Zahra Khanum (1912-2004)
The second daughter of Rouha Khanum and Mirza Jalal Shahid was also enamoured of medicine. She applied and was accepted as a medical student at the American University Hospital of Beirut (AUH), Lebanon, where her brother, Munib, had trained. Fate, however, planned matters otherwise – she was not able to go through with the training and could not become a doctor. Instead, she got a BSc in petroleum chemistry. She was offered a very good job by the Iraq Petroleum Company (ISB) upon graduation. Due to circumstances, however, she had to decline.
She often, like many members of the family, turned to her faith and convictions in the principles of the Baha’i Cause, though Shoghi Effendi considered her and her husband, Ruhi Afnan, (both the Guardian’s first cousins), her parents, Mirza Jalal Shahid and Rouha Khanum (Shoghi Effendi’s aunt), and her children, Iraj and Parviz, unworthy of membership in the community.
She was never able to pursue her interest in becoming a doctor nor to practice petroleum chemistry in Iraq. Her deep faith in the principles of the Baha’i Cause, however, were a lifelong interest which she and the rest of the family maintained.
Abdu'l-Baha's Family 