Muhammad Nazimu’l-Hukama

Siyyid Muhammad ‘Alá'í
Born	1853
Died	1920
Spouse(s)	Khadijih "Bibi Jan", Mohtaram, and 1 other.
Children	Ziya, Rubabih, Shu'á'u'lláh, Ni‘mat, Chahab, 'Ata'u'llah, Rida, Qudsiyyih, Diya'u'llah, Mihdi, and 2 more.

Siyyid Muhammad ‘Alá'í Nazimu’l-Hukama (1853 - 1920), also known Nazimu’l-Attibá, was an early Persian Bahá’í who joined the religion during the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh.

Biography

Muhammad was born in Gilan, Iran, into a family in which the tradition was for members to join the Islamic clergy and he completed several theology degrees in his youth. His friend, ‘Andalíb, became a Bahá’í and he attempted to persuade ‘Andalíb to remain a Muslim however he instead became a Bahá’í after receiving a Tablet revealed for him by Bahá’u’lláh delivered by Kázim-i-Samandar at the age of nineteen.

After accepting the Faith Muhammad began actively promoting the religion which resulted in him being denounced as a heretic in Gilan and he fled to Tihran where he lived in poverty for many years, however he was eventually able to study at medical school graduating in approximately 1882. He became a physician at the court of the Shah and during a plague outbreak he was entrusted with caring for the Crown Prince outside of Tehran.

He married Khadijih, better known as Bibi Jan, at some point who was a relative of the early Bábí Mírzá Aḥmad-i-Azghandí. He remarried twice with his last wife being Mohtaram Khanum.

In total he had twelve children. His children included Ziya, who also became a doctor and passed during a typhoid outbreak during his lifetime, a daughter, Rubabih, who also passed before him, Shu'á'u'lláh, who was born in 1889 and became a Hand of the Cause, Ni'mat born in 1890, and Chahab born in 1911. In approximately 1896 Muhammad wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and received a Prayer revealed for Shu'á'u'lláh in the reply.

In 1899 Muhammad helped found the Tarbiyat Bahá’í School and enrolled his children in the School. In the 1910's he helped distribute bread during a famine which affected Iran.