Who is who         Dates  Scripture


Bahá'u'lláh (1817 - 1892) Founder of the Bahá'í Faith
(born: Mírzá Husayn-'Alíy-i-Núrí)There is a photograph of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa. He requested that no copies of this be made so that Bahá'ís do not end up worshipping an image.
The Báb (1819 - 1850) Founder of the Bábí Faith.
(born: Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad)

Khádíjih Bagum (1820 - 1882)
First wife of The Báb. They married in 1842 and only had one son who died shortly after birth.
She recognizes The Báb's station in early 1844 and recognizes Bahá'u'lláh's in 1867. In 1872 she has The Báb's house in Shiraz restored and takes up residence there.
Fátimih
Second wife of The Báb, married in 1847 while in Isfahan.
She was a sister of a Bábí.


Navváb - The Most Exalted Leaf (c. 1820 - 1886)
Born: Ásíyih Khánum. First wife of Bahá'u'lláh (married in 1835). She gave birth to seven children of whom only three survived infancy:`Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahíyyih Khánum,
and Mírzá Mihdí.
Fátimih Khánum Mahd-i-'Ulyá (1823 - 1904)
Second wife of Bahá'u'lláh (married in 1849) and Bahá'u'lláh's first cousin, a widow. She is the mother of Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí (1853/4 - 1937), Samadíyyih Khánum (1856/7 - ), Sádhijíyyih (1862 - 1863), Mírzá Diyá'u'lláh (1864 - ), and Mírzá Badí'u'lláh (1867 - ), all of whom turned away from the Bahá'í Faith after Bahá'u'lláh's death.


Letters of the Living (1844) The first 18 individuals to recognize The Báb's station of Prophethood (May - August).
A few of these are:

 Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í (c.1813 - 49)
The first "Letter" and delivered the Tablet from the Báb to Bahá'u'lláh. Is under a sort of "house arrest" in Mashdad in 1848. He is shot at the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí after saving Quddus' life.

 Mullá Alíy-i-Bastámí (18?? - 45)
The second "Letter" and first Bábí martyr, dies after a year of imprisonment, in Istanbul.

Sayyid Husayn Yazdí(18?? - 52)
The seventh "Letter" who was the Báb's secretary.
He was killed in Tehran.

Táhirih(1814 - 1852) Born: Fátimih Zarrin Taj Baraghani Umm-Salamih in Qazvin. The 17th "Letter", she is a poet and translates some of The Báb's writings into Persian. Táhirih (meaning 'the pure'), is the name given to her by the Báb. She was also known as Qurrat al-'Ayn (meaning 'solace of the eye').
Quddús (1822 - 49) Born: Mírzá-'Alíy-i-Bárfurúshí.
The 18th "Letter", is imprisoned and tortured in 1845. In 1848 after the conference at Badasht, he is under house arrest in Sari for about 3 months until he joins the other Bábís at the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí. As one of the 202 Bábís tricked into leaving the fortress, he is then publically tortured and dismembered in the public square in Bárfurúsh.
  • His life

Yahyáy-i-Dárábi,surnamed Vahíd (c.1810 - 1850)
Sent by the Sháh as one of the most learned in Persia to investigate the claims of the Báb in 1845. As a result of his conversion most of the town of Nayríz become Bábís. In 1850 his house in Yazd is pillaged by crowds and he travels to Shíráz, ending up in Nayriz. There he proclaims the Cause of God from the pulpit of a mosque which results in a month long siege with the authorities, which is ended when tricked by an oath sworn on the Qur'án. Thirteen of his fellow Bábís severed heads are paraded on lances through the streets of Shíráz a few days before he is martyred.


Mishkín-Qalam (Shíráz, c.1825 - 1912)
(born: Áqá Husayn-i-Isfahání) He was a well known calligrapher and his title meaning "musk-scented" or "jet-black pen" was given to him by the Shah. He was a Sufi and became a follower of Bahá'u'lláh in the 1860's. He created a number of designs which Bahais use today such as the well-known calligrahic design for "God is All Glorious". He was arrested in Constantinople in 1868 and then exiled to Cyprus until 1887 when he travelled to 'Akka and lived there except for journeys on behalf of `Abdu'l-Bahá, until his death.
  • His life

Nabíl-i-A'zam (1831 - 1892)
(born: Áqá Husayn-i-Isfahání) An educated man who was a follower of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. He was a Bahá´í poet of note and wrote the Dawn-Breakers (An account of the Bábí and early Bahá´í period). In 1867/8 he travels throughout Iran and Iraq to to inform the Bábís of the advent of Bahá'u'lláh. In 1868 he is imprisioned in Cairo, sharing the cell with a Christian, Fáris Effendi who is probably the first Christian to become a Bahá´í. He is released from prison and travels to 'Akka, on his second attempt to enter the prison city he is able to stay 81 days meets Mírzá Áqá Ján and then Bahá'u'lláh. In 1890 he presents his book, The Dawn-Breakers Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá for approval.


Mírzá Áqá Ján-i-Kashání (1835 - 19??)
Follower of Bahá'u'lláh and his amanuensis.
  • His Life

Ustád Muhammad-Alíy Salmání
(1835 - 18??)
A barber who first was a Bábí and then a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. From about 1862 onwards he was Bahá'u'lláh's barber. Much of his poetry bears the mark of genuine passion and emotional immediacy. The prose of his memoirs is direct, colloquial and informative.




Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh (1843 - 1914)
A noted court musician and master of the sitar and tar (plucked long-necked lutes). His radif (musical repertoire) is considered to be the main source of contemporary Persian classical music as taught in conservatories and universities in Iran. One of the greatest Persian musicians of the 19th century he was a Bahá'í and received praise and encouragement from `Abdu'l-Bahá. Essay: Bahá'í Influences on Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh...


Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání
(1844 - 1914) A leading clerical philospher,
he becomes a Bahá'í in 1876, after meeting a Bahá'í who was a blacksmith. On becoming a Bahá'í he is dismissed from his post as head of a religious college and was imprisioned for 5 months. Then he worked as the secretary for a Zoroastrian agent in Tehran until he was imprisoned with a large number of other Bahá'ís in 1882 for 22 months. After this he travelled extensively throughout Iran. He spent 10 months in the presence of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1894 and then moved to Cairo on `Abdu'l-Bahá's instruction, converting a number of Sunni students. He travelled to Paris and the U.S. in 1904 - 1906, returning to live in Beirut and Cairo until his death in Cairo.
His numberous works include: Fara'id (The Peerless Gems),1898; The Brilliant Proof, 1912; Bahá'í Proofs, 1902; and Al-Duraru'l-Bahiyyih (The Shining Pearls, published in English as Miracles and Metaphors, 1900.


image to come`Abdu'l-Bahá (1844 - 1921)
Born: 'Abbás Effendi. Son of Bahá'u'lláh and Navváb and leader of the Bahá'í community until 1921. He married Munírih Khánum in 1873 and five daughters survived infancy.


Photo: 1895


Bahíyyih Khánum,
The Greatest Holy Leaf
(1846 - 1932) Daughter of Bahá'u'lláh and Navváb. At the age of seven, she was banished with her family from her homeland. She was well versed in Turkish, Arabic and Persian and chose not to marry so that she could serve the Bahá'í Faith.
She was in charge of affairs at the world centre during `Abdu'l-Bahá's travels in 1912-13 and led the Bahá'í community in the 1920's until the young Shoghi Effendi could take on the responsibility as Guardian of the Bahá'í world community.

image to come Fátimih Khánum (Munírih Khánum)
(Isfahan, 1847 - 1938) Married `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1873 in 'Akka. She gave birth to nine children, five of whom died in infancy. Four daughters survived: Diyá'iyyih (mother of Shoghi Effendi), Túbá Khánum (1880 - ), Rúhá, Munavvar.



Mírzá Mihdí, The Purest Branch
(1848 - 1870)
Son of Bahá'u'lláh and Navváb. He dies after falling through a skylight in the prison and dies 22 hours later.
  • His Life
Auguste Forel  (1848 - 1931)
Swiss Bahá'í a renowned pyschiatrist, entomologist, anatomist, social reformer and peace worker. A letter to `Abdu'l-Bahá asking how he could combine Bahá'í belief with his own agnostic and monist philosophical position elicited the Tablet to Dr Forel.
  • His writing

image to come Badí' (1852 - 1869)
Born: Áqá Buzurg-i-Khurasání. He becomes the water carrier at the House of Bahá'u'lláh in 1868 when the previous one is murdered. In 1868 he is exiled to Mosul, Iraq, while Bahá'u'lláh is exiled to 'Akka. In 1869 wearing the clothes of a simple water bearer he enters the city of 'Akka unsuspected, having walked from Mosul (about 1000km). He meets Bahá'u'lláh twice and travels for four months to Iran to deliver a Tablet for Bahá'u'lláh to the Sháh. He delivers this and is tortured and executed.
  • His life
  • The Dawn-Breakers

Susan Moody (1851 - 1934)
She become a Bahá'í in Chicago in 1903 and moved to Iran in 1909 to help a group of Bahá'í doctors to set up a hospital. As well as treating her own patients, she also trained Iranian women in basic nursing and midwivery and in 1910 helped to establish a school for girls in Tehran. There is a biography about her in American Bahá'í Women by J.Armstrong-Ingram.
Link to an article and a song about her

Corinne True  (1861 - 1961)
An American Bahá'í (1899), she was the force behind the project to build the Bahá'í Temple in the Chicago area, and one of those Shoghi Effendi consulted with about the future of the Bahá'í Faith in 1922. She was active in the Bahá'í communities in the U.S. and after World War II, also in Europe.
  • Biography: Corinne True: Faithful Handmaid of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
    by Nathan Rustein, 1987, George Ronald, Oxford, U.K.

Edward Granville Browne (1862 - 1926)
A noted English orientalist who wrote extensively on the Bábí and Báhá'í religions. He spent 12 months in Persia in 1887-8 (Written about in A Year Amongst the Persians, 1893) where he sought contact with the Bábís. He gave the first lecture in the West on the Báhá'í Faith in 1889 in Newcastle. He had four meetings with Bahá'u'lláh in 1890 which is recorded in Travellers Narrative (1891) by `Abdu'l-Bahá which Browne translated.
  • Biography: Edward Granville Browne and the Bahá'í Faith, by H.M. Balyuzi, George Ronald, 1970, Oxford, U.K.
  • His writing to come
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A.L.M. Nicholas (1864 - 1939) A French consular official and orientalist born in Iran, who translated both versions of the Bayán into French.
  • His writing

Mary Ellis Maxwell (née Bolles)(1870 - 1940)
An early American Bahá'í, she was one of the first to pilgrims to visit `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1899. She returned to Paris to where she had been living and established the beginnings of a community there. She married William Maxwell in 1902 and moved to Montreal, Canada. They had one child, Mary, (later known as Rúhiyyih Khánum), and `Abdu'l-Bahá stayed in their home in 1912. She was very active in Bahá'í activities, both in teaching and administration in the U.S. and Canada. She visited Buenos Aires in 1940 to support Bahá'í activities there and died shortly after her arrival.


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  • Her Life
  • Her books
  • Biographies

Martha Root (1872 - 1939)
Born in Ohio, U.S.A. Died in Honolulu.
A journalist and former school teacher she supported her travels by publishing articles in the U.S. For most of her life, she gave talks about the Bahá'í Faith, wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, put books in libraries, contacted government officials, etc, to promote the Bahá'í teachings.
In 1915 she visited Bahá'í communities in various Asian countries. In 1919 she visited: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile Panama and Cuba. In 1923 she is in Osaka, and then is in China for the next 11 months. In 1924 she gives the first radio broadcast about the Bahá'í Faith in Cape Town. She meets with Queen Marie of Romania who later accepts the Faith in 1926 during her travels through numerous European countries. She attends the first International Religious Congress for World Peace in the Hague in 1928. She also wrote a book on Tahirih.


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Juliet Thompson (1873 - 1956)
An American who became a Bahá'í in 1901 in Paris and was a well-known portrait painter. She was very involved in `Abdu'l-Bahás 1912 visit to New York where she lived and was a neighbour and close friend of the writer, Kahlil Gibran. She was direct and unconventional person who was repeatedly praised by `Abdu'l-Bahá.
  • Her memoirs of being in`Abdu'l-Bahá's presence: The Diary of Juliet Thompson, with a preface by Marzieh Gail, reprinted in 1983, Kalimát Press, U.S.A. "...Not only was she received by `Abdu'l-Bahá in the Holy Land (1909), in Switzerland (1911) and the eastern United States (1912), but she had an artist's eye and a writer's pen, and thus, better perhaps than any, she was able to evoke those so often irretrieveable days and hours."


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Amelia E. Collins (1873 - 1962)
Born in Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
She became a Bahá'í in 1919 and was the first Bahá'í to visit Iceland in 1924. She was a member of the American National Assembly from 1924 for about twenty years and travelled extensively to promote the Faith. In 1951 she was appointed Vice-President of the International Bahá'í Council.


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Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney (1873 - 1928)
Becomes the first French Bahá'í in 1901. Some of the tablets of Bahá'u'lláh he translated into French from Persian and Arabic were the Seven Valleys, the Hidden Words, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Kitab-i-Iqan, the Lawh-i-Aqdas, Lawh-i-Hikmat(Tablet of Wisdom), and various letters to kings and rulers. He translated `Abdu'l-Bahá's Treatise on Politics. He and his wife, Laura Clifford Barney were the first European Bahá'ís to visit Iran in 1906. They travelled extensively and worked together on publications.
  • His writing

John E. Esslemont (1874 - 1926)
A Scottish Bahá'í who wrote the book "Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era", he moved to Haifa in 1924 to help Shoghi Effendi as his English-language secretary.
  • His writing

Louis Gregory (1874 - 1951)
Born of slave parents in South Carolina, U.S.A., he had a law degree. He became a Bahá'í in 1909 in Washington, D.C., and challenged the then de facto segregation in the Bahá'í community. `Abdu'l-Bahá supported him in this and had him sit next to him at a formal luncheon in 1912, clearly disregarding the social convention of the time. `Abdu'l-Bahá also encouraged him to marry a white Bahá'í, Louisa Mathew (1866-1956) making theirs the first US Bahá'í interracial marriage. He spends manys year travelling around the US, especially in the south, giving talks on the Bahá'í Faith.


Biography: To Move the World: Louis G. Gregory and the Advancement of Racial Unity in America,
by Gayle Morrison, 1982, Bahá'í Publishing Trust, U.S.A.
Photo: c. 1900 Tarázu'lláh Samandarí,(1874 - 1968) Born into a Bahá'í Family in Iran, he met Bahá'u'lláh a number of times in 1891 - 92. Then he visited 'Akka again in 1896 staying in `Abdu'l-Bahá's home for 4 months. On his visit in 1906, `Abdu'l-Bahá commissioned him to travel throughout Iran to meet and consolidate the Bahá'í community there. Later, from 1927 onwards he had no permanent home, because he was always constantly travelling to teach the Faith. In recogition of his services, Shoghi Effendi, appointed him a Hand of the Cause in 1951 and after this, his world travels began.
William Sutherland Maxwell (1874 - 1952) Born in Montreal, Canada. An architect who became a Bahá'í in 1909. He is the father of Rúhiyyih Khánum and husband of Mary Maxwell (née Bolles). He moved to Haifa in 1940 and designed the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb.

image to come Agnes B. Alexander (1875 - 1971)
Born in Hawaii, U.S.A. She heard of the Bahá'í Faith while in Rome and wrote to`Abdu'l-Bahá in 1900 declaring her belief in Bahá'u'lláh. She is the first Bahá'í to visit Hawaii (1901), Alaska (1905) and Korea (1921). She moved to Japan 1914 and lived there for 32 years. She died in Hawaii.
  • Her Life
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Florence Breed  (1875 - 1950)
Known after her marriage in 1904 to Iranian Ali-Kuli Khan as Florence Khanum, which was praised by `Abdu'l-Bahá as the first marriage between East and West. She lived in Iran about 1905 and again later under at times, in politically and financially unstable situations. Her daughter, Marzieh Gail also became an eminent Bahá'í translator. Biography: Arches of the Years, by Marzieh Gail, George Ronald, 1991.
image to comeGeorge Townsend (1876 - 1957)
Born in Dublin, he was ordained as an Episcopalian minister in 1906 in the U.S., becoming a Canon at St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin in 1932 and archdeacon of Clonfert in 1933. He sent a letter of acceptance of the Faith to `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1920. He aimed to work within the Church to attract other clergy and in 1948 at the age of 71 he resigned his position with the Church of England. From 1926 onwards he acted as literary adviser to Shoghi Effendi, reading through and editing all Shoghi Effendi's major publications. He presented the paper "Bahá'u'lláh's Ground Plan of World Fellowship" at the World Congress of Faiths in London in 1936 on the behalf of Shoghi Effendi. He also wrote extensively: The Old Churches and the New World Faith (1949), sets out his reasons for leaving the church, and Christ and Bahá'u'lláh (1957) presents the Bahá'í Faith as the fulfillment of Christianity.
image to comeKeith Ransom-Kehler (1876 - 1933)
Born in Kentucky, U.S.A., she active as a Bahá'í speaker and teacher, travelling around the Caribbean (1929)and then around the world(1930).
She petitioned the Iran authorities on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in 1932 to ease the suffering of the Bahá'ís there, staying a year there, becoming ill and then dying in Isfahan of smallpox.
  • Her Life
image to come Laura Clifford Barney (1879 - 1974)
An American Bahá'í who lived most of her life in France.
She made a number of extended visits to 'Akka
between 1904-06, with questions which `Abdu'l-Bahá answers. She and her husband, Hippolyte Dreyfus are the first European Bahá'ís to visit Iran in 1906. Some Answered Questions is printed in English and in Persian for the first time in 1908. In her later years she was involved with the League of Nations and the International Council of Women. She was honored by the French government.
  • Her writing


Ali-Kuli Khan  (1879 - 1966)
An Iranian Bahá'í who was fluent in English and who served as `Abdu'l-Bahá's English-language secretary (1899-1901) and then sent to America to translate some Bahá'í books into English as well as continuing to translate `Abdu'l-Bahá's correspondence with the American Bahá'ís. He was appointed Iranian charg d-affaires in Washington in 1910 and later served in various diplomatic posts. His marriage in 1904 to American Florence Breed was praised by `Abdu'l-Bahá as the first between East and West. Their daughter, Marzieh Gail also became an eminent Bahá'í translator. Biography: Arches of the Years, by Marzieh Gail, George Ronald, 1991.


image to comeRichard St. Barbe Baker(1889 - 1982)
British born environmentalist and pioneer of 'social foresty'. Concerned with the problems of deforestation in colonial Kenya, with the help of the Kikuyu people, they organized an organization to protect the trees. This became the Men of Trees - later the International Tree Foundation. He became a Bahá'í in around 1924 in London and Shoghi Effendi became the first life member of the Men of the Trees. St. Barber Baker was involved in conservation and reforestation projects in various parts of the world. He was also a prolific author and died in New Zealand.


image to comeLeroy C. Ioas(1896 - 1965) Born in Illinois, U.S.A., to Bahá'í parents from a Lutheran German background, he played a major role in developing systematic Bahá'í teaching plans in North America. He moved to Haifa in 1951 to help Shoghi Effendi as his assistent secretary and as secretary general of the Internatinal Bahá'í Council.Biography: Leroy Ioas, Hand of the Cause of God, by Anita Ioas Chapman, George Ronald, 1998.


Ugo Giachery (1896 - 1989) Born in Palermo, Sicily, he migrated to the U.S. after World War One where became a Bahá'í in 1926. In 1947 he and his wife moved to Italy to introduce the Bahá'í Faith there. He translated a number of Bahá'í books into Italian. From 1948 onwards he was involved in securing the marble for the construction of the Shrine of the Báb and other Bahá'í buildings in Haifa. In 1952 Shoghi Effendi appointed him as a member of the International Bahá'í Council. He travelled extensively and died while visiting Samoa.



photo: c. 1921
  • His life
  • His writing
  • Biographies

Shoghi Effendi Rabbáni (1897 - 1957)
`Abdu'l-Bahá gives him the surname "Rabbáni" to use while studying in Haifa, his brothers and sister also use this surname. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Beirot and began studying politcal science and economics at Balliol College at Oxford University in 1920.
`Abdu'l-Bahá's eldest grandson, he was appointed The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith in his will. Shoghi Effendi led and developed the international Bahá'í community from 1922 until his death. His aunt, Bahíyyih Khánum, helped him in the early years in the running of things and in the 1920's his main focus was on the systematization and extension the Bahá'í administration. He married the Canadian-American Mary Maxwell in 1937.

In the 1930 - 40's he wrote a number of major books and made translations which developed various aspects of Bahá'í belief and practice as well developing systems for bringing the Bahá'í Faith to all countries. In the 1940 - 50's he began work on developing the buildings at the international Bahá'í centre in Haifa and in Bahji. He established the International Bahá'í Council in 1951 as a precusor of the Universal House of Justice (the elected head of the Bahá'í Faith). He died unexpectedly while visiting London and is buried there.


Adelbert Muhlschlegel(1897 - 1980) Born in Berlin.
He became a Bahá'í in 1920 and was active in promoting the Faith in Germany and translating literature into German. He was a member of the German National Assembly for various periods from 1924 and later in his life travelled extensively, moving to Greece in 1977 where he died.

Dorothy B. Baker (1898 - 1954)
Her grandmother was an early well-known Bahá'í and in the 1930's Dorothy was active as a speaker and then heavily involved in local and national administration. She also wrote Bahá'í pamphlets and radio scripts. She travelled extensively in Latin America and Europe in the 1940's and died in an air crash in 1954.
  • Biography

Hermann Grössman (1899 - 1968)
Born in Argentina, he moved to Germany in 1909 and became a Bahá'í in 1920. He promoted the Faith in various parts of Germany and later served on the national spiritual assembly. He was particularly active in Bahá'í child education and the Bahá'í Esperanto movement which he organized in Germany and he also translated literature. In 1937 when the Nazi regime banned the Bahá'í Faith, he suffered persecution, lost his library and archives, and was imprisioned for 6 months. In 1945 he helped to start reorganize the Bahá'í communities in the American zone of occupation in south-west Germany. Later in his life he promoted the Faith in South America.
  • His Life

Alí-Akbar Furútan (1905 - )
Born in Khurasan, Iran to a Bahá'í family who moved to Ashkhabad in 1914. As a teenager he taught in the Bahá'í school. In 1926 he won a scholarship to the University of Moscow to study education and child pyschology. In 1930 he was expelled from the Soviet Union on account of his Bahá'í activities and returned to Iran where he established a school for Bahá'ís in one of the villages. He served on the national spiritual assembly from 1934 until 1957 when he moved to Haifa. His Persian publication are extensive and several have been translated into English.
  • His writing

Abul-Qásim Faizi(1906 - 1980)
Born in Qum, Iran, he studied at the American University in Beirut, then taught Bahá'í children in the village Najafabad after the closure of the school by government authorities in the 1930s. He married Gloria 'Alá'í (author of an introductary book) in 1937 and in 1941 they moved to Iraq and then in 1942 to Bahrain as pioneers. They moved to Haifa in 1957 and remained until the Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963. He served as a translator between the Persian and English-speaking Bahá'ís and published a number of essays and translations in Persian and English.
  • His Life
Hasan M. Balyuzi(1908 - 1980)
Although a descendent from the Báb, he was a Muslim until meeting Shoghi Effendi in 1925. He moved to London in 1932 for a Master's degree in diplomatic history. The advent of World War II thwarted this and he ended up working in the Persian section of the BBC. He travelled and translated for the Faith. Then his health prevented him from travelling and so he turned to scholarly research. These books followed: Edward Granville Browne and the Bahá'í Faith(1970); `Abdu'l-Bahá (1971), The Báb (1973), Muhammad and the Course of Islam (1976); Bahá'u'lláh (1980). Two books were published posthumously: Khadíjih Bagum(1981); Eminent in the time of Bahá'u'lláh (1985);
  • His life
  • His writing
Marzieh Gail
photo: 1944
 Marzieh Gail  (1908 - 1993)
Daughter the Iranian- American couple, Ali-kuli Khan and Florence Khanum, she followed her father's footsteps in translating many Bahá'í texts from Arabic and Persian into English as well as writing a number of historical books, essays and anecdotes. She was the fist woman to work on the staff on a Tehran newspaper and spent ten years as a pioneer in Europe where she undertook historical research. Biography of her family and those they knew: Arches of the Years, by Marzieh Gail, George Ronald, 1991,

Some books she has written: Six Lessons in Islam;
Persia and the Victorians; Avignon in Flower 1309-1403; Life in the Renaissance; The Sheltering Branch; The Three Popes; Bahá'íGlossary; Dawn of Mount Hira; Other People, Other places; Summon up Remembrance.


Translations:The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, (with Ali-Kuli Khan), The Secret of Divine Civilization, Memorials of the Faithful; Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá (with a committee of the Bahá'í World Centre).


Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhiyyih Khánum
(1910 - 2000)
Born Mary Sutherland Maxwell in New York City. Married Shoghi Effendi in 1937 and served as his personal secretary for many years. In 1951 she was appointed as a member of the International Bahá'í Council. Her travels have taken her to almost every country in the world, including many remote areas.
  • Her life
  • Her writing

Enoch Olinga (1926 - 1979)
He was a Ugandan from the Teso tribe, becoming a Bahá'í in 1952 in Kampla. He pioneered to British Cameroon and was elected to the Regional Spiritual Assembly for North-West Africa in 1956. He was one of the first Africans to make the pilgrimage to the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa. He was appointed a hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi in 1957, then travelling to Bahá'í communities around the world. He was murdered with his wife and 3 of his children by unknown assailants in his home in Kampala.
  • His Life
Sources for this page taken from these books: A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith published by OneWorld Publications, and A Basic Bahá'í chronology, published by George Ronald.