Arak

اراک Arak
City in Iran
Location of Arak
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Arak, previously known as Sultanabad, is the capital city of Iran's Markazi Province.

The origins of the Arak Bahá’í community were a Bábí community established during the Ministry of the Báb. The Bahá’í community had a diverse makeup as of the 1890's with converts of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim backgrounds. Although shielded from hostile actions for some early periods by prominent individuals friendly to the religion the Bahá’í community of Arak has faced intense persecution at the instigation of the Muslim clergy throughout its history, experiencing some of the harshest treatment of any Bahá’í community in the country during the 1930's.

Since the 1979 Revolution the community has faced severe persecution along with the rest of Iran's Bahá’ís with Bahá’ís being dismissed from jobs and denied access university education due to their religion and the Bahá’í cemetery of the city being shut down by the authorities.

History

Early years

A Bábí community was established in Arak during the Ministry of the Báb and Bábí travel teacher Sayyid Basir Hindi visited the city in 1851 and debated members of the clergy during his stay. The Arak Bábís recognized Mírzá Yaḥyá as their leader following the Martyrdom of the Báb in 1850 and members of the community attempted to visit him in Baghdad during the 1850's, however in this period Yaḥyá was in hiding and refused to meet with Bábí's instead directing them to communicate with Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahání.

While some Arak Bábí's remained followers of Yaḥyá after visiting Baghdad others came to have more respect for Bahá’u’lláh who was also living in the city. Karbala’i Rahmatu’llah was a Bábí who met with, and was impressed by, Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad and he was extremely active in teaching after returning to Arak converting around seventy people in the city and surrounding villages. Another Arak Bábí who supported Bahá’u’lláh after meeting Him in Baghdad was Mulla Ibrahim Mulla-bashi who was a personal friend of the leading member of the clergy of Arak, Aqa Muhsin Mujtahid. Due to their friendship the Mujtahid shielded the early Bábí and Bahá’í communities in the city from persecution.

Early persecution

In early 1864 an individual named Mulla ‘Ali began attending Bábí meetings, feigning interest in the religion, in order to instigate hostility towards the community. He obtained a copy of the Bayan which he presented to Aqa Muhsin Mujtahid accusing the Bábí's of heresy. The leading members of the Arak Bábí community were summoned to a meeting in Muhsin Mujtahid's home which Haji Sayyid Muhammad Bagir Mujtahid, who was working with Mulla ‘Ali, invaded with a mob attacking and murdering two Bábí's including Karbalai Rahmatullah. After this the Governor arrested between twenty to thirty Bábí's and four were executed while imprisoned with the rest being released after two weeks and several Bábí's left the city as a result of the persecution. Haji Mirza Haydar ‘Ali visited the city at some point in the 1860's to teach the Bahá’í Faith to the populace and he was attacked and severely beaten as a result.

In 1881 Mulla Husayn Rawdih-khan Kashani, a member of the Arak clergy who had become a Bahá’í, was abducted by a mob which attacked his home. The mob poured wine on him and took him to the house of the Governor where they accused him of drunkeness. The Governor sentenced him to be bastinadoed however he remained in the custody of the mob who beat him to death.

Community development

In 1887 the prominent Bahá’í scholar Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl visited Arak. In 1889 Hashim Sajid, a Bahá’í from a Jewish background, moved to the city and began teaching in the cities Jewish community. More Jewish Bahá’ís began moving to Arak from Kashan and Hamadan to establish trading offices throughout the 1890's and the cities Bahá’í community also had converts from the Christian and Zoroastrian backgrounds as of the 1890's.

As of the early 1900's Mirza Aga Khan Qa’im-Maqami, a wealthy and prominent individual who was the great grandson of a former Prime Minister of Iran who had been a friend of Mírzá Buzurg, had become a Bahá’í and used his influence in the region to protect the Bahá’í community from persecution. His position also enabled him to openly teach the Faith. As of 1904 Maqami had purchased the burial site of the Bábí's murdered in 1864 which was used to construct a Bahá’í centre and a residence to accomodate visitors. Bahá’í travel teachers visited Arak throughout the early 1900's and were able to stay in the residence, including Qabil Abadihi in 1901 and Nasru’lláh Rastigár in 1909.

In 1906 Sayyid Aqa Nurud-Din Mujtahid Araki, a leading clergyman, ordered that the Arak Bazaar be closed by his followers planning to initiate a coordinated attack on the cities Bahá’ís, however the Bahá’í community learnt of his plans and fled the city until the Governor restored order. A prominent merchant in Arak, Mirza ‘Ali Akbar, was a Bahá’í and he was interrogated by the clergy several times due to his beliefs until February 1916 when a group of four men encouraged by the clergy invaded his home and murdered his family including his wife, his fourteen year old sister in law, and his four sons who were aged from twelve years to forty days. A Bahá’í, Haji ‘Arab, visited the home shortly after the murders and was so distraught he carried the body of the baby through the streets of the city shouting that even members of the Muslim community considered Akbar guilty of apostasy the baby had been an innocent. The case was reported in newsapapers with a photo of the bodies which resulted in outrage prompting the Governor to undertake actions to arrest the perpetrators, however due to general unrest as a result of the First World War the case was ultimately left unresolved.

Teaching activities continued despite the persecution with Mirza Tagi Khan Qajar Bahin-A’in pioneering to Arak nine months after the 1916 murders remaining until 1920. He attempted to debate members of the clergy who refused to meet with him. Travel teacher ‘Abdullah Mutlaq visited in 1919..

Further persecution

Haji ‘Arab, who had publicly protested the 1916 murder of Mirza ‘Ali Akbar's family, was framed in May 1920 when he visited a store neighboring the store where he worked in Arak to borrow kindling. He was given kindling which the neighboring shop owner stated was a page of the Qur’an and reported him to a Mujtahid for burning the Qur’an. ‘Arab fled Arak for a nearby village and a mob gathered which began harassing Bahá’ís in the city with many Bahá’ís fleeing the persecution. ‘Arab was eventually found and arrested and the Prime Minister of Iran was informed of the situation and sent a telegram ordering his execution although he had not yet been placed on trial. He was placed on trial but while ‘Arab maintained his innocence arguing that no witnesses to him burning the Qur’an had testified he was publicly hanged in the Arak towns square with his body being left in the square for two days afterwards.

In 1924 Bahá’í travel teacher Sayyid ‘Abbas ‘Alavi visited the Arak area teaching in the surrounding villages which prompted the deployment of troops to arrest him. The troops beat and harassed Bahá’ís in the villages, extorting money, and in March that year a group of Bahá’ís from the villages visited Arak to protest their behavior. Their arrival coincided with the visit of two highly prominent clergymen which resulted in heightened tensions and there were reports that there were plans to destroy the Arak Bahá’í Centre, however the clergymen left the town and calm was restored without incident. As of 1928 the Arak Bahá’ís had firmly established a Local Spiritual Assembly.

In the mid-1930's the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Arak was closed down by local police with all correspondence and archives being confiscated and tiles with Bahá’í inscriptions being removed from the walls of the building. In 1935 the secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Arak was arrested and refused permission to have visitors because he would not agree to not identify as a Bahá’í on official census papers. It was reported the Arak Bahá’í community was experiencing some of the harshest persecution in the country and Fádil Mazandarání visited the city to console the Bahá’í community.

In 1947 the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran submitted a letter detailing persecution of the Faith across the country which included concerns that a Tehran cleric was visiting Arak and delivering sermons inciting the populace to attack the Bahá’í community.

After the Revolution

The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran lead to intensified persecution of the countries Bahá’í community which affected the Bahá’ís of Arak. As early as February 1979 Bahá’ís began to be dismissed from their jobs due to their religion, which continued into the 1980's. In 1979 the house where Mirza ‘Ali Akbar and his family were martyred and buried in 1916 which was owned by the Bahá’í community was demolished, and in 1980 Bahá’ís were banned from selling property in Arak.

In 1995 an individual convicted of murdering Bahá’í Shervin Fallah in Arak was given a reduced sentence on the basis that the victim was a Bahá’í and as such not considered equal to a Muslim under the law. In 2006 a Bahá’í was accepted into the University of Arak but denied enrolment because she was a Bahá’í and she submitted a complaint, which was dismissed.

In 2022 the authorities banned the Bahá’ís from using the Bahá’í cemetery of Arak for burial.