‘Abdu’l-Husayn Ávárih

‘Abdu’l-Husayn Ávárih (1871 - 1953) was a Persian who became a notable Bahá’í travel teacher, however he clashed with the Bahá’í Administration after Shoghi Effendi was appointed the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith and ultimately became hostile towards the religion.

Biography

Ávárih was born into a Muslim family in Taft. His grandfather was a Shaykhí who had corresponded with Shaykh Ahmad. He had two brothers who became Bahá’ís in the 1890's however he was initially opposed to the religion and assisted with efforts to force one of his brothers to leave Taft in 1895 after which he assumed positions his brother had previously held in two local mosques. In 1901 Ávárih himself became a Bahá’í and was also forced to leave Taft when his conversion became known, and he moved to Ardistán where he established a Bahá’í school at the local communities request with the school operating until 1904. He then moved to Tehran until 1919 when he moved to Kirmanshah and he then moved to Baku in 1920.

During his travels Ávárih had become a highly respected teacher of the Faith, although there had been some controversy in Baku as he was perceived as behaving inappropriately towards young women, and in 1922 Shoghi Effendi summoned him to the Holy Land to participate in consultations on the future of the Bahá’í community following the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the previous year. He arrived after the consultations had already concluded and was advised by Shoghi Effendi that it had been decided that the Universal House of Justice could not be established until the administrative institutions of the Faith had been further developed. He objected to this and insisted the Universal House of Justice be established immediately, feeling Shoghi Effendi was too inexperienced to lead the community.

In 1923 Shoghi Effendi sent Ávárih to England to assist with the development of the community and he engaged in teaching work from at least February to April which lead to the establishment of Local Spiritual Assemblies in Manchester and Bournemouth early in the year. He also visited Brighton. His visit was viewed positively with British Bahá’í Edward Hall describing him as an "incomparable teacher", although some viewed his interactions with young women as inappropriate. Around this time Ávárih wrote a letter to the American Bahá’í community encouraging them to support Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian, and assisted John Esslemont with the composition of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.

After his teaching tour of England Ávárih settled in Egypt where he requested permission from the Central Assembly of Egypt, the national Bahá’í administrative body of the time, to translate a history of the Faith he had written into Arabic and have it published. The Central Assembly declined to grant permission, and Ávárih then secured permission from the Local Spiritual Assembly of Kawm as-Sa'adahin order to bypass the Central Assemblies decision causing disunity in the countries Bahá’í community. He also began writing correspondence critical of the Administration to Bahá’ís he knew in Iran.

Ávárih's conduct was reported to Shoghi Effendi who summoned him to Haifa as a result, however he arrived while Shoghi Effendi was in Switzerland. While in Haifa he challenged the legitimacy of the Institution of the Guardianship and demanded to see the original copy of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá however he conceded the document was written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after viewing it, but insisted the Universal House of Justice be established. From Haifa he moved to Lebanon where he continued to create controversy within the Bahá’í community, and continued distributing correspondence critical of Shoghi Effendi's leadership.

After departing Lebanon Ávárih attempted to establish himself in Baghdad however Bahíyyih Khánum, serving as head of the community during Shoghi Effendi's absence from the Holy Land, wrote to the Baghdad Bahá’í's giving instructions for them to transport him to Tehran. After arriving in Tehran Ávárih began associating with people hostile to the Bahá’í Faith and in July 1924 Bahíyyih Khánum issued a message to the Bahá’í community of Iran expelling him from the community.

After being expelled Ávárih supported himself by becoming a journalist with a Tehran newspaper, however his wife divorced him and his child refused to speak to him and he requested reinstatement into the Bahá’í community from the Central Spiritual Assembly of Tehran. He was advised to write to Shoghi Effendi and composed some poetry, and Shoghi Effendi responded instructing him to write a full account of his actions which he refused to do. At some point he also requested a guaranteed annual income from Shoghi Effendi in exchange for him no longer criticizing his leadership however this request was not answered.

After his request for reinstatement was rejected Ávárih changed his surname to Ayati, began collaborating with the religious authorities of Iran to assist with persecution of the Bahá’í community, and wrote a three volume work attacking and criticizing the Bahá’í Faith which was financed by the head of the American Protestant College in Tehran and published in 1928. He then secured a position writing for the journal Namak-dan working in the role until 1936.