Bahá'í timeline

1795

• • (1210 AH), Shaykhi sect is started by Shaykh Ahmad.

1846

• • Bahíyyih Khánum is born to Navváb and Bahá'u'lláh.

  • March, the Báb leaves Shiraz for Isfahan.

1847

• • March, the Báb is imprisoned at Maku and writes the Bayán.

1848

• • Mírzá Mihdí is born to Navváb and Bahá'u'lláh.

  • Munirih Khánum, wife of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is born in Isfahan to prominent Bábís of the city.

  • March 20, Mullá Husayn visits the Báb in Maku

  • April 10, the Báb is moved to the prison of Chihriq, due to his growing influence in Maku. He was largely kept there until a few days before his execution.

  • June - July, the Conference of Badasht was held.^[1]

  • July, during public interrogation at Tabriz the Báb makes a dramatic public declaration. He is returned to Chihriq.

  • July 21, Mullá Husayn hoists the Black Standard and marches with 202 other Bábís to Mashhad.

  • October 10, Mullá Husayn and a host of other Bábís are besieged at fort Tabarsi.

  • October 20, Quddús arrives at fort Tabarsí.

1849

• • Bahá'u'lláh marries Fátimih in Tihrán.

  • February 2, Mullá Husayn dies in battle at fort at the Shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí.

  • May 10, Battle of fort Tabarsí ends after a negotiated surrender in which the victors promise to let the Bábís go. Immediately afterward, the victors break their oath and kill many of the defenders.^[2]

  • May 16, Quddús is tortured and executed.

1850

• • July 9, the Báb is publicly executed in Tabriz.

1852

• • August 15, angry Bábís (acting on their own volition) make a failed attempt to kill Nasser al-Din Shah, who retaliates by imprisoning Bahá'u'lláh and executing several thousands of Bábís, includingTáhirih and Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdi.

  • September to December, while imprisoned for four months in the Síyáh-Chál in Tehran, Bahá'u'lláh receives the first intimations that he is the promised one foretold by the Báb.

  • Mírzá Muhammad `Alí is born to Fátimih and Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad

1853

• • January 12, Bahá'u'lláh is exiled from Tehran to Baghdad.

1854

• • April 10, Bahá'u'lláh retreats to the Sulaymaniyah mountains within Kurdistan due to a rising tensions between Mírzá Yahyá and himself.

1856

• • After being discovered in Kurdistan, Bahá'u'lláh returns to Baghdad, by the request of `Abdu'l-Bahá.

1857

• • The Hidden Words and the Four Valleys are written by Bahá'u'lláh

1860

Seven Valleys are written by Bahá'u'lláh

1861

• • The Book of Certitude is written in late 1861 or early 1862 in two days and nights

1862

• • May 10, the Persian ambassador requests that the Ottomans move the Bábís farther from Persia.

1863

• • April 21, Bahá'u'lláh declares himself to be He whom God shall make manifest in the Garden of Ridván in Baghdad on the eve of his exile to Constaninople (Istanbul).

  • December 12, Bahá'u'lláh is exiled into formal confinement in Adrianople (Edirne) after four months in Constaninople (Istanbul).

1865

• • The Tablet of Ahmad is written by Bahá'u'lláh

  • Arthur de Gobineau publishes book describing the Babí religion in French.

1867

• • Bahá'u'lláh begins writing and sending his Tablets to the Kings.

1868

• • August 5, Bahá'u'lláh and a large group of followers are sent from Edirne to the penal colony of Akká, Palestine (now Acre, Israel).

  • August 31, Bahá'u'lláh arrives in `Akká.

1869

• • Bahá'u'lláh sends a letter to the Shah of Persia, Nasser al-Din Shah, and the messenger, Badí‘, is put to death.

1870

• • June 23, Mirzá Mihdí dies after falling through a skylight.

1873

• • Bahá'u'lláh writes the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

1886

• • Navváb dies.

1889

• • February 25, E.G. Browne mentions the Bahá'í Faith as part of a series academic talks and papers through 1889 in England.

1892

• • May 29, Bahá'u'lláh dies, his mortal remains are placed in a Shrine dedicated to him next to the Mansion of Bahjí where he spent his final years. In his will he appointed 'Abdu'l-Bahá to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith.

1893

• • September 23, the Bahá'í Faith is mentioned in a newspaper for the first time in the United States at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

1894

• • Thornton Chase is the first of five Bahá'ís in the United States this year

1897

• • March 1, Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahá'u'lláh, is born.

1898

• • The first Western pilgrims arrive in `Akká, including Phoebe Hearst and the first African-American believer, Robert Turner.

1901

• • The cornerstone of first Bahá'í House of Worship, in `Ishqábád (Ashgabat), Turkmenistan, is laid.

1903

• • More than 100 Bahá'ís are killed in the first significant persecution of Bahá'ís of the century in Yazd, Iran.

1908

• • September, `Abdu'l-Bahá is released from a lifetime of exile and imprisonment at 64 years of age.

1909

• • March 21, the mortal remains of the Báb are laid to rest in the Shrine of the Báb after 59 years in hiding.

1910

• • August `Abdu'l-Bahá arrives in Egypt and returns to Haifa six months later.

  • Mary Maxwell, later to be known as Rúhíyyih Khanum, is born in New York City

1911

• • August–December, `Abdu'l-Bahá travels across Europe visiting cities such as London, Bristol, and Paris.

  • September 10, `Abdu'l-Bahá gives his first address to a Western audience in City Temple, London. English translation spoken by Wellesley Tudor Pole.

1912

• • April 11, `Abdu'l-Bahá arrives in New York City for his visit to North America.

  • `Abdu'l-Bahá dedicates the cornerstone Nettie Tobin brought for the planned North American Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette, IL.

  • December 5, `Abdu'l-Bahá sets sail away from North America, heading back to Europe.

1916

`Abdu'l-Bahá writes the first eight of the fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan.

1917

`Abdu'l-Bahá writes six more Tablets of the Divine Plan.

1918

September 19, `Abdu'l-Bahá is threatened with death just before the Ottoman military is destroyed at the Battle of Megiddo.^[3]

1920

• • April 27, `Abdu'l-Bahá is knighted by the British Empire in recognition of his humanitarian work during WWI.

1921

• • November 28, `Abdu'l-Bahá dies in Haifa and appoints Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian in his Will and Testament.

1932

• • July 15, Bahá'u'lláh's daughter Bahiyyih Khánum dies.

1935

• • Shoghi Effendi translates the Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh from Persian and Arabic into English.

1937

• • Mírzá Muhammad `Alí, labeled the arch-Covenant breaker by `Abdu'l-Bahá, dies.

  • Shoghi Effendi launches the "Divine Plan" for the diffusion the Bahá'í Faith across the globe.

  • Shoghi Effendi marries Mary Maxwell, later known as Rúhíyyih Khanum, the daughter of a prominent Canadian Bahá'í.

1944

• • Shoghi Effendi releases God Passes By to mark the 100th anniversary of the Bahá'í dispensation.

1951

• • Eleven functioning National Spiritual Assemblies exist in the world.

  • 32 additional "Hands of the Cause of God" are appointed by Shoghi Effendi.

  • The International Bahá'í Council, first multi-national Bahá'í body, is appointed by Shoghi Effendi.

1953

• • Shoghi Effendi launches the Ten Year Crusade.

  • The North American Bahá'í House of Worship is dedicated in Wilmette, IL.

  • The superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb is completed.