# Iran: Province of Ádharbayjan

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Moojan Momen, Iran: Province of Ádharbayjan, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Iran: Province of Ádharbáyján
> 
> Moojan Momen
> 
> 1994
> 
> Ádharbáyján is the northwest province of Iran. Its
> capital is Tabriz. In modern Iran, it is divided into East and West Ádharbáyján.
> It is one of the richest and most populous of Iran's provinces. It is peopled
> mainly by Turkish-speaking Shí`ís. In the west of the province
> there are also many Kurds (who are mostly Sunní or `Aliyu'lláhí)
> and Assyrian Christians. During the Qájár period it was customary
> for the Crown Prince to be the governor of this province.
> 
> The Báb was imprisoned in Ádharbáyján
> for much of his ministry. He arrived in the province in early May 1847,
> was detained at the Ark (Citadel) in Tabriz for forty days, and then sent
> on to Mákú, on the orders of the Prime Minister, Hájí
> Mírzá Áqásí (q.v.), in July. During
> his imprisonment at Mákú the Báb wrote two of his
> most important works, the Bayán (q.v.) and the Seven Proofs (q.v.).
> At first the terms of the imprisonment were very strict. The warden, Mírzá
> `Alí Khán, soon warmed to his prisoner and allowed
> easy access to him for the Bábís who made their way to this
> remote area. Because of such leniency and the pressure brought by the Russian
> Minister Dolgorukov to remove the Báb from the vicinity of the Russian
> border, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí
> ordered that the Báb be removed to the fortress of Chihríq
> near Lake Urúmiyyih. The Báb left Mákú for
> 
> Chihríq on 9 April 1848.
> 
> In July 1848 the Báb was summoned to Tabriz to face trial before
> the Crown Prince Násiru'd-Dín Mírzá and then
> returned to Chihríq. During the period when the Báb
> was imprisoned in Mákú and
> Chihríq, many of
> the leading followers of the Báb traveled through this province
> in order to meet him. In mid-June 1850 the Báb was again brought
> to Tabriz where his execution occurred (see "Báb, Martyrdom of"
> for details of this).
> 
> The Bábí community of Ádharbáyján
> was one of the strongest. Five of the Báb's leading disciples, the
> Letters of the Living (q.v.), came from here. Most of them returned to
> their home towns and villages and established important Bábí
> communities in Tabriz, Khuy, Urúmiyyih, and Marághih
> as well as in a number of villages such as Mílán, Mamaqán,
> and Saysán. In several places the growth was on the basis of pre-existing
> Shaykhí (q.v.) communities. There were numerous important
> converts such as Mírzá Asadu'lláh-i-Dayyán
> of Khúy, Mírzá `Ali Sayyáh (d. 1871),
> Mullá Husayn-i-Dakhíl (both of Marághih),
> Sulaymán Khán (martyred 1852), and Mírzá
> Muhammad-`Alí Anís, who was martyred with the Báb.
> 
> In 1852 there was persecution of the Bábí community in
> Mílán following the attempt on the life of the Shah. During
> the 1850s there was a great deal of confusion in Ádharbáyján.
> Many of the Bábís appear to have followed Mírzá
> Asadu'lláh Dayyán of Marághih and were called
> Dayyánís. Dayyán himself was murdered on the orders
> of Mírzá Yahyá Azal (q.v.) in 1856. In Tabriz itself,
> an Arab Bábí from Karbalá, Sayyid `Alí, who
> called himself Sayyid `Uluvv and whose influence in Karbalá Bahá'u'lláh
> had countered in 1851 (DB 593), won the allegiance of many of the Bábís.
> 
> After Bahá'u'lláh publicly declared his mission from Edirne,
> there was much disagreement among the various factions at first. Following
> the murder of Sayyid `Alí `Uluvv, three Bahá'ís who
> were on their way to Edirne were arrested and executed in Tabriz in January
> 1867 (BBR 251-3). Since Ádharbáyján was on
> the road to Edirne from the rest of Iran, many leading Bahá'ís
> passed through the province en route to visit Bahá'u'lláh
> in the 1860s. In consequence, most of the Bábís of the province
> became Bahá'ís, although numbers of Azalís remained
> for some time. In Mamaqán, for example, a number of Bábís
> became Bahá'ís but it was not until one of those who remained
> unconvinced, Hájí Mullá `Alí, visited Akka
> in the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá (1310/1892) and was there converted
> that the others became Bahá'ís. One source claims that after
> this, "the root of the Yahyá'ís [Azalís] was cut out
> of Ádharbáyján" (Uskú'í 34-5;
> ZH 6:16).
> 
> A number of the Bahá'ís were important officials in the
> province. These included Mírzá `Abdu'lláh
> Khán
> Núrí (d. c. 1317/1899), who was farrásh-khalwat
> 
> (chief steward of the household) to the Crown Prince and governor of the
> province, Muzaffaru'd-Dín Mírzá, and was converted
> by Nabíl-i-Azam (q.v.) in 1292/1875; and Mírzá Mu`ínu's-Saltanih
> (d. c. 1344/1925), who was converted in 1293/1876 through Fádil
> Qá'iní. Other provincial officials such as Mírzá
> `Abdu'lláh
> Khán Sar-rishtih-dár (vazír
> máliyyih, minister of finance) and Ridá Qulí Khán
> Afshár (governor of Sá'in Qal`ih) had been Bábís
> and later became Bahá'ís.
> 
> In addition to those communities that had existed from the time of the
> Báb, a number of new ones were established. From Saysán,
> a number of Bahá'ís settled in nearby villages such as Bábákandí,
> Díznáb and Matanih. Similarly, from Marághih,
> Bahá'ís moved to Khurmázad, while Mullá
> Husayn Khusrawsháhí in Malik-kandí converted
> a number of the Chádúlú tribe. This resulted in Bahá'í
> communities in villages such as Qijilú, Nawrúzlú,
> and Áqjah. Although one of the Letters of the Living was from Ardabíl,
> there does not appear to have been much Bahá'í activity in
> that town until the conversion in about 1920 of Mullá `Abdu'l-`Azím,
> known as Amínu'l-`Ulamá. He was martyred in Ardabíl
> in 1927.
> 
> Being an area of relative safety for Bahá'ís, some migrated
> to this province after persecution in their own hometowns. From Yazd came
> Hájí Mullá Mihdí and his two sons, `Alí
> Muhammad Varqá (q.v.) and Mírzá Husayn; from Naráq,
> Mírzá Mahmúd; from Gurgán, Mírzá
> Husayn Hudá (martyred 1333/1914). A number of Bahá'ís,
> however, migrated from this province to Ashkhabad, to the Caucasus, and
> to the Haifa-Akka area.
> 
> There was a crisis in the affairs of the Bahá'í community
> after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, when Mírzá
> Jalíl Khú'í, a prominent Bahá'í
> of this province, became a partisan of Mírzá Muhammad `Alí.
> He and Áqá Jamál Burújirdí caused much
> disruption to the community from about 1311/1893 to 1316/1898. At first
> they had some success. For example, it is recorded that in Tabriz only
> four remained followers of `Abdu'l-Bahá until the arrival, at `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> instruction, of the Hand of the Cause Ibn-i-Abhar (q.v.), Hájí
> Mírzá Haydar-`Alí Isfahání (q.v.) and
> others (ZH 6:69).
> 
> During the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Bahá'í community
> of Ádharbáyján increased in numbers and influence.
> There was expansion into new villages such as Khalkhál,
> where a number of prominent citizen were converted, and to new areas such
> as Qarih-Shírán, where some sixty members of the Yurtchí
> tribe were enrolled. A number of those who were in the retinue of the Prince-Governor
> of the province were Bahá'ís, such as Siyyid Ridá
> Khán Ábdár. Through such Bahá'ís,
> episodes of persecution such as erupted in Marághih in March
> 1905 or in Saysán in 1315/1897 were kept to small proportions. In
> Mamaqán, where there were about fifty Bahá'ís, Mírzá
> Ismá`íl Hujjatu'l-Islám was favorable to them and
> tried to avert a persecution in February 1897. The Ahmadof brothers from
> Mílán controlled an important commercial empire trading with
> the Caucasus and beyond until the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. There
> were also close links to the Bahá'í community in Russian
> Ádharbáyján.
> 
> Holy Places
> 
> There are a number of Bahá'í holy places associated with
> the life of the Báb in this province. The ruins of the fortresses
> of Chihríq and Mákú where the Báb was
> imprisoned; the citadel in Tabriz where the Báb was kept and the
> public square where he was executed; the building in Mílán
> to which the remains of the Báb were taken after his execution;
> the apartment and public baths in Urúmiyyih used by the Báb.
> Most of these being public buildings have never been in Bahá'í
> hands.
> 
> Bibliography
> 
> ZH 3:1-89; 6:5-22; 8a:5-120. Mirza Haydar-`Alí Uskú'í,
> History of the Bahá'ís of Adharbáyján,
> photocopy of manuscript in Afnan library. History of the Bahá'ís
> of Adharbáyján written by Mírzá Husayn-i-Mílání,
> photocopy of manuscript in Afnan library.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views7920 views since posted 2010-08-10; last edit 2022-02-05 04:06 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../momen_encyclopedia_adharbayjan
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3490
> Citation: ris/3490
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> — *Iran: Province of Ádharbayjan (Used by permission of the curator)*