Bahaikipedia:Today's featured individual/June
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Today is Wednesday, July 9, 2008; it is now 06:14 UTC
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- June 1
Táhirih was an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá'ís and, and often mentioned in Bahá'í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. In 1848 Bahá'u'lláh made arrangements for Táhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Táhirih by Bahá'u'lláh, which means "the Pure One".
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- June 2
Violet McKinley (1882-1959) was a pioneer and Knight of Bahá'u'lláh named for pioneering to Cyprus. Born at Enfield, north of London, into the prosperous trading environment of the late Victorian epoch, Violet McKinley (née Watson) was blessed with two great spiritual advantages: an extremely delicate constitution, which kept the thought of the other world very close, and a persistently inquiring mind - she always wanted to know 'Why?' This condition was stimulated by an orthodox but solid education at home. Too frail to go to school, she had a continental governess for eight years, with hard study (more...)
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- June 3
Martha Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously. Known by her numerous visits with Heads of State and other public figures. Of special importance was her efforts with Queen Marie of Romania, considered the first Monarch to accept Bahá'u'lláh. (more...)
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- June 4
Hasan Balyuzi was a Hand of the Cause of God and prominent Iranian Bahá'í. He was born in Shiraz, Iran in Sept. 1908, he studied at the American University of Beirut and the London School of Economics. He worked for BBC in the Persian Section, part of his work involved translating English literature into Persian. To this day many of his translations remain the standard Persian versions. In 1941 he married Mary Brown, they had five sons. He remarked, "A girl has not been born into our family for two hundred years." He is well known for authoring many books on the Bahá'í Faith. (more...)
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- June 5
Quddús (Arabic: قدوس)(c.1820-1849) was the most prominent disciple of the Báb, and the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living. He met the Báb in 1844 while in the city of Shiraz, and immediately recognized Him as the Promised One. Soon afterward, he traveled with Him as His companion on pilgrimage to Mecca, where he conveyed a letter written by the Báb to the Sharif of Mecca. Four years later, he was a pivotal figure at the Conference of Badasht. He was killed shortly after the battle of Shaykh Tabarsi in 1849, at the hands of an angry mob. (more...)
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- June 6
Leroy Ioas (1896 - 1965) was a Hand of the Cause of God of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1952 he was appointed to the International Bahá'í Council, precursor to the Universal House of Justice where he served until 1961 as Secretary General. Leroy's service to the Faith was outstanding and inspiring to his communities. In 1912 he led his parents to 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a crowded hotel lobby by the radiance which enveloped Him. Although only sixteen, he took the Master for his guide, and was aware of His guidance at several critical periods of his life. (more...)
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- June 7
Edward Browne was a British orientalist who published many books and articles on the Bábí and Bahá'í religions. Browne was born in Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire on February 7, 1862 and is best known to modern Bahá'ís for his description of his meeting with Bahá'u'lláh. Browne's scholarly reputation has endured until the present. His mastery of Iranian culture and thought has been equaled by few Westerners before or since, and his scholarship, as well as the eloquence and grace of his literary style, have given his works permanent value, even after great changes in scholarly methodology. The Iranians, despite their early suspicion about his interest in the Bábís, accepted him as a loyal friend for his scholarship, his political support, and his sympathetic understanding of their culture and literature. Read more
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- June 8
Aqa Buzurg was given the title Badi` (wondrous, new) by Bahá'u'lláh, and was the bearer of Bahá'u'lláh's tablet to Nasiru'd-Din Shah. Aqa Buzurg was the son of Haji `Abdu'l-Majid Nishapuri, a Bábí who had survived Shaykh Tabarsi, but in his early years, Badi` showed no interest in his father's religion. Badi` became a fervent believer after a meeting with Nabil-A`zam, and convinced his father to allow him to go with Shaykh Ahmad Fani, who was setting off to visit Bahá'u'lláh in Edirne. Badi` spent some time as a water-carrier for Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad and was able to use this to gain access to Bahá'u'lláh in Akka. Following several meetings Bahá'u'lláh commissioned Badi` to deliver a tablet to the Nasiru'd-Din Shah personally. Badi` was arrested and tortured after delivering the tablet and was killed on the orders of the Shah in July 1869. Read more
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- June 9
Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani (1844-1914) was a preeminent Iranian Bahá'í scholar and author, who also contributed a great deal to the advance of the Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan, Egypt, and the United States. Mirza Abu'l-Fadl was born in a village near Gulpaygan, central Iran between June-July in 1844. His given name was Muhammad and he chose for himself the epithet Abu'l-Fadl (progenitor of virtue), but 'Abdu'l-Bahá frequently addressed him as Abu'l-Fada'il (progenitor of virtues). While he was living in Tehran, he had several encounters with Bahá'ís, starting in about the beginning of 1876. On one occasion he was astonished at the perceptiveness of an illiterate farrier whom he was told was a Bahá'í, and after word soon spread of his conversion and he was dismissed from his post at the religious college. (more...)
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- June 10
John Esslemont was a Prominent British Bahá'í from Scotland and author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. John Ebenezer Esslemont was born in Aberdeen on May 19, 1874 the third son and fourth child of John E. Esslemont (1859-1927), a successful merchant, and Margaret Esslemont (neé Davidson). He came from an eminent family and was educated at Ferryhill School, Robert Gordon College, and Aberdeen University. He graduated in medicine in 1898 with honorable distinction. Unfortunately, Esslemont had contracted tuberculosis during his college days and this caused him to give up his promising career in medical research. He spent some time in Australia and South Africa and married Jean Fraser, his sister's piano teacher, to whom he was drawn by their mutual interest in music. Read more
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- June 11
'Abdu'l-Bahá, eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh and successor to him as leader of the Bahá'í Faith; appointed by Bahá'u'lláh as the authoritative expounder and perfect exemplar of the Bahá'í teachings and as the Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran on May 23, 1844 (the same day as the Declaration of the Báb) and was named 'Abbás, after his grandfather, Mírzá Buzurg Núrí. In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh commands his followers to turn toward "Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root" (121:63). In the Book of the Covenant, it is explained that this phrase refers to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "the Most Mighty Branch". The distinctive aspect of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's contribution was the manner in which he took his father's teachings and adapted them for various audiences. Most notably, this occurred during 'Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West. Read more
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- June 12
Edward Browne was a British orientalist who published many books and articles on the Bábí and Bahá'í religions. Browne was born in Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire on February 7, 1862 and is best known to modern Bahá'ís for his description of his meeting with Bahá'u'lláh. Browne's scholarly reputation has endured until the present. His mastery of Iranian culture and thought has been equaled by few Westerners before or since, and his scholarship, as well as the eloquence and grace of his literary style, have given his works permanent value, even after great changes in scholarly methodology. The Iranians, despite their early suspicion about his interest in the Bábís, accepted him as a loyal friend for his scholarship, his political support, and his sympathetic understanding of their culture and literature. Read more
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- June 13
Aqa Buzurg was given the title Badi` (wondrous, new) by Bahá'u'lláh, and was the bearer of Bahá'u'lláh's tablet to Nasiru'd-Din Shah. Aqa Buzurg was the son of Haji `Abdu'l-Majid Nishapuri, a Bábí who had survived Shaykh Tabarsi, but in his early years, Badi` showed no interest in his father's religion. Badi` became a fervent believer after a meeting with Nabil-A`zam, and convinced his father to allow him to go with Shaykh Ahmad Fani, who was setting off to visit Bahá'u'lláh in Edirne. Badi` spent some time as a water-carrier for Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad and was able to use this to gain access to Bahá'u'lláh in Akka. Following several meetings Bahá'u'lláh commissioned Badi` to deliver a tablet to the Nasiru'd-Din Shah personally. Badi` was arrested and tortured after delivering the tablet and was killed on the orders of the Shah in July 1869. Read more
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- June 14
Aqa Buzurg was given the title Badi` (wondrous, new) by Bahá'u'lláh, and was the bearer of Bahá'u'lláh's tablet to Nasiru'd-Din Shah. Aqa Buzurg was the son of Haji `Abdu'l-Majid Nishapuri, a Bábí who had survived Shaykh Tabarsi, but in his early years, Badi` showed no interest in his father's religion. Badi` became a fervent believer after a meeting with Nabil-A`zam, and convinced his father to allow him to go with Shaykh Ahmad Fani, who was setting off to visit Bahá'u'lláh in Edirne. Badi` spent some time as a water-carrier for Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad and was able to use this to gain access to Bahá'u'lláh in Akka. Following several meetings Bahá'u'lláh commissioned Badi` to deliver a tablet to the Nasiru'd-Din Shah personally. Badi` was arrested and tortured after delivering the tablet and was killed on the orders of the Shah in July 1869. Read more
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- June 15
Violet McKinley (1882-1959) was a pioneer and Knight of Bahá'u'lláh named for pioneering to Cyprus. Born at Enfield, north of London, into the prosperous trading environment of the late Victorian epoch, Violet McKinley (née Watson) was blessed with two great spiritual advantages: an extremely delicate constitution, which kept the thought of the other world very close, and a persistently inquiring mind - she always wanted to know 'Why?' This condition was stimulated by an orthodox but solid education at home. Too frail to go to school, she had a continental governess for eight years, with hard study (more...)
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- June 16
Martha Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously. Known by her numerous visits with Heads of State and other public figures. Of special importance was her efforts with Queen Marie of Romania, considered the first Monarch to accept Bahá'u'lláh. (more...)
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- June 17
Mírzá Músá surnamed Áqáy-i-Kalím was the only true brother of Bahá'u'lláh. He was later by Shoghi Effendi as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh. The life of Mírzá Músá was so inextricably bound up with that of Bahá'u'lláh himself, that his life and background mirror the life and travels of Bahá'u'lláh. He was an integral part of correspondence between Bahá'u'lláh and the Bahá'ís. He experienced the same imprisonment, exile, assaults, and degrading circumstances that were given to the small band of family members associated with Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. In the history of the Bahá'í cause, Mírzá Músá stands out as a loyal and faithful follower until the end. (more...)
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- June 18
Hasan Balyuzi was a Hand of the Cause of God and prominent Iranian Bahá'í. He was born in Shiraz, Iran in September 1908, he studied at the American University of Beirut and the London School of Economics. He worked for BBC in the Persian Section, part of his work involved translating English literature into Persian. To this day many of his translations remain the standard Persian versions. In 1941 he married Mary Brown, they had five sons. He remarked, "A girl has not been born into our family for two hundred years." He is well known for authoring many books on the Bahá'í Faith. (more...)
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- June 19
Quddús (Arabic: قدوس)(c.1820-1849) was the most prominent disciple of the Báb, and the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living. He met the Báb in 1844 while in the city of Shiraz, and immediately recognized Him as the Promised One. Soon afterward, he traveled with Him as His companion on pilgrimage to Mecca, where he conveyed a letter written by the Báb to the Sharif of Mecca. Four years later, he was a pivotal figure at the Conference of Badasht. He was killed shortly after the battle of Shaykh Tabarsi in 1849, at the hands of an angry mob. (more...)
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- June 20
Siyyid Kázim (Arabic: سيد كاظم بن قاسم الحسيني الرﺷتي) (1793-1843) was the son of Sayyid Qasim of Rasht, a town in northern Iran. He was appointed as the successor of Shaykh Ahmad, and led the Shaykhí movement until his death. He came from a family of well known merchants. He was a Mullah who, through study of the Islamic writing told his students about the coming of the Mahdi and the "Masih" (the return of Christ) and taught them how to recognize them. After his death in 1843, many of his students spread out around Asia, Europe and Africa for the search. (more...)
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- June 21
Táhirih was an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá'ís and, and often mentioned in Bahá'í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. In 1848 Bahá'u'lláh made arrangements for Táhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Táhirih by Bahá'u'lláh, which means "the Pure One".
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- June 22
Shaykh Ahmad (Arabic: شيخ أحمد) (1753 - 1826) was the founder of a 19th century Shi'i school in the Persian and Ottoman empires, whose followers are known as Shaykhís. He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula), educated in Bahrain and the theological centers of Najaf and Karbilá in Iraq. Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran, he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty. (more...)
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- June 23
Yankee Leong (c. November 19, 1899 - June 17, 1986) was the first individual to declare his belief in Bahá'u'lláh in Malaysia and worked tirelessly to help the faith grow in the region. He was born to a poor family in Malaya, on the Malaysian Peninsula and had an took an intense interest in religion and his studies. Yankee declared in the Bahá'í Faith on December 19, 1953 in Seremban. After his deceleration he made it his priority to establish several Local Spiritual Assemblies in the region, and wrote letters introducing many to the Faith. Seven years after he declared he was invited by John Fozdar to teach in Brunei and Sarawak, and through his help the Faith began to grow in that region. (more...}
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- June 24
Varqá was an eminent follower of Bahá'u'lláh and was referred to by 'Abdu'l-Bahá as a Hand of the Cause of God and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh wrote a tablet addressed to Varqá regarding the high station of the King and Beloved of Martyrs. Varqá was martyred along with his father in 1896. His calm demeanor enraged his executioner, who would later be so terrified as to what he witnessed that he would run away screaming from the site. (more...)
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- June 25
Badí‘ was the title of Mírzá Áqá Buzurg-i-Nishapuri, also known by his title the Pride of Martyrs, was the son of `Abdu'l-Majid-i-Nishapuri, a highly praised follower of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Badí‘ is most famous for being the bearer of a tablet written by Bahá'u'lláh to Nasiri'd-Din Shah, for which he was tortured and killed at the age of 17. The Bahá'í calendar, known as the Badí‘ calendar, was named in his honour. He is also one of the foremost Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
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- June 26
May Bolles Maxwell (1870-1940) was an early American Bahá'í, is best known as the mother of Rúhíyyih Khanum, and the wife of William Sutherland Maxwell. She was among the first group of pilgrims to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá in February 1899. She was also an early participant at Green Acre, the first Bahá'í training facility in the United States. In 1927 she was a member of the joint National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. (more...)
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- June 27
Edward Browne was a British orientalist who published many books and articles on the Bábí and Bahá'í religions. Browne was born in Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire on February 7, 1862 and is best known to modern Bahá'ís for his description of his meeting with Bahá'u'lláh. Browne's scholarly reputation has endured until the present. His mastery of Iranian culture and thought has been equaled by few Westerners before or since, and his scholarship, as well as the eloquence and grace of his literary style, have given his works permanent value, even after great changes in scholarly methodology. The Iranians, despite their early suspicion about his interest in the Bábís, accepted him as a loyal friend for his scholarship, his political support, and his sympathetic understanding of their culture and literature. (more...)
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- June 28
Malietoa Tanumafili II (1913–2007) (also called Susuga) was the Malietoa, the title of one of Samoa's four paramount chiefs, and the head of state, or O le Ao o le Malo, a position that he held for life, of Samoa from 1962 to 2007. Malietoa Tanumafili II was a Bahá'í—the second royal (after Queen Marie of Romania) to join the Faith. The House of Worship in Tiapapata, eight kilometers from the country's capital of Apia, was dedicated by him in 1984. (more...)
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- June 29
Núrayn-i-Nayyirayn (Arabic: نورين نيران, meaning "twin shining lights") are two brothers who were followers of Bahá'u'lláh. They were beheaded in 1879 as a result of being Bahá'ís. Numerous letters and tablets were written in their honour by Bahá'u'lláh, who gave them the titles which they are commonly known as: the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs.
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- June 30
John Esslemont was a Prominent British Bahá'í from Scotland and author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. John Ebenezer Esslemont was born in Aberdeen on May 19, 1874 the third son and fourth child of John E. Esslemont (1859-1927), a successful merchant, and Margaret Esslemont (neé Davidson). He came from an eminent family and was educated at Ferryhill School, Robert Gordon College, and Aberdeen University. He graduated in medicine in 1898 with honorable distinction. Unfortunately, Esslemont had contracted tuberculosis during his college days and this caused him to give up his promising career in medical research. He spent some time in Australia and South Africa and married Jean Fraser, his sister's piano teacher, to whom he was drawn by their mutual interest in music. Read more
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Today is Wednesday, July 9, 2008; it is now 06:14 UTC
