Mehrabán Sohailí
Mehrabán Sohailí (b. 1922) is the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Comoros Islands.[1]
Biography[edit]
Mehrabán was born into a Bahá'í pioneer family in Quetta in Pakistan. As an adult he served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Quetta. In 1953 he attended the New Delhi Intercontinental Conference and volunteered to pioneer to a goal territory to be opened to the Faith during the Ten Year Crusade. He was first asked to pioneer to the Mentawai Islands, but Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir secured entry to the country first. He then attempted to pioneer to the Mariana Islands but had his visa request denied due to not being an American citizen. Finally he was asked to pioneer to the Comoros Islands and secured a visa.
In August 1954 he departed Pakistan from Karachi and arrived in Dzaoudzi on the island of Mayotte, the capital of the Islands. He remained there for two months living with an Indian merchant,[2] however his teaching activity resulted in some locals including his host becoming agitated with him and he moved to Moroni on Grand Comoros Islands and he secured a second six month visa when his first expired. During this time he was visited by Jalal Nakhjavání who assisted him in teaching.
In 1955 Mehrabán's visa expired, and his request for an extension was denied. In September 1955 he moved to Madagascar, but he was unable to secure longterm residency in that country and moved to Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika. He remained there for a year but had his visa renewal rejected and then moved to Somalia. He was able to live in Somalia for four years before having a visa renewal request rejected.
In 1959 he moved to Nairobi, Kenya, on the advice of Aziz Yazdi. He assisted Aziz, Alí Nakhjavání, and Músá Banání in teaching work over the next four years. In 1963 he visited Europe and then moved to India where in August 1963 he married Rezwan Najmi and they both moved to Kenya together. They had a son in Nairobi in 1966.[3] In January 1969 he participated on a panel at a World Religion Day event in Nairobi.[4] In 1977 he returned to the Comoros Islands for a brief visit during which eighteen people declared.
Mehrabán returned to the Comoros in March 1985 with his son Isfandiar and they had success in teaching the Faith with sixty people declaring and three Local Spiritual Assemblies being formed.[5] Towards the end of their visit they were detained by police with their literature being seized and were expelled from the country.
References[edit]
- Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press, London. pp 125-26
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 285, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/tags/Mihriban_Suhayli_(Mehraban_Sohaili)
- ↑ https://prabook.com/web/aspi_isfandiar.sohaili/3338753
- ↑ Baha'i News (1969). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 459, Pg(s) 8. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1985). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 654, Pg(s) 14. View as PDF.
