When the persecutions throughout Iran were at their peak, in midsummer of 1903, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote a proclamatory treatise outlining events leading to these pogroms, the motives and actions of the principle persecutors, and the intense sufferings of the Bahá’í community.

In retrospect, it appears that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá intended this treatise to be published in the West, galvanizing the support of prominent individuals, Bahá’í communities of the United States and Europe in general, and, the public at large. Towards this end, he instructed one of his secretaries, Dr. Younis Khan Afroukhtih, to translate this treatise, which presumably was done in collaboration with some English-speaking Bahá’ís visiting ‘Akká at the time. This work was further assisted by an English-speaking pilgrim of Jewish-descent from Hamadan, Dr. Arastoo Hakim, and was completed on 19 September 1903.

*The translated treatise was then sent to the United States It was received in Chicago on 29 October 1903 and its publication took place through the work of Bahá’í Publishing Society in 1904. However, for reasons not clear, it was published as a document prepared by Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí, a prominent Bahá’í residing in Haifa at that time. In this reference can be found a 2007 translation by Ahang Rabbani [Bahá'í Studies Review Vol 14 2007 p53-67]