Raised in Babol he had studied medicine in Tehran, completed his military service then left for England to study English and then Canada. After completing his studies in which he trained as an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist), he returned to Iran. His Canadian fiancee, Anita, followed and they were married in 1971. She and their three children, all under the age of seven, left Iran after the Revolution on the advice of the Canadian Embassy.

He was 48 years old at the time of his execution and was considered one of the top microscopic ear surgeons in the world. He was an innovator who devised a new method of ear surgery for the treatment of deafness. The method, now used in a modernized form around the world, allows a surgeon to implant a small hearing aid behind the ear of a hearing impaired person in a way that cannot been seen. [Iran Wire] [key]

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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]

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 Baha’i cemetery, known as “Golestan-i-Javid” – the Eternal Garden – was confiscated. Ten years later, the City of Tehran demolished the cemetery in order to build the Khavaran Cultural Complex. In accordance with Shi’a jurisprudence, the conversion for the purpose of so-called “improvement” of a cemetery is only permissible after 30 years, but in this case only ten years had passed. The construction of the Khavaran Cultural Centre required deep excavation and the disinterment of more than 1,000 bodies. The design for the sunken yard and the vast basement of this complex was in reality a modern solution to the doctrinal problem of cleansing the soil of the “contamination” of the “unclean” remains of Bahá'ís. During the excavation and recycling of the soil, the remains of the “non-believer” Bahá'ís were apparently used in the foundation for the road and a new overpass. [Iran Press Watch 11 June 2018]

On January 2, the seven Baha’i prisoners were taken to the prosecutor’s office for trial. The Sharia judge was Hojjatoleslam Fahim Kermani, and the charges against them were exactly the charges of the National Assembly members, such as spying for Israel. They did not accept any of the charges and the court did not provide any evidence. The trial was held in private and the defendants were denied the right to a lawyer. After several hours of trial, all seven were sentenced to death and the confiscation of their properties. Each of the defendants was summoned separately by the representative of the court and the verdicts were communicated to them. ‘If you abandon the Bahá'í faith, you will be set free,’ they were each told. The proposal was met with a negative response from all seven. An hour later, the court representative collectively offered the defendants a reduction in punishment if they condemned the actions of the Bahá'í National Assembly; again, all seven gave a negative response.”

The men were shot at Evin Execution Square and the two women were shot in the basement of Evin Prison. The seven were buried in plain clothes, without any religious ceremonies, in Khavaran Cemetery. [Iran Press Watch 7 January 2022] [key]

The agency was established with a view to co-ordinating and encouraging research and education among Bahá’ís who are health professionals and others who are interested or who have knowledge in this area.

Goals of the agency include compiling a world directory of Bahá’ís who work in health-related professions, scientists and resources; organizing an international Bahá’í conference on health to be held every three years; publishing the proceedings of these conferences; and developing and distributing educational health programmes for children and adults in various countries and cultures. These programmes will be made available in written and audiovisual form for use by Bahá’í radio stations, Bahá’í schools, Spiritual Assemblies and non-Bahá’í' entities. [BW18:201; BW12p194; VV25] [key]

This conference was originally scheduled to be held in Manila, in the Philippines. [Message from the Universal House of Justice dated March 1981]

"... a five-year term for the Counsellor members of the International Teaching Centre. Each term will start on 23 May immediately following the International Bahá’í Convention, and the current term will end on 23 May 1988. Should circumstances prevent the Universal House of Justice from making new appointments at the end of any five-year term, the Counsellors will remain in office until such time as new appointments can be made."

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]

The acquisition, preservation, and maintenance of the places directly associated with the history of the Bahá'í faith had been among the goals of the community since its early years. These places consisted of houses and sites associated with the principal figures of the Faith, burial places of Bahá'í saints, places where the martyrdoms of believers took place, prisons, fortresses, and defense centres of heroes and renowned Bahá'ís. The fact that these places were located throughout the country made their care a major undertaking for various committees at local and national levels. The work included the registration, description, and photographing of the sites in addition to their regular maintenance and restoration. In the late 1960s more than 124 holy places belonged to the faith in various localities throughout the country. There were more than 200 national and 452 local endowments consisting of Bahá'í centres, cemeteries, hostels, and public baths. [Department of Statistics, Baháʾí World Centre, Haifa, “Persia - Nine Year Plan File,” 14 January 1969]

In addition the Bahá'is had acquired 3.58 square kilometers of land on the slopes of Mount Alborz, named Ḥadīqa, in northeast Tehran, for the eventual construction of a National Mašreq al-Aḏkār. Although the temple had not yet been built a complex of buildings had been erected on the site to serve as the seat of Bahá'í summer schools and other social and administrative activities. [BW10p48; BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati] [key]

 In a message to the Bahá'í world the Universal House of Justice called on individuals and Bahá'í communities to apply the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh systematically to the problems of their societies. This seminal statement pointed to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh as a source of order in the world, asserted the coherence of the spiritual and the material dimensions of human life, praised the social and economic progress achieved by the Bahá'í community of Iran, announced the establishment of the Office of Social and Economic Development at the World Centre and defined the role of various Bahá'í agencies in fostering development. [Message from the Universal House of Justice dated 20 October, 1983, Mess63-86p602-603,AWH6–10; BW19:153, BW92-93pg229-245]

Number of National Spiritual Assemblies: 148

Number of Local Spiritual Assemblies: 29,664

Indigenous tribes, races and ethnic groups represented in the Faith: 2,112 [from a pamphlet, The Bahá'í Faith and its World Community published by the NSA of Canada] [key]

Resolution 96 of the UN General Assembly, of December 11, 1946, titled “The Crime of Genocide,” describes genocide as the “denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings.”

In an article in IranWire of 15 November 2023, author Faramaz Dakar asks, "Is the Islamic Republic Committing a Silent Genocide Against the Bahá'ís?".

Q. What groups are the victims of genocide? A. Victims of the crime of genocide fall into four specific groups: ethnic, national, religious and racial. This means that, for example, a political group cannot be considered a victim of genocide based on its legal definition. What is relevant in genocide is the annihilation of a group or a community as a unit and even as a whole.

Q. What specific actions constitute genocide? A. Behaviors that constitute the crime of genocide fall into five groups: (1) killing the members of the group; (2) inflicting physical harm that can gradually lead to the loss of life or impose permanent and extensive suffering on a person’s life; (3) imposing conditions with the intent of annihilating the target group, such as starvation or cutting access to water, or depriving the members of the group of the means of survival such as seizing and confiscating their residences and businesses which ultimately makes it impossible for them to live that an environment; (4) creating conditions that prevent birth and childbearing or lead to the sterilization of people, and make the birth of a new generation of that religious, ethnic, racial or national group impossible; (5) the forced removal of the children of the target group.

Iran is a signatory to the Convention Against Genocide therefore the the Islamic Republic must be held accountable for the systematic persecution of the Baha’is. There is no sign that this government has ever had any intention of doing so and Iranian laws do not address the crime of genocide in any form. [IranWire 15 November 2023

When establishing the electoral unit basis for the election of delegates, a National Spiritual Assembly should divide the territory under its jurisdiction into electoral units, based on the number of adult Bahá’ís in each area, in such a way that each unit will be responsible for electing preferably one delegate only.

Given the wide variety of geography in the Bahá'í world, each National Spiritual Assembly was directed to establish the most effective means for the election of the delegates to its National Convention and for providing for an opportunity for consultation among the electors.

“It is the hope of the Universal House of Justice that the implementation of [the electoral unit method of electing delegates to the National Convention] will promote Bahá’í solidarity, broaden the basis of representation at National Conventions and that thereby the work of the Faith in each country will be characterized by greater efficiency and enhanced harmony.” [21 July 1985] [key]

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] [key]

• 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] [key]

• For a description of the Councils and their responsibilities see BW19:162–4.
• The State Bahá'í Council was the forerunner for the Regional Bahá'í Council which was announced on the 30th of May, 1997.

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] [key]

in 1992, after the passing of her husband, Mrs Sears was encouraged by the Universal House of Justice to expand the four-day Desert Rose Bahá’í school to a permanent institute.

In 1996 Mrs Sears, with the help of many friends, purchased land near Eloy, Arizona for the development of the Desert Rose Bahá’í Institute, which she envisioned as an Institute for education in the arts and agriculture. When the land was purchased, the Round House was the only building on the property. A cottage was constructed for Mrs. Sears that provided both comfortable living space and room where she could work with partners on cataloguing and publishing some of Bill Sears’ remaining works while building a library. The following year the Desert Rose Bahá'í Institute was incorporated with Not-for-Profit status.

Since that time a Meeting and Dining Hall was built and a Guest House was constructed near the Sears Cottage was built by David Hadden for use by him and his family. In 2018 this Guest House was converted into and Art Gallery. In 2001 a 16 rental apartment was built to help offset the operating costs. In 2004 the William Sears Pavilion was dedicated. It was designed as a place were people could go to reflect, pray, meditate, or celebrate. More accommodations were built in 2005 in the name of the Guffey Center, honouring two volunteers, Ray and Gloria Guffey.

In 2017 the DRBI was granted a licence to operate a low power (LP) radio station for Eloy Arizona to serve the community. Radio station KURE was licensed to operate on 106.1 FM as part of the Institute.

In 2019 DRBI Board member Dwight Cox initiated an agricultural project to grow organic produce. [DRBI website; Desert Rose Bahá'í Institute - History]

• 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

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] [key]

An abstract can be found at myMESA.

For the history of the Warwick Leaflets see Bahaipedia.

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 announcement stunned the journalists at the press conference, who greeted it with first disbelief and then elation. The news spread like wildfire and within hours, thousands of East Germans began flocking to the checkpoints along the wall.

They were met by bewildered border guards, struggling to understand what their instructions were regarding this new policy. At around 22:45, overwhelmed by the sheer number of people arriving and lacking any clear orders, the border guards finally opened the gates and overjoyed East Germans flowed over into West Berlin. [BBC] [key]

Their activities were: