Majdu’d-Din

Majdu’d-Din in Adrianople, 1860's.

Majdu’d-Din (c. 1854 - 1955) was an early Bahá’í closely associated with Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí and his attempt to oppose and overthrow ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the head of the Bahá’í Faith appointed by Bahá’u’lláh. He was expelled from the community as a Covenant-breaker and lived to be over one hundred years old.

Biography

Majdu’d-Din was the son of Mírzá Músá the only full brother of Bahá’u’lláh. At some point he married his cousin Samadiyyih who was a daughter of Bahá’u’lláh and his second wife Mahd-i-‘Ulya.

Shortly before His Ascension in 1892 Bahá’u’lláh asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to gather His papers and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked for Majdu’d-Din's assistance, however shortly after the Ascension Majdu’d-Din helped Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí gain access to the papers who wished to see if they contained anything which would allow him to oppose ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Nine days after the Ascension Majdu’d-Din was given the responsibility of reading the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd, Bahá’u’lláh's Will and Testament in which he appointed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor, to a large gathering of Bahá’ís at the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, however he soon became the motivating force behind ‘Alí's campaign of opposition.

In 1901 Majdu’d-Din went to Damascus where he submitted a petition to the Governor accusing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá of constructing a fortress on Mount Carmel and plotting a rebellion, and he provided a sizeable bribe. As a result ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was confined to the city of Akka, however the order also dictated that Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí and his supporters, including Majdu’d-Din, were also to be confined to the city. In 1915 Majdu’d-Din approached Jamal Pasha, a military commander responsible for Syria at the time, with accusations against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá but Pasha did not take any hostile actions against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Later in life Majdu’d-Din lived in a house near the Mansion of Bahji and suffered paralysis eventually losing the ability to speak. In 1951 he established contact with Riaz Rabbání, the brother of Shoghi Effendi resulting in Riaz being named a Covenant-breaker. He passed away in 1955 and Shoghi Effendi sent the following cable regarding his passing:

"Announce to National Assemblies that Majdu'd-Din, the most redoubtable adversary of Abdu'l-Baha, denounced by Him as the incarnation of Satan and who played a predominant part in kindling the hostility of Abdu'l-Hamid and Jamal Pasha, and who was the chief instigator of Covenant-breaking and archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, and who above sixty years labored with fiendish ingenuity and guile to undermine its foundations, miserably perished struck with paralysis affecting his limbs and tongue. Dispensation of Providence prolonged the span of his infamous life to a hundred years, enabling him to witness the extinction of his cherished hopes and the disintegration with dramatic rapidity of the infernal crew he unceasingly incited and zealously directed, and the triumphant progress and glorious termination of Abdu'l-Baha's thirty-year ministry as well as evidences of the rise and establishment in all continents of the globe of the administrative order, child of the divinely-appointed Covenant and harbinger of the world-encircling order."