Mírzá Mahram

Mírzá Mahram

Áqá Mírzá Rida Manzar, known as Mírzá Mahram, (c. 1864 - 1913) was a Persian Bahá’í who was among the earliest pioneers to India. He made travel teaching trips across India and Burma and was instrumental to the establishment and consolidation of the Bahá’í community of Mumbai.

Biography

Mahram became a Bahá’í in the 1870's and was a member of a Bahá’í literary group in the Sidih region of Isfahan in Iran. Due to persecution of the Bahá’í Faith in the area he moved to Tehran in March, 1887, and he spent time in Khurasan around 1896.

In 1897 and 1898 Mahram made visits to Bombay, India, at the request of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to teach the Faith and in 1898 a local governing body for Bahá’ís in Bombay was formed. In 1899 he visited Burma to teach assisting Siyyid Muṣṭafá Rúmí in establishing Bahá’í communities in the country, and in 1904 he met with Sydney Sprague in Port Said, Egypt, and accompanied him on a travel teaching trip to Burma and India.

Mahram ultimately settled in India permanently where he notably met with Ghulam-Ahmad, the founder of Ahmadiyyih Islam, at some point, and was a leading figure in the Mumbai Bahá’í community. In 1913 he passed away in Mumbai and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá revealed a prayer for the elevation of his Soul and an epitaph for his gravestone.