The introduction of the Baháʼí Faith in Vietnam first occurred in the 1920s, not long after French Indochina was mentioned by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá as a potential destination for Baháʼí teachers. After a number of brief visits from travelling teachers throughout the first half of the 20th century, the first Baháʼí group in Vietnam was established in Saigon in 1954, with the arrival of Shirin Fozdar, a Baháʼí teacher from India. The 1950s and 1960s were marked by periods of rapid growth, mainly in South Vietnam; despite the ongoing war affecting the country, the Baháʼí population surged to around 200,000 adherents by 1975. After the end of the war, Vietnam was reunified under a communist government, who proscribed the practice of the religion from 1975 to 1992, leading to a sharp drop in community numbers. Relations with the government gradually improved, however, and in 2007 the Baháʼí Faith was officially registered, followed by its full legal recognition a year later. As of 2012, it was reported that the Baháʼí community in Vietnam comprised about 8,000 followers.
French Indochina (pre-1954)
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan The earliest association of Vietnam with the Baháʼí Faith was a brief mention of French Indochina—of which the country was then a part—as a destination for Baháʼí teachers in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan. The specific tablet in question was written on 11 April 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919, after the end of World War I and the Spanish flu. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on 4 April 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on 12 December 1919.
"The moment this divine Message is carried forward by the American believers from the shores of America and is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of Australasia, and as far as the islands of the Pacific, this community will find itself securely established upon the throne of an everlasting dominion..., if some teachers go to other islands and other parts, such as the continent of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, also to Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea, French Indochina, Siam, Straits Settlements, India, Ceylon and Afghanistan, most great results will be forthcoming."
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had at one time seriously considered a voyage to India and Indochina, as reported by Shoghi Effendi in 1919, although whether such a voyage would have included the territory that would become known as Vietnam is not known.
Early contact
The first Baháʼí to visit Vietnam is likely to have been , one of the first Baháʼís of France, who undertook a number of travels around the globe at the request of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. After an initial planned visit was aborted in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I, Dreyfus-Barney arrived in what was then French Indochina in 1920, visiting Saigon and Hanoi. Four years later in May 1924, prominent Baháʼí travelling teacher Martha Root paid a week-long visit to Saigon. During her stay, she promoted the message and principles of the religion to a number of newspapers, making friends with one Madame Boeuf, editor of an English section in "L'Information de l'Extrême Orient". Boeuf was sympathetic to the principles of the Baháʼí religion, and published a number of favorable French-language articles. Several other newspapers also printed articles describing Baháʼí principles, in French, Chinese and Vietnamese. A public lecture was arranged with the help of the Governor, who, when approached, "himself telephoned the President of the largest school" to communicate his approval. Besides these initiatives, Root made calls to nineteen schools, societies and individuals in Saigon.
In 1951, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of India, Pakistan and Burma adopted the goal of sending pioneers to a number of cities throughout Africa and Southeast Asia, including Saigon, in response to the summons of Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Baháʼí Faith. In a letter to an individual in September of that year, Effendi reported that there were Baháʼís in Indochina at that time, although their settlement seems to have been short-lived; a March 1952 report stated that Indochina remained unopened to the Baha'i Faith.
South Vietnam (1954–1975) Following nearly a decade of war between colonial France and the communist Viet Minh, which ended in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, both sides met at the Geneva Conference on 21 July 1954. A provisional division of Vietnam was made at the 17th parallel, creating the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the State of Vietnam (later the Republic of Vietnam) in the south.Nash, Gary B., Julie Roy Jeffrey, John R. Howe, Peter J. Frederick, Allen F. Davis, Allan M. Winkler, Charlene Mires, and Carla Gardina Pestana. The American People, Concise Edition Creating a Nation and a Society, Combined Volume (6th Edition). New York: Longman, 2007. Much of the development of the Baháʼí Faith during the following period took place in South Vietnam; the first Baháʼí groups in the north would not be established until 1992, long after the country's reunification.
Establishment and early growth (1954–1963) In February 1954, Shirin Fozdar, a Baháʼí from India who had been a member of the National Spiritual Assembly there, went to Saigon to establish the religion in Indochina. On 15 March, she gave a public introduction to the Baha'i Faith in a lecture at the Norodom theatre, which was given significant coverage in the Vietnamese press. During this time, Pham Huu Chu, a professor living in Saigon, became the first Vietnamese Baháʼí. Jamshed and Parvati Fozdar, members of Fozdar's family, arrived to take her place in the summer, settling into an apartment at 88 Bonard Boulevard (now Le Loi Boulevard). By the following year, there were enough Baháʼís in Saigon to elect the country's first Local Spiritual Assembly there, on 21 April 1955. The Assembly was officially recognized by the government of South Vietnam on 20 September. Promotion of the religion in Central Vietnam led to the establishment of Vietnam's second Spiritual Assembly in the village of Trừng Giang,Now Hoà Giang village, Điện Trung commune, Điện Bàn District, Quảng Nam province. Quảng Nam province, in April 1957. Eight more Spiritual Assemblies were established in 1958, bringing the total to ten. Of these, most were in Central Vietnam, including those of Da Nang and Quang Ngai. Also established in that year was the Baháʼí community of Phuoc Long, where the first Baháʼí school of South Vietnam was established; several other schools were established in Central Vietnam.
In 1958 Tuskegee Airman Dempsey Morgan and his wife Adrienne, both Baháʼís, came to Vietnam, and over succeeding years helped establish administrative procedures among the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Vietnam. During their stay in Vietnam, the Morgans also identified Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼís Faith, with the Maitreya Buddha, who in the Buddhist tradition is the successor to Gautama Buddha and who is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. During this period of growth a number of Buddhist monks also become Baha'is. The Morgan family left Vietnam for Thailand in 1959, staying for two years before continuing to Phnom Penh. They were able to visit Saigon when Rúhíyyih Khanum visited in 1961 and were able to move back to Saigon before the end of the year. There was also a local newsletter the Baháʼí News in publication by then.
From 1957 to 1963 the Baháʼí community in South Vietnam had more than tripled (including among the Koho, Thổ, Annamese, and Cham peoples) and several schools were established. In 1957 the Baháʼí marriage certificate was recognized in Vietnam. In 1962 16 Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assemblies formed, and by 1963 there were more than 40 (and perhaps over 100) Spiritual Assemblies in South Vietnam. By 1963 there were also 6 local Baháʼí Centers or Haziratu'l-Quds, including in Saigon and Da Nang, and more lands had been bought for future centers. As the number of Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assemblies increased, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Vietnam was established in 1964. One report estimated over 20,000 Baháʼís nationwide by mid-1964, giving it the "third largest membership among the major religions" in South Vietnam at that time.
Although the Baháʼí community held a generally positive relationship with the government of Ngô Đình Diệm, there is evidence of sporadic opposition at different levels during this period. One account describes government harassment of the Vietnamese Baháʼís around 1958–59, including the imprisonment of the entire Spiritual Assembly of Saigon. On 21 April 1963, Bui Van Luong, then Diệm's Interior Minister, formally prohibited Baháʼís from pursuing "any religious activities in Central Vietnam and the mountainous provinces." Seven months later, the Diệm government was overthrown, and the prohibition of Baháʼí activities was annulled. An account reported in a Swiss Baháʼí newsletter in February 1964 claimed that Baháʼís in Vietnam had been subject to harassment for over seven years leading up to Diệm's ouster.
Post-Diệm era (1963–1975) As the Vietnam War continued, there were a number of American Baháʼís who were stationed in Vietnam, but following the Baháʼí teaching of the sacredness of all life and of obedience to one's government, Baháʼís would request to avoid being placed in a position to take the life of another, and thus American Baháʼís served as clerks and medics as non-combatants. By April 1973, 687 Local Spiritual Assemblies had been formed, and Baháʼís could be found in 1,685 localities. By 1975, there were an estimated 200,000 Baháʼís in South Vietnam, and the Baháʼí community and its institutions were still experiencing growth.
Communist Vietnam (post-1975) In the chaos following the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the Baháʼí community was severely limited logistically. Contact had already been lost with members in outlying areas, and the national convention scheduled for that time was cancelled; the National Spiritual Assembly was instead elected via mailed-in ballots. In a 1978 report, the Universal House of Justice noted that
"In the latter part of the period under review [1973-1976] circumstances beyond the control of the Baháʼís have hindered the completion of the goals. An administrative committee has been appointed to function on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly.
For a time, the incoming communist government seemed to tolerate Baháʼí activities; Baháʼís in the newly renamed Ho Chi Minh City (previously Saigon) were allowed to hold a commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Báb in July 1976, and following the setbacks of the previous years, a meeting was held the following year to elect a National Spiritual Assembly.
Official proscription