Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1981-1, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1981 27 Dec Eight of the nine members of the replacement National Spiritual Assembly of Iran were executed. They replaced the members who had been arrested and who had "disappeared" in August of 1980. The members of the second National Assembly were: Mr. Mihdi Amin Amin, Mrs. Zhinus Mahmudi, Dr. 'Izzatu'lláh Furúhi, Mr. Kamran Samimi, Mr. Jalal Azizi, Dr. Mahmud Madjhub, Mr. Sirus Rawshani Oskui, and Mr. Qudratu'llah Rawhani. Gítí Vahíd was absent from the meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly through illness and so was not arrested. [BI13; BW19:43; Message from the Universal House of Justice 28 December 1981]
  • Note: The Archives of the Bahá'í Persecution in Iran reports that seven members of the second National Assembly after the revolution were executed in December 1981. There is a photo but the members are not identified.
  • See Iran Press Watch # 20394.
  • A video of the trial of the second Assembly was shown on the BBC on the 17th of October, 2015. Mrs Ahinous Ne'mat was not present in the video. The remaining members shown were: Mahmound Madjzoob, Kamran Samimi, Jalal Azizi, Qudrat'u'llah Rohani, Mehdi Amin Amin, Sirous Roshani Oskou'i, and Ezzat'u'allah Fououhi.
  • See Letter From Zhínús Mahmúdí to Her Three Children, 7 June 1981. Her husband Húshang had been elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly. He had been arrested on 21 August 1980 and his whereabouts are still unknown. His wife was arrested on 13 December 1981 and she was executed on the 27th. The Telegraph 22JUN24 [World Order, Series 2, Volume_17 Issue 1 p32-35] IIIII
  • Link to Muna Mahmoudi's talk on Sacrifice & Martydom.
  • See Religion New Service 2 April, 2020 for a story about the execution of Kamran Samimi and his companions. For a brief biography of Kamran Samini see Wikipedia.
  • See Iran Wire for details of the life of Dr Sirous Rowshani Oskui.
  • National Spiritual Assembly, Iran; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Deaths; - Persecution; Iran
    1981 10 Dec The Universal House of Justice announced that the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Tákur, Núr, Iran, had been confiscated by the Revolutionary Government in the spring of 1979, had been totally demolished and the site offered for sale by auction. [BW18:289; BW19:42] House of Bahá'u'lláh (Takur); Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Destruction; - Persecution; Takur, Iran; Núr, Iran; Iran
    1981 5 Dec The Bahá'í cemetery in Tehran was seized "by order of the Revolutionary Court". Five caretakers and eight temporary workers were arrested and the cemetery was closed. [Mess63-86p510]

    The Baha'i cemetery, known as "Golestan-i-Javid" – the Eternal Garden – was confiscated. Ten years later, the City of Tehran demolished the cemetery in order to build the Khavaran Cultural Complex. In accordance with Shi'a jurisprudence, the conversion for the purpose of so-called "improvement" of a cemetery is only permissible after 30 years, but in this case only ten years had passed. The construction of the Khavaran Cultural Centre required deep excavation and the disinterment of more than 1,000 bodies. The design for the sunken yard and the vast basement of this complex was in reality a modern solution to the doctrinal problem of cleansing the soil of the "contamination" of the "unclean" remains of Bahá'ís. During the excavation and recycling of the soil, the remains of the "non-believer" Bahá'ís were apparently used in the foundation for the road and a new overpass. [Iran Press Watch 11 June 2018]

  • For the historical background of the mistreatment of the dead in Iran see Iran Press Watch 19288.iiiii
  • Since the Bahá'ís have always been prohibited from burying their dead in Muslim cemeteries, the acquisition of burial grounds has been a major goal of the Bahá'í communities. From the earliest days, Bahá'í dead have been buried in their own private properties, in plots of land donated by individual Bahá'ís to the community as local endowments, or, where possible, in the community-owned cemeteries obtained by collective financial contributions of individual Bahais. A systematic process of acquiring separate Bahá'í cemeteries, however, was inaugurated in most Bahá'í communities in the 1920s and continued in later decades. Prior to the 1979 revolution, most of the principal Bahá'í centers had their own cemeteries run under the supervision of the local Spiritual Assembly. After the revolution most of them have been destroyed and desecrated. [BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
  • Cemeteries and graves; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Destruction; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution; Golestan-i-Javid; Khavaran Cultural Complex; - Persecution, denial of burial; Tehran, Iran; Iran
    1981 1 Dec The Bahá'í International Community made its first appeal to the Commission on Human Rights to address the situation of the Bahá'í community in Iran and released a publication called The Baha'i's in Iran: A Report on the Persecution of a Religious Minority found in the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre. Bahá'í International Community; Persecution, Iran; - BIC statements; New York, USA; USA
    1981 26 Nov The inauguration of Radio Bahá'í Peru at Chucuito near Puno on the shore of Del Lago Titicaca (Lake Titicaca). [Mess63-86p510]
  • Its associated teaching institute was completed for use soon thereafter, going immediately into intensive service.
  • At one point in the 80's they were broadcasting at 1 kw on the medium-wave for ten hours per day in.the Spanish, Quechua and Aymara languages. [BW18p111]
  • See also Bahá'í News May, 1987.
  • Picture of the site.
  • Bahá'í Radio; Teaching institutes; Bahá'í-owned radio; Puno; Peru
    1981 26 Nov The Comunicación Intercambio y Radiodifusión Bahá'í para America Latina y el Caribe (CIRBAL) was established by the Universal House of Justice to promote the development of Bahá'í radio and mass media activities in Latin America. [BW19:59]
  • The special Committee for Service to the Blind, located in the United Kingdom, was a clearing house and production and distribution centre for materials both on tape and in Braille; and CIRBAL (Centro para Intercambio Radiofonico Baha'i de America Latins), among its other functions, serves as a clearing house for tapes, videotapes, script and other materials suitable for use via radio and television. Its mandated area is South and Central America and the Caribbean. [BW18p115, 117]
  • Bahá'í Radio; Social and economic development; Universal House of Justice; Committee for Service to the Blindness; Disability; Peru; Latin America
    1981 23 Nov The publication of the compilation entitled "Excellence in all Things" by the Universal House of Justice. [Messages63-86p509-510, Compilation of CompilationsVol 1 p367] Excellence; - Compilations; * Publications; - Bahá'í World Centre
    1981 21 Nov The passing of 'Abdu'l-Missagh Missaghiyeh (b.1880 in Káshán) in Tehran. [BW18p779-781]

    He made a pilgrimage in 1912 and a second one in 1919. Upon his departure he was given a gold coin by 'Abdu'l-Bahá which he interpreted as a sign that he would have great wealth. In addition to the services he rendered as a member of Bahá'í institutions and through the teaching trips he made throughout lran offering encouragement to the friends, he made generous gifts of funds which made possible the acquisition of lands and buildings for the Faith in Asia, Europe and Africa. These gifts were made without ostentation, often without even his family being informed and in many cases in response to Shoghi Effendi's wishes. Although it is impossible to compile a complete record, his munificence can be glimpsed by mentioning that in Africa alone he had up to 1958 purchased no less than forty-four Temple sites, Teaching Institutes, Bahá'í Centres and other sites.

    Another notable contribution was the Missaghiyeh Hospital and Maternity Clinic in Tehran.

    In Memoriam; `Abdu'l-Missagh Missaghiyeh; Kashan, Iran; Tehran, Iran
    1981 2 Oct The passing of Hazel Scott (b. 11 June 1920 in Port of Spain and raised in Harlem) in Manhattan. She was buried in Flushing Cemetery in Queens, NY. Her friend Dizzy Gillespie, along with other Bahá'í musician friends, had told her about the Bahá'í Faith over the years. On December 1, 1968, she became a Bahá'í. [Bahá'í Blog]
  • From the Bahá'í Bookstore see Hazel Scott: A Woman, a Piano and a Commitment to Justice by Susan Eagle.
  • See the book Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC by Karen Clinton presents the compelling biography of Hazel Scott, who became known not only for her accomplishments on stage and screen, but for her outspoken advocacy of civil rights. During the 1940s and '50s, her international career and her marriage to the controversial Black congressman from Harlem, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., kept her in the headlines. A target of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy Era (late 1940s-1950s), she eventually joined the Black expatriate community in Paris. In this first biography of Scott, the author traces the fascinating arc of this star's life and rescues her from obscurity.
  • See Biography of Hazel Scott by Michelle R Brown.
  • See the video essay What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott? which tells the story of the extraordinary pianist and jazz vocalist, Hazel Scott. It was written and edited by Eve Goldberg.
  • See Wikipedia.
  • From the Smithsonian.
  • See the BBC documentary Hazel Scott: Jazz Star and Barrier Breaker.
  • From the History, Art and Archives site of the US House of Representatives, a story that recounts her persecution by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the US Congress of which her husband, Adam Clayton Powell , was an member.
  • See an article from Time magazine.
  • See entry from the National Women's History Museum.
  • In Memoriam; Hazel Scott; - Famous Bahá'ís; Port of Spain, Trinidad; Manhattan, NY

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