Ashkhabad, the City of Love

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Ashkabad is located in the desert plain of western Turkistan near the foothills of the Elburz Mountains. Translated into English, Ashkhabad means "the City of Love" Turkistan was part of the Persian Empire until the 1880s, when the Russians gained control of the area and selected Ashkhabad as the area's governmental seat. Ashkhabad was soon transformed from a village of a few scattered tents and mud huts into a thriving city. The construction of the Transcaspian Railway allowed the area also to develop into an important trade center.

The growing city attracted many immigrants, including large numbers of Bahá'is and Muslims. The Bahá'is became an integral part of the community, with many working as masons and construction workers. Many others became successful as importers.

Although the hatred of the Muslims for Bahá'ís never diminished, it did not affect the Bahá'í community of Ashkhabad until 1889. As the initial act of what was apparently intended to be a brutal and systematic attack on the entire Bahá'í community, a group of Shí'ah Muslims hired two assassins to murder a prominent Bahá'í, Hájí Muhammad-Rid. áy-i Isfahání, in the middle of the bazaar. The brutal deed was cheered on by some five hundred Muslims. The Russian authorities responded swiftly, arresting all who were involved. A trial was conducted by a military commission, sent from Saint Petersburg by Czar Alexander III. The authorities found the two assassins and their four accomplices guilty of murder, sentenced the assassins to death, and ordered their accomplices to be taken to Siberia. Moments before the execution, a reprieve was granted the two assassins as a result of the intervention of the Bahá'ís. The incident gave the Bahá'ís a great deal of prestige and resulted in Russia's granting official recognition