Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 2015-0, descending — sort earliest first

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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.
  • Subsequently, on the 15th of November, the Bahá'í International Community published the statement, Summoning Our Common Will: A Baha'i Contribution to the United Nations Global Development Agenda.
    		•  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**.
  • Subsequently, the Qom Seminary started extensive propaganda on these subjects in most government centres and government sponsored news websites. In an advertisement on its site, Tasnim news agency announced that the Qom Seminary intended to hold online introductory courses on the Bahá'í Faith and the Ahl-e Haqq for all seminary students in the country. Similar to other classes held in previous years, these courses provided an entirely one-sided view and no Bahá'í or Ahl-e Haqq citizen had the right to defend his religion. [Iran Press Watch 12642]

    *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]
    **Ahl-e Haq (Dervishes)– "The People of the Absolute Truth" ‒ People treading the Ahl-e Haqq Muslim ascetic path, known for their extreme poverty and austerity. Their focus is on the universal values of love and service deserting the illusions of ego to reach God. [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]
  • See BWNS1062 for pictures.
    		•  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.
  • Their farm had more than 40 thousand fruit trees, however, in recent years the authorities had blocked the road during harvest time to prevent more than 200-300 Tons of apples and peaches from reaching the market. A few years prior they had demolished a water storage facility that the family had legally constructed (the government permit and other documents were all available). More than 100 million Liters of water had been stored for agricultural purposes. The family had a thirty-year permit for a pasture for their cattle however they were forced to sell some and purchase forage for the remainder.
  • About two weeks prior the CEO of the family's farming company had been sentence to a one-year imprisonment. He had been in prison a few times before and was now back in prison again.
  • Although the Khanjani family included both Bahá'ís and Muslims, systematic confrontations and harassment of the family continued during his incarceration. The authorities erected a security station at the entrance to the property where they inspected the cars of family members and did bodily searches. Everyone had to be inspected to be able to go to his/her home. Even the 85-year old mother of Mr Kanjani had to obtain an access card to go to her residence.
  • Semnan's Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Information declared the farm to be a military area. They built a duty post next the site of the demolished family home. Authorities prohibited the transfer the animals to a warmer climate in a truck. As a result a number of the sheep died.
  • With respect to the condition of Jamaleddin Khanjani in prison; he was over 80 years old and on one occasion, had to be transferred to the hospital once for a heart surgery. He was immediately returned to prison although having a medical furlough would have been the usual procedure.
  • Mr. Khanjani's family members had been the objects of persecution as well. Foad, his grandson had been in prison for four years and his granddaughter, Leva, had just completed her sentence. His nephew, Navid, who had filed a complaint with the judicial system for having been deprived of education, was faced with fictitious charges and had been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He has had a number of medical issues for which he has not received adequate treatment.
  • The workplace of Mr. Khanjani's son, who worked in the optical field, had been raided a few months prior. All his belongings and property were confiscated based on unfounded accusations of illicit transactions. He had spent some time in prison and had been recently been released.
  • Mr. Khanjani's brother had a factory in Semnan and had imported equipment for making prescription lenses from Germany. He had suspended work in his factory for the anniversary of passing of Bahá'u'lláh and the authorities closed his business based on different excuses. The Ministry of Information asked him why the factory had been closed and he said it was his religious holiday. They shuttered the factory permanently, confiscated all the equipment and auctioned it all without any compensation.
  • Although a large number of their family members were Muslim they lived together, the Muslims participating in the Bahá'í commemorations and the Bahá'ís participating in theirs. [Iran Press Watch 11853]
  • See the report from the Bahá'í International Community on the persecution of the Bahá'ís of Semnan.
    		• 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]

  • See Introduction to Badí' Calendar.
    		• - 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.
  • A Saudi Arabian-led military coalition of Arab states backed by the United States launched air strikes against the Huthi armed group positions in Sana'a and Sa'da with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in support of Hadi's government.
  • The Islamic State carried out its first major attacks in Yemen, two suicide bombings targeting Shia mosques in Sana'a in which 137 people were killed. Houthi rebels started to advance towards southern Yemen and it was at that point that President Hadi fled to Aden. The Saudi-led coalition of Gulf Arab states launched air strikes against Houthi targets and imposed a naval blockade on Aden.
  • Over the next six months the conflict spread across Yemen.
  • In the southern part of the country, the United Arab Emirates, which was part of the Saudi-led coalition, set up its own security forces, running virtually a state-within-a-state and fuelling the south's independence movement.
  • The Houthis were dislodged from most of the south, but remained in control of Sana'a and much of the north.
    		• 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]
  • See also Not a Crime.
    		• 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]
  • The official website can be found here.
  • "In a letter dated the 10 November and the 20 November 1979 he (Hasan Balyuzi) left instructions that all his books and document were to be kept together perpetually... and that they are to form the nucleus of the Afnán Library, founded in the name of his father, Muvaqqari'd-Dawlih, and dedicated to Khadíjih Bagum". [KBWBix]
  • Included in the collection were volumes of photographic copies of Tablets by the Central Figures of the Faith, as well as historical and doctrinal works by individual Bahá'ís, 104 volumes in all, that had been compiled by the National Committee for the Preservation of Bahá'í Writings and Archives of Iran in the years just prior to the Iranian revolution. The Library worked closely with the Research Department of the Bahá'í World Centre to make digitized transcripts of these volumes. The digitized volumes contain some 4,000 works of Bahá'u'lláh, more than 3,000 works of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and many writings of the Báb. The index and the links to the volumes can be found on the Afnan Library site.
    		• 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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