September 4. On this date in 2005, the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter "concerning the source of a statement about 20,000 [Babi] martyrs" given that "Some historians think the number of early Babi/Bahá'í martyrs was not 20,000, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi mentioned numerous times, but 2,000 to 3,000."

 

September 4. On this date in 2005, the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter "concerning the source of a statement about 20,000 [Babi] martyrs" given that "Some historians think the number of early Babi/Bahá'í martyrs was not 20,000, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi mentioned numerous times, but 2,000 to 3,000."

4 September 2005
Dear Bahá’í Friend,
Your email letter of 21 June 2005 concerning the source of a statement about 20,000 martyrs in our letter dated 22 January 1984 to an individual believer has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre.
You may be aware that, in his work "Táríkh-i-Zuhúru’l-Ḥaq", Fáḍil-i-Mázandarání has made the following statement: "the author of the Násikhu’t-Taváríkh wrote that up to the present time 20,000 individuals have been killed". While Fáḍil-i-Mázandarání makes mention of the author of Násikhu’t-Taváríkh, he does not indicate in which of his many works the reference to 20,000 can be found. In our letter dated 22 January 1984, it was assumed that the number was recorded in the Násikhu’t-Taváríkh. The Research Department has now been asked to confirm in which of the author’s works the reference is located, and it was not able to provide any further information.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Department of the Secretariat