Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Jalál Nakhjavání
JALÁL NAKHJAVÁNÍ
1917—1982
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT BLESSED BEAUTY JALAL NAKHJAVANI. RECALL WITH DEEP AFFECTION HIS DEDICATED SERVICES
IN AFRICA IN 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.
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 Abhá Kingdom, those with whom they came in contact during their earthly life. One such man was Jalál Nakhjavání, a truly great Bahá’í 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 Fáṭimih Khanúm Tabrízí and ‘Alí-Akbar' Nakhjavání, who were married at the suggestion of the beloved Master. His father was one of the key believers in Baku and had regular correspondence
Jalál Nakhjavání
with the Master from Whom he received numerous Tablets and instructions. Mírzá ‘Alí-Akbar Nakhjavání later accompanied ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on His travels in the West. Jalál’s mother, Fátimih Khanúm, was the eldest daughter of two eminent believers whose mention is made in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Memorials of the Faithful, as she came from a line of believers who accompanied Bahá’u’lláh on His exile to the Holy Land. She and her sister, Zeenat Khanúm Baghdádí, spent many years as attendants in file Master’s household in ‘Akká.
After the tragic passing of ‘Alí-Akbar Nakhjavání, and owing to the political upheaval in Russia, Fáṭimih Khanúm was advised by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to travel to the Holy land and reside there with her two small sons. Jalál aged four and ‘Alí aged two. En route to the Holy Land the shattering news came of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Fáṭimih Khanúm 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 Jalál 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 Jalál 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 École des Frères 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, Jalál and his mother returned to Írán; a year later his mother passed away in Ṭihrán. Jalál served his two years of compulsory military service and then entered the banking profession. In 1943 he married Darakhshandih Na'ímí, the only daughter of Maḥhúbih and Darí-i-Mu’ayyad (Muṣin) Na’ímí, and six months later the young couple enthusiastically
embarked on homefront pioneering to the towns of Burújird and later Kirmansháh 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 Bahá’u’lláh to Africa, the dark continent which was soon to become the continent of light, evoked an immediate response from Jalál. He relinquished an important promotion as head of the Foreign Exchange Department of Bank Melli of Írán and set out immediately for East Africa. In October 1950 Jalál set foot on the soil of East Africa as the first Bahá’í 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’ímí. 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 Jalál 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 Bahá’u’lláh. Jalál 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, Jalál 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 Músá Banání appointed him one of his nine Auxiliary Board members. It was at this time that Jalál made extensive teaching trips visiting the islands of Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and the Comoro Islands. His dynamic and vibrant
personality, his total and unquestioned devotion and his deep knowledge of the Bahá’í Writings, especially in the fields of Bahá’í 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 Zaïre), Jalál 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 Bahá’í world, but it was a personal loss for Jalál 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 Jalál’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 Riḍván. 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 Jalál. 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
Ocean—a trip during which he appeared on television and radio and became the instrument through which a number of people accepted the Faith—Jalál 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. Jalál’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 Bahá’í 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 Jalál Nakhjavání 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 Jalál 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 Jalál Nakhjavání, 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 Jalál Nakhjavání perpetuate the remembrance of one who was a true servant of God and a lover of mankind.
MONA BOSSI (NAKHJAVÁNÍ)