BAHA'I FAITH art

Portrait of Tahirih

“She is popularly known as Tahirih and she has become the most celebrated heroine in Persian history.”

E.G. Browne. A Traveler’s Narrative

Fatimih Umm-Salimih, the daughter of a devout and wealthy cleric from Qazvin in Northern Persia, became known as Zarrin Taj (Crown of Gold) and Qurratu’l-Ayn (Solace of the Eyes.)

At the Conference of Badasht however she was given the name of Tahirih (The Pure One) by Baha’u’llah bequeathed upon her by the Bab.

Fatimih became so well versed in the Quran and the traditions of Islamic theology and literary sciences, as a young child, that her knowledge and clear spiritual insight soon exceeded her brothers and sister. During this time Shaykh Ahmad, the founder of the Shaykhi School in Karbila, visited Qazvin as the guest of her uncle a leading Mujtahid of the region.

His views differed dramatically from the accepted doctrine of the traditional Shi’ah Muslims and his ideas had a profound and significant impact on her life. In her late twenties she came across some of his books in her cousin’s library and secretly corresponded with Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti an eminent scholar and Shaykh Ahmad’s successor.

She proceeded to set out on pilgrimage, with her sister, to Karbila to learn more about the imminent return of the Promised Qaim. Tahirih’s fame quickly grew not only because of her extraordinary beauty and eloquence but because she fearlessly heralded a new age of equality in an otherwise male dominated society.