Nations (population 200,000+) with the highest percentage of their population Bahá'ís:

      1) Belize, 7,742 adherents indicating 2.5% of the population.

      2) Bolivia, 215,359 adherents indicating 2.2% of the population.

      3) Zambia, 231,112 adherents indicating 1.8% of the population.

Nations (population 200,000+) with the highest number of Bahá'ís:

      1) India, 1,897,651 believers (0.2% of the population).

      2) United States, 512,864 believers (0.2% of the population).

      3) Kenya, 422,782 believers (0.1% of the population).

For the full dataset go to the ARDA website. [ARDA]

Most of the Baha'i homes in Ivel have been unoccupied since their residents fled after previous incidents of violence or as a result of official displacement. In 2007, for example, six of their houses were torched. in 1983, a few years after the Iranian revolution, at least 30 families from this and neighboring villages were put on buses and expelled. Persistent government attacks on Baha'is in all the mass media – along with inaction by local officials to protect them – have continued to incite hatred against the Bahá'ís in the region and throughout Iran. [BWNS780; BWNS782; Iran Press Watch 6202]

She launched a hunger strike at the end of September to protest being denied visits and phone calls from her family. Her family convinced her to end the hunger strike on the 23rd of October. This was one of two hunger strikes she staged during her first term in prison. The other was to protest against the conditions in Evin. [Web Citation]

In January 2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison, in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years. Later that year, an appeals court reduced her sentence to six years and her practice ban to ten years in August of 2014. [Wikipedia]

Sotoudeh was released on 18 September 2013 along with ten other political prisoners, days before an address by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the United Nations. The Iranian authorities have given no reason for her release and no indication of whether it is unconditional. [Amnesty International]

A groundbreaking examination of Abraham, one of the most beloved and significant religious figures in history. Author Frances Worthington researches the three wives/concubines (Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah) of Abraham, and traces their lineage to five different religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, the Bábi Faith, and the Bahá'í Faith. Examining the scripture and traditions of these five "Abrahamic" faiths, this complex story also draws heavily from a rich variety of historical sources that provide a fascinating backdrop.

Blogspot.

The programme drew on the learning of three decades of experience of FUNDAEC (Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias), in Columbia. It was an approach to social and economic development that addressed both the material and the spiritual dimensions of human existence. The programme aimed at assisting youth to understand certain concepts, learn a range of relevant facts, and acquire certain qualities, attitudes and skills that would enable them to promote the well-being of their people in fields as diverse as health, education, the environment, secondary production and community organization.

Born in the USA to Muslim, Arab-speaking parents of Syrian origin she learned of the Faith through her father. Mr Abas had been introduced to the Bahá'í Faith by a Syrian friend. As a youth she taught children's classes and was one of the very first youth travelling teachers in the US accompanying Marguerite Reimer (later Sears) and Mable Ives. She had already been pioneering in Latin America for fourteen years when in early 1954 she opened the Galápagos Islands to the Bahá'í Faith, thus earning the title 'Knight of Bahá'u'lláh'. Although her time there was brief, the story of her rich and varied life, dedicated to building up Bahá'í communities throughout Latin America, serving and empowering others, makes fascinating and inspiring reading. Her work with children's education, particularly through the Children's Public Speaking Project where she taught children to memorize passages from the Bahá'í Writings, to present them in public, and to express what they learned in service, was a precursor of the process of learning and practice now finding systematized expression in the worldwide Bahá'í community.

She was appointed to the Auxillary Board and served for 14 years in Ecuador. In 1961 sh was elected to the National Assembly.

From 1970 she served for five years at the World Centre where she did translation work. 'Future generations will extol your labours, follow in your footsteps, and derive inspiration from your pioneer activities.' Shoghi Effendi to Gayle Woolson in Costa Rica, 1942 [KoG224-225]

In 1971 her book, Divine Symphony was published by the Bahá'í Publishing Trust of New Delhi. The book was reprinted in 1976 and 1977. [Collins7.2771; p156]

For her biography see The Art of Empowering Others – A Biography of Knight of Baha'u'llah Gayle Woolson by Juliet Gentzkow and published by George Ronald.

  The report says in part "Despite this prolonged and systematic attack on its integrity and values, Iran's Bahá'í community is not dispirited, demoralized or downtrodden. Nor have they risen up to counter-attack their oppressors with force or any trace of bitterness. Rather they have calmly stated their case and called for their fundamental human rights with dignity and courtesy, winning the admiration of their compatriots, observers and, in some cases, even those who are obligated to oppress them under government policy."

The Bahá'í delegation was lead by Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi and also consisted of Patrick O'Mara – Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, Nasrin O'Kane from Northern Ireland and Liam Stephens from the Isle of Skye. [BWNS889]

On 3 July 2013, Morsi was deposed by a coup d'état led by the minister of defense General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The situation of Egypt's Bahá'í community remained uncertain. The prescriptions of the 1960 Presidential Decree, despite the revolution, had yet to be annulled. This meant that despite the 2009 lifting of the restrictions on identification documents, the Bahá'í Faith still had not received actual recognition as a religion and Bahá'í were frequently subjected to public vilification. It was a period of extreme unrest. It is estimated that between Sisi's overthrow of Morsi and the 2014 presidential elections, an estimated 20,000 activists and dissidents were arrested by the police under the interim government. El-Sisi went on to become Egypt's president by popular election in 2014.

She studied structural racism and root causes of prejudice, equality of women as a prerequisite to peace, human nature, global governance, and globalization and the environment. Professor Mahmoudi collaborated with a wide range of scholars, researchers, and practitioners to advance interdisciplinary analysis and open discourse on global peace. Before joining the University of Maryland faculty, Professor Mahmoudi served as the coordinator of the Research Department at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, Israel. Prior to that, Dr. Mahmoudi was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Northeastern Illinois University, where she was also a faculty member in the Department of Sociology. Professor Mahmoudi's books include: A World Without War: 'Abdu'l-Baha and the Discourse for Global Peace, co-authored with Dr. Janet Khan; Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights.

It is an unofficial catalog of some 650 works attributed to the Báb, 11,800 works attributed to Bahá’u’lláh, and 12,000 works attributed to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which are accessible to the public, either in published form, in manuscripts held in national or institutional archives, or in digital images, texts and translations found on the Internet. The holdings of the Bahá’í World Centre Archives in Haifa, which are not open to the public, are not included. A "Partial Inventory" of a two-volume resource for the identification of over 29,000 Bahá'í texts in Persian Arabic and English can be download here. More information on the website can be found on his blog.

His presentation Overview of the Writings of the Báb can be found on the Wilmette Institute website as well as Approaching the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh.

Here you will find information on The Guardian's Resting Place and directions to the Southgate Cemetery.

At this point there were more than 3,600 clusters where the friends were striving to establish new programmes of growth or to advance existing ones. An analysis of developments in some 200 of the most advanced of these clusters—particularly the strongest 20—suggested effective strategies for growth and demonstrated the efficacy of pursuing lines of action in a coherent manner. This publication offered a close examination of the pattern of action characteristic of the clusters at the forefront of learning.

It is of note that a few years before his murder, the Friday prayer Imam had incited the local population against the Bahá'ís, referring to them as un-Islamic. He further called on the people of the city to rise up against the Bahá'í community. [BWNS987; BWNS1031; Message from the Universal House of Justice 27 August 2013; Iran Press Watch 27 August 2013; Iran Press Watch 9306; Iran Press Watch 16 September 2013]

The assassins were never identified. The murder was not reported in the Iranian newspapers and did not raise any protest except among prisoners of conscience at Rejaee prison who condemned the assassination in a statement and demanded justice. [Iran Press Watch 1 September 2013; 175YP266-267]

Over two and half decades she worked to gather all the known information about the women whose lives were intertwined with those of the Manifestations of God for this age, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters. Looking beyond published sources, she was given permission by the Universal House of Justice to consult original documents in the Bahá'í International Archives and to make provisional translations of more than 50 Tablets, letters, memoirs and papers not previously published in English, many never before published in any language.

On the 18th of July 2023 security forces arrested Keyvan Rahimian in Tehran and transferred him to Evin Prison. He has a history of previous arrests and convictions related to his activism. Notably, he also serves as a lecturer at an online university affiliated with the Bahá'í community. [IranWire 19 July 2012]

In the Foreword to this edition the Universal House of Justice explained:

The main objective of this retranslation has been to better represent the substance and the style of the original, in particular by capturing more clearly the subtleties of 'Abdu'l‑Bahá's explanations, approximating more closely a style that is at once conversational and elevated, and by rendering more consistently the philosophical terms used throughout the text. While not bound by the original translation, this version nevertheless strives to retain many of its elegant expressions and felicitous turns of phrase. [SAQxvi]
• For a Spanish translation, Contestación A Unas Preguntas of the 1994 edition
• Some Answered Questions 1990 edition.
• Some Answered Questions: Study Outline compiled by Brett Zamir.iiiii
• See the message from the Universal House of Justice dated 21 February 2016 addressed to an individual in response to a question regarding evolution.

The Specialized Criminal Prosecution of Yemen indicted Mr. Hamid Kamali (also known as Hamed Kamal bin-Haydara) for "compromising the independence of the Republic of Yemen", reportedly in relation to his work for the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'ís based in Israel. Mr. Kamali was also accused of spreading the Bahá'í faith in the Republic of Yemen.

On 8 March 2015, at his first hearing, Mr. Kamali denied all charges against him and his case was adjourned to 4 April 2015, and subsequently to 8 November 2015. At that hearing, the judge allegedly rejected evidence of torture that Mr. Kamali had been subjected to while he was under the jurisdiction of the National Security Agency. However, following the request of his lawyer, Mr. Kamali was released on bail on medical grounds.

On 12 February 2016, Mr. Kamali appeared in a closed hearing where the General Prosecutor pursued the maximum punishment for the charges brought against him, namely execution and asset forfeiture. The next court hearing was set for 3 April 2016. [OHCHR Report]

"Báb introduced the calendar and its broad pattern of periods and cycles, months and days. Bahá'u'lláh provided essential clarifications and additions. Aspects were elucidated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and arrangements for its adoption in the West were put in place at the direction of Shoghi Effendi, as described in the volumes of The Bahá'í World. Still, ambiguities surrounding some Islamic and Gregorian dates, as well as difficulties in the correlation of historical observances and astronomical events with explicit statements in the Text, left certain issues unresolved. When responding to questions concerning the calendar, both 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi left these matters to the Universal House of Justice. Of its many features, three required clarification for the calendar's uniform application: the means for the determination of Naw-Rúz, the accommodation of the lunar character of the Twin Holy Birthdays within the solar year, and the fixing of the dates of the Holy Days within the Badí' calendar." [Message from the Universal House of Justice dated 10 July, 2014] (notes below extracted from the message)

The Festival of Naw-Rúz: The birthplace of the Abhá Beauty, will be the spot on the earth that will serve as the standard for determining, by means of astronomical computations from reliable sources, the moment of the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and thereby the day of Naw-Rúz for the Bahá'í world.

The Festivals of the Twin Birthdays: They will now be observed on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz. This will result in the observance of the Twin Birthdays moving, year to year, within the months of Mashíyyat, 'Ilm, and Qudrat of the Badí' calendar, or from mid-October to mid-November according to the Gregorian calendar.

The dates of the Holy Days are: Naw-Rúz, 1 Bahá; the Festival of Riḍván, 13 Jalál to 5 Jamál; the Declaration of the Báb, 8 'Aẓamat; the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, 13 'Aẓamat; the Martyrdom of the Báb, 17 Raḥmat; the Day of the Covenant, 4 Qawl; and the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 6 Qawl. These dates have been fixed within the solar calendar in accordance with explicit statements of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. [Message from the Universal House of Justice dated 10 July, 2014]

Referred to as "the Bristol Commitments", contributions from the various religious groups were presented and discussed at a two-day event, titled "Faith in the Future", in Bristol, UK. The event was co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).

Daniel Perell, a representative of the BIC to the UN, spoke about the transformational power of religion, which can tap human motivation at the deepest levels. [BWNS 1067]

Statistical research on documented reports available on the website "House of Anti-Baha'i Documents" shows that after the Iranian Revolution, 158 Baha'is have been executed by firing squads or hanged on court orders. Twelve individuals have lost their lives in prison due after being tortured. Another 16 individuals disappeared after being threatened by members of the religious establishment or government agents, and 39 individuals were killed with the support of religious and political government entities.

Robert Weinberg's detailed research has yielded a fascinating insight into the life of Lady Blomfield, her family and her circle, and into the life of Àbdu'l-Bahá as it touched the lives of the British Bahá'ís. Punctuated by glimpses into London society and the rapidly developing Bahá'í community, Weinberg's book provides compelling grounds for Lady Blomfield's inclusion in the 'galaxy of unforgettable women' who 'became the principal exponents of the Bahá'í message on both sides of the Atlantic'.

• The film Changing the World, One Wall at a Time.

The initiative was launched in June of 2017 at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway in a first-of-its-kind summit of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist religious leaders, climate scientists, rainforest experts and indigenous peoples' representatives from Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Meso-America and Peru.