In Memoriam: Heshmat Shariary (1934-2018)
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-19 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Anonymous, In Memoriam: Heshmat Shariary (1934-2018), bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Dr. Heshmat Shariary

1934 – 2018

Dr. Heshmat Shahriary was a staunch supporter of the ‘Irfán
Colloquium. Accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Farideh Shahriary, he
regularly participated in the annual sessions of ‘Irfán Colloquium
held at Bosch Bahá’í School in northern California. As long as his
health condition allowed it, he was presenting the outcome of his
research and studies at the `Irfán Colloquium. Some of his research-
based articles are published in the volumes of Safíni-yi-‘Irfán.

Heshmat Shahriary was born on May 1, 1934, in Kashan, Iran. He
was a fourth-generation Bahá’í. His great-grandfather Mulla Rida of
Zavareh and his grandfather Assad’ulláh, both were Bahá’í Martyrs
and were honoured by receiving Tablets from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

He moved to Tehran at the age of 17, attended Alborz High
School, then moved to Shiraz to continue his higher education at the
In Memoriam                                                        343

Pahlavi University’s Medical School. During his first year at that
university, Hand of the Cause of God `Alí-Akbar Furútan visited
Shiraz and spent four months delivering a series of lectures aimed at
deepening the knowledge and understanding of the friends in the
verities of the Bahá’í Faith. Sensing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,
Heshmat decided to temporarily leave his medical studies and become
available fulltime to accompany Mr. Furútan during that period. This
decision would turn out to be pivotal and Heshmat looked upon this
time as one of the most life-changing and significant experiences of
his life. His transcriptions of Mr. Furútan’s talks during that time in
Shiraz filled three volumes, some of which can be found on
the Ayeneh-e-Jahan website.

Heshmat went on to complete his education and become a
renowned orthopaedic surgeon. He moved to the United States at the
onset of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, where he successfully
continued his practice as a physician. He authored two widely-
regarded textbooks on the subject of arthroscopic surgery, one of
which was translated into Chinese.

Heshmat had a burning desire to teach and serve the Faith. It was
his dream to visit the country and the people of Romania, the
country of Queen Marie, who, at her time, was the only monarch to
recognize Bahá’u’lláh and become a Bahá’í. He travelled to Romania
six times and successfully acquired a great number of copies of
Queen Marie’s letters as well as relics from the Museum’s archives
which he then donated to the Bahá’í World Center. The greatest
honour of his life was when during his visit to that country in
December 1990, he was presented with the official written
pronouncement of recognition of the Bahá’í Faith in Romania by the
Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Dr. Shahriary then turned his attention to China, which is referred
to by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as “the country of the future.” He travelled many
times to China and achieved great results in his efforts over there.
The crowning achievement of his work in China was undoubtedly the
establishment of the Center for Bahá’í Studies in Beijing, through the
support of Pride, a non-profit organization. The establishment of
this Center was a-dream-come-true for Heshmat.
344                                                Lights of Irfán vol. 19

In both Romania and China he organized seminars in the field of
orthopaedic medicine where he shared and taught the techniques of
arthroscopic surgery, a field in which he was widely acknowledged to
be one of the original pioneers.

In addition to his travels, Dr Shahriary developed a genuine
relationship with the Persian media, opening channels of
communications that would clear up common and widely-held
misunderstandings about the Bahá’í Faith. He worked towards this
goal tirelessly and passionately until the end of his life.

He retired from his medical practice in 2007 after a car accident.
Guided and encouraged by the Universal House of Justice, he
embarked on what would be his last great service to a Faith he loved
and served his entire life: publishing a magazine entitled Ayeneh-e
Jahan.
The last decade of his life saw him participating actively in the
‘Irfán Colloquium. He devoted many joyful hours pouring his energy
and scholarship into studies and research for preparing scholarly
presentations for annual sessions of that colloquium until fatigue and
poor health prevented him from pursuing his research. On April 19,
2018, he left his earthly life as he lived it: peacefully and with great
dignity.
-- In Memoriam: Heshmat Shariary (1934-2018) (Used by permission of the curator)