Shídrukh Amír-Kíyá Baqá

Shídrukh Amír-Kíyá Baqá

Shídrukh Amír-Kíyá Baqá (October 7, 1935 - January 4, 1982) was a Persian Bahá’í who was martyred in Iran.

Biography

Baqá was born into a Bahá’í family in Tehran in 1935. Her father was Ruhu'llah Mithaqiyan and her mother was Ruhaniyyih Iqrari. Her paternal grandfather, Haji Dawud Mithaqiyan, was an early Jewish Bahá’í of Kashan and had met with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Holy Land. Her maternal grandfather was also a prominent member of the Kashan Bahá’í community and had ben arrested for protesting the persecution of the Kashan Bahá’ís to the Governor. In 1951 she married Manuchihr Baqá and they had a daughter and two sons.

Baqá was notably the first person to record a Prayer written by Shoghi Effendi to musical accompaniment recording an arrangement with piano which was approved of by the Hands of the Cause in Iran and distributed across the country and being played at Bahá’í gatherings. In her professional career she worked as a presenter on Iran's national television network demonstrating cooking and other domestic chores. She went on pilgrimage at some point and was inspired and reinvigorated in her faith going on to attend international conferences in London, Palermo, Alaska, and Brazil. In 1980 she visited the United States to attend her daughters wedding and her children and sisters urged her to remain in America due to the escalating persecution in Iran but she resolved to return to Iran. She assisted the Bahá’í community of Iran in the wake of the Revolution arranging secret Bahá’í meetings in homes across Tehran including her own home and housing and supporting the families of martyred Bahá’ís.

On November 2, 1981, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tehran met in the Baqá's home. The meeting was raided and the Baqá's were arrested alongside the Assembly members and taken to Evin prison. Baqá was tortured during her imprisonment being taken to the roof of the prison where cold water was poured on her and she was then left in the open in the cold causing her to contract pneumonia. During her imprisonment she was pressured to recant her Faith but refused. Several times she was also offered release if she would sign a document stating that she would no longer participate in Bahá’í administrative activities. Her husband signed the document and was released and asked her to also sign, but she refused feeling that the document would be presented as a recantation in order to demoralize the Bahá’í community of Iran.

She was executed by firing squad on January 4, 1982, alongside six members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tehran. Her body was not returned to her family. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following in a message after her passing:

MARTYRDOM SHIDRUKH AMIR-KIYA WIFE MANUCHIHR BAQA SIGNIFICANT. SHE AND HUSBAND WERE HOSTS LOCAL ASSEMBLY TIHRAN WHEN THEIR HOME RAIDED AND BOTH WERE ARRESTED ALONG WITH SIX MEMBERS ASSEMBLY. AS IN OTHER CASES PRESSURE WAS BROUGHT RECANT FAITH SAVE LIVES. UNFORTUNATELY APPEARS HUSBAND DID NOT STAND TST AND AS PUBLISHED NESPAPERS RENOUNCED FAITH AND WAS IMMEDIATELY RELEASED. HE INCREASED PRESSURE HIS WIFE SHIDRUKH BY PLEADING HER FOLLOW HIM. SHE CHOSE CROWN MARTYRDOM REFUSED BETRAY HER FAITH AND JOINED RANK IMMORTALS. HISTORY WILL EVER EXTOL EXEMPLARY COURAGE RESOLUTE FAITH ONE WHO SACRIFICED HER LIFE THRESHOLD HER BELOVED.