The Passing of My Dear Grandfather

I regret not having shared the following information sooner here...

His name was Siddiq Abdu’l-Majid Sulaiman. My grandfather. Whether you knew him or not is a factual nomenclature of little import. --For his life, his experiences, his stories provide us all with a catalogue of examples of one’s limitless capacity to love and a glimpse into the mysteries of the human spirit. His official obituary is below, followed by some notes. It is my hope to follow-up with some stories of his life and details attributed to his beloved personage.

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Siddiq Abdul-Majid Sulaiman left this earthly realm for the Abha Kingdom an hour after midnight on 4 February 2008. Born in Mosul , Iraq , in 1914, Mr. Sulaiman embraced the Baha’i Faith in the early 1940s and subsequently followed a distinguished career of service in his homeland. A high school teacher by profession, Mr. Sulaiman served, for a period in the 1950s, as the chairman of both the Baghdad Local Spiritual Assembly and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Iraq. He was later imprisoned for the Faith, spending from 1973 to 1979 in Abu Ghraib prison.In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he lived in Alexandria , Egypt , where he received his Baccalaureate in the subject of philosophy from the Alexandria University . It was there that he met Anisa Abdul-Razzaq Abbas, another Bahá'í from Iraq , who was also studying at Alexandria University . They were married in 1952 and had three children: Abir, Alhan, and Ruwa. He is survived by Ms. Abbas, his children, and five grandchildren (Zina Irwin, Menar Irwin, Remz Pokorny, Mona Majid and Zane Pokorny). Mr. Sulaiman passed away after a long decline in Bedford , New Hampshire.

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I invite you to watch a short video on youtube that I created on behalf of all of the grandchildren in memory of our grandfather. We would be honored if you watched it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XdTPH13eKN8

I met my grandfather when he and my grandmother, Anisa Abbas, arrived to America before the Gulf War after being separated from their children for over 11 years. He was tall, spoke English better than any Englishman, and immediately embraced us with an unforgettable tenderness. For the next 18 years I had the privilege of growing with him, listening to his stories and studying his exemplary life. Echoing the words of one of his dear friends, I am one of many who has taken pride in “being an unworthy student of Siddiq Abdu’l-Majid,” my jiddo.

He was born in 1914 in Mosul before WWI commenced. Mosul, in northern Iraq and West of the Tigris River, is a place my grandfather often spoke of with the fondest recollection. Today, it is the country’s second largest city, but during his childhood it had a much smaller community. His father owned a small but prosperous nut and ice cream shop. His devoted mother was part Kurdish. A siyyid (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad), my grandfather was raised as a Muslim and dedicated many years to the study of Islamic texts. As a boy he memorized most of the Qur’an, a common tradition in the educational curriculum.

He became a member of the Baha’i Faith as a young adult, after intensely reading Nabil-i-Azam’s historical narrative “The Dawnbreakers” (in which Nabil wrote about the socio-political climate of nineteenth century Iran, the Babi movement, and the Baha’i Faith). The Baha’i Faith is an independent world religion (not a sect of another religion), founded by Baha’u’llah whose name means “Glory of God.” Baha’is (the members of the Faith) believe in one God, the oneness of humankind, the equality of the sexes, the unity of science and religion, the independent investigation of truth, and that all religions stem from the same Source and share a common spiritual essence, among other key beliefs.

His dedication to these tenets and to the Baha’i Faith eventually led to his imprisonment (alongside other Baha’is) in Abu Ghraib. Under the suspicious and fearful regime, minority communities (including the Baha’i faith -regardless of how peaceful and non-political it is) were subject to government scrutiny and action. At Abu Ghraib, my grandfather was kept near the most vile and contemptible members of society -murderers, thiefs, etc. He was also subjected to cruel actions in an attempt to have him recant his Faith. His refusal kept him imprisoned for six years until a regime change, though he was sentenced for life and had gladly accepted that potential fate.

He always taught me that human beings have a great spiritual capacity and that capacity can be veiled by selfishness and ignorance. In the pursuit of truth, he said, we must always be humble and detached. Physically blind himself, he taught me to see with spiritual eyes. And to love unconditionally as love requires no reason for expression, except to exercise the human spirit.