As of 11 June 2026, 63 Bahá'ís are detained across Iran

As of 11 June 2026, 63 Bahá'ís (35 women, 28 men) are detained across Iran...

https://iranwire.com/en/features/153616-63-bahais-detained-across-iran-solely-for-their-beliefs/

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Loyalty and Support for the State of Israel

The Israeli government’s decision to officially recognize the Baha'i Faith in 1971 was heavily influenced by the community's positive relationship with the state:

Official Rationale for Recognition: Zerach Warhaftig, the Minister for Religious Affairs at the time, cited the "strong Baha'i affinity for the land of Israel" and their "support for the state of Israel" as primary incentives for granting recognition.

Key Factors of Support: The Israeli archives note several specific behaviors that contributed to this favorable view:
• A "friendly attitude" toward the state.
• Abstention from proselytization within Israel.
• Significant financial investment in the country and the promotion of tourism.
• General "sympathy for the state of Israel" and the global influence of its believers.

Despite this support, the Baha'i leadership requested that the Israeli government refrain from mentioning their "support for the state" in the public announcement of their recognition. This was done out of concern for the safety and fate of Baha'is living in neighboring countries, specifically mentioning Morocco and Egypt at that time.

(Dr. D Gershon Lewental (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev): The Evangelical Episcopal Church’s Role in the Official Israeli Recognition of the Bahāʾī Faith  https://youtu.be/EdGsr5CtkSE  Starts at 15.00 minutes)

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Siyyid Muhammad Isfahani was a spy thus he was killed by a group of Baha'is in Akka

When Siyyid Muhammad was sent to Akka with the group of exiles, he acted as a spy for the Ottoman government. He was tasked with monitoring the activities of Baha'u'llah and the Baha'is and reporting them to the central authorities.

In 1288 AH (1871 AD), Siyyid Muhammad and two of his associates (Mirza Aqajan and Mirza Rida-Quli) were killed in Akka by a group of Baha'is.

(Taqrirat-i-Dar Bareh Kitab-i-Aqdas by Abdu'l-Hamid Ishraq-Khavari)

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/4c0ff5cf-e471-427c-9344-d16bfabc0994

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Baha'i individuals who served in various military or medical roles

Bahá’í individuals who served in various military or medical roles, utilizing their service to teach their religion while under authority:

• 'Ali-Muhammad Khan Varqá: A conscripted artillery officer in Írán.
• Rúḥu’lláh Mawzún: A member of the Naval Officers Division in Írán.
• Dr. 'Abdu'l-Karím Khan Ayádí: An army physician in Írán.
• Malik-Khusraví: A military college instructor in Írán.
• Áqáyán Aḥmadí and Jalílí: Conscripted officers in Írán.
• Philip Hainsworth: A member of the Royal Army Medical Corps during WWII who was the first Bahá’í to settle in Uganda and was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh.
• Robert Yool: A British reservist.
• Alvin Blum: A member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps who taught the Faith extensively in New Zealand during WWII and later became a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Solomon Islands.
• Sergeant Bruce Davison: A member of a medical unit who organized the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Frankfurt, Germany.
• John Carl Eichenauer, III: A soldier in Germany who helped restore religious rights to German Bahá’ís and provided a link to the international Bahá’í community.
• Sergeant Jim Heggie: A serviceman who taught the Bahá’í message to fellow young men in the armed forces.
• Benjamin Kaufman: A member of the medical corps who shared his experiences in the book In the Army.
• Captain Henry Jarvis: A captain who served in the Pacific and France, aiding and encouraging Bahá’í communities in those regions.
• Edwin H. Koyl: A Technical Sergeant with a medical unit in New Guinea who shared the Bahá’í message with his battalion.
• Charles H. McAllister: A Pfc. in a medical detachment who taught Bahá’í ideas to nearly everyone in his battalion.
• R. C. Niss: A Technical Sergeant in the Aleutian Islands.
• David Ned Blackmer: A Technician Fifth Grade in a field hospital who distributed Bahá’í literature and spoke of the Faith in England and to army personnel.
• H. Duncan McAlear: A Corporal with the Anti-Aircraft Artillery in Belgium who met people seeking the Faith while on leave.
• Anthony Yuen Seto: A Reserve Officers Training Camp member in Honolulu during WWI who later chaired the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Honolulu.
• Edwin Whitaker Mattoon: A First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during WWI who met Bahá’ís in other lands and corresponded about the Faith.
• Charles Dunning: A veteran of both World Wars (including service in the RAF) who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for opening the Orkney Islands.
• Yadu'lláh Vahdat: A Lieutenant-Colonel in Iran nicknamed "Shield of the Faith" who was retired due to his beliefs and killed in 1981.
• 'Abbas Íshqúlí: A retired Colonel who served as Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Írán and protected the community during persecutions.
• 'Ináyatu'lláh Suhráb: A retired Colonel who undertook travel teaching trips to remote tribal areas in Írán and compiled study courses.
• Munír Vakíl: A Brigadier and legal counsellor in the Iraqi Ministry of Defence who became a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Kuria Muria Islands.
• Philip Desmond Harvey: A Royal Navy aircraft technician who pioneered for over 36 years in southern Africa.
• Lloyd Gardner: A Navy medic during WWII who helped establish the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Halifax, Canada.
• Iraj Afshín: A Colonel in the Iranian Army.
• 'Abdu'l-Majíd Mutahhar: An army administrator who left the military to pioneer as a teacher in remote villages of Iran.
• Mansúr 'Ahdiyyih: A veteran of the Iranian military who later served as a custodian of the Bahá’í Shrines in the Holy Land.
• James Wilbur Walton: A U.S. Army veteran of WWII and a travel teacher.
• Fritz Semle: A WWI soldier.

(Source: Baha'i World)

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/877b77d6-ffc1-4251-8f33-aaebe1be7b4f

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Shoghi Effendi paid a visit to David Ben-Gurion, to establish a good relationship

on 21 January 1949 he paid a visit to the Prime Minister of the new State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, to establish a good relationship and to inform him about the Bahá’í Faith and his own role as head. He responded to a request by Mr Ben-Gurion for more information by promising to send him his history, God Passes By.

(Coronation On Carmel by Michael V. Day)

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a station such as none other woman hath surpassed,

Moreover, as a further testimony to the majestic unfoldment and progressive consolidation of the stupendous undertaking launched by Bahá'u'lláh on that holy mountain, may be mentioned the selection of a portion of the school property situated in the precincts of the Shrine of the Báb as a permanent resting-place for the Greatest Holy Leaf, the "well-beloved" sister of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the "Leaf that hath sprung" from the "Pre-existent Root," the "fragrance" of Bahá'u'lláh's "shining robe," elevated by Him to a "station such as none other woman hath surpassed," and comparable in rank to those immortal heroines such as Sarah, Asiyih, the Virgin Mary, Fatimih and Tahirih, each of whom has outshone every member of her sex in previous Dispensations.

(Bahá'í Answers, compiled by Olivia Kelsey, 1947, APPROVED BY THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE OF THENATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS
OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA)

https://bahai-library.com/kelsey_bahai_answers

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Baha'i Prophecies about Iran, Israel, the United States & future Baha'i Commonwealth

Nor should a survey of the outstanding features of so blessed and fruitful a ministry omit mention of the prophecies which the unerring pen of the appointed Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant has recorded. These foreshadow the fierceness of the onslaught that the resistless march of the Faith must provoke in the West, in India and in the Far East when it meets the time-honored sacerdotal orders of the Christian, the Buddhist and Hindu religions. They foreshadow the turmoil which its emancipation from the fetters of religious orthodoxy will cast in the American, the European, the Asiatic and African continents. They foreshadow the gathering of the children of Israel in their ancient homeland; the erection of the banner of Bahá'u'lláh in the Egyptian citadel of Sunni Islam; the extinction of the powerful influence wielded by the Shí'ah ecclesiastics in Persia; the load of misery which must needs oppress the pitiful remnants of the breakers of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant at the world center of His Faith; the splendor of the institutions which that triumphant Faith must erect on the slopes of a mountain, destined to be so linked with the city of 'Akká that a single grand metropolis will be formed to enshrine the spiritual as well as the administrative seats of the future Bahá'í Commonwealth; the conspicuous honor which the inhabitants of Bahá'u'lláh's native land in general, and its government in particular, must enjoy in a distant future; the unique and enviable position which the community of the Most Great Name in the North American continent must occupy, as a direct consequence of the execution of the world mission which He entrusted to them: finally they foreshadow, as the sum and summit of all, the "hoisting of the standard of God among all nations" and the unification of the entire human race, when "all men will adhere to one religion ... will be blended into one race, and become a single people." (God Passes By, p. 314-6)

(Bahá'í Answers, compiled by Olivia Kelsey, 1947, APPROVED BY THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE OF THENATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA)

https://bahai-library.com/kelsey_bahai_answers

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It’s not exactly true to say that the Baháʼí Faith is the only religion to have never split.

One Baha'i critic stated the following in a comment on Youtube:

It’s not exactly true to say that the Baháʼí Faith is the only religion to have never split. This is for two reasons: 

1.) The Baháʼí Faith has split. First there was the Bahá'í–Azali split in 1863 (there are still a few thousand Azalis around, mostly in Iran and Uzbekistan). Then, in 1939, the Caravan of East and West severed its ties with the Baháʼí Faith (they still exist and operate an adult-education Italian language school in New York). In 1960, the Orthodox Baháʼí Faith split and has continued into the 21st century with two or three groups numbering around 200 collectively, mostly in the United States and India. There’s also Unitarian Baháʼís, Free Baháʼís, the Reform Bahá’í Faith, the Baháʼís Under the Provisions of the Covenant, the Tarbiyat Baha'i Community, the Universal Faith and Revelation of Baháʼu'lláh, and the House of Mankind and the Universal Palace of Order.

2.) If the Baháʼí Faith has never split, then lots of other religions also haven’t. The Druze faith hasn’t. Scientology hasn’t. Mandaeism hasn’t. Yazidism hasn’t. Ayyavazhi hasn’t (there are 2.7 million more Ayyavazhis in the world than there are Baháʼís). There are probably hundreds of religions that could claim, by this reasoning, to have never experienced a split.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL5Uc3Y2kv0&lc=UgyckIuP7cjcLJq-ikN4AaABAg

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Shoghi was more like a king than a religious figure

Shoghi Effendi became the leader of the Baha'i faith at age twenty four and was so shocked by the news that he said he stopped feeling like a normal person. Instead of leading right away, he suffered a physical collapse and fled to the mountains of Switzerland for many months, leaving the community without a clear head. During his long time as leader, he often got very sick and exhausted because he tried to do almost everything himself and refused to let others help with his work. He also broke with old traditions of kindness, such as refusing to meet with local religious leaders (like Muftis) who had always been welcomed by Abdul Baha.

His leadership style was very different from his grandfather, as people found him to be stern, impersonal, and more like a king than a religious figure. He moved the Baha'i faith away from being about a single person and focused more on a strict administrative system. He demanded that everyone follow this system exactly, stating that a person's own conscience must give way to the will of the majority in group decisions. 

Shoghi Effendi was often very critical of Baha'is in the West, especially those in America, calling them soft, materialistic, and lazy. He told them they were failing at their duties and needed shock medicine to wake them up from their inactive state. His time as leader was also marked by many painful fights with his own family members. Eventually almost all of his relatives were cast out of the religion and labeled as enemies or Covenant-breakers.

His intense focus on work was so strong that his wife said it was slowly killing him. He spent nearly all his time reading and writing thousands of letters, which left him with almost no time for rest or a normal personal life. When he died suddenly in 1957, it caused a massive crisis because he did not leave a written will or name a new leader to follow him. This left the entire community in a state of great confusion and fear about how to survive without any clear instructions.

(Extracted from Shoghi Effendi: Through the Pilgrim’s Eye, Volume 1 & 2)

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submission to the authority of the Spiritual Assemblies is a matter of faith.

One day in discussing the question of submission to the authority of the Spiritual Assemblies Shoghi Effendi said: "The Master has not left any latitude for personal opinion, it is not a matter of reason, it is a matter of faith.

'Some of the instructions and commands may seem unreasonable, but if we believe we have faith in them and the sign of faith is obedience. The whole question resolves itself into a matter of faith and obedience is the proof of faith, it is the result of faith, if we do not obey it is because we have not faith in the commands of the Master.

'I cannot see it in any other way.

(Shoghi Effendi Through the Pilgrim's Eye, Volume 1, Building the Administrative Order, 1922-1952 by Earl Redman)

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Shoghi Effendi was a dark-complexioned man, dressed in Western attire but wearing a fez

I [Marcus Bach] saw coming through the adjoining room a small, dark-complexioned man, dressed in Western attire but wearing a fez. His clean-shaven face and slender figure registered indomitable strength...

(Shoghi Effendi Through the Pilgrim's Eye, Volume 1, Building the Administrative Order, 1922-1952 by Earl Redman)

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Main actors during the Constitutional Revolution were Baha'is not Azalis according to Moojan Momen.

It is the thesis of this paper that the evidence presented demonstrates that the main actors in this period [Constitutional Revolution, 1883–1906] were not Azalí Bábís as is usually stated but were either Bahá’ís or persons actively engaged with the Bahá’í community.

(The Reform Movement in Isfahan, Iran: The Role of Bábís and Bahá’ís by Moojan Momen)

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/17/6/717

The Constitutional Revolution was a nationalist and religious movement that arose in response to European interference in Iran's internal affairs. According to Mongol Bayat, it was led by a coalition of patriots, merchants & religious leaders, its primary goal was to replace the arbitrary rule of the Qajar monarchy with a representative government and the rule of law. This struggle eventually led to the establishment of the first Iranian parliament known as the Majles, and the promulgation of a national constitution in 1906.

Azalis contributed to the revolution by acting as secret religious dissidents who shifted their focus from doctrinal reforms to a broader political struggle for national liberation. To avoid persecution and gain public trust, they often practiced Taqiyya (Dissimulation) to hide their true identity while wearing traditional clerical turbans and garb. Key Azali figures and their networks were instrumental in forming secret societies, mobilizing religious students and distributing revolutionary literature that pushed high ranking religious leaders into action.

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Alvin told Shoghi Effendi that he would love to stay and teach in Israel

Alvin told Shoghi Effendi that he would love to stay and teach in Israel, but the Guardian said that it was not yet the time. Shoghi Effendi said that the million Jews who had come to Israel since it became a nation were not attached to religion, but to race. He told Alvin that the Israelis would develop the country and over time would slowly begin to understand the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. After world leaders began acknowledging the Faith, their eyes would be opened.

(Shoghi Effendi Through the Pilgrim's Eye, Volume 2, Building the Administrative Order, 1922-1952 by Earl Redman)

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Covenant-breakers were against the Jews

Virtually all the Covenant-breakers fled Haifa and Akka, joining forces with the Arab community in Lebanon and eventually becoming integrated into Islamic society.

(Shoghi Effendi Through the Pilgrim's Eye, Volume 1, Building the Administrative Order, 1922-1952 by Earl Redman)

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Shoghi Effendi's relations with the State of Israel

• Shoghi Effendi welcomed the emergence of the independent State of Israel with "great satisfaction," praising the maturity of its leaders and people.
• He viewed the re-establishment of the Jewish State as the fulfillment of divine promises made to the Jewish people by Baha'u'llah.
• He described the formation of the state as the Jewish people successfully asserting their sovereignty in the land of their ancestors.
• The Baha'i administration maintained friendly relations with the Israeli government, characterized by mutual understanding and cooperation.
• High-level visits were made to Baha'i Shrines by Israeli officials, including President Itzhak Ben-Zvi, which signaled official respect for the Baha'i Faith.
• Shoghi Effendi found the Israeli authorities to be supportive and stable, providing a better environment for the development of the Baha'i World Center than previous regimes.
• He believed the return of the Jews to their homeland was a "clear sign" of the dawn of a new era of global justice and peace.

Ugo Giachery remembers Shoghi Effendi as "the essence of justice".

(Extracted from the book "Shoghi Effendi - Recollections" by Ugo Giachery, 1973)

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