Rahmátu'llah Muhájir
Encyclopedia
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....
, born on 4 April 1923 in the town of 'Abdu'l-'Azím, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. In 1954, Dr Muhájir married Írán Furútan, the daughter of `Alí-Akbar Furútan
`Alí-Akbar Furútan
`Alí-Akbar Furútan was a prominent Iranian Bahá'í educator and author who was given the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951....
, and together they pioneered
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to the Mentawai Islands
Mentawai Islands
The Mentawai Islands are a chain of about seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Siberut is the largest of the islands. The other major islands are Sipura, North Pagai and South Pagai . The islands lie approximately 150 km off the Sumatran coast, across the...
of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. For their service in responding to the calls of 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....
, they were both named as Knights of Bahá'u'lláh
Knights of Bahá'u'lláh
The title Knight of Bahá'u'lláh was given by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, to Bahá'ís who arose to open new territories to the Faith during the Ten Year Crusade....
by 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...
in March, 1954. By the time he left the Mentawi Islands in 1958, Raḥmat Muhájir's teaching efforts in the Mentawi Islands had helped to establish 12 Bahá'í school
Bahá'í school
A Bahá'í school at its simplest would be a school run officially by the Bahá'í institutions in its jurisdiction and may be a local class or set of classes, normally run weekly where children get together to study about Bahá'í teachings, Bahá'í central figures, or Bahá'í administration...
s, 33 local Spiritual Assemblies
Spiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly is a term given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith. Because the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community...
, and about 4,000 individual Bahá'í believers on Siberut Island
Siberut
Siberut is the largest and northernmost of the Mentawai Islands, lying 150 kilometres west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. A part of Indonesia, the island is the most important home for the Mentawai people. The western half of the island was set aside as the Siberut National Park in 1993...
alone.
Dr Muhájir was elected as a member of the Regional Spiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly
Spiritual Assembly is a term given by `Abdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith. Because the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community...
in 1957, and in October of that year he was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God
Hands of the Cause
The Hands of the Cause of God, Hands of the Cause, or Hands were a select group of Bahá'ís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Bahá'í Faith...
by Shoghi Effendi. The family left Indonesia in 1958 to travel all over the world, inspiring mass teaching
Entry by troops
Entry by troops is a term that developed in the Bahá'í Faith to describe a process of expansion when the Faith would emerge from relative obscurity, and masses of people would become Bahá'ís. It is not meant to suggest militancy - the word "troops" is used for its secondary meaning of "large groups...
campaigns in several developing countries. He died in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
in 1979.
External links
- BWNS: Heroic life inspires conference
- Rahmatu'llah Muhajir: Hand of the Cause of God - the Treasure of All Humanity by Richard Francis, 1998
- Raḥmatu'lláh Muhájir, photograph from Bahá'í Media Bank.