In line with the innovative philosophy of her older brother, Ostad Elahi, a jurist, philosopher, and musician with whom she shared a special bond, Malek Jân pursued a rational and scientific approach to spirituality centered on the acquisition of self-knowledge and greater discernment. For more than twenty years, she lived either in Jeyhounabad or by her brother's side as he traveled to various towns on judicial assignments. During that time, she nourished her thought and deepened her reflections while benefiting from her close proximity to Ostad.
At the core of Malek Jan’s philosophy lies a dedication to personal exploration and development through a profound understanding and respect for the rights and duties of all human beings. Her quest for balance—“no excess, no deficiency"—manifested itself through an astounding discipline, and her thirst for knowledge and education was truly insatiable: until the end of her life, she continued to study mathematics, biology, law, history, and geography. Like her father and brother, she never showed any interest in politics, yet remained fully aware of the concerns and demands of her time and constantly stayed informed of current affairs and world events.
Using common sense and simple yet acute reasoning, Jâni demonstrated the relationship between the theory of a path of self-development—the attainment of spiritual perfection—and the application of its principles in daily life, explaining the necessity and usefulness of our daily trials and how we can best prepare for and handle them. She acknowledged her own mistakes with sincerity and spoke simply of her experiences so that others could benefit from the lessons she had drawn.
Though she herself lived in a simple environment, Jâni always sought to ameliorate the conditions of her fellow villagers. She shared most of her modest resources and provided daily meals to many visitors. From an intellectual, moral, and spiritual point of view, she never sought to impose her values—respect for the rights of others and compassion towards all human beings—upon others. While exacting of herself, she demonstrated tremendous patience towards others, gently awakening the desire to progress within them.
In 1965, she established informal weekly classes in response to a request by those who sought to study her thought in greater depth. While her original inclination was to teach the profound philosophical points she had learned and experienced firsthand, at the encouragement of Ostad she instead carefully tailored such sessions to the mentality and psyche of the participants so that they could more fully benefit from her experience, teaching them more practical, basic courses that would later evolve in parallel with their mentalities. At first, these classes were comprised of women and focused on teaching basic ways to improve their lives within their fairly primitive environment. For example, she taught them basic hygiene and etiquette, the importance of washing one’s hands, the harm of using profanity, etc. Later, however, as her pupils’ minds expanded she taught more radical concepts such as the importance of financial independence for women and encouraging woman to develop a sense of self-reliance and independence, even if it meant starting with small steps such as growing beets or baking bread for sale. Soon thereafter, men within the community began to join the classes and as time passed the concepts taught grew more and more profound, while always remaining grounded in everyday life.
As a result of her inner strength, charisma, and wisdom, Malek Jân became a renowned sage and saint-like figure in her own community and the greater region. People from all walks of life, both men and women, sought her guidance in matters ranging from the mundane to the highly complex, and she received each of them with compassion, generosity, and a genuine concern for their well-being. She considered this service as her basic human duty, and despite constant illness throughout her life, she was committed to performing this duty with the utmost care—even insisting on answering questions, at least ten letters a day of the hundred she received each week, while under oxygen in her later years due to immense difficulty in her breathing.
Prior to his passing, Ostad Elahi entrusted Malek Jân with the responsibility of continuing his teachings and developing the principles he had set forth. Thus, for the first time in the history of their mystical lineage, and in stark opposition to the culture in which they lived, Malek Jân became the first woman entrusted with such a role.
