May

May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between April and June. It has 31 days. May generally occurs during the months of Jamál and ‘Aẓamat in the Badi calendar.

Events

Recurring

• The feast of ‘Aẓamat takes place in the month of May.
• The Festival of Riḍván, commemorating the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh in 1863, ends in May. The twelfth day of Riḍván is celebrated on 5 Jamál (around May 1–2). Work is to be suspended on this day.
  • National conventions are generally held at some time during the Riḍván Festival to elect National Spiritual Assemblies, except during years when an International Convention takes place.
  • International Conventions are held every five years during the Riḍván Festival to elect the Universal House of Justice.
• The Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh is observed on 13 ‘Aẓamat (May 28–29), marking the passing of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892. Work is to be suspended on this day.

Historical

The following are examples of historical events which happened on each day of the month of May.

May 1

• 1912: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá lays the foundation stone for the first Bahá’í House of Worship in the West at Wilmette, Illinois.
• 2014: The Bahá'í International Community discloses news that Iran's Revolutionary Guards have begun excavation in a historically important Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz.

May 2

• 1912: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gives two discourses at the Hotel Plaza and two at the Hotel LaSalle, both in Chicago.
• 1958: An International Conference takes place in Chicago.

May 3

• 1863: Bahá'u'lláh leaves the Garden of Ridván with His followers. They arrive in Firayját and stay there for seven days, unaware of where they are being exiled.
• 1911: Aurelia Bethlen departs San Francisco on a worldwide teaching trip, the first undertaken by a Bahá'í woman.
• 1963: William deForge, Auxiliary Board member for the Americas, dies.

May 4

• 1959: W. Kenneth Christian, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh and member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States of America, dies.
• 2015: Four Baha'is involved with the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), unjustly imprisoned in Iran four years prior, are released after completing their sentences.

May 5

• 1901: Mírzá Áqá Ján, amanuensis of Bahá'u'lláh who broke the Covenant after His Ascension, dies.
• 1964: Richard Nolen, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to Azores, dies.
• 1965: The National Spiritual Assembly of Tanzania is incorporated.

May 6

• 1857: Charles Greenleaf, early American Bahá'í and a Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá‎, is born.
• 1883: Silver Jackman, Australian Baha’i and member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, is born.
• 1912: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá leaves Chicago for Cleveland, where He gives an address at Euclid Hall. Later that day He visits the Sanitarium of Dr. C. Swingle.
• 2018: Three Bahá’ís of Abadan are arrested with their Bahá’í materials being seized.

May 7

• 2014: In a letter, the seven Bahá’í leaders imprisoned in Iran respond to Mohammad Javad Larijani regarding his claim that “No one is in prison for being a Bahá’í and if Bahá’ís do not commit illegal acts their citizenship rights will be protected”.
• 2016: Jenabe Caldwell, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to the Aleutian Islands, dies.

May 8

• 1892: Bahá'u'lláh contracts a slight fever.
• 1920: Wayne Hoover, American travelling teacher, is born.

May 9

• 2003: Death of David Hofman, Universal House of Justice member and founder of George Ronald Publisher.

May 10

• 1849: Battle of fort Tabarsí ends after a negotiated surrender in which the victors promise to let the Bábís go. Immediately afterward, the victors break their oath and kill many of the defenders.
• 1862: The Persian ambassador requests that the Ottomans move the Bábís farther from Persia.
• 1925: Verdict of the Islamic Court in Egypt pronouncing the Faith to be an independent religion.
• 1960: The Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land ask Baha'is everywhere "to have no association with Mr. Remey as long as he continues to press his false claim to the station of Guardianship."
• 2007: The first IPUE session for Malaysia was held. The only other country to be selected to be the pioneer country was Chile.

May 11

• 2007: Malietoa Tanumafili II, head of state of Samoa and one of the longest reigning monarchs in the world, passes away.

May 12

• 1869: Clara Dunn, a Hand of the Cause, is born in London.
• 1902: Mírzá Asadu'lláh leaves the United States.
• 1912: `Abdu'l-Bahá takes a ferry to New Jersey. He takes a train for Montclair where He addresses the congregation of the Unity Church, before returning to New York to speak to the International Peace Forum.
• 1944: Bahá’ís are persecuted at Ábádih, Iran. The Bahá’í centre is attacked by a mob of four thousand, the building is looted and destroyed and several Bahá’ís badly beaten.
• 1960: Six national spiritual assemblies send messages of support to the Custodians, repudiating the claim made by Charles Mason Remey to be the second Guardian.

May 13

• 1896: Ugo Giachery, prominent Hand of the Cause of God and International Bahá’í Council member, is born.
• 1913: Collis Featherstone, prominent Australian Bahá’í and Hand of the Cause, is born.
• 2016: Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, meets with Fariba Kamalabadi, a member of the Friends in Iran, while the latter was on furlough from prison.
• 2018: The ten-year sentence of Afif Naeimi, the last member of the Friends in Iran remaining in prison, is extended, despite a judicial ruling stating that he is too ill to be incarcerated.

May 14

• 2008: Six members of the Baha'i 7 are arrested at their homes and taken to Iran's notorious Evin Prison.

May 15

• 1901: The Chicago Bahá'ís elect a nine-man Board of Council for a term of five years.
• 1934: The first National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand is held in Sydney, with nine delegates in attendance. The first National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand is elected with its seat in Sydney.
• 1940: Shoghi Effendi determines to go to England; thereafter, he and Rúhíyyih Khánum leave Haifa for Italy en route to London.

May 16

• 1849: Quddús, prominent disciple of the Báb, and the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living is tortured and executed.

May 17

• 2008: Brigitte Lundblade, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to the Shetland Islands, dies.

May 18

• 1982: Universal House of Justice member Amoz Gibson dies.

May 19

• 1874: John Esslemont, Hand of the Cause and Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is born.

May 20

• 1956: Louisa Mathew Gregory, whose wedding to Hand of the Cause of God Louis Gregory in 1912 was the first interracial western Bahá’í marriage, dies in Eliot, Maine.
• 1974: A mass trial in a military court in Iraq hands down in absentia sentences of life imprisonment on ten Bahá’ís, two of whom are already deceased. In the weeks following, several Bahá’ís in Iraq are imprisoned or have their property confiscated.
• 1978: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahamas is formed with its seat in Nassau.

May 21

• 1897: Lua Getsinger becomes a Bahá'í in Chicago.
• 1971: Two conferences are held: The Caribbean Conference in Kingston, Jamaica, and the South Pacific Oceanic Conference in Suva, Fiji.
• 1991: National Spiritual Assemblies are established in the West Leeward Islands, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union. The Bahá'ís of East and West Germany are united at their 61st convention for the first time after World War II.

May 22

• 1844: Two hours and eleven minutes after sunset, the Báb makes His declaration to Mullá Ḥusayn and reveals the first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' (Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph). The end of the Adamic Cycle of 6,000 years and the beginning of the Bahá'í Cycle; the beginning of the Heroic Age.
• 1944: The Centenary of the Declaration of the Báb is celebrated in the Holy Land, and at the House of the Báb in Shíráz; ninety delegates to the Iranian national convention and members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran assemble discreetly for the latter. The end of the celebrations marking this occasion signal the end of the First Epoch of the Formative Age.
• 1955: The dome of the National Bahá’í Centre in Tihrán is demolished with the personal participation of several high-ranking army officers. The publication of the pictures of this episode encourages a widespread outburst of persecution of Bahá’ís throughout Iran.
• 2001: At dusk, the Terraces of the Shrine of the Báb are officially opened in a special ceremony attended by some 4,500 people from over 200 countries and territories.
• 2016: Ground is broken for the construction of the local Bahá'í House of Worship for Norte del Cauca, Colombia.

May 23

• 1844: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the successor to Bahá’u’lláh, is born in Tihrán at midnight.
• 1905: The first Nineteen Day Feast celebrated in the West is held in New York City, consisting of a devotional portion and a social part.
• 1912: The Bahá'ís of Cambridge, Massachusetts, celebrate `Abdu'l-Bahá's birthday with a cake bearing 68 candles. `Abdu'l-Bahá addresses the group on the importance of the Báb.
• 1955: The Bahá’í International Community submits its ‘Proposals for Charter Revision’ to the United Nations for the Conference for Revision of the UN Charter.
• 1986: Fourteen State Bahá’í Councils are elected in India by members of local spiritual assemblies.
• 1990: Work begins on the reinforcement and extension of the main terrace of the Shrine of the Báb, the initial step in the creation of the Terraces on Mount Carmel.

May 24

• 1892: Bahá'u'lláh calls to His bedside all the believers, including many pilgrims, for their last audience with Him.
• 1892: Birth of Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Mildred Clark.
• 1901: The name of the Chicago Board of Council is changed to the House of Justice. `Abdu'l-Bahá later requests that this name be changed.
• 1955: The Bahá’í centre at Karaj, Iran, is taken over.
• 1969: The first Bahá’í Youth Conference of Japan opens on Jogashima Island.
• 1979: Shaykh Muhammad Muvahhid, a well-known Bahá’í, is kidnapped in Tihrán.

May 25

• 1940: Shoghi Effendi and Rúhíyyih Khánum leave for England via Menton and Marseilles after having obtained a visa for Britain in Rome. A few days later the Italians enter World War II against the Allies.
• 1942: ‘Abdu’l-Jalíl Bey Sa‘d dies and is named a Hand of the Cause of God posthumously.
• 1950: Khodadad Fozdar arrives in Singapore, the first pioneer to the country. His wife, Shirin Fozdar, joins him several months later.
• 1982: The Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives hears the testimony of six witnesses concerning the persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran.
• 2011: Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet were transferred from appalling conditions at Qarchak prison to Evin prison in Tehran.

May 26

• 1912: `Abdu'l-Bahá leaves Boston and returns to New York, arriving in the evening.
• 1978: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Mariana Islands is formed with its seat in Guam.
• 1993: The Office for the Advancement of Women officially opens at the headquarters of the Bahá'í International Community in New York.

May 27

• 1967: Death of Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Mildred Clark
• 1970: The Bahá’í International Community is granted consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
• 2008: /r/bahai, the first Bahá’í group on Reddit, is created.

May 28

• 1903: A large mob gathers at the Russian Consulate in Isfahán, Iran, where a group of Bahá'ís has sought shelter, and assault the Bahá'ís as they leave. One Bahá'í dies in the attack.
• 1992: Ibsen Valls Pinheiro, President of the Federal Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, opens a special session called to observe the Centenary of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, attended by 45 federal deputies.
• 1992: The original scroll bearing the Roll of Honour of the Knights of Bahá'u'lláh is placed by Hand of the Cause Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum in a chamber at the entrance door of the inner sanctuary of the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh.

May 29

• 1892: Bahá’u’lláh dies, and his mortal remains are placed in the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh next to the Mansion of Bahjí where he spent his final years.
• 2016: A group of twelve Bangladeshi lawyers sign an open letter calling for an end to the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.

May 30

• 1876: Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz is deposed.
• 1903: A letter from `Abdu'l-Bahá is received by the Chicago House of Spirituality giving His approval for the building of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in North America.
• 1955: Bahá’ís are attacked and wounded and their houses attacked in Ábádih, Iran.
• 1995: The first International Medical/Surgical Conference of Tirana is held under the auspices of Health for Humanity and the University of Tirana, attended by more than 400 Albanian physicians.

May 31

• 1872: Thomas Breakwell, the first English Bahá’í, is born.
• 1907: Chester I. Thacher, early American Bahá'í and Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, dies.