# The Ethiopian King

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Nader Saiedi, The Ethiopian King, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Baha’i Studies Review, Volume 17 © Intellect Ltd 2011
> Miscellaneous. English language. doi: 10.1386/bsr.17.181/7
> 
> The Ethiopian King
> By Nader Saiedi Translated by Omid Ghaemmaghami1
> 
> Abstract                                                                               Keywords
> This article brings to light a number of hitherto unknown passages from the            The Bāb
> writings of the Bāb about Hajji Mubārak, the Bāb’s Ethiopian servant.               Mubārak
> Ethiopian
> African
> ‘… He bestoweth a luminous countenance upon the Ethiopian servant …’2              slavery
> Iran
> The eve of 23 May marks the anniversary of the declaration of the Bab,
> the dawn of a new revelation and a turning point in the history of human-
> kind. Accounts of this historic night customarily begin with Mullā H.usayn
> Bushrūʾı̄’s encounter with the Bab at his home and proceed to describe the
> revelation of the first chapter of the Qayyūm al-Asmāʾ and Mullā H.usayn’s
> declaration of faith. Yet we also know that a third person was present on
> that fateful eve: Mubārak, the Bab’s Ethiopian servant. Until now, the signif-
> icance of Mubārak has not been fully appreciated by scholars. Babi and
> Baha’i historians knew little about him and he has largely been ignored as
> a result.3 A study of the Bab’s writings shows that this neglect is completely
> unwarranted. The Bab mentions Mubārak numerous times in his writings,
> where the person known as the Ethiopian servant is transformed into the
> Ethiopian king.
> It is well-known that in the Persian Bayān and other works, the Bab
> adduces a sifter of wheat from Isfahan4 to illustrate the great revolution that
> the appearance of the Promised One ushered in by declaring, ‘The abased
> amongst you, He shall exalt; and they that are exalted, He shall abase.’5
> According to the Bab, Shaykh Muh.ammad H            . asan al-Najafı̄ (d. 1849), the
> author of Jawāhir al-kalām and the greatest Shi’i divine of the age,6 fell into
> the abyss of the most ignorant of men through rejecting the message of the
> Bab delivered to him by Mullā ʿAlı̄ Bast.āmı̄,7 while a sifter of wheat from
> Isfahan who had no formal education or training attained the summit of
> glory through his faith in the Bab.8 In these passages, in expounding on
> the concept and meaning of true knowledge, the Bab contrasts a sifter of
> wheat with al-Najafı̄ to illustrate the all-encompassing spiritual revolution
> caused by his revelation; yet in a different work, he illustrates the same
> revolutionary ideas using the concept of sovereignty. Here, the Bab explains
> that upon rejecting him, the king of Iran, Muh.ammad Shah (d. 1848),9 and
> his prime minister, Hajji Mirza Āqāsı̄ (d. 1849),10 descended to the lowest
> abyss, while Mubārak, who to outward appearance, was bereft of any power
> or earthly rank, ascended to the heaven of glory for ‘having done good in
> the realm of faith’ (bi-mā ah.sana fı̄ al-dı̄n).11
> 
> BSR 17 pp. 181–186 © Intellect Ltd 2011                                          181
> The other fact worthy of notice is that in most of the writings in which
> the Bab mentions his parents, he also remembers Mubārak. As an example,
> we will cite here from a hitherto unknown work of the Bab, composed of
> some 300–400 pages, and known as Kitāb-i Sı̄ Duʿā (‘The Book of Thirty
> Prayers’). As the Bab approached the age of 30, he revealed 30 prayers in
> honour of his 30 years. These 30 prayers were revealed daily in S.afar (the
> second month of the Islamic calendar) and early Rabı̄ʿ al-Awwal (the third
> month of the Islamic calendar) 1265 [December 1848 – January 1849]. The
> Bab dedicated each of these 30 prayers to one of the years of his life. The
> work can thus be considered a spiritual autobiography. While each prayer
> refers to a specific year, the overarching theme of the work is communion
> with God, embodying the themes of worship and devotion to the Creator
> that formed the essence of the Bab’s life. Among these 30 prayers, prayer
> number 27 (apropos his 27th year) stands out. In this prayer, the Bab
> provides an almost complete account of his life in a section that has been
> cited in the published compilation, Selections from the Writings of the Báb,
> without the source being identified. Excerpts from this prayer follow:
> 
> Thou art aware, O My God, that since the day Thou didst call Me into being
> out of the water of Thy love till I reached fifteen years of age I lived in the
> land which witnessed My birth [Shíráz]. Then Thou didst enable Me to go
> to the seaport [Búshihr] where for five years I was engaged in trading …
> I proceeded therefrom to the Holy Land [Kárbilá] where I sojourned
> for one year. Then I returned to the place of My birth … Then at the age
> of twenty-five I proceeded to thy sacred House [Mecca], and by the time I
> returned to the place where I was born, a year had elapsed … Thus I departed
> therefrom by Thy leave, spending six months in the land of S.ád [Is. fáhán] and
> seven months in the First Mountain [Mákú], … Now, in My thirtieth year,
> Thou beholdest Me, O My God, in this Grievous Mountain [Chihríq] where
> I have dwelt for one whole year.12
> 
> Here and elsewhere, the Bab notes that he remained in Mākū for less than
> eight months. As mentioned earlier, the Kitāb-i Sı̄ Duʿā was revealed near
> the end of S.afar. The Bab says that at the time in which he is writing, he
> has spent one year in Chihrı̄q. It merits noting that elsewhere in this prayer,
> the Bab mentions that in a few days, he will turn 30. This may appear odd
> at first. After all, it is well-known that the Bab was born on the first day of
> the first month of the Islamic calendar, 1 Muh.arram 1235 (20 October 1819),
> meaning that by the end of S.afar or the beginning of Rabı̄ʿ al-Awwal, two
> months had passed since his birthday. The solution to this seeming puzzle
> lies in the words, ‘Thou art aware, O My God, that since the day Thou didst
> call Me into being out of the water of Thy love …’ In this and other passages,
> the Bab calculates the beginning of his life from the moment of conception
> rather than the day of his birth. In this prayer, he begins not from the year
> of his birth, 1235 (rather than 1234), but from the day of conception, i.e.
> nine months and nine days (according to the lunar calendar which is equal
> to nine months in the solar calendar) before the first day of Muh.arram.
> At times in his writings, the Bab calculates his age from 1 Muh.arram 1235;
> at other times from 21 Rabı̄ʿ al-Awwal 1234; and still other times from
> 
> 182                                                             Omid Ghaemmanghami
> 21 Rabı̄ʿ al-Awwal 1235. In these 30 prayers, each calculation begins from
> 21 Rabı̄ʿ al-Awwal 1235 (7 January 1820). For this reason, at the end of S.afar
> when he is writing, there are still 3 weeks left before he reaches 30. This
> passage is in complete congruence with the Bab’s words in other tablets.
> Moreover, this method of calculation is discussed by him in other works
> that are beyond the scope of the present article.
> Let us return to the subject at hand. One of the interesting points about
> these thirty prayers, as well as other prayers revealed by the Bab, is the fact
> that he repeatedly prays first for his mother and father and then for the one
> who has raised him (‘he who raised me’), beseeching God to bestow upon
> them His loving-kindness and most sublime bounties. The same can be
> observed in other prayers of the Bab. Previously, it had been assumed that
> in these prayers, the Bab is expressing his appreciation to first his parents
> and then the Khāl-i Aʿz.am,13 Hajji Mirza Sayyid ʿAlı̄, but such is not the
> case. The venerable person who raised and educated him is none other
> than Mubārak, his Ethiopian servant whose faith and devotion caused him
> to ascend to the summits of glory and might.14 The special love and kind-
> ness of the Bab for Mubārak is entirely evident from prayer number 7 which
> is related to when he was seven years old. After praying for his mother and
> father, the Bab supplicates to God for Mubārak:
> 
> Send down, then, upon me, O my God, when I was seven years old and
> upon him who raised me on Thy behalf, whose name is Mubārak, that which
> beseemeth the splendours of the sanctity of Thy loftiness and the wonders of
> the might of Thy revelation.15
> 
> In this passage, the name of the person for whom the Bab repeatedly
> prays for and who, alongside his mother and father, is remembered and
> honoured as the one who raised and educated, is disclosed. The Bab in
> fact places Mubārak on the same plane as his father. The love and tender-
> ness for Mubārak that runs throughout the Bab’s writings is the greatest
> manifestation of the message of peace, brotherhood, and unity that he has
> brought to humanity. Following this passage, the image of a moving and
> beautiful memory from the Bab’s life is conveyed: ‘… and for the bow and
> arrow he made for Me to play with at that age, [send him] what is in Thy
> knowledge of Thy grace and mercy.’16
> The Bab’s affection for one who served him from childhood; his remem-
> brance of Mubārak while imprisoned in the mountains of Ādharbāyjān; his
> prayers for him and his greetings to him in his letters to his mother, wife,
> and uncle;17 his praise of Mubārak as one who was to all outward appear-
> ances a servant but, in reality, the king of the righteous; all beautifully serve
> to demonstrate that Mubārak truly loved the Bab and that the Bab in turn
> had special affection and love for Mubārak. It was this mutual love that
> made the Bab’s Ethiopian servant the pride of all the kings on earth.
> 
> Suggested citation
> Nader Saiedi, ‘Sult.ān-i h. abashı̄, Payám-i Bahá’í, 366, 2010, 10–13; trans. and anno-
> tated Omid Ghaemmaghami, ‘The Ethiopian King’, Baha’i Studies Review, 17,
> 2011, 181–186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/bsr.17.181/1
> 
> The Ethiopian King                                                                  183
> Contributor details
> Omid Ghaemmaghami is a PhD candidate in Islamic thought and sessional
> instructor of modern standard Arabic at the University of Toronto.
> 
> Omid Ghaemmaghami has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
> Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work in the format that was
> submitted to Intellect Ltd.
> 
> Endnotes
> 1.    This article is a translation of N. Saiedi, ‘Sult. ān-i h.abashı̄ ’, in Payám-i Baháʾí, 366 (May
> 2010/167BE), 10–13. The notes that follow have been provided by the translator.
> 2.    ʿAbdu’l-Bahá, Makātı̄ b-i ʿAbdu’l-Baháʾ, jild-i hashtum [vol. 8], [Tehran]: Muʾassasih-yi Millı̄ -i
> Mat. būʿāt-i Amrı̄ , 134BE/1977–78, 150.
> 3.    The exceptions being [N. Zarandı̄ ], The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days
> of the Bahá’í Revelation, trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi, Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, 1932 [1996], 53–54, 62, 66, 68, 96, 129, 132–33, 148; M. H. Afnán, Genesis of the Bábi-
> Bahá’í Faiths in Shíráz and Fárs, trans. A. Rabbani, Leiden: Brill, 2008, index, s.v. ‘Mubárak,
> Hájí’; A. Māzandarānı̄ , Kitāb-i z. uhūr al-h.aqq, bakhsh-i du [vol. 2], digitally republished,
> East Lansing, Michigan: H-Bahai, 2000, 29, 37, 49; A. Māzandarānı̄ , Kitāb-i ẓuhūr al-ḥaqq,
> jild-i sivvum [vol. 3], Hofheim: Muʾassasih-yi Mat. būʿāt-i Bahāʾı̄ -i Ālmān, 165BE/2008, 81,
> 193-4; A. Afnan, Black Pearls, Los Angeles, Kalimát Press, 1988, 3–18 = A. Afnān, Laʾālı̄ -i
> siyāh, Canada: n.p., 1992, 27–36; N. Muh.ammad-H              . usaynı̄ , H.ad.rat-i Bāb, Dundas, Ontario:
> Muʾassasih-yi Maʿārif-i Bahā’ı̄ bih Lisān-i Farsı̄ , 152BE/1995, 701-02; N. Muh.ammad-
> H. usaynı̄ , H. ad. rat-i T. āhirih, Dundas, Ontario: Muʾassasih-yi Maʿārif-i Bahā’ı̄ , 157BE/2000,
> 13-4; A. Afnān, ʿAhd-i aʿlā: Zindigānı̄ -i h.ad. rat-i Bāb, Oxford: Oneworld, 2000, 61, 64, 74, 76,
> 79, 130, 133, 567 (note 75), where the story of Mubārak accompanying the Bāb to visit an
> early Arab Bābı̄ (and later Bahā’ı̄ ) Shaykh Sult. ān during his stay in Shiraz is recounted (the
> source for this account is Nabı̄ l Zarandı̄ ’s history); A. Lee, ‘Mubarak, Haji’, Encyclopedia
> of Africa, eds. K. A. Appiah and H. L. Gates, Jr., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, vol.
> 1, 197, where Mubārak’s year of birth is mistakenly given as 1833; A. Lee, ‘Haji Mubārak’,
> World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy, ABC-CLIO, 2011–, available online: http://
> religion2.abc-clio.com/; A. Lee, The Baha’i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious
> Movement, 1952–1962, Leiden: Brill, 2011, 21-41 passim; A. Lee, ‘Enslaved African Women
> in Nineteenth-Century Iran: The Life of Fezzeh Khanom of Shiraz,’ Iranian Studies, 45(3),
> 2012, 417-437 (see 432–3); N. Cacchioli, ‘The Pupil of the Eye: Abolitionism, Racial Unity,
> and the Iconography of Enslaved Africans in Baha’i Tradition’, in E. Toledano (ed.) African
> Communities in Asia and the Mediterranean: Identities between Integration and Conflict,
> Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2012, pp. 237-54, see 244-45 (my thanks to Steve Cooney
> for this reference). For general information about slaves and the practice of slavery in
> pre-modern and modern Iran, see W. Floor, ‘Barda and Barda-dārı̄ iv. From the Mongols
> to the abolition of slavery’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. E. Yarshater, available online:
> http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barda-iv.
> 4.    This is a reference to Mullā Muh.ammad Jaʿfar Gandum Pākkun, the first Bābı̄ in Is. fahān
> who had the distinction of being mentioned in both the Persian Bayān and the Kitāb-i-
> Aqdas. The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, trans. Habib Taherzadeh with the
> assistance of a Committee at the Bahá’í World Centre, Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1976, 83;
> Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book, Haifa: The Universal House of Justice,
> 1992, 79 (par. 166), 243 (note 179). See also [N. Zarandı̄ ], The Dawn-Breakers 99.
> 5.    Translated in Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán, trans. Shoghi Effendi, Wilmette: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1983, 146. Cf. Matthew 5:10; Qur’an 28:5. The expression is a simi-
> lar to the wording found in a number of hadiths attributed to the Shiʿi Imams. See for
> example al-Kulaynı̄ , al-Us. ūl min al-kāfı̄ , ed. ʿA. A. al-Ghaffārı̄ , 8 vols., Tehran: Dār al-Kutub
> al-Islāmiyya, 1362AS/1983–84, 1:369 (no. 1); A. al-Ah.sāʾı̄ , Kitāb al-rajʿa, Beirut: al-Dār
> al-ʿālamiyya, 1414AH/1993, 131; ʿA. H   . . Ishrāq-Khāvarı̄ , Qāmūs-i ı̄ qān, 4 vols., [Tehran]:
> Muʾassasih-yi Millı̄ -i Mat. būʿāt-i Amrı̄ , 128BE/1971-72, 4:1827-29.
> 6. Muh.ammad H    . asan al-Najafı̄ ’s magnum opus, Jawāhir al-kalām fı̄ sharh. sharāyiʿ al-islām
> (The Jewels of Dialectic Theology in Explaining the Laws of Islam), a work which took him
> 25 years to complete, is recognized as the most popular work of Shiʿi jurisprudence in the
> 19th century. See Meir Litvak, ‘Iraq XI. Shiʿite Seminaries in Iraq’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica,
> 
> 184                                                                                  Omid Ghaemmanghami
> available online: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq-xi-shiite-seminaries. Baha’u’llah
> reproaches him in numerous tablets for his opposition to the Cause of the Bab. See for
> example, Bahā’u’llāh, Āyāt-i ilāhı̄ jild-i duvvum: Gulchı̄ nı̄ az āthār-i ḥ aḍ rat-i Bahā’u’llāh,
> Langenhain: Muʾassasih-yi Maṭbūʿāt-i Amrı̄ -i Ālmān, 1996, 156, where he is referred to as
> ‘the first who opposed [God]’ (awwal man aʿraḍa).
> 7.   On him, see M. Momen, ‘‘Alí Bastámí, Mullá (d. 1846)’, in The Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project,
> available online: http://www.bahai-encyclopedia-project.org/attachments/Ali_Bastami_
> Mulla.pdf; M. ʿA. Fayḍı̄ , Ḥaḍ rat-i Nuqṭ ih-yi Ūlā, Tehran: Muʾassasih-yi Millı̄ -i Maṭbūʿāt-i
> Amrı̄ , 132BE/1975–76, 248–49. On his trial in Iraq, see N. Alkan, Dissent and Heterodoxy
> in the Late Ottoman Empire: Reformers, Babis, and Baha’is, Istanbul: The Press ISIS, 2008,
> 43–50.
> 8.   ‘Likewise behold this Revelation. The essences of the people have, through divinely-
> conceived designs, been set in motion and until the present day three hundred and thirteen
> disciples have been chosen. In the land of Ṣád [Iṣfahán], which to outward seeming is
> a great city, in every corner of whose seminaries are vast numbers of people regarded
> as divines and doctors, yet when the time came for inmost essences to be drawn forth,
> only its sifter of wheat donned the robe of discipleship. This is the mystery of what was
> uttered by the kindred of the Prophet Muḥammad – upon them be the peace of God –
> concerning this Revelation, saying that the abased shall be exalted and the exalted shall
> be abased’ (The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb 83). Similar statements are
> made by Baha’u’llah: ‘Consider, how can he that faileth in the day of God’s Revelation to
> attain unto the grace of the ‘Divine Presence’ and to recognize His Manifestation, be justly
> called learned, though he may have spent aeons in the pursuit of knowledge, and acquired
> all the limited and material learning of men? It is surely evident that he can in no wise
> be regarded as possessed of true knowledge. Whereas, the most unlettered of all men,
> if he be honoured with this supreme distinction, he verily is accounted as one of those
> divinely-learned men whose knowledge is of God; for such a man hath attained the acme
> of knowledge, and hath reached the furthermost summit of learning’ (Bahá’u’lláh, The
> Kitáb-i-Íqán 144); ‘Consider how Balal, the Ethiopian, unlettered though he was, ascended
> into the heaven of faith and certitude, whilst Abdu’llah Ubayy, a leader among the learned,
> maliciously strove to oppose Him’ (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh,
> trans. Shoghi Effendi, Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1976, 82). Baha’u’llah also
> speaks of this theme in a tablet about the ‘mystery of the Great Reversal in the Sign of the
> Sovereign’, similarly contrasting the oppression of al-Najafı̄ and other ulama in Iraq and
> Iran with the acceptance of many of the masses. The tablet is cited in ʿA. H. Ishrāq-Khāvarı̄ ,
> Raḥ ı̄ q-i makhtūm, 2 vols., Hofheim: Muʾassasih-yi Maṭbūʿāt-i Bahā’ı̄ -i Ālmān, 164BE/2007,
> 1:423; V. Raʾfatı̄ , Yādnāmih-yi miṣbāḥ-i munı̄ r, Hofheim: Muʾassasih-yi Maṭbūʿāt-i Bahā’ı̄ -i
> Ālmān, 163BE/2006, 286.
> 9. On him, see J. Calmard, ‘Moḥammad Shah Qājār’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, available online:
> http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mohammad-shah.
> 10. On him, see S. Quinn, ‘Aqasi, Haji Mirza (‘Abbas Iravani) (c.1783–1849)’, in The Bahá’í
> Encyclopedia Project, available online: http://www.bahai-encyclopedia-project.org/attach-
> ments/Aqasi_Haji_Mirza.pdf.
> 11. Retranslated from the original Arabic following correspondence with the author. Personal
> communication, 11 December 2010. Cf. Qur’an 4:125.
> 12. The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb 180-81.
> 13. Literally, ‘The Greatest Uncle’, the maternal uncle of the Bab and one of the Seven Martyrs
> of Tehran. On him, see [N. Zarandı̄ ], The Dawn-Breakers 446–49.
> 14. According to Abū al-Qāsim Afnān, Mubārak was purchased by Hajji Mirza Abū al-Qāsim,
> the brother-in-law of the Báb, when he was 5 years old. According to the bill of sale, the Bab
> acquired Mubārak from his brother-in-law in 1842 when Mubārak was 19 years of age, see
> Afnān, Laʾālı̄ -i siyāh 27–28 = Afnān, Black Pearls 4-5. A Research Department memorandum
> dated 2 February 2000 states that this bill of sale is not held at the Bahá’í World Centre
> Archives (available online: http://bahai-library.com/uhj_servants_household_bahaul-
> lah). Presumably a copy exists at the Afnān Library in the United Kingdom. Abū al-Qāsim
> Afnān states that the Bab acquired Mubārak in Shiraz but according to both Mirza Ḥabı̄ b
> Allāh Afnān and Asad Allāh Fāḍil-i Māzandarānı̄ , the Bab purchased Mubārak in Bushihr
> (M. H. Afnán, Genesis of the Bábí-Bahá’í Faiths in Shíráz and Fárs 20 (note 61), 30, 306
> (my thanks to Ahang Rabbani for this reference); A. Māzandarānı̄ , Kitāb-i ẓuhūr
> al-ḥ aqq, bakhsh-i du, [vol. 2] 49 (available online: http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/arabic/
> vol4/2tzh/2tzh049.gif). If this information is correct, Mubārak was born circa 1823 making
> it impossible for him to have aided in raising the Bab (who was born in 1819). It is possible
> 
> The Ethiopian King                                                                                          185
> that the Bab was raised by another servant of African descent also named Mubārak, a com-
> mon name for household servants in Iran at that time (my thanks to Mina Yazdani for this
> clue) as affirmed by Dihkhudā in his Lughatnāmih, s.v. ‘mubārak’ (available online: http://
> topurl.in/Mubarak). A. Afnān, ʿAhd-i aʿlā 31, includes an eyewitness account about the
> Bab’s first day of school as a child that explicitly mentions that he was accompanied by a
> servant (ghulām). It is not clear however if this is a reference to Mubārak or someone else.
> New sources need to come to light before these questions can be answered.
> 15. fa-anzil allāhumma ʿalayya fı̄ ḥ ı̄ n alladhı̄ kuntu ʿindaka ḥ arf al-wāw wa-man rabbānı̄
> yawmaʾidhin min ʿindika alladhı̄ kāna ismuhu mubārak mā yanbaghı̄ li-jalāl quds irtifāʿika
> wa-badāyiʿ ẓ uhūrātika. The original for ‘7 years old’ is ḥ arf al-wāw (lit., the letter wāw). The
> numerical value of the letter wāw is 6 but as the author has pointed out, in this tablet, the
> Bab gives the number 0 (represented in Persian and Arabic by a point) the numerical value
> of 1 and thus the letter wāw in this tablet has a numerical value of 7. This and the following
> passage can be found in a manuscript of the first section of the Kitāb-i Sı̄ Duʿā found in
> the William McElwee Miller Collection of Bābı̄ Writings and Other Iranian Texts, Princeton
> University’s Islamic Manuscripts, Third Series, no. 30, folio 23b (available online: http://
> libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/Babi/listing.html), with some minor differences
> (my thanks to Steven Phelps for pointing out this manuscript to me).
> 16. wa-bimā qad ṣanaʿa hunālika lı̄ al-sahm wa-l-qaws li-mā ashtaghilanna bihi mā anta taʿlam
> min faḍ lika wa-raḥ matika.
> 17. There are also indirect references to Mubārak in other letters. For example, in a letter from
> the Bab to his mother dated Thursday, 28 Shaʿbān [1265 / 19 July 1849], cited in Khūshih-
> hā-ʾı̄ az kharman-i adab va hunar, 6, dawrih-yi bayān, Darmstadt: Reyhani, 152BE/1995,
> 14, the Bab remembers those who have sought her presence (mustadrikāt-i fayḍ -i ḥuḍ ūr),
> which must certainly have included Mubārak. See also an earlier letter from the Bab to his
> wife in which he expresses concern for and sends greetings to all of the residents of his
> home (sukkān-i bayt…hamigı̄ ), INBA (Iran National Baha’i Archives), vol. 58, reprinted, East
> Lansing, MI.: H-Bahai, 2004, available online http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/bab/
> G-L/I/inba58/INBA58.pdf, p. 183.
> 
> 186                                                                            Omid Ghaemmanghami
>
> — *The Ethiopian King (Used by permission of the curator)*