ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan (29 April 1905 – 26 November 2003) was a prominent

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian Baháʼí educator and author who was given the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951. A native of Sabzivár in what was, at the time,

's Khurásán, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan was still a child when he witnessed the persecution of his family and others for their beliefs. Seeking safety, the family moved in 1914 from Sabzivár to Ashkhabad in

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

, which was then a part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. In 1926, nine years after the Russian Revolution, 21-year-old Furútan won a scholarship to the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, where he studied education and child psychology. Within four years, as a result of his Baháʼí activities, he was expelled from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and, in 1930, returned to Iran. After he returned to Iran, he and his wife helped administer the ''Tarbiyat School for Boys'', which was later closed by the Pahlavi government.''History of Baháʼí Educational Efforts in Iran''
Later, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan was elected to the National

Spiritual Assembly Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level ...

of Iran in 1934, serving as its secretary until 1957. In December 1951, he was appointed a

Hand of the Cause of God Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá who died in 2007. Hands of ...

Shoghi Effendi Shoghí Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...

. From 1959 to 1963, he served as one of the nine Custodians at the

Baháʼí World Centre The Baháʼí World Centre is the name given to the spiritual and administrative centre of the Baháʼí Faith, representing sites in or near the cities of Acre and Haifa, Israel. Much of the international governance and coordination of th ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Throughout his life, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan taught Baháʼí classes for children and youth, and he published many works in the area of child spiritual and material education. ʻAli-Akbar Furútan died in Haifa, 98 years old.

Works

*
Baháʼí Education for Children
' (6 volumes; originally ''Kitab-i-Dars-i-Akhlagh'' ("Books for Moral Education")) * * * * Several books in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Notes

References

"Hand of the Cause Mr. ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan, 1905-2003"
a biography at the Baha'i Library Online website.
High-ranking member of the Baha'i Faith passes away

Works

Notes

References

Further reading