- 1818-05-00 — Birth of Mullá Zaynu'l-`Ábidín (Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín), Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh, in Najafábád.
- 1851-00-00 — Mullá Zaynu'l-'Abidín (Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin), a prominent mujtahid, became a Bábí, in Najafábád.
- 1864-04-00 —
Upheaval at Najafábád
- Several hundred Bahá'ís were arrested by Shaykh Muhammad-Báqir (later stigmatized as 'the Wolf' by Bahá'u'lláh) and taken to Isfahán to be put to death. He was dissuaded from this plan by other 'ulamá of Isfahán. Two of the prisoners were executed, 18 were sent to Tihrán and the remainder were sent back to Najafábád where they were severely beaten. Those sent to Tihrán were put in a dungeon but released after three months by the Sháh. Two of these were beaten then executed upon their return from Tihrán on the order of Shaykh Muhammad-Báqir. [BBD213; BBR268–9; BW18:382]
- 1864-04-10 — Shaykh Muhammad-Baqir, 'the Wolf', ordered the arrest of several hundred Bábis and had them brought to Iṣfahán. Mirzá Habibu'lláh and Ustzád Husayn-'Ali-i-Khayyat were executed and a number of the prisoners were sent on to Ṭihrán where they languished in prison for several months before being set free. On their return to Iṣfahán, Haji Mullá Hasan and Hájí Muhammad-Sádiq were beaten and then executed in June. [BW18p382]
- 1889-06-02 — Áqá Najafí, the `Son of the Wolf', initiated a campaign against the Bahá'ís in Isfahán, Sidih and Najafábád. [BW18:383]
- 1889-07-17 —
Upheaval in Najafábád: Áqá Najafí, the `Son of the Wolf', drove over a hundred Bahá'ís out of Sidih and Najafábád. They took sanctuary in the Telegraph Office and in the stables of the governor of Isfahán.
- See BBR280–4 for Western reporting of the episode.
- What follows is the account from BW18p383 by Moojan Momen:
- 17 July; Isfahan, Sidih and Najafabad: Aqá Najafi, the 'Son of the Wolf, having initiated a campaign against the Bahá'ís in June, on this day, drove over one hundred Bahá'ís out of Sidih and Najafábád: they took sanctuary in the Telegraph Office and in the stables Of the Governor in Iṣfahán.
- 18 July: They were persuaded to leave the Telegraph Office after being assured that they would receive protection in their villages.
- August: Bahá'ís of Sidih and Najafábád, having received no help, went to Ṭihrán to petition the Sháh.
- 25 February 1890: On their return from Ṭihrán with the Shah's decree permitting their return home, seven were killed as they tried to return to Sidih.
- 1889-08-00 — Bahá'ís of Sidih and Najafábád, after having received no help or protection, went to Tihrán to petition the Sháh. [BW18:383]
- 1899-04-09 —
Upheaval at Najafábád. [BBRXXX, 426; BW18:384–5]
- Mírzá Báqir-i-Há'í was arrested, several Bahá'ís were beaten and Bahá'í homes were looted in Najafábád. [BBR426; BW18:384–5]
- Some 300 Bahá'ís occupied the British telegraph office hoping that the Sháh would intervene on behalf of the Bahá'ís. [BBR427–8]
- For Western accounts of the episode see BBR426–30.
- 1901-05-00 — Ghulám-Ridá was killed in Najafábád. [BW18:385]
- 1903-00-00 —
The passing of Mullá Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín (the Ornament of the Near Ones) in 'Akká. He is sometimes referred to as Jináb-i-Zayn (The Excellent Zayn), or Harfu'z-Zá (the Letter Z). He was born in the month of Rajab, in one of the villages of Najafábád near Isfahán to a family of Muslim clerics in May 1818. He had first heard of the Báb's claim while on pilgrimage in Karbilá in 1844 and became a believer in 1851. He met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád after His return from Kurdistán in 1856. He was among the believers who were exiled from Baghdád in July of 1868 and under his leadership and guidance the believers in Mosul became a model community. He was invited by Bahá'u'lláh to come to 'Akká in Sep-Oct 1885 and shortly after that Baha'u'lláh asked that the community in Mosul be abandoned. [EB274-276; MoF150-154; TN412-425]
Jináb-i-Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín was well versed in Islamic jurisprudence. After the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, he was authorized to submit questions concerning the laws. The treatise, titled Questions and Answers, an appendix to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, is a compilation he made of Bahá'u'lláh's answers to questions concerning the laws of the Most Holy Book. It took more than two decades for "Questions and Answers" to be published in Persian and much longer to be published in English and other languages. [KA9]
- See Some Answered Questions" and Its Compiler by Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani published in Lights of Irfan, 18, pages 425-452. In this paper the author compares the similarities and differences of Questions and Answers and Some Answered
Questions.
- For an image Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín see Picture Gallery (miniature by Ethel Rosenberg). This image can also been found in RoB1p78
- He was named as one of the Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
- 1905-03-30 — Hájí Kalb-`Alí was shot and killed in Najafábád. [BW18:386]
- 1910-09-20 — Muhammad-Ja`far-i-Sabbágh was martyred at Najafábád. [BW18:387]
- 1917-02-17 — A mob in Najafábád disintered the bodies from two Bahá'í graves. A general agitation against Bahá'ís followed. The Bahá'ís were boycotted in the bazaar and public baths and 32 are arrested. [BW18:387]
- 1934-00-04 —
The government of Iran took several measures against the Bahá'ís throughout the country. [BW18p389]
- Nineteen Bahá'í schools are closed in Káshán, Qazvín, Yazd, Najafábád, Ábádih and elsewhere. [ARG109]
- Bahá'í meetings were forbidden in many towns, including Tihrán, Mashhad, Sabzivár, Qazvín and Arák.
- Bahá'ís centres in Káshán, Hamadán and Záhidán were closed by the authorities.
- Some Bahá'í government employees were dismissed.
- Some Bahá'í military personnel were stripped of their rank and imprisoned.
- Bahá'ís in many places were harassed over the filling-in of marriage certificates, census forms and other legal documents.
- 1951-00-02 — Muhammad Kayvani was murdered in Najafabad. [Towards a History of Iran's Bahá'í Community During the Reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, 1941-1979 by Mina Yazdani.]
- 1952-00-03 — Bahá'ís and their homes were attacked in Najafábád, Iran, and several houses were set on fire. [BW18:390]
- 2007-09-09 — A Bahá'í cemetery near Najafabad, Iran was destroyed using heavy equipment. More than 100 graves were desecrated. [BWNS578]
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