Mumbai

Mumbai
City in India
Bahá’í Community of Mumbai, 1914.
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History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1898 
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Mumbai, known as Bombay until 1995, is a city in India which serves as the capital of Maharashtra.

Bahá’í's first resided in Mumbai in the 1860's with members of the family of the Báb establishing business interests in the city. A Bahá’í community was established in the 1870's and 1880's through the efforts of travel teacher Jamál Effendi who visited India on the instructions of Bahá’u’lláh and it became a highly active community beginning to oversee efforts to teach the religion across the country in the 1910's. The Bahá’í community of Mumbai remains active to the present day.

History[edit]

The Bábí Faith was present in Mumbai before the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh. According to one historical account, the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, a blind Siyyid named Sayyid-i-Baír became a Bábí in the 1840's after hearing about the Báb's claim in Mumbai, although according to Nabíl-i-A‘ẓam he heard of the Báb in Multan. The earliest confirmed presence of the religion in the city was in the 1850's when brothers Hájí Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí Siyyid Mírzá Afnán established a trading post for the Afnán family, the extended family of the Báb, in Mumbai. Both brothers became Bahá’ís in the 1860's.[1]

In approximately 1868 Bahá’í travel teacher Hájí Muhammad-Ibrahim-i-Muballigh moved to Mumbai fleeing persecution due to his religion in Iran and as of the 1860's several members of the Afnán family who had become Bahá’ís were living in Mumbai. Some of the Mumbai Bahá’ís felt there was potential for teaching the Faith in the city and wrote to Bahá’u’lláh requesting that a Bahá’í teacher be sent and at Bahá’u’lláh's request Jamál Effendi traveled to India in approximately 1875. Jamál actively taught in the city however as he could only speak Persian he was only able to teach Iranians living in the city.[2] Through his efforts Mír Sayyid Muhammad, the leader of the Twelver Shi`i community in Mumbai, became a Bahá’í, however his activities also resulted in opposition from other members of the Islamic clergy and he left the city after a few months to teach in other parts of India. He made additional visits to Mumbai before departing India in 1878.[1]

In the early 1880's Mírzá Ibráhím Afnán, a Bahá’í who was son of Hájí Mírzá Abú'l-Qásim and nephew of the Báb, established the publishing company Násirí Press in Mumbai which began publishing the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1882 with editions of the Kitab-i-Iqan and the Secret of Divine Civilization.[1][3] In 1884 Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí, a son of Bahá’u’lláh who later opposed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, moved to Mumbai for around one year to assist with teaching activities and utilize his calligraphy skills to assist in the publication of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, however while it had been expected of him he did not actively teach while in the city.[1]

In 1888 Jamál Effendi visited Mumbai again at the beginning of a second extended travel teaching tour of India and he taught the Faith to members of Mumbai's Zoroastrian community while in the city with several accepting the religion. During Jamál's tour Bahá’u’lláh revealed a Tablet for the head of the Bohra Ismá`ílí community, Sayyid-ná Najmu'd-Dín, who lived in Mumbai and Jamál debated Najmu'd-Dín in front of a large audience. Around this time Khusraw Bíman became a Bahá’í in Mumbai and began actively teaching amongst the Zoroastrian community. In 1890 Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí returned to Mumbai staying for over a year to oversee the publication of his Father's writings by the Násirí Press, however he altered some of the transcripts to remove references to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.[4][1]

In 1892 the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh took place. In His Will and Testament Bahá’u’lláh had appointed His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor as Head of the Bahá’í community however almost immediately after the Ascension Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí began attempting to usurp control of the Bahá’í community. Many of ‘Alí's firm supporters as he waged his campaign of opposition throughout the 1890's resided in Mumbai, and in the 1890's and 1900's ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent several travel teachers to the city to deepen the community on the Covenant and refute the fradulent claims of ‘Alí's supporters.[1]

Examples of teachers sent by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá include Mírzá Mahram who was sent to Mumbai 1897 and 1898 on travel teaching trips and a local administrative body, a precusor to a Local Spiritual Assembly, was established during his 1898 visit. Mahram ultimately settled in Mumbai where he was a leading member of the community and brought many people into the Faith.[5] In 1904 American Bahá’í Sydney Sprague and the Hand of the Cause Adíb visited Mumbai on a travel teaching trip,[6][7] and in 1907 a teaching team consisting of American Bahá’ís Hooper Harris and Harlan Ober, and Persian Bahá’ís Ibn-i-Abhar and Mírzá Mahmúd-i-Zarqání toured India visiting Mumbai and other cities.[3]

As of 1908 there was an active and functional Bahá’í community in Mumbai as a result of the decades of travel teachers visiting the city, with three meetings being held every week attended by almost one hundred. It was the leading Bahá’í community of India, leading efforts to coordinate teaching activity and translate the Bahá’í writings into native Indian languages, and it also secured the first Bahá’í Cemetery in India around this time with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá personally designing the cemeteries layout.[3]

The first National Bahá’í Convention for the Bahá’í communities of India was held in Mumbai in December, 1920.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Moojan Momen, Jamál Effendi and the Early History of the Bahá'í Faith in South Asia, Bahá'í Studies Review, 9. Accessed 11/05/2026
  2. ↑ https://www.gatewayhouse.in/bombay-bahai/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 William Garlington, The Bahá'í Faith in India: A Developmental Stage Approach, Occasional Papers in Shaykhí, Bábí, and Bahá'í Studies, 2, accessed 11/05/2026
  4. ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 1972, p 130
  5. ↑ Siyyid Mustafa Rumi (tr. Iran Furutan Muhajir), Siyyid Mustafa Rumi: Hand of the Cause of God, Apostle of Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Publishing: Wilmette, 2020, p 81
  6. ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha’i Communities of Iran 1851-1921, Volume 1: The North of Iran, George Ronald: Oxford, 2015, p 117
  7. ↑ Bahá’í Faith in America, The, Early Expansion, 1900–1912, Vol. 2. Robert Stockman, George Ronald, Oxford, 1995. p 263
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