in the Baha'i Writings Mina Yazdani 10.45 Break 11.15 The Return of the Repressed in Today’s Iranian Cinema

Farshid Kazemi

13.00 Lunch

15.00 Children’s and junior youth presentations 16.00 Film Presentation “The Gardener” 17.15 Closing ceremony

18.00 Dinner

20.00 Persian Music and Artistic presentations 22.00 Farewell

End of the 20th Conference of the Baha’i Society for Persian Arts and Letters

Conference Rules and Regulations

For purposes of security, it is requested that you have your conference wristband on you at all times during the meetings. Those without wristbands will not be allowed to enter the sessions.

Sessions will start promptly according to the scheduled time. You are requested to arrive on time to avoid disruption.

Please turn off your mobile phones when entering the conference hall or make sure they are set to silent settings if you need phone access for emergency purposes.

Many friends have volunteered to help with the running of the sessions. Please follow their instructions. This is a small token of gratitude for their assistance and devotions.

Tickets for lunch and dinners are colour coded by day and can only be used on the specified day. Tickets for previous or subsequent days cannot be used in lieu of the specified day.

The speakers and organizers have asked that images and video recordings of the programme not be taken for distribution on the internet. Professional recording of sessions has already been arranged with prior consent of the speakers, and will be made available for purchase for those interested.

Rules in relation to children (All classes work under supervision of Ms Vida Nezamabad)

Children under 5 are to be looked after by their parents.

Roshangah Classes for reading and writing of the Persian language are available for children 5-11 years and for junior youth11-15.

Children’s programme consists of:Our team of teachers, have prepared a varied program engaging the children through art, music and story-telling. Children are encouraged to learn new concepts; history of Iran and celebration of Nuw-Ruz. Learn pronouncing everyday Persian words by learning songs and games and acting out short plays.

Please ensure that you collect your children from their classes on time at the end of lessons.

Parents are kindly requested to ensure their children maintain good conduct throughout the conference and not become disorderly or cause disturbance to other hotel guests.

Please bear in mind that the hotel has guests who are not participating in the conference, and we are not the sole users of the premises.

Please note that under no circumstances are children allowed to access the hotel computers in the business centre!

It is solely the parents’ responsibility to ensure the security and well being of their children. The organizers accept no responsibility in this respect.

Junior Youth Program

Our trained animators, by engaging the Junior Youth through artisticexpressions, co-operative games , musical & dramatic creativity, not onlyenhance their zeal of learning about Iranian culture and history during the conference but also encourage them to realize, learning and exploring is an important responsibility, which they need to take seriously.

Youth Programme

They will be covering prepared materials on Baha’i Marriage & the early history of the Baha’i Faith.

Speakers from the Conference will be visiting and having sessions with the youth.

The Art Exhibition

The conference committee is delighted and proud to announce that, once again, we shall have the privilege of exhibiting artists’ works on the ground floor in ‘The Gallery’ for the duration of the conference.We invite you to enjoy and support the work of exhibiting artists as part of your conference experience. Some exhibited works may also be available for purchase. The gallery will be open during the break intervals and at other specially dedicated times. Please look out for signs!

Book Sale

The conference Book shop is located on the first floor and open between the hours of 10 AM and 8 PM.

Visit to the Resting Place of Shoghi Effendi

Visit to the Resting Place of the Beloved Shoghi Effendi will take place on the 29th of December, the bus leaving hotel premises at 8am. The round trip cost per individual will be £15. Further details on the visit will be available at the conference help desk.

For any further queries please consult friends at the conference help/registration desk on the first floor next to the book shop.

Notes