Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 2014, descending — sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
2014 12 Nov Message from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies dated 12 November 2014: We are pleased to announce the news of the purchase of a major property adjacent to the main terrace of the Shrine of the Báb. The building, a three-storey stone structure just west of the Shrine, stands on over 2,600 square metres of land. Inquiries were made almost sixty years ago at the direction of the beloved Guardian regarding its purchase, but owing to limited resources the matter could not be pursued. The property was acquired at that time by the city of Haifa and served as a school until it ceased operations a few years ago. The Bahá'í world will rejoice to know that this property, so close to the sacred precincts, which the Guardian had hoped to acquire, is now in the Faith's possession. Purchases and exchanges; - Bahá'í World Centre
2014 Nov Fariba Kamalabadi, after having her fourth request to join her daughter Taraneh for her wedding denied, wrote her a letter from Evin Prison. [Iran Press Watch]
  • See Iran Press Watch 11274 for Taraneh's story of how she grew up without her mother.
    		•  Yaran; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Other; - Persecution; Evin Prison; Prisons; Human Rights; Taraneh Kamalabadi; Fariba Kamalabadi; Tehran, Iran; Iran
    2014 3 Oct Hamed bin Haydara had been held at an undisclosed location since his arrest by National Security Forces on the 3rd of December, 2013. During this time he was held in prolonged solitary confinement, severely tortured and electrocuted, and forced to sign documents while blindfolded. In September of 2014 NGOs discovered where he was being detained so the National Security was forced to relocate him to the Criminal Investigation Detention Centre in the Central Prison in Sana'a. [Defending Bahá'í Rights facebook page] Persecution, Yemen; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution; Hamed bin Haydara; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen
    2014 21 Sep The Houthi movement, which championed Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and had fought a series of rebellions against Mr Saleh during his tenure as president in the previous decade, took advantage of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's weakness by taking control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighbouring areas overthrowing the internationally-recognised government. By February 2015 the group had dissolved parliament and announced plans for a transitional government.
  • See the essay Allies of Convenience or Birds of a Feather? by Oved Lobel for a discussion of Iran and the Houthis.
    		• Yemen, Recent history; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen
    2014 16 Sep Subsequent to his arrest on the 15th of October, 2014, Mr. Kamali was interrogated by the lead judge on his case in connection with the charges against him in the presence of his attorney, who, despite objections raised, was not allowed to speak. Concerns are raised in relation to the independence of the members of the judiciary and their reported discriminatory and intolerant speech towards religious minorities. [OHCR Report] Persecution, Yemen; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen
    2014 14 Sep Some 500 people attend the unveiling of the design of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship in Norte del Cauca, Colombia [BWNS1020]
  • Julian Gutierrez Chacon was the architect for the House of Worship.
  • The relationship between the environment of the region and the community was also expressed in the design of the House of Worship, which was inspired by the shape of the cocoa pod, a plant that grows abundantly in Colombia and was integral to the identity of the landscape and the lives and economy of the people.
  • See BWNS for pictures.
    		•  Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Norte del Cauca, Colombia; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Design; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); Architecture; Architects; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Agua Azul, Colombia; North Caucasus; Colombia first local Baha’i House of Worship in Colombia
    2014 8 Sep Ayatollah Hamid Masoumi Tehrani presented an illuminated calligraphic work of the words of Bahá'u'lláh to the Bahá'ís of the world. [BWNS1017; One Country 23.2] Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani; Ayatollahs; Calligraphy; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Iran
    2014 Sep The exclusion of Shadan Shirazi, an exemplary student who placed exceptionally well in the college entrance exams administered to students throughout Iran. The Iranian government deployed new tactics in their treatment of Bahá'í students to deny them access to higher education without raising the concern of the international community. The new procedure entailed identifying Bahá'í university applicants and then calling them in so they could quietly be confirmed as ineligible under the government's unjust policies and then be sent away without any documentation or proof that it was done because they were Bahá'ís that they were prevented from enrolling. [BWNS1021] Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Education; - Persecution; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Iran
    2014 8 Aug The official ban on the Bahá'í Faith in Indonesia was lifted. [The Jakarta Post August 8, 2014] Persecution, Indonesia; - Persecution, Bans; - Persecution; Jakarta, Indonesia; Indonesia
    2014 1 Aug "The erection of the continental House of Worship for South America was moving towards its completion in Chile. The steel-frame superstructure had been almost entirely installed, the placement of the interior translucent stone panels was under way, and the landscaping and the construction of auxiliary facilities were progressing according to schedule. The friends in Santiago, supported by others from throughout the Americas, had been diligently striving to prepare the surrounding population for the emergence of the House of Worship; increasing numbers were participating in the community-building endeavours, and a stream of visitors were being welcomed to the Temple site for prayer and discussion on the practical and spiritual dimensions of the enterprise. Measures were being put in place in Chile in anticipation of the many demands that were sure to arise once the Temple had been inaugurated in 2016." [Message from The Universal House of Justice dated 1 August, 2014 to the Bahá'ís of the World] Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Santiago; Santiago, Chile; Chile
    2014 6 Jun At her request, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to Her Excellency Ms. Dilma Rousseff, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil on the occasion of the World Cup of football. [BWNS] Sports; Dilma Rousseff; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Brazil
    2014 28 May In the presidential election in Egypt, former Egyptian defence minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected with 97% of the vote according to government sources. The subsequent 2014 Constitution of the Sisi government, while guaranteeing the 'inviolable' right of freedom of religion, extended this only to Islam, Christianity and Judaism – meaning that Bahá'i were still prohibited from many basic freedoms, such as practicing their religious laws and constructing places of worship. Though Bahá'í representatives lobbied during the constitutional drafting processes to expand religious freedoms to their community, this did not occur.
  • In December 2014, a public workshop was held by the Ministry of Religious Endowments to warn of the dangers of the spread of the Bahá'i faith in Egypt.
    		• Opposition; Persecution, Egypt; - Persecution; Human Rights; History (general); Constitutions (general); Egypt
    2014 9 May Vahid Tizfahm, a former member of the imprisoned Yaran, wrote to his son, Samim, in which he recounted the imprisonment and martyrdom of his own father when he was yet a child. For the full text of the letter see Iran Press Watch10181. Yaran; Persecution, Iran; Vahid Tizfahm; Gohardasht; Iran
    2014 8 May Despite a worldwide outcry, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards continued destroying an historic Bahá'í cemetery in Shiraz. Between 2005 and 2012 some 42 Bahá'í-owned cemeteries were desecrated in a similar fashion. [BWNS993, BWNS1016; One Country] Cemeteries and graves; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Destruction; - Persecution; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Shíráz, Iran; Iran
    2014 7 May The imprisoned Yaran addressed a letter to Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Human Rights Division of the Judiciary Branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding his claim that "No one is in prison for being a Bahá'í and if Bahá'í s do not commit illegal acts their citizenship rights will be protected". They reiterated some of the acts of oppression and discrimination, security force encounters and human rights violations imposed on the Bahá'í citizens and have asked the officials to change their view toward citizens and minorities.
    The full text of the letter can be viewed at Iran Press Watch 9946    		 Yaran; Persecution, Iran; Mohammad Javad Larijani; Iran
    2014 21 Apr The release of the film Samoa: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow on the sixtieth anniversary of the Faith in that country. The film was directed and produced by Ken Zemke, edited and written by Tara Jabbari, and narrated by Fuma Tuiletufuga.
  • The first Bahá'ís to visit the islands were Hyde and Clara Dunn who stopped over in Samoa enroute to Australia sometime in 1920.
  • On the 14th of January 1954 Lilian Wyss arrived in Apia from Australia and was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the Samoa Islands. [BW13:455]
    		•  - Documentaries; Samoa
    2014 Apr In Shiraz, the Revolutionary Guard began excavation of some 200 square meters of the Bahá'í cemetery. The site, which had been in use since the 1920s, had been confiscated by the government in 1983 and the Revolutionary Guard had taken ownership of the site some three years earlier with plans to build a cultural and sports centre. It is the site of the remains of the ten Bahá'í of Shiraz who were hanged in 1983 for the crimes of being Zionists and teaching children's classes. [BWNS993, BWNS994] Cemeteries and graves; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Destruction; - Persecution; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Shíráz, Iran; Iran
    2014 13 Mar From Rejai Shahr Prison Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli wrote a letter to his first grandchild who had just been born three days prior in Canada. The letter can be found at Iran Press Watch 9766. Behrouz Tavakkoli; Yaran; Rejai Shahr Prison
    2014 Mar The Bahá'í cemetery in Ahwaz was closed and the alley leading to it was blocked by heavy cement blocks. No organization has accepted responsibility for this action. [Iran Press Watch 19720] - Persecution, denial of burial; Ahvaz, Iran; Iran
    2014 (In the year) The publication of the new, extensively retranslated edition, of Some Answered Questions. It is a collection of transcriptions of table talks given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká between 1904 and 1906 in response to questions posed by Laura Dreyfus-Barney. It was first published in 1908.

    In the Foreward 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.
    		Some Answered Questions (book); Laura Clifford Barney; * Publications; Translation; Evolution; Science; - Bahá'í World Centre
    2014 (In the year) The release of the film To Light a Candle produced by Maziar Bahari which exposed the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran through the story of Keyvan Rahimian and his family as well as through the creation of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).

    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]

    		- Film; To Light a Candle (film); Maziar Bahári; Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE); Candles; Iran
    2014 (In the year) The Baha'i International Community opened a Regional Office in Jakarta. The Office engaged inter-governmental associations such as ASEAN as well as various governmental agencies, civil society organizations and research institutes in the region with a view to convening gatherings, creating spaces devoted to collective inquiry, and meaningful discussion of contemporary issues in the region of Southeast Asia.
  • The present work of the Office is built on the long-time presence of the Baha'i Faith in this part of the world, dating back more than a century to the 1870s. Today, Baha'is are present in all Southeast Asian countries and are actively working for the spiritual and social advancement of their neighborhoods and villages. [BIC website; BIC News]
    		• Bahá'í International Community; Jakarta, Indonesia; Indonesia
    2014 (In the year) An office of the Bahá'i International Community was opened in Addis Ababa to work in collaboration with governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental agencies operating on the African stage. The office maintained strong ties with the African Union, which traced its roots to Addis Ababa in 1963. At the 50th anniversary of that founding, African leaders commissioned Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. This document painted a vivid picture of where Africans would like to see their continent in 50 years' time.
  • The Office worked in five thematic areas: peace and security, the environment and climate change, inequalities between the materially rich and poor, the equality of men and women, and education for all. [BIC website; BIC News]
    		•  Bahá'í International Community; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Ethiopia

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