When the Báb announced his Message in 1844, it provoked a violent reaction from the Government and the clergy. The Báb’s purpose was peaceful and was no challenge to the state, yet he was imprisoned, and finally executed in 1850. He declared that his religion was to prepare the way for the promised World Teacher (the Promised One of all religions), and soon afterwards, it became apparent that Bahá’u’lláh was this World Teacher. Most of the followers of the Báb accepted Bahá’u’lláh and became known as Bahá’ís. The Muslim clergy in Iran have long regarded Bahá’ís as ‘heretics’, and despite being Iran’s largest religious minority, they are denied any form of protection from persecution. This persecution again intensified following the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
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Táhirih, who was one of the Báb’s first disciples, was given the mission to proclaim that the Bábí Faith was a new religion. Until then it was unthinkable for a woman to appear before men without wearing a veil. The removal of her veil was an act that symbolised both the coming of a new religion with new teachings as well as indicating the prominent role that women would play in this new religion.
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The number may be higher, as not all incidents may have been recorded.
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Bahá'u'lláh and his wife Navváb championed the cause of the poor and the oppressed in the local area of Nur. No one who turned to them for help was refused. Navváb was known as the “Mother of Consolation”.
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She was Queen of Romania from 1914 – 1927. She learned of the Faith from the intrepid traveller Martha Root and wrote a public testimony of her Faith in three syndicated articles that appeared in newspapers in the US and Canada.
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Tolstoy was in the process of writing a book about Bahá’u’lláh when he passed away.
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The Court decided that ‘...the Bahá'í religion is a new religion, with an independent platform and laws and institutions peculiar to it…’ This is very different from the Shia view that Bahá'í teachings are heretical.
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In 1911, the Bahá'í community in Iran established one of the earliest schools for girls in the country, demonstrating the great importance of girl child education. Although Bahá'í schools were open to all children and were extremely popular, attracting thousands of students, by 1934 the Iranian Government ruled that all Bahá'í schools should be closed.
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This act of desecration was carried out on the holiest place for Bahá’ís in Iran. It caused an international outcry, and appeals to Iranian embassies around the world did not prevent the complete destruction of the building. The site is now a road and public square.
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The period following the Islamic Revolution in Iran saw an increase in persecution of the Bahá'ís, including many deaths, imprisonment, expulsion from schools and universities and dismissal from employment.
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