Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

Dr Habíb, whose older brother attained martyrdom, was born in 1888 at Kermánsháh, Persia and was given the name Mu’ayyad (meaning ‘confirmed’) by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. At the age of twenty-one, when en route to Beirut to begin his medical studies at the American 98 University, he spent a month in the Holy Land with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who took a personal interest in his progress. Thereafter he returned each summer to serve the Cause, extending hospitality to visitors and pilgrims, recording daily events, acquiring spiritual knowledge from outstanding Bahá’í scholars and being entrusted with the receipt and dispatch of Tablets. Referring to Habíb’s student days, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá extolled the young man’s influence, detachment and sanctity, saying “the fragrance of Beirut” perfumed His nostrils.

After graduating from the University of Beirut in 1914, Dr Habíb operated a dispensary at Abú-Sínán, a Druse village northeast of ‘Akká where the Master had temporarily settled the Bahá’ís: this period of close contact with the Holy Family and daily lessons from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá he was later to describe as the “most precious segment of his life”. In a Tablet to Dr Habíb’s father, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá described this dedicated young Bahá’í as “A lamp enkindled with the love of God”.

In 1915, responding to the Master’s specific instructions, Dr Habíb returned to his birthplace to practice his profession and teach the Faith to which he was so deeply devoted, and was for forty years a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Kermánsháh, also serving for a period on the National Spiritual Assembly. His published works include two volumes of reminiscences based on the principles of the Covenant and the history of the Cause, whilst his much loved poem entitled “Hold Thou my Hand, O ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” is widely sung at gatherings of the Bahá’ís in Írán. Dr Habíb Mu’ayyad passed to the Abhá Kingdom on October 29th, 1971.