Marzieh Nabil Carpenter Gail (1908-1993) - second child born of the first Persian-American marriage in the Baháí Faith; traveled with Martha Root for three weeks in Central Europe and the Balkans; five weeks of teaching in Bulgaria with Marion Jack; Shoghi Effendi, hoped that her marriage (with Howard Carpenter) would become the "vital link connecting the East and the West in the Baháí world."; first female reporter on the staff of a Tihrán newspaper. Fluent in English, French, Persian, and Arabic, and some Russian; served for a time as chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Austria; translations: The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys (1945), The Secret of Divine Civilization (1957) with her father’ Memorials of the Faithful (1971), Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Bahá with a committee at the Baháí World Centre, and My Memories of Bahá’u’lláh (1982); books: The Sheltering Branch (1959), Khánum: The Greatest Holy Leaf (1981), Dawn Over Mount Hira (1976), Other People, Other Places (1982); The Three Popes (1969), Persia and the Victorians (1951), Six Lessons in Islam (1953), Summon Up Remembrance (1987), Arches of the Years (1991), Bahá’í Glossary (1955), and Avignon in Flower: 1309—1403 (1966).

As a little girl Marzich Khanum wrote a letter to the Master: "Dear Abdu’l-Bahá, I love you. I hope you will come to see us." And He wrote His reply in Persian on the same letter, turning it into a Tablet: "O God, make Marzieh, Razieh," voicing His desire that she who is pleasing to God (Marzieh) might be well pleased with God (Razieh).

For the rest of her life the second child and eldest daughter born of the first Persian-American marriage in the Bahá’í Faith would devote herself with heart and soul to the Cause of God. Her parents, Persian diplomat Ali-Kuli Khan and Boston debutante Florence Breed, were called upon by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to unite East and West. Like her parents before her Marzieh would spread the Bahá’í message in the United States, Europe, and Persia, seeking always to promote greater understanding between two cultures, Persia being only slightly less obscure in the West than the Cause she championed.

Her parents’ position took her to the Versailles Peace Conference, where her father was a member of Persia’s delegation, and in Tihrán she was presented at the Court of the then Crown Prince Regent from whom she would one day receive a proposal of marriage. At age ten Marzieh left the United States with her family to spend her formative years in Paris, Constantinople, Tiflis, [1] and Tihrán. Her education was unorthodox, derived from a succession of tutors. Lacking other children to play with, she and her two siblings, Rahim and Hamideh, found companionship with each other and the adults around them.

Marzieh met and became friends with the future Guardian as he passed through France on his way to Oxford. Her parents had been nurtured by the Master with whom Marzieh and her siblings had been photographed. On her finger she wore a ring given to her by the Greatest Holy Leaf. Part of a small circle of Bahá’í families whose interests had become synonymous with those of the Faith, her love for the Holy Family would carry her throughout her life, and this love would eventually become devotion to the Universal House of Justice.

Suitors began to pursue Marzieh when she was as young as thirteen, but her par- ents, following the directives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, wished her to pursue an education. Enrolled in Vassar College in 1925, Marzieh transferred to Mills College for her sophomore year when her family moved to California. In 1927 David Starr Jordan broke the quota on women to allow Marzieh to finish her last two years at Stanford University, where she was known among her classmates as "our Persian princess." Using the attention to great advantage, she and Howard Carpenter organized small weekly discussion groups on the Bahá’í Faith. In 1929 she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and obtained her BA "With Great Distinction”—the honor being the non-Latin equivalent of summa cum laude. In June 1929 she became Marzieh Carpenter.

Ali Kuli Khan and Florence

Marzieh had begun to write for the Faith during her junior year at Stanford, producing several essays for Star of the West. In 1932 she received her MA in English from the University of California at Berkeley—the same year Howard received his MD from Stanford Medical School. In September the two sailed for Vienna where Howard studied advanced ophthalmology. At the request of Shoghi Effendi they traveled with Martha Root for three weeks in Central Europe and the Balkans, teaching the Faith and following up on contacts ‘Abdul-Bahá had made during His Budapest journey. This was followed by five weeks of teaching in Bulgaria with Marion Jack and then more teaching in Greece and Albania en route to the Holy Land.

In 1933 Marzieh and Howard Carpenter spent three weeks in Haifa receiving instructions from Shoghi Effendi, who hoped that they would become the "vital link connecting the East and the West in the Baháí world." Specifically the Guardian wanted them to bring seeds of the developing Administrative Order from the West to the East. In an unpublished letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi dated November 26, 1933, the Carpenters were advised:

“Our Persian believers have had as yet no training in the Administration. Their knowledge of its basic principles, and of the ways in which it should function is too vague and fragmentary. So your presence in their midst and particularly in such an important committee as the one in which you are so ardently working is a real blessing and a unique opportunity of which your Persian brethren should take the fullest advantage possible. [2]

Marzieh found a job as the first female reporter on the staff of a Tihrán newspaper. Fluent in English, French, Persian, and Arabic, as well as having some capability with Russian, she also worked on various Bahá’í translations, including one of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

Howard was prevented by the authorities from obtaining a medical license for over a year. Once the license was granted he was stricken with poliomyelitis and paralyzed from the waist down. For seven months he lay in a hospital bed until Rahmat and Najmia ‘Alá’í lovingly took him into their home, caring for him as they had for Keith Ransom-Kehler a year earlier. The Guardian urged the Carpenters to be patient, to consult competent physicians, and to continue their labors in Persia. Marzieh and Howard were obedient, but when doctors advised a return to the United States as Howard’s only hope for recovery, the Guardian contributed funds for their release from Tihrán and for their long journey back to San Francisco. In November 1935, within months after arriving back home, Howard Carpenter passed to the Abhá Kingdom. [3] Such are the sacrifices made for the love of God.

As Marzieh herself would write of a fellow believer, "the same test which drives one soul away only confirms another." 

Never to have children of her own, she published an article in the December 1937 issue of World Order Magazine entitled "Till Death Do Us Part," in which she briefly bemoans the childless marriage. In an unpublished letter to Marzieh, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "I truly prize your services and the spirit that prompts you to render them. Your perseverance is magnificent, your accomplishments notable, and your loyalty exemplary."[4]

Marzieh continued to translate Bahá’í i Scripture and to write essays. Having studied Arabic at Berkeley she worked closely with her father, and at times their relationship presented her with tests and challenges to grow. Yet it was her second husband, Harold J Gail, who would help her organize her writings and pull her life back together. Harold became a Bahá’í soon after their marriage in 1939, and the pair would go on to serve the Faith together for over fifty years.

In 1954 the Gails sold the factory that Harold had recently established in Portland, Oregon, and sailed for Europe in response to the Guardian’s call. After consulting with the European Teaching Committee, they settled in France where, with other pioneers, they helped to form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Nice in 1956. After two years in Nice they moved to Austria where they lived for six years and assisted the formation of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Salzburg, with Marzieh also serving for a time as chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Austria. This was followed by a year in Holland where they helped to form the Local Spiritual Assembly of Arnhem and then a number of months traveling in Italy, England, and Spain. At the conclusion of the Ten Year Crusade, the Gails moved back to the United States where they helped to form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Keene, New Hampshire.

Marzieh Gail may be considered a sort of “patron saint" of women Baháí scholars, always conscious of her audience, unveiling the Cause in her books and essays, lectures, and talks. Her contributions to Bahai scholarship were perhaps most evident in her many 

Marzieh was productive, owing in large part to the sacrificial services of her husband, who typed, cooked, did the laundry, and otherwise took care of all domestic and practical matters. The two were extremely fond of each other and very private, often living without a phone. Such circumstances freed Marzieh to write a dozen Baha’í and non-Bahá’í books in addition to countless essays, articles, and short stories. Her remembrances of Abdu’l-Bahá are contained in The Sheltering Branch (1959) and those of His Exalted Sister in Khánum: The Greatest Holy Leaf (1981). Many of her essays and pioneering stories are contained in Dawn Over Mount Hira (1976) and in Other People, Other Places (1982).

While in Europe Marzieh conducted historical research on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, resulting in the publication of The Three Popes (1969). Several of her non-Bahá’í books also met with some critical success. Persia and the Victorians (1951) was a Book Society recommendation. Six Lessons in Islam (1953) was translated into German, and Life in the Renaissance (1968) was translated into Italian, French, and Spanish. Her other books included Summon Up Remembrance (1987), Arches of the Years (1991), Bahá’í Glossary (1955), and Avignon in Flower: 1309—1403 (1966). Poet Roger White would say of his friend, "She is the first lady of Bahá’í literature and I and many writers are indebted to her for leading the way."

In 1981 Harold and Marzieh Gail moved back to San Francisco, where they had met some five decades earlier. Known for an absolutely wild sense of humor, Marzieh was considered fondly by her friends to be "dangerous" for her quick wit. Selfless and self-effacing she was also remembered for her ingenuity in turning every possible human interaction into a teaching opportunity. Her local communities revered her, and her life served as an example of total consecration to the Cause. 

On October 16, 1993, a year after the death of her second husband, Marzieh Gail passed away in San Francisco, California, leaving behind her literary work as a legacy for future generations. On October 18, the Universal House of Justice responded to the news and expressed its sorrow:

DEEPLY SADDENED PASSING MARZIEH GAIL FAITHFUL MAIDSERVANT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. HER PIONEERING EFFORTS AND HER VARIOUS ENDEAVORS AS ENGLISH TRANSLATOR ORIGINAL BAHÁ’I LITERATURE AND AS AUTHOR BOOKS AND ARTICLES ENSURE ENDURING REMEMBRANCE HER OUTSTANDING SERVICES CAUSE GOD. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHÁ REALM.

[1] Presently Tbilisi, capital city of the Eurasian country of Georgia.

[2] Shoghi Effendi to Marzieh Carpenter, November 26, 1933. unpublished letter courtesy of Nushin Mavaddat.

[3] See "In Memoriam,” The Baha’i World, vol. VI, Pp. 491-93.

[4] Shoghi Effendi to Marzich Carpenter, June 10, 1939, unpublished letter courtesy of Nushin Mavaddat.

(The Baha'i World In Memoriam 1992-1997)