Rúhá Khánum
Rúḥá Khánum (1880 - ????) was the third daughter of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.[1]
Background[edit]
Rúḥá was born in Akka in 1880 to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Munírih Khánum.[2] She was the twin sister of Túbá Khánum.[3] At some point she married her maternal cousin Mírzá Jalál Shahid and they had two sons, Munib and Hasan, and three daughters, Maryam, Duha, and Zahra.[4]
During the early 1940's Rúhá and her family maintained contact with several people expelled from the community as Covenant-breakers, with their daughter Zahra marrying Ruhi Afnan,[5] however Shoghi Effendi did not issue any communications until November, 1944, when Rúhá and Jalál gave approval for their son Munib to marry the daughter of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.[6]
Shoghi Effendi issued the following cable following this event and Rúhá was expelled from the community:
"Monib Shahid, grandson of both Abdu'l-Baha and the King of Martyrs, married according to the Moslem rites the daughter of a political exile who is nephew of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. This treacherous act of alliance with enemies of the Faith merits condemnation of entire Baha'i world."[7]
In 1948 Rúhá's family left the Holy Land in the wake of the Arab-Israeli war due to their links to the Arab community.[8] In 1951 her son Hasan married a granddaughter of Covenant-breaker Siyyid ‘Alí Afnán which Shoghi Effendi noted in a cable.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani, Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees, George Ronald: Oxford, 2009, p 360
- ↑ Ruha Khanum at findagrave
- ↑ Graham Hassall, Ambassador at the Court: The Life and Photography of Effie Baker, Baha'i Library Online, 1999, Chapter 6
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 1992, p 358
- ↑ Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani, Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees, George Ronald: Oxford, 2009, p 361
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 1992, p 361
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 1992, p 361
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 1992, p 363
- ↑ Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani, Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees, George Ronald: Oxford, 2009, p 362
