Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Mahvash Master
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BAHlYYIH NA_K_I_{JAVANI’
MAHVA§_}_I_ MASTER 1 941~1 990
This is the story of a unique and most remarkable lady upon whose passing to the Abhá Kingdom the Universal House of Justice sent the following message:
SADDENED PASSING MAHVASH MASTER. HER CEASELESS DEDICATION TO TEACHING WORK MANY PARTS WORLD, HER DISTINGUISHED SERVICES AUXILIARY BOARD AND HER RADIANT SPIRIT ARE WORTHY EXAMPLE OTHERS, CONVEY BEREAVED FANIILY FRIENDS DEEPEST
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Mahvagh Master
SYMPATHY, PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
26 July 1990
Mahvash was so much in love with the Cause of the Blessed Beauty that nothing was strong enough to prevent her from sharing His Message. In the St. Vincents Hospital in Karlsruhe, Germany, where she spent the last two weeks of her life, she gave all of the staff, including specialists, doctors, nurses, orderlies and Visitors, the Message of Baha’u’llah. She did this until her last breath. Indeed when she was failing and did not have the strength to speak audibly, two Catholic nuns came into her room to give her their blessings. Mahvafl whispered in her husband’s ear, asking him to give the nuns pamphlets and to tell them about her dream the previous night wherir she saw Baha’u’llah and Jesus conversing together.
Mahvash was born in Tihran, Persia, on 22 January 1941, into a family with two very different and distinguished backgrounds. Her mother was a very staunch Muslim with royal blood, a descendant of Fath—‘Ali @5111,
THE BAHA’l WORLD
one of the monarchs of the Qajar Dynasty. Her mother remained a Muslim until she met the Guardian in 1955. Her father, on the other hand, was the grandson of a devoted believer at the time of Baha’u’llah who was honoured by Baha’u’llah with a few Tablets and the title of Saffar, meaning coppersmith. He was the son of Ni‘mat’ullah Saffar, a renowned calligrapher who copied by hand the Báb’s and Baha’u’llah’s Writings and was an expert on the Writings and the Revelation of the Báb.
When she was a 14—year-old child on pilgrimage With her family in 1955, Shoghi Effendi pointed to a group of children, which included Mahvash, and said “These children will be successful in teaching the Cause of God”. It seems as if this statement became the motivating force of her life. She knew she would be successful as long as she arose to teach, and because the Guardian had uttered these words she felt deeply and yet gloriously obliged to do so.
After pilgrimage, Mahvafl’s family, consisting of herself, four brothers and her parents, pioneered to Monte Carlo, Monaco. A few months later, the family transferred its pioneering post to Freiburg, West Germany. In August 1956, Mahvafl’s father died in Basel, Switzerland, from a heart attack while on his way to Visit lran.
Mahvagl studied physiotherapy, while ensuring that her studies did not deter her from her teaching activities. She and her four brothers were deeply involved in Bahá’í activities, and their home was practically the Bahá’í centre of Freiburg.
On 21 March 1961, Mahvagi married lraj (Iradj) Master, and they moved to Bonn. At the end of 1964, Mahvash, along with her husband and their baby son, returned to lrén where lraj was appointed as Associate Professor at the University of §hiraz. Bahá’í activities, such as children’s classes, firesides and deepenings, continued to be 21 maj or part of Mahvash’s life.
Professionally, Mahvash became very successful in Shiréz, and she was the co~founder
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IN MEMORIAM 979
of the Physiotherapy Department of the University Hospital in _S___h1'raz. She was renowned for her healing hands.
The oppressive conditions for teaching the Faith in Shíráz were a challenge for Mahvafl, who was used to the freedom of teaching in Europe. Although Bahá’ís in Iran in those days were very active within the community, there were great pressures on them from various Muslim groups and government circles preventing them from teaching.
In spite of extremely favourable economic, social, and professional conditions and success, Mahvash and family pioneered to Melbourne, Australia, in late 1968. In those days Australia was in need of assistance, as the Melbourne Metropolitan area had only two Local Spiritual Assemblies, and indeed in the whole State of Victoria there were only three or four.
Mahvash’s teaching efforts continued in Australia and she never failed to make the most of any opportunity that presented itself. For example, in 1969, when her husband was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with the Melboume University, one of the daily newspapers approached the University and asked for the names of academic women from overseas to be interviewed for the paper. For some unknown reason they contacted Mahvafl’s husband and ended up interviewing her, and she did not miss the opportunity of proudly mentioning the Faith. This was the start of a number of interviews she obtained on radio stations, and opened the way for Mahvafl to use the media for teaching the Faith.
Mahvash had a great organising capacity and while she was deeply involved in teaching work she could ably manage her own home and family. In addition she sponsored and greatly assisted her mother and her two younger brothers to happily and successfully settle in Australia. Even after the birth of her third son, she embarked on unprecedented mass teaching in Melbourne and country areas of Victoria. Mahvafl persistently
arranged and organised public teaching activities, pamphlet distribution, and held a fireside meeting at least once a week in her home.
Soon her teaching activities stretched beyond the borders of the State. First, she started to travel to Tasmania at least twice a year to teach. She used to relate a dream in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was showing her a map of the Australian continent; He was pointing to Tasmania and telling her that Tasmania was important and that she should study the Book of Certitude. A number of Bahá’ís in Tasmania who became Bahá’ís through her efforts recall their encounter with Mahvag with affection and delight.
Crossing the state borders was not enough for Mahvash’s high flying spirit. In 1973, she travelled to Germany to participate in their teaching activities to complete the final year of the Nine Year Plan. She travelled alone with great difficulties to the remote island of Borkum in the North Sea to form a Bahá’í group there. She managed to achieve that after a few days on that island.
Mahvasli had an extraordinary love for Aboriginals, and she repeatedly reminded herself and others of the importance of teaching indigenous people as mentioned so often by the Guardian of the Faith. In Melbourne she was always searching for the Aboriginals, and one summer day in 1974 she came home with a whole family consisting of the parents and six children. She explained to her husband that she had met them in the supermarket and had helped them to carry their shopping home. This was the Langley family from Mornington Island, who had come to Melbourne With other Aboriginals for an exhibition of Aboriginal art and dancing. During their stay in Melbourne the Langleys and a few other Aborigines became Bahá’ís and returned to Mornington Island.
Prior to the return of the Langleys, Mornington Island, with a population of 800 Aborigines, had only seven or eight Bahá’ís. Mahvash kept in touch with the Langleys,
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and three years later, in 1977, she, With great enthusiasm, chartered a small four-seater plane and with three other Bahá’ís flew to Mornington Island to teach the Aboriginals. While there, during only eight days, several Aborigines accepted the Faith.
In the same year, the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum went from Japan to Australia to recuperate from an illness, and she urged the National Assembly to have the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mornington Island formed. Mahvafl could not stay quiet. Two months later her husband and three other Bahá’ís went to Momington Island, with the result that a significant number of Aborigines became Bahá’ís.
Mahvagi continued to travel to Mornington Island. In Normanton, the last stop before Mornington Island, she enrolled several more people in the Faith, and her travels to northeast Australia became a regular event. She never stopped teaching the Aborigines, and without any doubt a great number of Aboriginal Bahá’ís throughout Australia came into the Faith through her efforts.
In 1974, she was appointed Auxiliary Board member for Propagation in the state of Victoria, and sewed in that capacity until 1988. Of course, the additional duties of a Board member did not diminish her teaching activities, or her activities as a wife, mother of three boys, and physiotherapist. She still found the time to write repmts and articles for the Bahá’í magazines and gain publicity for the Faith through government and commercial media.
She had no difficulty in approaching people high or low, rich or poor. Even when the family was living in a rented home without adequate facilities, she would not hesitate to invite people for firesides or dinners. The Speaker of the Australian Parliament, journalists for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and commercial media, and “modest” people all had lunch or dinner at her home.
Mahvash was a very attractive and Vital personality. She “bubbled” and radiated love,
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enthusiasm, and sincerity when she spoke of the Faith she lived for, and it was this quality that was almost infectious and drew people to her. In her physiotherapy practice, no patient could leave without being taught the Faith in a loving and interesting manner.
She constantly reminded the friends of the urgency of teaching, and would repeatedly quote from T he Advent of Divine Justice (p. 39) where the Guardian wrote:
The field is indeed so immense, the period so critical, the Cause so great, the workers so few, the time so short, the privilege so priceless, that no follower of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, worthy to bear His name, can afford a moment’s hesitation.
In conformity with this quote she would often state the following in her talks: “This day and age is of such importance according to Baha’u’llah that the prophets of the past would love to be back for one moment so that they could serve. We don’t realise how privileged we are to live in this day and age. Please put the Faith as the first priority in your life before everything else.”
She also used to say that every single day in one’s life was a bonus and the opportunities should not be missed. Mahvash followed this advice herself very religiously.
One of her veiy many remarkable achievements was that in 1976, while on a Visit to Train and on pilgrimage, she managed to persuade her father-in—law, Ardishir Master, to purchase a house in Malvern (a fairly central suburb in Melbourne) and donate it to the Bahá’í community. This was the first Bahá’í Centre outside Sydney to be wholly owned by the Bahá’í community of Australia.
With tremendous energy and persistence, she worked to have this house renovated and made suitable for teaching and other Bahá’í activities. She was the motivating force behind the grand opening of Bahá’í House in 1978, officiated over by the Mayor of the City of Malvern in the presence of the Local Member of the Australian Parliament, reporters for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
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newspapers, local radio, and representatives of the National Assembly, as well as a great number of Bahá’ís and non—Bahá’ís.
Furthermore, Mahvash was the major initiator and consistent supporter of Bahá’í children’s classes, using the Bahá’í House as the venue. She would encourage every parent to send their children to the Bahá’í classes every Sunday.
On one memorable occasion, Mahvagi and her husband were attending an anniversary celebration at the public school their children attended. The guest of honour was the Govemor-General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen. Mahvag rather horrified lraj by saying, “We will go and tell him about the Faith”. The security guards were not so impressed with people wanting to speak to their charge but that did not deter Mahvash. With lraj following behind she seized the opportunity and introduced herself to Sir Ninian and told him about Baha’u’llah’s call. Sir Ninian was interested and respectful and thanked Mahvash. He said she had reminded him that he had an invitation to Visit the Sydney Temple soon and he would look forward to that Visit.
Mahvash became afflicted with breast cancer in January 1985. This calamity did not become a reason to stop her from teaching. On the contrary, she expanded her activities. She added New Caledonia to her travel list and Visited that country several times. Friends who became Bahá’ís through her are now active in various parts of that country.
She organised groups of youth, including her own Children, to travel to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan to teach. She encouraged her sons to learn the Chinese language in order to be able to teach the Chinese people. Her last trip overseas bonsisted of teaching activities in the United States; she appeared on television in Atlanta, Georgia, and was planning to teach in East Germany. Alas, this wish was not fulfilled.
She fought her illness with great courage. When it recurred for a second time, her
doctor became very upset, but she consoled him and told him that she believed in life after death and she would be happier in the other world.
Mahvafl always, and especially during her illness, implored the friends to teach while they enjoy their good health.
Kate Dwyer, a respected ex—Catholic Mother Superior who became a Bahá’í wrote to Mahvash’s family:
Only one of the many, many, people she helped, I could never forget her kindness, especially in the early days of my Bahá’í life in 1972. Mahvafl did all in her power to strengthen and deepen my faith in Baha’u’llah and His great Cause and I watched that dear soul do likewise for so many others.
Mahvag was like a candle burning herself to diffuse light and brighten others, and finally she burned herself out in Germany and her soul flew to the Abhá Kingdom on 25 July 1990, at the age of 49 years.
Perhaps her short life can be as a message to us all to serve the Cause of Baha’u’llah while we can.
Mahvash, in her last statement, said,
...don’t ever feel sad for me, instead say a
prayer for my soul.
BILL JOHNSON