International Baha'i Leader Dies at 89

January 31, 2000

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

On January 31, 2000, The Ottawa Citizen reported that Ruhiyyih Rabbani, known to five million Baha'is around the world as Ruhiyyih Khanum ("great spiritual lady"), died on January 19th in Haifa, Israel at the age of 89. She was the only daughter of Canada's first Baha'i family and married the world leader of the faith, "Guardian" Shoghi Effendi, in 1937. When her husband died in 1957, she became the Baha'is preeminent leader, spending much of her life traveling to 185 countries as an ambassador of the Baha'i faith. Though she held no official position in the faith, millions of Baha'is revered her and made pilgrimages to her home to seek her interpretations of doctrine.