She was Touba Khanum’s twin, but rather different in character. An extrovert, given to continuous good deeds for any member of the community in need of medical attention, she was also instrumental in setting up a society for children in need in Haifa.
As a young person, she had been sociable and full of energy and dedicated to her work as a prominent member of the family that headed the Baha’i community. She received the pilgrims who came to Haifa from the US, Europe, and other parts of the world to visit her charismatic and prominent father and the shrines in Haifa and Bhaji, with the same enthusiasm as she attended to any member of the community in need of any medical or other care. In fact, she found time for everybody except her own family. After her husband died, she blamed herself for not finding enough time for him, and her daughter Zahra said of her that she had mothered everybody except her own children.
As a young girl, Rouha Khanum had developed a special bond with her cousin Shoa’ullah, the son of her paternal uncle Mirza Muhammad Ali (commonly called Miz Mamdali). He was 19 years old and she was younger. However, the rift between her father, Abdul Baha, and his half-brother, Miz Mamdali, brought matters to a difficult point. With a breakup of family unity imminent, she often told the story to her children of how she had gone to her uncle and, falling on his knees, had begged him not to allow matters to reach such a point. But it was not to be. Miz Mamdali sent Shoa’ to the USA, where he stayed for many years. When he came back to Haifa, many years later, Rouha Khanum wished to see him. Hassan, her son, tried to arrange a meeting. Shoa’ turned it down on the basis that it would bring back too many painful memories.
Rouha Khanum was destined to marry Mirza Jalal Isfahani Shahid, the son of Muhammad Hassan who, along with his two brothers, had been arrested in Isfahan and ordered to curse the Bab and Baha’u’allah. The two older ones refused to do so, but convinced their younger brother, Mirza Ismail, not to follow their example so that someone from the family would be spared to look after the women and children that would be widowed or orphaned. After their martyrdom, Baha’u’llah designated them as Sultan al Shuhada (the Sultan of Martyrs) and Mahboub al Shuhada (the Beloved of Martyrs). He also sent for the two widows and their children to come to Acre, which they did. Mirza Jalal Shahid, the son of Sultan al Shuhada, grew up there and later went into business where, in spite of ups and downs, he prospered.
They had four children: Maryam, Munib, Zahra, and Hassan. They had grown up at Noº 9 Persian Street, a house adjacent to that of Abdu’l Baha at Noº 7. They were very much aware of their place in the tension-laden family disputes and disagreements that prevailed.
The relationship of Abdu’l Baha with his daughters, sons-in-law, and his grandchildren was good and positive. When it came to the latter, it was clear-cut and ambitious. He had decided that Shoghi Effendi (the son of his eldest daughter) would succeed him, but that Maryam (the eldest daughter of Ruha Khanum) would be a fitting wife for him. Munib (the eldest son of Ruha Khanum) had, from his teenage years, made it clear to his grandfather that he wanted to become a doctor. To this, the Master had replied that he would not only be a doctor of their physical health but of their spiritual health as well.
Matters, however, did not move to plan. Shoghi Effendi had met Mary Maxwell on one of the trips her parents had made to Haifa, and according to his brother, Hossein, had fallen in love with her. The fact that Maryam developed Hodgkin’s Disease while a student at the Sorbonne in Paris only made things easier for him. Waiting until she was diagnosed as incurable, he went ahead and married the woman he loved. He renamed her Ruhiyeh Khanum (it’s Farsi pronunciation) though Bahahis always write it as Rouhiyyih Khanum (it’s Arabic spelling and pronunciation).
That was the first blow for Rouha Khanum. It was soon followed by her son Munib’s decision to marry Serene Husseini, a member of a prominent Muslin family from Jerusalem. Of course, Shoghi Effendi did not approve, so his aunt, Rouha Khanum, and her whole family were cast out.
“Moneeb Shaheed, grandson of both ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the King of Martyrs, married according to the Moslem rites the daughter of a political exile who is nephew of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. This treacherous act of alliance with enemies of the Faith merits condemnation of entire Bahá’í world.”
Shoghi Rabbani
(Bahá’í News, No. 172, Dec 1944)
Is it a surprise that she got a nervous breakdown (also known as a mental breakdown) that turned her into an invalid for life?
As if that were not enough, the Spiritual Assembly of Beirut, Lebanon was disbanded by Shoghi Effendi after it officiated at the marriage of her daughter, Zahra, to her cousin, Ruhi (son of Tuba Khanum). To top it all, he sent a message to his aunt, Rouha Khanum, that if her younger son, Hassan, married me, Shoghi Effendi’s niece, he would not allow any Baha’is to walk in her funeral. And what Baha’i would have walked in the funeral of an excommunicated Baha’i, even though she were the granddaughter of Baha’u’llah, the daughter of Abdul Baha, the wife of the son of the King of Martyrs of the Baha’i faith, and Shoghi Effendi’s own aunt?
Abdu'l-Baha's Family 