Thursday, November 8, 2018

Abdolshoghi Tebyani, a construction industrialist and pioneer for the Bahá’í Faith was a Baha'i from Jewish Heritage


Abdolshoghi Tebyani, a construction industrialist and pioneer for the Bahá’í Faith both within Iran and in Europe, helped establish an industrial school in Tehran and later was imprisoned for his role in the education of Bahá’ís. He was a 20-year member of the National Teaching Committee serving Iran’s Bahá’í community, and after his release from prison he spoke and wrote extensively for the rights of Bahá’ís in that country.

He passed away at age 86 on April 27, 2015, residing most recently in Calabasas, California.

“Through more than eight decades of service in manifold forms—and, to a superlative degree, in the harrowing imprisonment he suffered in the aftermath of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution,” the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States wrote in a letter of tribute, “Mr. Tebyani built a legacy of faithfulness, fearlessness, integrity, and strength of character that will long remain to inspire his family, friends, and fellow believers in their own services to the Cause of God and humanity.”

Tebyani was born in Sangesar, Iran, in 1929, and his family moved to Tehran when he was 7. In 1943 they moved to Shahrood at the request of Shoghi Effendi, and the family stayed several years despite hostility against Bahá’ís including the killing of Abdolshoghi’s uncle. Some years after their return to Tehran, he married Pari Khademi Ghaemaghami.

Please click here for an extensive biographical article from 2013.

Among services to the Faith not mentioned in the above-linked article, Tebyani oversaw the manufacture of several decorative lampposts that stand near the Bahá’í shrines in the Holy Land. He lived and served in the Southern California communities of Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks in addition to Calabasas. Online videos of his talks in support of human rights in Iran can be found here.

His survivors include a daughter, Fariba Phyle; two sons, Farid and Omid; six grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
 

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