The tragic fate of Quddús

Quddús, their beloved leader, was by yet another shameful act of the intimidated Prince surrendered into the hands of the diabolical Sa‘idu’l-‘Ulamá who, in his unquenchable hostility and aided by the mob whose passions he had sedulously inflamed, stripped his victim of his garments, loaded him with chains, paraded him through the streets of Bárfurúsh, and incited the scum of its female inhabitants to execrate and spit upon him, assail him with knives and axes, mutilate his body, and throw the tattered fragments into a fire. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Some awe-inspiring “salient features” of the dawn-breakers at Fort Tabarsi – summarized by Shoghi Effendi

It will be unnecessary to attempt even an abbreviated narrative of this tragic episode, however grave its import, however much misconstrued by adverse chroniclers and historians. A glance over its salient features will suffice for the purpose of these pages.

• We note, as we conjure up the events of this great tragedy, the fortitude, the intrepidity, the discipline and the resourcefulness of its heroes, contrasting sharply with the turpitude, the cowardice, the disorderliness and the inconstancy of their opponents.
• We observe the sublime patience, the noble restraint exercised by one of its principal actors, the lion-hearted Mullá Husayn, who persistently refused to unsheathe his sword until an armed and angry multitude, uttering the foulest invectives, had gathered at a farsang’s distance from Bárfurúsh to block his way, and had mortally struck down seven of his innocent and staunch companions.
• We are filled with admiration for the tenacity of faith of that same Mullá Husayn, demonstrated by his resolve to persevere in sounding the adhán, while besieged in the caravanserai of Sabsih-Maydán, though three of his companions, who had successively ascended to the roof of the inn, with the express purpose of performing that sacred rite, had been instantly killed by the bullets of the enemy.
• We marvel at the spirit of renunciation that prompted those sore pressed sufferers to contemptuously ignore the possessions left behind by their fleeing enemy; that led them to discard their own belongings, and content themselves with their steeds and swords; that induced the father of Badí‘, one of that gallant company, to fling unhesitatingly by the roadside the satchel, full of turquoises which he had brought from his father’s mine in Níshápúr; that led Mírzá Muhammad-Taqíy-i-Juvayní to cast away a sum equivalent in value in silver and gold; and impelled those same companions to disdain, and refuse even to touch, the costly furnishings and the coffers of gold and silver which the demoralized and shame-laden Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, the commander of the army of Mázindarán and a brother of Muhammad Sháh, had left behind in his headlong flight from his camp.
• We cannot but esteem the passionate sincerity with which Mullá Husayn pleaded with the Prince, and the formal assurance he gave him, disclaiming, in no uncertain terms, any intention on his part or that of his fellow-disciples of usurping the authority of the Sháh or of subverting the foundations of his state.

The eleven-month contest at Fort Tabarsi

The audacity of Mullá Husayn who, at the command of the Báb, had attired his head with the green turban worn and sent to him by his Master, who had hoisted the Black Standard, the unfurling of which would, according to the Prophet Muhammad, herald the advent of the vicegerent of God on earth, and who, mounted on his steed, was marching at the head of two hundred and two of his fellow-disciples to meet and lend his assistance to Quddús in the Jazíriy-i-Khadrá (Verdant Isle)—his audacity was the signal for a clash the reverberations of which were to resound throughout the entire country. The contest lasted no less than eleven months. Its theatre was for the most part the forest of Mázindarán. Its heroes were the flower of the Báb’s disciples. Its martyrs comprised no less than half of the Letters of the Living, not excluding Quddús and Mullá Husayn, respectively the last and the first of these Letters. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Growth of the Faith between 1953 and the launching of the Nine Year Plan in 1964: 12 NSAs and slightly more than 600 LSAs to 70 NSAs and 4600 LSAs

Once more, dear friends, we enter the battle but with an incomparably greater array than that which embarked upon the World Crusade in 1953. To that small force of twelve national communities, now veteran campaigners, have been added fifty-seven new legions, each under the generalship of a National Spiritual Assembly, each destined to become a veteran of this and future campaigns. That Crusade began with slightly more than six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies, the greater part of which were situated in Persia, North America and Europe; the home-fronts now comprise nearly four thousand six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies scattered throughout the continents and islands of the world. We begin this Plan with a tremendous momentum, exemplified by the addition, since last Ridvan, of over four thousand new centres and thirteen National Spiritual Assemblies, and by the beginning, in several countries, of that entry by troops into the Cause of God prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha and so eagerly anticipated by Him. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Message to the Baha'is of the world, April 1964; ‘Messages from the Universal House of justice 1963-1986’)

Growth of the Faith between 1957 to 1975

In the eighteen years since that achievement, [the completion of the International Archives Building in 1957] the community of the Most Great Name has grown rapidly in size and influence:

• from twenty-six National Spiritual Assemblies to one hundred and nineteen,
• from some one thousand to seventeen thousand Local Spiritual Assemblies,
• and from four thousand five hundred localities to over seventy thousand…

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 5 June 1975; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

1975: Fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States

24 April 1975

To the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States

PORTENTOUS OCCASION FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY FORMAL ESTABLISHMENT NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY BAHA'IS UNITED STATES RECALL WITH PRIDE ADMIRATION PRE-EMINENT STATION CONFERRED AMERICAN BAHA'I COMMUNITY CENTRE COVENANT PREPONDERATING ROLE ALREADY ASSUMED WORLD-WIDE PROMOTION FAITH GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS UNMATCHED RANGE MAGNITUDE ENTIRE BAHA'I WORLD PAST HALF CENTURY. CALL UPON THIS HIGHLY BLESSED DISTINGUISHED COMMUNITY CONTEMPLATE ITS UNDOUBTED DUTIES PRIVILEGES PURGE ITS SOUL ALL WORLDLY ENTANGLEMENTS REDEDICATE ITS ENERGIES RESOURCES IMMEDIATE TASKS ARISE SINGLE-MINDEDLY PERFORM HISTORIC MISSION RENDER SUCH SERVICES ATTAIN SUCH SACRIFICIAL HEIGHTS WORTHY BRILLIANT FOREBEARS HEROIC AGE FAITH.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, ‘1963-1986’)

The condition of the government of Persia at the time of the Báb’s “formal assumption… of the authority of the promised Qá’im”

Muhammad Sháh, at so perilous an hour, was meanwhile rapidly sinking under the weight of his physical infirmities. The shallow-minded Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, now the pivot of state affairs, exhibited a vacillation and incompetence that seemed to increase with every extension in the range of his grave responsibilities. At one time he would feel inclined to support the verdict of the ‘ulamás; at another he would censure their aggressiveness and distrust their assertions; at yet another, he would relapse into mysticism, and, wrapt in his reveries, lose sight of the gravity of the emergency that confronted him. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

January 1975: Acquisition of the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha' in 'Akka – birthplace of Shoghi Effendi

1920s (Baha’i Media Bank)

JOYOUSLY ANNOUNCE SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION LENGTHY DELICATE NEGOTIATIONS RESULTING ACQUISITION BY PURCHASE HOLY HOUSE CENTRE COVENANT 'ABDU'L-BAHA BIRTHPLACE BELOVED GUARDIAN SHOGHI EFFENDI. HISTORIC PROPERTY ADJACENT BARRACKS MOST GREAT PRISON COMPRISES LAND AREA APPROXIMATING SEVEN THOUSAND SQUARE METRES INCLUDES OTHER STRUCTURES WITHIN COMPLEX ASSURING PERMANENT PROTECTION HOUSE VISITED BY MANY PILGRIMS TURN CENTURY SCENE HISTORIC VISIT FIRST GROUP WESTERN PILGRIMS. PLANS BEING PREPARED RESTORATION HOLY HOUSE BEAUTIFICATION GROUNDS AS ADDITIONAL PLACE PILGRIMAGE WORLD CENTRE WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES FUNDS PERMIT. OFFER HUMBLE THANKSGIVING BAHA'U'LLAH THIS GREAT BLESSING.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE  (Messages from the Universal House of Justice, ‘1963-1986’)

1848: First "systematic campaign" against the Faith by civil and ecclesiastical powers combined

…when Muhammad Sháh finally succumbed to his illness, precipitating by his death the downfall of his favorite and all-powerful minister, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, who, soon stripped of the treasures he had amassed, fell into disgrace, was expelled from the capital, and sought refuge in Karbilá. The seventeen year old Násiri’d-Dín Mírzá ascended the throne, leaving the direction of affairs to the obdurate, the iron-hearted Amír-Nizám, Mírzá Taqí Khán, who, without consulting his fellow-ministers, decreed that immediate and condign punishment be inflicted on the hapless Bábís. Governors, magistrates and civil servants, throughout the provinces, instigated by the monstrous campaign of vilification conducted by the clergy, and prompted by their lust for pecuniary rewards, vied in their respective spheres with each other in hounding and heaping indignities on the adherents of an outlawed Faith. For the first time in the Faith’s history a systematic campaign in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers were banded together was being launched against it, a campaign that was to culminate in the horrors experienced by Bahá’u’lláh in the Síyáh-Chál of Ṭihrán and His subsequent banishment to ‘Iráq. Government, clergy and people arose, as one man, to assault and exterminate their common enemy. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

1848-1850: “the bloodiest and most dramatic of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era”

The Báb’s captivity in a remote corner of Ádhirbáyján, immortalized by the proceedings of the Conference of Badasht, and distinguished by such notable developments as the public declaration of His mission, the formulation of the laws of His Dispensation and the establishment of His Covenant, was to acquire added significance through the dire convulsions that sprang from the acts of both His adversaries and His disciples. The commotions that ensued, as the years of that captivity drew to a close, and that culminated in His own martyrdom, called forth a degree of heroism on the part of His followers and a fierceness of hostility on the part of His enemies which had never been witnessed during the first three years of His ministry. Indeed, this brief but most turbulent period may be rightly regarded as the bloodiest and most dramatic of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

1947: Haziratu'l-Quds in Tehran, Iran

(Baha'i News, September 1947)

May 25, 1944: 50th Anniversary of Founding of Baha'i Faith in Western World

 

Hotel Stevens, Chicago, Illinois (Baha’i News, September 1944)

1954: First Local Spiritual Assembly of Gotenborg Sweden

(Baha'i News, April 1954) 

1962: First National Convention of the Baha'is of Finland, Helsinki

 

Attended by Hand of the Cause Adelbert Muhlschlegel

(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

1957: First National Convention of the Baha'is of South East Asia, Djakarta, Indonesia

Attended by Hand of the Cause 'Ali Akbar Furutan
(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

1992: The Baha’i Faith "is represented in every country on earth”

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is represented in every country on earth. The sudden change in the political climate, no doubt by intervention of God’s Major Plan, opened vast regions to the penetration of the divine teachings, primarily in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. The opportunities created by this change made possible the settlement of Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in the last virgin territories that remained from Shoghi Effendi’s Ten Year World Crusade. They also impelled the launching at Ridván 1990 of the subsidiary Two Year Plan for those regions. This supplementary Plan was a spectacular success, not only in terms of expansion in the many countries involved, but also in the diversity of the strata represented by the new believers in these countries, in the volume and variety of Bahá’í literature published and in the array of Bahá’í institutions established during that short time. The Bahá’í world was highly stimulated by these developments, and a number of countries elsewhere recorded significant successes in the teaching work… 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridvan 1992 message)

1990: Formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies in Soviet Union, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia

12 November 1990:

To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the World

SEVEN MONTHS AFTER LAUNCHING SUPPLEMENTARY TWO YEAR PLAN REJOICE ANNOUNCE FOURTEEN LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES IN SOVIET UNION, PLUS SIX IN ROMANIA WHERE THERE ARE NOW OVER 600 BELIEVERS, AND ONE LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY EACH IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, HUNGARY AND YUGOSLAVIA. DEVELOPMENT FAITH IN ALL THESE COUNTRIES AS WELL AS IN ALBANIA, BULGARIA, MONGOLIA AND POLAND GOING FORWARD WITH EXTRAORDINARY SPEED, FORMATION MORE LOCAL ASSEMBLIES IN PROCESS OR EXPECTED SHORTLY.

The Universal House of Justice

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

1991: German Federal Constitutional Court “affirmed the right of the Bahá’í community to gain legal capacity in the very shape ordained in the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith”

Another illustration of the rising authority of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in the public mind emerges from Germany, where the Federal Constitutional Court, the highest legal authority in the land, rendered a decision of capital importance to the recognition of the Faith. A series of lower courts had refused to register the by-laws of a Local Spiritual Assembly on the grounds that the authority granted to the National Spiritual Assembly in that document violated the legal principle requiring the autonomy of all legally incorporated associations. The issues involved are indeed complex and cannot be elaborated here. Suffice it to say that the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the appeal of the Local Spiritual Assembly in a long, closely reasoned decision in which, among other things, it affirmed the right of the Bahá’í community to gain legal capacity in the very shape ordained in the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith and stated that its nature as a recognized religion was unquestionably confirmed by its inherent character, by public knowledge, and by the testimony of scholars of comparative religion. So significant was the verdict in the Court’s own estimation that it took the rare step of issuing a statement to the press explaining its decision. This outstanding act will have implications for the Bahá’í community far beyond the borders of a united Germany. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridvan 1991 message; Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

1988-1990: “almost one million souls entered the Cause”

Over the last two years, almost one million souls entered the Cause. The increasing instances of entry by troops in different places contributed to that growth… 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridvan 1990 message; Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

1990: Establishment of "The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace"

12 February 1990

To the Bahá’ís of the World

With feelings of thankfulness and joy we announce an achievement of immense importance to the accelerating progress of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. The University of Maryland and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States recently signed a memorandum of understanding, establishing "The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace" at that University's Center for International Development and Conflict Management. The stated purpose of the Chair is "to conduct and publish research, design courses and conduct seminars in the field of Bahá’í studies and world peace within an interdisciplinary context; to initiate public forums for discussing the issues proposed in the Statement of the Universal House of Justice entitled The Promise of World Peace; and to establish academic linkages with and provide technical assistance to Bahá’í institutions in the fields of peace education and international development."

This first initiative by a well-founded, significant institution of higher learning to formulate such a serious program of Bahá’í studies is a direct response to the Peace Statement, as is borne out by a letter addressed to us by the Director of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management in which he said: "With this letter I am answering on behalf of CIDCM and the University of Maryland your call: 'If the Bahá’í experience can contribute in whatever measure to reinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it as a model for study.'"

Events witnessed during the “last three and most eventful years of the Báb’s ministry”

The last three and most eventful years of the Báb’s ministry had, as we have observed in the preceding pages, witnessed not only the formal and public declaration of His mission, but also an unprecedented effusion of His inspired writings, including both the revelation of the fundamental laws of His Dispensation and also the establishment of that Lesser Covenant which was to safeguard the unity of His followers and pave the way for the advent of an incomparably mightier Revelation. It was during this same period, in the early days of His incarceration in the fortress of Chihríq, that the independence of the new-born Faith was openly recognized and asserted by His disciples. The laws underlying the new Dispensation had been revealed by its Author in a prison-fortress in the mountains of Ádhirbáyján, while the Dispensation itself was now to be inaugurated in a plain on the border of Mázindarán, at a conference of His assembled followers. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

July 1974: Members of Continental Pioneer Committees “will henceforth be appointed by the Universal House of Justice”

22 July 1974

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha'i friends,

In view of the ever-increasing number of pioneers and travelling teachers now arising from various countries to serve the Cause of God in widely scattered lands throughout all continents the Universal House of Justice has considered ways of deriving maximum benefit from the services of these devoted believers, co-ordinating their efforts and anticipating the needs of the future.

The Continental Boards of Counsellors will soon be approaching you about the need for pioneers and travelling teachers for the period ending Ridvan 1976.

The functions of the Continental Pioneer Committees have been reviewed and developed in a way that will enable them to operate in closer collaboration with the Continental Boards of Counsellors and the National Spiritual Assemblies of their areas. A copy of the statement outlining the functions of the Continental Pioneer Committees as now revised is attached for your information. As you will note, the members of these Committees will henceforth be appointed by the Universal House of Justice. Nothing in the functions now assigned to the Continental Pioneer Committees in any way detracts from the primary responsibility of National Spiritual Assemblies to foster and promote pioneering and travelling teaching.

It is our hope and prayer that as the Five Year Plan unfolds evidences of closer ties of co-operation among the various institutions of the Faith will be increasingly witnessed in every land.

With loving Baha'i greetings,

The Universal House of Justice

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, ‘1963-1986’)

June 1845 - Shiraz: First direct interaction between the Báb and the clergy

Shaykh Abú-Turáb, the Imám-Jum’ih of Shíráz, who was present at that meeting [between the Báb and the Governor of Fars, Husayn Khan] and who strongly disapproved of the conduct of Husayn Khán, ordered that the Báb’s turban be replaced upon His head, [1] and invited Him to be seated by his side. Turning to the governor, the Imám-Jum’ih explained to him the circumstances connected with the revelation of the verse of the Qur’án [2] which the Báb had quoted, and sought by this means to calm his fury. “This verse which this youth has quoted,” he told him, “has made a profound impression upon me. The wise course, I feel, is to enquire into this matter with great care, and to judge him according to the precepts of the holy Book.” Husayn Khán readily consented; whereupon Shaykh Abú-Turáb questioned the Báb regarding the nature and character of His Revelation. The Báb denied the claim of being either the representative of the promised Qá’im or the intermediary between Him and the faithful. “We are completely satisfied,” replied the Imám-Jum’ih; “we shall request you to present yourself on Friday in the Masjid-i-Vakíl, and to proclaim publicly your denial.” 

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

[1] Qur’án, 49:6 - “If any bad man come unto you with news, clear up the matter at once, lest through ignorance ye harm others, and be speedily constrained to repent of what ye have done.”

[2] The Governor’s attendant had struck the Báb in the face so violently that His turban had fallen to the ground. [adapted from ‘The Dawn-Breakers’]

Shiraz - June 1845: The “most unusual spectacle” of the Báb marching “before His escort, which followed Him in an attitude of respectful devotion”

The Báb straightway resumed His journey to Shíráz. Free and unfettered, He went before His escort, which followed Him in an attitude of respectful devotion. By the magic of His words, He had disarmed the hostility of His guards and transmuted their proud arrogance into humility and love. Reaching the city, they proceeded directly to the seat of the government. Whosoever observed the cavalcade marching through the streets could not help but marvel at this most unusual spectacle. Immediately Husayn Khán was informed of the arrival of the Báb, he summoned Him to his presence. 

- Nabil ('The Dawn-Breakers', translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

The Báb “never named” a “successor or vicegerent” or “an interpreter of His teachings”

A successor or vicegerent the Báb never named, an interpreter of His teachings He refrained from appointing. So transparently clear were His references to the Promised One, so brief was to be the duration of His own Dispensation, that neither the one nor the other was deemed necessary. All He did was, according to the testimony of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá in “A Traveller’s Narrative,” to nominate, on the advice of Bahá’u’lláh and of another disciple, Mírzá Yahyá, who would act solely as a figurehead pending the manifestation of the Promised One, thus enabling Bahá’u’lláh to promote, in relative security, the Cause so dear to His heart. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)