Our martyred brother, Aminu'l-'Ulama' by name, had for some time past
become notorious in the eyes of the Muslim inhabitants of Ardibil for his
tenacity of faith by openly refusing at every instance to vilify and
renounce his most cherished convictions. In the latter part of Ramadan--the
month associated with prayer, pious deeds and fasting--his use of the
public bath (that long-established institution the amenities and
privileges of which are as a rule accorded only to the adherents of the
Muslim Faith) had served to inflame the mob, and to provide a scheming
instigator with a pretext to terminate his life. In the market place he
was ridiculed and condemned as an apostate of the Faith of Islam, who, by
boldly rejecting the repeated entreaties showered upon him to execrate the
Baha'i name, had lawfully incurred the penalty of immediate death at the
hands of every pious upholder of the Muslim tradition.
In spite of the close surveillance exercised by a body of guards stationed
around his house, in response to the intercession of his friends with the
local authorities, the treacherous criminal found his way into his home,
and on the night of the 22nd of Ramadan, corresponding with the 26th of
March, 1927, assailed him in a most atrocious and dastardly manner.
Concealing within the folds of his garment his unsheathed dagger, he
approached his victim and claiming the need of whispering a confidential
message in his ears, plunged the weapon hilt-deep into his vitals, cutting
across his ribs and mutilating his body. Every attempt to secure immediate
medical assistance seems to have been foiled by malicious devices on the
part of the associates of this merciless criminal, and the helpless victim
after a few hours of agonizing pain surrendered his soul to his Beloved.
His friends and fellow-believers, alarmed at the prospect of a fresh
outbreak that would inevitably result were his mortal remains to be
accorded the ordinary privileges of a decent burial, decided to inter his
body in one of the two rooms that served as his own dwelling, seeking
thereby to appease the fury of an unrelenting foe.
He leaves behind in desperate poverty a family of minors with no support
but their mother, expectant to bring forth her child, and with no hope of
relief from their non-Baha'i relatives in whose eyes they deserve to be
treated only with the meanest contempt.
It appears from the above-mentioned report that the merciless assailant
has been arrested, waiting, however, as has been the case with similar
incidents in southern Persia, to be sooner or later released under the
pressure of bribery and intimidation sedulously exercised by an impenitent
enemy.
Dearest friends! Any measure of publicity the concerted efforts of the
Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies of the West, on whom almighty Providence has
conferred the inestimable benefits of religious toleration and freedom,
can accord to this latest manifestation of unbridled barbarism in Persia
will be most opportune and valuable. It will, I am certain, confer abiding
solace to those disconsolate sufferers who with sublime heroism continue
to uphold the traditions of their beloved Faith. Our one weapon lies in
our prayerful efforts, intelligently and persistently pursued, to arouse
by every means at our disposal the conscience of unheeding humanity, and
to direct the attention of men of vision and authority to these incredibly
odious acts which in their ferocity and frequency cannot but constitute in
the eyes of every fair-minded observer the gravest challenge to all that
is sacred and precious in our present-day civilization.
Your true brother,
SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 27, 1927.
Letter of May 27, 1927.
To the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada:
Dearly-beloved co-workers:
Your communications dated April 15th and May 6th and 9th have been
received, with their enclosures, and carefully perused.