User:Tahereh1844

Mr Abolfazl Ansari Jan 26th 1946 - 21st April 2022. A Baháʼí Scholar and by profession, an Engineer.

Biography of Mr Abolfazl Ansari:

Mr Ansari was born In Shiraz, Iran, the son of Shaykh Abol Hassan Ansari, and Bibi Dadkhah. His father was a renowned and learned clergyman of Shiite Islam who in his youth had been exiled to the city of Mashhad for ten years, owing to his revolutionary activities against the Shah of Iran.

Despite the anti Baháʼí history and the activities of some of the members  of his family, Mr Ansari grew up in a very loving, and spiritual atmosphere which encouraged learning and spirituality. This gave him a strong secure base to explore the current prevalent learning and he decided to leave formal education, after primary school and enter the school of priesthood.

It was then that he met his teacher, Shaykh Mohammad Movahhed, a young Islamic clergy teacher of the highest calibre, who later became a Baháʼí and was abducted in 1979 by the Islamic regime.

Mr Movahhed and Mr Ansari investigated the basis of religion for many years, together and separately, being disillusioned and questioning the prevalent spirituality of their generation. Mr Ansari caught the spark of the light of Faith, when Mr Movahhed asked him to read the Book of Certitude.

The result of declaring their Faith meant that in his early 20s, Mr Ansari’s wife as a teenager was put in a very difficult position by her father of choosing between her father and her husband; she chose her father in divorce proceedings and later in 1975, she took their daughter abroad. Both Mr Ansari and Mr Movahhed and their respective families suffered greatly as a result of their declaration of Faith in 1967, as both came from very devout Moslem families.

At that time, Mr Movahhed had been sent to a mental asylum in Shiraz for 95 days. After he was released Mr Ansari and Mr Movahhed  moved to Tehran, and Mr Ansari studied for an engineering degree, which he completed and started working as an engineer for which he received substantial accolades in his lifetime.

Mr Movahhed married Mr Ansari’s sister, Mrs Noori Ansari, (who had also converted to the Baháʼí Faith at the same time) after waiting for 8 years before parental consent was given. The result of the marriage was two sons, one of whom was born 2 months after his father’s abduction.

After the martyrdom of Mr Movahhed, in 1979, Mr Ansari was the source of great strength and support and an example of steadfastness for his sister, and nephews and a source of scholarly knowledge for the Baháʼí friends, (as well as the wider Iranian community - whenever the occasion arose). He also taught in the Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education(BIHE) for many years, being part of the team which started teaching in the BIHE when it was set up in 1986, in response to the Islamic regime not allowing Bahai youth to take part in Higher Education.

Mr Ansari married his second wife who was and is a Baháʼí, after the Islamic revolution. The marriage was a good example of the principle of equality; his wife supporting his beliefs and works until the very end.

Mr Ansari endured many injustices; interrogations, prison, solitary confinement and repeated court summons. But this did not affect his radiant and steadfast spirit.

Although Mr Ansari suffered from a weak heart in his later years, he was always very active in serving Baháʼu'lláh, until his last breath. He leaves behind his wife, four children and a grand daughter. His knowledge, humility, meekness and radiant heart will be deeply missed.

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This meditation from Baháʼu'lláh is in memory of my father:

“O SON OF JUSTICE! Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.”

As he prays for us, let's also pray for the progress of his soul. With much gratitude.

To read some of Mr Ansari's works in English and Farsi, please visit bit.ly/b1844