In Memoriam 1992-1997/Ghodratollah Bidardel

GHODRATOLLAH BIDARDEL

(Qudratu’lláh Bidérdil) 1 931—1995

hodratollah “Ghodrat” Bidardel graduated from high school in Tlhrén in 1949, as the Persian Bahá’ís were nearing the end of their Forty—Five Month Plan. He had intended to continue his education and was set to travel to Germany to study agriculture, but messages from the Guardian were urging the Bahá’ís to pioneer. Ghodrat determined to postpone his education and help spread the Message of Baha’u’llah in Arabia. He reported to the Pioneering Committee but was told that he could not go since he had not performed his military service and therefore did not have a passport. He was very disappointed and went outside to a stream and wept. In his mind’s eye Shoghi Effendi appeared, and Ghodrat said to him, “You told me that I should go pioneering. Why am I not allowed to do it now? It is as if one has been invited to dinner, comes in, sees the fully laden table, but is not allowed to eat anything.” Shoghi Effendi answered, “Who said that you are not allowed to pioneer?” Ghodrat thought over the matter and asked for a new consultation. Afterward he was told that he should make an attempt7 and should he be successful, he should then report back from his pioneering post. He managed to

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get across the border and never returned. His “attempt" lasted forty years.

Ghodtat was born on October 1, 1931, in the town of Maraghih, in a prosperous agricultural area of East Aflirbéyjén, Persia. His parents were Hossein Pasha and Ziba Bidardel, both Bahá’ís. The word “bidardel” means “awakened heart.” It is a beautiful, mystical word that the family had found in the writings of Shoghi Effendi and had taken as its own.

When Ghodrat was but an infant, his family moved to Tihtan, where he attended public schools and Bahá’í classes. As a youth he had the privilege of studying with Riyad Qadimi, a very inspiring teacher, and he became totally involved in Bahá’í activities. On Thursdays, for example, he went to villages on the outskirts of Tihran and gave Bahá’í lessons to the children. While serving on a teaching committee, he met Raf’at Ra’fat, another active Bahá’í youth. He would meet her again after they had both pioneered.

Determined as he was, it took some time for Ghodrat to obtain all of the permissions needed for him to leave Iran. Finally in April 1953 he was able to go to Dubai, and after three months there he received permission to enter Al-Hasa, the eastern region ofSaudi Arabia. On the way he spent a week in Bahrain with Abu'lQásim Faizi, who was pioneering in this island nation with his wife and children and who was later named a Hand of the Cause of God.

In the city of Ad Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Ghodtat learned the trade of joiningm to support himself. After seven months he moved to Hafuf, where he helped to form the first Spiritual Assembly.

”7 Traditionally a joiner is a woodworker specializing in the cutting and fitting ofjoints without nails or mechanical fasteners.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

G/Jodmtolla/J Bidam'el

Later he moved to Ta’if, a resort town in the mountains neat Mecca, where there were several Bahá’í families including that of Raf’at Ra’fat, a fourth generation believer whom he had met in Ṭihrán. When she was only five years old, her father had taken the family pioneering to Sulaymaniyyih, instilling in her a love for pioneering as strong as Ghodrat’s.

In 1954 Ghodrat participated in the ritual of Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, and then he moved to Medina. He asked for Raf’at’s hand in marriage, and they became engaged at Naw—Rt’tz 1955. The first Spiritual Assembly of Medina was formed at Riḍván, and on June 1 the wedding took place. Two days later he was imprisoned together with all of the other Persian Bahá’í men—the result of the resumption of the persecutions of the Bahá’ís in Iran. The National Bahá’í Center in 1111mm had been pillaged, and a list of Bahá’í pioneers in Saudi Arabia had been sent to the national government of Saudi Arabia. The prisoners

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were freed two weeks later but were ordered to leave Saudi Arabia within four months.

Ghodrat and Raf’at traveled to Baghdad, ‘Iráq, and their eldest daughter fiarzad was born in March 1956 in a hospital built on the site of the Riḍván Garden. Later the family moved to Karbila, where Ghodrat opened a small joiner’s shop. They lived modestly and were rewarded a year and a half later when the first Spiritual Assembly was formed there.

As the administrative goals of the Ten Year Crusade were being filled, Ghodrat began to feel that he could finally fulfill his desire to study at university. After consulting with the Assembly, he left for Germany to investigate the possibilities of working and studying there. He did not have much of an opportunity to settle; he attended a meeting during which the Hand of the Cause of God Dr. Adelbert Mühlschlegel called for pioneers for Europe, and Ghodrat offered to move to Finland. When he returned home and told Raf’at, she asked, “Should I pack the suitcases right now?”

In April 1960 they left for their new post, and the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Scandinavia and Finland asked the family to settle in the goal City of Tampere, Finland. Ghodrat found work there, and in 1961 the first Spiritual Assembly was formed—the same year their second child, a son named Shahriyar, was born.

With the consolidation of the European homefront came the announcement from the Hands of the Cause that eleven new National Spiritual Assemblies would be formed at Riḍván 1962. Ghodrat was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Finland and was thus a delegate to the first International Convention in Haifa. After the election of the Universal House OFJustice on April 21, 1963, he went on to attend the first Bahá’í World Congress in London a week later.

'Ihe Bidardels returned to Germany, living in the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Frankfurt until the dedication of the Mother Temple of the European Continent there in July 1964, when the National Assembly asked them to be its caretakers.

Their daughter Fariba was born in June 1967. A year later Ghodrat opened a carpet shop in the goal City of Coblenz, and in 1979 its first Local Assembly was finally formed.

In 1983 the German government granted Ghodrat Citizenship, replacing the Persian citizenship he had lost as a Bahá’í. To him this meant increased pioneering opportunities, and he traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, to see whether he could be of service to the Faith there. While he was away, the Office of Personnel at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa called to ask whether the Bidardels were prepared to serve at the W’orld Centre. In January 1984 an invitation came from the Universal House ofjustice offering the couple service as custodians of the Shrines of the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The Bidardels moved into the house that had formerly accommodated the Eastern pilgrims in Haifa. Their duties included preparing the Shrines to receive the many pilgrims and visitors arriving from all over the world and organizing the volunteer staff who served as guides. In the evenings Ghodrat held classes on the Qur’án, the Bible, and other Holy Writings, as well as on the Persian language for the friends living at the Bahá’í World Centre.

Ghodrat and Raf’at left Haifa returning to Germany in November 1994 for reasons of health. Eight months later, in July 1995, Ghodrat was called from this earthly world. Upon learning of his passing, the Hands of the Cause of God Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum and (Ali-Akbar Furt’ltan

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sent letters of condolence, and the Universal House ofjustice sent the following message on July 13:

GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH GHODRATOLLAH BIDARDEL. HIS LIFELONG DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENTS IN PIONEERING AND TEACHING FIELDS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. CROWNED WITH HIS SERVICE AS CUSTODIAN OF THE SHRINE OF THE BAB, LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. ARDENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS OF HIS ENLIGHTENED SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. EXTEND SYMPATHY, LOVE MEMBERS HIS FAMILY.

Based on a memoir written

by Anneliese Bopp