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_Z_hz’mis Ni‘mat Mahmridz’
@lNUS NI‘MAT MAHMUDt 1928—1981
Z_h1’n1’is Ni‘mat Mahmtidi was born into a distinguished Bahá’í family in Tihran on 7 August 1928, a fifth-generation Bahá’í on both sides.
In October 1947, at age nineteen, Z_hin1is married Hfiflang Mahmiidi, age twenty—two, whom she had come to know through their participation in Bahá’í activities of the community of Tihran. At the time of their marriage they were both undergraduate students at Tihran University where Hfiflang studied law and Z_hin1’xs physics. Bound together by an intense love for the Blessed Beauty which characterized their lives, and by a common desire to serve His Cause, they reinforced and encouraged each other’s love, devotion and service to their beloved Faith for over thirty years, and finally, one following the other, both trod the crimson path of sacrifice and attained the station of martyrdom.
While still a young man, Hfishang spent some time as a Bahá’í teacher in the Village of Namaq, I_(_hurasan, where he had a dream which he described in a letter to Shoghi Effendi. He dreamed that he was fortunate
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enough to catch a ring which the beloved Guardian had cast into the midst of a group of joyously vying Bahá’í youth who had gathered in a green field. In a letter written on the Guardian’s behalf by his secretary on 21 June 1944, Shoghi Effendi praised Hfiflang’s services‘ assured him of great success in his teaching efforts, and encouraged him to ‘remain steadfast in order to win the prize and achieve brilliant victories’.
Z_hinfis received her formal education in Tihran, excelling as a student throughout her school years. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in physics from Tihran University, specializing in atmospheric sciences and meteorology and graduating with honours at the top of her class. She started her career at age twenty-three as the first woman meteorologist of lran. By this time she had two small children. Later she served as the head of the Atmospheric and Climate Research Department of lran and finally was appointed as Director-General of the country’s Department of Meteorology. She was at the same time President of the Iranian <School of Meteorology, a school that was founded through her efforts in order to make lran self-sufficient in training meteorologists. She also taught at Tihran University. It is significant to observe that in the 19505 when Z_hin1’is began her career the science of meteorology in lran was in its infancy; no research or development took place and the country did not even have a Department of Meteorology. It was largely through the dedicated and ceaseless work of Z_hr’m’ls over a period of twenty-five years that lrén’s Department of Meteorology was founded and began to take a leading role in this area of endeavour in the Middle East. She devoted fifteen years to researching lrén’s physical geography and its relationship to industrial and agricultural activities, a study which led to publication of her monumental work Geographical Atlas of irdn which became an indispensable tool in the planning of industrial and economic development projects. She was also the first Iranian to conduct research into the potential use of solar energy and often represented her country at international conferences on climatology and meteorology where she presented papers on various subjects including air pollution.
The leading scientist in her field in lrén,
THE BAHA’
I’WORLD
Z_hinf1s was recognized and admired throughout the government for her contributions‘ to that field and for her high degree of personal integrity. She was much loved and respected by her subordinates who observed her humanity and selfless service and who competed with one another in serving her, and by many foreign scientists who worked with her during her tenure in the government. To these visitors she came to represent, through her exceptional intellectual and moral qualities, a hope for the advancement of Iran. Among the many honours conferred upon her was the Royal Medal of fran. She also served on various humanitarian organizations including the Women’s Liberation Organization and the Zonta Club and served as head of the Dayhim Peace Committee.
To appreciate her professional achievements and her contribution to her country it is important to consider the odds against which she was working, given the existing conditions and standards of lran, and to recognize the obstacles she faced as a woman with no ‘connections’ and as a Bahá’í with impeccable moral standards. Only her intellectual abilities, perseverance, sincerity of motive and, above all, her strong conviction that as a Bahá’í she had an obligation to contribute towards the advancement of her nation, enabled her to meet and overcome the obstacles confronting her.
In the 19705 when she became eligible for retirement Z_hin1’ls yearned to devote all her time and energy to the service of the Faith but her attempts to retire were blocked by the authorities who considered her services indispensable to the welfare of the country. And so she stayed on only to be dismissed later by the Revolutionary Government for being a Bahá’í. She was denied a pension and her bank accounts were seized.
@fmis’s professional activities at no time
interfered with her active service to the Faith
or her role as a mother. She was an active
member of the Bahá’í community of Tihran
from her youth and served on numerous committees including the Committee for the Advancement of Women. She and her husband
spent the year 1955 in Kirman as pioneers,
returning in 1956 to Tihran. In '1961 they
settled with their three small children in
Narmak, a small town with a fanatical popu
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IN MEMORIAM
lation situated on the eastern outskirts of Tihran. Here their home became a centre of Bahá’í activities and they became pillars of strength to the newly-established Bahá’í community. They both served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Narmak for five years, during which time they commuted daily to work in Tihran. They left behind a strong and active Bahá’í community and returned to Tihran in 1967. Z_hin1’15 was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihran and served as its secretary until 1971 when they moved westward with their son and settled in a newly-built, deeply religious town named Gawhar-Dasht. Soon the Local Spiritual Assembly was formed. This community, vital and active and filled with spirit, subsequently became a target for the enemies of the Cause. At least five of its original Local Assembly members were martyred in the period 19801982, a large number of Bahá’í families were forced to leave and still more were imprisoned. Until it was confiscated in 1981 the home of _Z_l_tim’15 and Hushang in Gawhar-Daflt continued to be of use to the Faith by serving as a shelter for Bahá’í refugees.
In 1977, the last year during which their lives were to be normal, Z_hiniis was appointed an Auxiliary Board member serving Tihran, Hamadan and the western region of Iran. In 1978 the situation of the Bahá’ís began to deteriorate. Hushang was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly and the couple’s combined responsibilities demanded their full—time presence in Tihran. They rented an apartment in the city where they spent most of their nights. Later, as the situation worsened, even the luxury of a semi-permanent home was denied them and for security reasons they spent every night in a different place. The only permanent features of their lives at this point were their agonies and hardships and a small suitcase which they carried with them everywhere and which contained the necessary personal items for prison.
In 1980, after the imprisonment of the Counsellor, Dr. Masfli Farhangi, Z_him’15 accepted many of his duties and also attended most of the meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly. When she and Hfishang parted 0n the morning of 21 August 1980 they did not know that they would never see one another again in this life. That evening while in their
783
meeting the members of the National Spiritual Assembly and two Auxiliary Board members were abducted by the revolutionary guards and were never heard from again. Z_hinus was to have been present at this meeting but for personal reasons did not attend and thus was, momentarily, spared. To the distress caused by the implications for the Bahá’í community of Iran of the arrest of the National Assembly was now added the agony of separation from her husband of thirty-three years. Z_hl’nus endured her suffering with characteristic calm and continued her work. ‘I do not permit myself anything but calm and laughter with the friends,’ 'she wrote to her family in J anuary. ‘Missing you and anxiety affects me, and just then the phone may ring and my voice may not be reassuring enough . . .’
Z_hinus was elected to the next National Spiritual Assembly but retained her appointive offices as well. She served the Bahá’í community of Iran in these capacities until her arrest on 13 December 1981 following which no family member was permitted to see her. She was executed on 27 December 1981 together with seven other members of the National Assembly and buried in a Common grave in a section of the Tihran cemetery reserved for infidels. A cell-mate has reported that when Z_l_11’n1’1s was informed by the revolutionary guards that she was to be transferred to Evin prison she exclaimed, ‘I shall be very happy to make a pilgrimage to Evin prison where so many Bahá’í’s have been martyred!’ In a letter to her family written in June 1981 Z_hinl’is had remarked, ‘I only want you to know that I lack nothing. There is no sorrow —absolutely no difficulties. I am content, well, fortunate, assured, serene, full of energy and thankful. Whatever should happen, there could be nothing better . . .’
A major contribution of Z_hi’nus was the role-model' she provided for women both within and without the Faith in illustrating in her own life the fine balance that may be achieved between spirit and intellect. She exemplified this balance through her nobility of character and her professional accomplishments. She was frequently in the public eye, interviewed on national television and interviewed by journalists as a ‘pioneer’ woman. Within the Bahá’í community, through her services as a teacher of Sunday School for
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over two decades and her service on women’s committees, she touched countless lives and gave inspiration and a vision of their potential to rising generations of Bahá’í women. Zhimis, cut down in her fifty-second year, left behind three children, her aged mother, a brother and sister, who pray to be .worthy of her sacrifice. (Adapted from‘ a memoir by RAMNA MAHML’JDI’ and MEHRNOUSH NI‘MAT)
