Bahá'í Faith in Afghanistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith in Afghanistan began in 1880s with visits by Bahá'ís. However it wasn't until the 1930s any Bahá'í settled there.[1] In 1966 with the establishment of the first Bahá'í community was operating in Kabul.[2] Though the population had perhaps reached thousands, under the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the harsh rule of the Taliban the Bahá'ís lost the right to have any institutions and many fled.
Contents |
[edit] Early period
During Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime, Jamal Effendi may have been the first Bahá'í to visit the area of Afghanistan in the late 1880s.[1]
[edit] `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan
`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917 suggesting Bahá'ís take the religion to many places; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan but were delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I and the Spanish flu. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4th, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12th, 1919.[3] One tablet says in part:
O that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá” in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it.…
…if some teachers go to other islands and other parts, such as the continent of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, also to Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea, French Indochina, Siam, Straits Settlements, India, Ceylon and Afghanistan, most great results will be forthcoming.[4]
In the late 1930s Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, urged the Persian Bahá'ís to send a pioneer to Afghanistan and a young Persian educated in India, 'Ali-Muhammad Nabílí went sometime 1938-40. Other pioneers failed to remain during the period of the World Wars.
[edit] After the World Wars
By 1963 there was a group of Baháís living in Kabul.[5] The first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1969 in Kabul and the first National Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1972.[2] There were an estimated 400 Bahá'ís in mid 1970s, and 4 assemblies in 1973.[1]
[edit] Soviet invasion
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 bringing with it the policy of religious oppression, the Bahá'ís, strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned its administration.[6] Waves of refugees left in 1979 and some returned after 1990.[2] The World Christian Encyclopedia records about 19,500 Afghan Bahá'ís in 1990 and 23,075 in 2000.[7] A new assembly was elected in 1995 in Mazar-e Sharif.[2] One of the diaspora of the Soviet invasion, Mithaq Kazimi, came of age in the West and founded a film festival[8] and produced an independent documentary of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.[9]
[edit] Taliban
In 1998, when the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan arrested many Bahá'ís, many began to flee to Pakistan.[2] Many Afghani Bahá'ís fled during the 2000-2001 period of Taliban rule becoming members of the Bahá'í Faith in Pakistan. Following the 2001 fall of the Taliban, many Afghan Bahá'ís have returned. In 2007 the US government estimated the Bahá'í population under the Taliban had fallen to about 400 - 300 of which were in Kabul.[10]
[edit] Recent Developments
In 2005 the Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 13,400 Bahá'ís in 2005[11] However, according to the US State Department, in 2007 the General Directorate of Fatwas and Accounts under the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the status of the Bahá'í Faith, declaring it to be distinct from Islam and a form of blasphemy, affirmed that all Muslims who convert to the religion were apostates from Islam, declared all followers of the religion to be infidels and hazards the status of marriages of Bahá'ís.[10] But in 2008, 50 Bahá'ís from Afghanistan managed to travel to India for a regional conference held in New Dehli called for by the Universal House of Justice.[12]
[edit] Reference
- ^ a b c Hassall, Graham. "Notes on Research Countries". Research notes. Asia Pacific Bahá'í Studies. http://bahai-library.com/asia-pacific/country%20files/afghanistan.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
- ^ a b c d e "Bahá'í Faith in Afghanistan". http://www.afghanbahais.org/afghanbahais.htm#ENg. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ Abbas, 'Abdu'l-Bahá; Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, trans. and comments (April 1919). Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation. http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=abdulbaha_tablets_instructions_explanation.html.
- ^ `Abdu'l-Bahá (1991). Tablets of the Divine Plan (Paperback ed.). Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. pp. 43. ISBN 0877432333. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TDP/tdp-7.html.iso8859-1?query=Afghanistan&action=highlight#gr10.
- ^ Compiled by Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land. "The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963". pp. 55. http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=handscause_statistics_1953-63&chapter=1#19.
- ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1936-03-11). The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. Haifa, Palestine: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991 first pocket-size edition. pp. pp. 64–67. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/WOB/wob-34.html#pg64.
- ^ "Azerbaijani, continued...". Adherents.com. http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_52.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
- ^ "Film festival brings it all together". National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. 2009-01-30. http://www.bahai.us/film-festival. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
- ^ "16 Days in Afghanistan". Kaz Da Kovenant Factory. 2007. http://www.kdkfactory.com/16days/cast.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
- ^ a b "Afghanistan - International Religious Freedom Report 2007". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90225.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
- ^ "Most Baha'i Nations (2005)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions >. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_40c.asp. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
- ^ Bahá'í International Community (2008-11-23). "The New Delhi Regional Conference". Bahá'í World News Service. http://news.bahai.org/community-news/regional-conferences/newdelhi.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-04.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Afghan Bahais.org (there are no institutions of the religion in Afghanistan)
