Jenab Abolfazl Ansari, Jan 26th 1946 - 21st April 2022,

 

103 - 179 Baháʼí Era

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A Scholar of Islam and the Baháʼí Faith, and an Engineer by Profession

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Mr Ansari was born in Iran, in the city of Shiraz. He was the son of Shaykh Abol Hassan Ansari, and Bibi Dadkhah Aseman. His father was a renowned and learned clergyman of Shia Islam who in his youth had been exiled to the city of Mashhad for ten years, owing to his revolutionary activities against the Shah of Iran. 

Mr Ansari grew up in a very loving, and spiritual atmosphere which encouraged learning and spirituality. This gave him a strong secure base to explore the current prevalent spiritual learning and he decided to leave formal education after primary school and enter the school of priesthood. It was then that he met his teacher, Mohammad Shaykh Movahhed, a young Islamic clergy teacher of the highest calibre, who later became a  Baháʼí and was abducted  in 1979 by the Islamic regime in Iran, and killed.

 

Due to the fact that the actions of the Islamic High Priests were not in harmony with what they said they believed in,  Mr Movahhed and Mr Ansari were searching for another truth apart from their experiences with the Islamic system of priesthood. It was during this time, while still an Islamic clergy student that Mr Ansari decided to enter into wedlock at the age of 17.  Thus he married his cousin, his maternal uncle's daughter, Miss Ensieh Dadkhah Aseman, who was only 13. In that era in Persia, it was usual to marry at a very young age and after two years of marriage, their one and only child, a daughter, who was named Tahereh, was born. Mr Ansari had become a Bahai by then, and he named his daughter after one of the outstanding early believers of his faith.

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During this period, Mr Movahhed and Mr Ansari had investigated the basis of religion for many years, together and separately, and being disillusioned and doubtful, they were questioning the prevalent spirituality of their generation. Mr Ansari caught the spark of the light of Faith in his radiant heart, when Mr Movahhed asked him to read the Book of Certitude, by Baháʼu'lláh.

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They declared that they were Bahais in 1966 and the result of declaring their Baháʼí beliefs meant that after six year's of marriage, Mr Ansari’s wife as a teenager was put in a very difficult position by her father of choosing between her own father and  her husband; Her father, Hojatol Eslam Jafar Dadkhah Aseman (Mr Ansari's maternal uncle) was a high ranking member of the Islamic Clergy, responsible for the Islamic Financial administration, and a member of the Hojatieh Group in the Islamic Shia belief system in Iran. This group had a great deal of prejudice and were actively working against the Baháʼí faith. At that time, owing to extensive negative propaganda and the lies and scandalous untruths that had spread in Iran, it was considered shameful and a risk to reputation to be associated with Baháʼís. Mr Ansari's wife chose her father and the marriage was dissolved. After the divorce, Mr Ansari's former wife took their three year old daughter to live with her parents, Mr Ansari's uncle and aunt, and later in 1975, mother and daughter emigrated to the United Kingdom, and have lived there ever since.

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Mr Ansari resided in Iran throughout his life and after becoming Baháʼí and leaving the Islamic Shia priesthood, he entered university and studied for a degree in engineering. After completing his studies and attaining his engineering qualifications, Mr Ansari was employed in the engineering field, and for his works, he received substantial accolades during his professional career as an engineer.

 

Both Mr Ansari and Mr Movahhed and their respective families suffered greatly as a result of their declaration of  their Baháʼí Faith, as both came from very devout Muslim families who were prejudiced against the Baháʼí Faith. At that time, after announcing publicly that he had become a Baháʼí, Mr Movahhed had been sent to a mental asylum in Shiraz for 95 days. After he was released, Mr Ansari and Mr Movahhed  moved to Tehran, and having put their means of livelihood in the Islamic priest profession aside,  they were engaged in working in different professions, in the city of Tehran.

 

In 1976, Mr Movahhed married Mr Ansari’s sister, Miss Noori Ansari, who had also converted to the  Baháʼí Faith in 1966, being supported and guided by her brother, Mr Ansari. The marriage took place after waiting for 8 years before Miss Ansari's parental consent, from her mother was given. The result of the marriage was two sons, one of whom was born two months after his father’s abduction. Both sons are Baháʼís  and are very active and successful in  different professions, including service activities for the Bahai Faith, and the Baháʼí martyr, Mohammed Shaykh Movahhed and Mrs Noori Ansari (Movahhed) have three grand children.

 
After the martyrdom of Mr Movahhed in 1979, Mr Ansari showed great strength of faith and steadfastness and was a source of enduring support for his widowed sister and nephews as well as being blessed with exceptional spiritual capacity and scholarly knowledge, particularly supporting the Baháʼí youth, and furthermore, Mr Ansari would use his knowledge with the aim of social progress and he would consult regarding social issues and development with the wider Iranian community, whenever the occasion arose. He also taught in the  Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) for many years, in the field of religion and spirituality, and was part of the team which started teaching in the BIHE when it was set up in 1986, in response to the Islamic regime not allowing Baháʼí youth to take part in Higher Education. 

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After the Islamic revolution, in 1983, Mr Ansari married his second wife, Miss Shahdokht Koohbor, who was and is a Baháʼí. Mr Ansari had three children from his second marriage and only one child from his first marriage. All his four children are Baháʼís, and work successfully in various professions, and they strive to live a pattern of life according to the Baháʼí faith, to promote social cohesion and unity.

Mr Ansari endured many injustices; interrogations, solitary confinement, repeated court summons and prison sentences. But this did not affect his radiant and steadfast spirit.

Although Mr Ansari suffered from a weak heart in his latter years, he was always very active in serving Baháʼu'lláh, until his last breath. He leaves behind three children from his second marriage, and one child and a grand daughter from his first marriage. All who knew Mr Ansari testified to his knowledge, humility, meekness and radiant heart.   

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Compiled and written by the late Mr Abolfazl Ansari's daughter, Mrs Tahereh Ansari (Azari Pouresfahani)

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April 2022, 179 B.E.     

 

Updated 2025,  182 B.E.