Turkmenistan
 Turkmenistan |
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 Bahá’í's of Ishqabad, Turkmenistan, gathered at the construction site of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, c. 1900's.
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| Location of Turkmenistan
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| National Assembly | Turkmenistan | |
| Statistics: | ||
| Total Population | ||
| - | UN 2021[1] | 6,341,855 |
| Bahá'í pop. | ||
| - | Bahá'í source | |
| - | Non-Bahá'í source | 1,304 |
| History: Firsts |
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| - | Local Assembly | 1895, Ishqabad |
| - | National Assembly | 1994 |
 Related media
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| Categories: Turkmenistan • People | ||
Turkmenistan is a Central Asian country. Its official language is Turkmen with several other languages being spoken and the predominant religion is Islam.
The region has been inhabited since ancient history. In 1881 it was annexed by the Russian Empire and in 1925 it was made a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. It achieved independence in 1991.
The Bahá’í community of Turkmenistan was established in the 1880's and the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár was constructed in the country. The community was persecuted during the Soviet era however restrictions were eased after independence allowing a community to reform, although religious restrictions introduced in the late 1990's have lead to another decline for the Bahá’í Faith in the country.
History[edit]
Early Years[edit]
The earliest recorded Bahá’í presence in Turkmenistan was a visit made by Ibn-i-Asdaq to Ishqabad in 1875 at the invitation of a Turkoman Chief. Thirteen people, including the Chief, became Bahá’ís during his visit but it is not known whether they taught the Faith or remained Bahá’ís. In 1881 Afnán-i-Kabír passed through Ishqabad while traveling to the Holy Land with his family and he instructed for one of his sons to buy land in the area.[2]
In 1882 four Bahá’ís settled in Ishqabad and in 1883 a period of persecution broke out in Iran leading to four Bahá’ís from Sabzivar and two from Yazd moving to Ishqabad fleeing persecution. Throughout the rest of the 1880's many Bahá’ís settled in Ishqabad and the surrounding region.[2] In 1887 Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí Afnán, brother of Vakílu'd-Dawlih, purchased land in Ishqabad on the advice of Bahá’u’lláh where he constructed a bath house and public meeting room and as of 1889 there were four hundred Bahá’ís living in the city.[3]
In July 1889 Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl moved to Ishqabad and began holding deepening classes in the Bahá’í community.[3] In September 1889 Bahá’í Hájí Muhammad-Ridá Isfahání was martyred in the town bazaar of Ishqabad by some Shí‘a Muslims from Iran who had been encouraged to attack Isfahání and other prominent Bahá’ís by members of the Islamic community in the city who considered Bahá’í merchants in the city business rivals. The murderers were brought to trial and argued they were entitled to murder Isfahání under Islamic law however they were found guilty with the Bahá’í Faith being legally recognized as an independent religion during the trial. The accused were sentenced to death however the Bahá’í community interceded to have the sentence reduced to life imprisonment.[4]
In 1895 a Spiritual Board of Counsel, an administrative body which evolved into a Local Spiritual Assembly, was formed in Ishqabad. In the early 1890's the Bahá’í community also began founding official organizations in Ishqabad establishing a traveler's hospice, a dispensary, a Bahá’í cemetery, and a hospital. In 1894 a boys school was established with a building being constructed to house the school in 1897. As of 1902 there were one thousand Bahá’ís in Ishqabad and a small community had been established in the neighboring city of Marv.[5]
As a result of the community flourishing the decision was made to construct a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár with work beginning in 1902 supervised by Vakílu'd-Dawlih. The exterior was completed in 1909 and contruction finished in 1919. The Ishqabad community also established a girls school in 1907 and two kindergartens in 1917 and 1918 while work continued on the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.[5] As of the 1920's there were four thousand Bahá’ís in Ishqabad and a National Spiritual Assembly of the Caucasus based in Turkmenistan was formed in 1925.[5]
Period of Persecution[edit]
In 1926 the Soviet authorities began monitoring Bahá’í activities and in 1928 Bahá’í meetings began to be raided with arrests being made. Also in 1928 Bahá’í properties including the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Ishqabad were confiscated, although after a short time the Bahá’ís were allowed to lease the property. In 1929 Bahá’í schools in Ishqabad were shut down and some Bahá’ís in Turkmenistan were arrested and exiled to Siberia.[5]
In the early 1930's some restrictions were temporarily relaxed however on February 5, 1938, over 1,400 Bahá’í families in Ishqabad were arrested with all adult men being exiled to Siberia and women and children being deported to Iran. The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Ishqabad was turned into an art gallery and was ultimately demolished in 1963 after being damaged in an earthquake.[5]
In 1956 many Bahá’ís were released from imprisonment in Siberia and returned to Ishqabad however Bahá’í meetings remained forbidden. The Universal House of Justice assigned the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran the responsibility of overseeing the status of the Bahá’ís of Turkmenistan in 1964, transferred it to the National Spiritual Assembly of India in 1979, and to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany in 1986.[5]
Re-establishment of the Community[edit]
In the 1980's the Soviet Union began to relax restrictions on religion and in 1989 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ishqabad was re-established with the community having sixty-one members as of that year. The body was officially registered with the cities Council in 1990. A Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Marv in 1990 and as of that year there were 125 Bahá’ís in the country.[5]
In 1992 a National Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia was established which was responsible for administrating the Faith in Turkmenistan and several neighboring countries and its seat was in Ishqabad. It was succeeded by independent National Spiritual Assemblies including one for Turkmenistan in 1994.[5]
In 1995 Turkmenistan introduced new legislation regarding religious communities which stipulated that a religion needed five hundred adherents in a locality to be officially registered meaning the Bahá’í Faith could not be registered,[6] and as of 2007 the community had still been able to meet the threshold for registration.[7] The inability to officially register as a religion has lead to the Faith being banned from forming administrative institutions, owning property, or conducting activities.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- "Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan". 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ahang Rabbani, The Martyrdom of Hájí Muhammad-Ridá, p 9
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ahang Rabbani, The Martyrdom of Hájí Muhammad-Ridá, p 10
- ↑ Ahang Rabbani, The Martyrdom of Hájí Muhammad-Ridá, p 11
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Momen, Moojan. "Turkmenistan". Draft for "A Short Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith". Bahá’í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
- ↑ compiled by Wagner, Ralph D. "Turkmenistan". Synopsis of References to the Bahá’í Faith, in the US State Department's Reports on Human Rights 1991-2000. Bahá’í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ↑ "Turkmenistan - International Religious Freedom Report 2007". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. 2007-09-14. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ↑ Corley, Felix (2004-04-07), "TURKMENISTAN: Religious freedom survey, April 2004", F18News
External links[edit]
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