Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan begins before Russia
n advances into the region when the area was under the influence of Persia. By 1887 a community of Bahá'í
refugees from religious violence
in Persia had made a religious center in Ashgabat. Shortly afterwards — by 1894 — Russia made Turkmenistan
part of the Russian Empire
. While the Bahá'í Faith spread across the Russian Empire
and attracted the attention of scholars and artists, the Bahá'í community in Ashgabat built the first Bahá'í House of Worship
, elected one of the first Bahá'í local administrative institutions and was a center of scholarship. However during the Soviet period religious persecution made the Bahá'í community almost disappear - however Bahá'ís who moved into the regions in the 1950s did identify individuals still adhering to the religion. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in late 1991, Bahá'í communities and their administrative bodies started to develop across the nations of the former Soviet Union; In 1994 Turkmenistan
elected its own National Spiritual Assembly however laws passed in 1995 in Turkmenistan required 500 adult religious adherents in each locality for registration and no Bahá'í community in Turkmenistan could meet this requirement. As of 2007 the religion had still failed to reach the minimum number of adherents to register and individuals have had their homes raided for Bahá'í literature
.
The Bahá'í community of Ashgabat (also spelled `Ishqábád, Ashkhabad) was founded in about 1884, mostly from religious refugees from Persia. One of the most prominent members of the community was Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani
, an Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh
, who lived in Ashgabat off and on from 1889 to 1894. A short time after moving there, the assassination of one of the Bahá'ís there, Haji Muhammad Rida Isfahani occurred and Gulpaygani helped the Bahá'í community to respond to this event and later he was the spokesman for the Bahá'ís at the trial of the assassins. This event established the independence of the Bahá'í Faith from Islam
both for the Russian government and for the people of Ashgabat. Under the protection and freedom given by the Russian authorities, the number of Bahá'ís in the community rose to 4,000 (1,000 children) by 1918 and for the first time anywhere in the world a true Bahá'í community was established, with its own hospitals, schools, workshops, newspapers, cemetery, and House of Worship. The city population was between 44 and 50 thousand at this time.
This first Bahá'í House of Worship
was constructed inside the city of Ashgabat. The design of the building was started in 1902, and the construction was completed in 1908 and was supervised by Vakílu'd-Dawlih
, another Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh. The House of Worship in Ashgabat has been the only Bahá'í House of Worship thus far to have the humanitarian subsidiaries associated with the institution built along side it.
(also spelled Marv, Mary) also had a Bahá'í community, while it was far smaller and less developed. The Bahá'í community in the city also received permission to build a House of Worship which they succeeded on a smaller scale.
began to spread across the Russian Empire transforming it into the Soviet Union
, Bahá'ís had spread east through Central Asia
and Caucasus
, and also north into Moscow
, Leningrad
, Tbilisi
and Kazan
with the community of Ashgabat alone numbering about 3000 adults. After the October Revolution the Ashgabat Bahá'í community was progressively severed from the rest of the worldwide Bahá'í community. Initially the religion still grew in organization when the election of the regional National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Caucasus and Turkistan in 1925. However the Bahá'í House of Worship was expropriated by the Soviet authorities in 1928 and leased back to the Bahá'ís until 1938 when it was fully secularized by the communist government and turned into an art gallery. However the records of events shows an increasing hostility to the Bahá'is between 1928 and 1938. From 1928 free rent was set for 5 years and the Bahá'ís were asked to make certain repairs which they did. But in 1933 before the 5 year rent agreement was expired the government suddenly decided expensive renovations would be required. These unexpected requirements were accomplished but in 1934 complaints about the condition of the building were again laid. However inquires from abroad silenced the complaints. But in 1936 escalated demands of were made beyond the resources of the local community. However the Bahá'ís of Turkistan and the Caucasus rallied and were able to sustain the construction requested. Then the government made moves to confiscate the main gardens of the property to provide for a playground of a school (the school itself being confiscated from the Bahá'ís originally) which would wall off the grounds from the Bahá'ís leaving only and entrance to the temple through a side entrance rather than the main entrance facing the front of the property. Protests lead to the abandonment of this plan but then in 1938 all pretexts came to an end. The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake
seriously damaged the building and rendered it unsafe; the heavy rains of the following years weakened the structure, and it was demolished in 1963 and the site converted into a public park. With the Soviet ban on religion, the Bahá'ís, strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned its administration and its properties were nationalized. By 1938, with the NKVD
(Soviet secret police) and the policy of religious oppression most Bahá'ís were sent to prisons and camps or sent abroad; Bahá'í communities in 38 cities ceased to exist. In the case of Ashgabat Bahá'í sources indicate on February 5 the members of the assembly, leaders of the community and some general members of the community to a total of 500 people were arrested, homes were searched and all records and literature were confiscated claiming they were working for the advantage of foreigners and sometimes forced to dig their own graves as part of the interrogation. It is believed one woman set fire to her self and died later in a hospital. The women and children were largely exiled back to Iran. In 1953 Bahá'ís started to move to the Soviet Republics in Asia, after the head of the religion at the time, Shoghi Effendi
, initiated a plan called the Ten Year Crusade
. The Bahá'ís who moved to Turkmenistan found some individual Bahá'ís still living there though the religion remained unorganized. During the 1978-9 civil war in Afghanistan
some Bahá'ís fled to Turkmenistan.
The first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in the Soviet Union was elected in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, when conditions permitted it in 1989; sixty-one Bahá'ís were listed as eligible for election. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Ashgabat was officially registered by the city council of Ashgabat on 31 January 1990. Through the rest of 1990 several Local Spiritual Assemblies formed across the Soviet Union including Moscow
, Ulan-Ude
, Kazan
, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
, Leningrad
, and Murmansk
. In September 1990 twenty-six Baha'is gathered together for the election of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Merv
. By September 1991, there were some eight hundred known Baha'is and twenty-three Local Spiritual Assemblies across the dissolving Soviet Union, while in Turkmenistan there were about 125 Bahá'ís with two Local Assemblies and two groups (in Balakhanih and Bayranali). When the National Spiritual Assembly of the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1992, a regional National Spiritual Assembly for the whole of Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
, Kirgizia, Tajikistan
, and Uzbekistan
) was formed with its seat in Ashgabat. Most of these countries went on to form their own National Spiritual Assembly, and their communities went on to flourish (see Bahá'í Faith in Kazakhstan
.)
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. As the environment of Perestroika
took hold across the Soviet Block, the Bahá'í community of Ashgabat was the first to re-form its Local Spiritual Assembly following the oppressive decades of Soviet rule, and had doubled its numbers from 1989 to 1991, and had successfully registered with the city government of Ashgabat. However the nation of Turkmenistan revised it's religious registration laws such that in 1995, 500 adult religious adherent citizens were required in each locality in order for a religious community to be registered. Thus by 1997 the Bahá'ís were unregistered by the government along with several other religious communities, and more than just being unable to form administrative institutions, own properties like temples, and publish literature, perform scholarly work and community service projects - their membership in a religion is simply unrecognized, the religion is considered banned, and homes are raided for Bahá'í literature. As of 2007, under these harsh conditions, the Bahá'í community in Turkmenistan has still been unable to reach the required number of adult believers to be recognized by the government as a religion. The Association of Religion Data Archives
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 1000 Bahá'ís across Turkmenistan in 2005.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n advances into the region when the area was under the influence of Persia. By 1887 a community of Bahá'í
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
refugees from religious violence
Religious violence
Religious violence is a term that covers all phenomena where religion, in any of its forms, is either the subject or object of violent behaviour. Religious violence is, specifically, violence that is motivated by or in reaction to religious precepts, texts or doctrines...
in Persia had made a religious center in Ashgabat. Shortly afterwards — by 1894 — Russia made Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. While the Bahá'í Faith spread across the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and attracted the attention of scholars and artists, the Bahá'í community in Ashgabat built the first Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
, elected one of the first Bahá'í local administrative institutions and was a center of scholarship. However during the Soviet period religious persecution made the Bahá'í community almost disappear - however Bahá'ís who moved into the regions in the 1950s did identify individuals still adhering to the religion. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in late 1991, Bahá'í communities and their administrative bodies started to develop across the nations of the former Soviet Union; In 1994 Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
elected its own National Spiritual Assembly however laws passed in 1995 in Turkmenistan required 500 adult religious adherents in each locality for registration and no Bahá'í community in Turkmenistan could meet this requirement. As of 2007 the religion had still failed to reach the minimum number of adherents to register and individuals have had their homes raided for Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
.
Community of Ashgabat
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl
' , or ' was the foremost Bahá'í scholar who helped spread the Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States. He is one of the few Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh who never actually met Bahá'u'lláh...
, an Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh
Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh
The Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh were nineteen eminent early followers of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. The apostles were designated as such by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, and the list was included in The Bahá'í World, Vol...
, who lived in Ashgabat off and on from 1889 to 1894. A short time after moving there, the assassination of one of the Bahá'ís there, Haji Muhammad Rida Isfahani occurred and Gulpaygani helped the Bahá'í community to respond to this event and later he was the spokesman for the Bahá'ís at the trial of the assassins. This event established the independence of the Bahá'í Faith from Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
both for the Russian government and for the people of Ashgabat. Under the protection and freedom given by the Russian authorities, the number of Bahá'ís in the community rose to 4,000 (1,000 children) by 1918 and for the first time anywhere in the world a true Bahá'í community was established, with its own hospitals, schools, workshops, newspapers, cemetery, and House of Worship. The city population was between 44 and 50 thousand at this time.
This first Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
was constructed inside the city of Ashgabat. The design of the building was started in 1902, and the construction was completed in 1908 and was supervised by Vakílu'd-Dawlih
Vakílu'd-Dawlih
Afnán-i-Yazdí , also known as Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí, surnamed Vakílu'd-Dawlih was an eminent follower of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, a global religion of Persian origin...
, another Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh. The House of Worship in Ashgabat has been the only Bahá'í House of Worship thus far to have the humanitarian subsidiaries associated with the institution built along side it.
Community of Merv
The city of MervMerv
Merv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of...
(also spelled Marv, Mary) also had a Bahá'í community, while it was far smaller and less developed. The Bahá'í community in the city also received permission to build a House of Worship which they succeeded on a smaller scale.
Soviet period
By the time the effects of the October RevolutionOctober Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
began to spread across the Russian Empire transforming it into the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Bahá'ís had spread east through Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, and also north into Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
and Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
with the community of Ashgabat alone numbering about 3000 adults. After the October Revolution the Ashgabat Bahá'í community was progressively severed from the rest of the worldwide Bahá'í community. Initially the religion still grew in organization when the election of the regional National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Caucasus and Turkistan in 1925. However the Bahá'í House of Worship was expropriated by the Soviet authorities in 1928 and leased back to the Bahá'ís until 1938 when it was fully secularized by the communist government and turned into an art gallery. However the records of events shows an increasing hostility to the Bahá'is between 1928 and 1938. From 1928 free rent was set for 5 years and the Bahá'ís were asked to make certain repairs which they did. But in 1933 before the 5 year rent agreement was expired the government suddenly decided expensive renovations would be required. These unexpected requirements were accomplished but in 1934 complaints about the condition of the building were again laid. However inquires from abroad silenced the complaints. But in 1936 escalated demands of were made beyond the resources of the local community. However the Bahá'ís of Turkistan and the Caucasus rallied and were able to sustain the construction requested. Then the government made moves to confiscate the main gardens of the property to provide for a playground of a school (the school itself being confiscated from the Bahá'ís originally) which would wall off the grounds from the Bahá'ís leaving only and entrance to the temple through a side entrance rather than the main entrance facing the front of the property. Protests lead to the abandonment of this plan but then in 1938 all pretexts came to an end. The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake
1948 Ashgabat earthquake
The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake, at a magnitude 7.3 Mw, occurred on 6 October 1948 near Ashgabat, in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. The earthquake is considered to be the 6th deadliest earthquake in the history of humankind. Due to censorship by the national government, the Ashgabat Earthquake...
seriously damaged the building and rendered it unsafe; the heavy rains of the following years weakened the structure, and it was demolished in 1963 and the site converted into a public park. With the Soviet ban on religion, the Bahá'ís, strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned its administration and its properties were nationalized. By 1938, with the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
(Soviet secret police) and the policy of religious oppression most Bahá'ís were sent to prisons and camps or sent abroad; Bahá'í communities in 38 cities ceased to exist. In the case of Ashgabat Bahá'í sources indicate on February 5 the members of the assembly, leaders of the community and some general members of the community to a total of 500 people were arrested, homes were searched and all records and literature were confiscated claiming they were working for the advantage of foreigners and sometimes forced to dig their own graves as part of the interrogation. It is believed one woman set fire to her self and died later in a hospital. The women and children were largely exiled back to Iran. In 1953 Bahá'ís started to move to the Soviet Republics in Asia, after the head of the religion at the time, Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi
Shoghí Effendí Rabbání , better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957...
, initiated a plan called the Ten Year Crusade
Ten Year Crusade
The Ten Year World Crusade was launched by Shoghi Effendi in an effort to facilitate an organized expansion of the Bahá'í Faith....
. The Bahá'ís who moved to Turkmenistan found some individual Bahá'ís still living there though the religion remained unorganized. During the 1978-9 civil war in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
some Bahá'ís fled to Turkmenistan.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga...
, Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
-Demographics:Most residents are ethnic Russians, but there also exists a sizable population of Koreans. Of the 43,000 Sakhalin Koreans, half are estimated to live in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, comprising roughly 12% of the city's population...
, Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, and Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. In September 1990 twenty-six Baha'is gathered together for the election of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Merv
Merv
Merv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of...
. By September 1991, there were some eight hundred known Baha'is and twenty-three Local Spiritual Assemblies across the dissolving Soviet Union, while in Turkmenistan there were about 125 Bahá'ís with two Local Assemblies and two groups (in Balakhanih and Bayranali). When the National Spiritual Assembly of the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1992, a regional National Spiritual Assembly for the whole of Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Kirgizia, Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, and Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
) was formed with its seat in Ashgabat. Most of these countries went on to form their own National Spiritual Assembly, and their communities went on to flourish (see Bahá'í Faith in Kazakhstan
Bahá'í Faith in Kazakhstan
The Bahá'í Faith in Kazakhstan began during the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time, Kazakhstan, as part of the Russian Empire, had indirect contact with the Bahá'í Faith as far back as 1847...
.)
Banned community
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic developmentSocio-economic development (Bahá'í)
Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and...
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. As the environment of Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
took hold across the Soviet Block, the Bahá'í community of Ashgabat was the first to re-form its Local Spiritual Assembly following the oppressive decades of Soviet rule, and had doubled its numbers from 1989 to 1991, and had successfully registered with the city government of Ashgabat. However the nation of Turkmenistan revised it's religious registration laws such that in 1995, 500 adult religious adherent citizens were required in each locality in order for a religious community to be registered. Thus by 1997 the Bahá'ís were unregistered by the government along with several other religious communities, and more than just being unable to form administrative institutions, own properties like temples, and publish literature, perform scholarly work and community service projects - their membership in a religion is simply unrecognized, the religion is considered banned, and homes are raided for Bahá'í literature. As of 2007, under these harsh conditions, the Bahá'í community in Turkmenistan has still been unable to reach the required number of adult believers to be recognized by the government as a religion. The Association of Religion Data Archives
Association of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 1000 Bahá'ís across Turkmenistan in 2005.
See also
- History of TurkmenistanHistory of TurkmenistanWhile the ancient history of Turkmenistan is largely shrouded in mystery, its past since the arrival of Indo-European Iranian tribes around 2000 BC is often the starting point of the area's discernible history...
- Religion in TurkmenistanReligion in TurkmenistanThe Turkmen of Turkmenistan, like their kin in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Iran are Muslim. According to the CIA World Factbook, Turkmenistan is 89% Muslim and 9% Eastern Orthodox. Most ethnic Russians are Orthodox Christians. The remaining 2% is unknown...
- Freedom of religion in TurkmenistanFreedom of religion in TurkmenistanThe Constitution provides for freedom of religion and does not establish a state religion; however, in practice the Government continued to restrict all forms of religious expression. All groups must register in order to gain legal status; unregistered religious activity is illegal and may be...
- Bahá'í Faith in Georgia (country)Bahá'í Faith in Georgia (country)The Bahá'í Faith in Georgia began with its arrival in the region in 1850 through its association with the precursor religion the Bábí Faith during the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh. During the period of Soviet policy of religious oppression, the institutions of the Bahá'ís in the Soviet Republics were...
- Bahá'í Faith in AzerbaijanBahá'í Faith in AzerbaijanThe Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan crosses a complex history of regional changes. Through that series of changes the thread of the Bahá'í Faith traces its history in the region from the earliest moments of the Bábism religion, accepted by Bahá'ís as a predecessor religion, in that one of its most...
- Bahá'í Faith in UzbekistanBahá'í Faith in UzbekistanThe Bahá'í Faith in Uzbekistan began in the lifetime of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion. Circa 1918 there was an estimated 1900 Bahá'ís in Tashkent. By the period of the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union the communities shrank away - by 1963 in the entire USSR...