The Baháʼí Faith originated in the 19th century Persian empire, and soon spread into the neighboring British India, which is now Pakistan and other states. The roots of the religion in Pakistan go back to the 1840s, and it was recognized in the constitution of 1981 as a religious minority with legal rights. According to various sources, there are 2,000 to 87,000 Baha'is living in Pakistan.
One of the disciples of the Báb, Shaykh Saʼid-i-Hindi, was from Multan, Pakistan, and was instructed by the Báb to spread the religion to his homeland. Shaykh Saʼid-i-Hindi converted a blind man named Basir from Multan, who later traveled to Iran, met Baháʼu'lláh, and was reportedly killed there for his beliefs. Another early Indian convert was Qahru'llah, who met the Báb in Chihríq and returned to India. Baháʼu'lláh later encouraged followers to travel to India and spread the Baháʼí Faith there.
In 1921 the Baháʼís of Karachi elected their first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly and acquired a Baháʼí Center before independence. In 1923, still as part of India, a regional National Spiritual Assembly was formed for all India and Burma which then included the area now part of Pakistan. By 1956 Baháʼí local assemblies spread across many cities, and in 1957, East and West Pakistan elected a separate National Baháʼí Assembly from India and later East Pakistan became Bangladesh with its own national assembly. In 1978, Baháʼís in Pakistan established a Montessori School in Karachi that continues functioning as the "New Day Secondary School". The school started with three students and by 2015 had over 700 enrolled. There are about 12 Baháʼí Centers (a.k.a. Baháʼí Halls) spread around Pakistan.
With the constitutional recognition that they received in 1981, Bahá’ís in Pakistan have had the right to hold public meetings, establish academic centers, teach their faith, and elect their administrative councils. However, the government prohibits Baháʼís from travelling to Israel for Baháʼí pilgrimage, and they face challenges due to the requirement to identify religion on identity papers. Many Baháʼís feel threatened and avoid displaying their religious identity publicly. Most Pakistanis have not heard about the Bahá’í Faith and consider it to be a sect of Islam or a cult. Minority Rights Group International in its 2002 report states that the Bahá’í in Pakistan, "are still a young and almost invisible community, which is confined to intellectuals who try to keep out of the limelight. Their magazines and books are available in Urdu but the fundamentalists, unlike their counterparts in Iran, have not yet seen them as a threat."Malik, Iftikhar H. Religious minorities in Pakistan. Vol. 6. London: Minority rights group international, 2002.
Baháʼís in Pakistan are very active. They organize social programs for their community, as well as activities in which others can participate. Activities are focused on the teachings and writings of Baháʼu'lláh, and are similar to those of Baháʼís around the world: children's classes, junior youth spiritual empowerment, study circles, devotional gatherings, and other social activities. Their official website claims that they are active in "literacy programs for rural areas, free medical camps and tree plantations, discourses with dignitaries and leaders of thought, promoting interaction amongst the youth of all communities and by actively participating in dialogues on religious coexistence." There is a large annual gathering of Baháʼís in Pakistan that takes place in the auditorium of the National Council of Arts, Islamabad, to celebrate the Baháʼí holy day of Ridván. The gathering is attended by government ministers and other faith groups.
Demographics and size
According to Baháʼí sources, the Baháʼí population in Pakistan was around 30,000 in 2001, and around 1,000 individuals had completed Ruhi Book 1 by 2004.
The first edition of World Christian Encyclopedia (1982) estimated the Baháʼís in Pakistan to be 100 in 1900, 15,100 in 1970, 20,000 in 1975, and 25,000 in 1980, with an annual growth rate of 4.5% from 1970 to 1980. It also noted that the Baháʼís in Pakistan had, "rapid growth from 19 local spiritual assemblies (1964) to 97 (1973). Baha'is are mostly Persian residents."
The second edition of World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) estimated the Baháʼís in Pakistan to be 55,100 in 1990, 68,500 in 1995, and 78,658 in 2000, with an annual growth rate of 3.64% from 1990 to 2000. Based on the same dataset and projected growth rate, ARDA estimated 87,259 in 2010.
Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) is a national statistical database that records the religion of all citizens. In 2012 there were 33,734 Baháʼís registered, and in 2018 there were 31,543 Baháʼí voters.
Shoba Das of Minority Rights Group International reported in 2013, "There are around 200 Baha’is in Islamabad, and perhaps two or three thousand in the whole of Pakistan."
In 2014, a correspondent for The News International visited Baháʼís in Lahore and reported, "At least 200 followers of Bahá’í faith currently reside here in Lahore... " with a mix of Iranian and Pakistani backgrounds, with both men and women serving on the Local Spiritual Assembly.
In his PhD thesis for the Islamic University of Islamabad (2015), Abdul Fareed researched the Baháʼís of Pakistan and wrote,
Abdul Fareed visited several Baháʼí communities in Pakistan and said that they come from diverse linguistic and regional backgrounds, but he found many converts are from an Ahmadi and some from Shia background. He also claims that most Baháʼís in Pakistan have roots in Iran, in part due to the persecution of Baháʼís in Iran driving many to leave their homeland and find citizenship elsewhere.
According to Minority Rights Group International, the Baháʼís are generally converts and middle-class urbanites who keep a very low profile. So far they have escaped any collective anger from other majority communities due to their small number and limited activities.
History
Bábí period
The roots of the Baháʼí Faith in the region go back to the first days of the Bábí religion in 1844. Four Babis are known from India in this earliest period — it is not known from what sub-region most of them came from but at least some of them were known as Sufis and some termed Sayyid. The first was Shaykh Sa'id Hindi — one of the Letters of the Living who was from Multan then in India. Basir-i-Hindi was a member of the Jalalia sect who also converted in this early period from the region which later became Pakistan. After embracing the Bábí religion, Hindi set out to Iran but learned that the Báb had been confined to the hills of Azerbaijan and made his way to Fort Tabarsi where he was one of four Indians listed among the 318 Bábís who fought at the Battle of Fort Tabarsi. After that he went to Nur and met Baháʼu'lláh and later moved to Luristan where he worked in the court of the governor of Luristan, Yaldram Mirza. When the governor learned he was a Bábí, he was killed.
Early Baháʼí period
During Baháʼu'lláh's lifetime, as founder of the Baháʼí Faith, he encouraged some of his followers to move to India. After first visiting Mumbai, India, Jamal Effendi visited Karachi in 1875 on one of his trips to parts of Southern Asia. His trips included Lahore, Sialkot, Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh. Following the passing of Baháʼu'lláh, the leadership of the religion fell to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and he in turn sent further representatives to the region — followers who travelled to the region included both Persians and Americans and included Sydney Sprague and Mirza Mahmood Zarghaní.
On instructions from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Zarghaní stayed in Lahore for most of 1904 and subsequently travelled to nearby regions. There is information that an American Baháʼí was in Lahore about 1905; little is known except that he became sick with cholera but recovered under care from a Baháʼí, Mr. Kaikhosru, who came from (then named) Bombay to nurse him but himself died of the disease.
The first Baháʼí to settle in current-day Pakistan may have been Muhammad Raza Shirazi who became a Baháʼí in Bombay in 1908 and settled in Karachi. As early as 1910 the national community in India/Burma was being urged to visibly distinguish itself from Islam by the Baháʼí institutions of America. Jamshed Jamshedi moved from Iran to Karachi in 1917 and Mirza Qalich Beg translated The Hidden Words into Sindhi. National coordinated activities across India began and reached a peak with the first All-India Convention which occurred in Mumbai for three days in December 1920. Representatives from India's major religious communities were present as well as Baháʼí delegates from throughout the country. In 1921 the Baháʼís of Karachi elected their first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly.
Growth and challenges
In 1923, while what is now Pakistan was part of British India, a regional National Spiritual Assembly was formed for India and Burma - which then included the area now part of Pakistan. Martha Root, an American Baháʼí, visited Karachi and Lahore in 1930 and again in 1938 when she stayed for three months and supervised the publication of her book titled Tahirih — the Pure. She died about a year later. The Baháʼís of Karachi obtained land for a cemetery in 1931. Mirza Tarazullah Samandari, later appointed as a Hand of the Cause — a distinguished rank in the religion —, visited the area several times; he first visited the region in 1930, and then again in 1963, 1964, 1966, and in 1993 travelling to many cities. From 1931 to 1933, Professor Pritam Singh, the first Baháʼí from a Sikh background, settled in Lahore and published an English language weekly called The Bahaʼi Weekly and other initiatives. A Baháʼí publishing committee was established in Karachi in 1935. This body evolved and is registered as the Bahaʼi Publishing Trust of Pakistan. In 1937, John Esslemont's Baháʼu'lláh and the New Era was translated into Urdu and Gujarati in Karachi. The committee also published scores of Baháʼí books and leaflets in Urdu, English, Arabic, Persian, Sindhi, Pushtu, Balochi, Gojri, Balti and Punjabi and memorials including those marking the centenaries of the declaration of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh.
The Local Spiritual Assembly of Quetta was formed in 1943 by Baháʼís from Mumbai and Iran while the Local Spiritual Assembly of Hyderabad was also formed in 1943 by Baháʼís from Karachi. A spiritual assembly was elected for the first time in Jammu in 1946. Baháʼís from Karachi were among those to help elect the local spiritual assemblies in Sukkur and Rawalpindi in 1948. Further local assemblies were formed in Sialkot in 1949, Multan, Chittagong, and Dhaka in 1950, Faisalabad in 1952, Sargodha in 1955, and Abbottabad, Gujranwala, Jahanabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, and Sahiwal by 1956 thus raising the number of local spiritual assemblies to 20. Hand of the Cause Dorothy Beecher Baker spoke at a variety of events in India extending her stay twice to speak at schools – her last public talk was in Karachi in early 1954. Meanwhile, a Muslim émigré from near Lahore, Fazel (Frank) Khan, moved to Australia where he was asked to present the teachings of Islam at a Baháʼí school and was so affected by the class that he and his family converted to the Baháʼí Faith in 1947. On two later occasions Fazel visited his home village and endeavoured to teach them his new religion. On the first visit there was no response, but during the second visit a cousin converted in the town of Sialkot. On the other hand, a fatwa was issued in Sialkot against the Baháʼís.