Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Qudratu’lláh Vahid-i-Ṭihrání
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QUDRATU’LLAH VAHtD-I-TIHRANt
1900—1986
Qudratu’llah Vahid—i—Tihrani was born on 6 May 1900 in Ṭihrán, Persia. His father, ‘AIi—‘Askar, was one of the early believers of Kashan who, in spite of being illiterate, found the truth by persistent investigation and embraced the Faith after he heard The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah chanted at a Bahá’í fireside. He exclaimed: “These are the Words of God! He Who revealed them is assuredly the Messenger of God!”
Soon afterward, ‘AIi—‘Askar changed his residence to Ṭihrán, and wandered in the Villages around the city as a peddler of cloth. He had memorized The Hidden Words and used to chant them aloud While on his travels. Through the stirring effect of these Words revealed by the Pen of Baha’u’llah, this illiterate person was instrumental in bringing into the Bahá’í Faith over 400 of his fellow countrymen.
‘Ali—‘Askar journeyed on foot to ‘Akká in 1876. He spent four months there, frequently in the presence of the Blessed Beauty, and at times while the Holy Words were being reveaIed. On one such occasion a prayer was revealed for him, and later he was honoured with four Tablets.
Qudratu’llah, which means Power of God, was born when his father, in his 70s, had lost 14 children from a previous Wife and had married Pari Khánum, a Bahá’í widow in a village near Tihi‘an called Varann'nf His father soon passed away, and Qudratu’llah, six years old, was brought up by his mother with the help of relatives, under severe financial hardship. He went through primary education in the Tarbiyat School in "I‘ihran and attended Bahá’í study classes under
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the tutorship of his cousin, Siyyid Hasan Héshimi~Zédih.
In 1916, he went with his cousins to Hamadan and started to work in one of the Bahá’í friend’s shops. He returned to Tihi‘an in 1922 and was engaged as a teacher in primary classes at the Tarbiyat School. In Tihran one of his cousins, ‘Abdu’lláh Vahid, helped him and his mother a great deal during the Depression. People in Persia had just started using family names and Qudratu’llah, following the example of his cousins, chose Vahid—i—Tihrani as his family name.
Qudratu’llah learned how to use a typewriter, which was new in Tihran, and in 1927 was employed by the Ministry of Finance in a secretarial position. He became well—known for his diligent service, reliability and trustworthiness, and he was sent to India on a special assignment in 1944. In 1946, he was appointed the accountant and director of the Office of the Iranian Agency in India. He returned to Iran in September 1948 and was given the post of assistant director of the archives in the Ministry of Finance.
He was an active and faithful member of the Bahá’í community wherever his work sent him. While in Tihran, before his journey to India, he worked part—time in the office of the National Assembly as secretary in charge of the correspondence files. He also served on the Persian Holy Places Committee. Once in 1943, in response to a call by the National Spiritual Assembly for homefront pioneers, he and his family moved to Mahallat, a Village to the south of Tihran; but within a few months he was recalled to the capital by the Ministry of Finance, in which he worked, and was sent to India. During the four years he spent in India, he served the Faith in Bombay and was elected a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly.
When the petroleum industry in Iran was nationalized in 1950, Mr. AIIéhyar Sélih, one of the directors of the Ministry of Finance, arrived in Abadan as part of the government representative body, with Mr. Tihrani' accompanying him as a private secretary. In
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Qudratu ’lláh Tihrdm’
September 1954, he was officially appointed the office manager for the board of directors in Charge of the transfer from the British Petroleum Company to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. In May 1955, when Mr. Bézargan, a devout Muslim, became general refineries manager, Mr. Tihrani, who was known to him to be a trustworthy employee and a devoted Bahá’í, was appointed director of the general office in the Abadan refinery. He was provided with first class residence in Abédan, and lived there with his family.
Mr. Tihrani’s family consisted of his wife, Nasriyyih Sahihi, a son named Farhad, and a daughter named Parivafl. The children were sent to England to pursue higher studies. Nasriyyih Khánum accompanied her husband in all his places of work. In Abadén, however, in 1954 her health steadily deteriorated and she passed away in 1956.
Mr. and Mrs. Tihrani had applied to go on '
pilgrimage to the Holy Land together, but tragically permission granted reached them shortly after Mrs. Tihrani had passed away, and he had to go alone. The beloved Guardian suggested a number of teaching trips to
THE BAHA’l WORLD
the southern part of Train for six months immediately after pilgrimage. This proved to be the best means of alleviating his grief and despondency.
When Mr. Tihrani reported on his assignment to the Guardian, He advised him to pioneer out of lrén, and recommended Japan, a pioneer goal in the Ten Year Crusade. Thereupon Mr. Tihrani retired from government service and left Tran, arriving in Tokyo 4 October 1957. On the advice of the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia, he pioneered to the northern island of Hokaido, and settled in Sapporo as the first pioneer. When he arrived there was only one Bahá’í in Sapporo, but 17 months later the first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sapporo was formed with Mr. Tihrani being among those elected.
With the help of two new Bahá’ís in Sapporo, he held meetings to teach the Faith in the neighbouring cities. This diligent service continued 16 years during which he made occasional journeys outside Japan to renew his Visa. He suceeded in bringing into the Faith a number of natives from the Ainu tribe, and encouraged them to build Bahá’í centres in three towns. The National Spiritual Assembly of Japan wrote:
If there is one quality that we all remember about Mr. Ṭihráni it was his great love. He was elderly when he came to Japan and he never learned to speak Japanese. His health was often quite poor, and his income was limited. But there was no limit on his great love, which encompassed everyone he came into contact with. All felt it, and will always remember him.
The cold weather of Hokaido Island, with frost and snow half of the year, finally caused Mr. Tihrani to suffer from severe backaches, and the doctors recommended he should leave the place.
In 1970 he was sent by the Hand of the Cause of God Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir to Hong Kong, where he stayed in the Bahá’í
IN MEMORIAM
Centre and held Bahá’í meetings and study classes to encourage and deepen the friends. After four months he was asked by the Hand of the Cause to go on a teaching trip to the Philippines. In 1971, he was invited by a pioneer family to the island of Guam, and while in that community he was elected a member of a Local Spiritual Assembly.
Finally, at the invitation of Counsellor Suhayl ‘Alá’í, he went to Samoa on 17 March 1974. Here, with guidance and assistance from Mr. ‘Ala’i he performed lengthy and valuable teaching trips to most of the islands in the Pacific. He was privileged to meet with the King of Western Samoa, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II, and enjoyed a warm and enduring friendship with the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Sir Thomas Davis, and with Lady Davis, who was a Bahá’í.
In total, Mr. Ṭihráni travelled to more than 50 countries and islands after his retirement, including Australia, New Zealand, the Hawaiian islands, across the United States, and several countries in Europe and Africa. His greatest joy was Visiting isolated communities and bringing to them the reassurance of the love of Bahá’u’lláh.
Correspondence with friends was another noteworthy feature of Mr. Ṭihráni’s activities. For more than 25 years this devoted servant of Bahá’u’lláh kept up a continuous stream of correspondence with Bahá’í friends around the globe, encouraging them through his letters containing prayers, quotations from the Holy Writings, stories of the lives of early believers, and pictures of places and people prominent in Bahá’í events.
The Hand of the Cause of God Abu’lQasim Faydi asked Mr. Tihrani to Visit? 1rén on his behalf to encourage the believers there to be steadfast, a task which he willingly performed for nine months during 1977 and 1978. In 1983, bodily ailment and financial difficulty—his pension had been cut off by the new management of the oil company—forced him to abandon the field
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of pioneer service, and after Visiting his son in England he went to Zimbabwe to live With his daughter Parivash Harvey. Old age and weakness, however, did not prevent him from going on teaching trips in Zimbabwe and to the neighbouring countiies of Zambia and Malawi under the guidance of Counsellor Shidén Fath—i-A‘zam.
Mr. Tihrani’s whole life was dedicated to serving his Lord. He passed away in May 1986, after an operation for a fractured hip. The foilowing telex was sent to Zimbabwe by the Universal House of Justice on 22 May:
DEEPLY GRlEVED PASSING FAITHFUL CONSECRATED PROMOTER FAITH QUDRATU’LLAH VAHID-TEHRANI. HIS LONG RECORD DISTINGUISHED SERVICES FAITH IN MANY LANDS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. CONVEY RELATIVES DEEP SYMPATHY ASSURANCE FERVENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES HIS NOBLE SOUL. FU’AD AgRAF