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Mona Mahmudnizhad (September 10 , 1965 – June 18, 1983) was a Persian Bahá’í who, in 1983, together with nine other Bahá’í women, was sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran because of her membership in the Bahá’í Faith.

While Bahá’ís regularly faced persecution in Iran, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 refocused the persecution. At 7:30pm on October 23, 1982, four armed revolutionary guards, sent by the public prosecutor of Shiraz, entered the Mahmudnizhad household and ransacked the home in search of Bahá’í material. When they were finished they took Mona and her father into custody. The two were blindfolded and taken to Seppah prison in Shiraz, where they were placed in separate quarters; Mahmudnizhad was detained in Seppah prison for a total of 38 days.

On November 29, 1982, she and five other Bahá’í women were transferred from Seppah prison to Adelabad prison, which was also in Shiraz. After some time in Abelabad she was transferred to the Islamic Revolutionary Court where she was interrogated and then returned to prison. A few days later, she was once again taken from the prison and interrogated in front of an Islamic Revolutionary Judge. After these series of interrogations Mahmudnizhad was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. At the time of her sentencing, the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, made a plea for clemency, despite this, the sentence of the 10 women was carried out on the night of June 18, 1983, in a nearby polo field.

The names and ages of the other women who were hanged with Mahmudnizhad were:

• Mrs. Nusrat Yalda’i, 54 years old,
• Mrs. ‘Izzat Janami Ishraqi, 50 years old,
• Miss Roya Ishraqi, 23 and daughter of ‘Izzat,
• Mrs. Tahirih Siyavushi, 32 years old,
• Miss Zarrin Muqimi, 28 years old,
• Miss Shirin Dalvand, 25 years old,
• Miss Akhtar Sabit, 19 or early 20’s,
• Miss Simin Sabiri, early 20’s,
• Miss Mahshid Nirumand, 28 years old

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The Trues had eight children in rapid succession: Harriet Merrill (1883-92) [1-14,18]; Lawrence Knight (1885-1906) [1-vii]; Charles Gilbert Davis (1886-1912) [1-vii]; Edna Miriam (1888-1988); Arna Corinne (1890-1975) [1-viii]; twins Katherine (1893-1963) [1-viii] and Kenneth (1893-1901) [1-27]; and Nathanael (1896-1899) [1-21,22]. The family was close and prosperous; they hired a cook and sent the children to private school. The loss of four of the children before adulthood produced a series of successive blows that severely tested Corinne True and turned her thinking toward religion. After Harriet fell down the stone basement stairs and died at age nine, Corinne and Moses True turned away from mainline Protestantism to some newly developed approaches to religion: the Unity School of Christianity, then Christian Science, then Divine Science [1-18]. When the baby of the family, Nathanael, died from complications following diphtheria in 1899 Corinne deepened her religious search. Through a friend she encountered the Bahá’í Faith late in 1899 and accepted it within a few months, at age thirty-eight [1-24]. In contrast, her husband was very sympathetic to Bahá’í beliefs but never formally joined.

When True became a Bahá’í the American Bahá’í community numbered 1500 to 2000 and was five years old. The Bahá’í religion began in 1863 when an Iranian noble named Mírzá Husayn-`Alí (1817-92), known as Bahá’u’lláh, founded a new religion based on such principles as the oneness of God, the spiritual unity of the world’s religions, the oneness of humanity, independent individual search for truth, and the equality of the sexes. A practical religion, it quickly spread beyond Iran and attracted Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Buddhists as well as Muslims. When Bahá’u’lláh died his son `Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921) became head of the Faith.

It is not known what attracted True to the Bahá’í Faith, though its universal nature and inclusiveness were probably factors. She immediately became one of Chicago’s most active Bahá’ís. When, in May 1901, the Chicago Bahá’ís elected an all-male governing body to run the community and a women’s Auxiliary Board to assist, True became corresponding secretary of the latter [4-49-50]. In March 1902 True delivered a talk at the Chicago Bahá’í Sunday program titled “Fundamental Points of Behaism [sic]” and its contents indicate True’s understanding of the Bahá’í Faith was as good as any of the other Chicago Bahá’ís’ at the time [paper in Chase Papers, National Bahá’í Archives].

True wrote `Abdu’l-Bahá about the exclusion of women from the Chicago Bahá’í governing body on 25 February 1902, noting that “many” felt it should be a “mixed board” because “women in America stand so conspicuously for all that is highest & best in every department.” [3-23] In his response `Abdu’l-Bahá stated that while “in the sight of God, the conduct of women is the same as that of men” and there was “no difference” between the sexes, nevertheless the “House of Justice” had to consist only of men and that the “reason will presently appear, even as the sun at midday.” [3-25]

True accepted `Abdu’l-Bahá’s ruling–which also affirmed the equality of the sexes–and poured her energy into the Chicago Bahá’í women’s organization, which `Abdu’l-Bahá highly praised [3-21]. For the next eight years Chicago had two parallel Bahá’í organizations, one confined to men, the other to women. True served as president or secretary of the women’s body at different times. By 1903 she had been instrumental in establishing the first Bahá’í communities in Michigan–in Muskegon and Fruitport–near her family’s summer residence. She also traveled to Wisconsin to speak about the Bahá’í Faith. [4-140]

In 1903 the Chicago Bahá’ís heard about the construction of the world’s first Bahá’í House of Worship, in what is today Turkmenistan. They wrote `Abdu’l-Bahá asking for permission to build a temple of their own [4-118-19]. `Abdu’l-Bahá not only sent them two encouraging letters in response, but wrote True and encouraged her to get involved in the effort [1-41] [4-119]. She was surprised, as previously she had not been interested.

In spite of `Abdu’l-Bahá’s encouragement, nothing was done for several years. But on August 5, 1906 True’s oldest son, Lawrence, drowned during a sailing race on Lake Huron [1-48-49]. The young man had just finished college and was about to get married. True reevaluated her own life as a result and decided to redirect her energy to the construction of the temple. She went to Akka, Palestine to meet `Abdu’l-Bahá, spending six days with him in late February 1907. He gave True detailed instructions about building a Bahá’í House of Worship in America [1-60-61]. When three prominent Chicago men arrived a few weeks later, `Abdu’l-Bahá told them to work with True and that all his instructions for the Chicago Bahá’ís had been given to her [1-71].

Returning to Chicago in the spring of 1907, True began searching the area for potential building sites, especially those on the lake shore. The House of Spirituality (the Chicago Bahá’í governing body) named her treasurer of the temple work. Since the project grew to an international effort, she wrote hundreds of letters to Bahá’ís and Bahá’í communities around the world. `Abdu’l-Bahá wrote True and the House of Spirituality encouraging them to work together and resolving any friction that arose between them. In late November 1907 the House of Spirituality hosted an informal convention of representatives of various Bahá’í communities from around North America to build support for the temple. True did much of the planning for the convention, which was largely held at the True home in Chicago [1-78].

In mid March 1908 True found a site at the corner of Linden Avenue and Sheridan Road in Wilmette [4-296]. A newly-excavated drainage canal bounded the site on one side and Lake Michigan on another; the plot also possessed some elevation. The site’s natural advantages, however, were offset by practical concerns; it was several hours from downtown Chicago on public transportation [4-298]. In spite of this problem and the resulting opposition from some Chicago Bahá’ís, the House of Spirituality purchased the site on April 9, 1908. [4-297].

True believed the choice of a site necessitated the establishment of a formal, national organization, for the building would be a national House of Worship, not local. She wrote `Abdu’l-Bahá proposing that the American Bahá’ís create a national organization. In late August 1908 he replied that he was “very much pleased” with her plan, which called for the national coordinating body to be chosen by delegates selected by the various local Bahá’í communities across the United States and Canada. He added that women should be included. [4-299]

The first convention of the Bahai Temple Unity was held in March 1909 in Chicago, with several sessions held at the True home [1-82-83]. The convention formally approved the Wilmette site for the House of Worship and elected nine Bahá’ís to serve on the Executive Board of the Bahai Temple Unity [1-83]. Three were women; one was Corinne True, who was subsequently chosen as the board’s financial secretary. Thus she continued the role she had played for the temple on behalf of the Chicago Bahá’ís [1-83].

True’s devotion to the temple project became her chief solace as another round of tragedies befell her. In mid December 1909 Moses True died suddenly of a massive heart attack at the age of 52 [1-82]. The following summer her sole surviving son, Charles, caught tuberculosis, succumbing in April 1912 [1-100]. He died the night before `Abdu’l-Bahá arrived in Wilmette to dedicate the temple site. True attended the dedication in spite of her grief. Before the ceremony `Abdu’l-Bahá spent some minutes offering her consolation in private [1-101].

During `Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to Chicago in 1912 He definitively removed all restrictions on the service of women on local Bahá’í institutions. True was one of the first group of three women to be elected to the nine-member Chicago House of Spirituality that year. One unexpected result of True’s local and national duties was that she no longer had time to devote to Bahá’í women’s activities. Across North America such bodies largely disappeared after 1912, once women were elected to local Bahá’í governing bodies instead.

Throughout the 1910s True was simultaneously a member of the Chicago and national Bahá’í coordinating bodies and served as financial secretary of the temple project [1-138]. She traveled to Hawaii and California to lecture about the Bahá’í Faith [1-120-21]. In 1919 True made a second pilgrimage to Akka, Palestine, visiting with `Abdu’l-Bahá in November of that year [1-142]. She attended the Bahai Temple Unity convention in 1920, which formally approved a design for the House of Worship [1-148]. The Wilmette temple was a unique blend of eastern and western architectural elements; its pillars were reminiscent of minarets and it was decorated with Middle Eastern designs, though it was composed of ornamental concrete and Portland cement over structural steel. Like all Bahá’í temples it had nine sides, a dome, and formal gardens around it.

On November 29, 1921, `Abdu’l-Bahá died peacefully at age seventy-seven. The True home was plunged into intense grief, for True, like other prominent Bahá’ís, had developed a very close and special relationship with `Abdu’l-Bahá. True served a pivotal role in consoling the Bahá’ís, whose morale was severely affected by the crisis. [1-151]

`Abdu’l-Bahá’s had appointed his grandson Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957) as his successor and Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. True had already met Shoghi Effendi on her 1919 pilgrimage and had corresponded with him [1-143]; thus she was in an excellent position to rally the Bahá’ís behind him. In early 1922 Shoghi Effendi invited a group of about fifteen prominent Bahá’ís from around the world to come to Haifa and consult with him about the future development of the Faith [1-155]. Four members of the Bahai Temple Unity Executive board were invited, including True.

Over the next few years the Bahai Temple Unity Executive Board, under Shoghi Effendi’s direction, evolved into a new body, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, and internationally uniform guidelines for conducting Bahá’í elections and carrying out Bahá’í administrative activities were created [1-160-61]. True wished to devote her time exclusively to the Temple, a task that was the National Spiritual Assembly’s most important responsibility. She no longer served on the American Bahá’í coordinating body after 1923 but continued to be appointed financial secretary of the temple project through 1927 [1-162]. Subsequently she served on various national committees, especially those related to the temple project [1-177]. In 1930 True moved to Wilmette from Chicago to be closer to the House of Worship, which was then partially built [1-169].

True went on several more pilgrimages to meet with Shoghi Effendi during the 1920s and 1930s. Her last meeting with him was in Haifa in 1952, when she was ninety-one years old. She also made lecture tours of western Europe in 1947 and 1950 in order to assist the new Bahá’í communities there [1-191]. In her later years True’s reputation grew and American Bahá’ís came to refer to her as “the mother of the Temple” and as “Mother True.” On February 29, 1952, Shoghi Effendi appointed Corinne True a “Hand of the Cause of God,” a special spiritual status within the Bahá’í community that includes no administrative authority, but conveys prestige and the privilege to counsel and advise Bahá’ís and their administrative institutions [5-20-21]. Of the nineteen Hands then living, four were women.

On May 2, 1953, True was one of several Hands attending the dedication of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette [1-208]. She was thus able to see the completion of the building to which she had devoted so much of her life. In April 1957–when True was 95–Shoghi Effendi appointed her as his official representative to attend the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean [1-210]. It was True’s last trip outside the United States.

True’s failing health prevented further travel, but she was able to enjoy the family of her daughter Arna and watch two other daughters rise to the apex of their careers. Katherine, a Chicago physician and one of the first women named a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States from 1956 to 1960. Edna, a successful Evanston businesswoman, served on the National Spiritual Assembly from 1946 to 1968 and then was appointed a Counsellor, an international advisor to the Bahá’í community similar to a Hand of the Cause.

On November 4, 1957, Shoghi Effendi died suddenly. The Hands of the Cause assumed collective control of the Bahá’í Faith until the Universal House of Justice could be elected. Because of her frail health True was the only Hand unable to travel to Israel for the annual conclaves of the Hands. Nevertheless they kept her informed of all their decisions and asked her to sign notarized affidavits of assent supporting all important statements on which they had unanimously agreed [6-30-39].

Corinne True died peacefully in her Wilmette home on 3 April 1961, five months into her hundredth year [1-213]. She is remembered by the American Bahá’ís for her courage, faith, devotion, and persistence, and historically is one of the most prominent half dozen American Bahá’í women.

Sources. A short summary of parts of True’s life was published by Bruce Whitmore as “Mother of the Temple: The Story of Hand of the Cause of God Corinne Knight True,” in Bahá’í News, no. 538 (Jan. 1976): 1-10. Nathan Rutstein’s biography Corinne True: Faithful Handmaid of `Abdu’l-Bahá (Oxford: George Ronald, 1987) provides far more detail, but is a popular work that includes the author’s guesses as to True’s thoughts and feelings, and thus must be used with caution. Robert H. Stockman’s “Women in the Chicago Bahá’í Community, 1900-1912,” in World Order, vol. 25, no. 2 (winter 1993-94): 17-34, provides details of True’s involvement in Chicago Bahá’í women’s activities. Stockman’s Bahá’í Faith in America, Volume Two: Early Expansion, 1900-1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995) describes her role in the temple project, including her first pilgrimage to meet `Abdu’l-Bahá. Most of the originals of True’s letters from `Abdu’l-Bahá may be found in the National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill; some were published in Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas. Many of True’s letters to `Abdu’l-Bahá are in the International Bahá’í Archives in Haifa, Israel. The National Bahá’í Archives possesses a collection, the Corinne True Family Papers, but it is not yet organized and available to researchers. Correspondence to or from True may also be found in that archives’ Thornton Chase Papers, House of Spirituality Records, Albert R. Windust Papers, and several other collections. article source

Bibliography

1. Nathan Rutstein, Corinne True: Faithful Handmaid of `Abdu’l-Bahá (Oxford: George Ronald, 1987).

2. Bruce Whitmore, “Mother of the Temple: The Story of Hand of the Cause of God Corinne Knight True,” Bahá’í News, no. 538 (Jan. 1976): 1-10.

3. Robert H. Stockman, “Women in the Chicago Bahá’í Community, 1900-1912,” World Order, vol. 25, no. 2 (winter 1993-94): 17-34.

4. Robert H. Stockman, Bahá’í Faith in America, Volume Two: Early Expansion, 1900-1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995).

5. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1958).

6. Bahá’í World Centre, comp., The Ministry of the Custodians, 1957-1963 (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1992).

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Over a century ago, and for the first time in the history of revealed religion, Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, proclaimed the equality of man and woman. He did not leave this pronouncement as an ideal or pious hope but wove it, as a basic factor, into the fabric of His social order. He supported it by laws requiring the same standard of education for women as for men, and equality of rights in society.

Equality of the sexes is, for Baha’is, a spiritual and moral standard essential for the unification of the planet and the unfoldment of world order. Without the qualities, talents, and skills of both women and men, full economic and social development of the planet becomes impossible. For

The world of humanity is possessed of two wings — the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment.¹

In the present transition of humanity from adolescence to maturity, signs of this evolving equality can be observed everywhere. In the Baha’i view this is hardly surprising, for “As long as women are prevented from attaining their highest possibilities, so long will men be unable to achieve the greatness which might be theirs.”

The character of this unique age we are entering is further brought into focus in the following statement from the Baha’i Writings:

The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the scales are already shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.

Unity and Equality in the Family

The Baha’i world community has, for more than one hundred years, accepted as truth the principle of equality of the sexes and has understood the importance of implementing this standard in individual, family, and community life. The institution of marriage, the basis of the family in the Baha’i community, is part of this process. Before a Baha’i marriage can take place the couple, who have freely chosen each other, must obtain the consents of all parents and transmit them to the community’s governing body. The couple then weds in an atmosphere of loving parental approval and acceptance by the community. With the exchange of vows, in which each partner repeats, “We will all, verily, abide by the Will of God,” the newly wedded begin their lives together on a basis of true spiritual unity and equality.

This unity and equality, rooted in the rights and responsibilities of every person before God, unfolds in the family. Here, values and attitudes essential for the development of the individual, the community, the nation, and humanity must be taught from early life. In the Baha’i view

the family being a human unit must be educated according to the rules of sanctity. All the virtues must be taught the family. The integrity of the family bond must be constantly considered and the rights of the individual members must not be transgressed…. All these rights and prerogatives must be conserved, yet the unity of the family must be sustained. The injury of one shall be considered the injury of all; the comfort of each the comfort of all; the honor of one the honor of all.

Equality in Education and Training

Although both parents share in the overall responsibility of educating the children, the mother is given recognition as the first educator of humanity, and she must be carefully prepared for this task. Her education, in fact, from the Baha’i point of view,

is more necessary and important than that of man, for woman is the trainer of the child from its infancy. If she be defective and imperfect herself the child will necessarily be deficient; therefore imperfection of woman implies a condition of imperfection in all mankind, for it is the mother who rears, nurtures and guides the growth of the child.

Since Baha’is do not separate life into religious and secular compartments, and since faith must be expressed in social action, education for men and women, in all its facts, “holds an important place in the new order of things.” For this reason, the education

of each child is compulsory. If there is not money enough in a family to educate both the girl and the boy the money must be dedicated to the girl’s education, for she is the potential mother. If there are no parents the community must educate the child. In addition to this widespread education each child must be taught a profession, art, or trade, so that every member of the community will be enabled to earn his own livelihood.

It is also significant that, in the spirit of this new era of human evolution, Bahá’u’lláh has “promulgated the adoption of the same course of education for man and woman,” making clear that “daughters and sons must follow the same curriculum of study, thereby promoting unity of the sexes.”

Contribution of Women to Peace

The Baha’i Writings promise that “the entrance of women into all human departments is an irrefutable and incontrovertible question. No soul can retard or prevent it”; that in “no movement” will women “be left behind; that they “will attain in all such a degree as will be considered the very highest station of the world of humanity and will take part in all affairs”; that “when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world…war will cease.” This contribution of women to the establishment of world unity and peace will inevitably be recognized and developed.

In past ages humanity has been defective and inefficient because incomplete. War and its ravages have blighted the world. The education of woman will be a mighty step toward its abolition and ending for she will use her whole influence against war…. In truth she will be the greatest factor in establishing Universal Peace and international arbitration. Assuredly woman will abolish warfare among mankind.

An Equal Voice

A great responsibility is, however, placed on woman to develop her potentialities fully.

She must make every effort

to attain greater perfection, to be man’s equal in every respect, to make progress in all in which she has been backward, so that man will be compelled to acknowledge her equality of capacity and attainment.

Certainly the well-being of mankind depends on the development of the potential virtues and abilities of every individual, regardless of race, nationality, class, religion, or sex. For this reason prejudices, which cause division and oppression, are systematically abolished in Baha’i community life. A unique administrative system, rooted in the concept of unity in diversity, both insists on education for all members of the community and allows for the immediate assimilation of all those who in the past have been deprived of their rights. The Baha’i electoral system, operating by secret ballot, with no nominations or electioneering, encourages universal participation: every adult Baha’i is eligible for election to local and national administrative bodies responsible for decision in the conduct of Baha’i affairs. The ease with which women, long deprived of equal opportunities, can now be integrated into the life of society, is vividly evidenced by the participation of women in all areas of Baha’i community life.

Today, in the Baha’i world community, in over 200 nations and territories, women are joining with men in building a global society. Their full contribution toward the establishment of a world civilization is possible, Baha’is believe, because of the all-pervasive spiritual power released in this age by Bahá’u’lláh, Who has erased all limitations preventing the fulfillment of human potentialities. For in the Baha’i view, since

this is the century of light, it is evident that the Sun of Reality, the Word has revealed itself to all humankind. One of the potentialities hidden in the realm of humanity was the capability or capacity of womanhood. Through the effulgent rays of divine illumination, the capacity of woman has become so awakened and manifest in this age that equality of man and woman is an established fact. article source

Notes

1. All quotations are from the Baha’i Writings.

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