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Ábádih

From Bahaipedia
آباده
Ábádih
City in Iran
The Ábádih Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds after 1944 arson attack.
Location of Ábádih
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1903 
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Ábádih is a city in the Fars Province of Iran.

The Bahá’í community of Ábádih was established in the 1870s. Despite early periods of persecution the community was able to develop, establishing adminstrative institutions and obtaining properties in the early 1900s, and it was one of the leading communities in Iran as of the 1920s. Following the 1979 Revolution in Iran the community has faced intense persecution like other Bahá’í communities across the country.

History[edit]

Early establishment[edit]

The earliest relevance of Ábádih to the Bábí religion came in 1854 when a troop transporting the heads of Bábí's who had been beheaded in Nayriz to Tehran received orders in Ábádih to bury them wherever they received the orders rather than continuing to the capital. The Muslim residents of the city refused to allow for them to be buried in the cemetery and they were buried behind an abandoned caravanserai.[1]

The first Bahá’í to live in Ábádih was likely Mirza ‘Ata'u'llah Khan who converted to the religion while studying traditional medicine in Isfahan. He was forced to leave Isfahan when he became known as a Bahá’í and returned to his home in Ábádih in 1870.[1] He actively taught the Faith after arriving with some of his friends converting and his efforts prompted Mirza Ashraf, a Bahá’í who had settled in the village of Dihdaq near Ábádih in 1864 but concealed his beliefs, to also become an active teacher in the Ábádih area.[2] Travel teacher Muhammad Khan Baluch visited the city and delivered a copy of the Kitab-i-Iqan to the Bahá’í community at some point in the 1870's.[3]

In March 1878 the Faith began to face persecution in Ábádih when a local who was in debt to a Bahá’í, Ustad ‘Ali Akbar, accused Akbar of maligning Islam to a judge to avoid paying the judge. The judge ordered that Akbar be whipped and then imprisoned, however when the Governor of Fars received a report of the case he ordered that Akbar be transferred to Shiraz, consulted him and believed his account, and ordered the arrest of the judge allowing Akbar to return to Ábádih under his protection.[4] Teaching efforts in the city were bolstered in the early 1880's by visits from Nabíl-i-Akbar and Mírzá Asadu’llah Isfahani.[3]

The clerics of Ábádih began to feel threatened by the growth of the Bahá’í community in the early 1880's and began undertaking hostile actions.[3] In 1883 some Ábádih Bahá’ís were arrested and a local cleric sentenced them to be bastinadoed and imprisoned however when he heard that the Bahá’í community had gathered to consult on the situation he released the prisoners.[4] Mirza Ashraf had to go into hiding due to clerical pressure and left the area for India in approximately 1884.[3]

Bahá’í activity in Ábádih was stimulated in the 1890's through visits by prominent Bahá’ís. In 1892 Haji Mirza Haydar ‘Ali visited the city, in 1895 Núri'd-Dín visited shortly after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in April 1896 Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Furúghí and Mirza Qabil Abadihi visited while returning home from pilgrimage.[3]

Period of persecution[edit]

A period of intensified persecution broke out in May, 1896, when the Shah of Iran was assassinated and some initially thought the Bahá’ís were involved. The clerics of Abadih submitting false reports that the Bahá’ís were arming in an attempt to seize control of the city and a troop of soldiers was deployed to take leading Bahá’ís in the city into custody.[3] Three prominent Bahá’ís; Qabil, Da'i Husayn, and Mirza Husayn Khan, were arrested with Qabil being severely beaten, bastinadoed, and assaulted by a crowd at the instigation of the prayer leader of the city.[5]

A group of Bahá’ís from the nearby village of Dirghuk armed themselves and managed to communicate with some of the imprisoned Bahá’ís requesting permission to attack the prison in order to free them however their offer was declined with the prisoners forbidding them from doing so,[5] noting that such an action would violate the teachings of the Faith. Instead hundreds of Bahá’ís from Ábádih, Dirghuk, and Himmatabad gathered at the Ábádih telegraph station and demanded that a telegraph of complaint be sent to the Prime Minister of Iran and an official in Shiraz. The head of the telegraph station was opposed to the Faith and instead sent a message denigrating the Bahá’ís, however the Bahá’ís were able to send a message to Vakílu’d-Dawlih in Yazd.

On May 22, 1896, Prince Hisam us-Saltanih Qajar visited Ábádih and he interviewed one of the imprisoned Bahá’ís and ruled that the Bahá’ís should be freed, although they were made to pay a fine.[6] Immediately after the Prince departed local authorities ordered that the three released Bahá’ís be arrested again and that Bahá’í homes be attacked with many Bahá’í households being looted as a result. Bahá’ís were taken into custoy and tortured in an attempt to learn the locations of the released Bahá’ís. Qabil traveled to Yaz where he met with Vakílu’d-Dawlih who was able to inform the Prime Minister of Iran of the situation which resulted in the order temporarily being restored.[6]

In July 1896 the Imam Jum'ih of Ábádih, who had been active in the May campaign against the Bahá’í community, accused four local Bahá’ís of a murder which had been committed in the area and they were arrested and taken to Shiraz where they were beaten and held until paying a large fine.[7]

In January 1901 members of the Muslim community of the village of Vazirabad submitted a complaint to the Imam Jum'ih of Ábádih after several locals in the village converted to the Bahá’í Faith. The Imam Jum'ih conveyed the complaint to the Governor of Ábádih who ordered the arrest of some Bahá’ís. Da'i Husayn met with the Governor to object to the arrests and successfully convinced the Governor to reconsider securing the release of the Bahá’ís.[7] In response the Imam-Jum'ih attempted to have the Governor dismissed, and the Governor retaliated by funding a mob which he ordered to destory the Imam-Jum'ih's home. The Imam appealed to the Bahá’í community of Ábádih for assistance and leading Bahá’ís met with the Governor convincing him to cease his hostility towards the Imam.[8]

In April 1901 a religious movement was estalished in Ábádih by Asadu'lah Byak who claimed he knew the location of the Mahdi and constructed a Shrine. The Imam-Jum'ih supported the movement claiming that this invalidated the claim of the Báb to be the Mahdi and this resulted in Bahá’ís being assaulted in the city. He wrote to a leading Bahá’í in the nearby village of Kushkak demanding that the Bahá’ís of the village submit themselves to arrest in Ábádih however the Bahá’í contacted the Governor of Ábádih who instead sent troops who dispersed the movement and arrested its leaders in June, 1901.[9]

Consolidation[edit]

In May 1903 Hand of the Cause Mírzá Ḥasan visited Ábádih and with his encouragement the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ábádih was established in July that year as a ten member body. Due to an increase in Bahá’í activity a local cleric, Mulla 'Abdu'llah Va'iz Shirazi, began denouncing the Bahá’í Faith and the Governor of Ábádih ordered that he be sent to Shiraz. The Mulla instead went to the Imam-Jum'ih for assistance and the Imam-Jumih's son assembled a mob which harassed and attacked Bahá’ís, but dispersed when confronted by a group of Bahá’í youth. As a result the Mulla, the Imam-Jum'ih, and the Imam's son were ordered to stay in Shiraz for six months.[9][10]

As of 1905 it was estimated that there were approximately 1,000 Bahá’ís in Abadih.[11] The Bahá’í community of Ábádih was able to develop itself following the establishment of the Assembly and in 1908 a Shrine was constructed over the site where the Bábí martyrs of Nayriz had been buried in 1854, and a Bahá’í boys school was established. A Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was constructed in 1910 with a Bahá’í cemetery being established on its grounds and it became home of the boys school, and in 1911 a Bahá’í public bath-house was constructed.[12] Also in 1911 a teacher who had studied at the American School in Tehran was hired to run the boys school and they implemented a modrn syllabus with a girls school also being established. The girls school as closed down by the authorities in 1913 and the boys school had also closed down by 1917.[13]

As of 1918 British authorities held great influence in Ábádih and they ordered that the current Governor of Ábádih, Muhammad Ali Khan, step down that year. The Governor refused to do so and demanded that the Bahá’í community of the cty support him threatening their property and lives if they refused to do so. The Bahá’ís declined due to the Faith's guidance on non-involvement in politics.[13] Ali Khan succesfully seized control of the city and he raided the home of a Bahá’í after doing so and burnt a copy of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. He died of cholera later the same day and when the British reclaimed control of the city they imposed fines on the populace but exempted the Bahá’í community. The city was reclaimed in July, 1918, by Sultan Kazim Khan who imposed fines on wealthy Bahá’ís in the city and intended to loot the homes of the Bahá’í community, however he was forced out of the city before being able to do so.[14]

In March 1919 a group of eighteen Ábádih Bahá’ís set out on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Local clerics submitted complaints to Shiraz requesting that the group be arrested when arriving in the city however the clerics were reprimanded with the party being allowed to travel to Haifa.[14] They met with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who encouraged them to re-establish Bahá’í schools in their city and in January 1920 the pilgrims arrived home and established a boys and girls school, both named Tarbiyat, shortly after arriving. Masih Khan Agah, who had studied in Beirut, became headmaster of the boys school and modernized the curriculum, utilizing textbooks and introducing school uniforms. The school offered education for older students meaning anyone wanting to pursue higher education without leaving the city had to attend the Bahá’í school.[15] The girls school was the only school for female students in the city and as such many Muslim students also attended.[16]

Ministry of the Guardian[edit]

The Bahá’í community of Ábádih experienced a period of growth in the early 1920's which also stimulated persecution. In 1922 and 1923 Haji Haydar 'Ali 'Attar, a recent convert, was attacked and had his home attacked by former associates and as the authorities did not intervene after his home was attacked in 1923 Bahá’ís began to be attacked more frequently and some Bahá’ís began to retaliate. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Ábádih arranged for three hundred Bahá’ís to visit the office of the Governor on May 12, 1923, and they requested mediation. The Governor arranged a meeting between the Assembly and nine representatives of Muslim organizations of Ábádih which resulted in an agreement being made to refrain from hostilities.[17]

In June, 1923, the agreement was broken when a Bahá’í, Aqa 'Ali, who worked for a bank attempted to reclaim a debt owed to him and it became a physical altercation. A mob gathered demanding that the Bahá’í be executed and they attacked the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds and assaulted its caretaker. The Governor ordered that the mob disperse stating that Aqa 'Ali would be dealt with and 'Ali went into hiding.[17] Some hostility towards the Bahá’í community continued but after fifteen days the situation had calmed.[11] It has estimated that there were approximately 1,500 Bahá’ís in Abadih as of 1923.[11]

In 1926 Ábádih was noted as one of the leading Bahá’í communities of Iran.[18] Florence Schopflocher, a Canadian Bahá’í, visited Ábádih in 1927 and noted that many leading military and municipal officials in the city were Bahá’ís and that the women of the city were generally more educated than those in other Persian cities with many Bahá’í youth having studied at the American University in Beirut.[11] Ábádih sent delegates to the first National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Iran in 1927.[19]

In 1933 Keith Ransom-Kehler visited Ábádih during a tour of Iran undertaken at the direction of Shoghi Effendi.[20] In the early 1930's the Bahá’í community of Ábádih faced some incidents of persecution however the civil authorities acted to protect the community,[21] although in 1934 the Tarbiyat boys and girls schools were shut down when the government closed down all Bahá’í schools because they closed on Bahá’í Holy Days.[22] In the late 1930's the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran assigned travel teachers to visit Ábádih to support teaching work and some Bahá’ís visited the city voluntarily to teach.[23]

In May, 1944, violence against the Bahá’ís of Ábádih broke out with a mob of almost four thousand people vandalizing the Bahá’í cemetery, attempting to burn down the gates to the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, destroying furniture and literature within the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, and causing fatal injuries to four Bahá’ís.[24][25] The community faced violence again in 1955 when Bahá’í graves at the cemetery were destroyed,[26] and homes were destroyed.[27]

The Revolution[edit]

The Islamic Revolution took place in Iran in 1979 and lead to an extreme intensification of persecution of Bahá’ís across the country. In June 1979 the Bahá’í community of Ábádih submitted a letter to the new Prime Minister of Iran requesting that the Bahá’í communities civil rights be upheld by the new regime.[28] In 1980 four Bahá’ís in Ábádih were arrested and transferred to Shiraz where they were imprisoned.[29]

In 1983 a Bahá’í owned barber shop in the city was shut down at the order of the authorities due to the ruling the owner could not operate the business because he was a Bahá’í,[30] and in 1990 an Ábádih court reiterated that it was illegal for Bahá’ís to conduct business with all transactions with Bahá’ís being ruled to be invalid.[31] In 2000 the Bahá’í cemetery of the city was bulldozed.[32]

In June 2007 defamatory and hateful graffiti was written on Bahá’í homes and businesses across Ábádih.[33] In January 2008 a group of members of the Basij, a revolutionary paramilitary group, drove a bulldozer into the home of a Bahá’í family and then looted it of any Bahá’í materials they could find. They delivered a threatening letter the following night. The family received support from their neighbors and some local officials with a staff member in the office of the governor expressing apologies for the incident.[34]

In November 2011 a grave in the Bahá’í cemetery of the city was desecrated with a coffin being dug up, the body being removed, and then run over by a vehicle.[35] In October 2013 fourteen Bahá’ís were arrested after their homes were raided with Bahá’í materials being seized.[36]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 288
  2. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 289
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 291
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 290
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 292
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 293
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 294
  8. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 295
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 296
  10. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 297
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 304
  12. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 298
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 299
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 300
  15. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 301
  16. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 302
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 2021, p 303
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1926). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 1 (1925-1926), Pg(s) 103. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1928). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 2 (1926-1928), Pg(s) 189. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1936). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 5 (1932-1934), Pg(s) 407. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1933). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 4 (1930-1932), Pg(s) 82. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1937). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 6 (1934-1936), Pg(s) 96. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ Template:Citbw
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 9 (1940-1944), Pg(s) 100. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ Baha'i News (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 177, Pg(s) 18. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ Attack on Bahá’í cemetery in Abadeh, 1955 at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  27. ↑ Destruction of the houses and properties of Baha’is in Koshkak village in Abadeh, Shiraz - 1955 at iranbahaipersecution.org
  28. ↑ Baha’i community of Abadeh ask Prime Minister to uphold rights of Baha’is at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  29. ↑ Kayhan newspaper: Four Baha’is arrested in Abadeh at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  30. ↑ Order to close Bahram Jannati's barber shop in Abadeh at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  31. ↑ Abadeh court ruling based on religious ban on doing business with Baha’is at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  32. ↑ Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, submitted to General Assembly by Secretary-General at iranbahaipersecution.org
  33. ↑ New wave of systematic measures against Baha’is at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  34. ↑ The Bahá’í Question: Cultural cleansing in Iran at iranabahaipersecution.bic.org
  35. ↑ Violence with Impunity: Acts of aggression against Iran’s Baha’i community at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
  36. ↑ Bahaism in Iran website: Anti-revolutionary media and detention of 14 Baha’is in Abadeh at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
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