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DARYOUSH MEHRABI
1927—1997
Daryoush was born in Kirman, Iran, in
January 1927. His family was originally Zoroastrian, but when his mother was a young girl and newly married, a friend gave her a book on the Bahá’í Faith to pass to her father, Dinyar Rabbani. Dinyar soon became a believer and wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who sent him a most beautiful and loving Tablet accepting his declaration of faith. The entire family became Bahá’ís, with the exception of Daryoush’s Father who remained Zoroastrian and eventually left Kirman to work in London when Daryoush was a baby. Although, at his Father’s bidding, Datyoush attended a Zoroastrian school, his mother and grandfather brought him up and instilled in his heart a deep and abiding love for Baha’u’llah.
Stories of Daryoush, beginning with his early life, show his love for prayer and the history of the Faith, his strong sense ofjustice, his spiritual insight and understanding, combined with practical talents
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IN MEMORIAM 1992—1 997
and common sense, his warm hospitality and love of cooking, his sense of humor, and the strength of his character. All of these qualities were evident until the end of his life.
One story is especially poignant. When Daryoush was a child, the false accusations ofa neighbor led to his imprisonment for two weeks in a Kirman jail. He faithfully said his daily prayers although surrounded by frightening conditions; his food was taken from him by older boys, and even his shoes were stolen while he slept on the earth floor. Eventually, through the efforts of his grandfather and the confession of the true culprit, his innocence was proved, and he was released. The memory ofthis injustice was very painful, and he rarely spoke of it, but the experience reinforced his complete reliance on the power of prayer and the intimate feeling he always had of the closeness of Baha’u’llah.
When Daryoush was sixteen years old, he wanted to go to London to work for his father, but the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran advised him to wait until he was older. Daryoush obeyed, and when he was twenty—four, with the blessing of the National Assembly, he left and arrived in London in January 1951. Although they had corresponded, this was the first time he had properly met his father. During the next four years great pressure was put on Daryoush to leave the Faith, but this had the opposite effect and his faith became even stronger.
In 1956 he went to Nottingham. Then in February 1958 he pioneered to the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland to replace the Knight of Baha’u’llah, Charles Dunning, who had to leave because of ill health. Daryoush traveled the five hundred miles north to Aberdeen on his motorbike and from there caught the overnight boat to Orkney. When he arrived in Orkney, it
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was snowing. He asked a man with a horse and cart if he would take his luggage to his lodgings, and he followed behind on his bike.
At first he did not know what he would do for work, but then he discovered there was no watch and clock repairer on the island. Being very practical, he quickly learned the trade and made a modest living. He married Jacqueline Thomas, a pioneer in Aberdeen, and they had three children, Kaiim, Pari, and Vahid. In 1963, just four months before the birth of his youngest child, Daryoush suffered a serious accident while on a visit off the island. He broke his back in a fall that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. However, after spending nine months in a hospital near London, he was back in Orkney, teaching the Faith and repairing watches and clocks from his house.
During the next few years Daryoush witnessed the embrace of the Faith by the first islanders, and in 1969 he participated in the election of the first Local Spiritual
Daryam/a Mehrabi
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Assembly of the Orkney Islands. Their house, “Carmel,” became a center of Bahá’í activities and of hospitality to numerous traveling teachers. As well as being very involved with local activities, Datyoush was the coordinator of the Reviewing Panel for some time, and for many years he was the distributor of the American Babd’z’New: in the United Kingdom.
By 1979 there was a strong and deepened Bahá’í community in Orkney, so, in consultation with the Local Spiritual Assembly and the National Teaching Committee, Daryoush and his family pioneered t0 Dumfries in the south of Scotland to help re—form the Assembly there. It was in Dumfries that he passed away on February 7, 1997.
Daryoush was blessed with having made four pilgrimages during his lifetime, and despite his disabilities he attended both World Congresses. In 1963, while still listed as “seriously ill,” he persuaded the doctors to give him permission to be taken from hospital to attend the final day of the London Congress. His wife brought their youngest child (just twelve days old) to the conference, where Daryoush saw him for the first time. He and his wife also attended the Congress in New York City in 1992, and they had the great bounty of attending the centenary commemoration of the Ascension Of Bahá’u’lláh at the World Centre earlier that year.
Perhaps the greatest legacy Daryoush left was his faith and fortitude in the face of the physical difficulties he suffered for thirty—four years. He was a practical person with great energy and drive, so his disabilities could have been more of a frustration to bear, but he accepted them philosophically and never complained about his condition. His thoughts were always focused on what more could be done for this Faith that he loved with every atom of his being.
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
On hearing news of the passing of this clear believer, the Universal House ofjustice wrote on February 10, 1997:
GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEARLY LOVED STALWART SERVANT BAHA’U’LLAH, DARYOUSH MEHRABI. HIS EXEMPLARY DEDICATION CAUSE, HIS IMMEDIATE AND WHOLEHEARTED RESPONSE supPOR’I‘ED BY DEAR WIFE TO NEEDS TEN YEAR CRUSADE AS PIONEER ORKNEY ISLANDS DESPITE SEVERE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES, AND HIS LONG YEARS DEVOTED SERVICE CAUSE BRITAIN CHARACTERIZED BY HIS STAUNCHNESS FAITH AND LOVING NATURE, FONDLY REMEMBERED.
ASSURE PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. CONVEY OUR LOVING SYMPATHY HIS DEAR WIFE, CHILDREN AND MEMBERS HIS FAMILY.
jacquelz'ne Me/ar/zbz'
