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Search for location "Iraq"

  1. from the Chronology
  2. from the Chronology Canada
  3. from the Main Catalogue
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from the Chronology

date event locations tags see also
1831 (In the year) At the age of 12 Mulla Husayn finished his studies in Bushíhr and went to Mashhad, the most prestigious centre of religious study in Iran. In 1830-1 he relocated to Karbala to study under Siyyid Kázim. Mashhad is where the remains of the Eighth Imám, 'Alí Ibn Musa'r-Ridá are enshrined in the holiest Shi'ih site in Iran. [MH7-8; MH113] Karbala; Iraq; Mashhad; Bushihr; Iran Mulla Husayn; Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti
1837. c. 1837 Birth of Mírzá Muhammad Mustafáy-i-Baghdádí, Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh, in Iraq. Iraq Muhammad Mustafa Baghdadi; Apostles of Bahaullah; Births and deaths
1839 (In the year) Passing of Mírzá Buzurg. His body was taken to Najaf, Iraq where he was interred. [BBD49; BKG17; BNE23–4]
  • In 1957 the remains of Mírzá Buzurg were located and transferred. [MBW175]
    		•  Najaf; Iraq Mirza Buzurg; Bahaullah, Family of; Bahaullah, Life of; In Memoriam; Births and deaths; Cemeteries and graves; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1841 (In the year) Siyyid `Alí Muhammad (the Báb) went Karbalá where He attended the lectures of Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, Shaykh Ahmad's successor. From Karbalá He went to Najaf before returning to Shíráz. [DB26-30; Bab42–4; MH25; RB3:254; SBBH15]
  • The followers of Shaykh Ahmad number about 100,000 in Iraq alone. [MH25, HotD25]
  • BBRSM13 says the Báb went to Najaf and Karbalá in 1839/40.
    		•  Najaf; Karbala; Iraq Bab, Life of; Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti; Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsai; Shaykhism; Bab, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1843 10 Jan The sacking of the holy city of Karbalá at the hands of the Turks. Thousands of its citizens were killed even those who had taken refuge in the Shrines of Imám Husayn or 'Abbás. [BBRSM55, HotD10, DB36-37] Karbala; Iraq Ottoman Empire; War (general); History (general)
    1843 31 Dec Passing of Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, the disciple and self-proclaimed successor of Shaykh Ahmad, in Karbalá. Because Siyyid Kázim designated no successor, within a short period of time the Shaykhí school was split into several factions. The two largest were grouped around Siyyid `Alí Muhammad and Hájí Mullá Muhammad Karím Khán Kirmání. The first faction moved away from the outward practice of Islám towards a development of inner realities and ultimately a new revelation. The second emphasized the continuing role of the Prophets and the Imáms and sought acceptance from the Shí'í majority which had formerly excommunicated Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. [BBD126–7; MH26; SBBH1; TB6, Sayyid Kazim Rashti by Moojan Momen]
  • The latter, Hájí Mullá Muhammad Karím Khán Kirmání, became an enemy of the Báb. [SDH165]
  • BBRSM9 for a brief account of his life and the Shaykhí school under his leadership.
  • See MH28 for a picture.
  • See DB43–5, MH46–7 for an account of a warning of his passing in a shepard's dream.
  • Bahá'u'lláh condemned him in both the Kitáb-i-Íqán (p.184-186) and the Lawh-i-Qiná.
  • See DB24-25, 40-42 for Siyyid Kázim's exhortations to his followers predicting the manifestation of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh.
    		• Karbala; Iraq Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti; Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsai; Shaykhism; Siyyid Ali Muhammad; Haji Mulla Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani; Shiism; In Memoriam; Births and deaths; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1844 10 Jan The arrival of Táhirih in Karbilá. She had learned of the views of Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim and had corresponded with the latter from whom she received her name, Qurratu'l-Ayn, meaning "Solace of the Eyes". Against the wishes of her family she had left her home to join the circle of his students but arrived in Karbilá ten days after his passing. Convinced that the Promised One would soon appear she stayed on in that city as Siyyid Kázim's disciples were departing in their search. To one of them, her brother-in-law, Mírzá Muhammad-i-Alíy-i-Qazvíní, she gave a sealed letter and told him to deliver it to the One Sought. This he did and the Báb recognized her as one of the Letters of the Living. [B25-26; DB81note2]
  • She had had a dream in which a youth, a Siyyid wearing a black cloak and a green turban, appeared to her in the heavens, who with upraised hands was reciting certain verses, one of which she noted down in her book. Later on, when she had a copy of the Báb's Súrih of Joseph, she discovered that same verse which she had heard in her dream. [DB81note2]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq Tahirih; Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsai; Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti; Mirza Muhammad-i-Aliy-i-Qazvini; Letters of the Living
    1844. 22 Jan Mullá Husayn returned to Karbilá after a journey of two years in Persia. He had been on a mission in Isfahán and Mashhad where he had successfully defended the views of his master, Siyyid Kázim, before the leading clerics of those cities. [MH49]
  • Mulla Husayn, as the leading representative of the Siyyid's disciples, received mourners for three days in Karbilá. [DB47]
  • After a period of mourning and 40 days of prayer and fasting, Mulla Husayn in the company of his brother and his nephew, set out for Najaf where he visited the shrine and then proceeded to Persia following the last wishes of Siyyid Kázim that his followers quit Karbalá and search for the Promised One. The party went to Búshihr and then on to Shíráz. [MH50–55, HotD28; DB51]
  • See SI dust-jacket for a photo of the Shrine of Imam 'Ali.
    		•  Karbala; Isfahan; Mashhad; Najaf; Bushihr; Shiraz; Iraq; Iran Mulla Husayn; Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti
    1844. 11 Aug The Báb sent Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí to Najaf and Karbalá to proclaim His Cause among the Shaykhís. In Najaf Mullá `Alí delivered a letter from the Báb to Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan Najafí, the leading Shí`í divine and the keeper of the shrines in Iraq. [BBRSM15; DB87-91; SBBH20–1, HotD46]
  • The Shaykh's rejection of the claim led to a violent debate. Mullá `Alí was taken to Baghdád and imprisoned there. After a public trial, a joint tribunal of Sunní and Shí`í `ulamá, he was sent to Istanbul. He was the first martyr of the Bábí Dispensation. It is significant that Mullá Hasan Gawhar, a leading figure of the Shaykhí school, participated in the condemnation as it marks the first major challenge to Bábism from a Shaykhí leader. [Bab27, 37–8, 58; BBR83–90; BBRSM17; BKG31; DB90–2; MMBA, BBR2p17, GPB10]
    		•  Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey; Iraq; Baghdad; Najaf; Karbala Bab, Life of; Mulla Ali Bastami; Ulama; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Deaths; Persecution; Shaykhism; Firsts, Other; Trials; Court cases; Persecution, Court cases; Letters of the Living
    1844 2 or 3 Oct The Báb departed from Búshihr on His pilgrimage. [Bab57; MH119, 121, GPB9]
  • He instructed His followers to await His arrival in Karbalá. [DB86, 87; MH122; SBBH1:23]
  • He had been awaiting the letter from Mullá Husayn before starting on His pilgrimage. [DB123; MH117]
  • The vessel taking the Báb to Jiddah was probably the Arab sailing-boat named Futúh-ar-Ras`ul. [Bab69]
  • He joined the company of a group of pilgrims from Fárs. [DB76-77]
  • It was slow, stormy and unsteady sailing and the passengers were in constant dispute amongst themselves. [DB129note2]
  • The Báb, recognizing the difficulty in sea-travel, prayered that conditions might be improved. Nabil noted on page 131 "Within a short space of time, since that prayer was offered, maritime transport have greatly multiplied, and the Persian gulf, which in those days hardly possessed a single steam-driven vessel, now boast a fleet of ocean liners...". He goes on to attribute the Industrial Revolution to the impulse of the Revelation.
  • After twelve days the vessel made a rest-stop in Mascate for several days. The Báb attempted to convert a religious man of high rank but was unsuccessful. [DB129note2; [DB130note1]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq; Jiddah; Saudi Arabia; Muscate Bab, Life of; Bab, Pilgrimage of; Mulla Husayn; Ships; Industrial Revolution
    1845. c. Jan Crowds gathered in Karbalá in response to the Báb's summons, among them was Táhirih. [BabI62; BBRSM15, 215; SBBH1:22] Karbala; Iraq Bab, Life of; Tahirih
    1845. 10 Jan The beginning of the Islamic new year. Messianic fervour grew, particularly among Shaykhís. [BBRSM15] Middle East; Iran; Iraq Prophecies; Shaykhism; Islam; Interfaith dialogue
    1845. 13 Jan The trial of Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí in Baghdád. A fatwá is issued in Baghdád against both Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí and the Báb, condemning the Báb, who is unnamed in the fatwá, to death as an unbeliever. [Bab64; BBRSM15, 215; SBBH21, 22] Baghdad; Iraq Trials; Mulla Ali Bastami; Fatwa; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution; Court cases
    1845. c. 16 Apr Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí was removed from his prison cell in Baghdád and taken to Istanbul, where he was sentenced to hard labour in the imperial naval dockyard. Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey; Baghdad; Iraq Mulla Ali Bastami; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Turkey; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution
    1845 July and months following In Karbalá Táhirih revived the remnant of the Bábí community. She was considered a part of the radical element of Shaykhí Bábís because she believed that the Shaykhí tradition had been abrogated by the new Revelation. The new Bábí movement caused the Shaykhí leaders to unite in their opposition to the Báb and to redefine the nature of the school, toning down its more controversial teachings and moving back towards mainstream Shí`ísm. [BBRSM16–18] Karbala; Iraq Tahirih; Shaykhism
    1845. Jul (and months following) The Báb was released to the custody of His uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí. [DB151, LTDT13]
  • Báb was asked by Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim to attend a Friday gathering at the Mosque of Vakíl to appease the hostility and the curiosity of some of the residents of Shíráz and to clarify His position. The exact date of His attendance is unknown. He made a public pronouncement that He was neither the representative of the Hidden Imám nor the gate to him, that is, His station was higher. Many of those who witnessed His address became partisans. [Bab94–8; DB153–157]
  • see DB152 for pictures of the above mosque.
  • This time has been described by Shoghi Effendi as the `most fecund period' of the Báb's ministry. It marks the birth of the Bábí community. [Bab89–90]
  • During this time He was asked to speak in mosques and in colleges and He addressed gatherings in His home. The clergy sent their most able mullas to refute and humiliate Him without success. He never attacked the government or Islam but rather called out the corrupt clergy and the abuses of all classes of society. His fame and acceptance among the population grew. [DB157note1]
  • A considerable number of the Báb's followers had congregated in Isfahan at His instruction when He informed them He would not go to Karbilá when He returned from Mecca as He had previously stated. Upon hearing the news of the confinement of the Báb, Mullá Husayn and his companions, his brother and nephew, left Isfahán where they have been awaiting further instructions. They travelled to Shíráz in disguise. Mullá Husayn was able to meet secretly with the Báb several times in the house of His uncle. The Báb sent word to the remainder of His followers in Isfahán to leave and to travel to Shíráz in small, inconspicuous numbers. Among those gathered were some who were jealous of Múllá Husayn and the attention he received from the Báb. They threw their lot in with the detractors and were eventually expelled from the city for the unrest they caused. [DB160-162; Bab102–3; MH128–9]
  • After a time the presence of Mullá Husayn in Shíráz threatened to cause civil unrest. The Báb instructed him to go to Khurásán via Yazd and Kirmán and told the rest of the companions to return to Isfahán. He retained Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím to transcribe His Writings. [Bab90, 102–3; DB170; MH130]
  • The Sháh sent one of the most learned men in Persia, Siyyid Yahyáy-i-Dárábí, (a town near Nayriz) surnamed Vahíd, (the peerless one) to investigate the claims of the Báb. He became an adherent of the Cause of the Báb. To him He revealed some 2,000 verses at one sitting of five hours and among the the Surih of Kawthar. Vahíd and 'Abdu'l-Karím spent three days and three nights transcribing this Tablet. Siyyid Yahyáy-i-Dárábí wrote to the Sháh and resigned his post. On the instructions of the Báb he journeyed home to acquaint his father with the new Message. As a result of his conversion most of the inhabitants of the town of Nayríz later became Bábís. [Bab90–4; BBD216; BBRSM41; CH21; DB171–7; GPB11–12; TN7–8; DB171-172note 2; Tablet of Patience (Surih Íabr): Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh and Selected Topics by Foad Seddigh p370] iiiii
  • Another learned scholar, Muhammad-`Alíy-i-Zanjání, surnamed Hujjat, became a believer after reading only one page of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá'. Several thousand of his fellow townspeople in Zanján became Bábís. [Bab100–2; BBD111; BBRSM16; GPB12; DB177-179]
  • Mírzá Ahmad-i-Azghandí, yet another learned man, who had compiled traditions and prophecies concerning the expected Revelation, became a believer as well. [GPB12–13]
    		• Shiraz; Isfahan; Khurasan; Yazd; Kirman; Nayriz; Iran; Karbala; Iraq Bab, Life of; Vakil Mosque; Mosques; Mulla Husayn; Bab, Family of; Muhammad Shah; Shahs; Vahid (Siyyid Yahyay-i-Darabi); Hujjat; Qayyumul-Asma (book); Mirza Ahmad-i-Azghandi; Tahirih; Mirza Ahmad-i-Azghandi; Abdul-Karim
    1845. 30 Dec The Báb's birthday fell on the first day of the mourning observance for the Imám Husayn. Táhirih, who was in Karbalá with the widow of Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, instructed her relatives and the Bábís to dress in bright clothing and joyously celebrate the Báb's birth. This caused a considerable disturbance, even among the Bábís. Táhirih was arrested and expelled from the city. [RR305, SA217] Karbala; Iraq Tahirih; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution
    1846 (In the year) Táhirih was sent back to Baghdád from Karbalá. She was lodged first in the house of Shaykh Muhammad Shíbl and then in the house of the Muftí of Baghdád where she stayed for three months. During her time in Iraq she enlisted a considerable number of followers and made a number of enemies among the clergy [Bab162; DB81note2; 271] Baghdad; Karbala; Iraq Tahirih
    1846 Dec Táhirih provoked disturbances in Karbalá. Her radical interpretation of Babism and her assumption of leadership split the Bábi community between the more conservative Bábis and her own circle of devotees. [BBRSM17] Karbala; Iraq Tahirih
    1847 Spring - Summer Táhirih's activities in Iraq so alarm some Bábís of Kázimayn that they agitated against her. Siyyid `Alí Bishr wrote to the Báb in Máh-Kú on their behalf. The Báb replied praising Táhirih, causing the Kázimayn Bábís to withdraw from the Faith. [Bab163]
  • Among those Táhirih met in Baghdád was Hakím Masíh, a Jewish doctor who years later becomes the first Bahá'í of Jewish background. [Bab165]
  • Táhirih was sent back to Persia by Najíb Páshá. She was accompanied by a number of Bábís; they made a number of stops along the way, enrolling supporters for the Cause of the Báb. [Bab163–4; BBRSM216]
  • Ma'ani says Táhirih left Baghdád early in 1847.
  • In Kirand 1,200 people are reported to have volunteered to follow her. [Bab164 DB272; TN20]
  • B164 says the number is 12,000; DB272 says it was 1,200.
  • In Kirmánsháh she was respectfully received by the `ulamá. [Bab164; DB272]
  • Táhirih arrived in Hamadán. Her father had sent her brothers here to persuade her to return to her native city of Qazvín. She agreed on condition that she may remain in Hamadán long enough to tell people about the Báb. [Bab165; DB273]
  • MF180 says Táhirih remained in Hamadán for two months.
    		• Kazimayn; Baghdad; Iraq; Mah-Ku; Iran; Hamadan; Kirmanshah Tahirih; Bab, Life of; Hakim Masih
    1847 Jul to 1848 Apr The people of Máh-Kú show markeded hostility to the Báb on His arrival. Later they were won over by His gentle manners and His love. They congregated at the foot of the mountain hoping to catch a glimpse of Him. [Bab129; DB244–5]

    At the beginning of the Báb's incarceration the warden `Alí Khán kept the Báb strictly confined and allowed no visitors. He had a vision of the Báb engaged in prayer outside of the prison gates, knowing that the Báb is inside. He became humble and permitted the Bábís to visit the Báb. [Bab129–31; DB245–8]

    The winter the Báb spent in Máh-Kú was exceptionally cold. [DB252]

    Many of the Báb's writings were revealed in this period. [GPB24–5]

  • It was probably at this time that He addressed all the divines in Persia and Najaf and Karbalá, detailing the errors committed by each one of them. [GPB24]
  • He revealed nine commentaries on the whole of the Qur'an, the fate of which is unknown. [DB31; GPB24]
  • He revealed the "Mother Book" of the Bábí Revelation, the Persian Bayán, containing the laws and precepts of the new Revelation in some 8,000 verses. It is primarily a eulogy of the Promised One. [BBD44–5; BBRSM32; BW12:91 GPB24–5; ESW165; SWB102, 159] It is possible that the latter part of the Persian Bayán was revealed while He was confined in Chihríq.
  • The Báb began the composition of the `smaller and less weighty' Arabic Bayán. [Bab132; BBD45; GPB25]
  • He stated in the Bayán that, to date, He had revealed some 500,000 verses, 100,000 of which had been circulated. [BBRSM32, GPB22]
  • In the Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih (Seven Proofs) the Báb assigned blame to the seven powerful sovereigns then ruling the world and censured the conduct of the Christian divines who, had they recognized Muhammad, would have been followed by the greater part of their co-religionists. [BBD63; BW12:96; GPB26]
  • The Báb wrote His `most detailed and illuminating' Tablet to Muhammad Sháh. [GPB26]
    		•  Mah-Ku; Iran; Najaf; Karbala; Iraq Bab, Life of; Ali Khan; Bayan-i-Farsi (Persian Bayan); Bayan-i-Arabi (Arabic Bayan); Bayan; Dalail-i-Sabih (Seven Proofs); Bab, Writings of; Tablet to Muhammad Shah; Muhammad Shah; Bab, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1848 c. Jul Quddús was arrested and taken to Sárí where he was placed under house arrest in the home of Mírzá Muhammad-Taqí, a leading cleric. [Bab171; BKG50; DB300]

    Táhirih was arrested and was later taken to Tihrán where she was held in the home of Mahmúd Khán, the Kalántar of Tihrán, until her martyrdom in August 1852.

    Mullá Husayn left the army camp near Mashhad where he had been a guest of a brother of the Sháh. He planned to make a pilgrimage to Karbalá. While making preparations for the journey he received a Tablet from the Báb instructing him to go to Mázindarán to help Quddús, carrying a Black Standard before him. He was also instructed to wear the Báb's own green turban and to take the new name Siyyid `Alí. [Bab171; BKG50; DB324; MH174]

    		Sari; Tihran; Mashhad; Mazandaran; Iran; Karbala; Iraq Quddus; Mirza Muhammad-Taqi; Tahirih; Mahmud Khan; Kalantar; Mulla Husayn; Shahs; Black Standard; Green turban; Turbans; Names and titles; Letters of the Living
    1848. 12 Sep The accession of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh at Tabríz. [BBR482]
  • He was 17 years old. [BBR158; GPB37]
  • He ruled from 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated on the eve of his jubilee. [BBD168; BBR482]
  • The first four years of his reign were marked by the `fiercest and bloodiest of the persecutions of the religion of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh'. During the whole of his reign there were `sporadic persecutions and, in at least some cases, he himself was directly responsible for the death of the martyrs'. [BBR157]
  • For the first time in the Faith's history the civil and ecclesiastical powers banded together in a systematic campaign against it, one that was to `culminate in the horrors experienced by Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál' and `His subsequent banishment to Iraq'. [GPB37]
  • See BBRSM25 for an explanation of why the Bábí religion was a challenge to the secular regime.
  • See SB86 for a reason for Násiri'd-Dín Sháh's cruelty towards the Bábís and Bahá'ís.
  • See RB3:201 for an explanation of his lengthy reign.
  • He chose as his prime minister Mírzá Taqí Khán-i-Faráhání, known as a great reformer and a founder of modern Iran. [BBD221; BBR160]
  • It was not until the spring of 1849 that the new regime was in firm control.
  • His reform antagonized many and a coalition was formed against him. One of the most active proponents was the queen mother. She convinced the Shah that the prime minister wanted his throne. In October of 1851 the Shah dismissed him and exiled him to Kashan where he was murdered on the Shah's orders.
    		• Tabriz; Iran; Iraq Nasirid-Din Shah; Qajar dynasty; Shahs; Shahs, Throne changes; History (general); Iran, General history; Mirza Taqi Khan-i-Farahani; Siyah Chal (Black Pit); Firsts, Other
    1849 1 Aug Death of Hájí Mírzá Áqásí at Karbalá. [Bab147; BBD19; BBR156]
  • The Báb, in a letter to the Sháh called him "manifest darkness" and "the devil whom thou hast appointed as thy Chancellor". [SWB26]
  • Shoghi Effendi designated him as the "Antichrist of the Bábí Revelation" and called him a "vulgar, false-hearted and fickle-minded schemer". [GPB164, 4]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq; Iran Haji Mirza Aqasi; Prime Ministers of Iran; Prime Ministers
    1850 - 1851 Birth of Mírzá `Alí-Muhammad-i-Khurásání, (b. 1850-1851 Mashad, d. 2 April 1928 in Tehran) later known as Ibn-i-Asdaq, Hand of the Cause.
  • His father, Mullá Sádiq-i-Muqaddas had left his native Khurasan and travelled to the city of Karbila where he saw the Báb. Subsequently he went to Isfahan where he encountered Mullá Husayn Bushrui who led him to the recognition of the Promised One. He and Quddús were later dragged through the streets of Shiraz and expelled from the city. [PG108; Bahá'í Encylopedia Project]
    		• Khurasan; Karbala; Iraq; Mashhad; Iran Ibn-i-Asdaq (Mirza Ali-Muhammad); Hands of the Cause; Hands appointed by Bahaullah; Births and deaths; Births and deaths
    1850. Jul The Faith of the Báb had spread to two countries at this point, Iran and Iraq. [MBW147]
  • Bab148–60, 202–3; BBD147; BBR77–82; DB510–17; GPB49–55; TN26–7.
  • By this time "there was no province in the entire country in which from a few up to ten Bábí communities had not been established. These early Bábí communities of Muslim converts, who were generally from Shaikhi background, had come from various strata of Persian society, although a few Jews and Zoroastrians had also joined the movement (Māzandarānī, 1943, p. 395; Samandar, p. 348)". [BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
    		• Iran; Iraq; Middle East Statistics; Babi history Early mention of Bábís in western newspapers summer 1850
    1851 Jun c. Mírzá Taqí Khán met with Bahá'u'lláh and told Him that it would be advisable for Bahá'u'lláh to leave Tihrán temporarily. A few days later, He left for the 'Atabát (the Sacred Thresholds) on pilgrimage. [BKG66; DB587, 591] Tihran; Iran; Karbala; Iraq Mirza Taqi Khan; Bahaullah, Life of
    1851. 28 Aug Bahá'u'lláh arrived in Karbalá via Baghdád on His pilgrimage. He stayed for 10 months. [BKG67; DB593; GPB70]
  • See BKG68 and DB593–4 for those who became Bábís in Karbalá in this period.
    		•  Karbala; Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Pilgrimage; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1851 5 Oct Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí, the Báb's amanuensis, had been sent from the Báb's side in Chihríq to live in Karbilá at a time just before the incident at Shaykh Tabarsí when all available believers were being dispatched to assist Quddús. Here, the Báb told him, he would meet the promised Husayn. Although he had never met Bahá'u'lláh before, on this day he recognized Him as He walked by the inner courtyard of the Shrine of the Imám Husayn. [DB31; BKG67–68]
  • There is a Shíh tradition that, in the Latter Days, 'Alí would re-appear twice, once before Muhammad and once after Husayn. The Báb's name was 'Alí-Muhammad and Bahá'u'lláh's name was Husayn-Alí, hence the prophecy was fulfilled. Shaykh Hasan wants to proclaim the advent of the Promised One however Bahá'u'lláh advises him that it is not yet time.[OPOP163, DB31-33]
  • See a letter from the Universal Housed of Justice dated 20 June 1991 para 7 where "the first person to recognize Bahá'u'lláh as a Manifestation of God" is discussed.
    		•  Karbala; Iraq Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunuzi; Bab, Life of; amanuensis; Bahaullah, Life of; Imam Husayn; Prophecies
    1851 Dec When the news of the martyrdom of the Báb reached Shiraz, Fatimah Bagum, the mother of the Báb, having previously consulted with her Son about the journey to the `Atabat, (literally means the sublime thresholds.Thea are the shrines of six Shia Imams which are in four cities of Iraq, namely Najaf, Karbala, Kadhimiya and Samarra) decided to leave Shiraz. She wanted to put behind her the constant barrage of insults aimed at her family by the city’s divines.
  • Before she left, it was decided that Khadíjih Bagum would live with her half-sister in the house of the martyred-uncle of the Báb, Háji Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí, and the Blessed House be entrusted to Mírzá Muhammad-Husayn-i-Bazzaz, son of Mírzá Asadu’llah. He was not a believer in the Báb but a native of Shiraz and a close acquaintance of the family. This decision ushered in a period where the House was in the hands of non-believers. [MBBA167-168]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq Fatimih Bagum; Bab, Family of; Bab, House of (Shiraz); Khadijih Bagum Bahaikipedia
    1852 Apr - May c. Bahá'u'lláh returned to Iran from Karbalá. [DB598]
  • He was the guest of the Grand Vizier for one month. [BKG74; DB598–9]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq; Iran Bahaullah, Life of; Grand Viziers; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1852 Aug-Dec Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál
  • See AB10–11, BBD211–12, BKG79–83, CH41–2, DB631–3, GPB109 and RB1:9 for a description of the prison and the conditions suffered by the prisoners.
  • No food or drink was given to Bahá'u'lláh for three days and nights. [DB608]
  • Photo of the entrance to the Siyah-Chal (Black-Pit) where Baha’u’llah was imprisoned in Tehran.
  • Bahá'u'lláh remained in the prison for four months. [CH41; ESW20, 77; GPB104; TN31]
  • A silent video presentation on Bahá'u'lláh's time in the Síyáh-Chál made for the 150th anniversary of the event.
  • "Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to the place of confinement assigned to Us. The dungeon was wrapped in thick darkness, and Our fellow prisoners numbered nearly a hundred and fifty souls: thieves, assassins and highwaymen. Though crowded, it had no other outlet than the passage by which We entered. No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell. Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on. God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!" [ESW20-21]
  • See CH42–3 for the effect of Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment on His wife and children. Friends and even family were afraid to be associated with His immediate family. During this period Mírzá Músá helped the family surreptitiously and Mírzá Yúsif, who was married to Bahá'u'lláh's cousin, a Russian citizen and a friend of the Russian Consul, was less afraid of repercussions for his support of them.
  • They were also assisted by Isfandíyár, the family's black servant that had been emancipated in 1839 on the order of Bahá'u'lláh. This man's life was in great danger. At one time they had 150 policemen looking for him but he managed to evade capture. They thought that if they questioned (tortured) Isfandíyár he would reveal Bahá'u'lláh's nefarious plots. [SoW Vol IX April 28, 1918 p38-39]
  • Another who helped the family was Mírzá Muhammad Tabrizi who rented a house for them in Sangelak. [PG122]
  • ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, as a child of eight, was attacked in the street of Tihrán. [DB616]
  • See AB11–12, RB1:9 for ‘Abdu'l-Bahá's account of His visit to His father.
  • Bahá'u'lláh's properties were plundered. [CH41; RB1:11]
  • See BBD4–5; DB663; BKG94–8 and Bahá'í Stories for the story of ‘Abdu'l-Vahháb-i-Shírází who was martyred while being held in the Síyáh-Chál.
  • See BBD190, 200 and ESW77 about the two chains with which Bahá'u'lláh was burdened while in the Síyáh-Chál. Five other Bábís were chained to Him day and night. [CH41]
  • Bahá'u'lláh had some 30 or 40 companions. [BBIC:6, CH41]
  • For the story of His faithful follower and his martyrdom, 'Abdu'l-Vahháb see TF116-119.
  • An attempt was made to poison Him. The attempt failed but His health was impaired for years following. [BBIC:6; BKG99–100, GPB72]
  • Bahá'u'lláh's half-brother Mírzá Yahyá fled to Tákur and went into hiding. He eventually went to Baghdád. [BKG90, 107, CH41]
    		•  Tihran; Takur; Iran; Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Attempts on; Siyah Chal (Black Pit); Prison; Abdul-Baha, Life of; Abdul-Vahhab-i-Shirazi; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Deaths; Persecution; Poison; Chains; Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline
    1852 Dec Bahá'u'lláh was released from the Síyáh-Chál.
  • This was owing to: the efforts of the Russian Minister Prince Dolgorukov; the public confession of the would-be assassin; the testimony of competent tribunals; the efforts of Bahá'u'lláh's own kinsmen; and the sacrifices of those followers imprisoned with Him. [GPB104–5]
  • Mírzá Májíd-í-Ahi, the Secretary to the Russian Legation in Tehrán and brother-in-law of Bahá'u'lláh, Prince Dolgorki, the Russian Ambassador, pressured the government of Násirí'd-Din Sháh to either produce evidence against Bahá'u'lláh or to release Him. In absence of any proof, Bahá'u'lláh, Who was initially condemned to life in prison, was forced by the King to choose a place of exile for Himself and His family. {BKG99]
  • See CH43–4 for the role of the Russian Consul in securing His release. He invoked his full power as an envoy of Russia and called out the Sháh and his court for their barbaric behaviour.
  • See BKG101–2, CH44 and DB647–8 for the physical condition of Bahá'u'lláh upon release.
  • See BKG101, DB648–9 and GPB105 for the words of Bahá'u'lláh to Mírzá Áqá Khán upon His release.
  • The Russian minister invited Bahá'u'lláh to go to Russia but He chose instead to go to Iraq. It may be that He refused the offer because He knew that acceptance of such help would have been misrepresented as having political implications. [BBIC:8; DB650]
    		•  Iran; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Siyah Chal (Black Pit); Nasirid-Din Shah, Attempt on; Russia; Minister; Prince Dolgorukov; Mirza Aqa Khan; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1853 -1863 During this period Bahá'u'lláh revealed His mystical Writings. Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Mysticism
    1853. 12 Jan Bahá'u'lláh and His family departed for Baghdád after a one month respite in the home of his half-brother Mírzá Ridá-Qulí. During the three-month journey Bahá'u'lláh was accompanied by His wife Navváb, (Who was six weeks from giving birth upon departure.) His eldest son ‘Abdu'l-Bahá (9), Bahíyyih Khánum (7) and two of His brothers, Mírzá Músá and Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí. Mírzá Mihdí (2), was very delicate and so was left behind with the grandmother of Àsíyih Khánum. They were escorted by an officer of the Persian imperial bodyguard and an official representing the Russian legation. [BKG102–5; GPB108]
  • CH44–5 says the family had ten days after Bahá'u'lláh's release to prepare for the journey to Iraq.
  • ‘Never had the fortunes of the Faith proclaimed by the Báb sunk to a lower ebb'. [DB651]
  • This exile compares to the migration of Muhammad, the exodus of Moses and the banishment of Abraham. [GPB107–8]
  • See BKG104 and GPB108–9 for conditions on the journey. During His crossing of the Atlantic on his way from Naples to New York He said the His feet had become frostbitten during the trip to Baghdad. [SYH52]
  • Bahá'u'lláh's black servant, Isfandíyár, who had managed to evade capture during this dark period, after he had paid all the debts to various merchants, went to Mazandaran where he was engaged by the Governor. Years later when his master made a pilgrimage to Iraq Isfandíyár met Bahá'u'lláh and stated his preference to return to His service. Bahá'u'lláh said that he owed his master a debt of gratitude and could not leave his employ without his permission. It was not granted and Isfandíyár returned to Mazandaran and stayed with the Governor until his passing. [PUP428; SoW IX 28 April, 1918 p38-39]
  • Also see A Gift of Love Offered to the Greatest Holy Leaf (compiled and edited by Gloria Faizi, 1982), by Hand of the Cause Abu'l-Qasim Faizi, which includes a brief summary of the character of Isfandiyar and his services to the Holy Family on pages 14-16.
    		•  Iran; Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Mirza Rida-Quli; Navvab (Asiyih Khanum); Abdul-Baha, Life of; Bahiyyih Khanum (Greatest Holy Leaf); Mirza Musa; Mirza Mihdi (Purest Branch); Mirza Muhammad-Quli; Isfandiyar; Russian officials; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1853. 21 Mar Bahá'u'lláh and His companions arrived in Khániqayn, just across the Iraqi border, where they rested in a beautiful orchard to observe Naw-Rúz. [BKG105]
  • The Governor of Tehran had sent soldiers with the party of exiles to the frontier where they were met by Turkish soldiers who escorted them to Baghdád. [Ch47]
    		•  Khaniqayn; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Naw-Ruz
    1853. 8 Apr Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád

    Bahá'u'lláh and His family arrived in Baghdád. [BBR177; BKG106; GPB109; TN38]

  • See BBR177–83 for conditions in Baghdád during this period.
  • Shoghi Effendi describes this as being the lowest period of the faith of the Báb. [DB651, GPB113-114]
  • Shortly after the family's arrival in Baghdád Navváb gave birth to a son. [CB71; CH51–2]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Navvab (Asiyih Khanum); Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1853 or 1854 Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Lawh-i Kullu't-ta‘ám (Tablet of All Food). [BRSM:62; BKG112]
  • The revelation of this Tablet pointed out Mírzá Yahyá's lack of ability. [BKG 112]
  • This Tablet also describes five Worlds of God.
  • It is an esoteric scriptural Tablet expository of Qur'an 3:87 [93] and incorporating issues of Bábi authority and religiosity. It is addressed to the Bábi believer Ḥajjī Mīrzā Kamāl al-Dīn Narāqī (d. Narāq c.1298/1881). An inadequate printed text is found in Ishrāq Khavari (comp.) Mā'ida-yi āsmani IV :265-276 and a slightly better one in Rahiq-i makhtum II :416-426. A superior photocopied ms. is to be found in INBMC 36:268-277. [U of Cal. MERCED]
  • Tablet of All Food translated by Stephen Lamden.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Writings of; Lawh Kullut-Taam (Tablet of All Food); Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal)
    1853 or 1854 Birth of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí, first son of Bahá'u'lláh and His second wife, Mahd-i-‘Ulyá. [CB 125]
  • He was born in the first year of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in Baghdád. CB125]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq Mirza Muhammad Ali; Births and deaths; Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Wives of; Bahaullah, Family of; Mahd-i-Ulya (Fatimih Khanum); Firsts, Other
    1853 (Summer) Bahá'u'lláh revealed His station and mission to Mírzá Áqá Ján in Karbalá. He was the first person to believe in Bahá'ú'lláh as "Him Whom God shall make manifest." [BKG109–11; GPB115–16; CoB181]
  • See a story about Mírzá Áqá Ján and his first inclination that Bahá'u'lláh was indeed the One promised by the Báb.
  • See a letter from the Universal Housed of Justice dated 20 June 1991 para 7 where "the first person to recognize Bahá'u'lláh as a Manifestation of God" is discussed.
    		•  Karbala; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Mirza Aqa Jan a few newspaper stories in English mention 'A certain "Babee"'
    1853 It was during the Baghdad period that 'Abdu'l-Bahá became conscious to the station of His Father.

    "The Bab states that the first one to believe in a Manifestation of God is the essence of the achievement of the preceding dispensation; and so, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the first to believe with His whole being in the Mission of His Father, was the most eminent representative of the virtues called forth by the Bab." [AB13]

  • See a letter from the Universal Housed of Justice dated 20 June 1991 para 7 where "the first person to recognize Bahá'u'lláh as a Manifestation of God" is discussed.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Abdul-Baha, life of
    1854 (prior to His departure for Sulaymaniyyih) "Mirza Yahya had never lifted a finger to protect the Faith of which he was supposed to be the nominal head. Now, incited and aided by Siyyid Muhammad and a few, very few, others of the same nature, Mirza Yahya began a secret campaign to discredit Baha'u'llah. He circulated wild rumours, ascribed to Baha'u'llah actions, opinions, views and intentions totally at variance with truth. These undercurrents and innuendoes became so perilous for the integrity of the Faith of the Bab, threatening it with bitter controversies and even fatal divisions, that Baha'u'llah reached the decision to take Himself away from Baghdad and from the society of men whom He knew - and who knew Him... "

    "Mirza Aqa Jan himself has testified: 'That Blessed Beauty evinced such sadness that the limbs of my body trembled.' He has, likewise, related, as reported by Nabil in his narrative, that, shortly before Baha'u'llah's retirement, he had on one occasion seen Him, between dawn and sunrise, suddenly come out from His house, His night-cap still on His head, showing such signs of perturbation that he was powerless to gaze into His face, and while walking, angrily remark: 'These creatures are the same creatures who for three thousand years have worshipped idols, and bowed down before the Golden Calf: Now, too, they are fit for nothing better. What relation can there be between this people and Him Who is the Countenance of Glory? What ties can bind them to the One Who is the supreme embodiment of all that is lovable?' 'I stood,' declared Mirza Aqa Jan, 'rooted to the spot, lifeless, dried up as a dead tree, ready to fall under the impact of the stunning power of His words. Finally, He said: "Bid them recite: 'Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His bidding!' Tell them to repeat it five hundred times, nay, a thousand times, by day and by night, sleeping and waking, that haply the Countenance of Glory may be unveiled to their eyes, and tiers of light descend upon them." He Himself, I was subsequently informed, recited this same verse, His face betraying the utmost sadness." [BKG114]

    		Baghdad; Iraq Remover of Difficulties; Mirza Aqa Jan; Bab, Writings of
    1854 10 Apr - 1856 19 Mar Bahá'u'lláh in Sulaymaniyyih
    Bahá'u'lláh suddenly left Baghdád and went to the mountainous wilderness of Sar Galu, around Sulaymaniyyah in Iraqi Kurdistán. [BKG115-122; DB585; GPB120-124; TN38; CH256; KI250-251; AB392]
  • Before He left, Bahá'u'lláh asked His family to look after Mírzá Yahyá during His absence. [CB70–1; CH50–1,]
  • Bahá'u'lláh lived for some time as a dervish in a cave on the mountain of Sar-Galú. He took the name Darvísh Muhammad-i-Írání to conceal His true identity. [BBD214–15; BBRSM:60–1; BKG116–19; GPB120–1; TN38–9]
  • See photo.
  • This action compares to Moses' going out to the desert of Sinai, to Buddha's retreat to the wilds of India, to Christ's walk in the wilderness and to Muhammad's withdrawal to the hills of Arabia. [BKG114]
  • Áqá Abu'l-Qásim-i-Hamadání was His only companion. Áqá Abu'l-Qásim was killed by thieves on a journey to collect money and provisions. [BKG116–17]
  • "It was this period of voluntary seclusion, following shortly after the execution of the Báb in 1850, which bequeathed to history irrevocable proof that Bahá'u'lláh and not His half-brother, Subhi-Ezel, was, in reality, the one celebrated by the Báb and for whom the Bábí Movement was the spiritual preparation. By this act of voluntary retirement, Bahá'u'lláh gave Sebhi-Ezel unhampered opportunity to exercise the spiritual leadership over the Bábís which the latter claimed as his right. The result, however, demonstrated Subhi-Ezel's utter incapacity to maintain unity among the Bábís, inspire them with faith and confidence sufficient to meet their many difficulties and guide them along lines of true future progress. Nonother than the return of Bahá'u'lláh could re-quicken the flames of their ardour or supply them with the more universal principles of conduct and faith required to transform the Bábí Movement into a world religion." [BW2Surveyp33]
  • It was during this time that Bahá'u'lláh revealed the poem Qasídiyi-i-‘Izz-i-Varqá'íyyih (Ode of the Dove). It was composed of 2,000 couplets but Bahá'u'lláh allowed only 127 to be preserved. [BBD215; BKG118; GPB123]
  • See BKG114, GPB117–19 and K1250 for reasons for Bahá'u'lláh's retirement.
  • Before and during His absence no fewer than 25 people claimed to be the One promised by the Báb. [BBRSM29, 59; EB269; GPB125]
    • As his position as nominal head deteriorated Mírzá Yahyá became more desperate, he had one such claimant, Mírzá Asadu'lláh Khí'í Dayyán, assassinated around 1856. [Bahá'u'lláh and the Naqshbandí Sufis in Iraq by Juan Cole p4]
  • See BKG115–19 and GPB120 for Bahá'u'lláh's activities while in Kurdistán.
  • See KI248–51 for Bahá'u'lláh's own account of the episode.
  • See BKG119–22 and GPB124–6 for the condition of the Bábí community in Baghdád during this period.
  • The son born to Navváb shortly after the family's arrival in Baghdád became ill and died during Bahá'u'lláh's absence. [CB71; CH51–2]
  • See SBBR2:1–28 for Bahá'u'lláh's contact with Súfís.
  • BW16:528 for an account of Daoud Toeg, who visited the caves of Sar-Galú and photographed them in August of 1940.
  • Also see Bahá'í News No 145 July 1941 p11 and 12.
    		•  Kurdistan; Baghdad; Sulaymaniyyih; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Dervishes; Sulaymaniyyih; Sar-Galu; Aqa Abul-Qasim-i-Hamadani; Poetry; Qasidiyyih-Varqaiyyih (Ode of the Dove); Navvab (Asiyih Khanum); Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Sufism; Mysticism; Daoud Toeg; Caves; Interfaith dialogue; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih; Dayyan (Mirza Asadullah)
    1854 10 Apr-1856 19 Mar Mírzá Yáhyá, who had been hiding in Mazíndarán since the attempt on the life of the Sháh, at some point prior to Bahá'u'lláh's retirement to the mountains of Kurdistán, had joined the exiles in Baghdád. During Bahá'u'lláh's absence He asked that the friends treat him with consideration and that the family offer him shelter and hospitality in the family home.
  • See CH50-52 for the effect this had on the family. Eventually the family relocated to a different house during this period and Yáhyá did come come with them out of fear of exposure but rather he lived in a smaller house near theirs where they could continue to supply him with meals.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih
    1855. During Bahá'u'lláh's absence At some point during the retirement of Bahá'u'lláh, Mírzá 'Aqá Ján was engaged in the service of Mírzá Yahyá who wanted him to go on a secret mission to Tehran to assassinate Násiri'd-Dín Sháh. He accepted the assignment and soon after his arrival managed to obtain access to the court in the guise of a labourer. He realized the extent of his folly and returned to Baghdád and when Bahá'u'lláh returned from exile he confessed his part in the scheme and begged Bahá'u'lláh's forgiveness and he was permitted to resume service for Bahá'u'lláh. [CoB181-182] Baghdad; Iraq; Tihran; Iran Mirza Aqa Jan; Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Nasirid-Din Shah; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih
    1856. c. 1856 – 1857 Birth of Samadíyyih Khánum, first daughter of Bahá'u'lláh and His second wife, Mahd-i-‘Ulyá (Fatimih). Baghdad; Iraq Samadiyyih Khanum; Bahaullah, Family of; Mahd-i-Ulya (Fatimih Khanum); Births and deaths; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih
    1856 – 1858 Bahá'u'lláh's writings during this period were so prolific that in one hour He would reveal a thousand verses and in the course of one day the equivalent of the Qur'án. He revealed a vast number of works and then commanded that hundreds of thousands of verses be destroyed. [BBRSM62–3; BKG167; GPB137–8] Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih; Destroyed or lost Tablets
    1856 19 Mar Áqá Kalím, Bahá'u'lláh's faithful brother, felt that Bahá'u'lláh should return from his self-imposed exile owning to the state of the community so he sent his Arab father-in-law, Shaykh Sultán, to find Him and try to convince Him to return. He carried letters from several family members, including Mírzá Yahyá, pleading with Him to return. [Bahá'u'lláh and the Naqshbandi Sufis in Iraq, 1854-1856 p20-21]

    Bahá'u'lláh returned from Sulaymáníyyih, Kurdistán two years after His withdrawal, a moment Shoghi Effendi has described as “a turning point of the utmost significance in the history of the first Bahá’í century.” [GPB127]

    Baha’u’llah’s return revived and animated the Bábí community.

    "He Himself has described the situation which then confronted Him:

    We found no more than a handful of souls, faint and dispirited, nay utterly lost and dead. The Cause of God had ceased to be on any one's lips, nor was any heart receptive to its message. [GPB125]

  • From this time Bahá'u'lláh started to educate the believers in the principles of the Faith. [GPB127–8; TN39]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq; Sulaymaniyyih; Kurdistan Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih
    1856 Mar During His absence Mírzá Musá rented a house in the Karkh district in the west of the city. The house was large, two or three stories, and was made of simple mud brick with a surrounding central courtyard. At some point before His departure on the 22nd of April, 1863, the house was purchased. He later named it "The Most Great House" and designated it a place of pilgrimage. It is also referred to as the "Throne of His Glory", and the "Lamp of Salvation between earth and heaven". [CEBF66]
  • After His departure the House was held in the names of various custodians and allowed to fall into disrepair. [CEBF66]
  • Bahá'u'lláh revealed a Tablet to be used when making a pilgrimage to the House. [GWB111-114; 114-115]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Bahaullah, Houses of; Bahaullah, Life of; Pilgrimage; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Life of; Sulaymaniyyih
    1856 (after Bahá'u'lláh's return) Siyyid Asadulláh of Khuy was an influential and devoted Bábi whom the Báb had designated "Dayyán" (Judge). During Mírzá Yahyá's leadership in Baghdad he had found him so weak and the community so desperate that he, like some twenty others, declared himself to be to be the Promised One. He soon rescinded his claim after Bahá'u'lláh's return when he, as the Báb had promised, became the third person to believe in Bahá'u'lláh. Mírzá Yahyá saw this man a threat and ordered his servant Mírzá Muhammad-i-Mázindarání to murder him. [MCS562]

    In Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (p174-176) Bahá'u'lláh mentions Mírzá 'Alí-Akbar, a relative of the Báb and Abu'l-Qásim-i-Káshí and states "several other suffered martyrdom through the decree pronounced by Mírzá Yahyá."

    		 Baghdad; Iraq Siyyid Asadullah (Dayyan); Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Mirza Muhammad-i-Mazindarani; Mirza Ali-Akbar; Abul-Qasim-i-Kashi; Him Whom God shall make manifest
    1857 c. The revelation of Sahíiy-i-Shattíyyih (Book of the River or Book of the Tigris) by Bahá'u'lláh.
  • See Tablet of the River [Tigris] by Bahá'u'lláh translated by Juan Cole, 1997 for the background to the Tablet and a translation. Cole contends, by his translation, that at this time Bahá'u'lláh, had no thought of advancing any claim to Revelation.
  • See Concealment and Revelation in Bahá'u'lláh's Book of the River by Nader Saiedi published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 9:3, 1999 where Saiedi postulates, based on his translation that Bahá'u'lláh was fully aware of His mission from at least the time of his imprisonment in the Siyah-Chal and rejects any suggestion that Bahá'u'lláh's consciousness evolved in this regard.
  • See Messianic Concealment and Theophanic Disclosure by Moojan Momen published in Online Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 1 Association for Bahá'í Studies of New Zealand, 2007, where Momen contends that the controversy is an illusory one caused by the specific nature of the meaning of the word "amr" and that the phrase that is the subject of dispute proves neither side's case, however it is translated. He explains it by say there is a theological schematic of the stages of the evolution of the mission of the Manifestations of God, the phenomenon of a period of messianic concealment followed by a theophanic disclosure. He then imposes this schematic upon the dispensation of the Báb creating a new interpretation of His ministry and further suggests it could be applied to the Revelation of Muhammad and Jesus.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Shahifiy-i-Shattiyyih (Book of the River); Rivers; Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Birth of Revelation of; Bahaullah, Declaration of; Tigris river
    1857. c. 1857 - 1858 Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Four Valleys, (Chahar Vadi) addressed to Shaykh ‘Abdu'r-Rahmán-i-Tálabání (or Karkútí), a man of erudition and understanding and a leader of the Qádiríyyih Order, someone He had come in contact with in Kurdistán. In it He describes four different paths of approach to the Divine. [SA157–8, BKG163; RoB1p104]

      "The Four Valleys was revealed ... in a mystical language and style, in response to a request made by a prominent Sufi. Yet, despite the traditional Sufi concepts, language, and symbolism employed by Bahá’u’lláh, studying the text in light of the totality of Bahá’í writings demonstrates that its main purpose is to guide the wayfarers to the recognition of the Manifestation of God, soon to be revealed to be Bahá’u’lláh Himself. Furthermore, understanding the text as portraying two complementary paradigms—four parallel paths towards God and the four stages of a single path—leads to integrative and holistic perspectives and practices prescribed in the Bahá’í writings." [Reflections on The Four Valleys of Bahá’u’lláh by Amrollah Hemmat found in the Journal of Bahá'í Studies 30 4 2020]
    		 Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Chahar Vadi (Four Valleys); Call of the Divine Beloved (book); Shaykh Abdur-Rahman-i-Talabani; Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1857-1858 Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Hidden Words (Kalimát-i-Maknúnih), originally designated ‘The Hidden Words of Fátimih', while walking along the banks of the Tigris. [BBD102; BKG159; GPB138–40]
  • See Kalemat-e Makuna in Encyclopaedia Iranica by Moojan Momen.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Kalimat-i-Maknunih (Hidden Words); Fatimah (daughter of Muhammad); Tigris; Rivers; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; Interfaith dialogue
    1858 19 Jul Nabil, who had met Bahá'u'lláh in 1850, was one of the Bábí leaders who claimed to be the promised messianic figure according to the Báb’s prophecies. After his return to Baghdad he withdrew his claim when he recognized Bahá'u'lláh’s status as the fulfillment of the Báb’s predictions and the leader of the Bábís. He became one of Bahá'u'lláh’s earliest followers. [RoB1p202, “Nabil-e aʿzam Zaranadi, Mollā Mohammad,” by Vahid Rafati, Encyclopædia Iranica] Baghdad; Iraq Nabil-i-Azam
    1858 – 1862 It was in this period that Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Seven Valleys (Haft Vadi)in response to a request from a Súfí, Shaykh Muhyi'd-Dín, the Qádí of Khániqayn, whom He may have met in Kurdistán. In it Bahá'u'lláh described the "seven stages which the soul of the seeker must needs traverse ere it can attain the object of its existence." These seven stages were originally proposed by the great Persian Sufi poet Shaykh Faridu'd-Din Attar (d1230C.E) in his renowned work the Mantiqu't-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds.) [BBS94; GPB140; BBD206; BBRSM:64; SA150; BKG161-163; RoB1p98-101]
  • For details of the composition and content of the Seven Valleys see SA150.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq; Kurdistan Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Haft Vadi (Seven Valleys); Seven Valleys; Call of the Divine Beloved (book); Sufism; Mysticism; Shaykh Muhyid-Din; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline
    1860. c. 1860 Mírzá Mihdí, the son of Bahá'u'lláh, was taken from Tihrán to join his family in Baghdád. He was about 12 years old. [RB3:205]
  • He traveled with the second wife of Bahá'u'lláh, Mahd-i-‘Ulyá (Fatimih). [MMNF]
    		• Tihran; Iran; Baghdad; Iraq Mirza Mihdi (Purest Branch); Mahd-i-Ulya (Fatimih Khanum)
    1860. circa 1859/1860 The revelation of Javáhiru'l-Asrár, (meaning literally the "gems" or "essences" of mysteries) (in Arabic) by Bahá'u'lláh in reply to a question posed by Siyyid Yúsuf-i-Sihdihí Isfahání, who, at the time, was residing in Karbilá. One of the central themes of the treatise is the subject of "transformation", meaning the return of the Promised One in a different human guise. The second theme can be said to be mystical in nature. It has many similarities to The Seven Valleys. Bahá'u'lláh described the seven valleys, but the names and orders of valleys are slightly different from those found in the book of The Seven Valleys [GDMii]
  • BBS94 says this was revealed at about the same time as the Seven Valleys.
  • It was published in English in 2002 under the title Gems of Divine Mysteries. [Chronology 2002-06-26]
  • For a synopsis of the treaties see Gems of Mysteries (Javáhiru'l-Asrár): Wilmette Institute faculty notes by Muin Afnani, 1999.
  • See The Seven Cities of Bahá'u'lláh compiled by Arjen Bolhuis. 2002.
  • See Seven Cities in the Spiritual Journey to God: Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javáhiru'l-Asrár) and Seven Valleys by Fadl Mazandarani (published as Jinab-i-Fadl Mazandarani) originally published in "Star of the West", 13:11, pages 301-303, 1923-02.
  • See A Symbolic Profile of the Bahá'í Faith by Christopher Buck published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 8:4, page 1–48, Ottawa: Association for Bahá'í Studies, 1998. iiiii
    		• Baghdad; Iraq Javahirul-Asrar (Gems of Divine Mysteries); Bahaullah, Writings of; Siyyid Yusuf-i-Sihdihi Isfahani
    1860. Probably during the Baghdad period. Of the Suratu'l-Bayan (The Epistle of Utterance) it is written: "This highly eloquent and challenging treatise highlights some key spiritual verities from am Bahá'u'lláh's teachings. Written entirely in the Arabic language, its timeless message is primarily addressed to the generality of His faithful followers. " [BBS124-131]

    In this Tablet the Maiden appears as the personification of the spirit of God. The Maiden has emerged from her hidden chamber symbolizes the appearance of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation in the world, and her afflictions mirror that of Bahá'u'lláh's. In the Surah of the Bayan Bahá'u'lláh identifies with Himself a passage in the Qayyumu'l-Asma in which the Báb had referred to "the Maid of Heaven begotten by the Spirit of Baha" (SWB:54).

  • In all likelihood this treatise was revealed during the in Baghdad during the visionary, allegorical period of His Writings, however the manner in which Bahá'u'lláh refers to the "Maiden" is in keeping with the style of the Akka period.
  • Portions of this treatise can be found in Gleanings CXXIX, CXXVIII, And CXLV.
    		• Baghdad; Iraq Suratul-Bayan; Bahaullah, Writings of; Epistle of Utterance
    1861 or 1862 Mullá Sádiq-i-Muqaddas-i-Khurásání (Ismu'láhu'l-Asdaq), a Bábí and father of Ibn Asdaq, met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád and became a follower. Previously he had recognized the Báb through a dream and the memory of seeing Him in the congregation during a sermon he had delivered in a mosque in Karbila when a ray of light shone on the lap of the Báb as he sat listening attentively. [BKG18; PG108-109] Baghdad; Iraq Ismullahul-Asdaq (Mulla Sadiq Khurasani)
    1861 -1862 Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude), ‘a comprehensive exposition of the nature and purpose of religion'. In the early days this Tablet was referred to as the Risáliy-i-Khál (Epistle of the Uncle). [BBD134, 162; BKG159; BBD134; BBRSM64–5; GPB138–9; RB1:158]
  • The Tablet was revealed in answer to four questions put to Bahá'u'lláh by Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, a maternal uncle and caregiver of the Báb (the Greater Uncle, the eldest of the three brothers). He had been persuaded by a devout Bábí, Aqá Mírzá Núru'd-Dín, to make a pilgrimage to the holy Shrines of the Imáms in Iraq and where he could put these questions to Bahá'u'lláh as well as visit his sister, the mother of the Báb, who was not yet herself a Bábí. [BBD134, 162; BKG163–5; RB1:158]
  • It was revealed in the course of two days and two nights in early January. [BBS107; BBD 134; BKG165; GPB238; RB1:158]
  • The original manuscript, in the handwriting of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, is in the Bahá'í International Archives. See Reflections p149 for the story of the receipt of the original tablet, written in the hand of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, by Shoghi Effendi in the Holy Land. [BKG165; RB1:159]
  • It was probably the first of Bahá'u'lláh's writings to appear in print. [BKG165; EB121]
  • For a discussion of the circumstances of its revelation, its content and major themes see RB1:153–97.
  • BEL1.77 gives the year of Revelation as 1862.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq; Tihran; Iran Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Kitab-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude); Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad; Bab, Family of; Bab, Uncles of; Uncles; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; Interfaith dialogue; Islam; Quran; Christianity; Bible; Prophecies
    1862. c. 1862 Bahá'u'lláh sent a ring and cashmere shawl to His niece, Shahr-Bánú, the daughter of Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan, in Tihrán to ask for her hand in marriage to ‘Abdu'l-Bahá. Shahr-Bánú's uncle, acting in place of her dead father, refused to let her go to Iraq. [BKG342–3] Tihran; Iran; Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Rings; Shawls; Gifts; Shahr-Banu; Mirza Muhammad-Hasan (King of Martyrs); King of Martyrs and Beloved of Martyrs; Abdul-Baha, Life of
    1862. c. Mar - Jun Birth of Sádhijíyyih, second daughter of Bahá'u'lláh and His second wife, Mahd-i-‘Ulyá (Fatimih). Baghdad; Iraq Sadhijiyyih; Bahaullah, Family of; Mahd-i-Ulya (Fatimih Khanum); Births and deaths
    1862. 5 May Mírzá Mihdíy-i-Káshaní was directed to remain in Baghdad to guard the Holy House. He remained until banished, along with the other Bahá'ís, to Mosul. [MoF96] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Caretakers; Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani
    1863 or earlier Colonel Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball, the British Consul-General in Baghdád, offered Bahá'u'lláh the protection of British citizenship and offered Him residence in India or anywhere of Bahá'u'lláh's choosing. [BBR183, 234; BBRSM65; GPB131]
  • Bahá'u'lláh declined the invitation, preferring to remain in Ottoman lands. [GBP131]
  • See BBR183, 508 for details on Kemball; see BBR160–1 for a picture.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Arnold Burrowes Kemball; British history; Bahaullah, Life of bahai-library.com/docs/a/abbreviations_bahai_writings.xlsx
    1863 (In the year) The passing of Hájí Mubárak, the servant of the Báb. He was born in 1823 and died at the age of 40. He was buried in the grounds of the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, Iraq.
  • He had been purchased in Bushir at the age of 5 by Hájí Mírzá Abú'l-Qásím, the great-grandfather of Shoghi Effendi and brother-in-law of the Báb and was sold to the Báb in 1842, just prior to His wedding, at the age of 19 for fourteen tomans. [BP5, 18]
    		•  Bushihr; Iran; Karbala; Iraq Haji Mubarak; In Memoriam
    1863. c. Jan 1863 The governor of Baghdád, Námiq Páshá, received the first of ‘five successive commands' from ‘Alí Páshá, the Grand Vizier of Turkey, to transfer Bahá'u'lláh to Constantinople. This order was ignored by the governor, who was sympathetic to Bahá'u'lláh. In the next three months, four more orders were received and similarly ignored before the governor was compelled to comply. [BKG154; GPB131] Baghdad; Iraq; Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Governors; Namiq Pasha; Grand Viziers; Ali Pasha bahai-library.com/docs/a/abbreviations_bahai_writings.xlsx
    1863. Mar Bahá'u'lláh celebrated the two-week festival of Naw-Rúz at the Mazra‘iy-i-Vashshásh, a farm along the river Tigris, not far from His house in Baghdád. [BKG154; GPB147; SA163] Mazraiy-i-Vashshash; Tigris; Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Life of; Naw-Ruz
    1863. 26 Mar Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Tablet of the Holy Mariner on the fifth day of Naw-Rúz. The Tablet was revealed to the friends present and Nabil wrote that they understood it portended to a new period and greater tests. His further exile was being foretold. Immediately after it was chanted Bahá'u'lláh ordered the tents to be folded and everyone to return to the city. The party had not yet left when a messenger arrived from Námiq Páshá summoning Bahá'u'lláh to the governorate the next day to receive the invitation to go to Constantinople. [RB1:228-229; SA163-165, 234; BKG154; GPB147]
  • The Tablet was recited by Mírzá Áqá Ján. [RB1:228]
  • See GPB147 and RB1:228 for the effect on those present.
  • See Tablet of the Holy Mariner (Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds): Study Compilations by Aziz Mboya. .
    		•  Mazraiy-i-Vashshash; Iraq; Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey Bahaullah, Writings of; Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Lawh-i-Mallahul-Quds (Tablet of the Holy Mariner); Naw-Ruz; Mirza Áqa Jan; Namiq Pasha; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded Bibliography
    1863. 27 Mar Bahá'u'lláh met the deputy governor in a mosque opposite the Government House where the Farmán which had been sent by the Sultán was announced to Him and advised that He and His family were to be exiled to an unknown destination. Námiq Páshá, the governor of Baghdad, could not bring himself to meet Bahá'u'lláh and give Him this news in person. At first he summoned Him to the courthouse but when He refused to attend he asked Him to meet in the mosque. [CH81-82,BKG154–5; GPB147–8; RB1:229]
  • See BKG155–6 and GPB148 for the effect of this news on the believers.
  • Bahá'u'lláh and His family had been given Ottoman citizenship by this time. [BBRSM66]
  • See BKG156–8 for a list of those chosen by Bahá'u'lláh to migrate with Him.
  • See TN50–3 for the story of the sedition behind Bahá'u'lláh's removal from Baghdád.
  • Fearful of Bahá'u'lláh's growing influence in Baghdád, the Persian Consul-General, Mirza Burzurg Khan, had made representation to the Sultan to have Him delivered to the Persian authorities. The Sultan, although the Caliph of Sunni Islam, considered himself a mystical seeker and was no doubt intrigued with Bahá'u'lláh from the reports of the Governor of 'Akká, Námiq Páshá, and his own Prime Minister, 'Alí Páshá. This combination of sympathy and interest led the Ottoman government to invite Him to the capital rather than send Him to a remote location or return Him to Persia to an uncertain fate. [BBD196; BBIC13, 57note 68; RoB1p142-147]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq; Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Governors; Namiq Pasha; Ottoman citizenship; Ottoman government
    1863. Between 1857 - 1863 Bahá'u'lláh revealed Lawh-i-Fitnih, "Tablet of the Test". The Tablet, as its title indicates, is about tests and trials which are associated with the Day of God. In it Bahá'u'lláh alludes to His own Revelation and states that through His advent the whole creation will be tried; no soul will be exempt. All those who are the embodiments of piety and wisdom, of knowledge and virtue, every accomplished man of learning, the servants of God and His sincere lovers, the angels that enjoy near access to God, the Concourse on high, every righteous man of discernment, every mature embodiment of wisdom, even the realities of the Prophets and Messengers of God -- all will be tested. [CoCp35]
    • There is a tradition in Islam quoted by Shoghi Effendi in his Persian writings which sets forth the difficulties and perils encountered by man on his journey to God. It describes how all men will perish and die except the believers; all the believers will perish and die except those who are tested, all who are tested will perish and die except those who are sincere, and those who are sincere will be in great danger. [CoCp35]
    		Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Lawh-i-Fitnih (Tablet of the Test); Bahaullah, Life of
    1863. (Prior to the Declaration) See Bibliography for the Tablets of Baha'u'llah: List of citations and resources for Tablets revealed 1853-1863 compiled by Jonah Winters.
  • See also Notes and Commentary on the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh: Wilmette Institute study materials by Jonah Winters.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of
    1863. 22 Apr - 3 May Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden of Ridván.

    The garden was located in a large agricultural area immediately north of the walls of the city of Baghdad, about 450 metres (1,480 ft) from the city's northern Mu'azzam gate. Located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in what is now the Bab al-Mu'azzam neighbourhood of Baghdad's Rusafa District, it was directly opposite the district in which Bahá'u'lláh lived during his stay in the city, on the river's western bank. [Wikipedia]

    Extract from a Tablet of Baha'u'llah-Khadimu'llah. (Edited provisional translation below)

      "On the first day that the Ancient Beauty occupied the Most Great Throne in a Garden which hath been designated Ridván, the Tongue of Grandeur uttered three blessed verses.
      [1] The first of them was that in this Manifestation the use of the sword in holy war is put aside.
      [2] Secondly, prior to the completion of a millennium any theophanological claim put forward by any person must be considered baseless. In this respect the year should be considered a complete year.
      [3] Thirdly, the True One, exalted be His Glory, at that time manifested all the Divine Names upon all things.
        “Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridván, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes”. [Kitab-i-Aqdas para75 p47]

      And the following choice verse was subsequently revealed but has been ordained to be of the same rank as the preceding three; namely, whatever personal designations are mentioned before the Face, whether living or dead, such have thereby attained the Presence of God by virtue of being mentioned by the King of Pre-Existence. [UCMERCED site]
    		 Baghdad; Iraq Ridvan; Bahaullah, Declaration of; Ridvan garden; Najibiyyih Garden; Gardens; Holy days; Bahaullah, Life of; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline
    1863 22 Apr Thirty–one days after Naw-Rúz, which in this year fell on 22 March, Bahá'u'lláh left His house for the last time and walked to the Najíbíyyih Garden, afterward known as the Garden of Ridván (Paradise). This garden was on an island in the Tigris River and belonged to the governor of Baghdad, Najib Pásha. The river has since changed its course and the island is now a park on the north bank of the Tigris. [C3MT15]
  • See BKG168, GPB149, RB1:260–1 and SA234–5 for details of His walk.
  • For the first time, He wore a tall táj as a symbol of His station. [BBD221; BKG176; GPB152]
  • Bahá'u'lláh entered the Garden just as the call to afternoon prayer was being made. [GPB149; RB1:261]
  • On this day Bahá'u'lláh declared His mission to a few of His disciples. [RB1:260, 262]
  • On the afternoon of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival at the Garden He revealed the Lawh-i-Ayyúb (Tablet of Job) (also known as the Súriy-i-Sabr (Súrat of Patience), Madínatu's-Sabr (City of Patience) and Súrat Ayyúb for Hájí Muhammad-i-Taqíy-i-Nayrízí whom He surnamed Ayyúb (Job). He was a veteran of the battle of Nayríz. The Tablet praised Vahíd and the believers of Nayríz. [SA239; Tablet of Patience (Surih Íabr): Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh and Selected Topics by Foad Seddigh]
  • He also revealed the Tablet of Ridván, an Arabic tablet beginning with "He is seated upon this luminous throne.... [SA239]
  • ...and Húr-i-'Ujáb (The Wondrous Maiden). [SA239]
  • ...as well as Qad atá Rabí'u'l-Bayán, ...The Divine Springtime is come.... [SA240]
  • and an Arabic Tablet that begins...When the gladness of God seized all else. [SA240]
  • ‘Of the exact circumstances … we, alas, are but scantily informed.' [BKG173; GPB153]
  • For such details as are known, see BKG173–5 and GPB153. iiiii
  • For the import of the event, see BKG169–73; G27–35; GBP153–5.
  • This initiated the holy day of the First Day of Ridván, to be celebrated on 21 April. [BBD196]
  • This marked the end of the dispensation of the Báb and of the first epoch of the Heroic or Apostolic Age of the Bahá'í dispensation. [BBD72, 79]
    • On the same day Bahá'u'lláh made three important statements to His followers:
    1. He forbade the use of the sword.
    2. He stated that no other Manifestations will appear before one thousand years. This was later reiterated in the Kitáb-i-Badí‘ and in The Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
    3. He stated that, as from that moment, all the names and attributes of God were manifested within all created things, implying the advent of a new Day. [RB1:278–80]

    During the 12 days in the Ridván Garden Bahá'u'lláh confided to ‘Abdu'l-Bahá that He was ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest'. [CH82]

  • See CH82–3 for the effect of this announcement on ‘Abdu'l-Bahá.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Writings of; Ridvan; Naw-Ruz; Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Declaration of; Ridvan garden; Najibiyyih Garden; Ages and Epochs; Heroic Age; Lawh-i-Ayyub; Haji Muhammad-i-Taqiy-i-Nayrizi; Abdul-Baha, Life of; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahaullah, Basic timeline; Firsts, Other; Taj; Holy days
    1863 Apr Mírzá Yahyá fled Baghdád, travelling to Mosul in disguise. [BKG158; RB252–5]
  • Mírzá Yahyá had, since Bahá'u'lláh's return, concealed himself indoors ore, whenever danger threatened, would withdraw himself to Hillih or Basra where he disguised himself as a Jewish shoe merchant. [BKG224]
  • CH59 says that he left Baghdád about two weeks before the larger party.
  • Bahá'u'lláh advised him to go to Persia to disseminate the Writings of the Báb. [RB1:252–3]
  • Mírzá Yahyá abandoned the Writings of the Báb and travelled surreptitiously to Constantinople, joining the exiles when they passed through Mosul. He had obtained a passport in the name of Mírzá 'Alíh-i-Kirmánsháhí. [ESW167–8; RB1:255; BKG224]
  • See ESW167 and RB1:253–4 for Yahyá's movements.
    		•  Baghdad; Mosul; Iraq; Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey; Iran Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal)
    1863. 30 Apr Bahá'u'lláh's family joined Him in the Garden. [BKG175; RB1:281; SA235]
  • This initiated the holy day of the Ninth Day of Ridván, to be celebrated on 29 April. [BBD 196]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Ridvan; Bahaullah, Declaration of; Bahaullah, Family of; Bahaullah, Life of; Ridvan Festival; Najibiyyih Garden; Holy days
    1863. 3 May Bahá'u'lláh left the Garden of Ridván.
  • This initiated the holy day the Twelfth Day of Ridván, to be celebrated on 2 May. [BBD196]
  • As He was about to leave He revealed a Tablet addressed to Áqá Mírzá Áqá in Shíráz. It brought relief and happiness to those who received it. [EB222]
  • His leaving was accompanied by symbolic signs of His station: He rode a horse rather than a donkey and wore a tall táj. [BBD221; BKG176]
  • See BKG175–6, GPB155 and RB1:281–2 for descriptions of the scenes that accompanied His departure.

    Bahá'u'lláh and His party arrived at Firayját, about three miles away on the banks of the Tigris. [BKG176]

  • There they stayed in a borrowed garden for a week while Bahá'u'lláh's brother, Mirza Musa, completed dealing with their affairs in Baghdad and packing the remaining goods. Visitors still came daily. [SA235]
  • One of the loyal followers who was left behind was Ahmad-i-Yazdi. He would later make the journey to Constantinople where he received a Tablet from Bahá'u'lláh. [C3MT17]
    		• Baghdad; Firayjat; Iraq; Shiraz; Iran Ridvan; Bahaullah, Declaration of; Bahaullah, Life of; Ridvan Festival; Aqa Mirza Aqay-i-Afnan (Nurud-Din); Afnan; Horses; Donkeys; Taj; Tigris; Rivers; Ridvan garden; Najibiyyih Garden; Holy days
    1863. 3 May When Bahá'u'lláh left Baghdad for Constantinople, He bade Siyyid Mihdíy-i-Dahájí Ismu'lláh move into His house and become its caretaker. [RoB2p273-274]
  • For details of the life of this man see RoB2p274.
    		• Baghdad; Iraq
    1863. 9 May Bahá'u'lláh and His party left Firayját for Istanbul although at this point the destination was unknown to the exiles. [CH57, GPB156; SA235; BKG176-178]
  • On the day of His departure from Firayjat Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Lawḥ-i-Firáq (In 'Iráq it is known as Lawḥ-i-Firayját) [Tablet of Firayját (Lawḥ-i-Firayját) / Tablet of Firáq (Lawḥ-i-Firáq) compiled by Violetta Zein]
  • While Navvab and Mahd-i-'Ulya travelled with Him in all His exiles, Gawhar Khanum remained in Baghdad with her brother, Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani. Gawhar Khanum was His third wife. The dates of her birth, marriage and death are not known. Her marriage took place some time in Baghdad before the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh's mission. For some years she was among the Bahá'í refugees in Mosul and later went to 'Akka at Bahá'u'lláh's instruction. She gave birth to one daughter, Furughiyyih; mother and daughter both became Covenant-breakers after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. [CoC22]
  • The journey took 110 days. [GPB156]
  • For the number of people on the journey see BKG179 (72), GPB156 (26 plus members of His family plus guards), RB2:5–6 (54) and SW13:277 (72).
  • The caravan consisted of fifty mules, a mounted guard of ten soldiers with their officer, and seven pairs of howdahs, each pair surmounted by four parasols. By virtue of the written order of Namiq Pasha Bahá'u'lláh was accorded an enthusiastic reception by the religious notables and government officials as the caravan wound its way northward. [ALM12]
    • Gawhar Khanum, Bah´'u'lláh's third wife whom He married in Baghdad before the declaration of His mission, remained in Baghdad with her brother, Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani. [MoF95]
  • For the details of the journey see BKG176–96; GPB1567; SW13:277.
  • See BKG180 for a map of the journey.
  • They passed through the following:
    • Judaydih
    • Dilí-'Abbás
    • Qarih-Tapih
    • Saláhíyyih (stay two nights)
    • Dúst-Khurmátú
    • Táwuq
    • Karkúk (stay two days)
    • Irbíl
    • By the River Záb
    • Bartallih
    • Mosul (stay three days)
    • Zákhú
    • Jazírih
    • Nisíbín (Nusaybin)(On the boarder of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey)
    • Hasan-Áqá
    • Márdiín (three day halt)
    • Díyár-Bakr (after three days of travel) (stay two-three days) It was here that Mírzá Yahyá made himself known to the party after having travelled in disguise from Mosul. [ALM12]
    • Ma'dan-Mis (one night)
    • Khárpút (one day's travel)(stay two or three days)
    • Ma'dan-Nuqrih
    • Dilik-Tásh
    • Sívás
    • Túqát (Tokat)
    • Amasia (Amasya)(stay two days)
    • Iláhíyyih (the last day of the overland journey)
    • Sámsún on the Black Sea. (110 days after departure) [The Bahá'í Faith 1844-1953 :Information Statistical & Comparative p43]
  • As the party drew close to Sámsún on the Black Sea Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Súriy-i-Hawdaj. [BKG195; RB2:6]
  • Picture
  • The party remained in Sámsún for seven days. [GPB157]
    		•  Iraq; Turkey; Firayjat; Samsun; Istanbul (Constantinople); Judaydih; Dili-Abbas; Qarih-Tapih; Salahiyyih; Dust-Khurmatu; Tawuq; Karkuk; Irbil; Bartallih; Mosul; Zakhu; Jazirih; Nisibin; Hasan-Aqa; Mardiin; Diyar-Bakr; Madan-Mis; Kharput; Madan-Nuqrih; Dilik-Tash; Sivas; Tuqat; Amasia; Ilahiyyih Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Journeys; Black Sea; Suriy-i-Hawdaj; Bahaullah, Writings of; Navvab (Asiyih Khanum); Mahd-i-Ulya (Fatimih Khanum); Gawhar Khanum; Furughiyyih; Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani; Lawḥ-i-Firayjat; Lawḥ-i-Firaq
    1864 c. After years of imprisonment in Tehran, Àbdu'r '-Rasúl-Qumí visited Bahá'u'lláh in Adrianople then took up residence in Baghdad, caring for the garden of the House of Bahá'u'lláh. He was well-known to the Muslims and a target of their attacks. One morning as he was carrying skins of water from the Tigris River he was ambushed by a number of attackers and was mortally wounded. He managed to disperse the assailants, drag himself to the garden where he watered the flowers for the last time.

    His name was mentioned in many Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, consoling his family. His son was appointed caretaker of the pilgrims in 'Akká and he served in this capacity until the days of Shoghi Effendi. [FAA8]

    		 Baghdad; Iraq; Edirne (Adrianople); Turkey; Akka House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Abdur-Rasul-Qumi; Gardeners; Caretakers; Murders
    1865. Mar Death of former Prime Minister Mírzá Áqá Khán, in Qum. He was buried at Karbalá. [BBR165] Qum; Iran; Karbala; Iraq Prime Ministers; Mirza Aqa Khan
    1867 Sep - Aug 1868 Nabíl-i-A‘zam was dispatched to Iraq and Iran to inform the Bábís of the advent of Bahá'u'lláh. He was further instructed to perform the rites of pilgrimage on Bahá'u'lláh's behalf in the House of the Báb and the Most Great House in Baghdad. [BKG250; EB224; GPB176–7]
  • For details of his mission see EB224–7.
  • On hearing Nabíl's message, the wife of the Báb, Khadíjih Khánum, immediately recognized the station of Bahá'u'lláh. [EB225]
  • Nabil was the first Bahá'í to perform pilgrimage to the house of the Báb in Shiraz in fall 1866, in accordance with the rites prescribed in the Surat al-ḥajj revealed by Bahá'u'lláh. He also went to Baghdad and performed the pilgrimage to the House of Bahá'u'lláh in spring 1867, according to another sura, Surat al-damm written by Bahá'u'lláh for that purpose. Nabil’s pilgrimage to those two houses marked the inception of pilgrimage laws ordained by Bahá'u'lláh later in his Kitāb-i-Aqdas. For the rites of these two pilgrimages performed by Nabíl see SA113–15. [GPB176-177, “Nabil-e aʿzam Zaranadi, Mollā Mohammad,” by Vahid Rafati, Encyclopædia Iranica, DB434-435]
    		•  Shiraz; Iran; Baghdad; Iraq Nabil-i-Azam; Pilgrims; Pilgrimage; First pilgrims; Khadijih Khanum; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1868. c. Jul Principal Bahá'ís in Baghdád were arrested by the Turkish authorities and exiled to Mosul and other places. [BBR265; BKG247; CH129–30; RB2:333]
  • RB2:333 indicates this took place towards the end of Bahá'u'lláh's stay in Adrianople.
  • About 70 people were exiled. [GPB178; RB2:334] Estimate given by Hájí Mirzá Haydar-;Alí is 80. (DOH12]
  • See BKG184 for an illustration of Mosul.
  • See BKG183 for a description of the city.
  • See RB2:334 for the hardships suffered by the exiles.
  • They remained in Mosul for some 20 years until Bahá'u'lláh advised the community to disband (1885-1886). Their hardship was lessened by generous contributions from the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs. A charity fund was established, the first fund of that kind in any Bahá'í community. [RB2:334–6]
    		•  Baghdad; Mosul; Iraq Mirza Muhammad-Hasan (King of Martyrs); Mirza Muhammad-Husayn (Beloved of Martyrs); King of Martyrs and Beloved of Martyrs; Charity and relief work; Funds; Firsts, Other; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution
    1868. 26 Jul Bahá'u'lláh was banished to 'Akká

    Sultán `Abdu'l-`Azíz, at the instigation of his Prime Minister, Ali Pasha, issued a firmán condemning Bahá'u'lláh to perpetual banishment. [BKG283–4; GPB179, 186; RB2:401–2]

  • See RB2:402 for a list of those included in the edict.
  • BKG261, GPB181 and RB2:403 indicate that it was not until the party reached Gallipoli that they were informed that their ultimate destination was `Akká.
  • BBD40 says that it was because of the disloyal Mírzá Yahyá's plotting against Bahá`u`lláh that the Turkish authorities condemned Him to perpetual imprisonment in `Akká.
    		•  Edirne (Adrianople); Istanbul (Constantinople); Turkey; Baghdad; Iraq; Gallipoli; Akka Bahaullah, Life of; Bahaullah, Banishment of; Sultan Abdul-Aziz; Khurshid Pasha; Firmans; Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Bahaullah, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded
    1869 (In the year) The 17-year-old Áqá Buzurg-i-Níshápúrí, Badí`, arrived in `Akká having walked from Mosul. He was able to enter the city unsuspected. [BKG297; RB3:178]
  • He was still wearing the simple clothes of a water bearer. [BKG297]
  • For the story of his life, see BKG294–297 and RB3:176–179.
  • For his transformation see RB3:179–182. Badí` saw `Abdu'l-Bahá in a mosque and was able to write a note to Him. The same night Badí` entered the citadel and went into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh. He met Bahá'u'lláh twice. [BKG297; RW3:179]
    • Badí` asked Bahá'u'lláh for the honour of delivering the Tablet to the Sháh and Bahá'u'lláh bestowed it on him. [BKG297; RB3:182]
    • The journey to Tehran took four months; he traveled alone. [BKG298]
    • For the story of the journey see BKG297–300 and RB3:184.
    • For the Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh to Badí` see BKG299 and RB3:175–176.
    • Regarding the tablet to the Sháh

      “Bahá’u’lláh’s lengthiest epistle to any single sovereign” -- Lawḥ-i-Sulṭán, (the Tablet to Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh) Of the various writings that make up the Súriy-i-Haykal, one requires particular mention. The Lawḥ-i-Sulṭán, the Tablet to Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh, Bahá’u’lláh’s lengthiest epistle to any single sovereign, was revealed in the weeks immediately preceding His final banishment to ‘Akká. It was eventually delivered to the monarch by Badí‘, a youth of seventeen, who had entreated Bahá’u’lláh for the honour of rendering some service. His efforts won him the crown of martyrdom and immortalized his name. The Tablet contains the celebrated passage describing the circumstances in which the divine call was communicated to Bahá’u’lláh and the effect it produced. Here, too, we find His unequivocal offer to meet with the Muslim clergy, in the presence of the Sháh, and to provide whatever proofs of the new Revelation they might consider to be definitive, a test of spiritual integrity significantly failed by those who claimed to be the authoritative trustees of the message of the Qur’án. [The Universal House of Justice (Introduction to ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)]

    • See Three Momentous Years in The Bahá'í World for the story of Badí.
    		•  Akka; Mosul; Iraq; Tihran; Iran Badi (Mirza Aqa Buzurg-i-Nishapuri); Lawh-i-Sultan (Tablet to Nasirid-Din Shah); Suriy-i-Haykal (Surih of the Temple); Tablets to kings and rulers; Nasirid-Din Shah; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Deaths; Persecution; Apostles of Bahaullah; Youth
    1870 (In the year) Násiri'd-Dín Sháh maded a pilgrimage to the shrines in Iraq. In preparation for his visit the Bahá'ís were rounded up, arrested and exiled. [BBR267; BBRSM90; BKG441]
  • See BKG441–3 for details of the exile.
    		• Iraq; Iran Nasirid-Din Shah; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution
    1881 (In the year) The passing of Fáṭimih Bagum, the mother of the Báb in Karbila. She herself was from a prominent Shírází merchant family; she could trace her background back to the Imám Husayn. The daughter of Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad Husayn, she married Siyyid Muhammad Ridá, and had several children with him, however only one survived; ‘Alí-Muhammad. Widowed shortly after, she went to live with her brother Hájí Mirzá Siyyid 'Ali who served as a father figure to Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad. On hearing that Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad was making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbilá, she was distressed and arranged the marriage between Him to His second cousin once removed: Khadíjih Bagum.

    Originally, Fáṭimih Bagum did not accept her Son’s cause unlike her brother, however she kept an open mind. She was devastated on hearing the news of the treatment of her Son, and after His martyrdom her family kept it a secret from her for nearly a whole year. After hearing the news, the distraught Fáṭimih Bagum moved to Karbilá with her closest companions in December of 1851. She did not become a believer until some time later when Bahá'u'lláh instructed two of His faithful followers, Hájí Siyyid Javád-i-Karbilá'í and the wife of Hájí 'Abdu'l-Majíd-i-Shírázi to instruct her in the principles of the Faith

  • Shoghí Effendí pursued in trying to locate her grave, but it has not yet been found.
  • The Báb referred to Fáṭimih Bagum as "Ummu’l-Mu’minin" (mother of the believers) and "Ummu’dh-Dhikr" (mother of the Remembrance). Bahá’u’lláh referred to her as "Khayru’n-Nisa" (the best of women) and forbad all others, except Khadíjih Bagum, from adopting this title. [Wikipedia]
    		•  Karbala; Iraq In Memoriam; Fatimih Bagum; Bab, Life of
    1886 In the year Birth of Músá Banání, Hand of the Cause of God, in Baghdád. [BW15p421–423] Baghdad; Iraq Musa Banani; Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, Births and deaths; Births and deaths
    1903 (In the year) The passing of Mullá Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín (the Ornament of the Near Ones) in 'Akká. He is sometimes referred to as Jináb-i-Zayn (The Excellent Zayn), or Harfu'z-Zá (the Letter Z). He was born in Rajab, one of the villages of Najafábád near Isfahán to a family of Muslim clerics in May 1818. He had first heard of the Báb's claim while on pilgrimage in Karbilá in 1844 and became a believer in 1851. He met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád after His return from Kurdistán in 1856. He was among the believers who were exiled from Baghdád in July of 1868 and under his leadership and guidance the believers in Mosul became a model community. He was invited by Bahá'u'lláh to come to 'Akká in Sep-Oct 1885 and shortly after that Baha'u'lláh asked that the community in Mosul be abandoned. [EB274-276; MoF150-154; TN412-425]

    Jináb-i-Zaynu’l-Muqarrabín was well versed in Islamic jurisprudence. After the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, he was authorized to submit questions concerning the laws. The treatise, titled Questions and Answers, an appendix to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, is a compilation he made of Bahá’u’lláh’s answers to questions concerning the laws of the Most Holy Book. It took more than two decades for "Questions and Answers" to be published in Persian and much longer to be published in English and other languages. [KA9]

  • See Some Answered Questions" and Its Compiler by Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani published in Lights of Irfan, 18, pages 425-452. In this paper the author compares the similarities and differences of Questions and Answers and Some Answered Questions.
  • For an image Zaynu’l-Muqarrabín see Picture Gallery (miniature by Ethel Rosenberg). This image can also been found in RoB1p78
  • He was named as one of the Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
    		•  Rajab; Najafabad; Iran; Mosul; Iraq Zaynul-Muqarrabin (Mulla Zaynul-Abidin); Kitab-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book); Laws; Questions and answers (Kitab-i-Aqdas); Risalih-i-Sual va Javab (Questions and Answers); Ethel Rosenberg; In Memoriam; Births and deaths; Apostles of Bahaullah
    1913 14 Apr 'Abu'l-Bahá's plan had been to leave but His departure was delayed due to a request from the president of the Túránian Society, Count Pal Teleki, who later became the Hungarian Prime Minister two times.
  • In the afternoon 'Abu'l-Bahá visited Arminius Vambéry at his home again and some time later sent him a tablet and a carpet by the post. It was reported in "Star of the West" (February 1929) that this tablet was in possession of Arminius's son, Rusztem Vámbéry. [SBBR14p115, 125, AB387, SoW9Vol9p24]
    • See BW5p329 for the testament written by Professor Vámbéry and published in the Egyptian Gazette September 24th, 1913.
    • See SUR73 for the story of Arminius Vámbéry, while travelling with a caravan and disguised as a dervish, encountered another caravan loaded with coffins bound for burial in the vicinity of the Shrines in Karbilá'.
    • See The Dervish of Windsor Castle: The Life of Arminius Vambery by Lory Alder and Richard Dalby.
  • At a meeting of the Túránian Society in the grand hall of the National Museum 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave a lecture entitled "Peace Between Nations and Religions" to some 200 people. The talk was translated into Hungarian by Leopold Stark and into English by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab. [SBBR14p113; ABM318; Talk by Abdu’l-Baha Given in Budapest to the Turanian Society on 14 April 1913 (Provisional)]
  • 'Alí Abbás Áqá, a Tabrízí carpet merchant, hosted a dinner party in His honour. Among those attending was the Turkish Consul. [AB387, MRHK367, SBBR14p113]
    		•  Budapest; Hungary; Karbala; Iraq Abdul-Baha, Travels of; Abdul-Baha, Second Western tour; Arminius Vambery; Leopold Stark; Count Pal Teleki; Ali Abbas Aqa
    1920 (in the year) The House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád was seized by Shí'ís. [BBD109; GBF33; GPB356-7] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1921 (In the year) The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or Mandatory Iraq began. It would last until 1932. [Mandatory Iraq] Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1921 (After Mandate) After the establishment of British control of Iraq and the appearance of religious freedom and greater security, 'Abdu'l-Bahá authorized repairs to begin on the House. The renovations attracted the attention of neighbouring Shi'as and, after the passing of the custodian, Muhammad Husayn Bábí, they sued for possession on the grounds that he had no heirs. [SETPE1p25] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1921 Feb The Shi'a petition for the possession of the House in Baghdád was granted and the Bahá'is were evicted. [SETPE1p25] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1921 Apr The Minister of Justice overturned an earlier ruling and possession of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád was returned to the Bahá'ís. [SETPE1p25] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1921 23 Nov A second suit for the possession of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad was decided in favour of the Shi'a claimants. This allowed them to apply to the Peace Court in 1922. [SETPE1p25]
  • Before the application went before the Court the Shi'a group prevailed upon King Faisal to give an illegal personal order to the Governor of Baghdád to evict the Bahá'ís and then return the keys to them. All this was against the opinion of the British High Commissioner. [SETPE1p25]
  • The case was passed from court to court and finally brought before the Court of Appeal in Baghdád which, by a majority of four (the Iráqí members) to one (the British Presiding Justice), decided in favour of the plaintiffs. [SETPE1p25]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1922 22 Feb Subsequent to the decision of the Court of Appeal the government of Iraq took over the keys for the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. [SETPE1p26] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1922 22 Feb King Feisal of Iraq ordered the Bahá'ís to be turned out of the Most Great House in Baghdád to keep the peace. [BW354; GPB343; PP54] Baghdad; Iraq King Faisal; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1923 (In the year) The keys for the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád were delivered to the Shi'as by the government. [PP94-5, GBF33] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1923 Jul The Bahá'ís appealed to the Peace Court for possession of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. [SETPE1p26] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1923 (In July or earlier) Lorol Schopflocher made a visit to King Feisel as reported in the Ottawa Citizen 13 July, 1923 p16 and The Winnipeg Tribune 31 July 1923 p16. She was accorded several audiences to discuss the question of the seizure of the keys to the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. [Bahá'í Chronicles]
  • See Haifa Talks by Keith Ransom-Kehler and Lorol Schopflocher.
    		• Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Lorol Schopflocher; King Faisal
    1923 20 Dec The Peace Court ruled in favour of giving the Bahá'ís possession of House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád, however, the Council of Ministers, with the approval of King Feisal, ordered that the property not be returned until ownership could be established. [SETPE1p26]
  • The Guardian sent 19 cables to various individuals and national bodies with instructions that the Bahá'ís should send cables to the British High Commissioner in Iráq, Sir Henry Dobbs, as well as to the British authorities in Iráq and in London as well as to King Feisal to protest the action of the Council of Ministers. In communities where the numbers are stronger, Persia and America, he instructed that every local assembly protest directly. The Guardian himself sent over 600 pieces of correspondence during the following six months concerning this issue. [PP94-6, GBF33-34 BA94-95]
  • The Iráqí government refused to bow to the pressure put upon them. [PP96]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Peace Court; Firsts, Other
    1924 Nov The Supreme Court of Iraq decided against the Bahá'ís in the dispute over the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád. [UD37-8; BN No 9 Dec 1925/Jan 1926 p1] Iraq Court cases; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1925 (In the year) Lorol Schopflocher was sent by the Guardian to speak with King Feisal of Iraq. The King was not receiving visitors so she made an unorthodox entrance by driving her car through the gates at high speed and coming to an abrupt stop in front of the palace. [SETPE1p105] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Lorol Schopflocher; King Faisal
    1925 16 Jan Shoghi Effendi reported in a letter that the case of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád was then before the court of the First Instance and had been postponed for some time. He stated that, should the appeal be successful, the opponents were likely to refer the case to the Court of Appeal and, should that happen, the government would likely delay the return of the keys for the House. [BA76] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1925 13 Dec The keys to Bahá’u’lláh’s house in Baghdád were given to the Shí’ís. [UD45] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1926 14 Nov Iraq's highest tribunal ruled against the Bahá'ís in the question of ownership of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. Shoghi Effendi immediately sent a cable urging the American National Assembly and all local assemblies to write or cable the Iraq High Commissioner through the British Consular authorities, to the King of Iraq and to the British central authorities to protest against the injustice. [SETPE1p138] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1927 (In the year) The Baghdád believers took photographs of the cave in the Sargul Mountain near Sulaymáníyyih where Bahá'u'lláh spent two years in solitude. [BW2Surveyp.33, SETPE1p141] Baghdad; Sulaymaniyyih; Kurdistan; Iraq Sulaymaniyyih; Photography; Caves; Mountains; Sargul Mountain; Bahaullah, Life of
    1928 11 Sep The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iraq submitted a petition to the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations for the return of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. [BW3:198–206]
  • See BA164-165 for letter from Shoghi Effendi.
  • Text of the Petition
    		• Baghdad; Iraq Petitions; League of Nations; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1928 26 Oct-13 Nov The case of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád was taken before the fourteenth session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. [BW3:207]
  • The right of the Bahá’ís to the House was upheld and the government of Iraq was strongly pressed to find a solution but the House was not returned to the Bahá’ís. [BW3:207–9; GBF35; PP96–7]
  • For Shoghi Effendi’s comment on these developments see BW3:206–9.
  • The Shí’ís turned the House into a Husayníyyih, where the martyrdom of the Imám Husayn is mourned. [BBD113–14]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); League of Nations; Imam Husayn
    1928 Nov It was recommended to the Council of the League of Nations to request that the British Government make representations to the Iraqi Government to redress the denial of justice to the Bahá'ís with reference to House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad. [GBF35] Baghdad; Iraq; Geneva House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); League of Nations
    1929 4 Mar The Council of the League of Nations adopted the conclusion reached by the Mandates Commissions upholding the claim of the Bahá’í community to the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. They directed the Mandatory Power (Great Britain) to make representations to the government of Iraq with a view of the immediate redress of the injustice suffered by the petitioners (NSA of Iraq). Also, the International Baha'i Bureau was asked by the League's Publishing Bureau for a short historical account that appeared in that same year's publication. [BW3:50-55; BIC History page 18 Mar 1928]
  • For Shoghi Effendi’s response to this see BW3:206–9 and BA175-180.
    		• Baghdad; Iraq; Geneva League of Nations; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1929 Apr Shoghi Effendi announced that the Council of the League of Nations had pronounced in favour of the Bahá'í petition regarding the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad. Unfortunately, King Faisal, a Sunni, relented under the pressure of the Shi'iah element and the property was never returned. [Bahá'í News Letter, no. 31 (April 1929), p.6, SETPE1p169] Baghdad; Iraq; Geneva; Switzerland House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); League of Nations; King Faisal
    1929 6–26 Nov The case of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád was taken before the sixteenth session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. [BW4:237]
  • The text of the petition was conceived and drafted by Monfort Mills. Shoghi Effendi paid tribute to his work in a letter dated March 20, 1929. [BA180]
  • The right of the Bahá’ís to the House was upheld and the government of Iraq was strongly pressed to find a solution but the House was not returned to the Bahá’ís. [BW4:237; GBF35; PP96–7]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); League of Nations; Montfort Mills
    1930 2 Jan Martha Root met with King Faisal of Iraq in Baghdad to discuss the issue of the House of Bahá'u'lláh. The King said that a committee had been formed to study the problem and to settle it in such a way as to satisfy all groups interested in the matter. [MRHK149] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Martha Root; King Faisal
    1931 Ridván The formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Iraq. [GPB333; BBRSM:121; BW4p169] Iraq National Spiritual Assembly, formation
    1932 3 Oct The term of The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or "Mandatory Iraq" came to an end. It had been created in 1921 following the Iraqi Revolt in 1920 and enacted via the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. The British chose Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi as king of of Iraq and Syria. He fostered unity between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and tried to promote pan-Arabism with the goal of creating an Arab state in Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Fertile Crescent. Faisal died in Switzerland while there for a medical examination at the age of 48, under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances. [Wikipedia]
  • Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations. [BW5p357]
    		• Baghdad; Iraq King Faisal; History (General); British history
    1932 3 Nov-6 Dec Meeting of the 22nd Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations in Geneva at which the Bahá’ís pleaded their case for the possession of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád. [BW5:351–4] Geneva; Baghdad; Iraq League of Nations; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1933. 18 Mar After five years of deliberations and intervention from the League of Nations, the Iraqi government decided to protect the house as part of an urban improvement plan. The property was originally designated for destruction. [BIC History page 18 Mar 1933] Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1933 23 Oct-4 Nov The 24th session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations was held in Geneva at which the case of the possession of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád was again raised. [BW5:354–5] Geneva; Baghdad; Iraq League of Nations; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    1947 Ridván The Bahá'ís of Iraq launched a Three Year Plan (1947-1950). [Ruhi 8.2 p46; BBRSM158]

    The goals were:
       -To increase the number of Bahá’í centres
       -To complete the construction of the National Hazíratu’l-Quds
       -To raise contributions to support the National Fund
       -To establish ten new Local Assemblies
       -To encourage Bahá’í communities in the south of the country

    		Iraq Teaching Plans; Teaching Plans, National
    1947 13 Sep The passing of Haji Mahmúd Qassabchí. In 1933 Qassabchí had suffered a severe attack of paralysis which he narrowly survived and as a result of which he could hardly move or speak for the rest of his life. He was buried at Salman Pak, about thirty miles southeast of Baghdad. [BW11p502-503]
  • He had become a Bahá'í in 1911 after reading accounts of the travels of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the Star of the West. Prior to that he had made the acquaintance of Músá Banání and had been impressed with the young man's honesty. With regard to his service to the Faith, after WWI he undertook the restoration of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad. A few years later he played a leading part in the purchase and the establishment of the Hazíratu'l-Quds of Baghdad and he participated in no small measure to the erection of the Hazíratu'l-Quds in the village of Avasiq, the first built in Iraq.
  • His most imperishable service was the construction of three rooms at the rear of the Shrine of the Báb that were temporarily used as the International Bahá'í Archives before the construction of its permanent seat. [BW11p502-503]
    		• Baghdad; Avashiq; Iraq Haji Mahmud Qassabchi; In Memoriam; House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); Bab, Shrine of; Musa Banani
    1949 24 Apr The passing of Montfort Mills.
  • He had been a believer since 1906 and by 1909 he had made two pilgrimages to 'Akká as well as a third in early 1921.
  • In 1922 he and Roy Wilhelm were invited to Haifa to discuss the possibility of calling for the formation of the Universal House of Justice.
  • He was the first chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada when it first formed in 1922 and was elected to that body seven times between 1922 and 1937 and was responsible for the final draft of the Declaration of Trust and By-Laws adopted in 1927.
  • One of his most outstanding achievements was his role in the case of the appeal for possession of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád. He made two trips to Baghdad and had audiences with King Feisal. During one of these trips he was brutally assaulted and suffered the effects for many years.
  • He met with Professor E. G. Browne and, after hearing Mr. Mills explanation of the evolution of the Faith and of the Covenant, Mr. Browne realized he had been veiled by conflicting claims and disturbances following the martyrdom of the Báb and expressed a desire to translate later Bahá'í works but died before this contribution could be made. [BW11p509-511]
    		•  United States; Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); In Memoriam; Edward Granville Browne; Births and deaths; Covenant-breakers
    1950 (In the year) The Court of the First Instance in Karkúk, Iraq, registered a Bahá’í marriage certificate. [MBW4; UD248]
  • This was the first time in the East, outside Israel, that a Bahá’í marriage was recognized as being legal, an important precedent for other Oriental countries. [MBW4; UD248]
    		•  Karkuk; Iraq Firsts, Other; Marriage; Weddings; Recognition
    1957 27 Jul In July, 1957 the sacred remains of Mirzá Buzurg, the father of Bahá’u’lláh, were identified and removed to a Bahá’í cemetery. On July 27 of that year, Hands of the Cause ‘Ali Akbar Furfltan, Shu‘é‘u’llah ‘Alá’í and ‘Ali Muhammad Varqa arrived from Ṭihrán to join Hand of the Cause Tarézu’lláh Samandari in paying homage, on behalf of the Guardian, to the memory of that “blessed and highly revered personage.” [BW13p297 ] Baghdad; Iraq Mirza Buzurg
    1961 5 Nov The Hands of the Cause issued a message from their fifth Conclave. [MoC313–23]
  • They called for the election of the Universal House of Justice at a convention to be held in the Holy Land on the first, second and third days of Ridván 1963. [CB392; MoC321]
  • They asked the electors to leave the Hands free to ‘discharge their duties’. [MoC321]
  • The celebration of the Most Great Jubilee, the Centenary of the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh, was to be held in London rather than Baghdád, owing to the situation in the Middle East. [MoC322]
    		•  Haifa; Baghdad; Iraq; London; United Kingdom Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, Activities; Hands of the Cause, Conclaves; Bahji; Most Great Jubilee; World congresses; Centenaries; Universal House of Justice, Election of; UHJ
    1970 May In Iraq the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council issued Decree No. 105 to ban Bahá’í activities and disbanding all Bahá’í institutions. [BBRSM174; BW15:173; BW16:137] Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Other; Persecution, Bans; Persecution; National Spiritual Assembly, formation
    1973 Dec A teenaged Muslim student defended the Bahá’í Faith in a school in Baghdád, causing her arrest and the arrest of three Bahá’í girl students. [BW16:138]
  • Over the next months nearly 50 Bahá’ís were arrested. [BW16:138]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution
    1974 4 Mar Following the arrest of more than 50 Bahá’ís in Iraq, their trial opened and the Bahá’ís were exonerated. [BW16:138]
  • The Revolutionary Council was dissatisfied with this result and the case was ordered to be reopened in a military court with the death sentence requested for all the detainees. [BW16:138]
    		•  Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1974 23 Apr At the trial of nearly 50 Bahá’ís in Baghdád, the Iraqi military court sentenced 13 men and one girl to life imprisonment, one man and two girls to 15 years’ imprisonment, and two men and seven women to ten years’ imprisonment; 13 Bahá’ís were fined and released. [BW16:138] Baghdad; Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1974 20 May The Iraqi military court tried nearly 50 Bahá’ís and handed down in absentia sentences of life imprisonment on ten Bahá’ís, two of whom were deceased and a number of whom were of other nationalities or Iraqis not resident in Iraq. [BW16:138]
  • In the weeks following, 24 Bahá’ís had their property confiscated, one Bahá’í was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment and another to 20 years. [BW16:138]
    		•  Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1975 Jan A Bahá’í was arrested in Iraq and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. [BW16:138] Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1975 Jul In Iraq, a partial amnesty reducing the terms of the Bahá’ís imprisoned by 15 per cent was granted. [BW16:138] Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1975 Sep c. In Iraq, a young Bahá’í was detained, interrogated, beaten and asked to recant his faith when he specified his religion on a form. [BW16:138]
  • When he refused to recant his faith he was tried by a revolutionary court and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. [BW16.138]
    		• Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution
    1977 Dec Properties confiscated by the Iraqi government belonging to individual Bahá’ís were returned; properties and funds belonging to the Faith were turned over to the Ministry of the Interior for disposal. [BW17:80] Iraq Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Other; Persecution
    2004 19 Apr The passing of Mr Aziz Ismayn Yazdi (b. Alexandria, Egypt in 1909) in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 94. Aziz Yazdi lived in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Great Britain, Uganda, Kenya, Israel, and finally Canada. In 1968 he was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors in Central and East Africa and was an inaugural member of the International Teaching Centre in Haifa. [BWNS297, BW'03-‘04pg239] Vancouver; Canada; Egypt; Syria; Iran; Iraq; United Kingdom; Uganda; Kenya; Israel Aziz Ismayn Yazdi; Counsellors; International Teaching Centre, Members of; In memoriam; Births and deaths; BWNS
    2004. Ridván The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iraq was restored after more than thirty years of stifling oppression. [Ridván Message 2004] Iraq National Spiritual Assembly, formation
    2005 15 Oct The Constitution of Iraq was approved by referendum to replace the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period (TAL), previously adopted by a Governing Council appointed by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraq War. The Constitution guaranteed the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and guaranteed the full religious rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and practice such as Christians, Yazedis, and Mandi Sabeans. It made no mention of the Bahá'ís as an acknowledged religious minority.
    The Law No.105 of 1970 which prohibited all Bahá'í activities was not rescinded therefore it entered into force despite its being unconstitutional under the new constitution. Also problematic for the Bahá'í community was Regulation 358 of 1975 by the Department of Civil Status that prohibited the issuance of new identity cards to followers of the Bahá'í faith and altered their civil status so that they were registered as Muslims. [Al-Monitor 11 December, 2018; Washington Post 12 October, 2005] .     		Iraq Persecution, Iraq
    2007 Apr In Iraq the Ministry of Interior's Nationality and Passport Section canceled regulation 358 of 1975 which prohibited the issuance of national identity cards to those claiming the Bahá'í Faith as their religion. In May 2007 a small number of Bahá'ís were issued identity cards. The Nationality and Passport Section's legal advisor stopped issuance of the cards thereafter, claiming Bahá'ís had been registered as Muslims since 1975 and citing a government regulation preventing the conversion of "Muslims" to another faith. Without this official identity card, Bahá'ís could not register their children for school or acquire passports. Despite the cancellation of the regulation, Bahá'ís whose identity records were changed to "Muslim" after regulation 358 was instituted in 1975 still could not change their identity cards to indicate their Bahá'í faith, and their children were not recognized as Bahá'ís. [US Department of State BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR July-December, 2010 International Religious Freedom Report Report September 13, 2011] Iraq Persecution, Iraq
    2013 24 - 26 Jun Contrary to the constitution which established the government's commitment to assuring and maintaining the sanctity of holy shrines and religious sites and guaranteeing the free practice of rituals. In addition the penal code that criminalized disrupting or impeding religious ceremonies and desecrating religious buildings, and specified that it applied to religious minorities. In Iraq followers of all religious groups and sects were free in the practice of religious rites and in the management of religious endowments, their affairs, and their religious institutions.
    And contrary to the plans of the Department of Antiquities who had declared it a heritage site in a decree by the Iraqi Culture Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi not two years earlier, the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád was razed to make way for the construction of a husseniya or Shiite congregation hall. [Message from the Universal House of Justice date 17 July 2013, SETPE1p170; Al-Monitor 11 December, 2018]    		 Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad)
    2013 27 Jun In a message from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies it advised of the news of the destruction of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad. (Bayt-i-A'zam) [Message of 27 Jun 2013; Message of 17 July, 2013]
  • Grieve not, O House of God, if the veil of thy sanctity be rent asunder by the infidels. [GWB114]
  • In truth, I declare, it shall be so abased in the days to come as to cause tears to flow from every discerning eye...And in the fullness of time, shall the Lord by the power of truth exalt it in the eyes of all the world, cause it to become the mighty standard of His domination, the shrine round which shall circle the concourse of the faithful. [BA99-100; BWNS961]
  • See the compilation entitled The House of Bahá’u’lláh, Baghdád ‘Iráq.
  • See "The Most Great House in Baghdad" [SA140-143]
  • See GPB110 for the various designations of the Most Great House.

      Within its walls the “Most Great House of God,” His “Footstool” and the “Throne of His Glory,” “the Cynosure of an adoring world,” the “Lamp of Salvation between earth and heaven,” the “Sign of His remembrance to all who are in heaven and on earth,” enshrining the “Jewel whose glory hath irradiated all creation,” the “Standard” of His Kingdom, the “Shrine round which will circle the concourse of the faithful” was irrevocably founded and permanently consecrated. Upon it, by virtue of its sanctity as Bahá’u’lláh’s “Most Holy Habitation” and “Seat of His transcendent glory,” was conferred the honor of being regarded as a center of pilgrimage second to none except the city of ‘Akká, His “Most Great Prison,” in whose immediate vicinity His holy Sepulcher, the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world, is enshrined.
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq House of Bahaullah (Baghdad); BWNS
    2017. 30 Nov Bahá'ís celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh in a ceremony in Baghdad attended by representatives from the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, civil society as well as media activists.
  • This was considered the most prominent ceremony where Bahá'ís officially announced themselves for the first time in 47 years, as the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council issued Decree No. 105 in 1970 to ban Bahá'í activities. As a consequence, Bahá'í administrative institutions in Iraq were dissolved and any activity where Bahá'ís declared their religious identity was punishable by imprisonment.
  • During the proceedings they asked for support to rescind the law on prohibiting Bahá'í activity, which was still in effect despite the fact that the law contradicted the 2005 constitution, which guaranteed freedom of belief to all citizens.
  • Millions of Bahá'ís around the world celebrated the honorary bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh on Oct. 21-22. Bahá'ís in Baghdad celebrated after one month of postponements given the security difficulties and challenges surrounding the ceremony. [Al-Monitor.com]
    		•  Baghdad; Iraq Bahaullah, Birth of; Twin Holy days; Holy days; Centenaries; Websites; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Bans; Persecution
    2018 Dec During a dialogue with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as it considered a report on measures taken to implement the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination the Iraqi Deputy Justice Minister, Hussein al-Zuhairi, said Bahaism is not a religion or faith. He further expressed the Iraqi government’s commitment to legislation prohibiting the Bahá'í religion in 1970 and added that there was no religion above Islam since the Iraqi Constitution set the tenets of Islam as a source of law. He said that as Iraqi society was Muslim, it was not possible to ignore the tenets of Islam in legislation.
  • Zuhairi’s statement angered representatives of civil society and the delegations of organizations that presented parallel reports to the government’s report in which they outlined the Iraqi government’s and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s violations of the rights of minorities. His statements raised concerns for the Bahá'ís and indicated that the Iraqi government cannot solve the conflict between respecting human rights called for in its constitution and the Islamic principles that are a key source of legislation. [Al-Monitor 11 December, 2018]
    		• Iraq

    from the Chronology Canada

    date event locations tags see also
    2004 19 Apr The passing of Mr Aziz Ismayn Yazdi (b. Alexandria, Egypt in 1909) in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 94. Aziz Yazdi lived in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Great Britain, Uganda, Kenya, Israel, and finally Canada. In 1968 he was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors in Central and East Africa and was an inaugural member of the International Teaching Centre in Haifa. [BWNS297, BW'03-‘04pg239] Vancouver, BC; Egypt; Syria; Iran; Iraq; United Kingdom; Uganda; Kenya; Israel Aziz Ismayn Yazdi; Counsellors; International Teaching Centre, Members of; In memoriam

    from the Main Catalogue

    1. Ambassador at the Court: The Life and Photography of Effie Baker, by Graham Hassall (1999). Extensive biography of Effie Baker, an early Australian Bahá'í. [about]
    2. Ancient Poems as Means of Revelation, in an Early Tablet by Bahá'u'lláh, by Julio Savi and Faezeh Mardani, in Lights of Irfan, 19 (2018). On the importance of poetry in the history of the Faith and in its Writings, and absolute detachment as a prerequisite for attainment unto the Divine Presence. Includes translation of a Tablet by Bahá’u’lláh. [about]
    3. "At Dawn the Friend came to my bed': An Early Fruit of the Supreme Pen, by Julio Savi, in Lights of Irfan, 16 (2015). A quasidih, a dialogue between the Beloved and the Poet as a lover. One of eight Persian poems Bahá'u'lláh signed "Dervish" and revealed in Kurdistan, circa 1854-1856. [about]
    4. Babi and Bahá'í Religions 1844-1944: Some Contemporary Western Accounts, by Moojan Momen (1981). A lengthy collection of first-hand reports and mentions of the Bábí and Bahá'í religions in contemporaneous accounts and newspapers. [about]
    5. Bagdádi Family, by Kamran Ekbal, in Encyclopaedia Iranica (2014). Brief excerpt, with link to article offsite. [about]
    6. Bahá'í Faith in the Arabic Speaking Middle East, The: Part 1 (1753-1863), by Ramsey Zeine, in Lights of Irfan, Volume 7 (2006). Bábí and early Bahá'í links to the Arab world and the Arabic language; the identity of the Faith is a fusion of Persian and Arab origins. [about]
    7. Bahá'í Shrines, by John Walbridge, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Volume 3 (1989). [about]
    8. Bahá'u'lláh and Liberation Theology, by Juan Cole, in Revisioning the Sacred: New Perspectives on a Bahá'í Theology, Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions vol. 8 (1997). The idea of liberation and equality is central to Bahá'í theology; the poor in the 19th century Middle East; Bahá'u'lláh and the poor; Tablet to the Kings on wealth and peace; laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and Huququ'lláh; state social welfare. [about]
    9. Bahá'u'lláh and the Naqshbandi Sufis in Iraq, 1854-1856, by Juan Cole, in Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, Volume 2 (1984). The interplay of Bábí themes of messianism and the Sufi mystical emphasis on internal spirituality; analysis of an early poem by Bahá'u'lláh which hints that by the 1850s he began to see his mission of reform to carry out in the Bábí community. [about]
    10. Bahá'u'lláh's "Ode of the Dove": A Provisional Translation, by John S. Hatcher and Amrollah Hemmat, in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 29:3 (2019). A lengthy dialogue between Bahá'u'lláh (as persona/narrator) and the Huriyyih — the Maid of Heaven (a personification of “the Most Great Spirit”). [about]
    11. Baha'u'llah's Notes to His "Ode of the Dove", by Bahá'u'lláh (1997). [about]
    12. Baha'u'llah's Paradise of Justice: Commentary and Translation, by Christopher Buck and Adib Masumian, in Bahá'í Studies Review, 20 (2014). The tablet Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl, "Paradise of Justice," shows how the concept of justice — which encompasses both faith and action — is the essence of the Baha’i concept of salvation, both individual and societal. [about]
    13. Bahá'u'lláh's Persian Poems Written before 1863, by Julio Savi, in Lights of Irfan, 13 (2012). Overview of the mystical early writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 1852-1863. Includes extensive bibliography, and a brief summary of each of the major works from this period. [about]
    14. Baha'u'llah's Seclusion in Kurdistan, by Bijan Ma'sumian, in Deepen, 1:1 (1993). Reconstruction of parts of this mostly undocumented period in Bahá'u'lláh's life. [about]
    15. Chosen Highway, The, by Lady Sarah Louisa Blomfield (1940). Oral Bahá'í histories collected by an eminent early English Bahá'í, first published in 1940. [about]
    16. City of Radiant Acquiescence (Lawh-i-Madinatu'r-Rida), by Bahá'u'lláh (1997). Provisional translation of an Arabic Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad, before His Declaration. [about]
    17. Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I Was a Hidden Treasure..." (Tafsír-i-Hadith-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfíyyan), by Abdu'l-Bahá, in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 3:4 (1995). Translation of a treatise written by 'Abdu'l-Bahá when he was in his teens, expounding on the terms "Hidden Treasure", "Love", "Creation", and "Knowledge" in a manner which suggests that the recipient was a Sufi and an admirer of Ibn 'Arabí. [about]
    18. Concealment and Revelation in Bahá'u'lláh's Book of the River, by Nader Saiedi, in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 9:3 (1999). Analysis and provisional translation of Sahífiy-i-Shattíyyih (Book of the River); on Bahá'u'lláh's experience in the Síyáh-Chál and whether he considered himself a Manifestation of God prior to his Ridván declaration. [about]
    19. Encyclopedia of Islam and The Muslim World, by William F. McCants and John Walbridge (2004). Articles on Abdu'l-Bahá, the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths, Hujjatiya, Persian language and literature, Shaykhism, and Twelver Shi'ism. [about]
    20. Exalted Letters (Hurúfát-i-'Álín), The: Overview, by John Walbridge, in Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time: Bahá'í Studies volume 1 (1996). [about]
    21. Garden of Justice (Ridvan al-'adl), by Bahá'u'lláh (1996). [about]
    22. Globalization and the Hidden Words, by Todd Lawson, in Bahá'í and Globalisation, ed. Margit Warburg (2005). A philological analysis of Baha’u’llah’s Hidden Words, elucidating the development of the global orientation of the Babi-Baha’i religion in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Baghdad. [about]
    23. House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad: Case before the League of Nations, by National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of 'Iraq (1928). [about]
    24. Hymn to Love (Sáqí, bi-dih ábí), A, by Julio Savi, in Lights of Irfan, 16 (2015). A ghazal, a mystical song of love about The Beloved, meaning God or a Manifestation. One of eight Persian poems Bahá'u'lláh signed "Dervish" and revealed in Kurdistan, circa 1854-1856. [about]
    25. 'Indian Money' and the Shi'i Shrine Cities of Iraq, 1786-1850, by Juan Cole, in Middle Eastern Studies, 22:4 (1986). On the political economy of the Shi'i shrine cities of Iraq, theological and pilgrimage centers which grew around the tombs of the Imams, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Connections from India proved lucrative for the Usuli clerics in these cities. [about]
    26. Iraq, 1900 to 1950: A Political, Social, and Economic History, by Stephen Hemsley Longrigg (1953). Passing mention of the confiscation of Bahá'í properties in Baghdad in the early 1930s. [about]
    27. Journey Motif in the Bahá'í Faith, The: From Doubt to Certitude, by Roshan Danesh, in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 22:1-4 (2012). The process of individual spiritual growth lies at the heart of human purpose. Bahá’u’lláh speaks about the collective spiritualization of humanity — creating new patterns of community and social relations — as the "journey" of the human body politic. [about]
    28. Lifetime with Bahá'u'lláh, A: Events in Baghdad, Istanbul, Edirne and ‘Akká while in the Company of Bahá'u'lláh, by Aqa Husayn Ashchi, in Witnesses to Babi and Bahá'í History, vol. 14 (2007). One-third of a lengthy primary-source history, annotated by translator. [about]
    29. Light of the World: Selected Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, by Abdu'l-Bahá (2021). Tablets of ‘Abdul-Bahá describing aspects of the life of Bahá’u’lláh including the tribulations He suffered, events in His homeland, the purpose and greatness of His Cause, and the nature and significance of His Covenant. [about]
    30. Lover's Way, The: A Critical Comparison of the Nazm al-Sulúk by Ibn al-Fárid with the Qasídih-yi Varqá'iyyih by Bahá'ulláh, by Brian A. Miller (2000). Link to document offsite. [about]
    31. Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of Ottoman Karbala 1824-1843, by Juan Cole and Moojan Momen, in Past and Present, 112 (1986). On the role of gangs in urban social history of the 19-century Ottoman empire; with a decline in government control, gangs ran protection rackets and acted as a parallel government, making alliances and becoming popular leaders against an alien threat. [about]
    32. Mathnaviyí-i Mubárak, by Bahá'u'lláh, in Bahá'í Studies Review, 9 (1999). [about]
    33. Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986: Third Epoch of the Formative Age, by Universal House of Justice (1996). [about]
    34. Messianic Concealment and Theophanic Disclosure, by Moojan Momen, in Online Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 1 (2007). The argument about exactly when Bahá'u'lláh became aware of his mission. Relevant issues and rival perspectives.  [about]
    35. Minutes of the Fourteenth Session, 1928, by Permanent Mandates Commission (1928). Petition to the League of Nations from the Spiritual Assembly of Baghdad regarding confiscation of property. [about]
    36. Minutes of the Sixteenth Session, 1929, by Permanent Mandates Commission (1929). Petition from the Bahai Spiritual Assembly of Baghdad regarding the confiscation of property; measures taken after the Council's decision. [about]
    37. Ode of the Dove, by Bahá'u'lláh (1997). Translation of Qasídiy-i- Varqá'íyyih. [about]
    38. Off the Grid: Reading Iranian Memoirs in Our Time of Total War, by Negar Mottahedeh, in Middle East Research and Information Project (2004). Observations on contemporary culture and gender issues in Iran. [about]
    39. Palestine: A Study of Jewish, Arab, and British Policies, volume 2, by Esco Foundation for Palestine (1947). One-page discussion of Bahá'ís being evicted from properties in Iraq, and their appeal to the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission. [about]
    40. Pilgrimage in Baha'u'llah's Writings, by Ahang Rabbani (2010). On pilgrimage to the Twin Shrines in the Holy Land and their Tablets of Visitation, to the House of the Bab in Shiraz, and to the House of Baha’u’llah in Baghdad. Includes provisional translations of several Tablets of Visitation. [about]
    41. Poetry as Revelation: Introduction to Bahá'u'lláh's 'Mathnavíy-i Mubárak', by Frank Lewis, in Bahá'í Studies Review, 9 (1999). On Bahá'u'lláh and the poetic tradition, Sufism, Sufi poetry, and Rumi; rhetorical orientation; date of the poem and history of the text; and interpretation and the translation process. Includes a provisional translation. [about]
    42. Reconstructing Ridvan, by Ismael Velasco, in Bahá'í Journal UK, 19:1 (2002). Brief historical overview of an event about which the Guardian said the circumstances are "shrouded in an obscurity which future historians will find it difficult to penetrate." [about]
    43. Revelation of Baha'u'llah volume 1: Baghdad, 1853-63, by Adib Taherzadeh (1974). Link to formatted book (offsite). [about]
    44. Sabaeans and African-based Religions in the Americas, The, by Universal House of Justice, in Lights of Irfan, 13 (2012). Overview by the Research Department about the religion of the Sabaeans [aka Sabeans], and some indigenous practices in the southern Americas such as Yoruba, Santeria, and Brazilian Candomble. [about]
    45. Seven Valleys and Four Valleys: Interlinear Translation Comparison, by Bahá'u'lláh (2019). New 2019 translation, side-by-side with the 1945 translation and the Persian original. [about]
    46. Shi'i Clerics in Iraq and Iran, 1722-1780: The Akhbari-Usuli Conflict Reconsidered, by Juan Cole, in Iranian Studies, 18:1 (1985). A debate which came to shape Shi'i jurisprudence, between those who believed that only the Imams should be the source of law, vs. those who held that rational study of scripture could yield worthy principles. (No mention of the Bábí or Bahá'í faiths.) [about]
    47. Short Poem by "Darvísh" Muhammad, Bahá'u'lláh: Sáqí az ghayb-i baqá burqa' bar afkan az 'idhár, A: An Introduction and Three Versions of Provisional English Translations, by Frank Lewis, in Lights of Irfan, Book 2 (2001). Three alternative renderings of a translation of one of Baha’u’llah’s early poems, writing during his sojourn in Kurdistan; comments on his poetic work. [about]
    48. Significance of some Sites Mentioned in Memorials of the Faithful, by Foad Seddigh, in Lights of Irfan, 17 (2016). Abdu'l-Bahá cited many villages and cities: the Most Great House in Baghdád; the ruins of Madaen which Bahá'u'lláh visited many times; Sheikh Tabarsi's tomb; the city of Mosul which is built on the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh. [about]
    49. Study of the Meaning of the Word "Al-Amr" in the Qur'án and in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, A, by Moojan Momen, in Lights of Irfan, Book 1 (2000). Examines two controversies about the Arabic-Persian term "al-amr"/"amr" regarding Quranic prophecy and the status of Subh-e Azal. [about]
    50. Suffering of the Exalted Letters, by Bahá'u'lláh (2017). Tablet written in Baghdad about death and the development of the human soul. [about]
    51. Tablet of All Food and the Nature of Reality, The, by Karl Weaver (2016). Review of the Tablet's historical background, antecedents for specific phrases, English literary commentaries, its color system as related to Bábí and Islamic traditions, the meaning of 'food,' and a different way of looking at the five levels of reality. [about]
    52. Tablet of Firayját (Lawḥ-i-Firayját) / Tablet of Firáq (Lawḥ-i-Firáq), by Bahá'u'lláh (2022). Tablet revealed in Firayjat, a place where Bahá’u’lláh stayed in Baghdad, which is about 5km north of the Riḍván Garden. Translator, date, and source unknown. Includes scan of the original Arabic, and background materials including excerpt from Balyuzi. [about]
    53. Tablet of Nightingale of Separation (Lawh-i-Bulbulu'l-Firáq), by Bahá'u'lláh (1998). [about]
    54. Tablet of Patience (Surih Sabr): Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh and Selected Topics, by Foad Seddigh, in Lights of Irfan, 15 (2014). This significant Tablet from Ridvan 1863 covers the Seal of the Prophets, appearance and presence of God, resurrection, and the Qayyum al-Asma. Includes context of Bahá'u'lláh's life and troubles during this period. [about]
    55. Tablet of Pilgrimage to the House of Bahá'u'lláh (Suriy-i-Hajj): Baghdad, by Bahá'u'lláh, in Rituals in Babism and Bahá'ísm, Pembroke Persian Series Vol. 2 (1994). A provisional English translation of instructions by Bahá'u'lláh for pilgrimage to the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad. [about]
    56. Tablet of the River [Tigris], by Bahá'u'lláh (1997). Includes introduction by translator. [about]
    57. Tablette du Paradis de la Justice (Lawḥ-i-Riḍvánuʼl-ʻAdl), by Bahá'u'lláh (2020). Tablette de Bahá’u’lláh, traduction française provisoire. [about]
    58. Timeline to the Baghdad Period: Themes of Early Tablets and Historical Personages Related to them, by Kathryn Brown and Sharon Davis (2000). History and themes of and personages related to Bahá'u'lláh's Tablets of the Baghdad period (1853-63), including a graphical chronology. [about]
    59. Treasures of the East: The Life of Nine Oriental Countries, by Zia M. Bagdadi (1930). Descriptions of nine "Treasures" — Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Jijaz (Arabia), Transjordania (Arabia), Persia, India, and Turkey — by an Iraqi physician who traveled to the U.S. and was instrumental in the establishment of several Bahá'í communities. [about]
    60. Trial of Mullá 'Alí Bastámí, The: A Combined Sunní-Shí'í Fatwá against The Báb, by Moojan Momen, in Iran: Journal of the British Institute for Persian Studies, 20 (1982). The trial of Mullá `Alí Bastámí was one of the most important episodes of 1844-45, being both the first occasion on which the new Bábí movement encountered the opposition of the ulama, and a crucial turning point in the development of the movement. [about]
    61. Whilst He Was in Suleymaniah: Extracts and poems from the memoirs of Nabil Zarandi, by Nabil-i-A'zam (2002). Handful of short extracts and poems from the memoirs of Nabíl-i-A`zam [aka Mullá Muḥammad-i-Zarandí, aka Nabíl-i-Zarandí]. on the conduct of the Bábís in 'Iráq during Bahá'u'lláh's self-imposed exile. From Nabil's unpublished narrative. [about]
     
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