In Memoriam 1992-1997/Jalil Mahmoudi
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JALIL MAHMOUDI
(Jah’l Mahmt’xdi) 1912—1996
GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT CAUSE JALI’L MAHMUDf. DECADES SELFLESS LABOURS PROMOTING CAUSE OF GOD BOTH IN CRADLE OF FAITH AND IN UNITED STATES LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
Universal House ofjustice March 10, 1996
Born into a Bahá’í family on February 25, 1912, in Kirman, Iran, Jalil’s father, Mahmoud Mahmoudi, and mother, Maryam, had accepted the revelation of Baha’u’llah sometime in the late 18005 in Yazd. In Iran Jalil served on the Local Assemblies of Karaj, Gholhak, and Zargandeh and on the committee for the translation of Sacred Texts that was then working under the guidance of Shoghi Effendi. Jalil was also on the East—West Relationships Committee, the International Pioneering Committee, and the External Affairs Committee.
In 1940 he married Badri Mahmoudi who, after her own investigation of the Cause, declared five years later.
In 1944 Jalil received a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the College of Agriculture of Iran in Karaj. Later he served the college as its dean. His other professional positions included director general of the Education and Publication Department. He was also an economic advisor, and at one time he headed an Iranian agricultural delegation to the United States, England, and Germany.
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In 1959 Jalil and Badri relocated with their three children (then aged seventeen, sixteen, and ten years) to Logan, Utah, in the United States. Jalil chose Logan because it was the home of Utah State University, which had accepted him for postgraduate studies. In 1961 he received a master’s degree in agricultural economics. While pursuing his master’s, he served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Logan.
Later, after taking a course in sociology, he decided that it was the field for him. He pursued a doctorate From the University of. Utah in Salt Lake City and completed his studies in 1966 with a dissertation entitled “Sociological Analysis of The Bahá’í Movement." He was on the Local Assembly of Salt Lake City From 1963 to 1971.
In 1966 Jalil became a professor of sociology and languages at the University of Utah, and upon his retirement in 1977, he was appointed professor emeritus. He was a visiting professor at the University of California at Los Angeles during the summer of1968 and at the University of Washington during the summer 1969.
Jalil served on the National Committee for Bahá’í Summer Schools and as an Auxiliary Board member for Protection from 1971 to 1981 with a territory that encompassed Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and California.
Having begun his publishing career while still in Iran with Dry Farming(1946) and How to Teac/a a Foreign Language (1949), Jalil was a prolific writer. His books and articles ranged from agriculture to sociology, religion, and poetry. His other works include “The Institutionalization of Religion” (World Order1967), “Dysfunction of Religion and Why” (World Order 1968—69), Navay—z' Hammwa’i (Persian poetry, 1972), “Social Thought in Ancient Iran” (1973), “‘Irfan’, Gnosis, or Mystical Knowledge” (World Order 1973), 7773
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51‘0sz (z: Told (Naturegraph 1973), Abang’i Hamalmngz’ (Persian poetry, 1974), Persian Phrase Boole and Dictionary (with Homa Mahmoudi—Snibbe, 1976), A Concordance t0 the Hidden Wm]; OfBa/Jzi’u’l/d/7 (Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, 1980), and Sole/aan—i—As/amz (1985).
Jalil and Badri had very active lives of service in the United States. They held successful firesides at their homes in Logan and Salt Lake City where they proved to be effective teachers, enabling many to embrace the Faith. They made regular travel teaching trips to American Indian reservations, and they traveled to summer and winter schools in places such as Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 1977 after he retired from the University of Utah, Jalii and Badri moved to Santa Monica, California, where Jalil continued to serve as an Auxiliary Board member and to be involved in teaching activities throughout the United States and abroad.
Dr. Jalil Mahmoudi died on March 8, 1996, in Santa Monica. He had been married to Badri for fifty—six years. He left three children, Homa, Massood, and Hoda Mahmoudi, and through them, three grandchildren, Jason Cameron Snibbe, Naysan Jalil Mahmoudi, and Bijan Mahmoudi DaBell.