# The Cyprus Exiles

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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, The Cyprus Exiles, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> The Cyprus Exiles
> 
> Moojan Momen
> 
> published in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin5:3-6:1, pp. 84-113
> 
> 1991-06
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh made an open declaration in Edirne in about
> 1866 of his claim to be the messianic figure "He Whom God shall make manifest"
> prophesied by the Bab. Bahá'u'lláh's half-brother, Mirza
> Yahyá, who had been widely considered the leader of the Babis, rejected
> this claim and so a split occurred in the Babi community. Eventually, this
> split was resolved in favour of Bahá'u'lláh as some 90% of
> Bab is became followers of Bahá'u'lláh. This article is mainly
> concerned with the fate of Mírzá Yahyá, the unsuccessful
> rival of Bahá'u'lláh.
> After the events that led to the split between Bahá'u'lláh
> and Mirza Yahya, two of Mírzá Yahyá's leading supporters,
> Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani and Aqa Jan Big-i Kaj-Kuláh went to Istanbul.
> According to Bahá'í histories, while there they began to
> stir up trouble with the Ottoman authorities against the Bahá'ís.[1]
> At about the same time, a number of Bahá'u'lláh's supporters
> also went to live in Istanbul. One group was Mírzá `Ali Sayyáh,
> Mishkín-Qalam, and Aqa Jamshíd Gurjí. It appears that
> they had found it difficult to earn a living in Edirne and thought that
> with Mishkín-Qalam's talent for calligraphy, they would fare better
> in Istanbul.[2] A while later, Bahá'u'lláh instructed Darvish
> Sidq-`Alí, Áqá Muhammad-Báqir Mahallátí
> (Qahvihchi) and Ustád Muhammad-`Ali Salmani to proceed to Istanbul
> in order to sell some horses that had been sent to Bahá'u'lláh.[3]
> Aqa `Abdu'l-Ghaffár Isfahání had also been sent to
> Istanbul.[4]
> 
> --------------
> 
> 1. Hasan Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh: the King of Glory, Oxford:
> George Ronald, 1980, p. 248.
> 
> 2. Ustád Muhammad `Alí Salmání, My Memories
> of Bahá'u'lláh (trans. M. Gail), Los Angeles: Kalimat
> Press, 1982, p.59
> 
> 3. Salmání, Memories, pp. 58-9. Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh,
> pp. 250-2
> 
> 4. Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh, p. 252
> 
> [page 85]
> 
> In about early 1868, these seven Bahá'ís in Istanbul were
> arrested together with the two follower of Mírzá Yahyá
> who were also in Istanbul.[5] A short time later, Bahá'u'lláh
> and companions were arrested in Edirne and precipitously sent to Gallipoli,
> not knowing their ultimate destination
> All of those who were arrested in Edirne with Bahá'u'lláh
> were eventually sent to `Akka with him but a different fate awaited the
> seven followers of Bahá'u'lláh arrested in Istanbul. Only
> one of them was sent with the rest of the exiles to `Akka, Darvish Sidq-`Alí.
> Two of them were sent back to Iran, Ustád Muhammad-`Alí Salmání
> and Áqá Jamshid. The other four were condemned to imprisonment
> in Cyprus along with Azal and his family. The two followers of Mírzá
> Yahyá that were also arrested in Istanbul were sent to `Akka.
> On 31 August 1868, the Austrian Lloyd liner carrying Bahá'u'lláh
> and his companions reached Haifa. As the exiles were disembarking, Áqá
> `Abdu'l-Ghaffár, one of the four condemned to go on to Cyprus threw
> himself into the sea. He was rescued and resuscitated but the officials
> would not alter the sentence and he was taken on to Cyprus.
> The exiles arriving at Famagusta in Cyprus on 5 September 1868 were:
> Followers of Bahá'u'lláh:
> 
> Aqa `Abdu'l-Ghaffar Isfahani
> 
> Mirza `Alí Sayyah
> 
> Mishkin-Qalam
> 
> Aqa Muhammad-Baqir Mahallati (Qahvihchi)
> 
> Mirza Yahya and family:
> 
> Mírzá Yahya, Subh-i Azal
> 
> Fatima, wife
> 
> ---------------
> 
> 5. Regarding the circumstances of these arrests, see Salmani, Memories,
> pp. 58-65; Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 248, 250-2
> 
> [page 86]
> 
> Ruqiyya, wife
> 
> Ahmad, son
> 
> Ridvan-`Ali, son
> 
> `Abdu'l-`Ali, son
> 
> Rafí`a, daughter
> 
> Bahjat Raf`at, daughter
> 
> Tal`at, daughter
> 
> Fatima, daughter[6]
> 
> Two servants also accompanied the exiles, one named Ruqiyya was
> a servant of Shaykh `Ali Sayyah, the other was Mishkin-Qalam's.
> The exiles, after interrogation by the police, were allocated houses
> in Famagusta. It is not clear from the records and accounts whether the
> family of Shaykh `Ali Sayyah, one of the followers of Bahá'u'lláh,
> accompanied them on their arrival or joined them later(probably the latter
> as one account gives the total number of the exiles as 14 persons and two
> servants[7]).
> Aqa `Abdu'l-Ghaffar escaped from Cyprus on 29 September 1870 and went
> to `Akka. He lived in the Khan-i Afranj and in order to conceal his identity
> he changed his name to Aqa `Abdu'llah. After the passing of Bahá'u'lláh,
> he moved to Damascus where he died.
> Mírzá `Ali Sayyah died in Famagusta on 4 August 1871.
> His widow, Fatima, married Mishkin Qalam.
> 
> -------------------
> 
> 6. List in Browne's diary of trip to Cyprus and `Akka, Browne manuscripts,
> Cambridge University Library, Sup 21(8), p. 20; as amended in E.G. Browne,
> A
> Traveller's Narrative written to illustrate the Episode of the Báb,
> Cambridge: University Press, 1891, vol. 2, 376-389.
> 
> 7. Browne, Traveller's Narrative, p. 381.
> 
> [page 87]
> 
> Mishkin-Qalam moved from Famagusta to Nicosia in 1879, and to Larnaca
> in 1885. He was employed by Mr Cobham, Commissioner at Larnaca, as Persian
> secretary. His departure from Cyprus is noted in a letter from Cobham,
> dated 18 September 1886: "The Persian heresiarch and calligraphist Mushkín
> Kalam left Cyprus for St. Jean d'Acre on the night of Tuesday September
> 14-15, renouncing his pittances and the protection of the Island Government.
> He found an unwonted opportunity in a Syrian vessel going directly to Acre
> . . .[8]. It appears that some members of Mishkin-Qalam's family remained
> in Cyprus, at least for a time, since a list of pilgrims to `Akka shows
> the arrival of Mishkin-Qalam's son, `Ali-Akbar, from Cyprus on 29 March
> 1888 for a stay of 116 days. [9]
> Aqa Muhammad-Baqir Mahallati died on 22 November 1872 (in Famagusta?).
> 
> During his time in Cyprus, Mishkin Qalam had succeeded in converting
> a Turkish Cypriot by the name of Na`im Effendi. He came to `Akka twice.
> He achieved a high position in later life and his sons were also prominent
> in Cyprus and Turkey in government and the military. It is not clear what
> happened to this family. The descendants of Na`im Effendi have been traced
> by the present-day Cyprus Bahá'í community and do not appear
> know anything about the Bahá'í Faith.
> 
> The Family of Mírzá Yahyá
> Mírzá Yahyá is reputed to have been an uxorious
> man. His own son Ridvan-`Ali reports him to have had eleven or twelve wives
> [10] while another source gives fourteen
> 
> -----------------------------
> 
> 8. Browne, Traveller's Narrative, p. 388
> 
> 9. Manuscript list of pilgrims that came to `Akka in 1304-5, copy
> in Afnan library; original in Haifa. It would also appear that Mishkín-Qalam's
> wife (the widow of Shaykh `Alí Sayyah) stayed on in Cyprus; see
> Traveller's Narrative, p. 387, last few lines of the table on this page.
> 
> 10. Browne, "Personal Reminiscences of the Babi Insurrection at Zanjan
> in 1850, written by Aqa `Abdu'l-Ahad-i-Zanjani," Journal of the Royal
> Asiatic Society, (1897, pp. 761-827) p. 767.
> 
> [page 88]
> 
> wives.[11] The following table is the best that the present author has
> managed thus far by way of a reconstruction of Mirza Yahya's wives and
> their children.
> The sources for this list are abbreviated as follows:
> T - Browne, Traveller's Narrative, pp. 384-6;
> 
> P - Browne, "Personal Reminiscences", pp. 766-7;
> 
> M - Browne, Materials, pp. 314, 321-2;
> 
> J - Notes of Jalal Azal at Princeton University Library, pp. 560-572.
> 
> C - Browne's notebook for his journey to Cyprus and `Akka in 1890,
> University of Cambridge, Browne Manuscripts, Sup. 21 (8), p .20
> 
> S - the genealogical table compiled by Shoghi Effendi and published
> in Bahá'í World, vol. 5: 1932-4, New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee,
> 1936, between pp. 204 and 205;
> 
> K - Malik-Khusravi, `Iqlim-i-Nur, pp. 202-205; and
> 
> I - information obtained during my trip to Cyprus.
> 
> 1. Wife: Fatima,[12] daughter of Mirza Muhammad, the younger full brother
> of Mirza Buzurg Nuri and thus Mirza Yahya's cousin. Married in Iran in
> about 1850. She was arrested when Government troops attacked Takur. Mirza
> Yahya left her behind with the children when he fled to Baghdad. Resided
> in Takur (T,M,J,K)
> Children:
> 
> i. Muhammad Hadi, b. 1848, Tihran; d. 1896, Tihran (T,P,M,
> J,S,K)
> 
> - had descendants living in Iran, among whom:
> a. Mahdi (S)
> 
> b. Diya'u'llah (S)
> 
> ---------------------
> 
> 11. Muhammad `Ali Malik-Khusravi, `Iqlim-i-Nur, Tihran: Mu'assisih Matbu`at
> Amri, 115 B.E./1958 pp. 202-5
> 
> 12. Also called Hajjiyya by Sayyid Mahdí Dihají in his
> risala, Browne Manuscripts, Cambridge University Library, Mss no. F.57,
> p. 94 and in Malik-Khusravi, op cit. p. 202; but in other accounts her
> sister Ruqiyya, see below, is called Hajjiya.
> 
> [page 89]
> 
> ii. Muhammad Mahdi, died young (J)
> 2. Wife: Narjis. Married in Iran. Left behind when M i rza Yahya fled (J)
> iii. son (J)
> 3. Wife: Maryam, known as Qanita[13]. Married in Iran. Left behind in Baghdad
> in the care of Mirza Ja`far Naraqi when Mirza Yahya moved on to Istanbul.
> They returned to Iran in 1286/1869-70 (J,K)
> 
> iv. Mirza Nuru'llah, b. 1848 - a physician who lived at Rasht.
> Visited Cyprus on at least three occasions, once being in 1878 (T,P,M,J,S).
> 
> He had many wives and children, among whom:
> a. `Abdu'l-`Ali (S)
> 
> b. Ahmad (Ruhu'llah), visited Cyprus in 1896 (P,S)
> aa. `Inayat, `Inayatu'llah, b. c. 1889 (P,S)
> 
> bb. `Atiyyih (S)
> c. Maryam (S)
> 
> d. `Aliyyih (S)
> 
> One of these two daughters was called Khanum Gul and married Mutarjim Humayun[14]
> (S,K)
> 
> aa. Hushang (S)
> 
> bb. Manuchihr (S)
> 
> cc. Fakhru'z-Zaman (S)
> 
> 4. Fatima (Mulk-i-Jahan, Malakih Khanum) of Shiraz, the sister of
> Mirza Baqir. Married in Iran. Followed her husband to Baghdad, Edirne and
> Famagusta. d. l 868 in Famagusta. (T,M,J,C,K)
> v. Ahmad Bahhaj. b. 1853. m. `Ulaviyya (or Fatima). Moved to
> Istanbul in
> 
> ------------------------
> 
> 13. Sayyid Mahdí Dihají, in his risala (Browne Manuscripts,
> Cambridge University Library, Mss no.F. 57, pp. 94, 189), states that she
> was from Isfahan. Malik-Khusraví states that she was from Kirmanshah
> (op. cit., p. 203)
> 
> 14. Shoghi Effendi's genealogical chart (Bahá'í World, vol. 5:
> 1932-4, between pp. 204 and 205), however, seems to have Khanum-Gul as
> a daughter of M írza Yahya himself.
> 
> [page 90]
> 
> 1884. His wife and two daughters adopted Protestantism in Istanbul.
> He moved to Haifa in 1921. d. 1933 and is buried in Bahá'í cemetery in
> Haifa. (For further details on him see below). (T,P,M,J,C,S,K)
> 
> Daughters:
> a. `Adila (`Adila Sultan, Ayatu'llah) b. Cyprus, 1880, moved
> to Istanbul - then moved to France and later became a missionary in Algeria.
> d. Switzerland - no issue (P,M,J,S)
> 
> b. `Ala'iyya (Grace) - married a German and went to live in Federal
> Republic of Germany - one son, one daughter (J,S)
> vi. `Abdu'l-`Ali, (known as `Ali Effendi) b. 1 857-8. Was a cloth merchant.
> m. `Ismat, daughter of Sayyid Muhammad. Lived on in Famagusta. Died 1956.
> (T,P,M,J,C,S,I,K)
> 
> Children:
> a. Wahida - a spinster, died of cancer of the breast (J,I)
> 
> b. Nayyira - was taken to Haifa by her uncle Ahmad but later returned
> to Cyprus - a spinster (had been engaged to a pilot who was killed in the
> war; is said to have gone mad after this) (J,I)
> 
> c. Jalal Azal (Celal Ezel) - went to visit `Abdu'l-Bahá and through
> him was employed in the Palestine civil service. Some time after 1948,
> he returned to Cyprus and was employed at a radio monitoring station in
> Cyprus - m. `Ismat, daughter of Badi`u'llah, son of Bahá'u'lláh. d. 5 April
> 1971. No children. (For further details of him see below.) (J,S)
> 
> d. `Alíma - married a Turk, Fadil Urfzadih (Fazel Orfzade).
> Is said to be still alive (J,I) Children:
> 
> [page 91]
> 
> aa. Sule Orfi (Shulay Urfi) married Mr. Hakki Suha, a prominent
> newspaper owner and later in charge of a television station. He died in
> 1987. She herself is a prominent person in Nicosia, works in the Australian
> High Commission and the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. Have several
> children (I)
> 
> bb. Dr. Ezel (Orfzade (Urfi). Has English wife and is now living in
> Canada and is a radiologist. Returned to Cyprus for a time in 1970 (I)
> e. Tali`a - married but died without issue (J)
> 
> f. The list of Ridvan-`Ali contains several other names. I am not sure
> if these are the same as the above or may have been children who did not
> survive to adulthood:
> 
> `Azima Sultan, Satwatu'llah, together with a daughter who died when
> 14 days old (P)
> vii. Ridvan-`Ali, b. 1863. Went to Istanbul to join his brother Ahmad.
> Visited `Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa in about 1894. Adopted Christianity, took
> the name Constantine the Persian and married a Greek woman. Lived for a
> time in Larnaca where he was employed by Mr Cobham the British Commissioner
> - died without issue in about 1917 (T,P,M,J,C,S,K)
> viii. Muhammad (Mehmed, Bayanu'llah, Wali-Muhammad, Jamalu'llah), b.
> 1867. Described in 1912 as "not quite right in the head."[15] Went to Istanbul
> for a time to join his brother Ahrnad. Came to Haifa in
> --------------------------------
> 
> 15. E.G. Browne, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, Cambridge:
> Cambridge University Press, 1918, p. 314.
> 
> [page 92]
> 
> the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá, but proved troublesome and so was
> sent to Iran, where he was put into the care of his half-brother Mirza
> Nuru'llah. m. an Iranian woman and died without issue (T,P,M,J,S,K[16])
> 
> 5. Wife: Ruqiyya, known as Hajjiyya, was sister of Fatima, Mirza
> Yahya's first wife (see above) and thus also cousin of Mlrza Yahya. Married
> in Baghdad. d. Cyprus. (T,M,J,C,K [16]
> ix. Raf`at (Bahjat Raf`at, Bahjat al-Quds, Raf`atu'llah) b.
> 1861-2. died a spinster (T,P,J,C)
> 
> x. Fu'ad (Fu'adu'llah). b. 1868-9. d. unmarried, Famagusta, 1888 (T,P,J,K)
> 
> xi. `Abdu'l-Wahíd (also known as `Abdu'l-Jalil, Muhammad Jamil,
> `Abdu'r-Rashid and is also probably identical with the Vahid on some lists).
> b. 1871-2. m. Hamida, daughter of Mirza Mustafa (Mirza Isma`il Sabbagh).
> He died without issue and his wife returned to Iran with her father and
> remarried (T,P,J,S,K)
> 
> xii. Maryam, b. 1873 - moved to Tihran in A.H. 1315 (1897), married
> her cousin in Iran and left several children, among whom: (T,J,S,K)
> a. `Aliyyih (S)
> 
> b. Maymanat (S)
> xiii. Taqíu'd-Dín, also called Diya'u'd-Din, b. 1876-8. He
> died unmarried but in his will, he recognised an illegitimate son (from
> an affair with a Turkish Cypriot married woman, the wife of `Alí
> Rúhí): (T,P,M,J,S,K,I)
> a. Riza Ezel, to whom he left a plot of land near Mirza Yahya's
> grave. Riza Ezel worked in the Customs department and is currently the
> caretaker of Mirza Yahya's grave and lives in a nearby house (I)
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> 16. Malik-Khusravi incorrectly makes him the son of Badri-Jan
> 
> [page 93]
> 
> aa. Ruhi Ezel, the son of Riza is in the Police force in Cyprus
> (I)
> 
> xiv Muhtaram, this may be the same as Raf`at above (S,K)
> 6. Wife: Fatima, the second wife of the Bab, the sister of Mulla Rajab-`Alí
> Isfahání; married in Baghdad in about 1854-6 (while Bahá'u'lláh
> was wandering in the hills of Sulaymaniyyih) for about a month before divorcing
> her and giving her in marriage to Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani[17].
> 7. Wife: Badri-Jan (Badr-i-Jahan), the sister of M irza Nasru'llah and
> Mirza Rida-Quli Tafrishi; married in Baghdad but she had refused to live
> with him after a time and was exiled to `Akka with Bahá'u'lláh. She was
> sent to Cyprus by her brother but still refused to live with Mirza Yahya
> and went to live in Nicosia instead. In 1886, she moved to Izmir and then
> to Istanbul where her daughters married. In 1888, she returned to Cyprus
> and died there after Azal (J)
> 
> xv. Safiyya (Rafiyya), b. 1861; exiled to Cyprus with her father,
> then moved to Istanbul with her mother in 1886. Married Mirza Aqa Khan
> Kirmani. But after two years left him and returned to Cyprus. Returned
> to Istanbul in about 1889. Died without issue (T,J,C,K[18])
> xvi. Tal`at or Tal`atu'llah, b. 1864; exiled to Cyprus with her father,
> then moved to Istanbul with her mother in 1886. Married Shaykh `Alí
> Rúhí. Left her husband in 1888 and returned to Cyprus. Returned
> to Istanbul in about 1889. She later remarried to Mirza Mahdi of Isfahan
> and died in childbirth (T,J,C,K)
> 
> Children from her first husband:
> a. Muhammad Diya'u'llah (Nuru'd-Din, Kalimu'd-Din,
> 
> ---------------------
> 
> 17. Hasan M Balyuzí, Edward Granville Browne and the Bahá'
> i Faith, London: George Ronald, 1970, p. 35n
> 
> 18. Malik-Khusravi incorrectly has her as the daughter of Fatíma
> Mulk-i-Jahan.
> 
> [page 94]
> 
> `Izamu'd-Din), died before 1896. (P)
> 
> b. Fadila (Fadila Sultan). d. unmarried. (P,J)
> 
> c. `Aliyya. Married to Tám ibn `Abdu's-Salam, no issue[19] (J)
> 
> d. The list of Ridvan-`Ali also contains the name Abadiyya Sultan -
> this may be the last-named above (P)
> 
> 8. Wife: Daughter of an Arab, married in Baghdad (K)
> xvii. Mirza Rivanu'llah (K)
> 9. Wife: Daughter of Mulla `Abdu'l-Ghani or, by some accounts, Mulla `Abdu'l-Fattáh
> (K)
> 10. Wife: Daughter of Mirza Haydar-Quli Namad-sab; she was half-sister
> of Khanum-Jan, a cousin of Mirza Yahya (was possibly named Fatima) (K)
> 11. Wife: the wife of Mulla Muhammad Mu`allim Nuri, who was martyred
> at Shaykh Tabarsi (K)
> 12. Wife: Ruqiyya, daughter of A`raj Isfahani (K)
> 13. Wife: Nisa Khanum Tihrani (K)
> 14. Wife: Qanita, described as Ahl-i Balada and a companion of Tahirih
> when she was in Nur (K)
> 15. Wife: Sahib-Jan Isfahani (K)
> xviii. Mirza Ruhu'llah (K)
> 16. Wife: Wife of Shaykh `Ali Zanjani. Nabil Zarandi reports that he heard
> from Aqa
> 
> ------------------
> 
> 19. Mazandarani, Zuhur al-Haqq, vol. 6 (manuscript), p. 906-7
> 
> [page 95]
> Yahya, the son of Muhammad Hasan-i Fata, a leading Azali of Qazvin,
> that when he went to Cyprus he heard the following from Shaykh `Ali Kaffash
> Zanjani[20]: His wife was taken into service in Mirza Yahya's household
> in Cyprus. Later she said to him that Mirza Yahya wanted her and so her
> husband consented to this. A while later, she was turned out of Mirza Yahya's
> house pregnant. Mirza Yahya and his eldest son Ahmad accused each other
> of being the father. The matter eventually went before the local court
> (saray). Aqa Yahya wanted to check this story that he had heard
> and therefore he asked Mirza Yahya about it. The latter asserted that it
> was his son, Ahmad, who had made the woman pregnant and on account of this
> he had withdrawn him from the position of being his heir and had made Mirza
> Yahya Dawlatabadi his heir.[21]
> 17. Wife: Mirza Yahya married the wife of the martyr Mirza `Abdu'l-Wahhab
> Shirazi in Baghdad.[22]
> 
> There are a number of other children mentioned in some of the sources
> whom I have not been able to place exactly:
> xix. Hibatu'llah or Jazbatu'llah. b. 1860; a daughter who was
> in Istanbul in 1896 - this may be another name for Safiyya (see above)
> (P)
> 
> xx. Mashiyyatu'llah; a daughter who died in 1875, then aged 8 (P)
> 
> xxi. Maryam Sultan; b. 1876, married in Istanbul in 1895 (P)
> 
> xxii. Fatima; d. 29 August 1871 (T,C)
> 
> xxiii. Ruhu'llah (S)
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> 20. Presumably the same as Shaykh `Ali Bakhsh Zanjani met by Browne
> in Cyprus. See "Personal Reminisences of the Babi Insurrection at Zanjan
> in 1850", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 29 (1897) 761.
> 
> 21. Mazandarani, Zuhur al-Haqq, vol. 6, p. 541n-2n..
> 
> 22. Mazandarani, Zuhur al-Haqq, vol. 6, p. 1010
> 
> [page 96]
> 
> xxiv. Hamidih (5) 96 l
> 
> xxv. `Aliyyih (S,I)
> a. Muhammad Rishat (Resat). A carpenter in Famagusta. Married
> a Turkish Cypriot woman named Munevver, d. 1986 (I)
> 
> aa. Ismet Ezel, works for the Famagusta lycee and is a part-time newspaper
> reporter (I)
> 
> There is another grand-daughter (?great-grand-daughter) of Azal whose name
> is Sirin Birinci and who lives in Nicosia (I). The number of Mirza Yahya's
> wives led to some unusual domestic arrangements. An English observer describes
> a daily ritual that was to be observed in Famagusta:
> He had two wives, each of whom had a separate house, and every
> day, at four in the afternoon, the first wife took him to the door of the
> second wife's house and handed him over. After twenty-four hours had passed,
> and punctually at 4 p.m., the second wife took Subh-i-Ezel back and handed
> him over to the safe-keeping of the first wife.[23]
> After some years in Cyprus, Mirza Yahya was joined by three of his followers
> from Zanjan: Aqa `Abdu'l-Ahad[24], Usta Mahmud and Shaykh `Ali Bakhsh.
> 
> ---------------------
> 
> 23. Rupert Gunnis, Historic Cyprus, London: Methuen, 1936, p.
> 89. I arn grateful to Mr Tacgey Debes for this reference.
> 
> 24. He was the author of the account of the Zanján upheaval which
> E.G. Browne published: "Personal reminiscences of the Babi Insurrection
> at Zanjan in 1850" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 29,
> 1897, pp. 761-827. Sayyid Mihdí Dihaji reports that this man was
> the brother of Aqa Naqd-`Alí Aba Basír, the blind Bahá'í
> who was martyred in about 1867; Risala of Sayyid Mihdí Dihají,
> University of Cambridge Library, Browne mss, F57, p. 286. While it is certainly
> true that Aqa `Abdu'l-Ahad had a brother Aqa Naqd-`Ali as he states in
> his reminiscences (p. 780), the account does not seem to indicate that
> this brother was blind as Aba Basír had been since childhood.
> 
> [page 97]
> 
> Mirza Yahya remained a recluse in Famagusta - there are no reports of
> him going to the mosque or to coffee-shops. The inhabitants of Famagusta
> appear to have regarded him as Muslim holy man and Mirza Yahya went along
> with this. When people called to greet on Muslim feasts like Bayram (it
> being customary to visit a holy man on such occasions), he accepted this.
> There was no attempt to teach the local people the Babi or Azali religious
> beliefs.
> Although freed from the conditions of his exile in 1881 after the British
> occupation of Cyprus Mirza Yahya preferred to remain in Famagusta as a
> pensioner of the British Government. Mirza Yahya died on 29 April 1912
> at the age of about 80. According to the account by his son, Ridvan-`Ali,
> who had by this time become a Christian and taken the name Constantine
> the Persian, no "witnesses to the Bayan" (i.e. Babis) could be found to
> carry out the funeral ceremony and so it was carried out by the Imam-Jum`a
> of Famagusta and other Muslim clerics.[25]
> All of Mirza Yahya's family in Cyprus maintained an outward appearance
> of being Muslims. The people of Famagusta used to call them sun-worshippers
> because of their custom of leaving the city at sunrise to go to Mirza Yahya's
> grave to pray. Mirza Yahya's descendants at the present time appear to
> know little about their family history or religious past and can for all
> practical purposes be regarded as Turks and Muslims. Riza Ezel, the caretaker
> of Mirza Yahya's grave at present, told us that his grand-father was a
> Muslim holy man. Since Jalal Azal's death, his widow `Ismat has put an
> annual notice in the newspapers on the anniversary of his death inviting
> people to a Mevlid recital and Qur'an reading in his memory (this being
> the traditional Turkish Muslim custom).[26]
> 
> -------------------
> 
> 25. Browne, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, p.
> 312
> 
> 26. The information in the last two paragraphs was obtained during my
> trip to Cyprus in October and November 1989. I am most grateful to Mr Mustafa
> Salman and Mr Erol Olkar, two Bahá'ís of Famagusta whose families have
> been closely associated with Mirza Yahya's descendants. I am also grateful
> to Mr Tacgey Debes for much information conveyed to me in correspondence
> since my visit.
> 
> [page 98 (previously erroneously numbered 99)]
> 
> The Grave of Mirza Yahya
> The grave of Mirza Yahya was originally about a mile from the old walled
> city of Famagusta but the modern city has now encompassed it. The grave
> is situated inside a small simple flat-roofed shrine building about 7 metres
> by 5 metres with a small portico at the front. I was unable to ascertain
> the date of the building. Inside the building, there is a single bare-walled
> room with a low grave in the centre. There at two chairs at one end of
> the grave and at the other end of the grave there were placed three books:
> - a Qur'an;
> 
> - a hand-written volume consisting of a number of ziyarat-namihs (tablets
> of visitation) for Mirza Yahya, Tahirih, `Azím, and other material;
> 
> - a printed book of poems called Sham`-i Jam` by Fathu'llah Qudsi (pen-name
> Fu'ad, of Kirman), presented by Jalíl Karímí (?) in
> 1366 (A.D. 1987).
> At the same end of the room there are a number of items on the wall:
> - on the right as viewed a plaque in English which reads: "The
> holy tomb of Subh-i-Azal Mirror of God 1831 - 1912. The text on the wall
> has been written by the Bab, "The Primal Point'' - Great and Glorious is
> His Dignity - nominating Subh-i-Azal as His Successor in the Babi Religion."
> -in the centre a portrait of Mirza Yahya. I was informed that it was
> painted by Dr. Philotheos Mughapghap, a well-known citizen of Famagusta[27],
> but that it is not a good likeness.
> 
> -----------------------
> 
> 27. Presumably the same person as in Browne, Materials, p. 314.
> 
> [page 99 (previously erroneously numbered 98)]
> 
> - on the left is the text referred to above of the nomination
> in Arabic. This also records the information that Mirza Yahya was born
> in 1247 and died at 7 in the morning on Saturday 12 Jamadi al-Awwal 1330.
> The building is immediately surrounded by some twelve cypress trees and
> it is set in a field of some 10 acres. But the city is encroaching on it
> and a few years ago Mehmed Resat sold one large lot on the edge of this
> area which is already being built upon. The caretaker of the grave and
> shrine is a grandson of Mirza Yahya, Riza Ezel but the overall control
> rests with Mrs Sule Orfi.
> 
> Ahmad Bahhaj and Jalal Azal
> Ahmad Bahhaj was the eldest of Mirza Yahya's children to accompany him
> to Cyprus. In 1884, he moved to Istanbul where he worked in a bank.
> He was joined there by his wife daughters. At some stage, his wife and
> daughters became Protestant Christians in Istanbul. In about 1899, Ahmad's
> employment at the bank ceased for some reason and by 1912, we find him
> impoverished and working as a railway porter in Famagusta. His wife daughters
> appear to have remained in Istanbul. Then in 1921, learning of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> presence in Palestine from his nephew Jalal and remembering `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> kindness to him as a young boy in Baghdad and Edirne, he came to Haifa.[28]
> He appears to have become a Bahá'í and remained in Haifa as a rather reclusive
> figure until his death in 1933 He is buried in the Bahá'í cemetery in Haifa.
> 
> ----------------
> 
> 28. Based on statements made by Ahmad to Lady Blomfie]d in 1922; Lady
> Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, Bahá'í i Publishing Trust, 1967, pp. 237-8.
> See also Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh, King of Glory, p. 232n
> 
> [page 100]
> 
> In about 1915, during the First World War, Jalal Azal, the son of `Abdu'l-`Ali
> and grandson of Mirza Yahya, volunteered for service to the British Government
> and was sent as personal assistant, chief censor and head interpreter to
> Lt-Col. Bidwell who was in charge of a British prisoner-of-war camp in
> Madras in India. When one of the internees, Murad Bey of Baghdad, heard
> of his relationship to `Abdu'l-Bahá, he praised `Abdu'l-Bahá greatly and
> urged Jalal in the strongest terms to seek out `Abdu'l-Bahá's guidance
> and assistance in his moral and material education. On his return to Cyprus,
> Jalal Azal wrote in 1920 to `Abdu'l-Bahá, asking for permission to visit
> him. He was also responsible for bringing about Ahmad Bahhaj's journey
> to Haifa. `Abdu'l-Bahá managed to get for Jalal Azal a good position in
> the Palestine Civil Service. He was Land Settlement Officer in the Land
> Court in the Haifa-`Akka area. Jalal Azal remained therefore in Palestine.
> It is difficult to know whether he regarded himself as a Bahá'í at this
> time but almost certainly he was regarded by others as a Bahá'í and he
> was in communication with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís
> of the United States, for example.
> After some years however, he appears to have become disaffected. This
> was also perhaps connected with his marriage to `Ismat, the daughter of
> Badi`u'llah, the son of Bahá'u'lláh and brother of Mirza Muhammad `Ali.
> At some time, presumably in 1948 at the end of British Mandate, he returned
> with his wife to Famagusta. He took up employment in the radio monitoring
> station at Cyrenia run by the American intelligence services.
> Some in the 1950s or 1960s, Jalal Azal changed to active attempts to
> advance the Azali cause and to attack the Bahá'í Faith. This may have been
> precipitated by the arrival in Famagusta of Bahá'í "pioneers" and the conversion
> of a number of local people well-known to Jalal Azal. There was a concerted
> effort by a number of people including Jalal Azal, his wife `Ismat, and
> her sister Qamar Musa Bahá'í (d. 10 November 1970), who had
> 
> [page 101]
> 
> married Musa Bahá'í, the son of Mirza Muhammad `Ali, to unite all three
> generations of the internal opponents of the Bahá'í Faith,
> the "Covenant-Breakers"[29]. By three generations is meant:
> 
> First generation: Followers of Mirza Yahya in his opposition to Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Second generation: Followers of Mirza Muhammad `Ali in his opposition to
> `Abdu'l-Bahá.
> 
> Third generation: Opponents of Shoghi Effendi, both from within the family
> of `Abdu'l-Bahá and others such as Ahmad Sohrab who rejected Shoghi Effendi's
> authority.
> 
> This in itself was a remarkable event full of bizarre contradictions. In
> theory, the second generation accepting as it does Bahá'u'lláh should have
> had nothing to do with the first followers of Mirza Yahya. Similarly, the
> third generation, accounting themselves loyal followers of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
> should have had nothing to do with the second generation who are based
> on opposition to `Abdu'l-Bahá (let alone supporting the first generation).[30]
> Jalal Azal was of course the Azali link in this scheme. His wife and
> her sister Qamar Musa Bahá'í were representatives of the second generation
> and in close contact with the other members of the second generation. The
> second generation had already put themselves in close contact with the
> third generation. After the marriage of several of `Abdu'l-Bahá's grand-children
> with the descendants of Sayyid `Ali Afnan (who had vacillated for some
> time between `Abdu'l-Bahá and Mirza Muhammad-`Ali ), almost all of the-descendants
> 
> -----------------
> 
> 29. Evidence for this plan comes in Peter Berger, "From Sect to Church:
> a sociological interpretation of the Bahá'í movement", Ph. D. Thesis, New
> School for Social Research, New York, 1954, p. 140, n. 4; Azal's Notes,
> Princeton University Library, see supra.
> 
> 30. I was informed by the Cyprus Bahá'ís that in fact `Ismat,
> although married to Jalal Azal, had no time for Mirza Yahya's claims and
> openly derided these even in front of her husband.
> 
> [page 102]
> 
> of `Abdu'l-Bahá threw in their lot with the followers of Mirza Muhammad-`Ali.
> Riyad, Shoghi Effendi's brother, visited Jalal Azal in Cyprus on at least
> four occasions during which they exchanged information and material. Jalal
> Azal and his wife visited her relatives in Damascus. Yvonne, a daughter
> of `Izzu'd-Din Wudud, as well as MIrza Jalal, the grandson of Mirza Musa
> Kalim, both second generation opponents, collaborated with Ahmad Sohrab,
> the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West, third generation
> opponents.[31]
> Part of this combined plotting was a court case raised by Qamar Bahá'í,
> Jalal the grandson of Mirza Musa and others in about 1950-1, challenging
> Shoghi Effendi's right to carry out major construction work around the
> shrine of Bahá'u'lláh. One of their key witnesses, Nayyir Afnan, died shortly
> before the case was due to open, and it all came to nothing. One of the
> culminations of this plotting was a grand meeting that was held in Famagusta
> in the late 1950s. Representatives of all three generations were present
> including: Jalal Azal, `Ismat and other representatives of the second generation
> opponents and Ahmad Sohrab. One of the aims of this conference was to build
> a mausoleum over the grave of Mirza Yahya. To this end, an amount of money
> was collected but it "disappeared" and nothing came of the project.
> Jalal Azal provided information to Dr Imani from Beirut who was researching
> a book attacking the Bahá'í Faith. Later in America, Dr Imani was in contact
> with Rev. William Miller. Imani put Miller in touch with Jalal Azal. Between
> March 1967 and February 1971, the latter provided Miller with a great dead
> of material with which to attack the Bahá'í Faith in his book, The Bahá'í
> Faith: its history and teachings[32]. Miller also arranged for the
> material that Jalal Azal had sent him to be deposited in Princeton University
> Library.
> 
> ------------------------
> 
> 31. One of the of the main episodes in this planned attack was a court
> case over access to the shrine of Bahá'u'lláh. This case was brought by
> Qamar Bahá'í, who was a second generation opponent and the star
> witness was to have been Nayyir Afnan, who was married to Shoghi Effendi's
> sister and was a third generation opponent. But the death of the latter
> in 1952 aborted the plan.
> 
> 32. South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1974.
> 
> [page 103]
> 
> Jalal Azal died on 5 April 1971 of a cerebral stroke, exacerbated by
> his tendency to excessive alcohol consumption. Hiswife remained in Famagusta
> and used to commemorate his death by an annual announcement in the newspaper
> 
> Comparison and Analysis
> In 1972, Eric Cohen published a sociological analysis of the followers
> of Mirza Muhammad `Ali in `Akka.[33] These were the Bahá'ís who, after
> the passing of Bahá'u'lláh in 1892, had turned away from `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> leadership and attached themselves to his half-brother, Mirza Muhammad
> `Ali. Cohen found that from an initial position of strength within the
> Bahá'í community of `Akka, they had gradually declined into stagnation,
> inactivity and insignificance as compared to the main-line Bahá'í community
> which had continuously extended its activities and influence in the Haifa-`Akka
> area.
> Cohen was unable to find a suitable name in the existing sociological
> literature to describe this group. He rejected the application of the term
> "sect" to them because "though outwardly resembling a sect, [they had]
> sunk into a kind of ossification." Cohen proposes the term "residual religious
> community" to describe them. In his paper, Cohen defines this as a community
> "either a remnant of a sect which was side-tracked by its rivals, or a
> once important religious organisation, such as a church or denomination,
> which has gradually been reduced to relative insignificance."[34] He gives
> the remnants of the followers of Mirza Muhammad `Ali in `Akka as an example
> of a sect that has been side-tracked by its rivals, and the Samaritans
> as an example of a church that has been reduced to insignificance.
> I was very struck by the parallels between the group in `Akka described
> by Cohen and the remnants of the Azalis in Cyprus. My brief enquiries during
> the few days that I was able
> 
> ----------
> 
> 33. "The Bahá'í community of Acre" Folklore Research Center Studies,
> vol.
> 3 (1972) pp. 119-141.
> 
> 34. Cohen, Bahá'í community", p. 140.
> 
> [page 104]
> 
> spend in Cyprus can scarcely be compared to Cohen's research over a
> much more extended period. Therefore my findings are hardly adequate for
> anything more than a preliminary comparison. But within these limits, there
> are grounds for comparing the two groups.
> Both groups can be described as having been side-tracked by a more successful
> rival. As Cohen has described, the faction of Mirza Muhammad `Ali (hereinafter
> called "the `Akka group") began as a very serious challenge to `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> leadership. Most of the leading Bahá'ís of `Akka supported the challenge
> as did almost all of Bahá'u'lláh's family. Similarly, Mirza Yahya's challenge
> to Bahá'u'lláh's leadership was at first very serious. Mirza Yahya was
> widely regarded as the successor of the Bab and so his rejection of Bahá'u'lláh's
> claim was a serious blow. Thus initially both groups began as very considerable
> challenge to their rivals.
> Despite this initially strong position, both groups saw their position
> rapidly eroded as their rivals gained the initiative and won the allegiance
> of the majority of the community. Within a decade of the split, both groups
> had been comprehensively defeated and reduced to insignificance. Mirza
> Muhammad `Ali, was at first able to recruit most of the influential Bahá'ís
> of `Akka and several important figures in Iran. His flagging fortunes were
> then shored up again in 1900 when Ibrahim Kheiralla, the key Bahá'í teacher
> in America, defected to his side. During the 1930s and 1940s, a number
> of members of `Abdu'l-Bahá's family disobeyed Shoghi Effendi and were expelled
> from the Bahá'í community. These effectively became incorporated into the
> `Akka group. But even these events were not sufficient to reverse the steady
> decline in his position. A similar course of events occurred with Mirza
> Yahya. Over 90% of the Babis of Iran gave their allegiance to Bahá'u'lláh
> within a short period of his putting forward his claim. Browne, visiting
> Iran in 1888 was hard pressed to find any Azalis at all. Mirza Yahya's
> position in Cyprus became increasingly isolated and marginal. Even of his
> sons, one became a Christian and another later joined `Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa.
> 
> [page 105]
> 
> another feature described by Cohen is the fact that these "residual
> religious communities" become inward-turning and defensive; they do not
> try to spread their beliefs. Part of their problem arises from their indefinite
> status with the authorities. Cohen describes how the
> main body of Bahá'ís remain outward-looking, innovative and expansionist
> (seeking new converts); they actively encourage the spread and universalisation
> of their religion. With them the religion is constantly grow and developing.
> The Akka group became, by contrast, inward-turning, conservative and defensive,
> struggling to protects its interests and right to exist. It deplored the
> recruitment of various nationalities (especially Amei icans) to run the
> world centre in Haifa and the changes made in the religion as it adapted
> itself to these new cultures. It made no attempts to reach the non-Bahá'í
> world. Most of the literature produced by the group consisted of apologetics
> for its position vis-a-vis its rival. While the main body of Bahá'ís was
> recognised by the Israeli government as a separate religious community,
> the status of the `Akka group is undefined. Similarly the Azalis, especially
> in Cyprus, became an inward-turning and defensive group. It represented
> the conservative faction who did not like the changes that Bahá'u'lláh
> introduced It tried to become in effect an ossification of the structures
> of the earliest period of the religion, except that it could not really
> be that since it had neither the numbers nor the enthusiasm nor were the
> circumstances the same. It made no attempt to convert the local population
> or any other group. Its literature has mainly been polemics against Bahá'u'lláh
> Its status as a group is indefinite in Turkish Cyprus.
> Cohen states that part of the conservative and traditional aspect of
> the `Akka group is that it remains in effect Muslim. The members of the
> group attend mosque and receive religious services (for births, marriages,
> death, etc) from the official Muslim establishment of `Akka. They remain
> socially identified with traditional Muslim family and social norms. This
> feature of outward blending with the established religious norm is also
> a feature of the Azalis in Cyprus. They are to all intents Turkish Muslims.
> They go to the mosque and receive religious services from the official
> Muslim establishment. `Ismat organised Mevlid recitations and Qur'an readings
> on the anniversaries of Jalal Azal's death.
> 
> [page 106]
> 
> Cohen also makes the point that the `Akka group is threatened by extinction
> within one or two generations through intermarriage and assimilation into
> the Muslim population of `Akka. He does not make it a part of his definition
> of a "residual religious group" as those groups that are substantial churches
> or denominations such as the Samaritans are more able to preserve a distinct
> identity and maintain their social boundaries. The Cyprus Azalis are also
> in danger of extinction. They are already extensively intermarried with
> the local Turkish Cypriot population. It is difficult to see how they can
> maintain a separate identity for more than one or two more generations.
> Cohen makes the point that although the `Akka group is small and threatened
> with extinction, it is also internally divided due to an ossified accumulation
> of the conflicts of the past. My sources for the Cyprus Azalis was not
> sufficiently informed to be able to tell me of any internal divisions.
> Jalal Azal however refuted the commonly-held position that Mirza Hadi Dawlatabadi
> was the appointed successor to Mirza Yahya as the leader of the Azalis
> [35] thus indicating the existence of splits among the Azalis.
> Cohen refers to the fact that the `Akka group having been comprehensively
> defeated on all issues (especially to do with authority over the Bahá'í
> shrines), has acknowledged defeat, and ceased active opposition. The last
> serious attempt at active opposition was the 1952 court case.[36] Similarly,
> the Azalis have long since ceased any active opposition. The short foray
> into activity by Jalal Azal in the 1960s was something of an anachronism.
> Indeed it difficult to see it as a serious attempt to revive the Azali
> position. Had he been serious attempting to do this, he would scarcely
> have co-operated so enthusiastically with Rev. Miller, whose only interest
> was in combatting both Mirza Yahya's and Bahá'u'lláh's positions.
> 
> -------------------
> 
> 35. Jalal Azal's Notes, pp. 557, 791-2; this is alluded to in Miller,
> The
> Bahá'í Faith, p. 107, 114, n.53.
> 
> 36. See note 30 above
> 
> [page 107]
> 
> There is one final comparison to be made between the two groups although
> this is a matter of historical accident and not a point in Cohen's definition.
> Both groups acquired land outside the city in the late nineteenth and early
> twentieth century. Several of the `Akka group now find themselves wealthy
> since the city has grown out and their land is now prime development land.
> Similarly with the Cyprus Azalis, they have been able to benefit from properties
> and land acquired in the past which has now greatly increased in value.
> It would appear therefore that the Azali community of Cyprus provides
> a further example of Erik Cohen's characterisation of a "residual religious
> community".
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views37072 views since posted 1998; last edit 2019-06-24 22:39 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../momen_cyprus_exiles;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *The Cyprus Exiles (Used by permission of the curator)*