Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Ardeshir Hezari
ARDESHIR HEZARI
(ARDISHÍR HIZÁRÍ)
1885—1981
Ardishír Hizárí was born into a Zoroastrian family in Yazd, Írán, in 1885. His parents died when he was young, leaving behind one daughter and five sons, of whom Ardishír and Rashíd were twins. Education was not universal in Persia a century ago so what little Ardishír could scoop up locally was supplemented by that passed on to him by an
Ardeshir Hezari
elder brother, Khudádád, who also guided him to the Bahá’í Faith.
In 1891 turbulent upheavals rocked Yazd and resulted in the martyrdom of seven Bahá’í’s whose possessions were plundered. Ardishír 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, Khudádád told Ardishír about the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, gradually drawing his young brother towards the Faith. Through meetings with the elder Afnán, Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad—Taqí, Ardishír became confirmed and declared his belief in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. From then on Ardishír joined Khudádád 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 Ardishír’s life. While he was working in Shíráz he would take enquirers to a prominent Bahá’í 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 Ardishír’s zeal that one day he sought to convert two outstanding Bahá’í teachers he met there whom he mistook for Muslims. These two youths were Ṭarázu’lláh Samandarí and ‘Alí-Akbar Rafsanjání. Ṭarázu’lláh Samandarí, 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 Ardishír as his ‘teacher’. The bonds of friendship forged that day strengthened with the passing of the years.
Ardishír had the bounty of making pilgrimages to the Holy Land—once during the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 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 Ardishír decided to start his own business with his brother Rashíd as a partner. In their desire to carry out the beloved Guardian’s wishes, they decided that Ardishír would remain in Qazvín to run the business and thus provide funds for Rashid and his family to pioneer. For the next five years their lives followed this pattern and Ardishir’s participation in the activities of the Cause in Qazvín 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. Ardishír 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 Bahá’í community by Ardishír for use as a burial-ground. In spite of advanced age, Ardishir travelled to different towns in Turkey to encourage the friends to pioneer and teach and bring up their children according to Bahá’í standards. When the Turkish believers were unjustly accused and imprisoned, Ardishír 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, Ardishír 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,
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 [HABÍB HIZÁRÍ])