Jalál Kháḍih

Jalál Kháḍih
Born	1897 Tehran, Iran
Died	February 21, 1990 Toronto, Canada
NSA member	Iran 1944 - 1948 1954 - ????
Custodian	1957 - 1963
Title(s)	Hand of the Cause Asia 1953 - 1957 1969 - 1984 Holy Land 1957 - 1963 Americas 1963 - 1969 1984 - 1990
Signature

Jalálu’lláh Kháḍih, last name also transliterated Khazeh, Kházeh, (1897 - February 21, 1990) was a Hand of the Cause of God appointed by Shoghi Effendi in 1953.

Life

Jalal Khazeh in the 1950s.

Early Life

Jalál was born into a Bahá'í family in Tehran in 1897. His father, Ghulam-Rida, passed away when he was only seven because of health problems he had due to persecution he had suffered in his home town of Sidih in Isfahan.

Jalál attended the Tarbiyat School in Tehran, which was funded by and administrated by Bahá'ís. He undertook his compulsory military service in the Iranian Army after finishing school, and studied veterinary science at a military academy. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant when he was nineteen, and had achieved the rank of Colonel by the time he retired from the Iranian Army in 1943.

Early Service to the Faith

Jalál served on Bahá'í committees and Local Assemblies from the age of twenty, and he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran in 1944 as Treasurer. He resigned from the Assembly in 1951 so that he could teach the Faith throughout Iran. In 1952 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and considered himself to have been transformed by the experience. He later said that he exhibited pride before meeting Shoghi Effendi, giving the example that he used to ignore the servants who swept the steps of the National Hazíratu’l-Quds in Tehran. Upon returning from pilgrimage he physically embraced these servants, lifting them off the ground.

While Jalál was on pilgrimage Shoghi Effendi instructed him to visit the Bahá'ís throughout Iran and familiarize them with the goals and plans of the Ten Year Crusade. Jalál visited many isolated communities in Iran until Shoghi Effendi sent him a cable instructing him to attend the Kampala Intercontinental Conference and teach in Africa on October 23, 1952 . He attended the Kampala Conference held in February 1953, and visited Abyssinia, Eritrea, Kenya, Kuwait, Masqat and Tannurah before returning to Iran. He continued to travel Iran to teach the Faith after returning to the country. He wrote detailed reports of his travels and teaching work which were delivered to the Holy Land and he received cables expressing encouragement and approval from Shoghi Effendi in return.

Hand of the Cause of God

Jalál Khazeh.

Shoghi Effendi named Jalál a Hand of the Cause on December 7, 1953, following the passing of Siegfried Schopflocher in July that year, but the news did not reach Jalál until December 27 due to his travel schedule. He travelled to Mashhad from Turbat-i-Haydariyyih where he was staying to receive the telegram from Shoghi Effendi appointing him as Hand. Shoghi Effendi had sent a letter requesting that Jalál make an extended visit to Mazandaran, and he travelled to Mazandaran from Mashhad to assist the Bahá'ís there .

In 1954 Jalál was re-elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran. He was also instructed to continue his travel teaching by Shoghi Effendi, and Jalál served on the Assembly from Mazandaran rather than from Tehran. From June 22 to July 10, 1954, Jalál visited Nur and Takur with 'Alí-Akbar Furútan. They visited the House of Baha’u’llah there, and taught some of His distant relatives about the Faith. Jalál and his wife moved to Babul for six months in 1954. He travelled to Shiraz from Babul, and protected the Bahá'í community there from the actions of Covenant-Breakers. In 1956 he facilitated the transfer of the remains of the widow of the Báb from Shiraz.

Jalál represented the Guardian at the Japanese Bahá'í Convention in Tokyo in 1955 and 1957. He also represented the Guardian at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly for North-East Asia in Tokyo in 1957 and presented a vial of attar of roses from the Guardian. He visited Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau the same year, and reported the progress of the Faith in those countries to Shoghi Effendi. He returned to Shiraz from Asia, and then went to Nayriz briefly and lived in the Province of Fars for the rest of the year. When Shoghi Effendi passed in November 1957 Jálal was unable to secure travel documents in time for the Funeral in London.

He travelled to Haifa with 'Alí-Akbar Furútan for the Conclave of the Hands, and he was one of nine Hands of the Cause elected to serve as a Custodian of the Faith. He and his wife moved their residence to Haifa, and lived there until September 1963. One of his duties as Custodian was to take care of Eastern Pilgrims in the Holy Land.

After the Guardian

Jalál (seated, left) speaking at a fireside in Champaign, Illinois, 1965.

While the Custodians were based in the Holy Land, Jalál did have opportunities to travel abroad to serve the Faith. In 1958 he visited Europe for the first time, attending the Frankfurt Intercontinental Conference where he translated the message from the Custodians into Persian. He also visited Brussels to encourage the Bahá'í community there and held a fireside.

In 1960 he lived in India for five months, and he returned to the country in December, 1962 to attend a Teaching Conference at a newly established Teaching Institute in Indore with Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir. He spoke about the importance of a strong relationship between the World Centre and the Indian community at the Conference, and stayed in India for three months after it finished to assist teaching campaigns.

Jalál was present at the first election of the Universal House of Justice and attended the First Bahá'í World Congress in 1963, which represented the end of the Ministry of the Custodians. He visited Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey after the World Congress, before returning to the Holy Land.

He visited Iran from the Holy Land, and in September 1963 he departed Iran for Rio de Janiero, having volunteered to serve as Hand of the Cause for South America on behalf of the Universal House of Justice. He and his wife settled in Campinos, a Brazilian town near Sao Paulo. He attended the fourth National Convention of Bolivia in 1964, where he introduced the Nine Year Plan.

Jalál visited the United States in 1965, visiting Champaign and Urbana, Illinois, and delivering a talk on the growth of the Faith in Asia in Wilmette. In 1967 he called a Conference in Peru which was attended by Auxiliary Board members and members of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru.

Later Years

Jalál (front, left) at Iranian National Convention of 1968

Jalál visited Iran in 1968 to attend the Iranian National Convention and he and his wife moved back to Iran in 1969, living in Tehran. He regularly left Iran to serve the Faith, visiting Africa to represent the Universal House of Justice at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly for Dahomey, Togo and Niger, and the National Spiritual Assembly of Ghana in 1970, and undertaking teaching trips to India, Japan, Alaska, Canada, the United States and Switzerland in 1973. In 1974 he undertook a lengthy tour of South America and the Caribbean, and visited France and the Holy Land. In 1976 Jalál and his wife moved to Babulsar in Mazandaran, and he visited most of the settlements in Mazandaran while living there. In 1978 he attended an International Convention in Haifa.

Jalál was arrested by Revolutionary Guards of the Islamic Republic in the late 1970’s after his wife had passed. He was interrogated and his documents and books were confiscated. He was protected by the Bahá'í community in Tehran after being released, and he left Iran for Canada in 1984 on the advice of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran. He spent his final years in Canada and he is buried in Toronto.

The Universal House of Justice sent the following message after his passing:

DEEPLY GRIEVED ANNOUNCE PASSING STAUNCH TIRELESS PROMOTER FAITH HAND CAUSE GOD JALAL KHAZEH. HIS STRENUOUS ENDEAVORS CRADLE FAITH HOLY LAND LATIN AMERICA AND WORLDWIDE TRAVELS AFTER PASSING BELOVED GUARDIAN SET SHINING EXAMPLE OF UNSHAKEABLE DEDICATION AND COURAGE, OF UNDEVIATING LOYALTY AND PERSEVERANCE. IMPERISHABLE RECORD HIS STERLING SERVICES AS GIFTED TEACHER DEFENDER CAUSE NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN. HIS NOBLE SPIRIT NOW ABHA KINGDOM WILL UNDOUBTEDLY INTERCEDE BEHALF PERSIAN Bahá'í COMMUNITY WHOSE VITAL INTERESTS HE SERVED WITH SUCH HIGH DISTINCTION OVER SEVERAL DECADES. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES FOR PROGRESS HIS ILLUMINED SOUL IN REALMS ON HIGH. ADVISE FRIENDS EVERYWHERE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERINGS HIS HONOR PARTICULARLY ALL HOUSES OF WORSHIP.

Family

Jalál’s father Ghulam-Rida (1869 – 1904) was born in Sidih, Isfahan. He left Sidih as the Bahá'í community was being persecuted, and his first wife, who was not a Bahá'í, left him and remarried despite not formally divorcing him. Ghulam-Rida later married a Bahá'í named Jamaliyyih Khanum, who was the daughter of Jinab-i-Karbila’i Mihdi Tihrani, a Bahá'í who was imprisoned in the Siyah-Chal. Ghulam-Rida and Jamaliyyih had a son, Jalál, and a daughter, Farkhundih (b. 1899).

In 1916 Jalál married Jamaliyyih, daughter of Ustad Hasan-‘Ali Mi’marbashi-i-Kashani. They had three daughters and two sons. Jamaliyyih passed away in Babulsar in the late 1970’s.

Notes

Bahai.media has a related page: Category:Jalál Kháḍih

References

• http://bahai-library.com/pdf/l/list_hands_cause_god.pdf
• Obituary: Baha'i World, Vol. 20, p 788