Nayyir Afnán

Nayyir Afnán (d. 1952) was a descendant of Bahá’u’lláh who strongly opposed Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith and was ultimately named a Covenant-breaker.

Biography

Nayyir was the son of Siyyid ‘Alí Afnán and Furúghiyyih Khánum, a daughter of Bahá'u'lláh. Siyyid ‘Alí was a Covenant-breaker and had been entitled Siyyid Mutimarid, meaning the rebellious Siyyid, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as he had supported Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí in his opposition to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and made several accusations against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while feuding with his brother over a piece of land in the Holy Land. Furúghiyyih also supported Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí before passing from a fatal disease and Nayyir later attributed her illness to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Nayyir wrote a letter to Shoghi Effendi after he became the Guardian in 1921, succeeding ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as head of the Bahá’í Faith, and in February 1922 he received a reply which included the following:

"Your ... Letter reached me in the very midst of my sorrows, my cares and afflictions ... the pain, nay the anguish of His bereavement is so overwhelming, the burden of responsibility He has placed on my feeble and my youthful shoulders is so overwhelming..."
"I am enclosing for you personally the copy of the dear Master's Testament, you will read it and see what He had undergone at the hands of His kindred ... you will also see what a great responsibility He has placed on me which nothing short of the creative power of His word can help me to face..."

At some point Nayyir married Rúhangiz Rabbání, the sister of Shoghi Effendi, and the marriage became the catalyst for severe disunity in the family of Shoghi Effendi and in 1941 they were both expelled from the community as Covenant-breakers. In October 1941 Shoghi Effendi clarified both of Nayyir's brothers, one of whom had married his other sister Mehrangiz, were also Covenant-breakers. In 1948 Nayyir and his family moved to Lebanon from the Holy Land due to the Arab-Israeli War and their links to the Arab community.

In 1950 Nayyir became involved in a plan to challenge Shoghi Effendi's right to develop the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh which involved the supporters of Mírzá Yaḥyá and Mírzá Muhammad ‘Alí and opponents of Shoghi Effendi like Nayyir and Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb representing collaboration between three different generations of Covenant-breakers. A central aspect of the plan was to launch a court case over access to the Shrine and Nayyir was to be the primary witness however he passed unexpectedly in 1952 which prevented the plan from taking place.

After his passing Shoghi Effendi sent the following cable:

"Inform National Assemblies that God's avenging wrath having afflicted in rapid succession during recent years two sons brother and sister-in-law of Archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, has now struck down second son of Siyyid Ali, Nayer Afnan, pivot of machinations, connecting link between old and new Covenant-breakers. Time alone will reveal extent of havoc wreaked by this virus of violation injected, fostered over two decades in Abdu'l-Baha's family. History will brand him one whose grandmother, wife of Baha'u'llah, joined breakers of His Covenant on morrow of His passing, whose parents lent her undivided support, whose father openly accused Abdu'l-Baha as one deserving capital punishment, who broke his promise to the Bab's wife to escort her to Holy Land, precipitating thereby her death, who was repeatedly denounced by Centre of the Covenant as His chief enemy, whose eldest brother through deliberate misrepresentation of facts inflicted humiliation upon defenders of the House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad, whose sister-in-law is championing the cause of declared enemies of Faith, whose brothers supported him attributing to Abdu'l-Baha responsibility for fatal disease which afflicted their mother, who himself in retaliation first succeeded in winning over through marriage my eldest sister, subsequently paved way for marriage of his brothers to two other grandchildren of the Master, who was planning a fourth marriage between his daughter and grandson of Abdu'l-Baha, thereby involving in shameful marriages three branches of His family, who over twenty years schemed to undermine the position of the Centre of the Faith through association with representatives of traditional enemies of Faith in Persia, Muslim Arab communities, notables and civil authorities in Holy Land, who lately was scheduled to appear as star witness on behalf of daughter of Badi'u'llah in recent lawsuit challenging the authority conferred upon Guardian of Faith in Abdu'l-Baha's Testament."