March 3, 2016

1925: Persecution and martyrdom in Farahan: Ride-Quli Khan, his wife, and son

“In Farahan, province of Iraq-i-Ajam, an old believer, Ride-Quli Khan, who for years past had at the instigation of the fanatical clergy suffered humiliations and heavy losses at the hands of the mob, proceeded a few days ago to Sultan-Abad in order to renew his complaints to the provincial authorities. Profiting by his absence, a band of ruffians break into his house at night in order to carry away any valuable property. His wife, an expectant mother, is awakened and offers resistance. Armed with poignards, they rush on her and inflict on her in a most brutal fashion several mortal wounds. They even proceed to murder her son and are only prevented from doing so by the cry of the neighbors who rush forth to intervene.” 
(A communication by the secretary of the Qaghan Spiritual Assembly to the National Assembly of Persia, dated January 7th, [1925], included in a letter from Shoghi Effendi dated March 3, 1925, addressed to the ‘beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the West’; Baha’i News, no. 6, July-August 1925)