This chart from the Department of Statistics at the Bahá'í World Centre shows the participation of women in Bahá'í institutions, the Continental Board of Councillors, the Auxiliary Board and National Spiritual Assemblies from 1953 to 1985.

He was Bahá'u'lláh's youngest half-brother and was raised by Him because their father, Mírzá Buzurg died two years after his birth. He was greatly devoted to Bahá'u'lláh. He and his family settled on lands in the Jordan valley on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. These lands were later exchanged for land that now comprises a part part of the site at Bahji. He had died in 1887. [SoG112; SE124; MGW45; RoB1p16; DoH31, 207, 228]

He had been buried on land that had been in the possession of Mirza Muhammad-Quli's family on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, at a place called Nuqayb. He and his family lived there and farmed the land for many years and on his passing, at the instruction of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, his remains were buried there, as were subsequently those of members of his family.

In 1937 Kibbutz Ein Gev was established just to the north of the farm, and the two groups of settlers lived as amicable neighbors until the war of 1948 forced the family to leave the land which, lying on the troubled frontier of the new State of Israel, was expropriated by the Government. The grandchildren of Mirza Muhammad-Quli gave their rights in the land to the Faith which was received in exchange the much needed land in Bahji. Thus the little cemetery passed out of Bahá'í hands.

In 1972 the Bahá'ís made plans to embellish the site and maintaining it as a place of historic significance for the Faith. However, plans had already been made for the extension of the plantings of the kibbutz and the eventual development of the land in a way that would not permit the permanent reestablishment of the cemetery in that place. Another plot of land in the immediate neighborhood, but slightly farther from the shore of the Lake on the slope of Tel Susita, was officially designated a Bahá'í cemetery and given over to the Bahá'í Community. The work of fencing it and planting suitable shrubs and trees was then put in hand and preparations were made to reinter the precious remains of this family.

The ceremony was attended by Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum and 'Ali-Akbar Furutan, members of the Universal House of Justice and of the International Teaching Center, and a large gathering of World Center friends as well as representatives of the Israeli authorities and of Kibbutz Ein Gev. Mrs. Husniyyih Bahá'í, the granddaughter of Mirza Muhammad-Quli, who was pioneering in St. Lucia in the West Indies, accompanied by members of her family, had been especially invited to attend the ceremony in honour of her illustrious forebear. [Mess63-86p698-99]

The paper raised the possibility that the ineligibility of women for membership on the Universal House of Justice may be a temporary provision subject to change through a process of progressive unfoldment of the divine purpose. [31 May 1988]

The Guardian, in a message to the Bahá'ís of the World dated 27 November 1954, written after the expropriation of the plot of land owned by the Covenant-breaker Farahangiz Khanum, (the daughter of Mírzá Asadu’llah Isfahani, sister of Fareed and wife of Sydney Sprague) who had refused to sell for more than thirty years, said that the way was now clear to construct the International Archives Building. He went on to say,:

   The raising of this Edifice will in turn herald the construction, in the course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several other structures, which will serve as the administrative seats of such divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice. These Edifices will, in the shape of a far-flung arc, and following a harmonizing style of architecture, surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, ranking as foremost among the members of her sex in the Bahá’í Dispensation, of her Brother, offered up as a ransom by Bahá’u’lláh for the quickening of the world and its unification, and of their Mother, proclaimed by Him to be His chosen “consort in all the worlds of God.” The ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking will mark the culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely-appointed Administrative Order whose beginnings may be traced as far back as the concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith.
   This vast and irresistible process, unexampled in the spiritual history of mankind, and which will synchronize with two no less significant developments—the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of Bahá’í national and local institutions—the one outside and the other within the Bahá’í world—will attain its final consummation, in the Golden Age of the Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace, and the emergence, in the plenitude of its power and glory, of the focal Center of the agencies constituting the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The final establishment of this seat of the future Bahá’í World Commonwealth will signalize at once the proclamation of the sovereignty of the Founder of our Faith and the advent of the Kingdom of the Father repeatedly lauded and promised by Jesus Christ. [Messages to the Bahá'í World p74-75]

In a message to the Project Manager of the Mount Carmel projects dated 31 May 1987, the Universal House of Justice indicated that "...the institutions mentioned by the beloved Guardian in the passage in which he spoke of the completion of the Arc being contemporaneous with the establishment of the Lesser Peace did not include the Library. And there is no reason in principle why it should not be constructed at a later date." In addition, given the proximity of the International Teaching Centre to the future site of the International Bahá'í Library, if they were to be constructed simultaneously it would further congest an already busy building site and access to the Seat of the Universal House of Justice. [Vineyard of the Lord No 4 July 1994 p8]

• For a graph showing the growth of the Bahá'í Faith in this period see BW19:23.
• For statistics on the Bahá'í Faith at this date see BINS155:13 and BW19:61–98, 112–46.
  • A series of further plans from 1964 to 1986, The Nine Year Plan (1964-19730), The Five Year Plan (1974-1979), and the Seven Year Plan (1979-1986) carried forward the process of establishing the Bahá'í Faith in every country and major territory of the world, such that, once it became possible to spread the Baha'i Faith in the former communist countries in the 1990s, this process was more or less complete. [Patheos website]
• the restoration and opening to pilgrimage of the southern wing of the House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha;
• the completion and occupation of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice;
• the approval of detailed plans for the remaining edifices around the Arc;
• the expansion of the membership and responsibilities of the International Teaching Centre and the Continental Boards of Counsellors;
• the establishment of the offices of Social and Economic Development, and of Public Information;
• the dedication of the Mother Temple of the Pacific, and dramatic progress with the building of the Temple in India;
• the expansion of the teaching work throughout the world, resulting in the formation of twenty-three new National Spiritual Assemblies, nearly 8,000 new Local Spiritual Assemblies, the opening of more than 16,000 new localities and representation within the Baha'i community of 300 new tribes;
• the issuing of 2,196 new publications, 898 of which are editions of the Holy Text and the enrichment of Baha'i literature by productions in 114 new languages; the initiation of 737 new social and economic development projects;
• the addition of three radio stations, with three more soon to be inaugurated-- these stand out as conspicuous achievements in a Plan which will be remembered as having set the seal on the third epoch of the Formative Age. [Ridván Message 1986]

He made a pilgrimage in 1912 and a second one in 1919. Upon his departure he was given a gold coin by 'Abdu'l-Bahá which he interpreted as a sign that he would have great wealth. In addition to the services he rendered as a member of Bahá'í institutions and through the teaching trips he made throughout lran offering encouragement to the friends, he made generous gifts of funds which made possible the acquisition of lands and buildings for the Faith in Asia, Europe and Africa. These gifts were made without ostentation, often without even his family being informed and in many cases in response to Shoghi Effendi's wishes. Although it is impossible to compile a complete record, his munificence can be glimpsed by mentioning that in Africa alone he had up to 1958 purchased no less than forty-four Temple sites, Teaching Institutes, Bahá'í Centres and other sites.

Another notable contribution was the Missaghiyeh Hospital and Maternity Clinic in Tehran.

The follow cable was received from the Universal House of Justice:

15th AUGUST 1981. DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING EMINENT DISTINGUISHED SERVANT BLESSED BEAUTY MEMBER BOARD COUNSELLORS AFRICA KNIGHT BAHA'ULLAH DEARLY LOVED MUḤAMMAD MUSṬAFÁ HIS LONG RECORD DEDICATED SERVICES IN ADMINISTRATIVE TEACHING FIELDS HIS SELF-SACRIFICING AUDACIOUS EFFORTS IN PROMOTION DEFENSE BELOVED FAITH UNFORGETTABLE CONVEY BEREAVED FAMILY FRIENDS LOVING SYMPATHY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES FURTHER UNFOLDMENT PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE. [BW18p768-771]

• Some Aspects of the Bahá'í Expressive Style World Order Winter 1978-79 p.36-43
• Islam in the History of Religions by Alessandro Bausani (1972)
• History of Religion from the Bahá'í Perspective by Alessandro Bausani and translated by Miguel Gil Santesteban

He studied law and started his legal practice in Iran at the age of 24. The National Spiritual Assembly asked him to defend the oppressed Bahá'ís of Sháhrúd, where, on 8 August 1944, three friends had been martyred and 17 Bahá'í homes had been plundered and set on fire. 'Aziz defended them with great eloquence and undaunted courage, braving the vicious opposition of the clergy. Later he was asked to defend the Bahá'ís of Shiraz and still later those in Yazd. His unceasing endeavours won him the praise of the beloved Guardian who later designated him the "Shield of the Cause of God" and predicted that future historians would study his achievements.

In 1953 he and his wife Shamsi pioneered to Monte Carlo in Monaco to replace Mrs French who had passed away. While at this post he studied international law at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. In 1955 the Guardian appointed him to the Commission that appealed to the United Nations in Geneva and New York about the Iranian attempt to exterminate the Bahá'í community. In 1962 he became involved with the imprisoned Bahá'ís in Algeria and Morocco.

In 1968 Dr. Navidi became a representative of the Iranian Oil Company for its operations in the Indian Ocean and the family made their new home in Mauritius from where he worked to secure legal recognition of several of the new National Assemblies in the Indian Ocean region as he did with various African states. He fearlessly visited countries hostile to the Bahá'ís with no protection except his faith and his credentials as official lawyer to the Universal House of Justice with special status at the United Nations. His missions took him to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Congo, Gabon, the Gambia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zaire, and many, many other countries throughout the world. He was successful time and again in persuading democratic governments and dictators alike to alter their laws and constitutions and to officially recognize the Bahá'í Faith. [BW20p866; Navidi, Dr. Aziz (1913-1987): Intrepid Pioneer, Knight of Bahá'u'lláh by Graham Walker; KoB341-344]

An abstract can be found at myMESA.

In 1975 Senegal had jurisdiction over Mauritania (1978), Cape Verde Islands (1984) and Guinea-Bissau (1989). With the last of its territories gone this left Senegal alone hence the National Spiritual Assembly of Senegal was formed with its seat in Dakar.

The Hojjatiyeh movement initially presented itself as a conservative Islamic group that aimed to combat the spread of the Bahá'í Faith and defend the principles of Twelver Shia Islam. It considered the Bahá'í teachings to be a heretical deviation from Islam and saw Bahá'ís as apostates. The movement was critical of the Shah's regime and initially aligned itself with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After the revolution, the Hojjatiyeh movement's activities and ideology began to be viewed with suspicion. Its radical and confrontational approach towards other religious minorities and even other Shia Muslims drew criticism from other clerics and political factions within the new government. In response to mounting pressure and criticism, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the dissolution of the Hojjatiyeh society in 1983, effectively banning the organization. The movement's radical and divisive teachings were seen as a threat to the stability and unity of the newly established Islamic Republic. [Wikipedia; Hojjatiyeh, Mesbahiyeh, and Ahmadinejad by M Sashimi]