Baha’i Society for Persian Arts and Letters

Foundations of the Future Civilization

Persian culture and the Baha’i Faith

18th Annual Conference

26-30 December 2014

Hilton Hotel, Terminal 5 London

Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. He Who is the Day Star of Truth beareth Me witness! So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth. The one true God, He Who knoweth all things, Himself testifieth to the truth of these words.

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.

From the Writings of Baha’u’llah

Friday 26 December

Morning

• 11.00– Registration

Evolution of Human Thought Afternoon

• 15.00 – Prayers and Music • 15.15 – Opening Remarks and welcome Minou Foadi • 15.25 – Opening of the conference Shapour Rassekh • 15.45 – Message of the NSA of the Baha’is of UK NSA Representative • 16.00 - The Baha’i Writings and the Global Perspective. Shapour Rassekh • 16.45 - Break • 17.15 - The Global Perspective from the Viewpoint of Science Steven Phelps • 18.00 - Dinner

Evening

• 20.00 - Evening programme of Persian music • 20.00 - Parallel Evening Event* • 22.00 - End of programme

*Parallel evening events will take place in a separate hall in English and will include one or more of the following speakers:

Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing, Wendi Momen, Vahid Rafati, Moojan Momen, Steven Phelps and Payam Akhavan

Saturday 27 December

The Culture and Language of Iran Morning

• 09.45 - Prayers and music • 10.00 - Baha’i Literature Vahid Rafati • 10.45 - Break • 11.20 - Message of committee for the Guardian’s Resting Place Jaleh Alaei • 11.30 - Role of Baha’is in the development and future of the • Persian language Behrouz Jabbari • 12.15 - Round table discussion Vahid Rafati & Behrouz Jabbari

13.00 – Lunch

Afternoon

• 15.00 - Prayers and music • 15.15 - The Babi & Baha’i Faiths: Emergence of modern thought in Iran Fereydoun Vahman • 16.00 - Break • 16.45 - Ten Thousand years of Persian civilization:

The mother of civilizations worldwide Mahmood Kavir • 17.30 - Round table discussion FereydounVahman & Mahmood Kavir • 18.00 - Dinner

Evening

• 20.00 - Evening programme of Persian music • 20.00 - Parallel evening event* • 22.00 - End of programme

*Parallel evening events will take place in a separate hall in English and will include one or more of the following speakers:

Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing, Wendi Momen, Vahid Rafati, Moojan Momen, Steven Phelps and Payam Akhavan

Sunday 28 December

08:00 - Visiting the Guardian’s Resting Place

Education and Nurture of the New Generation

Morning

• 09.45 - Prayers and music • 10.00 - Education and training: The Baha’i perspective Polin Rafat • 10.45 - Break • 11.15 - The forgotten schools of Iran Soli Shahvar • 12:00 - Musical interlude • 12.10 - Dars-e-Akhlagh; introducing the book by Siavash Raastani Minou Foadi • 12.25 –The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys (1) Vahid Rafati • 13.00 - Lunch

Afternoon

• 15.00 - Prayers and music • 15.15 -The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys: A Review (2) Vahid Rafati • 16.00 - Break • 16.45 - History & the changing face of music in Iran Sirus Malakooty • 17.30 - Round table discussion Polin Rafat, Soli Shahvar

Vahid Rafati & Sirus Malakooty • 18.00 - Dinner

Evening

• 20.00 –Evening programme of Persian music • 20.00 - Parallel evening event* • 22.00 - End of programme

*Parallel evening events will take place in a separate hall in English and will include one or more of the following speakers:

Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing, Wendi Momen, Vahid Rafati, Moojan Momen, Steven Phelps and Payam Akhavan

Monday 29 December

New Perspectives on Relations between the Individual, Family and Society

Morning

• 09.45 - Music and prayers • 10.00 - New perspectives on the relationship between individuals Noushin Sabeti • 10.45 - Break • 11.30 - New perspectives on relationships within the family Furugh Switzer • 12.15 - New perspectives on relationships within society Polin Rafat • 13.00 - Lunch

Afternoon

• 15.00 - Prayers and music • 15.15 - Building a world federation: Key to resolving our global crises Sovaida

Ma’ani Ewing • 16.00 - Break · 16.45 - Modernity and the Babi Movement Fereydoun Vahman • 17.30 - Round table discussion Noushin Sabeti, Furugh Switzer, Polin Rafat,

Fereydoun Vahman & Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing • 18.00 - Dinner

Evening

• 20.00 - Evening programme of Persian music • “The Gate” - Theatre performance Sarah Perceval

• 22.00 - End of programme

Tuesday 30 December

Civilization Building - Powers, Instruments and Protagonists

Morning • 09.45 - Prayers and music • 10.00 - Power and the exalted station of women:

Freeing mankind from violence against women Payam Akhavan • 10.45 - Break • 11.30 - Review of messages of the House of Justice to Baha’is in 2014 Shirin Tahzib • 12.15 - Round table discussion: Protagonists of tomorrow’s Shirin Tahzib, Padideh

civilization Sabeti & Homeyra Smith • 13.00 - Lunch

Afternoon

• 15.00 - Review of the last 5 days Shapour Rassekh • 15.45 - Break • 16.30 - Children’s and junior youth presentations • 18.00 - Dinner

Evening

• 20.00 - Thank you, Farewell • 20.00 - Parallel evening event* • 20.30 - Evening programme of Persian music • 22.00 - End of programme

*Parallel evening events will take place in a separate hall in English and will include one or more of the following speakers:

Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing, Wendi Momen, Vahid Rafati, Moojan Momen, Steven Phelps and Payam Akhavan

End of conference of the Baha’i Society for Persian Arts and Letters London, December 26-30, 2014

Conference Rules and Regulations

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

2) Sessions will start promptly according to the scheduled time on the programme! You are requested to arrive on time to avoid disruption and to be courteous to speakers.

3) 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.

4) Many dear friends have volunteered to help with the running of the sessions and your responsiveness to their directives will be the best way of showing your gratitude for their efforts

5) Tickets for lunch and dinner 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.

6) 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

1) Roshangah Classes for reading and writing of the Persian language are available for children 5 years and older and for junior youth. These will be offered daily under the direction of Ms Vida Nezamabad. Please ensure that you collect your children from their classes on time at the end of lessons, to avoid distress to children and as courtesy to the adult volunteer tutors.

2) Children under 5 are to be looked after by their parents. 3) 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 note that under no circumstances are children allowed to access the hotel computers in the business centre!

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

5) 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.

Gallery The BSPAL 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 Book purchase will be available on the first floor 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 Guardian will take place on the 28th 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.