‘Amín Battáh
‘Amín Battáh (1926 - 2010) was an Egyptian Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Rio de Oro.
Biography[edit]
Battáh was born into a Bahá’í family in Cairo, Egypt, in 1926. In his professional career he secured employment with the Egyptian government by the early 1950's.[1]
In 1953 Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade and Shoghi Effendi gave the Bahá’í community of Egypt the goal of establishing the Faith on the island of Rio de Oro, a region of Spanish Sahara. Battáh decided to pioneer to the territory and travelled to Tripoli, Libya, where he secured a visa however when he arrived in the town of Villa Cisneros in October 1953 the Spanish authorities were opposed to his presence, prevented him from associating with the locals, and he was expelled from the country on October 28, 1953, alongside Muhammad Mustafa a fellow pioneer to the area.[1]
Battáh and Mustafa were flown to Tétouan, Morocco, upon being deported from Spanish Sahara and Battáh travelled to Tangier aiming to settle. He was unable to secure a visa and Shoghi Effendi advised him to move to Benghazi in Libya. He was able to settle in Benghazi but was unable to find work. He ultimately secured a position working as a teacher in a place called Farzougha east of Benghazi. The area was inhabited by a nomadic population and he lived in a farmhouse where he conducted lessons with the locals providing him with food.[1]
In August 1954 Egyptian Bahá’ís residing in and near Benghazi were deported from Libya and Battáh retuned to Egypt. Persecution of the Bahá’í community began to escalate in Egypt and he remained an active Bahá’í being imprisoned and beaten several times and remained active up until his passing in 2010.[2]
