176. Passing of Violette Nakhjavání

176

Passing of Violette Nakhjavání

14 September 2011

To the National Spiritual Assemblies
of the Bahá’ís of France and Uganda

176.1 We grieve, with sorrowful hearts, the loss of a faithful, illustrious handmaiden of the Blessed Beauty, Violette Nakhjavání, whose decades of exemplary service to the Cause of God—unabated even in her final months—have enriched the annals of the Cause and won her admirers in every quarter and across the generations. In instant response to the call of Shoghi Effendi for pioneers to arise during the momentous African Campaign, she and her family were among the first to reach that continent and carry there the message of God’s new Revelation. Too numerous to recount are the unstinting services she rendered thereafter, for forty years and more, here in the Holy Land. And, beyond all this, posterity will forever associate her name with her beloved Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, to whom she was a confidante, a devoted friend, and a tireless companion on world-spanning journeys. Her memories of those outstanding travels feature prominently in the works she authored, themselves constituting an invaluable addition to Bahá’í literature.

176.2 To her distinguished husband, Mr. ‘Alí Nakhjavání, and her dearly loved children and grandchildren we convey our heartfelt condolences and assure them of our ardent supplications in the Sacred Shrines for the progress of her soul. We advise the holding of befitting memorial meetings in her honour, including at the House of Worship in Kampala.

The Universal House of Justice