‘Abdu’l-Baha must have sensed the terrible violence that was directed on the Baha’is in March of 1909, which is why he told Mirza Ahmad Vahidi, one of the leading Baha’is of Nayriz, to return immediately from his pilgrimage.
The martyrdoms of the eighteen Baha’is of Nayriz may also have been the sacrifice that inspired the group of American Baha’is who, during those same days, made the official decision to build the first Baha’i House of Worship in the West on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Back in Nayriz, Mirza Ahmad Vahidi found the neighborhood of the Baha’is devastated. His friend Abdu’l-Husayn’s bountiful orchards were reduced to cinders, and the plot on which his home once stood now was nothing but dirt—even the stones and bricks had been removed.
He found his wife Nurijan, my great-aunt, and his children destitute, his properties expropriated, and his belongings stolen. Nurijan had refused the offer of free corn so as not to dishonor her husband by accepting aid.
The Baha’is were resilient and immediately began to rebuild. The tablets and communications received from Baha’u’llah, ’Abdu’l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi, were the great life force that sustained us.
These were the bright lights of inspiration during the Nayrizi Baha’is’ dark hours, the core of their spiritual lives—so much so that when there was flooding or an attack by a mob, the main concern was to “save the tablets.”
Persecution of Nayriz Baha'is 1909
The year 1916 brought renewed suffering as a gang of toughs led by the brother of a cruel Shaykh came to Nayriz. He destroyed the crops of the Baha’is and demanded payments. He even made pretenses to being the Qa’im, the Islamic holy figure who would appear at the end of time. This time, though, the Baha’is and Muslims banded together for protection.
Worse than this fanatic for Nayrizis was the lack of rainfall and the appearance of locusts which resulted in famine. A Baha’i, Mirza Abdu’l-Husayn, opened his storehouses to help alleviate the hunger. In 1916, Mirza Abdu’l-Husayn, this venerable Baha’i, passed away.
These years bore an important fruit: the formation for the first Spiritual Assembly of Nayriz, of which my grandfathers, Shaykh Muhammad Husayn and Mirza Ahmad Vahidi, were members.
To learn more about the Babi and Baha'i experience in Iran read Foreigner, available at:
http://www.grbooks.com/george-ronald-publisher-books/biographical-books/foreigner-1545153918