Iran: Province of Khurasan
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-20 - 1 clipping

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 Khurasan, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Iran: Province of Khurásán

Moojan Momen

1994

The north-east province of Iran, its capital is Mashhad, an important
religious center on account of the presence there of the shrine of the
eighth Imam, `Alí ar-Ridá. Although in former times, the
boundaries of Khurásán had extended as far as the
Oxus river (now called Amu Darya), during the period of Qajar rule, Iranian
control of the north-eastern parts of this area became increasingly tenuous
until the Russians moved in from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards.
The boundary between Iran and the Russian Empire was fixed in 1881. The
population of this province is mainly Iranian and Shi`i although there
are some Kurds and Turkoman tribesmen who are Sunni. The area of Qúhistán
in the south of this province has always been an Ismá`ílí
stronghold.
Six of the Báb's Letters of the Living were from Khurásán
as were many prominent followers such as Mullá Sádiq Muqaddas
(q.v.) and Shaykh `Alí `Azím Turshízí
(executed 1852). Bábí communities were established in most
of the major towns in this province as well as in some of the villages,
in particular the villages in the Turbat-i-Haydarí area: Dughábád
(known among Bahá's as Furúgh) and Faydábád;
as well as Hissár and of course Bushrúyih. In Mashhad,
the home of Mírzá Muhammad-Báqir-i-Qá'iní
became the center of Bábí activities becoming known as the
"Bábyyih" (which is now regarded as a holy place by Bahá'ís).
Here Mullá Husayn Bushrú'í and Quddús
taught and numerous people were converted. It was near Mashhad that
the Black Standard was unfurled by Mullá Husayn as he set off for
his eventual martyrdom at

ShaykhTabarsí.

When Bahá'u'lláh first made his open claim from Edirne
in about 1866, he immediately sent Nabíl Zarandí to Khurásán.
Through him and such persons as Mírzá Ahmad Yazdí
and Mírzá Ja`far Yazdí the majority of Bábís
in this province became Bahá'ís. This included such prominent
names as Mullá Mahmúd Furúghí, Mullá
Sádiq Muqaddas (q.v.) and Hájí `Abdu'l-Majíd
Nishapúrí (martyred 1877). There is no mention of
any Azalí remnant here.

A number of important government officers as well as other notables
of the province either became Bahá'ís or were sympathetic:
in Mashhad, Mírzá `Alí-Ridá Mustasháru'd-Dawlih
(d. 1298/1881) and Mírzá Muhammad-Ridá Mutaminu's-Saltanih
(poisoned 1890), who were government finance officers (mustawfis)
were Bahá'ís, together with other members of their families;
in Tabas, the governor, Mírzá Muhammad-Báqir Khán,
`Imádu'l-Mulk, was a Bahá'í as was his son and successor,
`Alí-Akbar Khán (d. 1319/1901); in Qúchán,
the governor, Shuja`u'd-Dawlih, was very sympathetic and his son Hasan
`Alí Khán was a Bahá'í; the leading
cleric in Sabzivár, Hájí Ibráhím Khán

Shari`atmadar, and in Tabas, Mullá `Abdu'l-`Azím Mujtahid,
were sympathetic and, according to some accounts, secret converts. The
former had met the Báb in Isfahan. Perhaps the most well-known Bahá'í
of this province was Hájí Shaykhu'r-Ra'ís,
a Qájár prince who was a prominent figure in the reform movement.

One consequence of the sympathy of these highly-placed government officials
and clerics was that there was little persecution of the Bahá'ís
in the early years of this period. Most of the prominent `ulamá,
for example, had dealings with Mutaminu's-Saltanih, who was responsible
for assessing their tax liability to the government, and they were well
aware of his religious adherence. Due to the relative safety afforded by
having such high government officials sympathetic to the Bahá'í
Faith, a number of Bahá'ís from such places as Isfahan migrated
to Sabzivár and Quchán. Some Bahá'ís
moved from Khurásán to Ashkhabad and other places
in Turkistan.

The protection did not encompass the whole province, however, and in
a few places such as Nishápúr and Turbat-i Haydarí,
the governors were unfriendly towards the Bahá'ís. The one
major martyrdom that did occur in this province during the early period
of Bahá'u'lláh's ministry was that of Hájí
`Abdu'l-Majíd Nishapúri, the father of Badí`,
in 1877. This episode was instigated by a cleric who was not a native of
Khurásán and was only temporarily there,

ShaykhMuhammad-Báqir
of Isfahan (q.v., "the Wolf"). As this earlier generation of highly-placed
protectors of the Bahá'í community died out, however, a number
of episodes of persecution began to occur, such as the martyrdom of Hájí
Muhammad-i-Turk in Mashhad in 1898, of Ismá`íl-i-Kadkhudá
in Hissár in 1909, and of Shaykh `Alí-Akbar-i-Qúchání
in 1915.

The Bahá'í Faith expanded in many of the towns and villages
of Khurásán. In Mashhad itself there was steady
increase in numbers. Shaykh Ahmad, known as Shaykh

Fání (executed 1867), took the new religion to Nishápúr
and to his home village of Ma`múrih (Fu'ádí 249-50.
ZH 6:127). The Bahá'í community in the Turbat-i Haydarí
area continued to expand and took a new direction when a number of the
Jews in that area were converted. They had begun to be interested when
Mullá Ahmad Azghandí had been arrested in his home
village and brought to Turbat in fetters during the Bábí
period. Later they were converted by Karbalá'í Ya`qúb
in about 1290/1873 (Fu'ádí 183-6; ZH6:134-5). These then
began to convert their co-religionists in Mashhad (in fact these were Jews
whose families had been forcibly converted to Islam in the previous century
but kept their former religion in secret) so that by the 1890s there were
some 60 Jewish converts at meetings in Mashhad (See Fu'ádí
183-194; ZH6:133-136). Shaykh Muhammad-`Alí Hidáyat
began the first school to be run along modern lines in Mashhad,
and later began schools in other towns in Khurásán.
A Bahá'í school was begun in Bushrúyih

In Námiq and Hissár, two villages in the Turshíz
area, Shaykh Ahmad Mu`allim, one of the leading religious
authorities of the area and a former Shaykhí brought
a large number to the Bábí movement and these later became
Bahá'ís (Fu'ádí 275-285). In Tún, Áqá
Mír Muhammad Bayk (d. 1317/1899) and his son Hájí

Sháh Khalílu'lláh Bayk, who was descended
through his mother from Sháh Ni`matu'lláh Walí
the famous Sufi Shaykh, both notables of the town, became known as Bahá'ís.
Later a number of other prominent individuals in Tún were converted
(Fu'ádí, pp. 334-339; ZH6:75-7). In Tabas, Hájí
Mír `Abdu'r-Rahím Bayk, a prominent citizen of the town converted
and while he was alive, the Bahá'ís were free to propagate
the religion. After his death in 1297/1880, however, a certain amount of
opposition arose (ZH6:77-9). From about 1300/1882-3 onwards, a number of
Bahá'ís settled in the Gunábád area and a number
of the notables of the area were converted (Fu'ádí 352-354).
In Bushrúyih, there was a steady stream of conversions, several
from among the `ulamá.

Áqá Muhammad Nabíl Akbar (q.v.), after having studied
in Iraq and obtained a certificate of recognition from Shaykh
Murtadá Ansárí, the foremost religious authority of
the time, and having taught at a religious college in Tehran, returned
to Qá'in. He immediately became one of the religious leaders of
the town. During his travels, however, he had encountered the Bahá'ís
and had even met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad and was now a Bahá'í.
He began to teach the new religion in Qá'in. One of his early converts
was Áqá Muhammad `Alí Nabíl Qá'iní.
Within a short time there were some 150 Bahá'ís in Qá'in
(ZH6:98-102).

During the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Bahá'í community
of Khurásán continued to expand and there were a number
of important conversions such as that of Shaykh `Ali-Akbar
of Quchán and later Siyyid `Abbas `Alaví in Mashhad
in 1341/1922.

Bibliography

Hasan Fu'ádí Bushrú'í, Manázirih
Táríkh Nihdat Amr Bahá'í dar Khurásán,
copy of typed manuscript in Afnan Library. ZH 3:112-175; 6:22-137; 8a:200-263

METADATA

Views8626 views since posted 2010-08-10; last edit 2023-10-05 18:44 UTC;

previous at archive.org.../momen_encyclopedia_khurasan
Language
English
Permission
author
Share

Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3515
Citation: ris/3515

select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings

home

sitemap

series

chronology

search:
author

title

date

tags

adv. search
languages

inventory

bibliography

abbreviations

links

about

contact

RSS

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