January 5. On this date in 1923, Shoghi Effendi addressed a letter to European Bahá'ís announcing the upcoming visit of Abd al-Hosayn Ayati (known as Avarih, literally "the Wanderer") a Baha'i missionary, journalist, author and teacher who spent 18 years as missionary. He was a close companion of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who conferred on him the titles of "Raʾīs-al-moballeḡīn" (Chief of Missionaries). Avarih would later become a Muslim, and the numerous references made to Avarih in John Esslemont's book "Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era" were removed in subsequent editions published after Avarih's apostasy from the Bahá'í Faith.

January 5. On this date in 1923, Shoghi Effendi addressed a letter to European Bahá'ís announcing the upcoming visit of Avarih

Avarih (literally "the Wanderer") was a Baha'i missionary, journalist, author and teacher who spent 18 years as missionary. He was a close companion of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who conferred on him the titles of "Raʾīs-al-moballeḡīn" (Chief of Missionaries) and "Avarih."

Avarih would later become a Muslim and an opponent of the Bahá'í Faith. He returned to Tehran and spent the rest of his life as a secondary school teacher. During this period he wrote many works of poetry and prose, including Kashf al-Hiyal, a three volume work refuting the Bahá'í Faith. 

While he was lauded in early Bahá'í literature, his personage underwent a form of damnatio memoriae, with the numerous references made to Avarih in John Esslemont's book Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era being removed in subsequent editions published after Avarih's apostasy from the Bahá'í Faith.

The beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The glory of the All-Glorious rest upon them! Beloved brethren and sisters in `Abdu'l-Bahá!

His honor, Jinab-i `Abdu'l-Husayn-i Avarih, fired with the spirit of service and teaching which the passing of our beloved Master has kindled in every heart, is proceeding to Europe and will visit every Bahá'í centre in that great continent, that he may with the aid of the many friends in those regions raise the Call of Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha and stimulate interest in the Cause of God. He is indeed qualified for such an eminent noble task and I am confident that by the Grace of God and with the whole-hearted assistance of the loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, he may be enabled to promote far and wide the universal Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh.

His wide experience and familiarity with the various aspects of the Movement, his profound and extensive knowledge of its history; his association with some of the early believers, the pioneers and martyrs of the Cause will I am sure to appeal to every one of you and will serve to acquaint you still further with the more intimate and tragic side of this remarkable Movement.

May his sojourn in your country lend a fresh impetus to the onward march of the Cause in the West and arouse widespread interest in the history as well as the principles of the Bahá'í Movement!

On December 16, 1953, Shoghi Effendi sent a cablegramstating "Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God's avenging handstruck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah."

Fast-Dwindling Band of Covenant-Breakers

Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God's avenging handstruck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah, within the cradle of the Faith, North America and Turkey, who demonstrated varying degrees, in the course of over thirty years, of faithlessness to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. 

The first of the above named will be condemned by posterity as being the most shameless, vicious, relentless apostate in the annals of the Faith, who, through ceaseless vitriolic attacks in recorded voluminous writings and close alliance with its traditional enemies, assiduously schemed to blacken its name and subvert the foundations of its institutions.

The second, history will recognize as one of the most perfidious among the kinsmen of the interpreters of the Center of the Covenant, who, driven by ungovernable cupidity, committed acts causing agonies of grief and distress to the beloved Master and culminating in open association with breakers of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant in the Holy Land.

The third will be chiefly remembered by the pride, obstinacy and insatiable ambition impelling him to violate the spiritual and administrative precepts of the Faith.

All three, however blinded by perversity, could not have failed to perceive, as their infamous careers approached their end, the futility of their opposition and measure their own loss by the degree of progress and consolidation of the triumphant administrative order so magnificently celebrated in the course of the festivities of the recently concluded Holy Year.

From the Encyclopædia Iranica article titled ĀYATĪ, ʿABD-AL-ḤOSAYN...

ĀYATĪ, ʿABD-AL-ḤOSAYN (b. 1288/1871; d. 1332 Š./1953), son of Mollā Moḥammad-Taqī Āḵūnd Taftī, Bahāʾi missionary, journalist, author, and teacher. After receiving traditional education in Yazd and in Iraq, he became the leader of the Friday prayer (emām-e Jomʿa) in Yazd until he converted to Bahaʾism. Then for eighteen years he acted as a missionary (moballeḡ) for his new faith in Turkestan, the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt, during which time he met and associated with ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, and also wrote his al-Kawākeb al-dorrīya fī maʾāṯer al-bahāʾīya in two volumes (Cairo, 1914; Arabic tr. by Aḥmad Fāʾeq, Cairo, 1343/1924) on the history of Bahaʾism. This is still one of the major works on the subject. He received the title Raʾīs-al-moballeḡīn (chief of missionaries) but later turned against Bahaʾism, thereby being counted by the Bahaʾis among the nāqeżīn or apostates. (Ṣadr Hāšemī, Tārīḵ IV, pp. 310-11). He returned to Tehran in 1343/1924 and served as a teacher in secondary schools for the rest of his life. During this period he wrote Kašf al-ḥīal in three volumes (Tehran, 1307-10 Š./1928-31 with several reprints) in refutation of Bahaʾism. He also published the periodical Namakdān for six years and was a founding member of the Literary Society (Anjoman-e Adabī) of Yazd.

In his poetry he used the taḵalloṣes Āvāra, Żīāʾī, and Āyatī. In prose he tried to use only purely Persian words. He has seventeen book titles to his credit (see Mošār, Moʾallefīn III, cols. 718-20) of which a useful history of Yazd (Ātaškada-ye yazdān, Yazd, 1317 Š./1928) and Ketāb-e nabīy yā Qorʾān-e fārsī (3 vols., Yazd, 1324-26 Š./1945-47) may be noted here.

Bibliography:

M. Rastgār, “Aḥwāl o āṯār-e ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Āyatī,” Waḥīd, 1353 Š./1974, no. 242, pp. 29-34; no. 243, pp. 52-55; no. 245, pp. 17-18, 65.

M. Esḥāq, Soḵanvarān-e Īrān dar ʿaṣr-e ḥāżer, Delhi, 1352/1933.

ʿE. Nāʾīnī, Madīnat al-adab, ms., Majles Library, Tehran. S. M.-B. Borqaʿī, Soḵanvarān-e nāmī-e moʿāṣer II, 1330 Š./1951.

ʿA. Ḵalḵālī, Taḏkera-ye šoʿarā-ye moʿāṣer-e Īrān II, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958.

A. Ḵāżeʿ, Taḏkera-ye soḵanvarān-e Yazd, Bombay, 1341.

M. Hedāyat, Golzār-e jāvīdān I, Tehran, 1353 Š./1974.

S. M. Ṣadr Hāšemī, Tārīḵ-ejarāyed o majallāt-e Īrān IV, Isfahan, 1332, pp. 309-11.

A. Goḷčīn-e Maʿānī, Golzār-e maʿānī, 2nd ed., Tehran 1363 Š./1984, pp. 52-64 (specimens of Āyatī’s prose and poetry).