Monday, January 14, 2019

A newly converted Jewish Baha'i was persecuted by both the Jewish and the Muslim communities.

Persian Jews
The fire of persecution could be ignited in the capital and provinces of Iran by the slightest spark of the most insignificant event. Muzaffar Shah’s promise to Mrs. Getsinger was fulfilled.

It happened (circa 1905) that a very well-known and learned man from the Jewish community of Hamadan, Haji Mihdi Arjumand, embraced the Faith of Baha’u’llah. Inspired by the Word of God, he was articulate and full of his convictions, and began to propagate the Cause amongst both Jews and Muslims. This proved to be a terrible blow to the prestige of the ecclesiastical leaders of both religions. This new convert was well versed in the Qur’an as well as the Old and New Testaments, and this seemed incredible to the Muslims. “A Jew proving to us the advent of our own Promised One!” was the lamentable cry of every adherent of the Islamic religion in that region. So, the Jewish and Muslim ‘ulamas lodged a grave complaint against the new intruder.

The governor, venal and corrupt, saw in the vindictiveness of the Jews and Muslims an opportunity to extort large sums of money from the defenseless Baha’is. He used the charges as a basis for their arrest. The governor’s agents immediately seized Haji Mihdi Arjumand and several other outstanding believers and carried them to the seat of the governor where they were cast into prison, chained, and detained without recourse to the courts. He then demanded large sums of money for their release.

The Bahais in Hamadan, encouraged by the reports of the King's willingness to intervene in such cases and by his reputation for justice, cabled the Shah to protest the falsity of the charges and the extortion by the governor. To their great joy and satisfaction the King immediately ordered the governor to free the prisoners and to see to their well-being. Alarmed at this royal intervention, the governor hastened to release the Baha’is and to make such restitution as would quell any possible retribution from the Court.

The other incident took place in Tehran and the account is as follows:

https://bahai.works/Baha%27i_News/Issue_514/Text

Please check above link for complete story.

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