‘Alí Akbar Rafí‘í Rafsanjání

‘Alí Akbar Rafí‘í Rafsanjání
Born	1882 Kirman, Iran
Died	June 27, 1965 Meknes, Morocco
Spouse(s)	Sháyistih
Children	‘Abbás Nusrat Batoul Taheri Ahmad
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‘Alí Akbar Rafí‘í Rafsanjání (1882 - June 27, 1965) was a Persian Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Morocco in his seventies.

Biography

Rafsanjání was born in Kirman in 1882. He became a Bahá’í as an adult and settled in Rafsanján at some point. The community of Rafsanján was hostile to the Bahá’í Faith however he refused to leave the town, and established himself as a pistachio farmer.

In 1951 the Bahá’í community of Rafsanján experienced an increase in hostility from the wider community with the local Bahá’í Centre being vandalized and a mob threatening Rafsanjání's home, although they did not attack the home instead destroying the Bahá’í cemetery with Rafsanjání remaining in the town despite the violence. In 1952 Rafsanjání and his family went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and in 1953 they attended all four Inter-Continental Conferences called by Shoghi Effendi to launch the Ten Year Crusade. At the Stockholm conference his wife suggested that the family volunteer to pioneer and they consulted with Ugo Giachery who advised them to pioneer to Morocco.

In October, 1953, the Rafsanjání's were in India to attend the New Delhi Intercontinental Conference and they then traveled to Mumbai where some of their belongings were stolen. They then continued on to Morocco travelling via Beirut, Cairo, Rome, and Madrid, finally arriving in Tangier on November 5, 1953, three days after his daughter Nusrat and her husband Ḥusayn Ardikání had arrived. Upon arriving at the airport they were questioned and initially denied entry to the country however they were eventually granted entry with a visa which was to expire in just forty-eight hours. They were ultimately able to stay in the country and received full visas due to efforts undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran to consult with the French Ambassador in Morocco.

In July 1954 Rafsanjání and his son, ‘Abbás, briefly departed Morocco and spent two months touring Iran. They visited the House of the Báb in Shiraz, visited Rafsanján to encourage the Bahá’ís of the town to pioneer internationally, visited Tehran where they visited the House where Bahá’u’lláh was born, then traveled to Cairo in Egypt. Rafsanjání then visited Tunis, Tunisia, on the instructions of Hand of the Cause Músá Banání where he dedicated a newly opened Bahá’í Centre presenting a donation for the Centre from Shoghi Effendi at the ceremony.

In 1954 a Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Tangier, and the Rafsanjání's then pioneered within Morocco to Rabat where an Assembly was formed in 1955, and then moved to Larache, Morocco, where a Local Assembly was formed in 1956. They then pioneered to Meknes and Rafsanjání passed away there in 1965.

References

• The Universal House of Justice. The Bahá’í World - An International Record Vol XIV 1963-1968. Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England: Broadwater Press Limited.