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Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1932, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1932 2 Dec
193-
By this time there were 15 Bahá'ís under arrest in Adana, Turkey. [BBR474] Persecution, Turkey; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution; Adana, Turkey; Turkey
1932 23 Nov
193-
The passing of George Adam Benke (b. Fredericksfelt, south Russia in 1878) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Shoghi Effendi declared him to be "the first European martyr. [BW5:416–418, LDG1p263]
  • He had become a Bahá'í as a result of the visit of Harlan and Grace Ober to Leipzig in 1920 and the further efforts of Miss Alma Knoblock. [BW5p416]
  • He translated the works of Bahálláh that had been translated into Russian by Thomansky and Rosenberg.
  • In June of 1931 he was called upon to help Marion Jack in Sofia where is knowledge of Russian facilitated his efforts. He stayed for three months.
  • Again in 1932 he was asked to go to Sofia where he passed away after a very short period of discomfort.
  • Shoghi Effendi called him the first European martyr. [LDG1:263; MC359]
  • Photo 1 of his gravesite in Sofia.
  • Photo 2 of his headstone.
  • George Benke; In Memoriam; George Adam Benke; Names and titles; Martyrs; Firsts, other; Fredericksfelt, Russia; Russia; Sofia, Bulgaria; Bulgaria first European martyr
    1932 3 Nov-6 Dec
    193-
    Meeting of the 22nd Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations in Geneva at which the Bahá'ís pleaded their case for the possession of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád. [BW5:351–4] League of Nations; House of Bahá'u'lláh (Baghdad); Geneva, Switzerland; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1932 Nov
    193-
    A number of Bahá'ís were arrested in Adana, Turkey. [BBR474] Persecution, Turkey; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution; Adana, Turkey; Turkey
    1932 3 Oct
    193-
    The term of The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or "Mandatory Iraq" came to an end. It had been created in 1921 following the Iraqi Revolt in 1920 and enacted via the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. The British chose Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi as king of of Iraq and Syria. He fostered unity between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and tried to promote pan-Arabism with the goal of creating an Arab state in Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Fertile Crescent. Faisal died in Switzerland while there for a medical examination at the age of 48, under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances. [Wikipedia]
  • Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations. [BW5p357]
  • King Faisal; History (general); United Kingdom, History (general); Colonialism and imperialism; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1932 15 Aug
    193-
    Keith Ransom-Kehler met the Iranian Court Minister Taymur Tash. [BW5:392]
  • She presented the American petition to him asking that the ban on Bahá'í literature in Iran be lifted and received assurances from him that this would be affected. [BW5:392; PH46]
  • She made seven successive petitions addressed to the Sháh of Persia. [GPB345]
  • For the history and unsuccessful outcome of this effort see BW5:391–8.
  • Keith Ransom-Kehler; National Spiritual Assembly; Petitions; Reza Shah Pahlavi; - Shahs; Keith Ransom-Kehler; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Bans; - Persecution; Iran; United States (USA)
    1932 15 Jul
    193-
    The Greatest Holy Leaf, Bahíyyih Khánum, 'outstanding heroine of the Bahá'í Dispensation' passed away in Haifa about one hour after midnight. [BW5:169; GPB108]
  • Her passing marked the end of the Heroic Age of the Faith. [BBD102; WOB98]
  • She was comparable in rank to Sarah, Ásíyih, the Virgin Mary, Fátimih and Táhirih. [GPB347] And from the publication in her honour by the World Centre in 1982 p34...
  • Shoghi Effendi was in Switzerland and immediately went to Italy to commission a memorial for her grave. [DH156]
  • Shoghi Effendi asked the Bahá'í World to observe a period of mourning for her of nine months. [This Decisive Hour #3]
  • For Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá revealed in her honour see BW5:171–3; by Bahá'u'lláh; by 'Abdu'l-Bahá; and for tributes by Shoghi Effendi as well as by Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhiyyih Khánum.
  • See BW19 pg39-74 The Greatest Holy Leaf, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Passing of Bahiyyih Khanum.
  • For Shoghi Effendi's tribute to her see BW5:174–9.
  • For Marjory Morten's obituary of her see BW5:181–5.
  • The design of the monument for the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf is a symbol of the Bahá'í administrative order. [CB298]
  • See also Bahíyyih Khánum published by the World Centre in 1982 and Khánum, The Greatest Holy Leaf by Marzieh Gail published by George Ronald in 1982; BBD42; CB121–2, 305; DH156–61; GBF65–8; PP144–8.
  • See A Gift of Love; Offered to the Greatest Holy Leaf by Abu'l-Qasim Faizi.
  • Meditation on Passing of Bahíyyih Khánum from Bahíyyih Khánum, compiled by the Research Department pp23-30
  • See The Greatest Holy Leaf's Unparalleled Role in Religious History and the Significance of the Arc, the Site of Her Resting Place by Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani. The paper was presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #121 [English], Louhelen Bahá'í Center: Davison, Michigan, USA, October 10–13, 2013 and has been published in Lights of Irfan, volume 15.
  • Bahiyyih Khanum (Greatest Holy Leaf); Heroic age; Marjory Morten; In Memoriam; Monument Gardens; Architecture; Cemeteries and graves; - Bahá'í World Centre buildings, monuments and gardens; * Bahá'í World Centre; * Shoghi Effendi (chronology); * Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Shoghi Effendi, Works of; * Bahá'í World Centre; Mount Carmel
    1932 10 Jun
    193-
    The American National Spiritual Assembly addresseed a petition to the Sháh of Iran requesting that the ban on Bahá'í literature be removed and asking that its representative, Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehler, be recognized to present in person the appeal. [BW5:390–1] National Spiritual Assembly; Petitions; Reza Shah Pahlavi; - Shahs; Keith Ransom-Kehler; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Bans; - Persecution; United States (USA); Iran
    1932 May or Jun
    193-
    Two Bahá'ís from Germany settled in Sofia, Bulgaria to assist Marion Jack. Lina and George Benke had become Bahá'ís in Leipzig after hearing of the Faith from Harlan and Grace Ober and Alma Knobloch. From June 1931 and later in May 1932 the couple travelled to Sofia and settled there as pioneers where their contacts were mostly in the Esperanto community. In the few months they were there George travelled to Stara Zagora, Varna and Plovdiv, all towns some distance from Sofia. He was elderly and in frail health and passed away in November, 1932. [SYH176] George Benke; Lina Benke; Sofia, Bulgaria; Stara Zagora, Bulgaria; Varna, Bulgaria; Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Bulgaria
    1932 (Spring)
    193-
    Louise Gregory left Varna in the early Spring to go first to Prague Brno and, then to Budapest. She continued her tour around Europe and by July she was in Salzburg, Austria. She spent the summer in the coolness of the mountains of Germany and Austria. By the autumn of 1932 she was back in Varna once again having visited Hamburg, Leipzig, Vienna, Salzburg and Budapest. [NBAD176; SYH177]
  • Marion Jack was based in Varna at this time.
  • In May, 1933 she left Varna for Salzburg, Austria where she spent four days before moving on to Hamburg, Germany to depart for New York. She arrived on the 26th of May 1933 on the SS Hamburg of the Hamburg-American Line. During this trip she had visited Varna, Bulgaria and Brno in Czechoslovakia, Budapest in Hungary, Salzburg in Austria, Berchtesgaden and Stuttgart in Germany. [SYH178, 241]
  • Louise Gregory; Varna, Bulgaria
    1932 Apr
    193-
    Pilgrims were able to stay overnight at Bahjí for the first time. [GBF101; PP232] House of Bahá'u'lláh (Bahji); Pilgrims; Bahji, Israel first time pilgrims stay overnight at Bahjí
    1932 21 Mar
    193-
    The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo, consisting of journalists and other professional people, was formed.
  • Owing to the situation in Japan, it was disbanded two years later. [In memoriam Barbara Sims by Universal House of Justice, Sheridan Sims, and Sandra S. Fotos]
  • Local Spiritual Assembly; Tokyo, Japan first LSA Tokyo
    1932 27 Feb
    193-
    Race Amity gatherings became an effective way promote the principle of racial equality. A number pf banquets were held and at one such gathering held in Los Angeles, the circle of racial amity activities was widened to include not only white and coloured but also Native Americans, as well as Chinese and Japanese. At the banquet dinner, Nellie French represented the National Assembly and Chief Luther Standing Bear, who attended in full regalia with a number of his tribesmen, offered a prayer and spoke of peace as a covenant among all races. A Native American tribal dance followed as part of the programme. [Louis Gregory, 'Racial Amity in America: An Historical Review', in BW7p652-666.] Race; Race amity; Race unity; Conferences, Race Amity; Native Americans; Diaspora, Chinese; Diaspora, Japanese; Los Angeles, CA; California, USA; United States (USA)
    1932 17 Feb
    193-
    The Chicago Bahá'í Assembly incorporated, the first local spiritual assembly in the world to do so. This set the pattern for other Assemblies. [GPB336, Century of LIght p57] Local Spiritual Assembly; Incorporation; Recognition (legal); Firsts, other; Chicago, IL; United States (USA) First LSA in the world to incorporate.
    1932 (In the year)
    193-
    Land for a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár was purchased at Ḥadiqa, northeast of Tehran, and a design for this building by Mason Remey was approved by Shoghi Effendi whom 'Abdu'l-Bahá had chosen as the architect. [MAŠREQ AL-AḎKĀR Encyclopaedia Iranica]
  • The construction of the Temple was an unfulfilled goal of the Ten Year Crusade and was made a goal of the Nine Year Plan. Pending the construction, the National Spiritual Assembly built an extensive wall around the property and surveyed the land and located the site of the building.
  • The architect's elevation of the Temple can be see at BW14p495.
  • Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Tihran; Mason Remey; Tehran, Iran; Iran
    1932 (In the year)
    193-
    Johanne Sorensen translated and paid for the publication of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era in Danish. [SRR14p235] Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era (book); Johanne Sorensen; * Translation; Denmark
    1932 (In the year)
    193-
    The publication of The Religion of the Baha'is by J R Richards, a CMS Missionary in Shiraz. Published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in London. The Religion of the Bahá'ís; J R Richards; London, England
    1932 (In the year)
    193-
    Shoghi Effendi's translation of Nabíl's Narrative entitled The Dawn-Breakers was published. Maṭāleʿ al-anwār, as Nabíl's word was entitled, was the most authentic and the main primary source on the early history of the Bábí movement in Iran, was regarded by the Bahá'ís as the definitive account of the Bāb's dispensation. The work has been translated into many languages, and it has played a major role in familiarizing the Bahá'ís around the world with the historical background of their faith and helping them understand its link to the socio-religious climate of the Persian society in the early days of its development. The original Persian manuscript of Maṭāleʿ al-anwār, has been preserved at the International Bahá'í Archives in Haifa. It is comprised 1,014 pages of 22-24 lines.["Nabil-e aʿzam Zaranadi, Mollā Mohammad," by Vahid Rafati, Encyclopædia Iranica, GBF91; PP215]
  • Shoghi Effendi's translation covered only the first part of Nabil's manuscript, up to 1852, and it may have been an abridgement. The original covered up until the time of the book's completion in 1890. [RR425]
  • The work took him two years of research. [PP217]
  • He sent Effie Baker to Iran to take photographs for the book. [PP217]
  • For George Townshend's assistance to the project see GT59, 60, 64–9.
  • For Shoghi Effendi's purpose in translating and editing the book see WOB123.
  • See also BBD64; GBF913 PP215–18.
  • In the "Acknowledgement" Shoghi Effendi credited Lady Blomfield for her suggestions, "an English correspondent for his help in the preparation of the Introduction, Mrs E Hoagg for typing the manuscript and Effie Baker for the photographs. [DB page lxi]
  • See RR422-440 for other historical accounts that might be used as source documents for the Bábí-Bahá'í history.
  • See Mary Maxwell's article The Re-florescence of Historical Romance in Nabil. [BW5p595]
  • See Shoghi Effendi: The Range and Power of His Pen by 'Ali Nakhjavani p82 for information on the writing of The Dawn-Breakers.
  • * Shoghi Effendi (chronology); Shoghi Effendi, Translations by; Nabil-i-Azam; Dawn-Breakers (book); Effie Baker; George Townshend; * Publications; * Translation; Lady Sarah Louisa Blomfield; Amatul-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum; Shoghi Effendi, Works of
    1932 (In the year)
    193-
    The Iranian government introduced measures against the Bahá'ís throughout Iran. Restrictions were placed on the import of Bahá'í books and periodicals by post and on the publication of Bahá'í literature. Bahá'í marriages were not recognized. [BW18p388] Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Bans; - Persecution; Iran
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