For me, observing the Baha’i fast gets more enjoyable every year, so far it has been very pleasant. I usually find my mind so preoccupied on the physical dimensions of fasting, that I neglect the far more important spiritual side. But I don’t know what it is, maybe my pre-dawn breakfast is pretty nifty, or maybe the more you spiritually reflect the less you feel the effect of the absence of the food…all i know is the time I have experienced so far has been great and makes me thankful for what I have.

Also I love the way tests will test you in the most wonderful ways (in hindsight), as the time that the fast has began is when my job basically allows me to get free food from restaurants in London during the day. Thank God for the humour, and for the opportunity to fast.

This quote gets me through each day:

Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man’s thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God, and through this awakening and stimulation surely ideal advancements follow.

- Abdu’l-Baha

Badi is an American rapper, who has a diverse musical background, which ranges from; singing in a gospel choir and playing the trumpet. The first mixtape he released was titled ‘Super Vision’ (2006), and was inspired by experiences from his journey to Thailand where he spent his year of service. His debut full-length album ‘The Departure’ (200 encompasses the unique style of organic Hip-Hop he has been developing throughout adolescence and early adulthood. It features positive lyrics relating to how hardships in our life develop our spirituality, accompanied by music which incorporates many different styles which adds great depth to his raps.

The album opens up with a definitive introduction to Badi’s mind state about the music industry, and how rap can be elevated to the next level, ushering in a different movement. In the track ‘Fate of the World’ listeners are immersed into the compelling and pressing times we are living in where the fate of the world lies in Badi’s hands, which can extend to how everyone can write their own future. With a moving and catchy guitar featured throughout the track, ‘Be OK’ is almost an uplifting melody to living your life away from the music industry games; the vocals from Kofo The Wonderman add a warm quality to the song. Covering relationships, ‘I Don’t Know’ is a very honest look at how we view so called ‘love’, the beat shows a natural edge with funk and soul influences. Following this ‘Sister’ is great blend of Hip-Hop and R&B courtesy of Donovan, in which the role of women is explored, in his lyrics Badi encourages females to express their true nature rather then embracing the falsehoods the media portray of one’s image.

Aside from the more poetic concept tracks, ‘Sidewalkin’ is hard hitting and can be seen to be a metaphor for the coldness people can show in reality, when busy perusing our everyday movements not being sure of our identity, and others around us. In ‘The Fire’, devotion is likened to a fire which gives us strength, in illustrating this point writings of the Baha’i Faith are mentioned in the chorus. To mark the interlude beat boxing is sampled, and following from this ‘Ain’t Sayin Nothin’ appears, consisting of a fully charged more mainstream rap beat. This mood in the music relates to the subject matter, in which Badi is urging rappers to start putting more meaningful content into their lyrics.

The album is a departure from most preconceptions about rap music, both musically and lyrically. There is a pleasant variation to the types of tracks, which make the music go far beyond listening to them once. In fact Badi’s usage of words requires revisiting the concepts in the tracks such as the insightful ‘Full Circle’, while others feature a hand waving vibe, without compromising the quality of the content. Badi’s album is a great opening for people who are new or long time fans of Hip-Hop music.

Badi - The Way

Useful Links:

The Album is available both digitally and hard copy, get it now!

- Myspace

- Official Site

Seeing that Internal Women’s Day is coming up I thought I’d make a post on this topic. One of many striking features of the Baha’i faith is its emphasis on the equality of men and women in all aspects of everyday life. The Baha’i perspective invites people to empower the station of women from family life to education, making a break from rigid notions of gender roles, in patriarchal societies, which feminists see as maintaining the status-quo. The integration and disintegration of women’s rights in society are in many ways reinvented in modern times, and are reproduced through media representations in positive and negative ways.

Contrary to popular belief, is the perspective that the world’s religions have always empowered the station of women, according to the social context to which they were revealed. This idea and concept is what Bahai’s strive to promote, and practically implement in relation to the Baha’i concept of the equality of men and women in today’s society. For example Baha’i inspired non-governmental organisations such the Tahirih Justice Center, provides pro-bono legal and other support for immigrant women facing gender based persecution in the United Sates.

The equality of men and women is not merely a distant ideal, but at the same time it is not realistic for the sexes to dispel all their gender based prejudices overnight, rather by helping educate one another of the oneness of humanity that transcends gender, a step is made in a more fruitful direction. A speaker from The World Economic Forum recently stated that:

“When girls are healthy, well-educated and empowered to contribute to their families and societies, we all benefit.”

Dr. Lopez-Claros, director of the Global Competitiveness Report 2006/2007

It can be seen that the advancement of the station of women in terms of their access to education and health care benefits all of society economically as well as socially, the increased interdependence created by forces of globalisation highlight this notion, and to achieve equality everyone must take outward steps to attain this. The Indian news service Marinews posted an item yesterday, mentioning that all the world’s religions have model women in their history, and mentions that in the Baha’i faith there is ‘no difference in the education of male and female’ drawing on some of the Baha’i writings.

As mentioned in the article, Bahai’s can look to Tahirih as a source of inspiration, she was a strong minded female figure who challenged the cultural limitations of women in an Islamic Persia in the 18th Century, which was the social environment in which the Babi dispensation (preceding the Baha’i faith) emerged. As well as being a well renowned poet and scholar, a notable part of Tahirih’s life was her adherence to the Babi faith, which lead to a historic event involving the removing of her veil publicly, symbolically breaking away from Islam and ushering in a new age in the the human understanding of equality of men and women, Shoghi Effendi describes that occasion:

Tahirih, regarded as the fair and spotless emblem of chastity and the incarnation of the holy Fatimih, appeared suddenly, adorned yet unveiled, before the assembled companions, seated herself on the right-hand of the affrighted and infuriated Quddus, and, tearing through her fiery words the veils guarding the sanctity of the ordinances of Islam, sounded the clarion-call and proclaimed the inauguration of a new Dispensation. The effect was instantaneous.

-Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By

“That’s gonna make your Baha’i Blogs!“

-Rainn Wilson (NEBY 200

Rainn amuses me already on the television, but this just takes his comedy to the next level

Today on the Times Online website Ruth Gledhill has published a post about the persecution of Baha’is in Iran and Egypt, in particular highlighting the situation of a Baha’i musician living in the United Kingdom longing to share her music in her native country of Iran. It features an interview and a video of her playing piano:

Like all Bahai’s, this young and beautiful musician cannot study at university in Iran. Students have to fill in a form stating their religion. She tells her story: ‘Since I was a child I wanted to become a musician. I loved playing the piano. But after my high school graduation I was not accepted to enter the university in Iran.’ She was able to go to the unofficial Baha’i higher education institution, but there was no music course on offer. ‘I had no other choice and I applied for civil engineering which I did not enjoy, I did not do well and hardly passed the exams. After my BA I decided to go abroad and went to Moscow in order to study music there. It was fantastic, I was able to live my childhood’s dream and I graduated with distinction. I could not wait to return to Iran and start working as a musician.’ …I hope that one day I will be able to perform on an Iranian stage.’

View the entire article here, and be sure to check out news on the situation published by the Baha’i International Community here.

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

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Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Start Here

(Image - ‘Baha’i faithful find refuge at U’)

‘The Daily Utah Chronicle‘ which is the student newspaper for Utah University has published an interesting article covering the issue of Baha’i students in Iran. It looks at the story of Naeim, an electrical engineering student who recently came to the United States to seek a safe environment where he could study at University. Being raised in Tehran his family were close to the injustices which face followers of the Baha’i faith, in moving to Turkey and eventually the USA Naeim now has the opportunity to have a secure future studying at an American University. In Iran Baha’i students are discriminated against when they seek to attend institutions of higher education, which according to the United Nations everyone should be entitled to regardless of their religious belief. Naeim relates that in his experiences in Iran :

“They were trying to find any reason to kick us out of school or class,”

You can read the full article here, and access more information on the current situation of Baha’i students at this link.

I just stumbled across this website called ‘Dance For Peace‘, it is a great initiative which offers a cultural exchange programme which teaches urban dance to underprivileged people living in countries which have been affected by civil conflict. The facilitators of the workshops teach the students dance skills as well as motivating the individuals to achieve their potential by building upon their self-esteem and teaching them how to work as a team.

By purchasing a T-Shirt you can help fund this great project (while also looking very cool) which aims to expand it’s work across other countries, I think dance is an awesome medium to use to offer service to others.

Dance for Peace is currently facilitating festivals in Cape Town, South Africa and Lima, Peru with future projects planned for Uganda, Brazil and the Philippines

~PEACE~

To every human being must ye be infinitely kind. Call none a stranger; think none to be your foe. Be ye as if all men were your close kin and honoured friends. Walk ye in such wise that this fleeting world will change into a splendour and this dismal heap of dust become a palace of delights.

-`Abdu’l-Bahá (Selections From the Writings of `Abdu’l-Bahá P. 280)

Anyone can turn a speck of dust into delight
But it takes time like day turning into night

Once the mind is open we can walk wisely
God please calm my heart and guide me

For I feel strange for calling foes friends
Maybe I need to adjust this world’s lens

I hope to lend a hand when anyone is in danger
This way of living welcomes every stranger

In fact that word becomes a tool of the past
As true friends are formed without prejudice

Fear and stigmas get flipped like an hourglass
Some people in the streets are ahead of this

My close kin extends to every world citizen
Souls are eager ears wanting to just listen in

I’m a stranger to myself when I’m estranged to others
If this world’s a fleeting moment then remove our covers…

~PEACE~

An exciting feature on the South African Baha’i website, informs people of an upcoming documentary about South African Baha’is which will be shown on August 19^th on the television channel SABC2. Entitled ‘Bahai Faith - A Way Forward’, the one hour programme follows people from diverse social and racial backgrounds. It profiles how they try and serve their community by demonstrating Baha’i principles in their daily life, and gives an overall positive global outlook on the problems the world is facing. The trailer looks great and I’ll try and post the full video after it airs if possible, the documentary was produced by Leyla Haidarian.

“Thou art like unto the pupil of the eye
which is dark in colour,
yet it is the fount of light
and the revealer of the contingent world.”

-`Abdu’l-Bahá