Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí

Mírzá Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí
Born	1874 Qazvín, Persia
Died	September 2, 1968
Title(s)	Hand of the Cause Asia 1951 - 1968
Spouse(s)	Tarázíyyih Khánum
Children	Mehdi
Parents	Kázim-i-Samandar Ma'sumih Khanum Farhadi
Signature

Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí (1874 - September 2, 1968) was a Hand of the Cause appointed by Shoghi Effendi in 1951. He was the son of Samandar, an Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed him as Mírzá Ṭaráz and Ṭaráz-i-Iláhi and the Guardian addressed him as Jinab-i-Samandarí.

Biography

Early Life

Tarázu'lláh Samandarí was born in a Bahá'í family in Qazvin, Iran, where he was raised by his parents. His father was Kázim-i-Samandar, an Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh, who was born into a Bábí family with Samandarí's paternal grandmother having been a companion of Ṭáhirih. As educational facilities were not available to him he was taught at home by Mulla Ali, a teacher who was praised by Bahá’u’lláh, learning Persian, Arabic, calligraphy, and book-keeping. He began working for his father, a merchant, at the age of thirteen. He also engaged in calligraphy, often producing copies of the Bahá'í writings.

In 1891 Samandarí went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his sister and aunt, and he remained there for six months, meeting with Bahá’u’lláh at the House of Abbud three days after arriving and often during his stay, including twice during the revelation of verses. He also met with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá often during his pilgrimage, and later expressed that Bahá’u’lláh implied that meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was equivalent to meeting Himself during the pilgrimage. He was in the Holy Land at the time of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892 and remained for four weeks afterwards, during which time the Book of the Covenant was read, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked the pilgrims to inform the Bahá'ís of Persia of it. Taráz returned to Persia through Turkey.

In 1895 he married Taráziyyih, a second cousin through his mother whose name had been chosen by Bahá’u’lláh. She later notably assisted in the opening of a Bahá'í school for girls in Qazvin, and served as its principal.

Service to the Master and the Guardian

Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí.

In 1898 Samandarí made a second pilgrimage to the Holy Land for four months and ten days, and in 1908 he made a third forty day pilgrimage. On his third pilgrimage ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave him a Tablet to take to the community in Persia and a scroll with the names of the American Bahá'ís who had declared loyalty to the Bahá'í Covenant, instructing him to have the believers in Persia declare loyalty to the Covenant. He was also instructed to devote himself to travelling to serve the Faith by deepening the community rather than working in his father's office. After returning to Persia he met with 'Alí Akbar Rafsanjání who was to accompany him and they received some medical training in Tehran. They then traveled across Persia and Turkistan.

In 1909 Samandarí and Rafsanjání assisted the Bahá'í's of Nayriz in relocating after a period of persecution where eighteen were martyred. In early 1910 they traveled to the Holy Land via Bombay, India, and stayed in the Holy Land for two months. At the end of their pilgrimage ‘Abdu’l-Bahá advised Samandarí to return to Qazvin for his health. He spent the next seventeen years in Qazvin, teaching the Faith, serving as secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly, corresponding with Bahá'í communities across the country, and producing a Bahá'í newsletter. After the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1921 Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, directed Samandarí to produce copies of various Tablets and verify their authenticity, as he was able to authenticate the handwriting of Bahá’u’lláh. Over two years Samandarí compiled many Tablets into an eighteen volume work, with one copy being sent to the Holy Land and another to Tehran.

In 1927 Samandarí resumed travel teaching with the blessing of Shoghi Effendi, and pioneered to Adhirbayjan from Qazvin with his wife and son in November 1927. In 1930 he spent time in Isfahan and Yazd, spending time with the Parsee Bahá'í community of the latter and its surrounding villages. In one village near Yazd he attended a luncheon held by a member of the Afnán family. He briefly settled in Tehran in 1933, at the request of the Central Assembly of Tehran, to manage the countries National Office, but resumed travelling later the same year at the request of the Guardian.

In 1940 Samandarí went on pilgrimage again to the Holy Land accompanied by his wife and he spent fifty days there during which he examined and identified some Tablets. Upon departing the Guardian instructed him to encourage the Persian Bahá'ís to pioneer for the Faith, and he met with the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran after arriving in Tehran who formed a pioneer committee. In 1944 he moved to Shiraz for several years to resolve some disunity issues in the community while his wife pioneered to Zanjan. His wife passed in 1947, and Shoghi Effendi wrote a letter of consolation. He secured the original manuscript of the Kitab-i-Iqan around this time and sent it to the Holy Land.

Service as Hand of the Cause

In December 1951 the Guardian appointed Samandarí as a Hand of the Cause of God assigned the responsibility of overseeing the protection and propagation of the Bahá’í Faith in Iran.

In 1953 four Intercontinental Conferences were held to launch the Ten Year Crusade, and Samandarí attended all four. The first was held in Kampala, Uganda, in February and Samandarí spoke at the Unity Feast held to open the Conference. The second was held at Wilmette, Illinois, in May and Samandarí gave a talk on the early history of the Faith. He also visited Local Spiritual Assemblies from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic coast after the Conference, and spoke at a Junior Youth session at Louhelen Summer School. He also attended the Stockholm, Sweden, and New Delhi, India Conferences. In October 1953 Shoghi Effendi recommended that Samandarí visit the Arabian Peninsula with Músá Banání. He later represented Shoghi Effendi at the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Arabian Peninsula in Bahrain in April 1957.

In late 1957 he attended the funeral of the Guardian in London, and the Conclave of the Hands in the Holy Land. In January 1958 he attended and opened an Intercontinental Conference held in Kampala, Uganda, having been designated to do so by Shoghi Effendi before his passing and immediately after the Conference he visited Somalia with Turkish Bahá'í Habibullah Manavi visiting the community of Mogadishu. In April 1958 he attended the National Convention for North East Africa, in September he attended the Intercontinental Conference in Singapore, and in November he returned to the Holy Land with the other Hands of the Cause for a second Conclave.

Travels in Southeast Asia: 1959 - 1962

In April 1959 Samandarí attended the Indian National Convention, and a Post Convention Teaching Conference, in New Delhi. Later the same month he went to Rangoon to attend the first National Convention of Burma, at which the countries independent National Spiritual Assembly was established. He returned to the Holy Land by November where he co-signed a message issued by the Hands, and spent his time inspecting and identifying Tablets collected in the International Bahá'í Archives.

He departed the Holy Land in 1960 and visited Turkey, however he returned by October 1960 when he was present at the fourth Conclave of the Hands in Haifa. After the close of the Conclave he undertook a teaching tour of Pakistan, India, Burma, and Ceylon. As of March 1961 he was in Rangoon, and in April 1961 he attended the Indian National Convention. In 1962 he attended the National Convention of Turkey.

Mr. Samandarí with his son, grandaughter, and great grandchildren, 1967.

Travels in North Africa, Asia, and Europe: 1963 - 1966

After the establishment of the Universal House of Justice in 1963 the Hands of the Cause began traveling internationally more extensively. In 1963 Samandarí attended the World Congress in London, delivering a talk on Bahá’u’lláh including his personal experience. In June 1964 he spoke daily at the Summer School of Pakistan in Abbottabad, and also visited Dacca, East Pakistan (now Dhaka, Bangladesh). In December 1964 he visited Monte Carlo, Monaco, and in early 1965 he visited Milan, Italy. Later in 1965 he visited Morroco for three months, and also visited Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia the same year.

Samandarí spent 1966 in Asia, attending the annual Convention of North East Asia in April. In May 1966 he visited Pakistan and India, visiting Srinagar in Kashmir, and attending the 37th Bahá'í National Convention of India in New Delhi and a teaching conference in Devlali, Maharashtra. He went on to visit Ceylon, Thailand, and Malaysia.

In September 1966 Samandarí visited Japan, visiting the four main island groups and cities from Nagasaki to Sapporo and giving talks and press interviews. He attended tenth annual Summer School of Japan in Kobe and the dedication of a new Haziratu'l-Quds in Shiraoi during his stay. In October 1966 he visited Korea. He prepared two plaque of the Greatest Name with his own hand which he presented to the National Spiritual Assembly who displayed them in Seoul. He also visited Taiwan.

Final travels to Southeast Asia, America, and the Holy Land: 1967 - 1968

In 1967 he attended a celebration of the Centenary of the Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh in Adrianople. In March 1967 he attended a ceremony marking the beginning of the New Era School in Panchgani, India, placing holy relics in the foundation stone and breaking the ground for construction of the school. In October 1967 he visited the United States to represent the Universal House of Justice at an Intercontinental Conference in Chicago. He spoke at the Conference with Marzieh Gail and his son Mehdi acting as interpreters. He then visited Alaska the same month speaking in Anchorage and visiting Juneau. In early November he visited Kelowna, British Columbia. He dedicated the Qu'Appele Institute Building in Saskatchewan on November 19.

From December to January 1968 he spoke at the U.S. Southeastern Bahá'í Winter School at Camp John Hope, Fort Valley, Georgia, and in January 1968 he attended an Auxiliary Board Team Conference in Denver, Colorado. He spent a few months touring the United States, with a brief sojourn in Los Angeles due to illness, before meeting with the National Spiritual Assembly in Wilmette. In March 1968 he visited Germany. In August 1968 he travelled to the Holy Land to attend a commemoration of the Centenary of Bahá’u’lláh's arrival and fell ill shortly after arriving. He attended the commemoration but passed away shortly afterwards on September 2, 1968. He was laid to rest near the grave of Haji Mirza Haydar Ali, as per his request.

The Universal House of Justice said upon his passing:

“ WITH SORROWFUL HEARTS ANNOUNCE PASSING HAND CAUSE GOD SHIELD HIS FAITH DEARLY LOVED ṬARÁẒU’LLÁH SAMANDARÍ NINETY-THIRD YEAR HIS LIFE ON MORROW COMMEMORATION CENTENARY BAHÁ’U’LLÁH'S ARRIVAL HOLY LAND. FAITHFUL TO LAST BREATH INSTRUCTIONS HIS LORD HIS MASTER HIS GUARDIAN HE CONTINUED SELFLESS DEVOTED SERVICE UNABATED UNTIL FALLING ILL DURING RECENT TEACHING MISSION. UNMINDFUL ILLNESS HE PROCEEDED HOLY LAND PARTICIPATE CENTENARY. EVER REMEMBERED HEARTS BELIEVERS EAST WEST TO WHOSE LANDS HE TRAVELED BEARING MESSAGE HIS LORD WHOSE COMMUNITIES HE FAITHFULLY SERVED THIS PRECIOUS REMNANT HEROIC AGE WHO ATTAINED PRESENCE BLESSED BEAUTY YEAR HIS ASCENSION NOW LAID REST FOOT MOUNTAIN GOD AMIDST THRONG BELIEVERS ASSEMBLED VICINITY VERY SPOT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH FIRST TROD THESE SACRED SHORES. REQUEST ALL NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES HOLD MEMORIAL SERVICES INCLUDING FOUR MOTHER TEMPLES BAHÁ’Í WORLD BEFITTING LONG LIFE DEDICATED EXEMPLARY SERVICE LORD HOSTS BY ONE ASSURED CENTER COVENANT LOVING WELCOME PRESENCE BAHÁ’U’LLÁH ABHÁ KINGDOM. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY ASSURANCE PRAYERS MEMBERS DISTINGUISHED FAMILY. ”

Talks

Bahai.media has a related page: Category:Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí

Bahai.works has a related page: Author:Tarazu’llah Samandari

• 1963 - Recollections of Bahá’u’lláh, with Marzieh Gail acting as translator.

References

• Obituary published in The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 410-416. View as PDF.