Dhikru'llah Khadem

Dhikru'llah Khadem (ذكر الله خادم, or Zikrullah Khadem; 1904–1986) was an Iranian follower of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life to a select leadership role as a Hand of the Cause in February 1952. Khadem played a key role in the transition of power in the religion during the leadership crisis after the death of Shoghi Effendi 1957.

In the 1960s Khadem and fellow Hand William Sears were the two most prominent Baháʼí figures in the Western hemisphere, and were responsible for both spreading the religion and maintaining its unity. Khadem and Sears held this responsibility during the attempted schism by Mason Remey in 1960, which was focused in North America. While spreading the Baháʼí Faith, Khadem travelled extensively around Iran, Africa, Europe, the USA, and at least 50 countries around the world.

Before dedicating himself full-time to serving the Baháʼí Faith in 1952, Khadem worked for a British oil company in southern Iran and the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran. He had proficiency in Persian, Arabic, English, and French that he used to translate works. He authored several books about the Baha'i Faith in Persian and English, and also compiled 134 volumes documenting Baháʼí holy places, completed in 1977.

Background
Khadem was born in Tehran in 1904, the second child of Nasru'lláh and Rádiyyih. His father served ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in ʻAkká in the 1890s and received the title ʻKhádim (servant) from him. Zikrullah taught briefly at the Tarbiyat Baháʼí school school in Tehran, then worked for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as chief interpreter and director of education, teaching Persian to the English-speaking employees. He was appointed as the personal assistant to the British general manager of the company.

Zikrullah first went on pilgrimage to the Baháʼí World Centre in 1925, meeting Shoghi Effendi and assisting with some of the layout of the Shrine of the Báb. In 1930 he left the oil company to work as a secretary of the Iraqi embassy in Tehran, being fluent in Persian, Arabic, English, and French. He married Javidukht on 3 October 1933, and later had five children: Mozhan, Jena, Riaz, Ramin and May. Khadem told his new wife that she was free to pursue academic aspirations, and she received a bachelor's degree from the University of Tehran. Along with his new wife, throughout the 1930s he travelled around Iran visiting nearly every city on assignments for Shoghi Effendi, such as visiting new believers and photographing sites of historical significance. While visiting Nayriz, he was temporarily jailed. He also made two more trips to Haifa in 1939 and 1940.

Khadem served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran from 1938 to 1960 (though his memorial in the Baháʼí News Service gives the dates as 1949-1960) and served as its treasurer in the 1950s. Between 1940 and 1957, Khadem was the main conduit for communications from Shoghi Effendi to the Baháʼí institutions and individuals in Iran; including during WWII when there was no postal service, when he had to charter private planes to move mail.

Khadem was responsible for securing several artifacts related to the early development of the religion, such as the sword of Mullá Husayn currently held at the Baháʼí World Centre archives.

As a Hand of the Cause
Khadem was still attached to the embassy in Tehran when in February of 1952 he received a notice from Shoghi Effendi appointing him as a Hand of the Cause, the highest appointed role in the religion after Shoghi Effendi. Only 50 were ever appointed, and the title is no longer given out. He subsequently left Iran and worked full-time for Shoghi Effendi, travelling initially to a Baháʼí conference in Rome in March, and then to all the Baháʼí centers in Europe. Bessie Neill, writing for The Press Democrat, wrote of his travels in 1963: "In September, 1952, he attended the Fifth Annual European Teaching Conference in Luxembourg. In 1953, he visited Baha'i centers in the United States and Central and South America, and in 1957, he visited Canada and the many Baha'i communities there. Thus, for 11 years, Mr. Khadem has been continuously engaged in Baha'i service, either at the Baha'i World Center, Haifa, Israel, or in various parts of the world."

He travelled to over 50 countries from 1953 to 1963, and over 1,000 Baháʼí communities, becoming one of the most respected Baha'is in the world. For example, Hugh Adamson wrote of his travels, "In 1953 he attended all four (Intercontinental) International Teaching Conferences and visits to centers in Central and South America; in 1954-1955 he visited centers in India, Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula, and Iraq; later in 1955 he went to Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Burma, and India; in 1957 he represented Shoghi Effendi at the Convention of Central America in Panama and visited centers in Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, the United States, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, British Honduras, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France; in 1958 he participated in the Intercontinental Conference in sydney, Australia, and visited centers in Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, and India; he attended the conference in Frankfurt, followed by visits to centers throughout Europe and attendance at the conference in Djakarta and Singapore..."

Leadership crisis
The religion went through a severe crisis from 1957 to 1963. Shoghi Effendi died on 4 November 1957 without having appointed a successor, and the 27 living Hands gathered in a series of 6 secret conclaves (or signed agreements if they were absent) to decide how to navigate the uncharted situation. Khadem and the rest made an announcement on 25 November 1957 to assume control of the Faith, certified that Shoghi Effendi had left no will or appointment of successor, said that no appointment could have been made, and elected 9 of their members to stay in at the Baháʼí World Centre in Haifa to exercise the executive functions of the Guardian (these were known as the Custodians). From October to December in 1958 Zikrullah Khadem substituted as a member of the nine custodial Hands in Haifa, then continued travelling.

As early as January 1959, Mason Remey, one of the custodial Hands, believed that he was the second Guardian and successor to Shoghi Effendi. That summer after a conclave of the Hands in Haifa, Remey abandoned his position and moved to Washington D.C., then soon after announced his claim to absolute leadership, causing a schism. In late 1959 Khadem dedicated himself to moving to the western hemisphere to help resolve the crisis, but it took him almost a year to resolve affairs in Iran before he moved to the United States in 1960. He was the first Hand of the Cause to reside in the western hemisphere, and for some time he was the only Hand serving throughout north and south America while Remey was trying to draw Baháʼís into his own schismatic group, whose followers were mostly in the United States.

In the United States
Khadem and his wife initially resided in Champaign, Illinois, and later in Urbana, Illinois. The Kokomo Tribune reported in 1963: "In 1962 [Khadem] played a principal role in bringing the Faith to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona."

In 1963 Khadem attended the election of the Universal House of Justice, then the custodial Hands of the Cause closed their office. Khadem encouraged Baháʼís to be obedient to the new institution.

The family spent two years in New York City from 1965-1967, then in 1967 they moved to Evanston, Illinois, and remained in the Chicago area. By 1971 he was one of only 17 Hands of the Cause still living. In 1972 the Universal House of Justice asked Khadem to research and document places and people of historical significance to Baháʼís, which he concluded in 1977 with a 134-volume work that was submitted to the Universal House of Justice.

Burial
Khadem died on the morning of 13 November 1986. His funeral service was held Saturday, 15 November 1986, and he was interred the same day at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois, a few miles west of the Baháʼí House of Worship. In the afternoon of the 15th there was a large memorial gathering at the House of Worship. After he died there were 8 remaining Hands of the Cause still alive.

Four years after his passing, his widow published the biography Zikrullah Khadem (1990), which she later translated to Persian and Spanish.