# Iran: Province of Fars

*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 Fars, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Iran: Province of Fárs
> 
> Moojan Momen
> 
> 1994
> 
> Fárs is the principal province of south-east Iran. The capital of
> the province is Shiraz, the native city of the Báb, and also of
> many famous poets, mystics, and philsophers, such as Háfiz, Sa`dí,
> and Mullá Sadrá. This city was for a brief time in the eighteenth
> century the capital of the founder of the Zand dynasty Karím Khán-i-Vakíl,
> who built many of the large public buildings of the city. The province
> is very dry, especially in its western half but agriculture is engaged
> in with the help of irrigation. There are many nomadic tribesmen particularly
> in the west.
> Shiraz witnessed the birth of the Bábí movement. The Báb
> was born and brought up in the city (see "Báb, Birth of the"). He
> first declared his mission to Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í
> there on the eve of 23 May 1844 (see "Báb, Declaration of the").
> The Letters of the Living gathered in Shiraz in the summer of 1844 until
> they were sent out by the Báb to spread the news of his claim. The
> Báb himself left on pilgrimage to Mecca on 10 September 1844 (26
> Sha`ban
> 1260), returning to Búshihr on 15 May 1845. He then sent
> ahead of him his leading disciple, Quddús (q.v.), who brought to
> Shiraz the Báb's instruction that there was to be an addition made
> to the call to prayer (adhán). When Mullá Sádiq-i-Muqaddas
> (q.v.) tried to carry this out, he, Quddús, Mullá `Alí-Akbar
> Ardistání, and Mullá Abú-Tálib were
> seized, severely beaten and expelled from the city.
> 
> The governor of Shiraz, Husayn Khán, sent for the Báb
> in Búshihr and he was arrested on the Búshihr
> to Shiraz road. Back in Shiraz in June 1845, the Báb was set free
> with his uncle Sayyid `Alí as guarantor. After a short time he was
> summoned to the Masjid-i-Vakíl, the principal mosque in Shiraz,
> to make a public recantation. His words on that occasion were sufficient
> to satisfy the authorities but he did not say anything that would contradict
> his later full claim to be a Manifestation of God and the episode resulted
> in a number of further conversions among the citizens of Shiraz. From further
> afield a number of others who had heard of his claims came to investigate,
> among the most important of whom was Sayyid Yahyáy-i-Dárábí
> Vahíd (q.v.), who was asked by Muhammad Sháh to investigate
> the matter, and the representative of Mullá Muhammad-`Alí
> Hujjat (q.v.), one of the religious leaders of Zanján. On 23 September
> 1845 the Báb was rearrested on the orders of the governor but because
> of the outbreak of cholera in the city was able to leave for Isfahan.
> 
> There was also a strong Bábí community in some of the
> other towns and villages of the province, most notably Nayríz (q.v.).
> The conversion of some one-third of the town of Nayriz was the result of
> the activity of Vahíd (q.v.).
> 
> The first to bring the news of Bahá'u'lláh's claim to
> Shiraz was Nabíl-i-A`zam. But Bahá'u'lláh was already
> held in high regard there as a result of the Kitáb-i-Íqán
> which he had written for the uncle of Báb, Sayyid Muhammad, and
> which was widely circulated among the Bábís (Afnán
> 164-5). The whole of the maternal family of the Báb became Bahá'ís
> as did the family of Hujjat-i-Zanjání who had been sent to
> Shiraz after the end of the Zanján upheaval. It was not long before
> all of the Bábís in Shiraz had become Bahá'ís.
> Visits from such figures as Hájí Muhammad-Ibrahím
> Muballigh and Nabíl-i-Akbar confirmed this and resulted in
> new conversions. In the towns and villages of Fárs, the story was
> the same, except for Hindíján from where one of the Bábís,
> Mullá Husayn went to Basra and met Sayyid Muhammad Isfahání,
> Azal's associate. Through this link, the majority of the Bábís
> of Hindíján became Azalís. But after a few years,
> most of these had returned to Islam and ShaykhSalmán
> was then able to establish a Bahá'í community there.
> 
> In Nayríz the Bahá'í community consolidated itself,
> but the town became sharply segregated into Bahá'í and Muslim
> quarters and in such a divisive atmosphere new converts were difficult
> to find. The Bahá'í Faith spread to Ábádih
> through the conversion of three of its inhabitants who were undertaking
> religious studies in Isfahan. There they met Mírzá Asadu'lláh
> and through him Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan Sultánu'sh-Shuhadá
> and were converted. Simultaneously, Dá'í Husayn of Ábádih
> who had been a secret believer for some years moved to Ábádih
> to form the nucleus of a community that was to expand rapidly. Small groups
> of Bahá'ís were soon to be found in a number of other towns
> and villages such as Bavanát, Zarqán, Chinár,
> Himmatábád, Sarvistán, Fasá, Jahrum, and Bandar
> `Abbás.
> 
> Several episodes of persecution occurred. The main clerical opponents
> of the Bahá'ís were
> ShaykhHusayn, known to
> Bahá'ís as Zálim (the tyrant), and Sayyid `Alí
> Akbar Fálasírí. It was the former who brought about
> the execution of three Bahá'ís in 1286/1869 (ZH 6:858-61;
> Afnán 191-219). It was the latter who authorized the death of two
> others in 1307/1889 and one in 1310/1892 (ZH 6:874-6; Afnán 279-282,
> 296-7). These clerics were countered to some extent by
> Shaykh
> Abú-Turáb, the Imám-Jum`ih, and his son and successor,
> Hájí Shaykh Yahyá, who tried to mitigate
> the effects of these persecutions as far as they could.
> 
> Another enemy of the Bahá'ís was Abu'l-Hasan Khán
> Mushíru'l-Mulk, despite the fact that one of his wives, the
> daughter of Hujjat Zanjání (q.v.), was a Bahá'í.
> In 1283/1866, for example, he produced a list of "Bábís"
> and gave it to Hisámu's-Saltanih, the new governor, and asked for
> their arrest (ZH 6:857-8; Afnán 184-190). His enmity was, however,
> mainly political. He was the head of one of the factions in Shiraz, the
> Haydarí-khánih, and his life-long enemy was `Alí
> Muhammad
> Khán Qavámu'l-Mulk, the head of the rival
> faction, the Ni`matí-khánih. Because Qavámu'l-Mulk
> was friendly towards the Bahá'ís, Mushíru'l-Mulk
> opposed them. The production of the list by Mushíru'l-Mulk
> was calculated to embarrass Qavámu'l-Mulk who as Kalántar
> (mayor) was responsible for public order. Qavámu'l-Mulk persuaded
> the governor that it would be unwise to arrest such a list of prominent
> citizens on no evidence. Towards the end of his life, under the influence
> of Sayyid Ismá`íl Azghandí, Mushíru'l-Mulk
> moderated his attitude, and even wrote to Bahá'u'lláh. The
> friendship of the Qavámu'l-Mulk family towards the Bahá'ís
> was, however, also based on political expediency and was fickle. At the
> time of the Constitutional Revolution, Muhammad-Ridá Khán
> Qavámu'l-Mulk sided with Muhammad-`Alí Sháh
> and the reactionaries. He ordered the people of Shiraz to assemble in the
> Masjid-i-Naw and there he denounced the Constitution as the work of the
> Bahá'ís and produced a copy of the Kitáb-i Aqdas from
> which he quoted as evidence of this (Afnán 533-540). But it was
> the Bahá'ís of Nayriz who suffered most during the Constitutional
> Revolution when eighteen of their number were killed by Shaykh
> 
> Zakariyyá in 1909 (see "Nayríz Upheavals").
> 
> Among the prominent Bahá'ís of Shiraz were many from the
> earliest Bábí period such as Khadíjih Bagum,
> the wife of the Báb (q.v.), Zahrá Bagum, her sister, whose
> son, Áqá Mírzá Áqá, and descendants
> were appointed by Bahá'u'lláh as the hereditary custodians
> of the House of the Báb (q.v.), and other members of the Afnán
> family; Shaykh `Alí Mírzá, a nephew
> of the Imám-Jum`ih; Hájí Abu'l-Hasan Bazzáz;
> Mírzá Muhammad Báqir Khán (the progenitor
> of the Dihqán family) and Mullá `Abdu'lláh Fádil;
> and from a later period, Mírzá Áqá Khán
> Bashíru's-Sultán, who rose to high office in the post
> office (the progenitor of the Bashír Iláhí
> family); Mírzá Ja`far Hadioff who migrated to Ashkhabad;
> and Mírzá Husayn Khán Mu`tamid-Diván.
> From Zarqán there was Mírzá Mahmúd Zarqání,
> who accompanied `Abdu'l-Bahá on his western journeys and Mullá
> `Abdu'lláh Baká; from Istahbánát, Mírzá
> Yúsif Khán Lisán Hudúr who was a nephew
> of Vahíd; from Burázján, ShaykhMuhammad
> Ibráhím Fádil-i-Shírází
> (d. 1936); from Ábádih, Mírzá Qábil
> (d. 1355/1937); and in Nayríz, Mullá Muhammad-Shafí`.
> Along the Gulf littoral, several Bahá'ís achieved prominent
> positions: in Bandar `Abbás, Sultán Muhammad Khán
> Abu'l-Virdí Shírází was governor for
> a time, Mírzá Hasan `Alí Khán was head
> of the post office, and Muhammad `Alí
> 
> Khán Sadídus's-Saltanih
> also held high government office; in Búshihr, Sa`du'l-Mulk
> and his brother Sa`du's-Saltanih were Bahá'ís and the former
> was governor for a time; Mírzá `Alí Muhammad Khán
> Muvaqqaru'd-Dawlih worked for the Foreign Office in Búshihr
> and was later governor of that town.
> 
> After the death of Bahá'u'lláh, Hájí Husayn
> `Alí Jahrumí was the principal supporter of the claims of
> Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí in this area but failed to gather
> any significant support even in Jahrum itself.
> 
> Bahá'í schools were established in Shiraz, Ábádih
> and the Mitháqiyyih school in Nayríz. In Ábádih,
> the Bahá'ís also built public baths.
> 
> Holy Places
> 
> For Bahá'ís the principal holy place in this province is
> the site of the House of the Báb in Shiraz (see "Báb, House
> of, Shiraz"), which has been designated by Bahá'u'lláh as
> one of two sites in the Bahá'í world for ritual pilgrimage
> (q.v., hajj). The rebuilding and restoration of the House of the
> Báb in 1903 caused much opposition particularly from Sayyid Muhammad
> Kázirúní, a mujtahid who lived opposite the house.
> He had threatened one day to return with a mob to destroy the house but
> died that same night from an attack of colic. Also of importance as holy
> places are the House of Siyyid `Alí, the uncle of the Báb,
> where the Báb grew up; the Masjid-i-Vakíl in Shiraz, to which
> the Báb was summoned to recant; the Masjid-i-Ílkhání
> and public baths, which the Báb frequented; the Qahviy-i-Awliyá,
> where the Báb went to school; the shop of the Báb at Búshihr;
> the house of Vahíd and the fort of Khájih at Nayríz;
> and the Hadíqatu'r-Rahmán in Ábádih, where
> the heads of the Nayríz martyrs were buried.
> 
> Bibliography
> 
> Habíbu'lláh Afnán, Khátirát,
> photocopied mss in Afnán Library. A number of accounts of Nayríz
> and the Bábí upheavals there exist: in manuscript, by Mírzá
> Muhammad Shafí` and Shaykh Muhammad Husayn; and published,
> by Mírzá Shafí` Rawhání, Lamá`átu'l-Anwár
> 
> and Muhammad `Alí Faydí, Nayríz-i-Mishkbíz.
> For Ábádih: manuscript history by Qábil Ábádi'í.
> Also: ZH 3:263-301; 6:855-899; 8a:540-600.
> 
> METADATA
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> Views8274 views since posted 2010-08-10; last edit 2022-02-05 04:06 UTC;
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> — *Iran: Province of Fars (Used by permission of the curator)*