Ásíyih Navváb

Ásíyih Khánum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ás%C3%ADyih_Khánum

-------------------------------------------------------------

Ásyih was born in 1820 in the village Yalrud, Mazandaran. Her father was Mirza Isma’il-i-Vazir, a powerful and wealthy Persian nobleman. Bahá'u'lláh addressed her as Navváb, and the Most Exalted Leaf.

She was chosen to marry the young Bahá'u'lláh based on her rare physical beauty, wealth and piety.[The family had pre-existing roots with Bahá'u'lláh's family by virtue of their influence in the royal court which may have influenced the marriage arrangements.

They married some time between 24 September and 22 October 1835 aged 15 in Tehran and she had seven of Bahá'u'lláh's children, of whom only three lived to adulthood.

She died in 1886 in Akká, and is buried on Mount Carmel within the vicinity of the Shrine of the Báb. Bahá'u'lláh named her his "perpetual consort" and her son as his vicar.

Bahá'ís regard the children of Ásíyih and Bahá'u'lláh to be the Bahá'í "holy family"