GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH DR. LUKMANI. HIS LONGSTANDING RECORD SERVICES LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL. CONVEY RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY. (Based on a memoir by DIPCHAND KHIANRA)
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Bertha Mkhize
BERTHA MKHIZE
1889-1981
Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize was born on 6 June 1889 at Embo, near Umkomaas, on the south coast of Natal. Her father was Mashobane Mkhize. Her early years were spent at Embo, after which she attended the High School for Girls in Inanda. In about 1907 she became a teacher at the Inanda Seminary (American Mission) and remained there until 1911 when she started a tailoring business in Durban.
Bertha was one of the first black women to establish a business of her own in South Africa. One reason for this was that she had achieved the status of an `emancipated' woman. In African law, if the parents feel that their daughter is upright and faithful, they may appear before a magistrate and sign a document granting their daughter the full rights of a man over the family household. At the age of twenty Bertha was emancipated, so that, unlike most Zulu women, her brothers had no power over her. She could become the head of the kraal. She never married. Bertha remained at her tailoring business until 1965 when the City Council of Durban decided to move the African businesses out of that area.
During those years, and especially the early ones, Bertha was a pioneer in the struggle for women's rights. She also campaigned against cattle culling and the dipping of people against typhus; took part in the defiance campaign against the pass laws, for which she spent a few months in prison; worked assiduously for literacy classes for about twenty years and at a crŽche and a sewing group for at least twenty-five years. She also worked for a few years for an Indian charity at Phoenix, on the north coast. In this same period Bertha served at various times as president of the African Women's Association, the African National Congress Women's League and the Durban and District Women's League.
Bertha learned of the Bah‡`’ Faith in 1958 from Angelo Nyaba in Natal, and after a short but spirited investigation embraced it on 1 January 1959. She attended classes conducted by Prof. Bishop Brown and Mrs. Bahiyyih Ford (now Winckler). In the Cause of Bah‡`u'll‡h, Bertha found the message of unity and justice she had always longed for, and came to realize that in order to have the peace which was her greatest desire, unity must be with all people and justice must be for all people; there must be love and forgiveness and a spiritual foundation in a Divine Message. Having been an active political figure, Bertha took some time to see the need to follow the Bah‡`’ teaching of not taking part in politics. But gradually, as her heart became increasingly filled with the inspiration she found in the Writings of Bah‡`u'll‡h, she resigned her affiliations. At the age of seventy, when most people are thinking of retirement, Bertha arose to promote the Bah‡`’ Faith. For five years she worked actively in Natal and Zululand, and when the call came for a Bah‡`’ pioneer to live in Zululand, Bertha settled in Gezinsila, Eshowe. In co-operation with several other local Bah‡`’ teachers, she helped establish a total of twenty-eight Bah‡`’ communities in KwaZulu. She remained in KwaZulu for nine years, trudging with her cane from village to village, bringing the Glad Tidings of Bah‡`u'll‡h. In 1968 she was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa, and served on that body until April 1969. She was a prolific translator of Bah‡`’ literature
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into Zulu. Her translations include many prayers, Gleanings from the Writings of Bah‡`u'll‡h, the Kit‡b-i-êq‡n, the life-story of Bah‡`u'll‡h, stories of `Abdu'l-Bah‡, Guidance for Local Spiritual Assemblies and The New Garden.
In 1975, at the age of eighty-six, Bertha's health began to fail, but she remained at her pioneering post until 1978 when she willed her home at Gezinsila to the Bah‡`’ Faith and moved to Inanda, where she had received her education. She served on the Spiritual Assembly of Inanda until her passing on 3 October 1981 at the age of ninety-two. On receiving this news the Universal House of Justice cabled on 8 October:
PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH BERTHA MKHIZE. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING SYMPATHY.
OLIVIA KELSEY
1889-1981
Knight of Bah‡`u'll‡h
The soul that hath remained faithful to the Cause of God, and stood unwaveringly firm in His Path shall, after his ascension, be possessed of such power that all the worlds which the Almighty hath created, can benefit through him. Bah‡`u'll‡h
Olivia Kelsey was born on her family farm in Delaware County, Ohio, U.S.A., on 9 February 1889. Her mother died when Olivia was eleven years old, and two years later she left home to live with a maternal uncle and his wife in Cleveland.
Religion was, in Olivia's mind, a clouded question because of the religious conflict in her home. Her father was Catholic and her mother Protestant. She said that she reflected on religion and on the great men who had appeared throughout history, wondering why they did not appear again. The answer to her questions came when she met Francis Arthur Kelsey and learned of the coming of Bah‡`u'll‡h. She married Arthur in 1929 and in 1932 became a member of the Bah‡`’ Faith. Their home in New York became a center of Bah‡`’ activity and hospitality. Olivia began to write poems and articles on diverse subjects, many of which were published in World Order magazine. A religious-historical drama depicting the early history of the Bah‡`’ Faith, `Two shall Appear', was published, as well as a pageant entitled `Had They Believed', a scenario, `A Universal Language', and a satire, `Gulliver's Return'.
During her years in New York city[sic] Olivia compiled her book Bah‡`’ Answers which was published in 1947. It is a collection of ninety-five questions about the Bah‡`’ Faith with answers compiled from the Writings of the B‡b, Bah‡`u'll‡h, `Abdu'l-Bah‡ and Shoghi Effendi, and is an invaluable aid to teachers and students of the Cause.
Olivia became deeply interested in the welfare of animals and did intensive research on the subject. Her source of inspiration was a statement by `Abdu'l-Bah‡, Educate the children in their infancy to be very kind to animals . . . , from a Tablet the Master sent to Roy Wilhelm; she quoted it in many of her talks over radio and television on programs sponsored by local and national humane organizations. When in Monaco, pioneering under the Ten Year Crusade, she sent a copy of this Tablet to Prince Rainier and Princess Grace who were great animal lovers. A friend once remarked that `Olivia brought the Bah‡`’ Faith to the animal kingdom'.
After Arthur's death in 1937, Olivia began her long career as a Bah‡`’ pioneer. Under the first Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) she pioneered to Louisville, Kentucky. She worked in many communities and helped many others with newspaper, radio and television publicity. Public information and public relations were subjects which engrossed her attention during the entire fifty years of her Bah‡`’ life. These fields were at that time unexplored territory to the Bah‡`’ community in general, as very few believers had as yet taken an interest in such forms of proclamation activity. From the very beginning she made efforts to reach out to small town newspapers, even visiting such communities to make personal contacts.
In 1944 she moved to Kansas where she served on the Regional Teaching Committee until the call for pioneers under the Ten Year Crusade in 1953. She then retired from her profession. In 1954 she left for Monaco, a move
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Olivia Kelsey
which earned her the title Knight of Bah‡`u'll‡h, bestowed by the beloved Guardian. She visited the Holy Land on pilgrimage in the winter of 1954. The stories of her pilgrimage and of meeting the beloved Guardian have thrilled and inspired many. While on pilgrimage the Guardian encouraged Olivia to teach in France after the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Monaco had been firmly established. Accordingly, in 1959, in response to a call from the Hands of the Cause, she went to Toulouse and later to Montpellier to assist the Bah‡`’s in those cities, following the crisis resulting from activities of Covenant breakers. During the ten years she spent in Monaco and France she attended many European Summer Schools, the Frankfurt Conference in 1958, and the World Jubilee in London in 1963. Because of poor health, she returned to the United States in 1964, in her seventy-fifth year, and settled in Columbus, Ohio[the Bah‡`’ Sunday School for the entire Columbus area was named for her, becoming the Olivia Kelsey Bah‡`’ School. d.b. 2002], and became an active member of that community, devoting herself particularly to publicity work and extension teaching. When the Five Year Plan was launched in 1974, she was able to fulfill her wish to make teaching trips to South Carolina and West Virginia. She was then eighty-five years old.
When, in old age, Olivia was no longer able to live alone, she lived first with friends near Columbus and then with friends in Zenia and Yellow Springs. Her final months were spent at the Friends' Care Center in Yellow Springs. Neither ill health nor limited means diminished her will to teach or dimmed her devotion to the Cause she loved. Until the day she passed to the Abh‡ Kingdom--13 October 1981--she was actively teaching her nurses and all who came in contact with her.
Olivia Kelsey stands firmly in the tradition of world-minded women of strong character who emerged in the early years of the Bah‡`’ Faith in America. All who knew her well were enriched and deeply touched by her example. Her spirit, her talents and her capacities will be sorely missed.
The following cablegrams were received at her passing:
LONG DEDICATED DISTINGUISHED SERVICE KNIGHT BAHAULLAH OLIVIA KELSEY ADDS LUSTRE ANNALS AMERICAN BAHAI COMMUNITY. ASSURE PRAYERS BOUNTIFUL REWARD PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. Universal House of Justice
15 October 1981
PROFOUNDLY GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED HANDMAID BAHAULLAH OLIVIA KELSEY. HER EFFECTIVE TEACHING ACTIVITIES STAUNCH LOYALTY PIONEER SERVICES FEATURES HER EXEMPLARY LIFE. PRAYING ABUNDANT BLESSINGS LIFE BEYOND. The National Spiritual Assembly of
the Bah‡`’s of the United States
14 October 1981
FLORENCE ULLRICH KELLEY and LOIS BIERLEY WALKER
HISHMAT ADLPARVAR
?-1981
Hishmat Adlparvar Muh‡jir was one of several children born to Hafizu'll‡h Kh‡n and Ismat Kh‡num, a devout Bah‡`’ family of Tihr‡n. The family home was a centre of great activity
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and the children had the bounty of participating in the many meetings which took place there. Like her illustrious brother, Rahmatu'll‡h Muh‡jir, Hishmat from an early age was aflame with love of the Cause and filled with a great desire to serve it. She became the very embodiment of the true Bah‡`’ teacher--selfless, detached, totally reliant on God and both fearless and tireless in her efforts to spread abroad the teachings. India, Kuwait, Spain, Venezuela and the Sudan were but some of the places where her loving labours were expended. It was in the latter country to which she and her husband, Amin, had gone as pioneers in July 1981 that she fell victim to cerebral malaria and died on 25 October 1981.
Picture in Lower Left Corner with the Caption: Hishmat Adlparvar
`Ever since her arrival in Khartoum', it was reported, `our beloved sister Hishmat Adlparvar was engaged in actively teaching the Faith, and in deepening and inspiring the believers in this country. She continually inspired the Bah‡`’ communities to participate in joint teaching efforts and aroused their enthusiasm by relating inspiring accounts of the progress of the Faith in India, the Philippines, South and Central America and many other countries she had either visited or had news of. Her own long and valuable experiences in teaching the Faith were also a source of inspiring stories. She was a warm, gracious hostess and constantly entertained Bah‡`’s and their friends at her own home or at the homes of other friends. She was particularly intent on teaching women and deepening the Bah‡`’ women's knowledge of the Faith. She was a cause of unity, love and inspiration to all the friends.'
s Among the last activities she undertook were a teaching trip to various centres in Eastern Sudan and attendance at a Summer School organized by one of the Local Spiritual Assemblies on her initiative and with her encouragement. The classes she led were devoted to discussion of the importance of teaching and the bounties derived from it, and study of The Advent of Divine Justice. On the first day she presented notebooks and pens to those in attendance for use during the sessions. `It was a memorable school and a truly joyous occasion,' reported one participant. `Her participation, in retrospect, was like a loving farewell gift from a beloved sister and devoted handmaiden of God.'
A memorial service held on 1 November at the National Haz’ratu'l-Quds drew together many sorrowing friends who regretted her loss, praised her courage and devotion, and related many stories illustrating her generosity, loving-kindness and her profound knowledge of the Faith.
Informed of her passing the Universal House of Justice cabled on 2 November 1981:
DEEPLY GRIEVED UNTIMELY PASSING DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH HISHMAT ADLPARVAR. PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL. ASSURE RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY.
ARDESHIR HEZARI
(ARDISHêR HIZçRê)
1885-1981
Ardish’r Hiz‡r’ was born into a Zoroastrian family in Yazd, êr‡n, in 1885. His parents died when he was young, leaving behind one daughter and five sons, of whom Ardish’r and Rash’d were twins. Education was not universal in Persia a century ago so what little Ardish’r could scoop up locally was supplemented by that passed on to him by an
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Ardeshir Hezari
elder brother, Khud‡d‡d, who also guided him to the Bah‡`’ Faith.
In 1891 turbulent upheavals rocked Yazd and resulted in the martyrdom of seven Bah‡`’s whose possessions were plundered. Ardish’r who was about seven years old at the time was a witness to the martyrdom of one of this group of believers. He saw him savagely hacked to pieces and the mangled body dragged through the streets while the bystanders pelted it with sticks and stones. Asked about the reason for such monstrous conduct, Khud‡d‡d told Ardish’r about the Cause of Bah‡`u'll‡h, gradually drawing his young brother towards the Faith. Through meetings with the elder Afn‡n, H‡j’ M’rz‡ Muhammad-Taq’, Ardish’r became confirmed and declared his belief in the Revelation of Bah‡`u'll‡h. From then on Ardish’r joined Khud‡d‡d in his teaching work, and always they used tact and wisdom so as not to arouse antagonism among fanatical elements.
Teaching was the dominant passion of Ardish’r's life. While he was working in Sh’r‡z he would take enquirers to a prominent Bah‡`’ of that city who had a room adjoining his business premises, ostensibly for his siesta, but actually for use as a meeting-place by seekers and teachers of the Cause. Such was Ardish’r's zeal that one day he sought to convert two outstanding Bah‡`’ teachers he met there whom he mistook for Muslims. These two youths were Tar‡zu'll‡h Samandar’ and `Al’-Akbar Rafsanj‡n’. Tar‡zu'll‡h Samandar’, elevated by Shoghi Effendi on 24 December 1951 to the rank of Hand of the Cause, often mentioned this meeting in later years and jokingly accounted ;Ardish’r as his `teacher'. The bonds of friendship forged that day strengthened with the passing of the years.
Ardish’r had the bounty of making pilgrimage to the Holy Land--once during the ministry of `Abdu'l-Bah‡ and twice during the ministry of Shoghi Effendi. Tablets he received from the Master attest the sincerity of his purpose and his devotion to the Cause.
After being employed for several years Ardish’r decided to start his own business with his brother Rash’d as a partner. In their desire to carry out the beloved Guardian's wishes, they decided that Ardish’r would remain in Qazv’n to run the business and thus provide funds for Rash’d and his family to pioneer. For the next five years their lives followed this pattern and Ardish’r's participation in the activities of the Cause in Qazv’n brought him great joy. Then his wife fell ill and, as her malady was incurable, she expressed a wish to die at a pioneer post and realize an ambition which fate had denied her during her life. Ardish’r took her to Ankara in Turkey where his daughter and son-in-law had pioneered and where she died four months later and was buried in a plot of land donated to the Bah‡`’ community by Ardish’r for use as a burial-ground. In spite of advanced age, Ardish’r travelled to different towns in Turkey to encourage the friends to pioneer and teach and bring up their children according to Bah‡`’ standards. When the Turkish believers were unjustly accused and imprisoned, Ardish’r suffered along with them. The persecution resulted in wide publicity for the Cause and the eventual vindication of the friends and their release from captivity.
Later, Ardish’r pioneered to Ludwigsburg, Germany, with his son-in-law and family, and thence to Mannheim where he died on 26 October 1981. On hearing of his death the Universal House of Justice, on 27 October,
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cabled to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany:
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING ARDESHIR HEZARI. HIS LONG RECORD DEDICATED SERVICES CRADLE FAITH PIONEERING FIELDS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. CONVEY FAMILY HEARTFELT SYMPATHY.
(Adapted from a translation by RUSTOM SABIT of a memoir by HABIB HAZARI [HABêB HIZçRê])
HERMIONE VERA
KEENS-DOUGLAS EDWARDS
1908-1981
Vera was born on 26 December 1908 in Grenville, St. Andrew's, Grenada. In 1957, accompanied by her aunt, Millicent Douglas, she took an excursion cruise to Africa and arrived in Monrovia, Liberia, in December of that year. Her aunt had known Julius Edwards prior to his moving in 1953 from Jamaica to Africa where he settled first in Ghana and then in Liberia. For his services in opening to the Faith the Northern Territories Protectorate he was named by Shoghi Effendi a Knight of Bah‡`u'll‡h. Vera and her aunt began attending Mr. Edwards's public meetings in Monrovia and both accepted the Bah‡`’ Faith in the spring of 1958. They and Mr. Edwards were elected to serve on the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Monrovia at Ridv‡n 1958
Picture in Lower Left Corner with the Caption: Hermione Vera Keens-Douglas Edwards.
Throughout the Ten Year Crusade Vera was a very active teacher of the Faith. She, her aunt and Julius Edwards formed a teaching team and travelled to villages throughout Liberia. Vera Keens-Douglas and Julius Edwards were married in November 1960. Vera became a naturalized Liberian and considered herself a Liberian Bah‡`’.
At Ridv‡n 1964 the Hand of the Cause John Robarts appointed Vera a member of the Auxiliary Board. That year she represented the Hands of the Cause at the first National Convention of Liberia. She was the representative of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Africa at several National Conventions--Libera, Ghana and Gambia--and also at several important conferences in those countries as well as the Ivory Coast.
For many years, and before the present-day emphasis on the spiritual education of children, Vera single-handedly organized and taught children's classes. From 1964 until 1979 she composed monthly Feast Letters for distribution among the believers in Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Ghana, Nigeria and Mali. She attended the first Youth Conference of Ivory Coast in 1967 and addressed the West African Bah‡`’ Women's Conference held at the University of Liberia in December 1978.
Julius and Vera Edwards left Liberia on 20 December 1979 and arrived in Grenada on 28 February 1980. She continued to be an active teacher of the Faith until her death on 19 November 1981. She bequeathed a small plot of land at Grenville, St. Andrew's, to the Bah‡`’ community of Grenada for an endowment.
In a written tribute to Vera Edwards, Mrs. Nura Master stated: `She was a lady of grace, understanding and strong character whose dignity and manner quickly attracted those who came into contact with her. Through her trips, her very inspiring Feast Letters and through personal correspondence and contacts she tried tirelessly to attain and demonstrate
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the standards set by the Universal House of Justice for those who are honoured to discharge this sacred duty . . . Her dissatisfaction always came from what had not been done in complete conformity with the Divine teachings.'
Vera was a kind, patient, gentle person who was deeply involved in teaching the Faith on the local level during the time she spent in Grenada; she was much loved by her Bah‡`’ and other associates. Informed of her passing, the Universal House of Justice on 1 December 1981 cabled:
PASSING AT NEW POST GRENADA DEVOTED BELIEVER HERMIONE VERA EDWARDS BEFITTING CULMINATION HER LONG DEDICATED PIONEERING SERVICES. OFFERING FERVENT SUPPLICATIONS HOLY THRESHOLD PROGRESS HER SOUL WORLDS GOD.
ABDUL-MISSAGH (ABDOLMISSAGH)
MISSAGHIYEH
(`ABDU'L-MêTHAQ MêTHAQêYIH)
1890-1981
M’rz‡ Ily‡s (Elias), later called `Abdu'l-Missagh Missaghiyeh (`Abdu'l-M’thaq M’thaq’yih), was the grandson of Hak’m H‡rœn, a well-known Jewish scholar and physician of K‡sh‡n, central êr‡n, most of whose descendants became Bah‡`’s and raised large and prominent families. One of his daughters, Jah‡n, married M’rz‡ Yahœd‡, an esteemed Bah‡`’ of K‡sh‡n, who was also of Jewish background. Although Jah‡n was a fierce opponent of the Bah‡`’ Faith at the time of her marriage and for some time later, she embraced the Cause of the Blessed Beauty and became a devout servant as a result of a dream in which she saw Bah‡`u'll‡h. Six children were born of the union of M’rz‡ Yahœd‡ and Jah‡n. Ily‡s was the eldest son.
When Ily‡s (`Abdu'l-M’thaq M’thaq’yih) was twelve years old he wrote a poem of eighty verses which he sent to `Abdu'l-Bah‡. The poem was both an urgent appeal to the people of the Holy Land to recognize their Lord and a confession of faith of a Bah‡`’ child supplicating the Master to take him under His protection and to hear his wish for sacrifice. In response, `Abdu'l-Bah‡ addressed a beautiful Tablet to the boy, alluding to him in the salutation as an eloquent and brilliant poet. In the same year Ily‡s's father was attacked by enemies of the Faith who struck him with shovels. Wounded on the head, he passed away at the age of forty years, having been in a state of semi-consciousness for some months. Ily‡s thus became the head of the family, and left K‡sh‡n, his native city, to seek employment in a business in Hamad‡n. He went later to Rasht, in the north of êr‡n, to direct a branch of a business belonging to Kh‡jih Rabb’` Muttahidih, an esteemed Bah‡`’ of K‡sh‡n, and became the secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Rasht. Some time later he was entrusted with a business mission in Kirm‡nsh‡h, a city whose population was bitterly opposed to the Faith. He was expelled from that town and replaced with by M’rz‡ Ya'qœb Muttahidih, Kh‡jih's brother, who was later martyred in Kirm‡nsh‡h, thus becoming the first Bah‡`’ martyr of Jewish origin.
Picture in Upper Right Corner with the Caption: Abdu'l-Missagh Missaghiyeh
M’rz‡ Ily‡s was a self-taught man. Forced to work from childhood, he had no opportunity to obtain a higher education. However, his gift for poetry was sustained by a good knowledge of Persian and Arabic. The teach-
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ing trips that he undertook in company with the great teacher, Mr. Mihd’ Akhav‡n-i Saf‡ enabled him to widen his knowledge of the Teachings and to gain skill in the art of presenting them. During the meetings he lifted the hearts of the participants by reading and chanting Tablets and prayers in his beautiful clear voice.
In 1912, when he was twenty-two years old, he was finally able to fulfill his dearest wish, that of making his pilgrimage and attaining the presence of `Abdu'l-Bah‡. He was again privileged to go on pilgrimage towards the end of 1919, spending forty-five unforgettable days in the Holy Land and being frequently in the company of the Master. During that sojourn, an account of which M’rz‡ Ily‡s wrote in verse, `Abdu'l-Bah‡ on several occasions demonstrated the esteem in which He held him. It seemed to the delighted pilgrim that the Master fulfilled, one by one, his hidden wishes without their having to be expressed: while strolling in the garden surrounding the Shrine of the B‡b he received from the hand of Shoghi Effendi a Tablet revealed specially for M’rz‡ Ily‡s from `Abdu'l-Bah‡; he was photographed with the Master and other members of the Holy Family; and he was summoned by the Master who invited him to be seated while He dictated to His secretary a Tablet in which He bestowed upon the awe-struck pilgrim the name `Missaghiyeh' (M’thaq’yih), or `firmness'. Henceforth he adopted as his first name ``Abdu'l-Missagh' (`Abdu'l-M’thaq), or `servant of the Covenant'. Thus he indicated his humble dedication to the Master Who was the Centre of the Covenant. Yet another wish was fulfilled during this pilgrimage: Abdu'l-Missagh was entrusted with a mission by his Beloved, that of returning to êr‡n via Egypt and India and placing into the hands of their recipients the Tablets addressed to them by `Abdu'l-Bah‡ and which were eagerly awaited following the break in communications caused by the first World War. One can easily guess what ineffable joy flooded his being as a result of having received so many honours and favours from the beloved Master! Nor had the bounties ceased: before his departure `Abdu'l-Bah‡ gave him a gold coin which was to become, in Abdu'l-Missagh's mind, the symbolic basis of his personal capital.
In êr‡n he continued to work tirelessly in service to the Faith and the friends. He married Maryam Kh‡num, a charitable and generous lady, who was the daughter of Kh‡jih Rabb’`, and from this union one daughter and three sons were born. He settled in Tihr‡n and worked in real estate. His business became very successful and prosperous and soon he became widely known and highly respected throughout the community as a businessman. Those who worked for him or had dealings with him also appeared to attract prosperity to their affairs. Abdu'l-Missagh attributed this success to the coin he had received from the hands of `Abdu'l-Bah‡. However, his professional activities did not prevent him from serving the Faith. He was elected several times to membership on the National Spiritual Assembly, and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihr‡n, and he served on various committees. In about 1940 he built the hospital that he offered to the Bah‡`’ community of êr‡n.1 Until the end of his life he contributed to the development and enlargement of the Missaghiyeh Hospital and Maternity Clinic, one of the most important and best equipped in the Iranian capital. Soon a school for nurses and later a home for the aged were created as auxiliaries of the hospital. These institutions to which persons of all backgrounds were admitted, sometimes free of charge, were `silent teachers', the only Bah‡`’-operated service institutions with which Iranians of all religions had a relationship. Abdu'l-Missagh took a deep personal interest in the hospital and his generosity made it unnecessary for appeals to be made for the purchase of new equipment or to meet deficits in the operating costs.
During the ministry of Shoghi Effendi, Abdu'l-Missagh was privileged to make pilgrimages in 1927 and 1952. During his second pilgrimage he fell ill as soon as he arrived in Haifa. The beloved Guardian himself came to visit him. Moved by this great honour, Abdu'l-Missagh recited these verses: `If it is you who, as a compassionate physician, comes to my bedside, I would not give to anyone the pleasure of being ill!' On the occasion of his second pilgrimage the Guardian entrusted him with the mission of transferring the
1 See êr‡n, persŽcution des Bah‡`’s: un livre blanc (Paris: National Spiritual Assembly of France, 1982), p. 61.
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remains of M’rz‡ Akhav‡n-I Saf‡ from the cemetery in which they were laid to the shrine of the martyrs Sult‡n`u'l-Shudad‡ and Mahbœb`u'l-Shuhad‡ in Isfah‡n.[sic]
In addition to the services he rendered as a member of Bah‡`’ institutions and through the teaching trips he made throughout êr‡n offering encouragement to the friends, he made generous gifts of funds which made possible the acquisition of lands and buildings for the Faith in Asia, Europe and Africa. These gifts were made without ostentation, often without even his family being informed and in many cases in response to Shoghi Effendi's wishes. Although it is impossible to compile a complete record, his munificence can be glimpsed by mentioning that in Africa alone he had up to 1958 purchased no less than forty-four Temple sites, Teaching Institutes, Bah‡`’ Centres and other sites. This very generous man was, however, sparing with himself, residing in a simple house and living a modest life. As to his wife, Maryam, she was the refuge of needy people, finding jobs for some and personally supplying the needs of others. When Abdu'l-Missagh was asked why he did not spend a little more money on himself, he answered: `This money does not belong to me, it belongs to `Abdu'l-Bah‡; I am only giving it back to Him!' It might be said that Abdu'l-Missagh was `poor for himself and rich for the Faith'
On 21 November 1981 he passed away in Tihr‡n at the age of ninety-one. The members of his family residing outside êr‡n were honoured by being informed of his passing by the Universal House of justice in a cable addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly of France on 25 November:
KINDLY INFORM ROSHAN MAVADDAT GRIEVED NEWS PASSING ABDOLMISSAGH MISSAGHIEH STEADFAST DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH WHOSE MANIFOLD SERVICES SPIRITUAL HUMANITARIAN FIELDS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS FERVENT PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
(Adapted from a memoir by ROSHAN MAVADDAT)
ZHêNòS NI`MAT MAHMòDê
1928-1981
Picture in Upper Right Corner with the Caption: Zh’nœs Ni`mat Mahmœd’
Zh’nœs Ni`mat Mahmœd’ was born into a distinguished Bah‡`’ family in Tihr‡n on 7 August 1928, a fifth-generation Bah‡`’ on both sides.
In October 1947, at age nineteen, Zh’nœs married Hœshang Mahmœd’, age twenty-two, whom she had come to know through their participation in Bah‡`’ activities of the community of Tihr‡n. At the time of their marriage they were both undergraduate students at Tihr‡n University where Hœshang studied law and Zh’nœs physics. Bound together by an intense love for the Blessed Beauty which characterized their lives, and by a common desire to serve His Cause, they reinforced and encouraged each other's love, devotion and service to their beloved Faith for over thirty years, and finally, one following the other, both trod the crimson path of sacrifice and attained the station of martyrdom.
While still a young man, Hœshang spent some time as a Bah‡`’ teacher in the village of N‡maq, Khuras‡n, where he had a dream which he described in a letter to Shoghi Effendi. He dreamed that he was fortunate
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enough to catch a ring which the beloved Guardian had cast into the midst of a group of joyously vying Bah‡`’ youth who had gathered in a green field. In a letter written on the Guardian's behalf by his secretary on 21 June 1944, Shoghi Effendi praised Hœshang's services, assured him of great success in his teaching efforts, and encouraged him to `remain steadfast in order to win the prize and achieve brilliant victories'.
Zh’nœs received her formal education in Tihr‡n, excelling as a student throughout her school years. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in physics from Tihr‡n University, specializing in atmospheric sciences and meteorology and graduating with honours at the top of her class. She started her career at age twenty-three as the first woman meteorologist of êr‡n. By this time she had two small children. Later she served as the head of the Atmospheric and Climate Research Department of êr‡n and finally was appointed as Director-General of the country's Department of Meteorology. She was at the same time President of the Iranian School of Meteorology, a school that was founded through her efforts in order to make êr‡n self-sufficient in training meteorologists. She also taught at Tihr‡n University. It is significant to observe that in the 1950s when Zh’nœs began her career the science of meteorology in êr‡n was in its infancy; no research or development took place and the country did not even have a Department of Meteorology. It was largely through the dedicated and ceaseless work of Zh’nœs over twenty-five years that êr‡n's Department of Meteorology was founded and began to take a leading role in this area of endeavour in the Middle East. She devoted fifteen years to researching êr‡n's physical geography and its relationship to industrial and agricultural activities, a study which led to publication of her monumental work Geographical Atlas of êr‡n which became an indispensable tool in the planning of industrial and economic development projects. She was also the first Iranian to conduct research into the potential use of solar energy and often represented her country at international conferences on climatology and meteorology where she presented papers on various subjects including air pollution.
The leading scientist in her field in êr‡n, Zh’nœs was recognized and admired throughout the government for her contributions to that field and for her high degree of personal integrity. She was much loved and respected by her subordinates who observed her humanity and selfless service and who competed with one another in serving her, and by many foreign scientists who worked with her during her tenure in the government. To these visitors she came to represent, through her exceptional intellectual and moral qualities, a hope for the advancement of êr‡n. Among the many honours conferred upon her was the Royal Medal of êr‡n. She also served on various humanitarian organizations including the Women's Liberation Organization and the Zonta Club and served as head of the Dayh’m Peace Committee.
To appreciate her professional achievements and her contribution to her country it is important to consider the odds against which she was working, given the existing conditions and standards of êr‡n, and to recognize the obstacles she faced as a woman with no `connections' and as a Bah‡`’ with impeccable moral standards. Only her intellectual abilities, perseverance, sincerity of motive and, above all, her strong conviction that as a Bah‡`’ she had an obligation to contribute towards the advancement of her nation, enabled her to meet and overcome the obstacles confronting her.
In the 1970s when she became eligible for retirement Zh’nœs yearned to devote all her time and energy to the service of the Faith but her attempts to retire were blocked by the authorities who considered her services indispensable to the welfare of the country. And so she stayed on only to be dismissed later by the Revolutionary Government for being a Bah‡`’. She was denied a pension and her bank accounts were seized.
Zh’nœs's professional activities at no time interfered with her active service to the Faith or her role as a mother. She was an active member of the Bah‡`’ community of Tihr‡n from her youth and served on numerous committees including the Committee for the Advancement of Women. She and her husband spent the year 1955 in Kirm‡n as pioneers, returning in 1956 to Tihr‡n. In 1961 they settled with their three small children in N‡rmak, a small town with a fanatical popu-
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lation situated on the eastern outskirts of Tihr‡n. Here their home became a centre of Bah‡`’ activities and they became pillars of strength to the newly-established Bah‡`’ community. They both served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of N‡rmak for five years, during which time they commuted daily to work in Tihr‡n. They left behind a strong and active Bah‡`’ community and returned to Tihr‡n in 1967. Zh’nœs was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihr‡n and served as its secretary until 1971 when they moved westward with their son and settled in a newly-built, deeply religious town named Gawhar-Dasht. Soon the Local Spiritual Assembly was formed. This community, vital and active and filled with spirit, subsequently became a target for the enemies of the Cause. At least five of its original Local Assembly members were martyred in the period 1980-1982, a large number of Bah‡`’ families were forced to leave and still more were imprisoned. Until it was confiscated in 1981 the home of Zh’nœs and Hœshang in Gawhar-Dasht continued to be of use to the Faith by serving as a shelter for Bah‡`’ refugees.
In 1977, the last year during which their lives were to be normal, Zh’nœs was appointed an Auxiliary Board member serving Tihr‡n, Hamad‡n, and the western region of êr‡n. In 1978 the situation of the Bah‡`’s began to deteriorate. Hœshang was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly and the couple's combined responsibilities demanded their full-time presence in Tihr‡n. They rented an apartment in the city where they spent most of their nights. Later, as the situation worsened, even the luxury of a semi-permanent home was denied them and for security reasons they spent every night in a different place. The only permanent features of their lives at this point were their agonies and hardships and a small suitcase which they carried with them everywhere and which contained the necessary personal items for prison.
In 1980, after the imprisonment of the Counsellor, Dr. Mas’h Farhang’, Zh’nœs accepted many of his duties and also attended most of the meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly. When she and Hœshang parted on the morning of 21 August 1980 they did not know that they would never see one another again in this life. That evening while in their meeting the members of the National Spiritual Assembly and two Auxiliary Board members were abducted by the revolutionary guards and were never heard from again. Zh’nœs was to have been present at this meeting but for personal reasons did not attend and thus was, momentarily, spared. To the distress caused by the implications for the Bah‡`’ community of êr‡n of the arrest of the National Assembly was now added the agony of separation from her husband of thirty-three years. Zh’nœs endured her suffering with characteristic calm and continued her work. `I do not permit myself anything but calm and laughter with the friends,' she wrote to her family in January. `Missing you and anxiety affects me, and just then the phone may ring and my voice may not be reassuring enough . . .'
Zh’nœs was elected to the next National Spiritual Assembly but retained her appointive offices as well. She served the Bah‡`’ community of êr‡n in these capacities until her arrest on 13 December 1981 following which no family member was permitted to see her. She was executed on 27 December 1981 together with seven other members of the National Assembly and buried in a common grave in a section of the Tihr‡n cemetery reserved for infidels. A cell-mate has reported that when Zh’nœs was informed by the revolutionary guards that she was to be transferred to Evin prison she exclaimed, `I shall be very happy to make a pilgrimage to Evin prison where so many Bah‡`’s have been martyred!' In a letter to her family written in June 1981 Zh’nœs had remarked, `I only want you to know that I lack nothing. There is no sorrow--absolutely no difficulties. I am content, well, fortunate, assured, serene, full of energy and thankful. Whatever should happen, there could be nothing better . . .'
A major contribution of Zh’nœs was the role-model she provided for women both within and without the Faith in illustrating in her own life the fine balance that may be achieved between spirit and intellect. She exemplified this balance through her nobility of character and her professional accomplishments. She was frequently in the public eye, interviewed on national television and interviewed by journalists as a `pioneer' woman. Within the Bah‡`’ community, through her services as a teacher of Sunday School for
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over two decades and her service on women's committees, she touched countless lives and gave inspiration and a vision of their potential to rising generations of Bah‡`’ women.
Zh’nœs , cut down in her fifty-second year, left behind three children, her aged mother, a brother and sister, who pray to be worthy of her sacrifice.
(Adapted from a memoir by RAMNA MAHMòDê and MEHRNOUSH NI`MAT)
SHêDRUKH AMêR-KêYç BAQç
1935-1982
Sh’drukh Am’r-K’y‡ Baq‡ came of valiant stock. A paternal grandfather, H‡j’ D‡wœd M’th‡q’y‡n, a prominent member of the Jewish community of K‡sh‡n, while still young accepted the Cause in that city and went on foot to the Holy Land to attain the Master's presence. `Abdu'l-Bah‡ referred to him in a Tablet as `Affectionate'. Later on, with his wife and some of his children, he pioneered for about twenty years in Palma, Spain, and was privileged to buy a plot of land in Madrid for the Mashriqu'l-Adhk‡r.
Picture in Lower Left Corner with the Caption: Sh’drukh Am’r-K’y‡ Baq‡
Another forebear, on the father's side, M’rz‡ H‡sh’m, also embraced the Cause in K‡sh‡n at a time when the friends were being persecuted. He arose in their defence and protested to the Governor against the injustice and oppression, and was promptly locked up in prison himself. However, his wit and eloquence won him liberty. The Master addressed him as `Zealous'.
A maternal grandfather, H‡j’ D‡wœd Iqr‡r’, of K‡sh‡n, accepted the Faith when young. His father and brother, too, embraced the Cause but none knew of the others' belief until they met at a Bah‡`’ meeting. Thereafter, they worked together in service to the Faith, entertaining the friends and guiding seekers to the Truth. They bought the impressive house of a high-ranking official with a view to holding befitting meetings therein to teach the Faith and, in this, they attained to their heart's desire. At one of these meetings they hoisted in front of the house a banner bearing the inscription Y‡ Bah‡`u'l-Abh‡, inviting friend and stranger to enter. The Master said they were hospitable and of noble aim and that He was well pleased with them.
Sh’drukh, a granddaughter of these veterans, was born in Tihr‡n on 8 October 1935, the eldest daughter of Rœhu'll‡h M’th‡q’y‡n and Ruhn’yyih Iqr‡r’, both faithful servants of the Faith. Sh’drukh had three sisters and one brother and from an early age was deeply attached to the Cause and its institutions. She was fond of music and took piano lessons at school. She had a charming voice and was the first person in êr‡n to record a prayer, revealed by our beloved Guardian, to the accompaniment of the piano. It was highly approved by the Hands of the Cause and was played in many continental conferences and large Bah‡`’ gatherings in êr‡n. For a time she was on the national television network demonstrating cooking and other domestic courses. She knew English and was well-versed in some arts. At age sixteen Sh’drukh was married to Manœchihr Baq‡; one daughter and two sons were born of the union.
A visit to the Holy Land as a pilgrim reinvigorated her faith; she attended the International Conferences held in London,
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Palermo, Alaska, Paris and Brazil and had vivid recollections of them all.
While in the United States, two years ago, for her daughter's wedding, her children and sisters urged her not to return to êr‡n where her life would be in danger, but she disregarded their plea. `When our beloved Guardian exhorted us to pioneer,' she told them, `we did not heed his call; we let ourselves down. Now that the Universal House of Justice bids us maintain our posts, will we desert them and fail a second time? Not I! I feel I am needed in êr‡n and return there to do what lies in my power, regardless of the consequences.' When the hour for departure arrived, she was overcome with emotion. She opened her prayer book and read prayers which brought solace to her heart and the strength and courage to continue on her course to her destined fate and eternal glory.
Though êr‡n was agitated and distress was rife, she stood firm as a rock, bringing the friends together in devotional meetings and restoring calm and tranquility to their disturbed hearts. She was ever ready to serve and was appointed on various committees. She was put in charge of organizing the Nineteen Day Feasts held in her district. This took up most of her evenings. She spoke to the friends of the need for steadfastness, courage and sacrifice in the path of the Beloved, conveyed to them the messages of the National Spiritual Assembly, and inspired them to be firm. Whenever news came of a martyrdom or some other affliction engulfing the Bah‡`’s, she would expatiate on the glory of sacrifice, the station of the martyrs and the lustre which their deeds would shed on the pages of history.
The steadily mounting wave of oppression instigated by the authorities with a view to casting terror into the hearts of the believers, dampening their zeal and thus weakening the institutions of the Faith, was putting a heavy strain on the faith of some of the friends. At such a time of stress, Sh’drukh did not flinch or falter. With the utmost courage, she arranged meetings at her own home or at the homes of her sister or children who were all abroad. She attended to the bereaved families of the martyrs and offered them comfort and shelter. One of these was a Bah‡`’ woman from Yazd whom she lodged in her sister's home.
Sh’drukh was always very cautious in arranging Bah‡`’ meetings, and if she suspected any leak threatening the safety of a proposed meeting, she promptly switched it to the house of her sister or children. In spite of all her precautions, however, there came a night--Monday, 2 November 1981--when, at the hour of nine, there was a knock on her door. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihr‡n was in session at her home. She approached the door and asked who was knocking. The Bah‡`’ woman from Yazd answered, and recognizing her voice, Sh’drukh was reassured and opened the door. To her dismay, she found that the Bah‡`’ woman was not alone; armed guards of the Islamic Revolutionary Party accompanied her. What had transpired was this: at the home of Sh’drukh's sister was also a Muslim lodger, addicted to drugs, who made himself a nuisance to the neighbourhood. Sh’drukh had consulted the Local Spiritual Assembly about the advisability of evicting him on the ground of his failure to pay the rent but was asked to refrain from taking any action for the moment. It appears, however, that some of the neighbours had lodged a complaint against the man and the guards had come to investigate. They asked where the owner of the house was and the Bah‡`’ woman from Yazd, being simple, led them to Sh’drukh
The guards asked the six Assembly members in session. Sh’drukh, her husband, the woman from Yazd and another Bah‡`’ (Firdaws’'s son), there present, to accompany them. Aware that the National Spiritual Assembly members who had been asked to accompany a similar squad of guards had never been seen again, Sh’drukh insisted that she would accompany them only to the police station situate in the same street. The wrangle attracted the neighbours, and faced with a not too friendly crowd, the guards complied with Sh’drukh's wish. Once at the police station, however, the guards transported their captives to a prison. After some ten days, Firdaws’'s son and the woman from Yazd were released, and the rest transferred to another jail noted for its severe discipline and the oppression inflicted by its warders.
The following account is based on reports
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by fellow prisoners, Bah‡`’ and non-Bah‡`’, and Sh’drukh's relatives who were witness to these incidents.
Time and again, the Revolutionary Committee put pressure upon her to recant her faith, holding out freedom as the reward. It was a serious life-and-death game, not a mock one. A letter to her sister a week before related her encounter with the authorities when she approached them on behalf of herself, her sisters and brother to clear up the matter of their inheritance from their father. `What is your religion?' the President of the Court had asked, and she had replied that she was a Bah‡`’. `If you desire prosperity,' he had suggested, `you had better recant your faith or you will experience serious loss.' `Did you not hear,' she answered, `what the old Bah‡`’ in Yazd said when such a proposition was put to him, that man of eighty summers whose head was repeatedly dashed to the ground to persuade him to comply with your demand? Did he not say: "What! Should I surrender my faith to secure some baubles?" I, too, tell you that I can do without my inheritance, if necessary.' The President said, `You represent others who may not be of the same mind as you.' She replied, `They are Bah‡`’s, too, and none of them will barter the eternal world for this transitory one.' Having said this, she arose and, without waiting for permission from the Court, departed, leaving the President fuming with rage at his failure to turn her from her faith.
Sh’drukh had for long prior to these events been engaged in committing to memory prayers and Tablets and passages from the Holy Writings. This she did in anticipation of the day when she might be confined somewhere without access to Bah‡`’ literature. Now, in prison, she could reap the reward of her foresight and draw on her memory for those priceless gems that were to delight, sustain and strengthen her.
Several times they told her that she could secure her freedom just by signing a paper. This was ostensibly to the effect that she would not participate any longer in any Bah‡`’ administrative activities, but she knew in reality it was a ruse on the part of the authorities; if secured, that document would be given wide publicity as evidence of her recantation in an effort to demoralize the friends, weaken their resolve and undermine the institutions of the Faith.
While she was in jail, the authorities confiscated her property as well as that belonging to her deceased parents, her sisters, her brother and her children who were all abroad and whom she represented legally.
During one of the interrogations, Sh’drukh came face to face with her husband who was also in prison. He told her that he had signed the paper presented to him and was to be freed. `For the sake of our children,' he said, `you, too, sign it and secure your freedom.' She pressed his hand and merely said, `Steadfastness! Steadfastness!' and was sorrowful, wondering what contrivance had brought about his defection.
According to her sister, Sh’drukh was permitted to make one short telephone call to her relatives a few days prior to her martyrdom. She told them not to be concerned about her.
A non-Bah‡`’ who was immured for three days with that group said, on release, how the morale of them all had been sustained by the courageous spirit and uplifting words of Sh’drukh--`With such faith and steadfastness and zeal animating her, you should have no fear for her,' we were assured.
On 4 January 1982, Sh’drukh and the six members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihr‡n were secretly executed, this information being obtained fortuitously by their relatives and friends. No will or document exists to attest to her martyrdom although it was reported that she and the members of the Local Spiritual Assembly had decided to write their wills. The authorities were not prepared to deliver her body and, later, a demand seems to have been made for five hundred thousand tœm‡ns [in excess of $50,000 U.S.] apiece for every will they would hand over. Since their wishes and intentions were known and their deeds and words were testimony to the unity, the greatness and glory of God, there was nothing further that could be gleaned from their wills. It is said that all these prisoners were buried unwashed, in the clothes they were wearing, and without any funeral rites, in a common grave.
As far as is known, Sh’drukh is the first Bah‡`’ woman of Jewish extraction to lay down her life for the Faith. A year prior to her martyrdom, she requested the prayers of the
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Universal House of Justice for steadfastness in the Faith for herself and her sisters and brother, and for the progress of her father's soul in the realms above. She withstood all tests and trials and never faltered until she attained the glorious station of martyrdom. She advanced with arms extended wide to embrace the darts of sacrifice and gave her life joyously for her belief. Her daughter and two sons, her three sisters and brother, all firm and active in the Faith, endure this tragic blow confident that the precious blood so willingly shed on êr‡n's soil for the love of the Glory of God will not be in vain and that every drop will raise a thousand lovers to serve the Cause of God and His people.
Sh’drukh was a loving mother, an affectionate sister, a trustworthy companion, a faithful mate, a gracious hostess, a true Bah‡`’.
In response to an enquiry from the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada the Universal House of Justice cabled on 14 January 1982:
MARTYRDOM SHIDRUKH AMIR-KIYA WIFE MANUCHIHR BAQA SIGNIFICANT. SHE AND HUSBAND WERE HOSTS LOCAL ASSEMBLY TIHRAN WHEN THEIR HOME RAIDED AND BOTH WERE ARRESTED ALONG WITH SIX MEMBERS ASSEMBLY. AS IN OTHER CASES PRESSURE WAS BROUGHT RECANT FAITH SAVE LIVES. UNFORTUNATELY APPEARS HUSBAND DID NOT STAND TEST AND AS PUBLISHED NEWSPAPERS RENOUNCED FAITH AND WAS IMMEDIATELY RELEASED. HE INCREASED PRESSURE HIS WIFE SHIDRUKH BY PLEADING HER FOLLOW HIM. SHE CHOSE CROWN MARTYRDOM REFUSED BETRAY HER FAITH AND JOINED RANKS IMMORTALS. HISTORY WILL EVER EXTOL EXEMPLARY COURAGE RESOLUTE FAITH ONE WHO SACRIFICED HER LIFE THRESHOLD HER BELOVED.
(Translated from the Persian by RUSTOM SABIT)
APPU RAMAN
1921-1982
Appu Raman was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 21 December 1921 and came to Malaya in 1928. It has been said of him that he seemed to have been born with a burning desire to serve humanity. His association with the Ministry of Welfare Services began in 1946 and he continued his dedicated services to the poor and needy through this Department until his retirement in 1976, during which time he held many important posts and initiated a number of societies including the Self-Reliant Society, the Association for the Physically Handicapped, the Association for the Mentally Retarded and a host of others.
Picture in Upper Right Corner with the Caption: Appu Raman
His Bah‡`’ life began in 1962. He accepted the Faith through Mrs. Theresa Chee. On the auspicious occasion, when asked what his life ambition was, not having anything in particular to say, he pointed to a picture of the Bah‡`’ Temple in Wilmette and said, `Perhaps all I want is to visit that Temple!' He was granted the bounty of visiting the Mother Temple of the West three times and of visiting the Holy Places in êr‡n, as well. In 1965 he was elected a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia and continued to serve on that body until 1972 in which year he was elected chairman. In the early years of the Faith in Malaysia he was instrumental in establishing the national Haz’ratu'l-Quds. In his teaching work he was recognized as a scholar of Hinduism and was popular among the Tamil believers because of his eloquence and his depth of knowledge of both their
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language and culture. In his final years he became actively involved in the Ulu Langat Local Spiritual Assembly and the project assigned to it by the National Spiritual Assembly, that of developing the Balakong Summer School land.
In late December 1981 Mr. Raman started off on a four-month teaching trip which was to take him to Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka but he ascended to the Abh‡ Kingdom on 5 January 1982 at Rangoon, Burma. His sudden death came as a shock to the Malaysian community and his loss was felt equally keenly by the believers in Burma who had grown close to his radiant personality. More than five hundred friends from all parts of Burma gathered at the funeral. The National Spiritual Assembly of Burma reported that the Faith had not been so well proclaimed in that land since the days of the Hand of the Cause of God Mustaf‡ Rœm’. As the two rows of Burmese friends, with tears in their eyes, carried Mr. Raman's body from the hearse to the grave, they realized that through him a permanent bond had been established between the community of the Greatest Name in Burma and Malaysia. The energy he devoted to the Faith and his obedience to its principles, laws and ordinances are but small examples of the love he had for Bah‡`u'll‡h. May the Blessed Beauty accept his loyal services at His Holy Threshold. Mr. Raman leaves behind his wife, Mrs. Thanapakian Raman, and five children.
On 8 January 1982 the Universal House of Justice cabled to the National Spiritual Assembly of Burma expressing the hope that the example of this DEVOTED SERVANT would inspire the beloved friends in that country to INTENSIFY THEIR RESOLVE in service to the Faith. The friends in Malaysia received the following cable:
GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT BAHAULLAH APPU RAMAN IN BURMA. HIS SACRIFICE FIELD SERVICE BAHAULLAH SHEDS LUSTRE YOUR COMMUNITY WHICH MAY WELL BE PROUD SPIRITUAL VICTORIES ACHIEVED BY ITS NUMEROUS DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS MANY FIELDS BAHAI SERVICE. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS SOUL.
FLORENCE ELIZABETH ALTASS
1884-1982
Picture in Upper Right Corner with the Caption: Florence Elizabeth Altass
Florence Elizabeth Altass was born on 13 May 1884 at Aldeburgh in Suffolk, England, and was one of a family of nine children. Slight in build and small in stature, she had an irresistible charisma. She was blessed with amazing perception of others' needs and she literally sparkled her way through life until the very day she passed on to the Abh‡ Kingdom on 22 January 1982, at nearly ninety-eight years of age.
Florence's upbringing was strictly Catholic but she never felt that that was where she `belonged'. During her teens she travelled to Edinburgh to stay with a school friend, Kathleen Flemming. She attended her first Bah‡`’ meeting with Kathleen and immediately identified with the Bah‡`’ ideals. Although she attended Bah‡`’ meetings subsequently and always considered herself a Bah‡`’, she did not formally declare her belief in written form until many years later. Having broken away from the Catholic Faith and the authoritarian upbringing of her mother, she feared that by signing a declaration of belief she would in some obscure way limit herself; yet as early
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as her twenty-first year when she left home for good and enrolled for nursing training she identified herself as a Bah‡`’ on the application form and throughout her life associated with the Bah‡`’ community.
As a young girl Florence longed to become a missionary. To fulfill this dream she felt that she must take up nursing and that the more difficult aspects of this field would best prepare her. She persuaded a friend of her father's, a doctor, to assist her. She completed a course that covered caring for mental patients and maternity cases, the latter at a London hospital where prostitutes, indigents and the homeless were treated. Here Florence's compassion and love for her fellow-kind expanded to an extent she had not dreamed of: the cases she described made one's heart ache for the plight of humanity. Slowly her aspirations towards the missionary field changed. She concluded her training with a three-year general course at the London Middlesex Hospital.
Her first assignment was to the Austrian Imperial court of the House of Habsburg to nurse a lady-in-waiting. Florence was well liked by the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand and the Archduchess and she became very fond of them. The sympathy she felt with them as strict Catholics enabled Florence to express many of her `Bah‡`’ ideas'. She did not approve of the crucifixes in every room, and declared `The God I pray to is a living God, not a dead Christ on a cross'. When she left his service the Archduke presented her with a rosary of carnelian which had at the end, instead of a crucifix, a medallion inscribed with the date, and the madonna and child.
From Austria Florence travelled to Budapest where she tried to learn more about her father's family, who were Austrian. (In later years Florence was one of the first Western women to cross Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and in 1917 she returned from there when the fall of the Czar was imminent.) Meanwhile she returned to the United Kingdom and, as always, she felt drawn to Scotland where she attended Bah‡`’ meetings at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Whyte. Dr. Whyte was a prominent minister of the United Free Church of Scotland. The manse at 7 Charlotte Square, the home of Dr. and Mrs. Whyte, was attached to St. George's United Free Church which is now known as West Register House. `Abdu'l-Bah‡ was invited to Edinburgh by the Whytes during the course of His visit to the West and remained in that city from 6 to 10 January 1913. During this sojourn Florence had the bounty of meeting `Abdu'l-Bah‡ at the Whyte's home, although she was not aware that He was to be present. In a recorded interview in later years she recalled, `Of course when I saw Him I knew who He was. Oh, you couldn't mistake Him. And that heavenly smile! It was a perpetual smile, and yet it wasn't, if you can imagine; it looked as though He smiled at everyone, and yet the smile seemed always to be there. And His eyes looked as if they were looking through you. He had the most gentle voice; I've never heard a voice like it. I would like to hear it again. He embraced a good many people; He didn't me. He just shook hands. Several of us He just shook hands with.' Florence wrote of that meeting: `When `Abdu'l-Bah‡ shook hands with me, He seemed to transmit something to me, and I've never been the same since . . .'1 Asked if He spoke in English at all, Florence laughingly replied, `No. There was an interpreter--who spoilt the whole show! It wasn't that his voice didn't suit me, it was that although `Abdu'l-Bah‡ spoke in Persian, you understood; you knew what He was saying, somehow. One was so enamoured of His voice that one sort of felt what He was saying. It was as though He delivered His address in English, although He spoke Persian.' So great was the throng seeking admittance to the presence of the Master that Florence refrained from attending subsequent meetings though she was strongly drawn to do so and regretted to the end of her days the loss occasioned by her extraordinary courtesy and consideration for others. Her one meeting with `Abdu'l-Bah‡ formed the theme of many of her poems which she continued to write till the end of her life.2
Ever after having met the Master, Florence felt His presence and inspiration. She asked that she should be a `channel for healing'. Before treating a patient she always prayed and seemed inspired with `the right means'. In spite of her orthodox medical training,
1 See U.K. Bah‡`’ Journal, February/March 1967, for a fuller account of this meeting.
2 See The Bah‡`’ World, vol. XVII, p. 650.
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Florence (a vegetarian), held strong views about `natural healing' and refused ever to administer drugs. Although she met with strong opposition in the orthodox field she persevered with her intuition which she felt came from an `inner knowledge'. She worked closely with a number of doctors of similar convictions and often recalled the numerous occasions on which patients, officially diagnosed as hopeless cases, would come to them as a last resort and make seemingly miraculous recoveries. `Given the right conditions,' she explained simply, `the body heals itself. Healing is on three planes--mental, spiritual and physical.' Seriously ill only twice in her life, at the ages of seventy and ninety-five, Florence was always alert, vivacious and energetic, a living example of her convictions.
Florence was never in one place long and in moving around continually in her various nursing jobs she influenced the lives of many people. Even during the period when I knew her, beginning about 1974, she would not miss an opportunity to mention the Faith to those she met. She attracted into her confidence young and old alike. Numerous friends, Bah‡`’ and not, sought her advice and she always responded with perception and deep wisdom. It was during one of her illnesses, when she was about seventy, that she finally affixed her name to a declaration card, though she professed amazement at having done so when she saw herself listed as a declared believer in the Bah‡`’ Journal; but once recovered and now `declared' she found to her astonished delight that the step she had taken did not limit her. `Now I know what it's really like to be limited,' she would remark during her last years when her vision and hearing began to fail. But these were merely physical limitations, and very different than those which her free spirit had feared. Her last ten years were spent in vegetarian homes in Horsham and then in Hastings where she was allowed to remain in spite of difficulties of vision and hearing which would normally have qualified her for residence in a nursing home. Florence never lost her valiant spirit of independence. Residents of the home marvelled at her versatility and activeness, and remarked that `something was missing' whenever she was away. She served on the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Horsham and Hastings and as the only English Bah‡`’ in Hastings she often found herself with the responsibility of conveying to enquirers the tenets of the Faith. Her presentation always made a profound impression on those who met her. `Age has restricted my activities,' she wrote to a friend in 1981, `but has not affected my love and devotion to the Faith or my gratitude for being allowed to meet the Master and to hear His voice, a voice like no other one would hear again.' She was humorous to the end, mentioning in one of her letters that she would rejoice to be reunited with `Abdu'l-Bah‡ in the spiritual realm but feared that she had been `in queue so long He may have forgotten me'.
Three of Florence's life ambitions were fulfilled in the years following her ninetieth birthday: she made a pilgrimage to the Bah‡`’ Shrines in the Holy Land in 1978; she found that her intuitive understanding of healing was confirmed in a number of the Master's Tablets published by the Universal House of Justice in 1978 under the title Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bah‡; and her wish to see Bah‡`’s in the medical field `get together to share ideas' was realized in June 1980 when the first International Bah‡`’ Conference on Health and Healing was held in Ottawa under the auspices of the Association for Bah‡`’ Studies.1 Unable to attend, though she had hoped to, Florence submitted a paper which was well received.
Florence recorded in her poems and written fragments of prose her visionary thoughts and ideals. We are fortunate to have these, together with the example of her dedicated life of service, as an inspiration for generations to come. The tribute accorded this unassuming believer by the Universal House of Justice in its cable of 1 February 1982 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom would have astonished one who never felt worthy of the bounty of having gazed but once upon the face of the Centre of the Covenant:
PASSING FLORENCE ALTASS SEVERS ONE MORE PRECIOUS LINK BRITISH COMMUNITY HISTORIC VISIT MASTER. HER DEDICATION STEADFAST FAITH COLOURFUL LIFE ENRICH ANNALS THAT COMMUNITY. ASSURE PRAYERS PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. CECILIA SMITH
1 For a report of this gathering see p. 201.
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NASROLLAH MAVADDAT
(NASRU'LLçH MAVIDDAT)
1897-1982
Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Nasrollah Mavaddat
CONVEY SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY CAMPBELLTOWN GRIEVE PASSING DEDICATED SERVANT NASROLLAH MAVADDAT WHOSE EXEMPLARY DEVOTION LIFELONG SERVICES CAUSE AND LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL. Universal House of Justice
8 April 1982
Nasru'll‡h Maviddat, though humble and self-effacing, was known to and loved and respected by many throughout the Bah‡`’ world. He was born in Tihr‡n, êr‡n, in 1897 and passed away in Adelaide, Australia, on 7 April 1982. He lived every moment of his life for the Faith and in its service. His great-grandfather was a devoted B‡b’ and both his parents were Bah‡`’s. As a child he diligently followed his studies to the highest level available at the time and was then appointed to teach at Tarb’yat Bah‡`’ School. His thirst for knowledge and his devotion to his work touched the hearts of his students and colleagues alike and won him many admirers.
Mr. Maviddat was among the first group of young Iranian students to be selected for technical training in the United States under a programme in which the Iranian government was collaborating with a major American industrial complex. On his way to America he broke his journey in Beirut in order to visit the Holy Shrines in Haifa. While in the Holy Land he had the bounty of meeting the beloved Guardian. The two years he spent in the United States provided an opportunity to participate in the activities of the American Bah‡`’s and to enrich his experience in Bah‡`’ administration. On his return from America his heart was filled with joy and gratitude on being able to visit Shoghi Effendi for the second time.
Back in his homeland he lived in Tihr‡n for several years and served the Faith tirelessly as a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly and many local and national committees. In particular he was appointed to a small committee formed for translating the Guardian's messages received in the English language or other Bah‡`’ materials in that tongue. In addition he taught at Summer Schools, conducted classes for youth and became a speaker and teacher of the Faith.
In 1956 he pioneered to the south of France where he quickly perfected his knowledge of French and participated in the activities of the friends of that region. When Shoghi Effendi passed away he began the difficult task of translating God Passes By from English to Persian. He worked arduously on that book for several years, seeking to be faithful both to the style of Shoghi Effendi's own writings in Persian and to the words and expressions used in the Bah‡`’ Writings. That he successfully achieved his purpose to a very great extent is attested by many. His deep knowledge of Bah‡`’ literature was a considerable aid in identifying and locating original Persian texts for the numerous quotations Shoghi Effendi used from the three Central Figures. He thus avoided, apart from a few exceptions, retranslation of the original passages to Persian.
In 1968 Mr. Maviddat was asked by the Universal House of Justice to help with the work at the World Centre where he spent three years assisting the Research Department in codifying and indexing the Bah‡`’ Writings. When his wife developed asthma
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and was advised to reside in a more favourable climate they left the Holy Land with keen regret. Mr. Maviddat continued to the end of his life to translate and write. He translated into Persian Shoghi Effendi's The Advent of Divine Justice, as well as numerous letters, cables and compilations. He also wrote in Persian an introductory book on the Faith. His last few years were spent in Australia. With the persecution and apparent suppression of the Faith in êr‡n, and its manifest progress in Australia and the Pacific, he would often quote Bah‡`u'll‡h's words about His Revelation that should they attempt to conceal its light on the continent, it will assuredly rear its head in the midmost heart of the ocean, and, raising its voice, proclaim: `I am the life-giver of the world!'
We cannot conclude this short biography of Mr. Maviddat without mention of his wife, Tal’'ih `Al‡`’, who was his companion for more than half a century and who, with her kind nature, faith and perseverance gave him total love, devotion and wholehearted encouragement in completing his work.
After his departure from this world the above cable was communicated by the Universal House of Justice, thus crowning his achievements with words of love and appreciation from that august Institution.
RAFIE MAVADDAT
ARDESHIR ROSTAMPOUR
(ARDASHêR RUSTAMPòR)
1901-1982
Picture in Upper Right Corner with the Caption: Ardeshir Rostampour
Ardeshir Rostampour was born of Zoroastrian parents in the village of Kuche Buyuk, near Yazd, êr‡n. He was a small child when his father died. His father had taken two wives, and Ardeshir's mother, the second wife, was both mute and deaf. `The two of us were left dependent upon my half-brother,' Ardeshir related. `I lived with my mother and worked as a servant for my half-brother; he was a very rough man and used me as a slave. I gradually became dissatisfied with my life. When I was about ten years old I learned that a caravan, bound for Bombay, was passing not far from our village. Through the use of sign language I conveyed to my mother my wish to escape my miserable existence and go to India where I hoped to earn some money to make life easier for her. She granted her consent, we took tearful leave of one another and I set off, taking as provision for my journey my meagre savings amounting to about the equivalent of one dollar, and five pieces of dried bread which I wrapped in a handkerchief. For two days and two nights I wandered alone in the desert in search of the caravan, vainly asking every passerby if he knew of its whereabouts. Finally I caught sight of it when it stopped for the evening. I was invited to join the caravan through the kindness of some people from my village who were travelling with it, one of whom, a Zoroastrian lady who had been a teacher in our village, engaged me as a servant and compensated me handsomely for my services. Through her generosity I was able to travel by steamer to Karachi where I found employment. I used to send all I had earned to my mother, asking her to distribute whatever she would not need herself to the needy ones in our village. Later on I managed to go on to Bombay, and after a while I came to Hyderabad, Sind, where I opened a restaurant. I have stayed here ever since.'
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From his earnings in the restaurant, Ardeshir made gifts to his village, establishing first a long-needed cemetery for the Zoroastrian community and later a reservoir to provide drinking water. Two entrances and taps were provided, one for Zoroastrians and one for Muslims, since custom would not allow them to share, and it was his wish that all might benefit equally from the facility.
Through meeting early distinguished Bah‡`’ teachers, including Mr. Shahr’y‡r Yazd‡n’, Mr. Isfand’y‡r Bakht’y‡r’1 and Mr. Pritam Singh,2 who frequented his restaraunt when they travelled to Hyderabad on teaching trips, Ardeshir became attracted to the Cause of Bah‡`u'll‡h and embraced it. He was a generous host to travelling teachers and enquirers, often accomodating eighteen or twenty guests and arranging personally for their food and comfort. On one occasion Miss Martha Root was an overnight guest.
Ardeshir's Bah‡`’ life was lived entirely in the spirit of the words of Shoghi Effendi who encouraged the believers to be `like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying itself of all it has and is continually being refilled from an invisible source. To be continually giving out for the good of our fellows undeterred by the fear of poverty and reliant on the unfailing bounty of the Source of all wealth and all good--this is the secret of right living.'3 He lived a simple life in Spartan surroundings and he gave spontaneously, generously and continually in support of Bah‡`’ undertakings. A contribution he had made was the means of acquiring the land for the Temple in India early in the Ten Year Crusade. Learning that the National Spiritual Assembly had found a suitable site for the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhk‡r but lacked the funds to acquire it he immediately donated his entire savings. Only through strenuous insistence did the representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly succeed in persuading him to accept back a small amount for his own use. When he was asked on one occasion how he could give all of his money with no thought for himself he replied, `I did not have a penny when I started. All that I had accumulated was given to me by God. Now He needed the money. I said to myself, If He needs the money, I will return all of it to Him. If I am supposed to have money, He will provide me with more, and if I am not supposed to have it, He would take back what I had anyway. Therefore, it was easy. I did it with full confidence and a joyful conscience. He has repaid me many times since then and I always returned it to Him, as I am only a temporary trustee.'
It has been written of Ardeshir Rostampour: `Never one to seek honour for himself, his services have been rendered so quietly as to have been almost unknown and invisible to all but those members of the institutions of the Faith who received his many contributions. He has given as `Abdu'l-Bah‡ had always done, in such a way that the right hand was unaware of what the left hand was doing. When Ardeshir said of himself, "I have given everything I have made to the Faith of Bah‡`u'll‡h," it was a stark, matter-of-fact and unadorned description of his life, without a trace of personal pride or self-praise.'
When his passing on 11 April 1982 was announced, the Universal House of Justice cabled:
ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS ARDESHIR ROSTAMPOUR ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. HIS EXEMPLARY DEVOTION AND DETACHMENT UNFORGETTABLE.
(Based on a memoir by DR. IRAJ AYMAN and CHARLES NOLLEY)
SULIANA HALAHOLO KOREAN
1950-1982
Early on a sunny April morning, in 1982, Bah‡`’s of the Western Pacific gathered on a lovely knoll in Saipan, Mariana Islands, overlooking the blue Pacific, to pay their last respects to beloved Suliana Korean. Throughout her thirty-one years, she was an example of strength and courage, and of dedicated service to the Cause of God.
Born Suliana Halaholo on Tonga in 1950, she began attending Bah‡`’ children's classes at the age of eight. She studied with joy and was soon herself teaching classes. Her involvement in administrative activities began
1 See `In Memoriam', The Bah‡`’ World, vol. XVI, p. 554.
2 See `In Memoriam', The Bah‡`’ World, vol. XIII, p. 874.
3 From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, cited in Bah‡`’ Procedure, pp. 8-9.
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Suliana Halaholo Korean
while she was still a youth. She was secretary of the youth committee of Tonga, and later of Fiji, where she attended the University of the South Pacific. She often made teaching trips to other islands, an activity in which she particularly delighted. Academically, also, she shone brilliantly. The government of Tonga sent her to study dietetics at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, where she obtained her Bachelor's degree. Vacations from school were not vacations from Suliana's most loved work, service to the Faith. She devoted two of her vacations to translating into the Tongan language The Seven Valleys, and at a later time she translated Words of Wisdom. Both translations were approved by the National Spiritual Assembly of Tonga.
After graduating from university, Suliana married Dr. Masao Korean and settled on Ebeye in the Marshall Islands where she pursued her career and devoted herself to raising her children: Ruthann, Saane and Sult‡n. She learned Marshallese and continued to make teaching trips to the islands. In 1979 she was appointed an Auxiliary Board member for propagation of the Faith, and through her work for this institution all the Bah‡`’s of the Western Pacific came to know and love her. Although she had no professional training in music she found time to learn to play string instruments. She sang and played at Bah‡`’ gatherings and proclamation events. It was her wish always to bring happiness wherever she was.
In June 1981 she moved with her family to Saipan. Shortly thereafter she was appointed to the Regional Teaching Committee for the northern Mariana Islands. However, at this time, tragedy struck. A brain tumor which had been operated on in 1979 began to create physical difficulties for her, although almost no one was aware of her discomfort and she continued to perform her duties. In December she participated in the dedication of the Bah‡`’ Center on Saipan, joining in the singing and dancing with the same fervor and joy as the other believers. It was perhaps her last public act. To the end, however, Suliana was aware of the love of the Bah‡`’ friends, and of the wonder of the Bah‡`’ teachings. Her talk, during the last month of her life, was of her beloved Cause of God. One week before her passing on 15 April 1982, five pioneer adults and three pioneer children arrived on Saipan, much to Suliana's joy. The people of Saipan said that their prayers had been answered with the arrival of the pioneers. Perhaps Suliana's special dedication was also in some way balanced at that time. But we know that no one will take her place. No one will carry such love to the islands.
At the time of Suliana's burial, Auxiliary Board member Marian Johnson said, `To know Suliana was to know an angel.' If angel she is--and surely the Bah‡`’s of the Western Pacific would agree--then her love and the example of her faith will always be with us. KATHY MILLHOFF
JULIUS HENSELER
1901-1982
Julius Henseler left this material world on 30 April 1982 after a short illness. The German Bah‡`’ community has lost a steadfast believer who was an example until his last breath. Doctors, nurses and attendants who treated him during his last illness considered him their favourite patient. He bore his suffering with patience and always had a smile and an expression of thanks for everyone who cared for him.
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Julius Henseler
Julius Henseler heard about the Cause of Bah‡`u'll‡h in 1921 through a friend who told him that `Abdu'l-Bah‡ had passed away. Julius was then twenty years old and was known as a seeker among his friends. He attended many Bah‡`’ functions in Esslingen and Stuttgart and embraced the Cause, developing an unbounded love for Bah‡`u'll‡h, `Abdu'l- Bah‡ and Shoghi Effendi.
With a saddened heart, but obedient to the Bah‡`’ institutions, he suspended his teaching activities during the period of proscription under Hitler. These were years of crucial importance when he was confined to living the Bah‡`’ life within his family circle consisting of his wife and two children. Cut off from the World Centre and without the guidance of the National Spiritual Assembly, he and his wife Anna remained loyal servants of the Covenant of God. After the war, when the Bah‡`’ institutions had to be rebuilt, he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to this task. From 1949 to 1954 he was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria, and served as its treasurer from time to time. He extended a special love to Bah‡`’ youth. Himself the father of two youths, he enkindled in them a love of the Cause of Bah‡`u'll‡h and fostered their spiritual growth.
At age seventy, in response to the call of the Universal House of Justice, he arose to pioneer for one year in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was reunited with Dr. Ahmedazdeh and Mrs. von Werthern with whom he had served on the National Spiritual Assembly many years before. This was a highlight of his life for he was once more in a position to devote all his energies to the Faith which he loved above all else.
`I am leaving this world in peace. I am at peace with everyone and hold no grudge against anyone. I have already seen `Abdu'l-Bah‡, the Master.' These were some of the last words he spoke to his family.
On 3 May 1982 the Universal House of Justice cabled Anna Henseler:
EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY YOURSELF AND FAMILY PASSING YOUR DEAR HUSBAND. HIS SERVICES CAUSE GOD GERMANY UNFORGETTABLE. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
In a cablegram sent to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany on the same date the House of Justice expressed its sorrow at the passing of this DEARLY-LOVED STALWART SERVANT of the Faith. The German Bah‡`’ community will always remember him.
ASANAND CHAGLA JOSHI
1910-1982
Know thou that the souls of the people of Bah‡, who have entered and been established within the Crimson Ark, shall associate and commune intimately one with another, and shall be so closely associated in their lives, their aspirations, their aims and strivings as to be even as one soul. They are indeed the ones who are well-informed, keen-sighted, and who are endued with understanding. Bah‡`u'll‡h
These words of the Blessed Beauty came to me as the greatest balm in my direst moment. My beloved father, while on a visit to the United States for treatment, expired peacefully on 8 May 1982 in Oakbrook, Illinois, after unsuccessful major surgery for internal abdominal haemorrhage. Beside him were my mother, Mrs. Shirin Joshi, sisters, Dr. Par-
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Picture in Upper Left Corner with the Caption: Asanand Chagla Joshi
veen and Dilafroz, and brother-in-law, Dr. Azam. I was in Karachi. Sorrowing friends attended his graveside in the Arlington Cemetery in Elmhurst and a befitting memorial meeting was held on 30 May in Skokie during which the Hand of the Cause Dhikru'll‡h Kh‡dem described him as a `dedicated Bah‡`’ who truly served the Cause'. A memorial gathering was also held in Karachi on 10 September.
My father was born on 10 June 1910 into a priestly Hindu family; Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures came to him with his mother's milk. He graduated in law in 1914 [sic] and started a successful legal practice. He learned eleven languages, mastering nine, and was awarded a gold medal for Sanskrit by Bombay University. In 1945 he was accepted into the Faith of Bah‡`u'll‡h. Mr. Dipchand Khianra, whose appointment to the Continental Board of Counsellors in Western Asia was announced on 8 June 1973, was greatly responsible for enabling him to recognize the truth of the Bah‡`’ Faith.
Soon after embracing the Faith he was elected a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Karachi. In 1947, when Pakistan was born, he served as chairman of the Local Assembly. In 1948 he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of India, Pakistan and Burma, and in 1958, when the National Spiritual Assembly of Pakistan came into being, he served as its chairman. Thus his administrative service extended over a period of approximately twenty-five years.
Counsellor Dipchand Khianra writes: `Esteemed Bakhtiari had built a house to establish a children's school like the Panchgani School in India. The building was requisitioned by a senior government executive who would not vacate. Mr. Joshi fought in the law courts for years and won the case. The building today houses the famed "New Day Montessori School". A silver-tongued orator, he organized many symposia in the Bah‡`’ Hall, Karachi, in which prominent citizens and scholars of Pakistan participated; addressed hundreds of gatherings; went in deputation to General Ayub Kh‡n, the President of Pakistan, who, impressed by his sincerity, thereafter regarded him as a friend. As a member of the Auxiliary Board, appointed in 1974, he played a most vital part in teaching the Faith to Hindus in the interior of Pakistan and undertaking many teaching tours. It is pertinent to state that these Bah‡`’s comprise seventy-five per cent of the members of the Bah‡`’ community of Pakistan.'
Another unforgettable service was his ceaseless effort to win recognition for the Faith as a separate minority religious community. In September 1972 the government of Pakistan accorded this recognition, the first ever achieved in an Islamic country. In his report to the National Spiritual Assembly he wrote, `A victory has been won, a goal of the Nine Year Plan achieved. History was made when the Islamic Republic of Pakistan issued a letter from the Law Minister to the National Spiritual Assembly assuring that all the minority religious communities, including the Bah‡`’s, are free to profess their Faith, and the State [government of Pakistan] will in the discharge of its responsibilities give no cause of complaint to any community or religious minority. It is stated that under the Interim Constitution freedom of expression [free speech] is guaranteed.' He also secured tax exemption for the Bah‡`’ properties and led the Bah‡`’ delegation to the first Minorities Committees' Conference held at Quetta,
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Pakistan. The Minister for Religious Minorities presided over the meeting and expressed the fervent hope that the Bah‡`’s would contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the country. For the first time Bah‡`’ speeches and prayers were televised throughout Pakistan.
A renowned lawyer, he served as honorary legal adviser to the Bah‡`’ administrative bodies for thirty years. As a member of the District Minority Committee he represented the Bah‡`’ community to the government for many years and was, on countless occasions, the Bah‡`’ representative to the United Nations. In all activities in the administrative field he served wholeheartedly and always readily offered his assistance in resolving crucial problems. He was given the status of an intellectual by nearly every President of Pakistan. Ever ready to serve the Cause, he advised us to be firm Bah‡`’s, saying, `Children, you must ally yourself with the spiritual army of Bah‡`u'll‡h. Faith is not a half-way house.'
A few days before he died he said that he wanted his grave to teach the Cause. Inscribed on his tombstone is a stanza from Bah‡`u'll‡h's Hidden Words. May the Blessed Beauty elevate in the Abh‡ Kingdom the station of one who so meritoriously and untiringly devoted his life to the firm establishment of the Cause of God in Pakistan.
The Universal House of Justice on 10 May 1982 cabled:
SADDENED LEARN PASSING ASANAND JOSHI STAUNCH SUPPORTER PROMOTER BELOVED FAITH PAKISTAN. HIS LONGTIME SERVICES IN ADMINISTRATIVE TEACHING FIELDS AS WELL AS MEMBER AUXILIARY BOARD WILL BE REMEMBERED AS INTEGRAL PART DEVELOPMENT CAUSE THAT COUNTRY. ASSURE HIS FAMILY FRIENDS LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL.
RòHU'LLçHCHAGLAJOSHI
JALçL NAKHJAVçNê
1917-1982
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT BLESSED BEAUTY JALAL NAKHJAVANI. RECALL WITH DEEP AFFECTION HIS DEDICATED SERVICES IN AFRICA VANGUARD FIRST PIONEERS TO SETTLE THAT CONTINENT LATER IN GERMANY AND MORE RECENTLY IN CANADA PARTICULARLY FRENCH SPEAKING AREAS. ASSURE BELOVED MEMBERS HIS FAMILY LOVING SYMPATHY ASSURANCE PRAYERS FURTHER UNFOLDMENT HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. Universal House of Justice
Few walk among men and invoke a spirit of love and admiration, respect and reverence that continues to inspire long after they have departed for the Abh‡ Kingdom,.those with whom they came in contact during their earthly life. One such man was Jal‡l Nakhjav‡n’, a truly great Bah‡`’ teacher, firmly rooted in his beloved Faith, deeply conversant with human history and international affairs, a scholar who was superbly capable of speaking fluently several languages of the East and the West.
He was born on 17 September 1917 in Baku, Southern Russia, to F‡timih Khanœm Tabr’z’ and `Al’-Akbar Nakhjav‡n’, who were married at the suggestion of the beloved Master. His father was one of the key believers in Baku and had regular correspon-
Picture in Lower Right Corner of the Page with the Caption: Jal‡l Nakhjav‡n’
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dence with the Master from Whom he received numerous Tablets and instructions. M’rz‡ `Al’-Akbar Nakhjav‡n’ later accompanied `Abdu'l-Bah‡ on His travels in the West. Jal‡l's mother, F‡timih Khanœm, was the eldest daughter of two eminent believers whose mention is made in `Abdu'l-Bah‡'s Memorials of the Faithful, as she came from a line of believers who accompanied Bah‡`u'll‡h on His exile to the Holy Land. She and her sister, Zeenat Khanœm Baghd‡d’, spent many years as attendants in the Master's household in `Akk‡.
After the tragic passing of `Al’-Akbar Nakhjav‡n’, and owing to the political upheaval in Russia, F‡timih Khanœm was advised by `Abdu'l-Bah‡ to travel to the Holy Land and reside there with her two small sons, Jal‡l aged four and `Al’ aged two. En route to the Holy Land the shattering news came of the passing of `Abdu'l-Bah‡. F‡timih Khanœm immediately stopped their journey and awaited the decision of Shoghi Effendi, an example of her implicit servitude and obedience to the Faith and its administrative order which she imparted and instilled so lovingly in her children. Shoghi Effendi urged her to continue on her way to the Holy Land and thus it was that Jal‡l and his brother had the honour and privilege of growing up under the shadow of the Holy Shrines, and in Haifa, so blessed by the presence of the beloved Guardian and of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
From his youngest years Jal‡l was reared in the spirit of service exemplified by his mother and he acquired that devotion to Shoghi Effendi which was to characterize his acts of `instant, exact and complete obedience' throughout his life. He attended the Ecole des FrŽres of the Jesuits in Haifa until he was of age to enter the American University in Beirut where he graduated in English Literature. He was fluent in both French and Arabic.
In 1937, at the injunction of Shoghi Effendi, Jal‡l and his mother returned to êr‡n; a year later his mother passed away in Tihr‡n. Jal‡l served his two years of compulsory military service and then entered the banking profession. In 1943 he married Darakhshandih Na'im’, the only daughter of Mahhœbih and Dar’-i-Mu'ayyad (Musin) Na'im’, and six months later the young couple enthusiastically embarked on homefront pioneering to the towns of Burœjird and later Kirmansh‡h where they stayed until the early 1950s when the call came from Shoghi Effendi for Persian pioneers to arise and open new territories for the Faith in Africa. This exhortation of the beloved Guardian's to take the Faith of Bah‡`u'll‡h to Africa, the dark continent which was soon to become the continent of light, evoked an immediate response from Jal‡l. He relinquished an important promotion as head of the Foreign Exchange Department of Bank Melli of êr‡n and set out immediately for East Africa. In October 1950 Jal‡l set foot on the soil of East Africa as the first Bah‡`’ pioneer and by December of that year he had settled in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), with his characteristic exuberance and optimism, ready to overcome every obstacle in the advancement of his beloved Faith. He was joined in June 1951 by his wife, his daughters Mona and Hoda, and his brother-in-law, Farhang Na'im’. His third child, a son, Ramin, was born in Dar-es-Salaam in 1956.
This was a difficult time, a period of two years when Jal‡l had no work and when he had to use all his savings to maintain his family. The heat of East Africa was intense. But it was during these years that his teaching efforts were crowned with exhilarating results. Their home was a focal point for the African friends to gather, hear and accept the soul-stirring message of Bah‡`u'll‡h. Jal‡l was instrumental in assisting a number of pioneers to settle in Africa at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade launched by the beloved Guardian. Despite hardships and difficulties, Jal‡l persisted, and with his natural adaptiveness and joyous vitality, lent his share of energy to the firm establishment of the Cause in East Africa. He served on the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Dar-es-Salaam (1952) and was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Central and East Africa (1954). He performed whatever duties he was given with zeal and enthusiasm. In 1954 the Hand of the Cause of God Mœs‡ Ban‡n’ appointed him one of his nine Auxiliary Board members. It was at this time that Jal‡l made extensive teaching trips visiting the islands of Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and the Comoro Islands. His dynamic and vibrant
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personality, his total and unquestioned devotion and his deep knowledge of the Bah‡`’ Writings, especially in the fields of Bah‡`’ history and administration, influenced and galvanized the believers.
When Shoghi Effendi announced the need for pioneers to open the virgin territories of the Belgian Congo (now Zaire), Jal‡l immediately arose, arranged his travel documents and started out. When he reached Nairobi, Kenya, he received a cable from the Guardian telling him to return and maintain his post in Dar-es-Salaam, an instruction with which he immediately complied. These were glorious years of expansion and consolidation, years that made history and brought triumphs in the teaching field in Africa which gladdened the heart of the beloved Guardian.
The passing of Shoghi Effendi in November 1957 was a terrible and shattering blow to the entire Bah‡`’ world, but it was a personal loss for Jal‡l to whom the Guardian had been an inspiration all his life. He renewed his teaching trips with greater diligence and was instrumental, at the specific request of the Hands of the Cause, in confirming and deepening in the Covenant, the believers on the islands of the Indian Ocean. Throughout Jal‡l's remaining years in Africa he continued to be an outstanding example of radiant steadfastness, of contented servitude, spreading joy, humour and delight wherever he went and showering love and happiness on all whom he met. To his last days he performed every service for the love of Shoghi Effendi and it was with the same dedication that he maintained his services to the Universal House of Justice.
In 1967, after having spent almost seventeen years in Africa, he moved with his family to West Germany, ready to face a new challenge with undiminished zeal. Here he continued to render inestimable services to anyone who required help in settling in Europe, performing every task with courtesy and loving kindness, care and understanding. Of him it can be truly said that he raised the down-trodden, comforted the hopeless, assisted the weary unfamiliar traveller and quenched the hunger and thirst, whether material or spiritual, of those who search among the multitudinous confusing theories of men. He was a valued member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Hamburg/Eimsbuttel and was a delegate to the National Convention a number of times, contributing his irrepressible enthusiasm to the consultation each Ridv‡n. He and his wife pioneered to Neumuenster, West Germany, and assisted in the initial stages of the establishment of the first Local Spiritual Assembly there. For eleven years, in spite of language impediment, he gave of both time and energy to the work of the Faith until 1978 when he and his wife decided to move to Canada where their daughter, Mona, had already settled.
It was in Canada, during the last four years of his earthly life which he had lived so fully and richly in the service of his beloved Faith, that he gave of every last ounce of his unique capacities. As a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Selkirk, Manitoba, he was both distinguished and accessible to all who needed his encouragement and love. As a member of the National Pioneering Committee of Canada he contributed from the wealth of his experience and inspired future pioneers with his optimism. As a travelling teacher throughout the province of Quebec and the Maritimes, he was a source of vitality and joy, enthusing the believers with his spontaneous nature, delighting them with his sense of humour, inspiring them with his depth of knowledge and unrestrained flow of stories on every facet of life and with the example of his zeal. His travels in Canada and particularly in Quebec were of great benefit, for he was able to communicate with fluency and depth of feeling in French, a language he dearly loved. French-speaking Canadians remember him with great love and respect. A believer who visited the Maritime area shortly after his death wrote, `Everyone misses Jal‡l. It is beyond the capacity of my words to tell you just how much and in what ways and to how profound a degree this extraordinary, ebullient, magnanimous spirit touched the hearts and revivified the life of the souls of the people here. He was a catalyst, a mover. He exuded wellbeing and delight in life that tantalized the seeker and confirmed the believer in the Cause. Remembrance of him never fails to bring the glow of sunlight to people's faces.'
In October 1981, immediately after an extensive teaching trip to Quebec, the Maritimes and the French islands of the Atlantic
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Ocean--a trip during which he appeared on television and radio and became the instrument through which a number of people accepted the Faith--Jal‡l became suddenly ill. Despite surgery in January 1982 his health declined rapidly and he passed away peacefully on 9 May. The year of his passing was that of the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of the beloved Guardian, the two shining figures who had inspired his love, devotion and service to the Faith since his earliest years. Jal‡l's blessed remains were laid to rest in St. Clements Cemetery in Selkirk, Manitoba; this, too, was a service to the Faith as it enabled the purchase of a Bah‡`’ burial plot. The Hand of the Cause of God John Robarts, a dear friend of long standing since the days of pioneering in Africa, attended the funeral along with an enormous assemblage of people from all strata of society and of many racial and religious backgrounds upon whom Jal‡l Nakhjav‡n’ had left a deep and lasting impression by virtue of his radiant nature. A special delegation of members of the United Nations Association on whose executive committee Jal‡l had served actively in Winnipeg also attended the funeral to pay their respects to a truly unforgettable man. His family was inundated with telegrams and letters from all across the world recounting his innumerable services, recording the impact of his dynamic personality and remarking upon the laughter and joy he had showered upon all whom he met and the memory of which would remain with them for ever. He left behind a testimony that valiant heroism and service to the true interests of humanity are alive and thriving, and that exemplary and effective action will continue to inspire those remaining in this transient world.
The truly great are those, such as Jal‡l Nakhjav‡n’, whose very memory, long after their passing on to a nobler habitation, befitting their station, will continue to stir in people the desire to do the Will of the Creator. Those who reflect on the actions of Jal‡l Nakhjav‡n’ perpetuate the remembrance of one who was a true servant of God and a lover of mankind. MONA BOSSI (NA<>KHJAVçNê)