Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Moojan Momen, Iran: Provinces of Kirman and Sistan, bahai-library.com.
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Iran: Provinces of Kirmán and Sístán

Moojan Momen

1994

The town and province of Kirmán lie in south-east Iran on the edge
of the great central desert. The town is famous for its carpets while the
countryside produced cotton and, in the nineteenth century, opium.
The Bábí movement found it difficult to become established
in the town of Kirmán due partly to the intense opposition of the
Shaykhí leader, Muhammad-Karím Khán
Kirmání. Quddús was the first to attempt to establish
it but was driven from the town (DB 180-2). He was followed by Mullá
Sádiq-i-Muqaddas and Mullá Yúsif-i-Ardibílí,
who also met the same fate (DB 187). The Imám-Jum`ih of Kirmán,
Hájí Siyyid Javád, a paternal relative of the Báb,
however, did his best to mitigate the activities of Karím Khán.

This difficulty was compounded for the Bahá'ís in subsequent
years by the presence of a strong Azalí group in Kirmán.
The leading Azalí was Mullá Muhammad Ja`far, a prominent
Islamic scholar and a teacher at a religious college (d. before 1300/1882;
Tihrání, no. 470, p. 230). Through him a number of others
became Azalís including his son, Shaykh Ahmad Rúhí,
and Mírzá Áqá Khán. (Bayat 1971;
Bayat 1982:157-161; Balyuzi 18-28). Another, somewhat strange, figure was
Mírzá Ahmad Kirmání who vacillated between
the Azalí and Bahá'í positions, sometimes supporting
and sometimes attacking the Bahá'ís. Eventually he became
a supporter of the Constitutional Movement. He was arrested and his accusations
led to the arrest of Hájí Amín and Hájí
Akhúnd in 1891. Mírzá Ridá Kirmání,
the assassin of Násiru'd-Dín Sháh, stayed with
him immediately before he shot the Shah. Mírzá Ahmad fled
Tehran for Hamadán. Here he persuaded a certain Siyyid Hasan to
claim to be the Imam Mahdí. The two of them were arrested and Mrzá
Ahmad died in prison in Tehran. (Browne 1910:78, 405-6. Bámdád
1:99-100, 339). After the death of Bahá'u'lláh, Ustád
Muhammad Haddád was won over to the side of Mírzá
Muhammad `Alí but, after he died, there was no further support for
that position.

Even of those who were Bahá'ís in Kirmán, it would
appear from E.G. Browne's account of his stay there that several were somewhat
dissolute in their habits (Browne 1926:475-594). It is of interest to note
that Browne's Bahá'í acquaintances in Yazd appear not to
have held a high opinion of the Kirmán Bahá'ís and
tried to dissuade Browne from going there. It is perhaps therefore little
wonder that Bahá'u'lláh addresses Kirmán so reproachfully
in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

Despite these obstacles, a number of conversions to the Bahá'í
Faith occurred in the city and the community did grow albeit more slowly
than elsewhere. A few of the Shaykhís and Zoroastrians
of the town became Bahá'ís as well as some other persons.
A Bahá'í school was established in this town (Momen 1981:476-7).

In Rafsinján, between Kirmán and Yazd, a strong Bahá'í
community was formed. Áqá Muhammad-`Alí Yazdí
moved to that town in order to look after the properties of Hájí
Mírzá Muhammad-Taqí Afnán (see "Afnán
Family"). He married into one of the notable families of the town who were
Shaykhís. Little by little he established himself
as one of the most prominent citizens of Rafsinján such that even
the governor of the town was beholden to him. Many became Bahá'ís,
including his wife's family. Several of the prominent Bahá'í
teachers such as Hájí Mírzá Haydar-`Alí
and Áqá Shaykh Muhammad `Arab were able to
teach openly here (Momen 134-137, esp. note on p. 134). As a result many
became Bahá'ís including Mírzá `Alí-Akbar
Rafsanjání (d.1921).

The most prominent Bahá'í from Sístán was
Muhammad Khán-i-Balúch. He was a dervish who
travelled much and ended his life in `Akká.

Bibliography

ZH 3:396-405; 6:900-922; 8b:730-45. Hasan Balyuzi, Edward Granville
Browne and the Bahá' Faith, Oxford, 1970. Mihdi Bámdád,

Tarkh-i-Rijál-i-Írán, 4 vols., Tihran, 1347
A.H.S.; Mangol Bayat, "Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani: 19th century Persian Revolutionary
Thinker", PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 1971; idem, Mysticism
and Dissent: socioreligious thought in Qajar Iran, Syracuse, 1982.
Browne, Persian Revolution, Cambridge, 1910; Browne, A Year among
the Persians, Cambridge, 1926. M. Momen, Selections from the writings
of E.G. Browne on the Báb and Bahá' Religions, Oxford:
George Ronald, 1987. Ághá Buzurg Tihrání,
Tabaqát A`lám ash-Shi`a (13th Century).

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