List of notable and influential individuals with Baha'i heritage in Pahlavi-era Iran

1. General Dr. 'Abd al-Karim Ayadi: The Shah’s personal physician, chief of staff, and head of the army's Health Office.
2. General Asad Allah Sani'i: Former Minister of War and Head of the Shah’s Office while he was Crown Prince.
3. General 'Ali Muhammad Khadimi: Head of Iran’s national airline, HOMA.
4. Colonel Husayn Vahdat-i Haqq: A military engineer and polyglot who served as a military attaché in Germany.
5. Habib Allah Sabit: An industrialist and entrepreneur who introduced television to Iran.
6. Dr. Manuchihr Sharif al-Attiba (Manshadi): A physician and resident at Pahlavi University.
7. Huzhabr Yazdani: An affluent businessman and tycoon known for donating to Baha'i causes.
8. Mansour Rouhani: Minister of Water and Power, and later Agriculture; he had a Baha'i father but did not register as a Baha'i himself.
9. Dr. Sulayman Birjis: A prominent physician based in Kashan.
10. Abbas Shahidzadah: A successful engineer.
11. Sifat Allah Fahandizh: An officer in the Iranian Army.
12. Amir 'Abbas Hoveyda: The long-serving Prime Minister of Iran, who was raised Muslim despite having a Baha'i grandfather.
13. Parviz Sabiti: Second in command of SAVAK, born to Baha'i parents but later identifying as non-religious.
14. Mahnaz Afkhami: A government minister who had one Baha'i parent but did not identify as a Baha'i herself.
15. Shapour Rasekh: An advisor to the Shah and member of several Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
16. Farrokhroo Parsa: Daughter of Afaq Parsa, who was a prominent Baha'i educator and feminist. Farrokhroo Parsa became the first female cabinet minister in Iran, serving as the Minister of Education. She was a Muslim.

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Mirza Yahya poisoning Baha'u'llah and Dr. Shíshmán sacrificing his life for Baha'u'llah

Desperate designs to poison Bahá’u’lláh and His companions, and thereby reanimate his own defunct leadership, began, approximately a year after their arrival in Adrianople, to agitate his mind. Well aware of the erudition of his half-brother, Áqáy-i-Kalím, in matters pertaining to medicine, he, under various pretexts, sought enlightenment from him regarding the effects of certain herbs and poisons, and then began, contrary to his wont, to invite Bahá’u’lláh to his home, where, one day, having smeared His tea-cup with a substance he had concocted, he succeeded in poisoning Him sufficiently to produce a serious illness which lasted no less than a month, and which was accompanied by severe pains and high fever, the aftermath of which left Bahá’u’lláh with a shaking hand till the end of His life. So grave was His condition that a foreign doctor, named Shíshmán, was called in to attend Him. The doctor was so appalled by His livid hue that he deemed His case hopeless, and, after having fallen at His feet, retired from His presence without prescribing a remedy. A few days later that doctor fell ill and died. Prior to his death Bahá’u’lláh had intimated that doctor Shíshmán had sacrificed his life for Him. To Mírzá Áqá Ján, sent by Bahá’u’lláh to visit him, the doctor had stated that God had answered his prayers, and that after his death a certain Dr. Chúpán, whom he knew to be reliable, should, whenever necessary, be called in his stead.

On another occasion this same Mírzá Yaḥyá had, according to the testimony of one of his wives, who had temporarily deserted him and revealed the details of the above-mentioned act, poisoned the well which provided water for the family and companions of Bahá’u’lláh, in consequence of which the exiles manifested strange symptoms of illness. He even had, gradually and with great circumspection, disclosed to one of the companions, Ustád Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i-Salmání, the barber, on whom he had lavished great marks of favor, his wish that he, on some propitious occasion, when attending Bahá’u’lláh in His bath, should assassinate Him. “So enraged was Ustád Muḥammad-‘Alí,” Áqáy-i-Kalím, recounting this episode to Nabíl in Adrianople, has stated, “when apprized of this proposition, that he felt a strong desire to kill Mírzá Yaḥyá on the spot, and would have done so but for his fear of Bahá’u’lláh’s displeasure.

(Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/god-passes-by/12#972283719

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Azal poisoned Baha'u'llah with mercury chloride

Jealousy on the part of Azal, intensified by his lust for leadership, grew pejoratively deeper over the course of the Edirne period. As evidence of this, Baha’u’llah apostrophizes ‘you’ who ‘resolved to shed His [Baha’u’llah’s] blood’ (par. 26). This clearly refers to Baha’u’llah’s half-brother and arch-rival, Mīrzā Yaḥyā (‘Azal’), who poisoned Baha’u’llah, ‘probably’ with ‘sublimate of mercury’ (mercury chloride).

Then, failing that, Azal tried to persuade Baha’u’llah’s personal attendant and barber, Ustād Muḥammad-‘Alī Salmānī, to slit Baha’u’llah’s throat.

(Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice: Commentary and Translation, Christopher Buck - Independent Scholar, Pittsburgh, Adib Masumian - Austin)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322466992_Baha%27u%27llah%27s_Paradise_of_Justice_Commentary_and_Translation

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We speak one word, and by it we intend one and seventy meanings

Indeed, some revealed works, especially those by Baha’u’llah, warrant numerous examinations, each of which will provide an entirely different experience for the reader; often a panoply of meanings becomes apparent at every successive level of interpretation, each of which may well result in further insights into the “intended meaning” of the work. It is in this context that at the conclusion of the Kitab-i-iqan, Baha’u’llah cites Sadiq, the sixth of the Shi’ih Imams, to acknowledge that “We speak one word, and by it we intend one and seventy meanings; each one of these meanings we can explain.”

(The Body of God by John S. Hatcher)

We speak one word, and by it we intend one and seventy meanings; each one of these meanings we can explain.

(Bahá’u’lláh, The Ki tab-i-Ian, p. 255)

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to consider oneself as more learned, more favoured, more accomplished, more righteous or more exalted is a mighty error and sin.

Those souls who have drunk from the sea of the utterance of the All-Merciful and are turning towards the All-High Horizon should see themselves as being of one rank and one station. Should this injunction be firmly established and be realized through the power and might of God, the world would be seen as the Abhá paradise. Verily human beings are exalted, as can be found in every Divine scripture; but to consider oneself as more learned, more favoured, more accomplished, more righteous or more exalted is a mighty error and sin.

(Lawh-i Ittihád, The Tablet of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh - provisional translation by Moojan Momen)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/m/michot_tablets_bahaullah_3.pdf

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innumerable sects became the cause of the shaking of the foundations of Islam.

The Holy Law (Sharí`ah) of the Messenger of God [Mohammed] may be likened to an ocean from which innumerable gulfs branch out. And this is the cause of the weakness of the Sharí`ah of God among the peoples. Until now no-one, not kings nor subjects nor the indigent have understood the reason for this, nor have they appreciated how to regain that power that has vanished and the learning that has fallen away. Thus one gulf is Shí`a, one gulf is Sunni, one Shaykhi, another Shah Ni`matulláhí, one Naqshbandi, another Malámatí, one Jalálí, another Rifá`í, and yet another Khárábátí. Thus are multiplied the innumerable pathways to hell. Thus do the stones weep and the Pen of the All-High laments. Seest thou what has befallen a Sharí`ah whose light illumined the world and whose fire, that is to say the fire of its love, was the guide of its peoples. Well is it with those who ponder upon these matters and investigate them and are fair in their judgement. Thus did this difference in rituals become the cause of the shaking of the foundations of the Cause of God [Islam].

(Lawh-i Ittihád, The Tablet of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh - provisional translation by Moojan Momen)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/m/michot_tablets_bahaullah_3.pdf

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Sudden growth also had its negative effects... Withdrawal rates jumped from one-third to one-half

However, sudden growth also had its negative effects. The vast majority of the new Bahá’ís knew little about the teachings of their new religion; hence many of the newly formed local spiritual assemblies had difficulty functioning. Withdrawal rates also jumped; perhaps one-third to one-half of the new believers did not remain Bahá’ís. Since the withdrawals occurred over many years, subsequent Bahá’í membership growth appeared to be less than it really was; for example, by 1979 the American Bahá’í membership had grown to seventy-five thousand, only fifteen thousand more than in 1974, but the increase reflected a much stronger enrollment rate than the net growth suggested. To complicate matters, some new Bahá’ís did not remain active but never notified the National Spiritual Assembly that they no longer considered themselves Bahá’ís. As a result, the percentage of the American Bahá’í membership with known addresses decreased. Nevertheless, the American Bahá’í community had grown significantly in size.

Not all of the expansion of the membership was caused by conversions from the youth culture. The Nine Year Plan was also the time when the American Bahá’í community first used techniques of teaching the Bahá’í Faith to large numbers of people. In the rural south, particularly in South Carolina, the African-American population proved particularly receptive and enrolled in the Faith by the thousands. Consolidation of the new Bahá’ís proved more difficult and occurred at a slower pace. In South Carolina, the Louis G. Gregory Institute was established in 1972 to educate the local Bahá’ís. Hispanic and native American populations also were attracted to the Bahá’í Faith, particularly in the Southwest.

The Five Year Plan, which spanned the years between 1974 and 1979, saw a significant expansion in the number of local spiritual assemblies in the United States—from 822 to 1,489, 89 more than called for in the plan. Diversification of the community also continued. The number of Bahá’í communities on Indian reservations with local spiritual assemblies exceeded twenty-five. After 1975, Southeast Asian refugees became part of the American Bahá’í community. Some had been Bahá’ís in Vietnam and Cambodia, more had converted in Asian refugee camps around the world, and others became Bahá’ís in the United States. After the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978, Iranian Bahá’í refugees also began to enter the United States; eventually about ten thousand settled.

One goal of the Five Year Plan—expanding the use of radio and television for Bahá’í broadcasts aimed at the proclamation of the Faith to greater numbers of listeners, as well as deepening the faith of Bahá’ís, especially in rural areas—proved of great importance when the persecution of the Iranian Bahá’í community began in 1978. The American Bahá’ís had developed contacts with the media and, to some extent, with government officials. That experience proved useful in creating awareness of the plight of the Bahá’ís in Iran. Throughout the Seven Year Plan (1979-86) and the Six Year Plan (1986-92), press coverage of the Iranian Bahá’ís was considerable, articles about the American Bahá’í community steadily increased, and the consequent awareness of the existence of the Bahá’í religion in the mind of the public steadily improved. In 1984 the Universal House of Justice declared that the Bahá’í Faith was emerging from obscurity, a long-sought goal of the Bahá’ís.

(World Order, Series 2, Volume 25 - Issue 3)

https://bahai.works/World_Order/Series2/Volume_25/Issue_3/Text

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Removing a believer from the Baha'i membership list

Inactivity alone is not a cause for removing a believer from the Bahá’í membership list. Removal can be done only when the believer himself withdraws from the Faith or is removed from the list of voting members by formal administrative action.

(Baha'i News, No. 195, May, 1947)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_195/Text

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an administration they must obey

"Those who declare themselves as Bahá’ís should become enchanted with the beauty of the Teachings; and touched by the love of Bahá’u’lláh. The declarants need not know all the proofs, history, laws, and principles of the Faith, but in the process of declaring themselves they must, in addition to catching the spark of faith, become basically informed about the Central Figures of the Faith, as well as the existence of laws they must follow and an administration they must obey."

(Universal House of Justice, 13 July 1964)

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The Babi and Baha'i Faiths arose in the Twelver Shia Islam

The Babi and Bahá'í Faiths arose in the Twelver Shi`i milieu in Iran and are related in many ways to Shi`i belief, practice, and concepts.

(Shi`i Islam, Moojan Momen, 1995)

https://bahai-library.com/momen_encyclopedia_shii_islam

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