September 22. On this date in 2007, ‘Alí-Muhammad Varqá, the longest surviving Hand of the Cause of God, died in Haifa. From 1955 until his death he was also the Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh, a position he inherited after the death of his father Valíyu'lláh, who had served as Trustee from 1938 to 1955.

September 22. On this date in 2007, ‘Alí-Muhammad Varqá, the longest surviving Hand of the Cause of God, died in Haifa. From 1955 until his death he was also the Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh, a position he inherited after the death of his father Valíyu'lláh, who had served as Trustee from 1938 to 1955.

‘Alí-Muḥammad Varqá was born January 1, 1912 in Tehran, Iran, to a distinguished Iranian Bahá’í Family. His grandfather, from whom he received his name was an Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh and his father Valíyu'lláh Varqá, was also the trustee of the Ḥuqúqu’lláh and a Hand of the Cause.

‘Alí-Muḥammad Varqá obtained a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950, taught in Iran at the universities of Tabriz and Tehran, and served the Bahá’í community there in various administrative capacities. In 1979 he moved to Canada, and later established his residence in Haifa to serve at the Bahá’í World Centre.

He traveled to many countries as a representative first of Shoghi Effendi, then of the Universal House of Justice. In that capacity, Dr. Varqá attended the first National Conventions of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Congo, Mauritania, Central Africa Republic, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Czechoslovakia, Greenland, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

Upon his death, ‘Alí-Muḥammad Varqá was survived by three daughters and six siblings. His funeral took place on the morning of September 24, with burial in the Bahá’í cemetery in Haifa.