1. 2025-09. From 'the Most Great Prison' to the 'Holy Land': The Transformation of 'Akká in Bahá'í Sacred Geography. Sivan Lerer. Examines how ‘Akká transformed from Bahá’u’lláh’s place of exile into a Bahá’í sacred center through reinterpretation, memory, and sacred spatial construction. Articles.
2. 2021 Fall. Bahá'í Prayers for Good Governance. Christopher Buck. Bahá’u’lláh encouraged Bahá’ís to pray for their rulers. This essay presents a newly authorized translation of "A Prayer for the confirmation of the American Government," and a provisional translation of a prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the Ottoman Caliphate. Articles.
3. 2004. Ottoman Reform Movements and the Bahá'í Faith, 1860s-1920s. Necati Alkan. The relationship between the Young Ottoman and Young Turk reform movements and the Bahá'ís from the 1860s onwards; the nature of these contacts and the impressions of the Young Ottomans and Young Turks of the Babis and Bahá'ís; the convergence of ideas. Articles.
4. 2003. Epistle of Sayyid 'Alí Muhammad 'the Báb' to Sultan Abdulmecid. Necati Alkan. The Bab's Tablet to Sultan Abdulmecid and some notes on early Bábís in the Ottoman Empire. Articles.
5. 2002. Bahá'í Faith in Turkey, The. John Walbridge. Includes bios of individuals from Turkey who figure prominently in Bahá'í history. Articles-unpublished.
6. 2000. Süleyman Nazif's Nasiruddin Shah ve Babiler: an Ottoman Source on Babi-Baha'i History. Necati Alkan. On the author of the 1919 Persian history "Nasiru’d-Din Shah and the Babis," including a translation of passages on Tahirih. Histories.
7. 1986. Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of Ottoman Karbala 1824-1843. Juan Cole, Moojan Momen. On the role of gangs in urban social history of the 19-century Ottoman empire; with a decline in government control, gangs ran protection rackets and acted as a parallel government, making alliances and becoming popular leaders against an alien threat. Articles.
8. 1982-2023. Encyclopaedia Iranica: Selected articles related to Persian culture, religion, philosophy and history. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Sorted, categorized collection of links to over 170 articles. Encyclopedia.

1. 1843-01-10 — The sacking of the holy city of Karbalá at the hands of the Turks. Thousands of its citizens were killed even those who had taken refuge in the Shrines of Imám Husayn or 'Abbás. [BBRSM55, HotD10, DB36-37]
2. 1861-06-25 — Death of Sultán 'Abdu'l-Majíd and accession of Sultán 'Abdu'l-'Azíz to the Ottoman throne. He ruled until 1876. [BBR485]
3. Note: BKG139 says this was 14 August.
4. 1876-05-30 — Sultán `Abdu'l-`Azíz was deposed. He had ruled from 1861. [BBR485]
5. 1909-04-27 —
   `Abdu'l-Hamid II was deposed. [BBR486]

   Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid II lived from 1842 to 1918) and reigned from 1876 to 1909. During his reign large portions of the Ottoman Empire were lost. Following his defeat in the war with Russia in 1878, Tunisia was occupied by France (1881), and Egypt was controlled by Britain (1882). In 1897, the Empire was forced by the Europeans to recognize the autonomy of Crete. The Sultán ruled as a despot, and brutally repressed the Armenians between 1894-6. In 1908, due to the lack of support among the army and the rise of the Young Turks, 'Abdu'l-Hamid was forced re-enact the Constitution of 1876 which he had suspended earlier, and which, for the first time in an Islámic state, defined the rights of both the ruler and his subjects. He was ultimately deposed when he attempted to plot a counterrevolution against the Young Turks and was exiled to Salonika, where he died in disgrace.

   • See AY189-191 for a description of his riches and his last years. He died in January of 1918.
   • Accession of Muhammad (-Rishád) V [BBR486]

     The last Ottoman Sultán, Muhammad VI, was deposed and was succeeded briefly by a cousin, but in 1924, the caliphate was abolished by Ataturk. The seat of the Caliphate had been located in Istanbul since 1517. [ALM3; PDC98-102]

6. 1922-00-00 — Abdullah Cevdet was one of the founding members of the Young Turk ‘Committee of Union and Progress’, who in 1922, caused considerable public commotion by publishing an article favourable to the Bahá'í religion in his journal İctihâd. He was prosecuted for attacking Islam and the prophet Mohammad by expressing his thoughts in favour of the Bahá'í faith, recommending it as a world religion to replace Islam, which he deemed to be backward. It is argued here, in the context of Cevdet's Weltanschauung, that he did not use ‘Baha'ism’ merely as a tool to educate the Muslims in line with his Positivist ideas but that he identified himself with this new religious creed. The Eternal enemy of Islam: Abdullah Cevdet and the Bahá'í religion by Necati Alkan.

   Bahá'u'lláh and Àbdu'l-Bahá had contact with many of the reformers and modernist ideas in Turkey even in the 1860s-1890s. This paper focuses on the "Young Turk" leader Abdullah Cevdet. This paper examines the relationship between the Young Ottoman and Young Turk reform movements and the Bahá'ís that was established probably from the time of Bahá'u'lláh’s exile to Istanbul and Edirne and certainly from 1868 with Bahá'u'lláh’s banishment to Palestine. The emphasis of this article is not the convergence of ideas but the nature of the contacts and the impressions of the Young Ottomans and Young Turks of the Babis and Bahá'ís. Ottoman Reform Movements and the Bahá'í Faith, 1860s-1920s by Necati Alkan

   For more information on Cevdet see the Wikipedia entry.

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