List of converts to the Baháʼí Faith

This is a list of converts to the Baháʼí Faith organised by former religion.

Converted from Abrahamic religions

From Islam

Most of the early followers of Baháʼu'lláh came from an Islamic background.

• Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl (1844–1914) – foremost Baháʼí scholar who helped spread the Baháʼí Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States.^[1]
• Mishkín-Qalam (1826–1912) – prominent Baháʼí and one of the nineteen Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh, as well as a famous calligrapher of 19th-century Persia.^[2]
• Nabíl-i-Aʻzam (1831–1892) – Baháʼí historian and one of the nineteen Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh^[3]
• Hají Ákhúnd (1842–1910) – eminent follower of Baháʼu'lláh. He was appointed a Hand of the Cause, and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh.^[4]
• Ibn-i-Abhar (died 1917) – appointed a Hand of the Cause, and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh.^[5]
• Mírzá Mahmúd (died 1927/1928) – eminent follower of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith.^[6]
• Núrayn-i-Nayyirayn – two brothers who were beheaded in the city of Isfahan in 1879.^[7]
• Somaya Ramadan^[8] (born 1951) – 2001 winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.
• Hasan M. Balyuzi (1908–1980) – a descendant of relatives of the Báb, he was nevertheless a Muslim until he joined the religion following developing a friendship with Shoghi Effendi circa 1925, and eventually was named a Hand of the Cause of God.^[9]

From Judaism

• Lidia Zamenhof (1904–1942) – Polish writer, translator, active promoter of Esperanto (daughter of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto), killed by Germans during the Holocaust.
• John Ferraby (1914–1973) – British, Baháʼí Hand of the Cause
• Flora Purim (born 1942) – Brazilian jazz singer
• Ethel Jenner Rosenberg (1858–1930) – painter, the first English Baháʼí, secretary and publisher of Baháʼí books.
• Steve Sarowitz (born 1965/1966) – American billionaire businessman, the founder of Paylocity.

From Christianity

Marie of Romania converted to the Baháʼí Faith, from the Romanian Orthodox Church and previously the Church of England.

• Russell Garcia^[10] (1916–2011) – motion picture composer
• David Krummenacker^{[11][non-primary source needed]} (born 1975) – Track & Field indoor World Champion in 800m in 2003, NCAA Champion (Georgia Tech) 1997, 1998
• Jacqueline Left Hand Bull^[12] (born 1943) – American Indian Health care policy administrator (from Catholicism)^[13]
• Queen Marie of Romania^[14] (1875–1938) – final Queen of Romania as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.
• Jesse O. McCarthy^[15] (1867–1937) Toronto municipal politician and social reformer. Previously a Methodist.
• Luke McPharlin^[16] (born 1981) – Australian footballer for the Fremantle Dockers
• Julia Lynch Olin (1882–1961) – American author and Baháʼí who co-founded the New History Society in New York City.
• Enoch Olinga (1926–1979) – born to an Anglican^[17] earned the title Hand of the Cause of God.
• Mason Remey^[18] (1874–1974) – prominent American Baháʼí.

Converted from unknown religions

• Arvid Nelson – American comic book writer, best known for Rex Mundi ^[19]
• Zhang Xin (born 1965) – Chinese businesswoman.^[20]
• David Kelly (1944–2003) – former employee of the British Ministry of Defence and a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq who was an authority on biological warfare.^[21]

See also

• List of Baháʼís
• List of excommunicated Baháʼís

Further reading

• Mehrdad Amanat (29 August 2013). Jewish Identities in Iran: Resistance and Conversion to Islam and the Baha'i. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-78076-777-2.
• Dominic Parviz Brookshaw; Seena B. Fazel (2 October 2012). THE BAHA'IS OF IRAN: Socio-Historical Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-25000-4.
• Anthony Lee (28 October 2011). The Baha'i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952-1962. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20684-7.
• Johnson, Todd M.; Brian J. Grim (26 March 2013). "Global Religious Populations, 1910–2010". The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 59–62. doi:10.1002/9781118555767.ch1. ISBN 9781118555767.