Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Kazem Kazemzadeh
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KAZEM KAZEMZADEH
(Kazim Kazimzadih) l 89 8—1 989
Káẓim Kazimzédih was born in 1898 in ‘Iglqabad, Transcapia (now Turkmenistan), when it was a recently acquired possession of Russia. His grandfather, Haji Muhammad Kazim, like many Persian Bahá’ís, had found refuge there from persecutions at home.
As a youth in Iṣfahán, Haji Muhammad Kazim had attained the presence of the Bath, and later of Baha’u’llah in Baghdad and m ‘Akká. His son, Aqa Muhammad Rida, known as Arbab, was among the founders of the ‘Ishqábád Bahá’í community and the builders of its House of Worship.
Káẓim’s mother was Liqa’iyyih ILhénum, granddaughter of Mir J alil, who was martyred in the siege of Zanjan, and his wife, ‘Anbarnisa, known to Bahá’í history as Umm—i-Ashraf. Liqé’iyyih Khánum’s father
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was Ianji Imén, a survivor of the siege of Zanjan and of the martyrdoms of 1896 in Tihran.
At the age of five, Kazim entered the school run by several outstanding Bahá’ís, among them ghayfl Muhammad ‘Ali Qa’ini, posthumously designated by the Guardian an Apostle of Baha’u’llah. It was from him and other Bahá’í scholars that Káẓim acquired his mastery of Persian, his love of poetry, and his knowledge of classical Arabic.
At 13, Kazim was enrolled in a Russian classical gymnasium, a school designed to provide a European education for the sons of Russian officials in this Asian province. Instruction was in Russian, a language Kazim learned to perfection. He had acquired Azeri Turkish as a child, and later in life French and English as well. It was at the gymnasium that Kazim was exposed to western science and culture and decided to pursue higher education in Moscow where he studied law and international relations. While at Moscow University, he married Tatiana Romanovna Yevseyeva, a fellow student and one of the early Russian Bahá’ís.
On completing his studies, Kazim was employed by the Persian Embassy in Moscow and continued to serve there until 1940, when he moved to Tihran, left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and dedicated Virtually all his time to the service of the Cause, only occasionally practicing law.
He had begun to serve the Cause in his early youth as a teacher in the Bahá’í school in ‘Iflqabad, as editor of the Russian version of the Bahá’í newspaper, [Lhurshz'd—i[Lhdvan and as a participant in various youth activities. In Moscow he was elected to that city’s first Spiritual Assembly, serving until its dissolution in 1929.
In 1928, Kazim made his first pilgrimage to Haifa. Meeting Shoghi Effendi then, and again in 1941, were the high points of his life.
By the mid—1930s, all Bahá’í activity in the Soviet Union ceased, as thousands of Bahá’ís were arrested and imprisoned in the Great Terror. Some were deported to Iran,
THE BAHA’I WORLD
others sent to concentration camps where many perished. Kazirn became a link between Bahá’í prisoners and the outside world. The Kazimzadih home was used to make packages of food and warm clothing for shipment to camps in Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan.
In Persia, Kazim served on a number of Bahá’í national committees, on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihran, of which he was chairman for several years, and on the National Spiritual Assembly, frequently discharging the duties of its secretary. With the establishment of the Auxiliary Boards of the Hands of the Cause, Mr. Kazimzadih was made a member of that institution. He worked on translations of Bahá’í literature into Russian, and taught classes for Bahá’í youth of college age. The alumni of those classes remember them with gratitude and delight.
In the late 19408 and early 19508, Persia was in turmoil. The Shi‘ite clergy had made a political comeback and was influencing the government and provoking attacks on the Bahá’ís. There were killings by mobs, but there were also pseudo-judicial proceedings designed to destroy Bahá’í institutions. One such case was the trial of the members of the Spiritual Assembly of Yazd Who were accused of provoking murders in a nearby town.
The members of the Yazd Assembly were tried in Tihran in an atmosphere of hatred and intimidation. Non—Bahá’í lawyers, with one notable exception, refused to defend the accused even if their innocence was patently clear. Mr. Káẓimzadih led the defense team. In a courtroom packed with mullas and street toughs shouting imprecations at the defendants and their counsel, Mr. Kazimzadih rose to his full stature as a defender of the Cause. He addressed the court over the screams of the mullas and their henchmen, many of whom brandished knives. The judges, instructed by the government, caved in and found the defendants guilty, but no one doubted the injustice of the verdict.
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IN MEMORIAM 947
In recognition of Mr. Kazimzadih’s role in this and other cases, Shoghi Effendi called him the “Shield of the Cause of God.”
In 1956, Mr. Káẓimzadih moved to the United States. He was in poor health and underwent surgery. When his health improved, he was able to resume normal activity. He taught Persian at Harvard and at the University of California, Los Angeles, contributed to World Order magazine, taught at the Green Acre and Bosch Bahá’í Schools, travelled to Canada to teach Russian—speaking Dukhobors, served on Local Spiritual Assemblies in New Haven, Connecticut, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Santa Monica, California, and was the first Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh in the Western Hemisphere, serving in that capacity for many years. When open teaching was allowed in the former Soviet Union, a pamphlet that he wrote in Russian proved very useful.
One cannot conclude this brief sketch without mentioning Mr. Kazimzadih’s personality and character. A tme aristocrat of the spirit, courtly and dignified, he was entirely free of arrogance or pride. His integrity, gentleness, and humility endeared him to all who knew him. Indeed, he was a man without enemies. Deeply devoted to the principles of the Faith, he was never fanatical, and never forced his opinions on others.
Káẓim Káẓimzadih died of heart failure on 14 November 1989, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, and was buried at the Inglewood Cemetery a few feet from the grave of Thornton Chase.
The Universal House of Justice cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States on 16 November:
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING GREATLY TRURSTED STEADFAST PROMOTER FAITH KAZEM KAZEMZADEH. HIS DISTINGUISHED SERVICES RUSSIA, HIS EXEMPLARY PARTICIPATION IN ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES FRIENDS IRAN, INCLUDING DISCHARGE HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AS SECRETARY NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
KCZZBIH Kazemzadeh
ASSEMBLY THAT COUNTRY, HIS TRANSLATION WORK INTO RUSSIAN, HIS UNDEVIATING LOYALTY INTERESTS BELOVED CAUSE AT ALL TIMES, ARE IMPERISHABLE TOKENS OF HIS SELF-SACRIFICING ENDEAVORS OVER SEVERAL DECADES. HIS REWARD ABHA KINGDOM UNDOUBTEDLY ABUNDANT. PRAYING PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL WORLDS BEYOND. CONVEY DEAR MEMBERS HIS FAMILY OUR LOVING SYMPATHY.
DR. FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH (Dr. Firtlz Kazimzadih)