Tunisian Muslim says apologise to Baha'is
{{date|November 20, 2005}}

A [[Tunisia|Tunisian]] [[Muslim]] academic has called on Muslims to reconcile with [[Baha'i]]s and followers of other religions. He has also called on involved Muslims to apologise to the Baha'is that have been humiliated and denigrated in Muslim coutries.

Dr Iqbal Al-Gharbi, a psychology lecturer at the Al-Zaytouna University in {{w|Tunis}}, said that many peoples across the world were asking for forgiveness for past wrongs, such as the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]], who asked for forgiveness for its treatment of {{w|Jewish}} people, and [[France]] which apologised for the complicity of the {{w|Vichy}} regime. She said that, Muslims, by contrast, usually consider themselves to be the victims and usually innocent of any wrongs.

Al-Gharbi said Muslims should reconcile with Christian and Jewish minorities who lived in Muslim countries, and to [[Africa]]ns who suffered in the Arab slave trade. She said they should also reconcile with "small schools of Islamic thought" such as the {{w|Ismaili}}, Baha'i, {{w|Alawite}} and {{w|Druze}}.

Baha'is do not consider themselves to be a school of Islam but instead an independent world religion. They protest persecution in Iran (which has the largest Baha'i population of any Muslim-majority country) including execution, imprisonment, torture, deprivation of property and exclusion from education.

The {{w|United States}} {{w|United States Commission on International Religious Freedom|Commission on International Religious Freedom}} stated in its 2005 report that Baha'is are repressed in {{w|Iran}} and {{w|Egypt}}, and face execution, imprisonment and discrimination. Forum 18, the Norwegian human rights organisation has also reported discrimination against Baha'is in Muslim-dominated {{w|Azerbaijan}} and {{w|Turkey}}.

The Government of Iran maintains that the Baha'i Faith is not a religion but an "espionage establishment", with links to the {{w|Israel|Israeli}}, British and American governments. Other Muslims consider Baha'is to be apostates &mdash; Muslims who have abandoned their religion &mdash; and this justifies discrimination.

{{haveyoursay}}
== Sources ==
*{{source|url=http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP101905
|title=Liberal Tunisian Researcher Dr. Iqbal Al-Gharbi: Muslims Must Take Responsibility for Past Mistakes
|author=
|pub=Middle East Media Research Institute
|date=November 4, 2005}}
<!-- Hint: If you are citing BBC News, leave the author blank and put "BBC News" in the "pub" parameter. -->

*{{source|url=http://arabiliberali.it/perdono.html
|title=Where are the Arabs in this time of forgiveness? (Italian)
|author=Dr Iqbal Gharbi
|pub=Arabiliberali.it
|date=October 24, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://www.bahai.org/dir/worldwide/persecution
|title=Persecution
|author=Baha'i International Community
|pub=
|date=}}

*{{source|url=http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/publications/currentreport/2005annualRpt.pdf
|title=Annual Report 2005
|author=United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 
|pub=United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
|date=May 2, 2005}}

*{{source|url=http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=689
|title=AZERBAIJAN: Disturbing numbers of police raids on religious communities
|author=Forum 18
|pub=Forum 18
|date=November 16, 2005}}

==See also==

* Archive of all stories on Forum 18 regarding the Baha'i Faith and religious discrimination:
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=22&country=all&results=10

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[[Category:religion]]
[[Category:Baha'i]]
[[Category:Tunisia]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Tunis]]
A Tunisian Muslim academic has called on Muslims to reconcile with Baha'is and followers of other religions. He has also called on involved Muslims to apologise to the Baha'is that have been humiliated and denigrated in Muslim coutries.

Dr Iqbal Al-Gharbi, a psychology lecturer at the Al-Zaytouna University in Catholic Church, who asked for forgiveness for its treatment of
religion Baha'i Tunisia Africa Islam Tunis