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date | event | tags | firsts | |
2015 21 Dec | Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani, a senior Muslim cleric in Iran, had courageously called on his nation's people to uphold a higher standard of justice and dignity for all of their countrymen and women. In an article on his website, he dedicated a new piece of calligraphy—a passage from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh—to the Bahá'ís who were arrested on baseless charges in November 2015. [BWNS1089, BWNS987] | Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani; Ayatollahs; - Calligraphy; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Other; - Persecution; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Iran | ||
2015 15 Nov | The arrest and disappearance of Navid Aqdasi, a cousin of 'Ata'ollah Rezvani who was murdered on the 24th of August, 2013. Mr Aqdasi had been demanding justice for his cousin. [175YP322n3] | Ataollah Rezvani; Persecution, Iran; Navid Aqdasi; Bandar Abbas, Iran; Iran | ||
2015 15 Nov | The groundbreaking ceremony of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia was attended by some 200 community members.
The event coincided with the commemoration of the Twin Holy Birthdays—the Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh. [BWNS1082]
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* Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Battambang, Cambodia; Foundation stones and groundbreaking; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Battambang, Cambodia; Cambodia | first local house of worship in Cambodia | |
2015 6 Nov | The première of Mercy's Blessing, a film by May Taherzadeh in Lilongwe, Malawi. To date it has won 12 film awards and has been distributed for use in 115 countries. [Official Web Site]
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Mercys Blessing (film); - Film; - Documentaries; * Arts and crafts; Awards; May Taherzadeh; Inspire Courage for Change Foundation; TED Talk; Lilongwe, Malawi | ||
2015 30 Oct | The cemetery of the 20,000 strong Bahá'í community of Rajasthan, located in Jaipur, was violently attacked and vandalised by a vigilante group of 50 to 60 persons allegedly led by the local right wing political party. They damaged a building that was under construction and threatened the caretaker physical harm. [The Wire 01/11/2015] | Persecution, India; - Persecution, Destruction; - Persecution; Cemeteries and graves; Jaipur, India; Rajasthan, India; India | ||
2015 27 Oct | The Universal House of Justice announced the appoint of the Counsellors (81) who will serve for the next five years. [Bahá'í Canada October 2015] | Counsellors | ||
2015 15 - 19 Oct | The sixth Parliament called upon the world to Reclaim the Heart of Our Humanity and took place in Salt Lake City, Utah. There were 9,806 attendees, performers, and volunteers from 75 countries, 30 major religions and 548 sub-traditions participated in the Parliament. [Salt Lake City 2015] | Parliament of the World's Religions; Salt Lake City, UT; USA | ||
2015 1 Oct | 2015 saw an unprecedented number of refugees to Europe fleeing the conflict in the Middle East, particularly from Syria. In response for their request for guildance, the Universal House of Justice in its message to the National Spiritual Assemblies, defined the principles to assist the Bahá'í communities through the social changes that must need follow such a migration. It stated that the Bahá'í community had insufficient resources at this stage of development for a response at the institutional level however the situation presented an opportunity for some individual believers to become involved to lend humanitarian assistance. | Universal House of Justice; Refugees; - Europe; Syria | ||
2015 25 Sep | The UN further defined its Sustainable Development goals at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit,
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Sustainable Development; Bahá'í International Community; - BIC statements; - Statements; New York, USA; USA | ||
2015 8 - 9 Sep | The Baha'i International Community and representatives of 23 other major religious traditions offered to the United Nations ideas and action plans in support of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)—called Agenda 2030, the UN's primary development agenda for the next 15 years. 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] |
Bahá'í International Community; United Nations; Faith in the Future; Daniel Perell; - BIC statements; Bristol, England | ||
2015 Sep | President Hadi returned to Aden after Saudi-backed government forces recaptured the port city from Houthi forces. | Yemen, Recent history; Hadi; Aden, Yemen; Yemen | ||
2015 Sep | As of this date the Bahá'í community in the United States had about 175,000 Bahá'ís (less than one percent of the nation's population), residing in more than 9,000 localities. The makeup of the Faith's adherents was very diverse. The largest communities were in California, Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina, and Texas. There were Bahá'í communities in every state. (From 'Information about the Bahá'í Faith for Funeral Directors', a document available at US National website)[ Bahá'í Historical Facts MARCH 4, 2018] | Statistics; USA | ||
2015 26 Aug | See Iran Press Watch for an article entitled Shi'ite Clerics and The "Problem" of Baha'ism for an insight into the basis for criticism of the Bahá'í Faith by the clergy. The writer, Maryam Dadgar, speculates what Iran would have been like today if not for their intervention. | Persecution, Iran; Maryam Dadgar; Iran | ||
2015 24 Jul | The Qom Seminary* announced the planning of classes called "Understanding Baha'ism" and "Understanding Ahl-e Haqq". These classes, which presented a one-sided view of religious minorities, had the sole purpose of destroying the Bahá'í Faith and the Ahl-e Haqq**.
*The Qom Seminary is the largest seminary, or traditional Islamic school of higher learning, established in 1922 by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi in Qom. [Wikipedia] |
Opposition; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution; Qom, Iran; Iran | ||
2015 17 July | Some 300 people attended the unveiling of the design of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia
[BWNS1062]
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Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Battambang, Cambodia; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Design; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); Architecture; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Battambang, Cambodia; Cambodia | first local house of worship in Cambodia | |
2015 14 May | A global campaign called "Seven Days in Remembrance of Seven Years in Prison for the Seven Bahá'í Leaders" to call attention to the long and unjust imprisonment of seven Iranian Bahá'í leaders was launched on the seventh anniversary of their arrest. Each day of the week-long campaign, starting 14 May 2015, was dedicated to one member of the seven: Mahvash Sabet, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm. [7 Days] | Yaran; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Other; - Persecution; Human Rights; Bahá'í International Community; Tehran, Iran; Iran; New York, USA; USA; - Worldwide | ||
2015 22 Apr | Pressures on Jamaleddin Khanjani's family had increased since his arrest in 2008. Their country home in Semnan was demolished by Security Forces. The family had been given 48 hours to evacuate the house and even though they had succeeded in obtaining a ruling from the Supreme Court to stop the demolition, the home was destroyed. Authorities objected to a house that had been built with a City permit 18 years previously claiming that the owner of this property is unknown and the deed was not acceptable. The farmland, where the house was situated, had belonged to the family for more than 200 years. |
Jamaloddin Khanjani; - Persecution; Bahá'í International Community; - BIC statements; Semnan, Iran; Iran | ||
2015 (Ridván) | In its Ridván Message the Universal House of Justice announced the establishment of the Office for the Development of Administrative Systems to assist National Assemblies to build up their administrative capacity. [Ridván 2015] | Office for the Development of Administrative Systems; - Bahá'í World Centre | ||
2015 21 Mar | The implementation of the Badí' Calendar on the first day of the tenth Váhid of the first Kull-i-Shay' of the Bahá'í Era. "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] |
- Badi calendar; Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Báb, Birth of; Naw-Ruz; Holy days; Twin Holy days; - Gradual implementation of laws; Laws; - Basic timeline, Expanded; - Bahá'í World Centre | first use of the Badí calendar | |
2015 Mar | Clashes escalated between pro and anti-Huthis allied with security forces loyal to Mr Saleh, who was thought to have backed his erstwhile enemies in a bid to regain power. Southerners took to arms and formed resistance to further advance their cause for independence by fighting in order to defend their territory from northern control and a coup of the legitimate government. President Hadi was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia in March. He appealed to Gulf and Arab states to intervene militarily.
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Yemen, Recent history; `Alí `Abdu'lláh Saleh; Sanaa, Yemen; Aden, Yemen; Yemen | ||
2015 27 Feb | The premiere of the film To Light a Candle by Iranian-Canadian filmmaker and journalist, Maziar Mahari. The gala in Los Angeles was part of a campaign called "Education is Not a Crime", started in 2014, to highlight the plight of Bahá'í students in Iran and their recourse to the denial of education, the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education. The film was also screened in some 300 locations around the world. [BWNS1041, BWNS1025]
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Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Education; - Persecution; - Documentaries; Education is not a Crime; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE); Los Angeles, CA; USA | ||
2015 12 Feb | The official opening of the new location of the Afnan Library Trust at Sandy, close to Cambridge. The Afnan Library Trust was established in 1985 to manage the collection bequeathed by Hasan Balyuzi when he passed away in 1980. It consists of some 10,000 books, as well as a vast quantity of manuscripts, original letters, maps, documents, periodicals, and unpublished items – some of them dating back to the nineteenth century. [BWNS1040]
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Afnan Library; Afnan; Hasan Balyuzi; Libraries; Archives; Bahá'í studies; Scholarship; Muvaqqarid-Dawlih; Khadijih Bagum (wife of the Báb); Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Sandy, England; Cambridge, England; United Kingdom | ||
2105 Feb | In Yemen, Houthis appointed a presidential council to replace President Hadi who fled to Aden. | Adbrabbuh Mansour Hadi; Yemen, Recent history; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen; Aden, Yemen | ||
2015 20 Jan | The website of the worldwide Bahá'í community at www.bahai.org was launched in a new version, representing the latest stage in the development of an official presence on the Web that extended back to 1996. [BWNS1037] | bahai.org; Websites; Internet; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | ||
2015 8 Jan | The first trial hearing of Hamed bin Haydara was held. Legal and human rights NGOs witnessed tampering and interference on the part of the prosecution. The prosecutor, Rajeh Zayed, threatened to detain and execute Bahá'ís. More were arrested. [Defending Bahá'í Rights Facebook page]
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] |
Persecution, Yemen; - Persecution, Court cases; - Persecution; Court cases; Hamed bin Haydara; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen | ||
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