Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Kamil Abbas
KAMIL ABBAS
(KÁMIL ‘ABBÁS RIḌÁ)
1911—1980
Knight of Bahá’u’lláh
From his youth my late father took the service of the Bahá’í Cause as his principal aim. After completing his primary and secondary studies he began his Bahá’í service as a member of the youth committee of Baghdád. He began to study Persian, English and German and eventually
excelled in these languages. He corresponded a number of times with the Guardian. While still a young man he became a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Baghdád and then was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of ‘Iráq.
In 1953 at the beginning of the Ten Year Plan he arose as a pioneer to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean for which he was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh by Shoghi Effendi.1 He remained there for approximately three months until forced to return to ‘Iráq due to his inability to obtain a residence permit.
In ‘Iráq he steadfastly served the Cause. He was sent on a number of missions to neighbouring Arab states at the instructions of the beloved Guardian, especially to Lebanon to which he travelled several times. He represented the National Spiritual Assembly of ‘Iráq at a number of Bahá’í Intercontinental Conferences and he likewise represented the Cause at several non-political conferences sponsored by the United Nations. Within the Bahá’í community he was a patient and
Kamil Abbas
1 See Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World, p. 52.
exemplary believer, courageously defending the Faith, diffusing its wisdom among the friends, and respected and honoured by them. In 1957 he was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for the protection of the Cause. On a number of occasions his Bahá’í service took him to India and Pakistan and in 1966 he spent some time in Írán. He assisted Mr. Muḥammad Ḥusayn Rawháni1 in the delicate task of transferring the remains of the father of Bahá’u’lláh, Mírzá Buzurg, to a Bahá’í cemetery.2 He also carried out, upon the instructions of Shoghi Effendi, various assignments relating to historic Bahá’í sites in Baghdád. For nearly twenty years he served as—secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of ‘Iráq.
After his return from Ṭihrán in 1967 he remained in Baghdád due to the difficulty of travelling abroad. It was the will of God that he be one of the faithful friends who were arrested in December 1973 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was so firm and steadfast in the Cause of the Blessed Beauty that the prison authorities watched my father carefully. At times they oppressed him and at times tried to persuade him to recant, but without avail. My father’s course was to be firm in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, to cling to His ordinances, and to proffer obedience and fidelity to the Universal House of Justice. A few months after he left the prison his health weakened, and on 5 June 1980 his spirit ascended to the Abhá Kingdom. It was my father’s wish during the last years of his life to write a book on the blessed Cause and we may be certain that only his imprisonment prevented him from carrying out his intention. He ascended from this transitory life firm in the truth of God’s mighty Cause.
Informed of my father’s passing, the Universal House of Justice cabled on 15 June 1970:
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT BAHAULLAH STAUNCH STEADFAST PROMOTER FAITH ABLE DEFENDER COVENANT KAMIL ABBAS WHOSE MANIFOLD SERVICES PIONEERING TEACHING FIELDS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. PRAYING
1 See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XIV, p. 373. 2 See Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World, p. 175; also The Bahá’í World, vol. XIII, p. 297
HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL. CONVEY MEMBERS FAMILY LOVING SYMPATHY.
(Translated from the Arabic by JOHN WALBRIDGE)