Baháʼí Faith in France

[1] The first followers of the religion declared their belief shortly before 1900, the community grew and the understanding of Baha'u'llah's Revelation was assisted by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's trip to France in late 1911 and early 1913.

[7] A French agent working in Persia reported briefly on the Bábís, teachings brought by the Báb, the forerunner and Prophet-Herald of the Baháʼí Faith, in the 1840s after it originated in 1844.

[8] Though in no way espousing his beliefs, Baháʼís know Arthur de Gobineau as the person who obtained the only complete manuscript of the early history of the Bábí religious movement of Persia, written by Haji Mírzá Jân of Kashan,[1] who was put to death by the Persian authorities about 1852.

He is also known to students of the Bábí Faith for having written the first and most influential account of the movement, displaying a fairly accurate knowledge of its history in Religions et philosophies dans l'Asie centrale.

[1][8] Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith in the 19th century, addressed a number of items to French officials or in circumstances related to France from circa the 1870s.

French writer Henri Antoine Jules-Bois says that: "among the littérateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of his death.

Transformed by the trip in just a few days, May returned to Paris about late-December where she stayed for some time, at the request of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, living as a confirmed Baháʼí and began teaching her new faith.

[19] Barney went to Egypt in the spring of 1901 to see ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and returned with Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl Gulpáygání, one of the most erudite scholars of the religion, to Paris, where Anton Haddad translated for him.

Breakwell regularly corresponded with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's secretary and translator Yúnis Khán and was the first western Baháʼí to give the Huqúqu'lláh, a voluntary payment based on any wealth in excess of what is necessary to live comfortably.

On learning with clarity of the independent status as a greater prophet acknowledged for the Báb late in his life he wrote: I do not know how to thank you nor how to express the joy that floods my heart.

Poor great Prophet, born in the heart of Persia, without any means of instruction, and who, alone in the world, encircled by enemies, succeeds by the force of his genius in creating a universal and wise religion.

She also wrote a play God's Heroesin 1910 depicting the story of Tahirih[32] named as a Letter of the Living who has been compared with Joan of Arc in the changes which they came to release by virtue of their examples.

[35] A decade after they met at Bolles' home, between the journeys of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to France, Laura and Hippolyte married, mutually hyphenated their last names, and continued to serve the religion.

Juliet Thompson, an American Baháʼí who had also come to visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá while still in this early phase of his journeys, recorded comments of Dreyfus who heard Soltan's stammering apology for past wrongs.

These letters were compiled in the book titled "Tablets of the Divine Plan", but its publication was delayed owing to World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic.

She found opportunity as she passed through France riding in a third class coach with two wounded soldiers and arriving safely at Marseilles substituting on a ticket of a German woman.

[57] In 1931 a Frenchman Gaston Hesse is noted as a staff editor of volume IV of the annual Baháʼí World periodical[58] and a number of Persian students traveled to France in part to review the places ʻAbdu'l-Bahá visited during breaks in their studies[59] until developments in 1938–39 brought that project to an end.

[85] The second France Baháʼí Summer School, 24 August – 2 September, held at Menton-Garavan, opened with a one-day Teaching Conference which was attended by 63 adult believers, 5 youth and 15 children, representing 14 French localities and 7 countries.

[92] The members of the first national assembly elected were: Sara Kenny, Jacques Soghomonian, Francois Petit, Joel Marangella, Chahab 'Ala'i, Sally Sanor, Lucienne Migette, Farhang Javid, and Florence Bagley.

[94] The 1959 summer school attracted 95 attendees including 16 non-Baháʼís to Beaulieu-sur-Mer with Dr. Hermann Grossmann, as well as Jessie Revell representing the International Baháʼí Council, a predecessor to the Universal House of Justice.

A.M. Barafroukhteh, Sara Kenny, Lucien McComb, Lucienne Migette, Yadullah Rafaat, Henriette Samimy, and Omer Charles Tamenne.

[111] Since the inception of the Baháʼí Faith, its founder Baháʼu'lláh exhorted believers to be involvemed in socio-economic development, leading individuals to become active in various projects.

In 1980 the European Parliament passed a resolution concerning the Persecution of Baháʼís in Iran following the Iranian Revolution[124][125] which was echoed by then President François Mitterrand.

[127] In 1983 years of contact with the Esperantists by one of the members of the Baha'i community of Nantes, France, resulted in sharing with the 25-member Assembly of the Esperanto Association copies of the "white paper" on the plight of Baha'is in Iran.

[129] In 1984 Baha'is from Marseilles to Nice in southern France worked to make the first Baha'i-sponsored float on the Cote d'Azur as part of municipal parades in Cavalaire and Sainte-Maxime.

[135] In 1987 Hand of the Cause Rúhíyyih Khanum commemorated her mother's time in France with a trip visiting the Baha'is in 17 places during a 33-day stay arriving on 11 November.

[136] During the visit she met with the director of the Affairs of Cultes and former president of the European Parliament, Simone Veil, former prime minister, then Speaker of its House of Representatives, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, as well as local officials.

The Gardeners of God – Two French journalists, Colette Gouvion and Philippe Jouvion attempted an objective and unbiased study of the Baháʼí Faith through a series interviews which was published in 1993 as "Les Jardiniers de Dieu" which was translated into English.

[143] The centenary of the first trip in 1911 was noted at the annual Baháʼí residential school, held in Evian from 27 August to 3 September, where participants explored what it means to be "walking in the path of ʻAbdu'l-Baha" as they discussed the current activities of their communities.

[144] Revised and extended work reviewing ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's talks and those he met, were published as well in time with this centenary: Continuing to voice its concern in 1993 the French government took up issues related to the treatment of Baha'is in modern Iran.