- 1867-04-00 —
- 1889-08-00 — Bahá'ís of Sidih and Najafábád, after having received no help or protection, went to Tihrán to petition the Sháh. [BW18:383]
- 1890-02-25 — Seven Bahá'ís from Sidih who had gone to Tihrán to petition the Sháh for protection, secured a decree from him permitting them to return home. When they try to enter Sidih they were killed. [BBRXXIX, 285–9; BW18:383]
- 1902-09-01 —
Since the assassination of the Sháh's father in 1896 the Bahá'í community in Iran had been scapegoated and the oppression was increasing. In 1902 Muzaffar al-Din Sháh and his prime minister were in Paris staying at the Elysèe Palace Hotel. 'Abdu'l-Bahá had a petition for him and Lua Getsinger was asked to deliver it. She and Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney requested an audience with the Sháh but they were refused by the prime minister. She was told that he was not receiving anyone as his son was gravely ill and likely to die. Lua asked if he would see her the following day should his son be healed and consent was granted. That night the Bahá'ís of Paris held a prayer vigil till dawn. As promised, Lua was granted access and put the petition directly in the Sháh's hand. She heard him say that he would do all that was within his power but in 1903 a savage rash of persecution broke out and, upon the advice of his prime minister, the Sháh did nothing believing that it was better to let the restless population vent rage on the Bahá'ís then on the rich and powerful foreigners who might have been victimized. The prime minister was replaced in mid-1903 and the persecutions eased. In 1907 the Sháh did intervene on behalf of the Bahá'ís. [Find a grave; LDNW18-19]
- For other accounts see The Flame p66-70 and LGHC59-60.
- See article by Mariam Haney entitled In Behalf of the Oppressed. [SoW Vol 15 No 8 November, 1924 p230]
- 1903-03-07 — Inspired by the news of the `Ishqábád Temple project, the Chicago House of Spirituality asked `Abdu'l-Bahá for permission to construct a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár. Two days later Mirza Asadu'lláh drafted a petition to be sent to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. His reply was received in late May and three other letters were received over the next several weeks containing statements about the Temple. [BFA2:XVI, 118; BW10:179; GPB348; DH4-5]
- 1903-05-30 — A letter from `Abdu'l-Bahá was received by the Chicago House of Spirituality giving His approval for the building of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in North America. [BFA2:119]
- 1903-06-07 — Eight days after `Abdu'l-Bahá's first Tablet arrived, a second Tablet arrived from Him approving the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár project. [BW10:179; CT41; GPB262, 349; MBW142]
- 1903-12-00 —
Lua Getsinger made a second petition to the Sháh. It was presented through usual official channels. For several year following the presentation of these petitions there was a remarkable cessation of persecutions. [LGHC64-67]
- See article by Mariam Haney entitled In Behalf of the Oppressed. [SoW Vol 15 No 8 November, 1924 p230]
- 1905-07-04 —
'Abdu'l-Bahá had been promising visiting pilgrims that He would visit America when the friends became united. A petition was sent to 'Abdu'l-Bahá signed by 422 of the American believers...
They had covenanted together, so they wrote, to remain at one in all things, and the signatories one and all had pledged themselves to make sacrifices in the pathway of the love of God, thus to achieve eternal life.
[SWABp243]
- See 'Abdu'l-Bahá's response in a tablet translated by Ali Kuli Khan 3 January 1906 in By Thy Strengthening Grace Appendix I by Duanne Hermann iiiii
- See an incomplete list of the signatories in Appendix II of the same book. iiiii
- 1907-02-25 —
Corinne True travelled to `Akká to present `Abdu'l-Bahá with a scroll with the signatures of 800 (or 1,000) names of Bahá'ís calling for construction to start on the American House of Worship. [CT51–3]
- BW13:847 says the petition contained over a thousand signatures.
- Some four years earlier the Bahá'ís had asked permission to build a House of Worship in Chicago. He agreed but the project sat idle. 'Abdu'l-Bahá provided her with complete instructions. Corrine True would later server as financial secretary of the Executive Board of the Mother Temple of the West. For her role in the project Àbdu'l-Bahá called her the "Mother of the Temple." [239 Days (22)]
- See PG108-109 for the story of the sacrifices on the part of poor villagers in rural Iran so that they could make contributions to the Temple Fund.
- See Petition by the American Baha'is.
- 1918-10-16 — During the years of the war the friends in the West had no communications with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and so were concerned for His safety and well-being. After the Battle of Haifa, on the 16th of October, the British Foreign Office in Palestine informed the British Consul-General in New York of His safety with a request that he publish the news. [BBR337 ]
At a Feast held in the home of Mr and Mrs Leo Perron in Chicago it was decided to write a supplication to 'Abdu'l-Bahá asking Him to come to America. The idea was approved by the Spiritual Assembly and a letter was sent to all other assemblies to solicit signatures for the petition. In the early part of January all the signatures were received and sent to Akka along with the supplication. [SoW Vol 10 No 3 August 1, 1919 p168; p156]
'Abdu'l-Bahá's response, translated by Shoghi Effendi, can be found on p154-155.
- 1926-07-12 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada made representations to the Iranian government concerning the martyrdoms in Jahrum and asking the Sháh to intervene on behalf of the oppressed Bahá'ís. They included in their submission a list of all the places in North America were Bahá'ís resided. [BBR469; BW2:287]
- For text of the petition see BW2:287–300.
- On the 31st of July the submission that had been reprinted in booklet form was sent to some 300 newspapers. Copies were also sent to the local spiritual assemblies with instructions to deliver them to all Bahá'ís and friends of the Faith. [BN No 12 June - July 1926 p1]
- 1928-09-11 —
- 1932-06-10 — The American National Spiritual Assembly addresseed a petition to the Sháh of Iran requesting that the ban on Bahá'í literature be removed and asking that its representative, Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehler, be recognized to present in person the appeal. [BW5:390–1]
- 1932-08-15 —
Keith Ransom-Kehler met the Iranian Court Minister Taymur Tash. [BW5:392]
- She presented the American petition to him asking that the ban on Bahá'í literature in Iran be lifted and received assurances from him that this would be affected. [BW5:392; PH46]
- She made seven successive petitions addressed to the Sháh of Persia. [GPB345]
- For the history and unsuccessful outcome of this effort see BW5:391–8.
- 1971-00-00 — Following the prohibition of Bahá'í activity in Egypt in 1960, Egyptian Bahá'ís put forward a petition to the Supreme Constitutional Court seeking to overturn the presidential decree as unconstitutional.
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