Iran: Province of Fars
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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.

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-- Iran: Province of Fars (Used by permission of the curator)