In Memoriam 1992-1997/Ṣabrí Elias

In Memoriam 1992-1997 Ṣabrí Elias

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SABRÍ ELIAS

(Sabri Ilyás ‘Abdu’l-Masíh Badawi) Knight of Bahá’u’lláh ?—1995

Sabrí Elias embraced the Faith while She was still a young boy of fourteen years of age, having learned of it through his brother Şubhí 156 and his uncle Ibráhím ‘Abdu’l-Masíh. He quickly integrated

156 See "In Memoriam," The Bahá’í World, vol. XVIII, PP. 746-48.

[Page 256]

Sabri Elias

...into the Bahá’í community of Alexandria, Egypt, participating in its activities, teaching the Faith to a number of people, and visiting localities for the consolidation of the Bahá’í communities.

He was honored by meeting the beloved Guardian who encouraged him and bestowed upon him his loving kindness and support. This had a lifelong effect on Sabri, who mentioned the Guardian to the last breath of his life.

In the early thirties he pioneered and was the first Bahá’í living in Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia. He published a thousand pamphlets in one of the local languages and succeeded in having Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into the Amharic language. The well-known Bahá’í teacher Miss Martha Root presented a copy of this book to the then-exiled Emperor Haile Selassi during his visit to Jerusalem.

Sabri was successful in teaching the Faith to a number of people in Addis Ababa, ensuring the election of the first Local Spiritual Assembly there in November of 1934. He was its secretary. When the Guardian received news of the Assembly's formation, he cabled back, "REJOICED, PRAYING, LOVE, GRATITUDE." Shoghi Effendi later honored the Assembly by placing a photograph of its members in the Mansion of Bahjí.

In 1935 Ethiopia was occupied by Italy, meetings of the Assembly were suspended, and Elias was forced to return to Egypt.

In January 1944 he pioneered again to Ethiopia, this time with his wife, Fahíma, and their two children, Husayn and Şafá. They traveled through Sudan after having met with the Guardian who bestowed upon them his abundant love and encouragement.

Sabri remained in Ethiopia for some time, and he succeeded in attracting many to the Cause. His efforts helped to foster Ethiopia as a center for the illumination of the light of the Cause of God and contributed greatly to the formation of local Assemblies and Bahá’í localities and more recently the emergence of the National Assembly of Eritrea. He was once again a member of the Addis Ababa Assembly when, in July 1950, it commemorated the centenary of the martyrdom of the Báb.

With the blessings of the Guardian, Sabri and Fahima left their two children in Addis Ababa to continue their education, while they pioneered to French Somaliland (presently Djibouti) in May 1954. In spite of the harshness of life there, they succeeded in teaching the Faith and in enabling the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in that country. In achieving this end Şabrí and his wife confronted

Notes

157 The National Spiritual Assembly of Eritrea was formed in 1995. Until that time Eritrea was part of the Regional Assembly for North East Africa formed in 1956. [Page 257]many difficulties and withstood humiliation. They almost certainly would have been killed had it not been for divine providence. For these sacrifices Sabri and Fahíma were named by the Guardian as Knights of Bahá’u’lláh.

In the mid-sixties Sabri and his wife pioneered to Tripoli in Libya, and in the seventies the Bahá’ís of Ethiopia invited them to a joyful and gracious reception held to honor Sabri as the spiritual father of their national community. The next decade saw them traveling to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, encouraging the Bahá’ís and assisting them in their teaching efforts.

Şabrí wrote several books on teaching the Cause in addition to poems extolling the Founder of the Faith, His aims, and His purposes. He also recorded, in his own voice, recollections of seventy years of service to the Cause and the history of the Faith in Egypt.

Suffering a long period of illness, his soul fluttered to the Most Exalted Companion on October 22, 1995. Bahá’ís from all over Egypt came to bid him their last farewell, and with the utmost honor and dignity he was buried in the Bahá’í cemetery in Cairo. A commemorative address was delivered on that occasion, recounting the history of his life, his virtues, and his achievements and sacrifices. The National Assembly of Ethiopia offered its condolences, and commemoration meetings were held throughout that country.

The following telegram dated October 23, 1995, was received from the Universal House of Justice:

HEARTS GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, DEVOTED SPIRITUAL CONQUEROR ETHIOPIA, CONSECRATED INDEFATIGABLE PROMOTER PIONEER HIS CAUSE SABRI ELIAS. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY HIS DEAR WIFE MEMBERS FAMILY. ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHÁ KINGDOM.

Adapted from a translation of an article written in Arabic by Amin Abul-Fatih Battáb