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EHSANOLLAH MALAKOOTI
(Ihsanu’llah Malakt’xti) 1932—1989
Ihsanu’llah Malakfiti was born in Kirmanshah, Persia, in 1932. His family soon after moved to Tihran where he was educated, to the completion of medical school at Tihran University. He was in that blessed generation of Bahá’ís who could happily recall Friday classes with Mr. Furfitan and Mr. Faydi, while he himself progressed to teach the early grades whilst attending the senior Bahá’í classes. He would recount precious memories of Tihran Youth Committee members standing on stools perilously perched upon chairs, balanced on card tables to hang their creation, the handmade chande1ier that swung so elegantly from the dome of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Tihran. Life revolved
around the Faith and the family, from childhood to the end of his life.
In December 1956, soon after the death of his father, Ihsan travelled to New York City for his internship and surgical residency at New York City Hospital at Elmhurst. He married Veronica and they returned to iran in 1962. Acutely aware of the beloved Guardian’s admonition to the Persian friends to move out of Tihran, Ihsan accepted the position of chief surgeon/administrator of the 150-bed Red Lion & Sun Emergency Surgica1 Hospital in Abadan, southern iran. There he became a very active member of the local Bahá’í community and well-known for his services to the poorer people of Abadan; it was unheard of that a surgeon at this non-profit making hospital should work as many hours, as skillfully as though he were in private practice.
His reputation grew, and in the manner prejudices can be set aside when the skill of the Bahá’í is exceptional, the people became fond of him. Not far north, along the Euphrates, stood Qurramshahr, at that time iran’s main port. There an e1der1y Arab had built a simple 20-bed hospital, and he was looking for a doctor he could trust to be his partner. He heard of Ihsén Malakfiti in Abadan and sent a very frank invitation, the gist of which was, ‘I have searched long and hard and cannot find an honest doctor of my own faith. I know Bahá’ís are honest and I’ve heard you are a good man so come see my hospital’.
Not everyone in _K_hurramshahr was as liberal as the good Haji, and for the first few months after his arrival friends regularly reported talks given at the local mosques against “the Bahá’í surgeon who will kill all the true believers”. But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us how we must each live and serve so that anyone coming to a town will know we must be Bahá’í, and so it was. Dr. Malakfiti’s home was always full of friends, committees, the Local Assembly, distinguished Bahá’í guests, future martyrs, Mus1ims, Christians, Jews; even deposed Arab roya1ty graced his house.
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Ehsanollah Malakooti
On occasion, when pressure would come from Tihran, and the local government officers were forced to take action against the Bahá’ís, Dr. Malakfiti would go to the police station to plead for the release of Bahá’í properties or Visit the local education officer to ask that the Bahá’í children not be humiliated in class or beaten. When the local police chief apologized for confiscating all the Bahá’í books from their storeroorn on the piece of land the community owned for its future Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, Dr. Malakuti, as chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly, asked the chief to read The Hidden Words and see for himself what he was doing.
The doctor’s good humour, candour, love of people and devotion to His Faith stood him in good stead with everyone. After quite a short time in Ehurramshahr the same mullas who had denounced him came to him for treatment. When the ousted King of Abu Dhabi was exiled to Lhurramshahr, it was the local magistrate who brought the King’s family to Dr. Malakuti as the physician who wouldn’t disgrace Tran by cheating the King and his family.
THE BAHA’l WORLD
Dr. Malakfiti’s knowledge of the Faith as well as his use of it in his daily life were outstanding even in that community rich in knowledgeable and sincere believers. He served on the Local Assembly and as delegate to the National Convention until leaving Train in 1970.
By 1970, the Malakutis had two sons, ages three and six, and they had decided to move to the United States until the boys were well along in their education. But then they heated Counsellor ‘Aziz Yazdi speak about the urgent need for pioneers to Africa. The decision to go to Africa was made the very evening Mr. Yazdi spoke in _K_hurramshahr.
After settling down to a private medical practice in Nakuru, Kenya, Dr. Malakuti served with devotion members of the African, Asian, and European communities for nineteen years. Before being appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Protection in 1976, Dr. Malakuti had been a founder-member of Nakuru’s first Local Spiritual Assembly, member of the Nakuru District Teaching Committee, the National Teaching Committee, and the National Legal and Properties Committee. Despite his very full practice (it was very rare for him to have an unbroken night’s sleep in his entire adult life), he was very active in Rotary International. One of his happiest experiences was serving as the first non—British Chairman of a Rotary Club in Kenya. His hobby throughout his life, but most particularly in Nakuru, was his garden.
He rarely spent fewer than two weekday evenings and at least half the weekend in the Villages, teaching, deepening and consolidating. On the afternoons when he travelled to the villages, the doctor would close the office early, fill up the car with local Bahá’ís, many of whom he had taught and deepened, and drive out of town, dropping off a Bahá’í at a Village where there was a contact to be met, or perhaps a community to be deepened. When the car was empty, he would teach at the last Village, and later begin the drive back, picking up the friends
IN MEMORIAM 945
he had earlier dropped off. His seemingly tireless energy was an inspiration to many Bahá’ís, as was his capacity for patience and loving understanding. It is not easy to return to the same Village again and again for many years, encouraging, always patient, full of love, planting the seeds for the future.
Dr. Malakfiti had a unique rapport With the African friends; much love and respect was felt on both sides.
He tried to be generous in all ways and to inspire others to Vision, and so the Nakum Centre, with a meeting room for 200, a dormitory for 100, a covered dining area, and an office for the Local Assembly of Nakuru, was built which serves the morethan 35 Local Assemblies around Nakuru as well as hosting most national conferences and National Conventions. Well~known for his frugality, Dr. Malakfiti couldn’t bear to see Bahá’ís rent facilities they should own!
Dr. Malakt'iti became ill and travelled to the United States for treatment but died on 22 October 1989 at University Hospital, Seattle, Washington. Three months later, when his wife returned to Nakum, more than 600 persons attended his memorial, and the speakers were of all colours and creeds. Bahá’í, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim prayers were read. Representatives of the Kenya National Medical Association and the Moslem Medical Association spoke of his unselfish services. But above all, the Bahá’ís, who had an additional memorial meeting at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, appreciated his services to the Bahá’ís of Kenya.
At one of the memorial meetings in Kenya, Isobel Sabri, a member of the International Teaching Centre, said that the characteristic she most associated with him was “absolute integrity”. The other attribute which characterized his every action was his absolute and loving obedience to the institutions of the Faith based on his love for Baha’u’llah. Whether it was deciding to settle out of Tihran, or to move to Africa, or to settle outside a capital city in Africa, these moves that at the time appeared to be
disadvantageous, were made unquestioningly after guidance from an institution.
The Universal House of Justice sent the following message to his wife on 24 October 1989:
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED STEADFAST EHSAN MALAKOOTI. HIS GENEROUS NATURE, HIS COMMITMENT TO HIS RESPONSIBILITIES IN PIONEERING FIELD, HIS STRENUOUS SELFLESS SERVICES, HIGHLY VALUED, LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. EXTEND YOU, DEAR SONS, MEMBERS FAMILY HEARTFELT SYMPATHY. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
Ihsanu’llah Malakfiti lies buried in a beautiful garden facing the Olympic Mountains of Washington, to the end a selfless, loving husband, father, and servant of His
servants. VERONICA MALAKOOTI (Veronica Malaki'lti)
