A Chronicle of the Babi-Baha'i Communities in Sangsar and Shahmirzad

Sangsar is a small town about 220 kilometres east of Tehran and Shahmrzd is a nearby village. A Babi community existed here as a development from an earlier Shaykhi community and Babis from Shahmirzad participated in the Shaykh Tabarsi upheaval. Later this Babi community became Baha'is. A number of prominent clerics of the area became Baha'is, the best known of whom was Haji Mulla Ali Akbar Shahmirzadi, who was known as Haji Akhund and was named by Baha'u'llah as a Hand of the Cause. Despite suffering relentless persecution, the community grew, developed its institutions and established a number of facilities such as schools and public baths.