MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB

The Free Baha'i Team came up with the another edition of The Caravan Magazine- Nawruz special issue. Click here to read the complete magazine.

Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, a Persian-American author and a renowned Baha’i who served as a secretary and interpreter to Abdul Baha from 1912 to 1919 along with  Lewis Chanler  and his wife  Julia  formed the New History Society in 1929, in order to spread the teachings of the Baha’i faith. It was their independent effort to teach the principles of the Cause. Mirza Ahmad  used to take lectures in New York and many people used to attend it. Once at the end of a similar lecture demand came from a group of people who used to attend them regularly. These people wanted to be a part of the Cause and did not wish to be disbanded so Sohrab, Lewis and Julia all decided to form a little society. . Initially, no name was decided for the group. Sohrab wanted to name it Soldiers of Light but no one liked this name and at the same time Julia suggested to call it the New History Society and Sohrab found it ideal and thus the said name got finalised. Having settled with the name

           The most significant judgement in the history of the Baha’i Faith One morning the Caravan House was served a legal notice by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, that the Caravan has no right to use the designation Baha’i Bookshop on the windowpane of the little store because the word Baha’i is registered in the US Patent Office, No. 245,271. The Caravan was therefore advised to discontinue use of the word Baha’i, not only on the show window but also on all the Caravan publications as well. Sixteen months later, on April 1, 1941,Justice Valente of the the Supreme Court of New York State declared that the plaintiffs have no right to a monopoly of the name of a religion and the defendants have an equal right to use the name of the religion in connection with their activities. Reference:   “From Gaslight to Dawn” , an autobiography by Julia Chanler. New York: New History Foundation, 1956 Law journal screenshot

THE CARAVAN MAGAZINE The Caravan of East and West was established in 1929 by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler and his wife Julie. The Caravan was a foundation that had a quarterly magazine called The Caravan in 1929. They also had a quarterly magazine called The Children’s Caravan in 1935, which ‘helps to keep children in touch with each other’. (Educational Digest). They also apparently published some other works. Originally a part of the Bahá’í Faith, that relationship ended shortly after the New York administration was denied oversight by its founders. Sohrab refused and was ex-communicated in 1939, which then led Julie to also refuse to appear to answer questions. The foundation severed ties, but continued to do work for the Bahá’í cause, without official sanction. “At its height, just after World War II, the Caravan had grown to a membership of almost 250,000…. and its business soon overshadowed the New History Society.” Chapter 15 An article in the N

                            BIOGRAPHY      Mirza Ahmad Sohrab was born "about 1894" ( My Baha'i Pilgrimage , page 21), to a family who were already, or very shortly became Baha'i. Sohrab was born near Esphahan in the village of Isfahan Province, Persia (now Iran). Sohrab's father Abdu'l-Baghi was a descendent of Muhammad. Abdu'l-Baghi was a farmer "possessed of broad lands" and also chief dyer of the town. Both sides of Sohrab's family, his mother and his father, claimed descent from the Imam Husayn, grandson of Muhammad. His mother died when Sohrab was a few months old, while she herself was still a teenager, and he was taken to live with his maternal grandmother in Isfahan. ( My Baha'i Pilgrimage , page 25) Mirza Ahmad Sohrab hailed from Isfahan, in Iran. He emigrated to Acre at the age of 12. After a short stay there he was sent by Sir Abbas Effendi to Port Said, in Egypt, where he worked as a salesman in Sir Abbas Effendi&#

Shoghi created a history by excommunicating all the members from the progeny of Bahaullah.  Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, the secretary of Abdul Baha writes in his book "Grandson of Abdul Baha": -                                 "The law of excommunication puts an absolute ban on those who are expelled from the Faith. The families of these persons and their fellow- believers must leave the ostracized individuals alone.They must neither communicate nor associate with them. They must break all ties of friend­ship and of humanity even; for, if they deviate one hair’s breath from this law, they themselves fall into the same ditch. Thus as time goes on, the number of the excommunicated increases;for a few are generally to be found, here and there, who are willing to risk ease and safety in order to follow their generous impulses. Such evidently was the case in the instance of Touba Khanum; it probably is the case in the instance of Rouha Khanum. However, in the instance of