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| Abd al-Hosayn Ayati (Avarih) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Hosayn_Ayati
Abd al Ḥosayn Ayati (1871—1953) was an Iranian convert to the Baháʼí Faith, who later converted back to Islam and wrote several polemic works against his former religion.[1] He was known among Baháʼí circles as Avarih and is regarded as an apostate.[1] In his later years he served as a secondary school teacher while writing poetry and history,[2][3] and was regarded as a competent orator.[4]
During his 18 years as a Baháʼí, Ayati was a missionary to Turkestan, the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt.[1] During this time he associated with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and wrote a two-volume history of the Baháʼí Faith, al-Kawākeb al-dorrīya (1914), which was translated to Arabic in 1924.[1] His main polemic writing refuting the Baháʼí Faith was the three-volume Kašf al-ḥīal (1928-31).[1] He has a total of seventeen published titles on various subjects, such as the history of Yazd Ātaškada-ye yazdān (1928), and commentaries and translations of the Qur'an.[1]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Hosayn_Ayati#Early_life
Ayati became a cleric in his youth years while at Yazd and would give sermons and lead prayers. He showed great interest in literature and poetry.[5][2] According to one of his brief autobiographies, he hadn't reached puberty yet when he was allowed to wear the classic Muslim cleric clothing and give sermons. At the age of twenty, he lost his father and at the age of twenty five, he was stationed as the Imam of the Mosque that his late father led the prayers at.[4]
He became a Baháʼí at the age of 30.[5][2] This is how Ayati describes it:
"I became familiar with the Baháʼís at the age of 30 and left my beloved homeland. I removed the Turban from my head and shaved my beard and started traveling around the world."[3]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Hosayn_Ayati#Life_as_a_Bah%C3%A1
After becoming a Baháʼí, Ayati started a career as a Baháʼí missionary that saw him traveling to Tehran, the Iranian capital and from there to many Iranian cities and provinces.[3] His Missionary travels then took him outside of Iran and in a span of 18 years he traveled to Turkestan, the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt. Due to his numerous endeavors 'Abdu'l Baha gave him the titles of "Raʾīs al-Moballeḡīn" (Chief of Missionaries) and "Avarih" (Wanderer).[1]
In 1923, Shoghi Effendi sent Ayati to England to teach the Baháʼí Faith. This was first announced to the Baháʼís of the west through the Baháʼí Magazine, Star of the West.[6]
Ayati then left England for Cairo to print his two volume work on the history of the Baháʼí faith called al-Kawakib al-durriya. According to Shoghi Effendi this work was "the most comprehensive and reliable history of the Movement yet published"[9] and " the most graphic, the most reliable and comprehensive of its kind in Bahai literature"[7] and was labelled as the "great history of the Baháʼí cause" by the Baháʼí magazine, Star of the West.[10] According to Encyclopaedia Iranica it "is still one of the major works on the subject."[1]
In a letter addressed to the Baháʼís of some European countries, Shoghi Effendi writes about Avarih, thus:
His wide experience and familiarity with the various aspects of the Movement, his profound and extensive knowledge of its history; his association with some of the early believers, the pioneers and martyrs of the Cause will I am sure to appeal to every one of you and will serve to acquaint you still further with the more intimate and tragic side of this remarkable Movement.[11]
After reverting to Islam he openly opposed the Baháʼí Faith and was considered a Covenant-breaker. He was labelled by Shoghi Effendi as a "shameless apostate".[12]
The references made to Avarih in John Esslemont's book Baháʼu'lláh and the New Era were removed in subsequent editions published after Avarih's apostasy from the Baháʼí Faith.[13]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Hosayn_Ayati#Life_after_reverting_to_Islam
He returned to Iran and spent the rest of his life as a secondary school teacher.[1] For the first ten years he taught literature at the Sultaniyya, Elmieh, Razi, and Dar al-Funun) schools in Tehran. He was then Transferred to Yazd and continued his teaching career.[3]
Ayati passed away in the City of Yazd in 1953.[4] The cause of death was an illness that he was afflicted with during a trip to Tehran shorty before his death. His body was transferred to Qum and he was buried there. Shoghi Effendi describes Avarih's death as a strike of God's avenging hand in the following manner:
"Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God’s avenging hand struck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah, within the cradle of the Faith, North America and Turkey, who demonstrated varying degrees, in the course of over thirty years, of faithlessness to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The first of the above named will be condemned by posterity as being the most shameless, vicious, relentless apostate in the annals of the Faith, who, through ceaseless vitriolic attacks in recorded voluminous writings and close alliance with its traditional enemies, assiduously schemed to blacken its name and subvert the foundations of its institutions."[14]
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Long after his death, Baha'i propaganda writers still felt the need to do damage control regarding his life and career. Most notably, Adib Taherzadeh in his book The Covenant of Baha'u'llah.
https://bahai-library.com/taherzadeh_covenant_bahaullah&chapter=30
Soon after Shoghi Effendi assumed the office of the Guardianship, and while there was widespread expectation among the Bahá'ís of the immediate establishment of the Universal House of Justice, some egotistical personalities longed to become members of that august institution. One such person in the East was Abdu'l-Husayn, entitled by Abdu'l-Bahá as Avarih (Wanderer). In the West it was Ahmad Sohrab. Both men were prominent teachers of the Faith in Persia and North America respectively, and both had one thing in common: a passionate love of leadership.
Question: Were there any actual statements from these two indicating this?
Avarih was a native of the village of Taft in the Province of Yazd. Before he embraced the Faith he was a Muslim clergyman. Soon after becoming a follower of Bahá'u'lláh he was recognized by the believers to be a man of learning and knowledge, and not long after that he became renowned as one of the erudite teachers of the Faith. For several years, he travelled around Persia, Iraq and Egypt, and became one of the most respected and famous Bahá'ís of the East as he employed his talents in teaching and writing for the Faith. Abdu'l-Bahá, who was fully aware of the vices and corrupt practices of this man, did not prevent him from serving the Cause, and as long as he acted faithfully in relation to the Faith, He encouraged him, praised his work, and wrote several Tablets in his honour.
And how was Abdu'l-Baha "fully aware of the vices and corrupt practices of this man"? That doesn't even sound remotely plausible.
However, from the beginning of his Bahá'í involvement, he displayed a pride and vanity which puzzled those Bahá'ís who were in close contact with him. They could not reconcile the quality and goodness of his service to the Cause with his egotistical behaviour, and were surprised when they came across some of his despicable habits such as smoking opium in secret, a practice that Bahá'u'lláh had strictly forbidden. However, the rank and file of the believers were drawn to him, and during the time when he was actively teaching the Faith and promoting its interests he became renowned among the Bahá'ís as the foremost teacher of the Cause in the community and the outstanding personality within its ranks.
Unless and until proof is given that this man was indeed a habitual drug user, this seems like petty libel. As for being egotistical, one can look at what Baha'u'llah often wrote abou himself!
One of the dreams entertained by Avarih was to become a member of the Universal House of Justice. He knew that if there were to be an election of this body, he would most likely be elected, as he was one of the foremost teachers of the Faith in Persia and well-known even in some communities in the West.
Uh, the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Baha made clear that the Universal House of Justice needed to be established with the Guardian as its head for life, complete with provision for the Guardian to expel members who commit a sin "injurious to the common weal". So it was unlikely that Ayati could do much harm even if he was elected to the House of Justice. As it turned out, Shoghi Effendi chose NOT to follow his grandfather's commands, keeping the absolute leadership of the Faith in his hands until his death in 1957. So who was being the egomaniac?
Avarih was an outright hypocrite who had endeared himself to the friends. This he did by writing letters, full of loving exhortation couched in moving language, which he used to disseminate among the believers in both the East and the West. He wrote one such letter in April 1923 addressed to the annual Convention of the Bahá'ís of the United States of America. Although he had no faith in Shoghi Effendi and was about to undermine his position as the Guardian of the Faith, yet he used to write to Bahá'í communities extolling his station in superlative terms and urged the friends to turn to him and remain steadfast in the Covenant.
Unless Adib Taherzadeh knew Ayati personally and could read his mind, he has no business making such unfounded claims.
Considering himself to be an erudite and knowledgeable Bahá'í, and regarding Shoghi Effendi as young and inexperienced, Avarih advised him in Haifa to arrange for the establishment of the Universal House of Justice at an early stage. Shoghi Effendi clearly explained to him that the election of that body had to wait until such time as local and national Spiritual Assemblies could be formed in various countries and were fully functioning. But Avarih was not satisfied with this explanation and was still determined to press his point of view.
Shoghi Effendi's argument is reasonable.....except there were already a dozen or so National Spiritual Assemblies established at the beginning of the Ten Year World Crusade (1953-1963) and the Guardian STILL did not call for the Universal House of Justice to be elected before the Crusade began. That's absurd!
During the few months that he remained in Cairo, he created dissension and disunity among the believers to such an extent that the Spiritual Assembly of Cairo complained to Shoghi Effendi. Thus he was again invited to go to the Holy Land. Avarih questioned the authenticity of the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Bahá but was satisfied with it when he was shown the original copy in Abdu'l-Bahá's handwriting. He then met with the Greatest Holy Leaf and reiterated to her his opinion that Shoghi Effendi should be advised to call for the election of the Universal House of Justice. He is reported to have uttered a veiled threat that if his demand were not acted upon, he would have no choice but to arouse the Bahá'ís of Persia to rebel against the Guardian.
And where is the documentation for any of these claims?
This clear violation of the Covenant isolated Avarih from the believers. Even his wife left him and refused to associate with him. Soon he changed his tactics and wrote a series of letters to various members of Abdu'l-Bahá's family saying that there had been misunderstandings and suggested that if Shoghi Effendi was willing to arrange an annual income for him, he would be willing to alter his attitude and stop his activities against the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh.
The apparent truth is that his wife being forced to either remain loyal to her husband or remaining in the Baha'i community destroyed the marriage. So much for Baha'i family values!
When there was no positive response to his letters, he unveiled his satanic nature and wrote most abusive letters to Shoghi Effendi in which he used rude and offensive language and vowed to destroy the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh altogether. There was never among the Covenant-breakers during Shoghi Effendi's ministry a man so vile and hypocritical as he.
May we see those letters?
Covenant-breakers usually oppose the Centre of the Faith, but most of them have claimed to be believers in Bahá'u'lláh. However, in this case Avarih rebelled against the Faith itself. This he did despite the fact that he had spent more than two decades teaching the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh and had published voluminous writings declaring its truth and testifying to the authenticity of the message of its Founder. He joined hands with the Muslim clergy and Christian missionaries in attacking the Faith in Persia. He disseminated far and wide a series of his despicable publications against the Faith. In foul language, he attacked every aspect of the Faith, misrepresented its aims, and uttered slanders about its Central Figures whom he attacked in most distasteful terms. 'The volumes', Shoghi Effendi writes, 'which a shameless apostate composed and disseminated ... in his brazen efforts not only to disrupt that Order [Administrative Order] but to undermine the very Faith which had conceived it proved ... abortive.'" [30-2]
Technically, if he rejected the Baha'i Faith itself, he wasn't a Covenant breaker at all. So why was he ever labeled one? Because then the Baha'is could be made to shun him to limit his efforts to discredit the Faith.
Owing to his political activities, Avarih at one time fell into public disgrace, and at an advanced age was exiled by order of the government to the city of Yazd where he lived an ignominious life. Shoghi Effendi predicted that Avarih would live to a very old age in order to witness with his own eyes the progress of the Faith throughout the world. Indeed he lived to be about one hundred years of age, and witnessed the rising prestige of the Faith, the inauguration of the Holy Year in 1953, the completion of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab, the launching of the Ten Year Crusade and the convocation of several international conferences at which a host of teachers and pioneers arose to bring the Message of Bahá'u'lláh to many virgin territories and establish the institutions of His Faith all over the globe.
He actually died at the age of 82, not nearly 100, and a person falling into public disgrace would not have had a successful career late in life as a school teacher. It is clear that Taherzadeh was indeed lying here.
Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/kxcdng/abd_alhosayn_ayati_a_kindred_spirit_to_most_of_us/
