Muhammad Arbab
Muhammad Arbab was born in Kashan, Persia, a place which was noted for the narrow-mindedness and fanaticism of its inhabitants. His mother was a believer and had received Tablets from Baha’u’llah. Though born of a Baha’i mother, Muhammad investigated the Cause thoroughly as a youth before accepting it most enthusiastically. This was a the time when Baha’u’llah had just declared His Manifestation in Baghdad (Iraq).
While in Kashan He was subjected to all sorts of hardships and persecutions on the part of the Muslims. He was once attacked by a fanatical mob, his house was set on fire and all his belongings pillaged. Following these hardships, Muhammad could find no other alternative but to quit his home town and emigrate to Tihran. He later managed to successfully engage in commercial pursuits for a period of fifty years. During all this time he was cleverly and tactfully giving the Message to the Mullas, merchants and notables with whom he had dealings. Among these were two well-known Muslim ecclesiastics, Mulla Ali Kani and Haji Aqa Muhammad Najm Abadi.
It may be worth mentioning here that in the early days of the Cause when there was no mail service in Persia, correspondence between the Holy Land and Persia as far as the believers were concerned was carried on through messengers called "Qasids," who traveled the long distance between Persia and Palestine on foot, taking petitions from the believers in Persia to Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha and bringing back with them answers. After the postal communications were established in Persia with other countries, Ali Haydar of Shrivan (Caucasus), who was a Baha’i, was the first person to act, as intermediary for dispatching letters to the Holy Land and getting letters from there for the believers.
Muhammad Arbab was the second person to perform the duties of medium for correspondence with the Holy Land. His correspondent in Haifa (Palestine) was Haji Muhammad Taqi Manshadi. Muhammad Arbab carried out this service most carefully and faithfully for a period of twenty years. This was indeed a most difficult and hard work to perform, particularly when we consider the harsh attitude adopted by the old Turkish Empire and the Persian Government against the Cause. But still it was done most enthusiastically by such messengers. Also among these messengers were Mulla Muhammad Dehaji, Shaykh Salaman and Haji Mirza Haydar Ali.
Muhammad Arbab rendered notable services to the Cause after the passing of Baha’u’llah and the appointment of 'Abdul-Baha as the Center of the Covenant of the Cause. He had received about one hundred Tablets from Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha and letters from Shoghi Effendi.
(Adapted from Star of the West, vol. 22, no. 11, February 1932)
