Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Guldánih Yúsifí ‘Alípúr
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GULDANIH YUS_IF1 ‘ALlPUR
1918—1982
Mrs. Guldanih Yusifl’ ‘Alipfir, daughter of Fath‘ali, was born in 1918 to a Muslim family in the village of sadat Mahallih, situated in the glahar Dangih section of sari, which is five kilometres from Rawflankfih, a Bahá’í village. About fifty years ago she married Mr. Fath‘ali ‘Alipur, a Bahá’í from the village of Kandas Bun, adjacent to Rawflankuh. She developed a great love for the Cause and encouraged her children to be pious and to follow the teachings of the Faith; she even assisted them in the performance of their spiritual obligations, and duties. Her two daughters and one son had Bahá’í marriages and have been very staunch and steadfast believers. Mrs. ‘Ali’pur enrolled as a Bahá’í in 1979.
During the disturbances in Kandas Bun which started in the early summer of 1982, the family of Mr. Fath‘ali ‘Alipur, and especially this clear lady, led the friends in setting an example of constancy. Although the instigators and the evildoers were Mrs. ‘Alipur’s nieces, nephews and other relatives, and despite the fact that she was the target of most of the attacks, her family was the last one to leave Kandas Bun. Mrs. ‘Alipur, who was sixty-five years old, and whose back was bent, who walked with a cane and was physically frail, was repeatedly beaten, together with her husband, and even dishonoured. At one point their adversaries urinated on them and forced into their mouths a stick covered with human excrement.
The essential occupation of the inhabitants
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of this region is tending cattle. After the afflicted friends were forced to evacuate Kandas Bun they took refuge in Rawflankuh. Mr. Fath‘ali’ ‘Ali’pur and his son, ‘Ali’, created a temporary pasture for their cattle in Gav Bunih which lies between the two villages. On Friday, 24 December 1982 at about 2:00 pm. an unknown number of persons hostile to the Faith appeared in Gav Bunih, strangled Guldanih, and set fire to her body. They burned Gav Bunih and all the forage. They even inflicted a wound on a sheep. When the grandson of Guldanih returned from grazing the cattle at 4:00 pm. he discovered the burnt body of his grandmother and hastened to inform the friends and other members of the family. The incident was reported to the police in Kiyasar. At noon the next day members of the police force arrived on the scene and, at about 3:00 p.m., the official medical doctor and the interrogator from the Public Prosecutor’s office in Sari. The doctor confirmed that Guldanih ‘Alipfir had been strangled prior to being set ablaze and issued a‘ permit for burial. Her body was so burnt, especially the upper part and about the chest, that it was not possible to wash it properly, but a full Bahá’í burial was accorded her before she was finally laid to rest in the Bahá’í cemetery of Rawshankuh.
(Translated from the Persian by BAHARIEH MA‘ANI’)