The privilege of meeting ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s glorious sister, Bahiyyih Khanum: A pilgrim recalls

It is now thirty-three years since that never-to-be-forgotten first pilgrimage to the Most Great Prison was undertaken by a group of believers from the West and, while many details of the visit have faded into the background, there are certain events and personalities that remain clear and vivid in my memory, and which time seems powerless to efface. Next to meeting the Beloved Master Himself was the privilege of meeting His glorious sister, Bahiyyih Khanum, known as the Greatest Holy Leaf.

Her personality is indelibly imprinted upon my memory. Tall, slender and of noble bearing, her body gave the impression of perfect poise between energy and tranquility, between wiry endurance and inward composure, imparting to the beholder a sense of security, comfort and reliance, impossible to describe.

Her beautiful face was the feminine counterpart of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s the lines of suffering and privation softened by the patient sweetness of the mouth; the dominating brow, bespeaking intellect and will, lighted by the wonderful understanding eyes, in form like those of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but deep blue rather than hazel. Watching their expressive changes—as one moment they darkened with sympathy or pain, the next moment sparkled with laughter and humor—only served to deepen the impression of her irresistible spiritual attraction. 

- Ella Goodall Cooper  (‘Bahiyyih Khanum – an Appreciation’; Star of the West, vol. 23, no. 7, October 1932)

The unique relationship between Bahá’u’lláh and the Greatest Holy Leaf

The writings of Bahá’u’lláh set out the uniqueness of His relationship with His daughter and disclose the dual aspects of that bond. For example, on the physical plane the Greatest Holy Leaf is described as “a leaf that hath sprung from this preexistent Root,” and the tenderness of the father’s love for His daughter is conveyed in the following testimony: 

“How sweet thy presence before Me; how sweet to gaze upon thy face, to bestow upon thee My loving-kindness, to favour thee with My tender care, to make mention of thee in this, My Tablet—a Tablet which I have ordained as a token of My hidden and manifest grace unto thee.”[1]

Beyond the ties of physical relationship, Bahá’u’lláh underlines a transcendent purpose for her physical being, a purpose that relates to her recognition of His station as Manifestation of God and the fulfillment of her purpose in life. He states, "We have created thine eyes to behold the light of My countenance, thine ears to hearken unto the melody of My words, thy body to pay homage before My throne. Do thou render thanks unto God, thy Lord, the Lord of all the world."[2] 

Bahá’u’lláh likewise expresses pleasure at the manner in which she exemplified the spiritual qualities embodied by the Manifestation of God when He states: 

"I can well inhale from thee the fragrance of My love and the sweet-smelling savour wafting from the raiment of My Name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous." [3]

“the towering grandeur of her spiritual life”

Only future generations and pens abler than mine can, and will, pay a worthy tribute to the towering grandeur of her spiritual life, to the unique part she played throughout the tumultuous stages of Bahá’í history, to the expressions of unqualified praise that have streamed from the pen of both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of His Covenant, though unrecorded, and in the main unsuspected by the mass of her passionate admirers in East and West, the share she has had in influencing the course of some of the chief events in the annals of the Faith, the sufferings she bore, the sacrifices she made, the rare gifts of unfailing sympathy she so strikingly displayed—these, and many others stand so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the Cause itself that no future historian of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh can afford to ignore or minimize.

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 17 July 1932; ‘The Baha’i World 1932-1934)

1931: A pilgrim’s impression of the Greatest Holy Leaf

The face of the sister of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahiyyih Khanum, although shadowed by age, was so full of love and a genuine interest in life and people that we did not think of her as old, but rather as ageless and eternal. The freshness of the beauty of love radiating from her captivated us. 

- Sylvia Paine (Star of the West, vol. 23, no. 12, March 1933)

1909 Akka: Juliet Thompson sees the Greatest Holy Leaf for the first time

…we went to the Holy Household to visit the Holy Leaves. I shall never forget that little procession as they entered the room with the dignity of queens, led by the Greatest Holy Leaf. She was all in white: the Greatest Holy Leaf, the daughter of the Blessed Perfection. Her face had the look of one who had passed through crucifixion and was resurrected in another world. In it shone great blue eyes, eyes that had looked upon many sorrows and now were ineffably tender… Behind her came Túbá Khánum and Munavvar Khánum (two of the daughters of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and Munirih Khanum)...

Juliet Thompson (‘The Diary of Juliet Thompson)