MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB
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's
son-in-law Mirza Ahmad Yazdi's store. After several years he proceeded to the United
States, and acted as an interpreter to Sir Abbas Effendi's Bahai proselytiser
Mirza Abul-Fadl of Gulpaygan. When Sir Abbas Effendi visited the United States
in 1912, Mirza Sohrab became part of his entourage, and returned with him to
Palestine. During World War I He was Sir Abbas Effendi's Persian scribe and
translator. When the war was over, Sir Abbas Effendi sent him back to the
United States as a bearer of the "Divine Plan" drafted by Mirza Ahmad
Sohrab, 1947.
HOW HE SERVED THE FAITH:
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's
son-in-law Mirza Ahmad Yazdi's store. After several years he proceeded to the
United States, and acted as an interpreter to Sir Abbas Effendi's Bahai
proselytiser Mirza Abal-Fadl of Gulpaygan. When Sir Abbas Effendi visited the
United States in 1912, Mirza Sohrab became part of his entourage, and returned
with him to Palestine. During World War I He was Sir Abbas Effendi's Persian
scribe and translator. When the war was over, Sir Abbas Effendi sent him back
to the United States as a bearer of the "Divine Plan" drafted by
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, 1947.
In his publications the word Mirza which means
Mr. is invariably prefixed to his name Ahmad Sohrab. According to him, he was
"a descendent of the prophet Muhammad". Mirza Sohrab enjoyed the full
confidence of Sir Abbas Effendi, with whom, he had been intimately associated as
his Persian scribe and translator. He was also very well acquainted the members
of Sir Abbas Effendi's family, including Shoghi Effendi, with whom he was on
the best terms. Like other partisans, under pains and penalties of expulsion
from the faith, to communicate and associate with the members of Baha's family
excommunicated by Sir Abbas Effendi for their alleged deviation from him as the
centre of the covenant, a title to which Sir Abbas Effendi took a fancy, with
which he labelled himself, and which, on the strength of the Baha's own
revelation (Materials for the Study of Babi Religion by Prof. Browne P. 111),
was exclusive to the god, alone, Baha who himself before the creation of the
heaven and the earths that man should worship none save god alone."
HIS DIFFERENCES WITH SHOGHI EFFENDI:
He met Lewis Chanler and his wife during his visit
to Newyork for business purpose. They both felt the need to teach the original
teachings of Abdul baha and Bahaullah openly and in an accessible manner. Been
a translator and secretary to Abdul Baha, he has quotes from Abdul baha and
Bahaullah emphasizing to make his teachings universal and not to restrict them
to any particular faith or give an organizational form to his teachings.They
started lectures on this and named their organization as New History Society.
They also sent letter to Shoghi Effendi regarding this activity seeking his
acknowledgment, blessings and support. Shoghi appreciated their effort but also
gently warned them of forming new groups in bahai faith. The LSA and
NSA of USA and Canada wanted to keep close watch on their activity and try to
restrict their mode of teaching as per bahai administration. Mirza Ahmad
opposed this idea of restricted preaching. Horace Holley, one of the chief
bahai administrator of USA was the main to confront Mirza Ahmad. He believed
Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian but had a question regarding his authority over
people of faith. Despite repeated warnings and messages from LSA and NSA they
continued. Finally they were excommunicated by Shoghi Effendi in 1939.
In
1941, Allen McDaniel and others, as members of the National Spiritual Assembly,
filed suit against Sohrab to try to stop him from using the name Baha'i. This suit
was filed in the Supreme Court of New York County. The judge granted a motion
to dismiss, stating that "the plaintiffs have no right to a monopoly of
the name of a religion. The defendants, who purport to be members of the same
religion, have an equal right to use the name of the religion..." The
judge mentioned that the complaint could be further amended and the NSA
appealed but the Appellate Court affirmed the decision of the lower court.
After his excommunication, Sohrab joined forces with other people who opposed
Shoghi Effendi. Part of this combination was a court case raised by Qamar
Baha'i, Jalal the grandson of Mirza Músa and others in about 1950-1,
challenging Shoghi Effendi's right to carry out major construction work around
the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. One of their key witnesses, Nayyir Afnan, died
shortly before the case was due to open, and it all came to nothing.
HIS
BELIEF ABOUT THE FAITH:
An "organized religion" is hard, dour, rigid, iron-handed and
iron-hearted; it is stern, arrogant, coercive and merciless. An
"administered religion" has been, is and ever shall remain an "arrested religion", for the premise that a few individuals or a network of
individuals are able to organize or administer the spiritual realities of God,
is an assumption as false as it is impertinent, and as outlandish as it is
sacrilegious. Here is the test of the true religion: Does it unite the minds
and hearts of the people in the task of developing a stable society and a
humane civilization? Does it make us more tolerant, more sympathetic, more
compassionate, more joyous, more sincere, more loving? If it accomplishes these
things, then it is religion, indeed, and it comes straight from the Creator of
the Universe"
HIS WORK:
2.The New Humanity, appeared daily for some time in a Santiago newspaper, (sometime before 1929), date uncertain.
3. Abdu'l-Bahá in Egypt New York: J. H. Sears & Co for the New history Foundation, 1929. Approved by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2005.
4.Abdu'l-Bahá in Egypt on Bahai Library
5.Living Pictures. In the Great Drama of the 19th Century. (with Julie Chanler) New York: The New History Foundation, 132 E 65th St, New York, 1933. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004.
6. I Heard Him Say. Words of `Abdu'l-Bahá as Recorded by his Secretary. New York: The New History Foundation, 1937. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2004
7. The Bible of Mankind, (ed.) 743 pp., Universal Publishing Co., 132 E 65th St, N.Y. 1939.
8. A Persian Rosary of Nineteen Pearls. 2nd. ed. New York, Caravan of East & West, n.d. [194-?] 3rd. ed. New York, Caravan of East & West, n.d. [195-?] ed., [4]. New York: New History Society, n.d. [1939].
9. Abdu'l-Bahá's Grandson: Story of a Twentieth Century Excommunication. New York: Universal Publishing Co for The New History Foundation, 1943. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004.
10.Brand, Max and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab [libretto Max Brand, and Julie Chanler; Music Max Brand]. The Gate: Scenic Oratorio for Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra in Two Parts (19 Scenes). 61. New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1944.
11.The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, An Analysis. New York: Universal Publishing Co, 1944. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004.
12.The Story of the Divine Plan. Taking Place during, and immediately following World War I. New York: The New History Foundation, 1947. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2004.
13.Ioas, Leroy, Mrs Lewis Stuyvesant [Julie Chanler] Chanler, and Ahmad Sohrab. Three Letters. [11] leaves. New York: Caravan of East and West, 1954.
14.Living Schools of Religion. Vergilius Ferm, ed. Ames, Iowa: Littlefield, Adams & Co., 1956. Chapter 19, "The Bahá'í Cause," by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab (pages 309-14)
15.My Bahá'í Pilgrimage. Autobiography from Childhood to Middle Age. New York: New History Foundation, 1959. Reprinted. H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004.
16.The Song of the Caravan. Another ed. also 1930, New York, The Grayzel Press ed., xii, 410. New York: George Dobsevage for the New History Foundation, 1930.
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