آنچه در ادامه می خوانید
The following text is an interviews with Siamak Zand:
– Please introduce yourself and speak about your family relationship with Bahaism?
– I am Siyamak Zand. I was born in Tehran city in 1320 S.H. My mother was Mirza Mahmoud Kashi’s granddaughter. Mirza Mahmoud was of a few people who was accompanied by Hussein Ali Nouri from Iran to Acre and was with him to the end of his lifetime. He was Hussein Ali’s trusted person and he was buried in Acre where Bahaullah was buried.
It is necessary to be explained that during this course, he was also accompanied by a young man called Reza Qannad Hoveyda’s grandfather. Of course, his surname was not Qannad. Qannad was a title which had given to him. Then, they selected the name Hoveyda. Mirza Mahmoud Kashi and Mirza Reza Qannad were husbands of two sisters; that is my mother was Mr. Amir Abbas Hoveyda’s (the prime minister) maternal aunt’s granddaughter.
– How had they been influential on the Pahlavi court?
– Through Mr. Qannad and his offspring and grandchildren-and then even his cousin (his paternal uncle’s daughter), Rouh Angiz Hoveyda – was working in Farah Pahlavi’s special office headed by Fadh Allah Nabil (Baha’i) as assistant.
– Explain about the influence on the Pahlavi count and the county?
– Rera Qannad’s son, Habibullah entitled Ein-Al-Molk enters into the ministry of foreign affairs’ cadres during Qajar dynasty. He is appointed as the ambassador of Iran in Damascus for a while. Next, he become the Iranian ambassador in the Saudi Arabi.
Habibullah Einul Molk Known as Habib Allah Hoveyda had two offspring. One of them was Amir Abbas Hoveyda who has been the prime minister of Iran for 13 years and his brother Fereydoun Hoveyda who had educated in Europe and Beirut.
Due to Fereydoun’s familiarity with various languages and educations, he got busy working in the ministry of foreign affairs when he comes back to Iran and when his father is the ambassador. Then, he is transferred to oil company as the member of the board of directors of ail company for years.
Mr. Amir Abbas Hoveyda wasn’t Baha’i, but he is from a Baha’i family. His father was a famous Baha’i.
Amir Abbas Hoveyda
Also, my mother whose father and grandfather were Baha’is. My maternal grandfather was known as Taraz Allah Kalantari. Kalantari surname was due to her ancestor in my mother side; because he was the magistrate of Kashan city.
It is worthy to be noted that Mr. Amir Abbas Hoveyda and his brother Ferydoun Hovyda were the representatives of Iran in the United Nations for long years.
– Is it explicitly possible to name Haveyda as a bigoted Baha’i?
According to me, Amir Abbas Hoveyda himself was not Baha’i and he was atheist. However, he was from a Baha’i family, but due to his family attachments and his appurtenances towards his family, he naturally opened the ways for the Baha’is presence to enter into the government.
Even, there were several Baha’is in his cabinet. They formally announced or didn’t announce to be Baha’is. They dissimulated although they were saying they didn’t dissimulate, Bahaullah himself and Abdul Baba were dissimulating and Abdul Baha was the leader of the group prayer in Acre cathedral.
To explain the matter better, it is better to pay attention to the important role of lieutenant general Abdul Karim Ayadi. Mr. Hoveyda himself didn’t elect all ministers. Most of them were elected by the Shah and his close friends like Abdul Karim Ayadi. All Baha’is who had been elected as ministers in various cabinets had been elected by lieutenant general Abdul Karin Ayadi who was of the highest leaders of the Baha’is of Iran.
Ayadi was the special physician of the Shah. He usually elected the Baha’i people such as Mr. Mansour Rowhani who has been the minister of water, electricity, agriculture and natural resources for 14 years and he was a Baha’i.
The minister of intelligent service was particularly elected among the ministers who were Baha’is. Various prime ministers except for Mr. Haveyda and other ministers who were Baha’is didn’t announce to be Baha’is.
However, the agent who elected the Baha’is in high-ranking positions in Iran was Abdul Karim Ayadi who not only elected the Baha’is in sensitive and high-ranking positions, but also introduced people economically and commercially and made them progressed. A famous businessman called Hajabr Yazdani was one of those who was improved by Abdul Karim Ayadi. It shows that the issue is not limited to several Baha’i ministers.
Hajabr Yazdani
One of the other people who had a very important job was the chairman of national aviation of Iran at that time. He was ” Khademi” who was really strict and was a Baha’i general in the army.
– Explain about Mr. Qannad who had ran a confectionary in Aderneh to help Bahaullah and the organization via its profits?
– Not only Qanad, but also Mahmoud Kashi had special skill in baking. After the Ottoman government exiled Hussein Ali Nouri and his companion from Iraq to Aderneh, a limited pension was assigned for the heads of this group, but they had little money to earn a living.
They had to manage their family and organization. So, Mirza Mahmoud Kashi an Qannad established a confectionary in Aderneh city and they earned a living and assigned a part of its income for Hussein Ali and his offspring.
– Explain about the Baha’is in the court?
– In some trips to interior provinces of Iran, I traveled as the supervisor of correspondences. Some provided women from inside and outside the Iranian country to satisfy the Shah.
– Do you have any memoir about Abdul Karim Ayadi?
– No, I haven’t had any speech or contact with him. However; due to my job, I sometimes take some correspondences to go to Noshahr [15]. The Shah was going to Noshahr in summer for holiday. Some people like Amir Houshang Dawalloo and Abdul Karim Ayadi were always present.
Abdul Karim Ayadi [16]
They were accompanied by the Shat even in special trips inside the country and sometimes in winter holidays in Switzerland. They had even bought a villa in Switzerland.
– The Baha’is say: We were under pressure during Pahlavi government. what do you think?
– Let me give an example. Consider Farrokhroo Parsa. She was the minister of education for a while. Her tendency towards Bahaism is
famous. She had two famous assistants. One of them was my intimate friend called Amir Hussein Nakhaee and another assistant was Kazem Vadiee. Amir Hussein Nakhaee wasn’t Baha’i, but Kazem Vadiee was of the known Baha’is of that period of time. You can go and search. It has been mentioned in various places. The education ministry was one of the important ones of Iran and electing a Baha’i for assistance post in this ministry is based on private motives. I concluded so.
You know, there were other people who were merited for this post, but she elected a Baha’i.
General Khademi who was the head of national aviation had employed many Baha’is.
– The note which was interesting for us and the mere narrator of it is you that you have heard from your mother that Abdul Baha was spying in Acre and Haifa port and at that period of time of war he was signaling the ships. This is considered as a definite document whose narrator of it is you. Do you want to note?
– My mother narrated this story for me. My mother has been born in 1903 or 1904 A.D. World War I starts in 1914 A.D. and ends in 1918 A.D.; that is, my mother has been 10 or 15 years of age.
– When has this memoir happened?
After the onset of World War I, Abbas Effendi left Acre for a while. The guardian of Ottoman, Jamal Pasha searched him to arrest due to his espionage. He sought asylum to Darouzi tribes living in the south of Lebanon. They are special Muslims, too. Its documents exist in the archive of the ministry of foreign affairs of the last government of Ottoman and the King Abdul Hamid.
– Russia has the most documents about the Baha’is relationships. Which documents are exciting in Russia?
– Habib Allah, Amir Abbas Haveyda’s father said Abbas Effendi has pointed out to enter our disciples in the ministry of foreign affairs in order for such people to enter into the diplomacy If Iran.
– Has Abbas Effendi suggested the disciples to enter people to the ministry of foreign affairs?
– Mr. Habibullah Einul Molk, Amir Abbas Hoveyda’s father enters into the personnel of the ministry I foreign affairs. There is a place in which it is written that Abbas Effendi had advised his agents.
At that time, my mother narrated that the leaders prevented the Baha’is and disciples offspring to go to Europe and other places to educate at higher education level. This has been one of the policies of this creed. Just their own offspring could go to foreign universities or Acre to study. Now, how was it possible for Habibullah Einul Molk to be able to travel to Europe to educate in European universities? This was an interesting story narrated by my mother.
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