Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí Afnán
Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí (1824 - 1896) was a member of the Afnán family who was an active Bahá’í. He notably purchased the site of the Ishqabad House of Worship and he was the first Bahá’í to live in China.
Biography[edit]
Muhammad-‘Alí was born in 1824. He was the eldest son of Khál Akbar, the uncle of the Báb, and became a merchant. In 1859 he went on pilgrimage to Mecca with his brother Vakílu'd-Dawlih and a cousin, Hájí Siyyid Mihdí, and during the journey they visited Baghdad. They met with Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad, were the first members of the Afnán family to visit him after His exile, and became committed Bábís after meeting Him.[1] He helped expand the Afnán family business to China where he engaged in the trade of opium, living in Shanghai from 1862 to 1868,[2] and he was also active in the families business affairs in India.[1]
In 1880 Muhammad-‘Alí moved to Hong Kong where he established his business offices and he also established a warehouse in Shanghai. As of 1887 he had become a Bahá’í and that year he went on pilgrimage to 'Akka from Hong Kong and Bahá’u’lláh sent him to Russia where he bought several tracts of land in 'Ishqábád and Firuzih with one piece of land being set aside for the construction of a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and the others being set aside for the establishment of endowments to generate income to support the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.[1]
In 1896 Muhammad-‘Alí passed away in Bombay, India, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed two Tablets of Visitation in his honor after his passing. The Muslim community of Bombay refused to allow for his burial so his remains were taken to Karachi and then shipped to Búshihr where the Persian authorities refused to allow it to be unloaded at the port. The body was ultimately taken to Ctesiphon in Iraq where it was buried. In 1953 Shoghi Effendi made reinterring his body in the Bahá’í cemetery in Baghdad a goal of the Ten Year Crusade and this was achieved in May 1959.[1]
