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QAÚ÷ENI,
Shaikh
Moháammad-¿Ali
(b.
Now
Ferest,
a
village
near
Qa@÷en,
3
Moháarram
1277/20
July
1860;
d.
Ashkabad,
April
1924),
prominent
Bahai
apologist
and
director
of
the
Bahai
school
in
Ashkabad.
His
father,
Molla@
H®osayn,
a
Bahai,
was
brother
of
Nabil-e
Akbar
Moháammad
Qa@÷eni
(q.v.).
Soon
after
completing
his
studies
in
Islamic
sciences
in
Madrasa
Diniya
in
Mashhad,
he
converted
to
the
Bahai
religion
and
became
a
close
companion
of
his
uncle
until
his
death.
Upon
instruction
of
¿Abd-al
Baha@÷
(q.v.),
the
leader
of
the
Bahai
community,
he
traveled
to
many
areas
in
Persia,
India,
Russia,
and
Egypt
to
deal
with
problems
created
by
dissident
Bahais
and
to
promulgate
the
Bahai
religion,
which
he
did
successfully
among
religious
leaders
and
notables.
In
1903,
on
his
way
to
India,
on
the
instigation
of
Azalis
(Solayma@n,
p.
359;
see
also
AZALI
BABISM),
he
was
attacked
and
badly
beaten
by
a
mob
in
Isfahan,
stripped
of
his
possessions,
and
incarcerated
for
four
months.
In
1905,
while
visiting
Haifa,
¿Abd-al
Baha@÷
asked
him
to
go
to
Ashkabad
to
undertake
the
task
of
teaching
Bahai
children
and
youth.
He
moved
there
and
remained
as
teacher
and
director
of
the
Bahai
school
until
his
death
in
1924,
except
for
the
period
that
he
was
working
with
others
on
the
completion
of
Abu'l-Fazµl
Golpayega@ni's
manuscript
of
Kaæf
al-g@etÂa@÷,
which
had
been
sent
to
Haifa
after
his
death
in
January
1914.
This
book
was
intended
as
a
response
to
NoqtÂat
al-k@af
(Browne),
which
Bahais
believed
contained
historical
errors.
¿Abd-al
Baha@÷
asked
Qa@÷eni
to
go
to
Haifa,
where
he
charged
him
to
assist
Sayyed
Mahdi
Golpa@yega@ni,
Abu'l-Fazµl's
nephew,
to
bring
the
unfinished
manuscript
to
completion
under
the
supervision
of
Mirza@
Moháammad-Taqi
(Ebn
Abhar,
q.v.),
an
eminent
Bahai.
This
was
done
in
Tehran
in
eight
months
(1915),
where
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni
together
with
Ebn
Abhar,
Mirza@
Moháammad
Na¿im,
and
Shaikh
Ka@záem
Samandar
gathered
and
extracted
materials
and
Sayyed
Mahdi
completed
the
manuscript.
Sayyed
Mahdi
acknowledged
in
the
introduction
to
the
book
the
crucial
role
of
Qa@÷eni
in
their
concerted
effort
to
finish
it
(Solayma@ni,
pp.
377-78;
Golpa@yega@ni,
pp.
3-10).
Qa@÷nei
died
in
1924
and
was
buried
in
the
Ashkabad
Bahai
cemetery,
next
to
his
uncle's
grave.
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni
was
noted
for
his
intellectual
acuity,
apologetic
and
oratory
skills,
and
for
his
artistic
gifts
as
a
calligrapher
and
musician.
He
was
referred
to
as
one
of
the
nineteen
"Apostles"
of
Baha@÷-Alla@h
by
Shoghi
Effendi,
the
leader
of
Bahai
community
until
1957
(Balyuzi,
p.
261).
He
contributed
significantly
to
the
scholarly
environment
of
Bahais
in
Ashkabad
and
to
the
development
of
a
highly
organized
social
and
cultural
Bahai
community
there
(Momen,
pp.
287,
299-301).
Works.
His
main
work
is
Dorus
al-dia@na,
a
standard
textbook
on
various
aspects
of
Bahai
religion,
which
was
first
taught
in
the
Bahai
schools
(q.v.)
in
Ashkabad
but
soon
became
widely
used
in
most
Bahai
schools
in
Persia
and
elsewhere.
It
was
first
published
in
Ashkabad
in
1911
and
later
in
Tehran,
Egypt,
and
South
America.
He
also
wrote
an
untitled
treatise
(Cairo,
1922;
Solayma@ni,
p.
393)
in
response
to
the
dissident
claims
of
Mirza@
Moháammad-
¿Ali,
younger
brother
of
¿Abd-al
Baha@÷.
His
other
published
works
include
letters,
mainly
apologetic
in
nature
(Solayma@ni,
pp.
369-76;
"Na@ma-ye
ta@rikòi,"
Raf¿ati,
pp.
225-34)
and
the
transcript
of
a
talk
given
by
AÚqa@
Shaikh
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni
to
the
Theosophical
Society
of
Surat,
India,
which
is
printed
in
"al-Bisha‚rat"
(the
title
of
the
Persian
section
of
a
Baha'i
periodical,
published
in
India,
entitled
"Baha'i
News")
on
pages
104
of
volume
I,
number
9,
1921
(Solayma@ni,
p.
382).
A
few
unpublished
works
are
held
in
private
collections,
including
the
unpublished
treatise
"Resa@la-ye
so÷a@l
o
jawa@b,"
which
was
taught
at
the
Bahai
school
in
Ashkabad.
Bibliography:
Mirza@
Abu'l-Fazµl
Golpa@yega@ni
and
Mirza@
Mahdi
Golpa@yega@ni,
Kaæf
al-g@etÂa@÷
¿an
háial
al-a¿da@÷,
Tashkent,
1919,
pp.
1-10.
Hasan
M.
Balyuzi,
Eminent
Baha'is
in
the
Time
of
Baha'u'llah
with
Some
Historical
Background,
Oxford,
1985,
pp.
273-74.
M.
Fo÷a@di,
"Zendagi-na@ma-ye
AÚqa@
ˆaykò
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni,"
in
Kòuæaha@-i
az
kòarman-e
adab
wa
honar
XIII:
dawra-ye
Nabil-e
Akbar,
Darmstadt,
2002,
pp.
45-55.
Mirza@
H®osayn
Hamada@ni,
Ta@rikò-e
jadid,
ed.
and
tr.
Edward
G.
Browne
as
The
Ta‚ríkh-i-Jadíd,
or
New
History
of
Mírza‚
¿Alí
Muháammad
the
Ba‚b,
by
Mírza‚
H®useyn
of
Hamada‚n,
Cambridge,
1893.
Moojan
Momen,
"The
Baha'i
Community
of
Ashkhabad;
Its
Social
Basis
and
Importance
in
Baha'i
History,"
in
Shirin
Akiner,
ed.,
Cultural
Change
and
Continuity
in
Central
Asia,
London,
1991,
pp.
278-305.
"Na@ma-e
ta@rikòi
[of
Shaikh
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni],"
AÚhang-e
badi¿
25/1-2,
1970,
pp.
48-50.
V.
Raf¿ati,
"Pa@sokò
ba
±and
so÷a@l:
na@ma-i
az
Jana@b-e
AÚqa@
ˆaykò
Moháammad-¿Ali
Qa@÷eni,"
in
Safina-ye
¿erfa@n
VI:
motÂa@la¿a@t-i
dar
osául-e
mo¿taqada@t
wa
a@t¯a@r-e
moba@raka-ye
Baha@÷i,
Darmstadt,
2003.
¿Aziz-Alla@h
Solayma@ni,
"Jana@b-e
AÚqa@
Moháammad
Qa@÷eni,"
in
idem,
Masáa@bihá-e
heda@yat
VI,
Tehran,
1965,
pp.
345-96.
(Minou
Foadi)
June
27,
2005
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