Yar-i-Deerin; O Friend of Longstanding

by Sepideh Harris & Fariborz Manuchehri

This is the life story of Mírzá Siyávash-i-Sefídvash. Born 1874 in Yazd, Iran into an orthodox Zoroastrian family he was a devoted Zoroastrian. In 1896, after becoming acquainted with a tablet from Bahá’u’lláh addressed to the Zoroastrian scholar Ustád Javanmard-i-Shirmard, he became a Bahá’í. He rose up to teach the cause and experienced immense opposition from the Zoroastrian and Muslim clergy who issued his death edict. In 1912, he attained the presence of ‘Abdu’lBahá...