ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan (29 April 1905 – 26 November 2003) was a prominent IranianBaháʼí educator and author who was given the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951.
A native of Sabzivár in what was, at the time, Iran's Khurásán, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan was still a child when he witnessed the persecution of his family and others for their beliefs. Seeking safety, the family moved in 1914 from Sabzivár to AshkhabadinTurkestan, which was then a part of the Russian Empire. In 1926, nine years after the Russian Revolution, 21-year-old Furútan won a scholarship to the University of Moscow, where he studied education and child psychology.[1] Within four years, as a result of his Baháʼí activities, he was expelled from the Soviet Union and, in 1930, returned to Iran.
After he returned to Iran, he and his wife helped administer the Tarbiyat School for Boys,[2] which was later closed by the Pahlavi government.[3]
Throughout his life, ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan taught Baháʼí classes for children and youth, and he published many works in the area of child spiritual and material education.[1]
ʻAli-Akbar Furútan died in Haifa, 98 years old.[2]
