Baha'iyyih Khanum
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-07-05 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Moojan Momen, Baha'iyyih Khanum, New York: Columbia University, 1989, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Bahá'íyyih Khánum

Moojan Momen
published in Encyclopaedia IranicaVolume 3

New York: Columbia University, 1989

BAHĀʾĪYA ḴĀNOM (b. 1262/1846, Tehran), eldest daughter of Bahāʾ-Allāh and considered by Bahais as the “outstanding heroine of the Bahai Dispensation” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, Wilmette, 1965, p. 108). She was named Fāṭema but is better known by her titles of Bahāʾīya Ḵānom, Bahīya Ḵānom and Ḥażrat-e Waraqa-ye ʿOlyā (usually translated as the Greatest Holy Leaf). From the age of seven, she accompanied her father and family in the successive stages of their exile (Baghdad, Istanbul, Edirne, and finally ʿAkkā). During these years, she refused to marry and dedicated herself to the service of her father and the organization of the household. When Bahāʾ-Allāh died in 1892 and most of his family turned against ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, she remained loyal to her brother.

Bahāʾīya Ḵānom’s most important contributions were however reserved for her advanced years, when she occupied an increasingly important position, complementing her brother’s role, and later nurturing and supporting Shoghi Effendi in the early years of his ministry. She also met Bahais who came to Haifa as pilgrims, maintained an extensive correspondence, and acted as custodian of relics and archives. She was put in charge of affairs during ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ’s travels, 1911-14, and on several occasions during Shoghi Effendi’s absences from Haifa. Those who met her describe her as possessing a quiet, self-effacing nature, a remarkable combination of outward frailty and inner strength. She died in Haifa on 15 July 1932.

According to Bahai teaching, there is in each religious dispensation one woman (the Virgin Mary, Fāṭema the daughter of Moḥammad, and, in the Babi dispensation, Qorrat-al-ʿAyn Ṭāhera) who outshines all others and becomes an embodiment of feminine virtues and even a symbol of the feminine aspects of the Divine. Bahāʾīya Ḵānom fills this role in the Bahai dispensation.

Bibliography : A commemorative volume entitled Bahīyyih Khānum,the Greatest Holy Leaf, Haifa, 1982, was published on the 50th anniversary of her death. It contains many translations of her previously unpublished writings and also passages written about her by Bahāʾ-Allāh, ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, and Shoghi Effendi. It also has an appendix listing all significant references to her in English-language Bahai publications. Her spoken reminiscences are in Lady [Sara] Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, Wilmette, 1967, pp. 37-69, and M. H. Phelps, Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi, New York and London, 1903, pp. 12-94 (the relevant sections has been reprinted as The Master in ʿAkkā, Los Angeles, 1985). See also M. Gail, Khānum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, Oxford, 1982. J. Savi, Bahīyyih Khānum, ancella di Bahā, Rome, 1983. For a Bahai assessment of her spiritual and symbolic significance, see B. Nakhjavani, Response, Oxford, 1981, pp. 30-35, 40-41.

METADATA

Views8394 views since posted 2002; last edit 2012;

previous at archive.org.../momen_iranica_bahiyyih_khanum;
URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
Language
English
Permission
fair use
Share

Shortlink: bahai-library.com/3458
Citation: ris/3458

select Collection:
Archives
Articles
Articles-unpublished
Audio
Bibliographies
BIC
Biographies
Books
Chronologies
Compilations
Compilations-NSA
Compilations-personal
Documents
East-asia
Encyclopedia
Essays
Etc
Excerpts
Fiction
Glossaries
Guardian
Histories
Introductory
Letters
Maps
Music
Newspapers
NSA-documents
NSA-letters
Personal
Pilgrims
Poetry
Presentations
Resources
Reviews
Scripts
Software
Statistics
Study
Talks
Theses
Transcripts
Translations
UHJ-documents
UHJ-letters
Video
Visual
Writings

home

sitemap

series

chronology

search:
author

title

date

tags

adv. search
languages

inventory

bibliography

abbreviations

links

about

contact

RSS

new
-- Baha'iyyih Khanum (Used by permission of the curator)