Elevated by Baha’u’llah to “a ‘station such as none other woman hath surpassed,’ and comparable in rank to those immortal heroines such as Sarah, Asiyih, the Virgin Mary, Fatimih and Tahirih, each of whom has outshone every member of her sex in previous Dispensations.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
I remember dimly very happy days with my beloved father and mother, and my brother ‘Abbás, who was two years my senior . . .
We used to go to our house in the country sometimes; my brother ‘Abbás and I loved to play in the beautiful gardens, where grew many kinds of wonderful fruits and flowers and flowering trees; but this part of my early life is a very dim memory.
- Bahíyyih Khánum (Quoted by Lady Blomfield in ‘Chosen Highway’)
The thought was borne in today, as I gazed at the friends assembled in this meeting in this majestic setting, that the House of Justice is beginning to forge its links and bonds with the Greatest Holy Leaf. Why? Following so close upon the fiftieth anniversary of her passing, the very first meeting in the permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice is held in her name. The architect of this building, Mr. Husayn Amanat, today confirmed my recollection that he had deliberately designed the dome of this building to be reminiscent of the dome on the monument erected at the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf. If we compare these two domes we will see the resemblance in broad outline. He did so, he said, because of the well-known statement of Shoghi Effendi in which he likened the administrative order of the Faith of Baha’u’llah to the monument of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the dome representing the Universal House of Justice.
This building, itself, standing so close to her resting-place, caused me to reflect, as I stood outside: upon yet another symbolism. It is as though someone were standing with his arms outstretched in a semicircle, this arc, the world administrative seat of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, encircling the consecrated spot where these three precious souls are buried, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and Navvab -- chief among them the Greatest Holy Leaf. Thus we are now witnessing the forging of bonds at the World Centre of the Faith between the Universal House of Justice and the Greatest Holy Leaf.
- ‘’Ali Nakhjavan (‘The Greatest Holy Leaf: A Reminiscence’; excerpts from an address presented during the World Centre seminar commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, held in the reception concourse, permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice, 17 July 1982; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)
No sooner had ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stepped upon the shores of the European and American continents than our beloved Khánum found herself well-nigh overwhelmed with thrilling messages, each betokening the irresistible advance of the Cause in a manner which, not withstanding the vast range of her experience, seemed to her almost incredible. The years in which she basked in the sunshine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s spiritual victories were, perhaps, among the brightest and happiest of her life. Little did she dream when, as a little girl, she was running about, in the courtyard of her Father’s house in Tihrán, in the company of Him Whose destiny was to be one day the chosen Center of God’s indestructible Covenant, that such a Brother would be capable of achieving, in realms so distant, and among races so utterly remote, so great and memorable a victory.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 17 July 1932; ‘The Baha’i World 1932-1934)
During a ten-year sojourn in Baghdad, Bahíyyih Khánum “grew into a beautiful girl, very much like her lovely mother in grace of body and character, a gentle, slender maiden with large grey-blue eyes, golden-brown hair, and warm, ivory-colored skin. Her sense of humour was keen and her intelligence remarkable.” (‘The Chosen Highway’ by Lady Blomfield)
Lady Blomfield who interviewed Bahíyyih Khánum writes about her decision to remain unmarried and the reason behind it: “As she grew up, she implored her Father to allow her to remain unmarried, that she might the better devote herself to her three dearly loved ones. [1] And so it was.” Lady Blomfield then recounts what she had heard from an old man, a friend of Bahá’u’lláh, Who had once said to him: “I know no man worthy to marry such purity as my daughter.” In response to her question, “Khánum must have been very lovely?” The man had said: “I have been told so; naturally, I never saw her.” (‘The Chosen Highway’ by Lady Blomfield)
- Baharieh Rouhani Ma’ani (‘The Greatest Holy Leaf’s unparalleled role in religious history and the significance of the Arc, the site of her resting place’, Presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #121 [English], Louhelen Bahá'í Center: Davison, Michigan, USA, October 10–13, 2013 published in Lights of Irfan, volume 15)
[1] Her parents, Bahá’u’lláh and Ásíyih Khánum, and her
brother, 'Abdu’l- Bahá
The ladies of the blessed family eagerly explained to us the loftiness of her spiritual station, which we instantly felt but could not analyze. They told us that Bahá’u’lláh had written for her a precious Tablet (letter) in which He had stated that so great was her spiritual attainment that her prayers would always be accepted at the Throne of God, and that her supplications and interventions for others would never fail to be answered. Thus she was set apart as the purest and most saintly of women, and through her He glorified the position of woman in this New Day. All this was recognized by the maid-servants, whether wise or simple, high or low. It was touching to witness their humble homage, scarcely less than that accorded ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself as, reverently touching her shoulder with lips and forehead, they would beg her to supplicate at the Holy Threshold in their behalf, the while their tears fell like rain.
- Ella Goodall Cooper (‘Bahiyyih Khanum – an Appreciation’; Star of the West, vol. 23, no. 7, October 1932)