Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Rostam Sabet
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ROSTAM SABET
(Rustam T_habit) 1902—1990
Rustam T_habit was born in Poona, India, on 15 July 1902. His father, K_husraw Bimén, a Zoroastrian farmer who emigrated from Persia to escape religious persecution, had been led to embrace the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in India through his contacts with Haji Mirza Siyyid Afnán. His mother, Sarvar, worked unceasingly to help run the family business and to rear their seven children to be dedicated believers, thus enabling her husband to be free to teach the Cause.
Poona had a flourishing Local Spiritual Assembly by the time Rustam finished his secondary education. He has written:
I was 18 when the first general letter of the Guardian to the Bahá’í world was received, followed by others, and by his superb translations of some of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. How captivating they were, how enthralling. Like a magnet they gripped one and you could not put them down till you reached the end. I well remember starting on the Kitáb-i-lqén in the afternoon of the day it was received and reading on until the early hours of the next morning.
Rustam enrolled in Bombay University in 1918, but his formal education ended after one month when he got typhoid, and then his brother Suhréb died, requiring him to return home to help with the business. In 1926, he married Banoo (Banu), who came from Yazd, Persia, and their union brought forth two children, Mary and Ruhi (Ruhi).
After working assidiously for the Faith, he was elected to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma in 1933, and was duly elected secretary; On 28 December 1935, he arrived in Haifa for his first pilgrimage and meeting with the Guardian, whom he would come to correspond with often in the following years.
Rustam served as the secretary of the National Assembly of India and Burma until
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1938, when the 1132mm, joined Rustam’s brother and his wife and moved to Persia. Before making the trip, they cashed in their insurance policies to use for acquiring Holy Places in Persia, saving only enough cash for their own travel expenses and enough to survive for a few weeks.
Rustam took employment with the AngloIranian Oil Company, and became known for speaking up for the rights of labourers. He was also known for his honesty and integrity, which caused him to be promoted several times until he was offered a top management position in Qazvin. But because pioneers were not needed in that city, he rejected the job and applied for a Visa to pioneer to Quetta in Balughistan, India, where he and his family arrived in April 1944. In all, during his lifetime, he and his family completed eight moves from one 'eountry to another, twenty-one moves within countries, and occupied forty-two houses.
Rustam arrived in India in time to participate in the Bahá’í Centenary celebrations Which were being held in Bombay. Quite soon, he again found himself elected to the
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National Assembly and resumed the arduous task of secretary. It was around that time that the Assembly transferred its headquarters from Poona to New Delhi. Evidently When the move was completed, the Guardian sent a message to the Assembly to the effect that the Bahá’ís of India were at last emerging from the confusion which had surrounded their community since its birth in their native land, followed by a gracious line of praise of Mr. Thabit’s contribution to this transformation.
After a time, Rustam approached Shoghi Effendi for permission to move from India and was advised that he could go to Europe. The last letter he received from the Guardian while in India, dated 4 November 1950, included these words:
Dear and valued co-worker:
I wish to assure you in person of my deep and abiding sense of appreciation of your long record of historic services to our beloved Faith, and of my loving and ardent prayers on your behalf, that you may, wherever you may labour in the days to come, he graciously assisted to enrich this splendid record, and render still greater services to the infant institutions of our glorious Faith.
Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi.
The Thébit family left India in December 1950, and initially took up residence in Brighton, England, where they helped form the Local Assemb1y. The scarcity of work forced them to move to London where, among other jobs, Rustam sold insurance. Their time in London was followed by various moves to at least 15 different locations in the United Kingdom, some of which were pioneering posts, including the towns of Hove, Reading, Corby, and Wokingham Rural District. The family spent 12 years in Hamilton, Scotland, and were instrumental in forming the Local Assembly of East Kilbride.
In his later years, Mr. flabit’s services mainly involved his amazing capacities for
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reviewing and editing, much use being made of his exceptional personal library, where his immense knowledge of the Bahá’í Writings and his eagle eye for errors proved invaluable. At one point he was invited by the Universal House of Justice to spend six precious months at the Bahá’í World Centre proofreading material for The Bahá’í World.
Rustam fliébit passed away on 21 March 1990. The following message was sent by the Universal House of Justice:
GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEVOTED PROMOTER CAUSE GOD ROSTAM SABET. HIS SINCERE SERVICES DURING HIS ENTIRE LIFE MANIFOLD CAPACITIES UNFORGETTABLE. CONVEY SYMPATHY LOVE RELATIVES FRIENDS. ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
Based on information provided by the LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE Bahá’ís OF BRIGHTON, ENGLAND, and on the memoirs of Mr. T_hébit.