Ardakání, Hajjí Abu'l-Hasan (Hand of the Cause)

by Denis MacEoin

published in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Volume 2
New York: Columbia University, 1987

ARDAKĀNĪ, ḤĀJJĪ ABU’L-ḤASAN, known as Ḥāǰǰī Amīn and Amīn-e Elāhī, one of the four Ayādī-e Amr Allāh (Hands of the Cause of God) appointed by Bahāʾallāh as leaders of the Bahaʾi movement in Iran. Apart from his general functions as an exponent and defender of Bahaʾism, Ḥāǰǰī Amīn was made responsible for the collection of the ḥoqūqAllāh (a compulsory tithe levied on all believers) and its transfer to the Bahaʾi leadership in Palestine. From his base in Tehran, he organized agents (wokalā) for the collection of the ḥoqūq in Iran and Russia (which would seem to refer to the large Bahaʾi community established in the late 19th century in Ashkhabad, effecting transfer of the monies thus raised through Āqā ʿAlī Ḥaydar Šīrvānī. He associated closely with another ayādī, Mollā ʿAlī Akbar Šahmīrzādī, known as Ḥāǰǰ Āḵūnd, with whom he was imprisoned in Qazvīn from 1308/1890-91 to 1310/1892. Following the death of Bahāʾallāh in 1310/1892, he played a leading part in the effort to achieve recognition for his son ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ as his successor. In later years he traveled widely in pursuance of this mission throughout Iran and to Russian Turkestan, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. In 1329/1911 he traveled to Palestine. In 1335/1916-17, he handed much of the responsibility for the collection of the ḥoqūq to Ḡolām-Reżā Tehrānī (Amīn-e Amīn) and gradually relinquished his own involvement in this task. He died in 1346/1927-28, aged about 90.

Bibliography : Shaikh Kāẓem Samandar, Tārīḵ-e Samandar wa molḥaqāt, Tehran, 1975, pp. 200-02. Mīrzā Asadallāh Fāżel Māzandarānī, Tārīḵ-e ẓohūr al-ḥaqq VIII, pt. 2, Tehran, 1976, pp. 901-03. ʿAbd-al-ʿAlī ʿAlāʾī, Moʾassasa-ye Ayādī-e Amr Allāh, Tehran, 1974.