Bahaipedia:Today's featured individual/December
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Today is Friday, August 1, 2025; it is now 12:25 UTC
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- December 1
Ṭáhirih an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá’ís, and often mentioned in Bahá’í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. Ṭáhirih also holds a unique theological importance; as she is explained by the Báb to be the spiritual return of Fátimih, daughter of Prophet Muḥammad, and one of the fourteen Shi‘i infallibles. In 1848 Bahá’u’lláh made arrangements for Ṭáhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Ṭáhirih by Bahá’u’lláh, which means "the Pure One".
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- December 2
Violet McKinley (1882-1959) was a pioneer and Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to Cyprus. Born at Enfield, north of London, into the prosperous trading environment of the late Victorian epoch, Violet McKinley (née Watson) was blessed with two great spiritual advantages: an extremely delicate constitution, which kept the thought of the other world very close, and a persistently inquiring mind - she always wanted to know 'Why?' This condition was stimulated by an orthodox but solid education at home. Too frail to go to school, she had a continental governess for eight years, with hard study of the nineteenth century romantics: Schiller, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Heine, Lamartine, etc. Her study was conducted all in German on week, all in French the other, and this, coupled with a deep religious sense that had been instilled in her by a very narrow but thoroughly sincere and right minded nurse during her early childhood, developed a viewpoint totally unsympathetic to the shallow and materialistic background of her class and daily life.
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- December 3
Martha Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá’í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá’í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously. Known by her numerous visits with Heads of State and other public figures. Of special importance was her efforts with Queen Marie of Romania, considered the first Monarch to accept Bahá’u’lláh. Introduced to the Faith in 1909 by meeting Roy C. Wilhem she spent several months researching the religion and met several members of the Bahá’í community, including Thornton Chase and Arthur Agnew in Chicago, and she, later in that year, declared her faith in the Bahá’í teachings. During this time, she kept on writing and in 1909 she wrote a detailed article for the Pittsburgh Post about the history and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. She also participated in the first annual Bahá’í convention, which took place in Chicago in 1911.
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- December 4
Leroy Ioas (1896 - 1965) was a Hand of the Cause of God of the Bahá’í Faith. In 1952 he was appointed to the International Bahá’í Council, precursor to the Universal House of Justice where he served until 1961 as Secretary General. Leroy's service to the Faith was outstanding and inspiring to his communities. In 1912 he led his parents to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a crowded hotel lobby by the radiance which enveloped Him. Although only sixteen, he took the Master for his guide, and was aware of His guidance at several critical periods of his life. He was present when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone of the Temple in Wilmette - his father had helped to draft the petition to the Master for permission to build it - and as a young man he taught classes on its grounds.
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- December 5
Hají Ákhúnd was an eminent follower of Bahá’u’lláh, Hand of the Cause, and Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh. He was living in Mashhad when he accepted the message of The Báb, this caused him to be immediately expelled from the city and the college he was attending. He eventually settled in Tihrán where he accepted Bahá’u’lláh and became a Bahá’í. It is recorded that when there was an outburst against the Bahá’ís in Tihrán, he would wrap his cloak around himself and sit waiting for the guards to come and arrest him.
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- December 6
Leroy Ioas (1896 - 1965) was a Hand of the Cause of God of the Bahá’í Faith. In 1952 he was appointed to the International Bahá’í Council, precursor to the Universal House of Justice where he served until 1961 as Secretary General. Leroy's service to the Faith was outstanding and inspiring to his communities. In 1912 he led his parents to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a crowded hotel lobby by the radiance which enveloped Him. Although only sixteen, he took the Master for his guide, and was aware of His guidance at several critical periods of his life. He was present when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone of the Temple in Wilmette - his father had helped to draft the petition to the Master for permission to build it - and as a young man he taught classes on its grounds.
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- December 7
Edward Browne was a British orientalist who published many books and articles on the Bábí and Bahá’í religions. Browne was born in Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire on February 7, 1862 and is best known to modern Bahá’ís for his description of his meeting with Bahá’u’lláh. Browne's scholarly reputation has endured until the present. His mastery of Iranian culture and thought has been equaled by few Westerners before or since, and his scholarship, as well as the eloquence and grace of his literary style, have given his works permanent value, even after great changes in scholarly methodology. The Iranians, despite their early suspicion about his interest in the Bábís, accepted him as a loyal friend for his scholarship, his political support, and his sympathetic understanding of their culture and literature.
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- December 8
Shaykh Ahmad (1753 - 1826) was the founder of a 19th century Shi'i school in the Persian and Ottoman empires, whose followers are known as Shaykhís. He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula), educated in Bahrain and the theological centers of Najaf and Karbilá in Iraq. Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran, he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty. At about age forty, began to study in earnest in the Shi'i centres of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf. He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid, an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. Most interestingly, he declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Qur'an, and that to excel in the sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Qur'an.
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- December 9
Charles Dunning was a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to the Orkney Islands. Dunning was born, it would seem, to uphold the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh at the inception of its second century and to serve as a soldier of courage and fortitude in the greatest spiritual crusade of mankind's history. His pioneering road opened in March 1948 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Moving amongst the people of Belfast, Charles soon met its difficulties, "the suspicion and mistrust" - "there is a terrifying bitterness here" - the religious antagonism which greatly puzzled him. "for how can we say we love God, whom we have never seen, if we do not love all those around us, whom we can see?" He perceived that Belfast would "make great strides" should it come to understand the Bahá’í teachings. Within ten weeks he was arranging the first public meetings, to which George Townshend and his son Brian came from Dublin to speak.
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- December 10
Mildred Clark was a pioneer and Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to the Lofoten Islands. Mildred Clark choose pioneering as her field of service from the earliest days of her association with the Bahá’í Faith, and she never relaxed in her service. In the first Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) assigned to the United States she pioneered to Denver, Colorado. In 1946, at the inception of the second Seven Year Plan (1946-1953), she offered to go to Europe and was requested by the European Teaching Committee to settle in Norway where, in 1948, she assisted in the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of Oslo. In January, 1950 she pioneered to the Netherlands and in 1952 she was asked to go to Luxembourg.
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- December 11
Mírzá Mahmúd was an eminent follower of Bahá’u’lláh and the only Iranian Bahá’í teacher who was given the chance to meet face to face with a Qajar Shah. He was later identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh. During his life the Islamic divines of Dúghábád caused the governor of the district to have Mírzá Mahmúd arrested for being a Bahá’í. He was sent in chains to Mashhad where from his prison-cell he managed to secretly send a letter to Nasiri'd-Din Shah, who issued an order for his release. The clerics of Mashhad managed to have him exiled, rather than set free, to a remote corner of Khorasan named Kalát.
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- December 12
Hají Ákhúnd was an eminent follower of Bahá’u’lláh, Hand of the Cause, and Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh. He was living in Mashhad when he accepted the message of The Báb, this caused him to be immediately expelled from the city and the college he was attending. He eventually settled in Tihrán where he accepted Bahá’u’lláh and became a Bahá’í. It is recorded that when there was an outburst against the Bahá’ís in Tihrán, he would wrap his cloak around himself and sit waiting for the guards to come and arrest him.
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- December 13
Mabel Grace Geary was a pioneer and Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to Cape Breton Island. While attending the first All-American International Teaching Conference in Chicago in 1953 the stirring message of the Guardian inspired Grace to offer to pioneer at the beginning of the Ten Year Spiritual Crusade. The difficult years spent in Cape Brenton Island were surmounted by her unwavering faith and characteristic courage. Her volunteer services as librarian at the public library in Baddeck afforded her excellent opportunities to spread the Glad Tidings of Bahá’u’lláh. Always ready to meet a need in the Cause, she returned to Charlottetown in 1961 to help complete the Spiritual Assembly there.
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- December 14
Richard Nolen was a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to Azores. He was born in Almont, Michigan, March 14, 1914. In 1948, through an advertisement in the area newspaper, he learned of the Bahá’í Faith and met Kenneth and Roberta Christian in Lansing, Michigan. He immediately accepted the Bahá’í Cause and it became the dominating passion of his life. He participated in local, state and national activities and was a tireless, humble and successful teacher. Responding to the call of the beloved Guardian for pioneers to arise in the Ten Year Crusade, Mr. Nolen and his family immediately volunteered to go to a virgin territory. It was suggested by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States that he go to the Azores Islands where the climate is mild.
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- December 15
Munírih Khánum was born Fátimih Nahrí, but called Fátimih Khánum (Persian: فاطمه خانم), she was born while her father and uncle, Mírzá Hádíy-i-Nahrí, where present at the Conference of Badasht which roughly puts her birthdate between June and July of 1848. Fátimih Khánum's birthdate has sometimes been incorrectly said to be 1846-7 however, her birth was clearly stated as occuring during the Conference of Badasht (1848). Her father was Mírzá Muhammad `Alíy-i-Nahrí. He had been married before, but had no children. The Báb, gave her father some sweets that he ate, and Mírzá Muhammad `Alíy-i-Nahrí saved some for his wife and gave it to her. Eight months and nine days later she was born. Fátimih spent her childhood and early youth in Isfahan. As a young woman, Fátimih Khánum was considered a suitable match for marriage to Bahá’í families throughout Iran.
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- December 16
Bahíyyih Khánum titled The Greatest Holy Leaf (1846 - July 15, 1932) was the second child and first daughter of Bahá’u’lláh and his wife Ásíyih Khánum. Known by the Persian friends as "Ḥadrat-i-Varaqiyih-'Ulyá" meaning Her Holiness the Greatest Holy Leaf. Beloved by the Bahá’ís, she is regarded as one of the greatest woman to have ever lived. Bahá’u’lláh states: "Verily, We have elevated thee to the rank of one of the most distinguished among thy sex, and granted thee, in My court, a station such as none other woman hath surpassed." She exemplified piety, selflessness and devotion, Shoghi Effendi writes: "May God help us to follow her example.."
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- December 17
Amatu'l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum (August 8, 1910 - January 19, 2000), born Mary Maxwell, was the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921-1957. She was appointed by him as a Hand of the Cause, and served an important role in the transfer of authority from 1957-1963. In 2004, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation viewers voted her number 44 on the list of "greatest Canadians" on the television show 'The Greatest Canadian. Mary Sutherland Maxwell was the long awaited child of William Sutherland Maxwell the renowned Canadian architect and May Maxwell the famous Bahá’í teacher.
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- December 18
Ásíyih Khánum (c. 1820-1886) (Arabic: آسیه خانم), later and more widely known by her title Navváb, is Bahá’u’lláh's first and most well known wife. She is the daughter of Mirza Isma'il-i-Vazir, a nobleman. Among Bahá’ís she is viewed as a paragon of a perfect woman, similar to Mary, mother of Jesus in Christianity, or Khadijah in Islám. Contemporaries describe her as a great beauty. Her daughter Bahá’íyyih Khánum describes her in "The Chosen Highway" vividly; "I first remember her, tall, slender, graceful, eyes of dark blue - a pearl, a flower amongst women". Bahá’u’lláh also named her the Most Exalted Leaf and declared her his "perpetual consort in all the worlds of God."
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- December 19
Quddús (Arabic: قدوس)(c.1820-1849) was the most prominent disciple of the Báb, and the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living. He met the Báb in 1844 while in the city of Shiraz, and immediately recognized Him as the Promised One. Soon afterward, he traveled with Him as His companion on pilgrimage to Mecca, where he conveyed a letter written by the Báb to the Sharif of Mecca. Four years later, he was a pivotal figure at the Conference of Badasht. He was killed shortly after the battle of Shaykh Tabarsi in 1849, at the hands of an angry mob.
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- December 20
Siyyid Kázim (Arabic: سيد كاظم بن قاسم الحسيني الرﺷتي) (1793-1843) was the son of Sayyid Qasim of Rasht, a town in northern Iran. He was appointed as the successor of Shaykh Ahmad, and led the Shaykhí movement until his death. He came from a family of well known merchants. He was a Mullah who, through study of the Islamic writing told his students about the coming of the Mahdi and the "Masih" (the return of Christ) and taught them how to recognize them. After his death in 1843, many of his students spread out around Asia, Europe and Africa for the search.
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- December 21
Ṭáhirih an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá’ís, and often mentioned in Bahá’í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. Ṭáhirih also holds a unique theological importance; as she is explained by the Báb to be the spiritual return of Fátimih, daughter of Prophet Muḥammad, and one of the fourteen Shi‘i infallibles. In 1848 Bahá’u’lláh made arrangements for Ṭáhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Ṭáhirih by Bahá’u’lláh, which means "the Pure One".
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- December 22
Shaykh Ahmad (1753 - 1826) was the founder of a 19th century Shi'i school in the Persian and Ottoman empires, whose followers are known as Shaykhís. He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula), educated in Bahrain and the theological centers of Najaf and Karbilá in Iraq. Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran, he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty. At about age forty, began to study in earnest in the Shi'i centres of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf. He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid, an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. Most interestingly, he declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Qur'an, and that to excel in the sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Qur'an.
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- December 23
Ṭáhirih an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran. As a prominent Bábí she is highly regarded by Bahá’ís, and often mentioned in Bahá’í literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights. Ṭáhirih also holds a unique theological importance; as she is explained by the Báb to be the spiritual return of Fátimih, daughter of Prophet Muḥammad, and one of the fourteen Shi‘i infallibles. In 1848 Bahá’u’lláh made arrangements for Ṭáhirih to leave Tehran and attend a conference of Bábí leaders in Badasht. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in public without her veil in the course of this conference signalling that the Islamic Sharia law was abrogated and superseded by Bábí law. It was at the Badasht conference that she was given the title Ṭáhirih by Bahá’u’lláh, which means "the Pure One".
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- December 24
Varqá was an eminent follower of Bahá’u’lláh and was referred to by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as a Hand of the Cause of God and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh wrote a tablet addressed to Varqá regarding the high station of the King and Beloved of Martyrs. "His executioner, Hajibu'd Dawlih, was particularly enraged with his prisoners, and brought out Varqá and Rúhu'lláh into an inner room. Varqá's calm reply to questioning further maddened his captors. The executioner plunged a dagger into the chest of Varqá saying 'How are you?' to which Varqá repllied 'Feeling better than you'. Hajibu'd Dawlih then asked him which should die first, him or his son Rúhu'lláh, to which Varqá replied 'It is the same to me.'"
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- December 25
Badí‘ was the title of Mírzá Áqá Buzurg-i-Nishapuri, also known by his title the Pride of Martyrs, was the son of `Abdu'l-Majid-i-Nishapuri, a highly praised follower of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. Badí‘ is most famous for being the bearer of a tablet written by Bahá’u’lláh to Nasiri'd-Din Shah. He received the tablet in Haifa to avoid being caught by Ottoman officials, from there he travelled on foot for four months to Tehran. Along the way he was reported to "be full of joy, laughter, gratitude and forbearance. The delivery of this tablet caused him to be tortured and killed at the age of 17. The Bahá’í calendar, known as the Badí‘ calendar, was named in his honour. He is also one of the foremost Apostles of Bahá’u’lláh.
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- December 26
May Bolles Maxwell (1870-1940) was an early American Bahá’í, is best known as the mother of Rúhíyyih Khanum, and the wife of William Sutherland Maxwell. She was among the first group of pilgrims to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in February 1899. She was also an early participant at Green Acre, the first Bahá’í training facility in the United States. In 1927 she was a member of the joint National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada.
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- December 27
Edward Browne was a British orientalist who published many books and articles on the Bábí and Bahá’í religions. Browne was born in Uley near Dursley in Gloucestershire on February 7, 1862 and is best known to modern Bahá’ís for his description of his meeting with Bahá’u’lláh. Browne's scholarly reputation has endured until the present. His mastery of Iranian culture and thought has been equaled by few Westerners before or since, and his scholarship, as well as the eloquence and grace of his literary style, have given his works permanent value, even after great changes in scholarly methodology. The Iranians, despite their early suspicion about his interest in the Bábís, accepted him as a loyal friend for his scholarship, his political support, and his sympathetic understanding of their culture and literature.
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- December 28
Malietoa Tanumafili II (1913–2007) (also called Susuga) was the Malietoa, the title of one of Samoa's four paramount chiefs, and the head of state, or O le Ao o le Malo, a position that he held for life, of Samoa from 1962 to 2007. Malietoa Tanumafili II was a Bahá’í—the second royal (after Queen Marie of Romania) to join the Faith. The House of Worship in Tiapapata, eight kilometers from the country's capital of Apia, was dedicated by him in 1984. The Universal House of Justice wrote upon his passing: "His service to the people of Samoa as Head of State was distinguished by the high principles, genuine compassion and personal humility that characterized the constancy of his concern for the welfare of all..."
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- December 29
Leroy Ioas (1896 - 1965) was a Hand of the Cause of God of the Bahá’í Faith. In 1952 he was appointed to the International Bahá’í Council, precursor to the Universal House of Justice where he served until 1961 as Secretary General. Leroy's service to the Faith was outstanding and inspiring to his communities. In 1912 he led his parents to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a crowded hotel lobby by the radiance which enveloped Him. Although only sixteen, he took the Master for his guide, and was aware of His guidance at several critical periods of his life. He was present when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone of the Temple in Wilmette - his father had helped to draft the petition to the Master for permission to build it - and as a young man he taught classes on its grounds.
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- December 30
John Esslemont was a Prominent British Bahá’í from Scotland and author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era. John Ebenezer Esslemont was born in Aberdeen on May 19, 1874 the third son and fourth child of John E. Esslemont (1859-1927), a successful merchant, and Margaret Esslemont (neé Davidson). He came from an eminent family and was educated at Ferryhill School, Robert Gordon College, and Aberdeen University. He graduated in medicine in 1898 with honorable distinction. Unfortunately, Esslemont had contracted tuberculosis during his college days and this caused him to give up his promising career in medical research. He spent some time in Australia and South Africa and married Jean Fraser, his sister's piano teacher, to whom he was drawn by their mutual interest in music.
- December 31
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl (1844-1914) was a preeminent Iranian Bahá’í scholar and author, who also contributed a great deal to the advance of the Bahá’í Faith in Turkmenistan, Egypt, and the United States. Mirza Abu'l-Fadl was born in a village near Gulpaygan, central Iran between June-July in 1844. His given name was Muhammad and he chose for himself the epithet Abu'l-Fadl (progenitor of virtue), but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently addressed him as Abu'l-Fada'il (progenitor of virtues). While he was living in Tehran, he had several encounters with Bahá’ís, starting in about the beginning of 1876. On one occasion he was astonished at the perceptiveness of an illiterate farrier whom he was told was a Bahá’í, and after word soon spread of his conversion and he was dismissed from his post at the religious college.
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Today's featured individual archive
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
Today is Friday, August 1, 2025; it is now 12:25 UTC
