Khadíjih Bagum (1822-September 15, 1882)[1] was the wife of the Báb. Throughout Bahá'í literature she is sometimes referred to as Khadíjih-Sultán Bagum, Khadíjih Bigum or Khadíjih Khánum.[2]
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The second daughter of her parents Khadíjih Bagum was born with the name of Khadíjih-Sultán Shírází in 1822 in Shiraz.[1] The appellation given to her Bagum ("Bagum" signifies "Lady"), is seen as a sign of respect and should not be confused with as being part of her name. Her father Áqá Mír `Alí was a merchant importing goods from Bushier.[1] He worked in the family’s mercantile business[3] and the least successful member of the family.[4] Her mother Ḥájíyyih Bíbí of Jahrum who had been widowed when she married Khadíjih’s father.[3] From her mother’s first marriage Khadíjih had one half brother named Muhammad-Mihdí a noted poet and a half sister known as `Ammih Ḥájí who when grown up married Hájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí the guardian of the Báb in his childhood.[3] She had three full siblings: two brothers, Ḥájí Mírzá Abu'l-Qasim who followed the family occupancy of merchancy, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Hasan, who became a teacher of medicine and studied theology and one sister named Zahrá.[5]
At a young age she was acquainted with the Báb being his second-cousin-one-removed and the two were playmates during their childhood. [5] As the two grew older however following custom the two did not see each other.[6] In his young manhood the Báb was wont to go on pilgrimage to Karbila for long periods of time.[7] This distressing his mother caused her to search for something to keep the 23-year-old Báb in Shiraz – a wife. [8] This resulted in the marriage of Khadíjih Bagum and the Báb arranged swiftly perhaps to dissuade him from leaving Shiraz. [9] The 20-year-old Khadíjih Bagum married the Báb on August 25, 1842 in Shiraz the ceremony being conducted by the imam of the city Shaykh Abú-Turáb.[10][11] The young couple moved into a modest compound with the Báb, Khadíjih and his mother Fátimih Bagum.[12]
In 1843 she gave birth to the couple’s only child, a boy named Ahmad who died a few months later.[13] Ahmad was buried in the vicinity of Bíbí-Dukhtarán in Shiraz, but his body was later removed.[3] The birth was a difficult one, with the life of Khadíjih at stake and she never conceived again. The death of her only child was very hard for her to bear and the Báb consoled her assuring their son was in heaven.[14] She later recalled how the earliest days of her marriage were some of the happiest times of her life.[1] Following the sojourn of her husband to Isfahan for his safety she lived a lonely life with the mother of the Báb and her closest companion an African servant named Fiddih. Anguished at separation from her husband she consoled herself with letters he sent her revealing a loving relationship the two had.[15] News concerning the Báb reached her and Fátimih Bagum only sporadically. Family members were often resentful and embarrassed about connection to the Báb and distanced themselves from Khadíjih[16] with only one sister Zahrá dressing herself as a peasant came to tell her sister news of the Báb.[17]
At the age of 28 Khadíjih was widowed after the Báb was killed by firing squad.[18] She then moved into the house of her sister Zahrá. Fearing for her health, the men of the household thought it prudent to keep the Báb’s passing a secret from her and his mother for almost a year.[1] However with the death of the uncle of the Báb, as well as his 18-year-old son, the secret could not be kept. When revealed the family were distraught and all three were mourned together.[19] The mother of the Báb was horrified and decided to retire to Karbila.[20] This departure meant that Khadíjih was dependent only on Fiddih and her sister.[20] "Her departure from Shiraz added greatly to my burden of sorrow and deepened the sadness of my heart. I had no longer by my side a comforter whose love and sympathy and care had sustained me over the years" she remarked.[21]
According to her own later account, she had recognized the Báb's religious station before the Báb had declared his mission to Mulla Husayn. She later recognized Bahá'u'lláh's claim,[22] and became a Bahá'í.[23] She kept in correspondence with Bahá'u'lláh while she had returned to Shiraz and lived in her her previous home. Greatly revered by the Bahá’ís many would visit her whilst journeying to see Bahá’u’lláh. One occasion the very young Fátimih Nahrí of Isfahán accompanied by her brother visited, “they stayed for fifteen days, and those were some of the happiest days of my life” she later reflected.[24]
Later she was to make a journey to 'Akká to visit Bahá'u'lláh in 1882 with her nephew who was to come from Yazd. However when her nephew went straight to Ottoman Syria, she was not being able to go, as women could not travel alone.[25] After hearing the news, her health rapidly decreased.[26] She died on September 15, 1882 at the age of sixty, and was buried in Shiraz.[23][27] The same night her devoted maid and closest friend, an African named Fiddih, died too.[28][29] In the Kitáb-i-Badí, Bahá'u'lláh gives her the title of Khayru'n Nisa (The Most Virtuous of Women) and forbids all women, save Fátimih Bagum, the Báb's mother, from adopting the title.[30]
Bahá'í Holy Family:
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