Origin from 1908
Fourteen years after the Baha'i Faith reached the United States in 1894, already recorded here, and thirteen years before Shoghi Effendi became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, also recorded here, a revolution in Constantinople ended more than four decades of Ottoman confinement for the faith's own appointed head. Abdu'l-Baha, eldest son of Baha'u'llah and head of the Baha'i Faith since his father's death in 1892, had lived as an Ottoman prisoner in Akka since Baha'u'llah's own exile there in 1868, already recorded here, confined for most of that time within the prison city's walls. In July 1908 the Young Turk Revolution forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman constitution and release the empire's political and religious prisoners; Abdu'l-Baha, then sixty four, was freed with his family. The release let him leave Akka for the first time in decades and, within three years, undertake the journeys to Egypt, Europe and North America that carried the faith's own message to a Western audience directly for the first time. Bahai.org, the faith's own reference site, records the revolution and the release it brought. Peter Smith's academic history of the Babi and Baha'i religions situates the 1908 release as the hinge between Abdu'l-Baha's decades as an Ottoman prisoner and his own subsequent Western journeys.
Facts
Dates
StatusRevived marks the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908, which forced the release of Abdu'l-Baha after more than four decades of Ottoman confinement in Akka and let him undertake the Western journeys that carried the faith directly to a European and North American audience for the first time, a milestone between the Baha'i Faith reaching the United States in 1894, already recorded here, and Shoghi Effendi becoming Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, also recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Abdu'l-Baha directly: "for the faith's own appointed head. Abdu'l-Baha, eldest son of Baha'u'llah and head of the Baha'i Faith since his father's death in 1892, had lived as an Ottoman prisoner in Akka since Baha'u'llah's..."
This source names Americas directly: "Fourteen years after the Baha'i Faith reached the United States in 1894, already recorded here, and thirteen years before Shoghi Effendi became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, also recorded..."
This source names Baha'u'llah directly: "Abdu'l-Baha, eldest son of Baha'u'llah and head of the Baha'i Faith since his father's death in 1892, had lived as an Ottoman prisoner in Akka since Baha'u'llah's own exile there in 1868, already..."
This source names Shoghi Effendi directly: "here, and thirteen years before Shoghi Effendi became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, also recorded here, a revolution in Constantinople ended more than four decades of Ottoman confinement for..."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a milestone in Baha'i history between the Baha'i Faith reaching the United States in 1894 and Shoghi Effendi becoming Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, both already recorded here: the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908, which freed Abdu'l-Baha after more than four decades of Ottoman confinement in Akka and let him undertake the Western journeys that carried the faith directly to Europe and North America.
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