ʻAbdu'l-Bahá,born ʻAbbás,was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the BaháʼíFaith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Baháwas later canonized as the last of three "central figures" of the religion,along with Baháʼu'lláh and the Báb,and his writings and authenticated talks are regarded as sources of Baháʼísacred literature.
ShoghíEffendi(;1 March 1897 –4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá,appointed to the role of Guardian of the BaháʼíFaith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that oversaw the expansion of the faith to many new countries,and also translated many of the writings of the Baháʼícentral figures. He was succeeded by an interim arrangement of the Hands of the Cause until the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963.
Jean Genet was a French novelist,playwright,poet,essayist,and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal,but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony,The Maids and The Screens.
Amatu'l-BaháRúhíyyih Khánum,born Mary Sutherland Maxwell,was the wife of Shoghi Effendi from 1937 to 1957 and a prominent figure in the development of the BaháʼíFaith. In 1952,she was elevated to the Baháʼírank of Hands of the Cause,for which she attended to issues related to the expansion and protection of the religion,and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957 to 1963.
Suha Arafat is the widow of former Palestinian National Authority president Yasser Arafat.
Baháʼu'lláh was the founder of the BaháʼíFaith. He was born in 1817 to Khadíjih Khánum and MírzáBuzurg of Nur,a Persian nobleman,and went on to be a leader in the Bábímovement,and then established the BaháʼíFaith in 1863. Baháʼu'lláh's family consists of his three wives and the children of those wives.
The BaháʼíFaith was formed in the late 19th-century Middle East by Baháʼu'lláh,and teaches that an official line of succession of leadership is part of a divine covenant that assures unity and prevents schism. There are no major schisms in the BaháʼíFaith,and attempts to form alternative leadership have either become extinct with time or have remained in extremely small numbers that are shunned by the majority. The largest extant sect is related to Mason Remey's claim to leadership in 1960,which has continued with two or three groups numbering at most 200 collectively,mostly in the United States.
The BaháʼíFaith has its background in two earlier movements in the nineteenth century,Shaykhism and Bábism. Shaykhism centred on theosophical doctrines and many Shaykhis expected the return of the hidden Twelfth Imam. Many Shaykhis joined the messianic Bábímovement in the 1840s where the Báb proclaimed himself to be the return of the hidden Imam. As the Bábímovement spread in Iran,violence broke out between the ruling Shiʿa Muslim government and the Bábís,and ebbed when government troops massacred them,and executed the Báb in 1850.
Afnán,is a term in literature of the BaháʼíFaith referring to maternal relatives of the Báb,and is used as a surname by their descendants. This name is also mentioned in the Quran.
Munib Jalal Shahid was Chairman of Hematology and Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine of the American University of Beirut. He built the hematology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine,a development that increased research output significantly. The Dr. Munib Shahid Award is presented annually at the American University of Beirut to the fourth year medical student demonstrating the best performance in internal medicine and a mature character.
John Ebenezer Esslemont M.B.,Ch.B.,from Scotland,was a prominent British adherent of the BaháʼíFaith. Shoghi Effendi,Guardian of the BaháʼíFaith,posthumously named Esslemont a Hand of the Cause of God,one of the Disciples of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá,and one of the United Kingdom's three luminaries of the BaháʼíFaith. He was the author of one of the foremost introductory texts on the BaháʼíFaith and worked as a translator of Baháʼítexts near the end of his life. In addition to his work for the BaháʼíFaith,Esslemont was an accomplished physician,as well as a linguist,proficient in English,French,Spanish,German,Esperanto,and later Persian and Arabic. Dr. Esslemont died of tuberculosis in Palestine in 1925.
Serene Husseini Shahid was a teacher and scholar of Palestinian embroidery and a writer.
The BaháʼíFaith in Kazakhstan began during the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time,Kazakhstan,as part of the Russian Empire,had indirect contact with the BaháʼíFaith as far back as 1847. Following the arrival of pioneers the community grew to be the largest religious community after Islam and Christianity,although only a minor percent of the national whole. By 1994 the National Spiritual Assembly of Kazakhstan was elected and the community had begun to multiply its efforts across various interests. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 6,400 Baháʼís in 2005.
Opponents of the BaháʼíFaith have accused the faith's followers of committing various acts of political mischief,such as having a supposed "dual loyalty" and being secretly in the employ of foreign powers supposedly inimical to the interest of their home state. These accusations,together with others with a more theological bent,have been used to justify persecution of adherents of the BaháʼíFaith and the religion itself.
Though mentioned in German literature in the 19th century,the history of the BaháʼíFaith in Germany begins in the early 20th century when two emigrants to the United States returned on prolonged visits to Germany bringing their newfound religion. The first BaháʼíLocal Spiritual Assembly was established following the conversion of enough individuals to elect one in 1908. After the visit of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá,then head of the religion,and the establishing of many further assemblies across Germany despite the difficulties of World War I,elections were called for the first BaháʼíNational Spiritual Assembly in 1923. Banned for a time by the Nazi government and then in East Germany,the religion re-organized and was soon given the task of building the first BaháʼíHouse of Worship for Europe. After German reunification the community multiplied its interests across a wide range of concerns earning the praise of German politicians. German Census data shows 5,600 registered Baháʼís in Germany in 2012. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 11,743 Baháʼís in 2005 and 12,356 Baháʼís in 2010. According to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany,the German Baha'i community consists of about 100 local communities and 6000 members,towards the end of 2019.
The BaháʼíFaith in England started with the earliest mentions of the predecessor of the BaháʼíFaith,the Báb,in The Times on 1 November 1845,only a little over a year after the Báb first stated his mission. Today there are Baháʼícommunities across the country from Carlisle to Cornwall.
The earliest contact documented to date,between Armenians and the Bábí-Baháʼíreligion began on an unfortunate note in the banishments and execution of the Báb,the Founder of the BábíFaith,viewed by Baháʼís as a precursor religion,but ended courageously to the credit of the Armenian officer. In that same year the teachings of the new religion were taken to Armenia. More research is necessary to determine the details. Decades later,during the time of Soviet repression of religion,Baháʼís in Armenia were isolated from Baháʼís elsewhere. Eventually,by 1963,Baháʼícommunities had been identified in Yerevan and Artez and communication re-established. Later,in the time of Perestroika,when increasing freedoms were allowed,there were enough Baháʼís in some cities that BaháʼíLocal Spiritual Assemblies could be formed in those Baháʼícommunities in 1991. Armenian Baháʼís were able to elect their own National Spiritual Assembly in 1995. In such a situation,where religious observance had been a criminal activity,a religious census is problematic. Operation World,published in 2001,approximated the number of Baháʼís in Armenia at 1400. Three years later,Baháʼís counted only about 200. Baháʼís generally count only adult voting members of the community,the other may have been statistically generated from a random sample to include all ages.
The BaháʼíFaith in Georgia began with its arrival in the region in 1850 through its association with the precursor religion the BábíFaith during the lifetime of Baháʼu'lláh. During the period of Soviet policy of religious oppression,the institutions of the Baháʼís in the Soviet Republics were progressively dissolved and so disappeared from communication with Baháʼís elsewhere. However,in 1963 an individual was identified in Tbilisi. Following Perestroika the first BaháʼíLocal Spiritual Assembly of Georgia formed in 1991 and Georgian Baháʼís elected their first National Spiritual Assembly in 1995. The religion is noted as growing in Georgia. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 1,588 Baháʼís in 2005.
MírzáMuḥammad Muṣṭafáal-Baghdádí (1837/8—1910) was a prominent Iraqi adherent of the Baháʼífaith and one of 19 Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh. Mustafáwas among the leading Baháʼís in Iraq until he moved to Beirut in the late 1870s,where he coordinated pilgrims going to see Baháʼu'lláh in ʻAkká,and later he was involved with the movement of the Báb's remains to ʻAkká.
Hanna Mikhail,nome de guerre Abu Omar,was a Palestinian scholar and a Fatah member who disappeared in 1976.
