# Badi, Áqa Buzurg

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Francis, Badi, Áqa Buzurg, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Badi, Áqá Buzurg
> 
> Richard Francis
> 
> 1993/2001
> 
> Badí accompanied by his torturers. Image scanned from Basic Bahá'í Dictionary, p. 32, originally from Bahá'u'lláh, King of Glory p. 372.
> 
> Áqá
> Buzurg-i-Nishapuri, known to most western Bahá'ís as Badí', was born in 1853, the son of
> Hájí 'Abdu'l-Majid-i-Nishapuri, known as Aba Badí' (Father of Badí'). Aba Badí'
> was an outstanding believer of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, and also eventually found
> martyrdom. Badí', who was a rebellious youth, eventually became a dedicated believer.
> Nabil-A'zam, in the course of his travels come to
> Nishapur in the province of Khurasan
> and met Aba Badí', a successful merchant in shawls
> and Badi's uncle, Shaykh Ahmad-i-Khurasani. They were engaged in copying the
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh. Badí' refused to help and his father described him as "the
> despair of his family".
> Nabil-A'zam met with Badí' and discussed the suffering and tribulations of Bahá'u'lláh, by quoting
> verses from the poem Qasídiy-i-'Izz-i-Varqá'iyyh, which Bahá'u'lláh composed
> while in Sulaymaniyyih. Badí, upon hearing them, begun to weep. The next morning,
> Nabil-A'zam told Aba Badí' that the youth was no longer in command of himself and has
> given in to God.
> Badí' insisted on accompanying Nabil-A'zam to
> Mashhad. However,
> his father requested that he finish his education beforehand, offering to provide his
> travel expenses, including a steed, upon completing his study of the
> Kitab-i-Iqán.
> Nabil-A'zam documented Aba Badí' saying: " This manner of losing one's self is
> exactly what I desired. If he remains firm in the cause of God, I myself shall serve
> him."
> 
> Studies completed, Badí' left his home for
> Bandar-i-'Abbas where he met up with a prominent Bahá'í traveling teacher, Shaykh
> Faní. Together they departed for
> Baghdad
> and ultimately
> Adrianople.
> Badí' gave Shaykh Faní everything he possessed and alone set out on foot
> to walk the last of the way to Daru's-Salám (the Abode of Peace).
> 
> Upon his arrival in Baghdad, he stepped in to
> replace the martyred Áqá 'Abdur-Rásul, serving as the water-carrier of the companions.
> When eighty-eight of the companions were imprisoned and taken to
> Mosul,
> the illumined youth, despite being wounded in several places, set out on foot and arrived
> at Mosul ahead of the captives. Once again, he engaged in carrying water for the Friends.
> Later, he set out for the presence of the Abhá Beauty.
> 
> This time, he was drawn as if by a magnetic force to
> the waters of the Mediterranean and walked all the way from Mosul to the citadel of
> Akká, arriving in the
> spring of 1869. Since he was still wearing the simple garb of a water-carrier, he passed through the
> city gate and the vigilant guards. Once inside the city, with the fear of being discovered
> and not knowing whom to contact, he quietly slipped into a mosque to pray. It was there,
> to his surprise, he recognized 'Abdu'l-Bahá among a group of Persians attending evening
> prayers. Badí' wrote a note on a piece of paper and managed to slip it to him.
> Arrangements were made later that same night for Badí' to enter the citadel and be in the
> presence of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Badí' was given two interviews by
> Bahá'u'lláh; during the course of these, The King of
> Glory made reference to a revealed Tablet addressed to
> Nasíri
> d-Din Shah. Bahá'u'lláh later wrote of Badí' that which was later quoted by Shoghi
> Effendi in
> 
> God Passes By:
> "the spirit of might and power was
> breathed". Mírzá Áqá Jan remarks what Bahá'u'lláh stated: "He created him
> anew with the hands of power and might and sent him out as a ball of fire".
> **Badí' subsequently asked for the honor of
> delivering the Lawh-i-Sultán
> to the Shah and his request was granted. Because
> of risks, Badí' was instructed to travel first to Haifa and wait, and while returning to
> Persia, he would travel alone without contacting any of the believers.
> 
> To avoid further risk of detection, the tablet was
> secretly delivered in a small box by Hájí
> Shah-Muhammad-i-Amin to Badí during a brief meeting on Mount Carmel.
> Upon receiving the box he held it in both hands, kissed it, and then prostrated himself. He also was given
> another Tablet bearing tidings of the "martyrdom of that essence of steadfastness and
> constancy", as recorded in the Bihjatu's-Sudúr. During his travels, Badí'
> was often observed by Hájí 'Alí in an account written by Hájí Shah-Muhammad-i-Amin,
> "- to be full of joy, laughter, gratitude and forbearance, walking around one hundred
> paces then leaving the road and turning to face 'Akká. He would then prostrate himself
> and say: "O God, that which you have bestowed upon me through Your bounty, do not
> take back through Your justice; rather grant me strength to safeguard it"".
> 
> Badí' plodded on, alone for four months and upon
> arriving in Tehran, as instructed, he never contacted any of the believers. His father
> didn't even know of his return. After three days of fasting, he found out that the Shah's
> summer camp was located at the resort of Lar. He proceeded there and sat on a knoll where
> he would be found and taken to the Shah. After some time, the Shah while on a hunting
> expedition, found him. Badí' approached the monarch with respect and calmly said: "O
> King! I have come to thee from Sheba with a weighty message".
> Násiri'd-Dín- Shah
> was taken back by the youth but was conscious that this message was from Bahá'u'lláh.
> The Tablet was taken from him and he was retained by the monarch's bodyguards. The Shah
> ordered the Tablet to be delivered to the mujtahids of Tehran for the purpose of a reply.
> The command was evaded, and they recommended Badí' be executed. The Tablet was, in an
> attempt to create further animosity, sent to the Persian Ambassador in Constantinople
> where it was hoped that the Sultan would find it to be an insult to the ego.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi wrote in
> God Passes By:
> "Badí' was arrested, branded for three successive days, his head beaten to a pulp
> with the butt of a rifle, after which his body was thrown into a pit and earth and stones
> heaped upon it." Badí' a youth of seventeen become, as described by
> Bahá’u’lláh "Fakhrú’sh-Shuháda’ (The
> Pride of the Martyrs)". **** [1]
> The Shah was reported to have been immensely
> displeased with the attitude and actions of the divines in refusing to meet the
> instructions of answering to Bahá'u'lláh. In the end, events now part of history brought
> a great loss and everlasting infamy to Násiri'd-Dín Shah and the inevitable end of the monarch's rein.
> 
> In a Tablet to
> Hájí 'Abdu'l-Majid (Aba Badí')
> Bahá'u'lláh states that -"the
> Temple of the Cause of God was adorned by Badí'. The pillars of tyranny were shaken and the countenance of
> victory unveiled itself. Badí' had attained to such heights in the world above that no
> mention could be made of it."
> The calendar revealed by the Báb, first described
> in the Kitáb-i-Asmá', later confirmed
> by Bahá'u'lláh to be used for the Bahá'í Dispensation, was named the
> Badí calendar in his honor. [This statement appears to be incorrect. -J.W. (2013)] [2]
> 
> References:
> 
> * Balyuzi: "Bahá'u'lláh, King of Glory", p. 372.
> 
> ** Shoghi Effendi: "God Passes By", p. 241
> 
> *** A Basic Bahá'í Dictionary": Edited by Wendi Momen, p.32.
> 
> **** Shoghi Effendi: "God Passes By", p. 199.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> The Epistle of
> Násiri'd-Dín Shah was confided to a Persian Bahá'í, Mírzá Badi
> Khurasani, who undertook to deliver it into the Shah's own hands. This
> brave man waited in the neighborhood of Tehran for the passing of the
> Shah, who had the intention to journey by that way to his Summer Palace.
> The courageous messenger followed the Shah to his Palace, and waited on
> the road near the entrance for several days. Always in the same place
> was he seen waiting on the road, until the people began to wonder why he
> should be there. At last the Shah heard of him, and commanded his
> servants that the man should be brought before him.
> 
> 'Oh! servants of the Shah, I bring a letter, which I must deliver into
> his own hands', Badi said, and then Badi said to the Shah, 'I bring you
> a letter from Bahá'u'lláh!'
> 
> He was immediately seized and questioned by those who wished to elicit
> information which would help them in the further persecutions of
> Bahá'u'lláh. Badi would not answer a word; then they tortured him, still
> he held his peace! After three days they killed him, having failed to
> force him to speak! These cruel men photographed him whilst he was under
> torture.
> 
> A certain man who was present when Badi was told he should carry
> the Epistle to the Shah saw him transfigured; he became radiant.
> 
> The Shah gave the letter from Bahá'u'lláh to the priests that they might
> explain it to him. After some days these priests told the Shah that the
> letter was from a political enemy. The Shah grew angry and said, 'This
> is no explanation. I pay you to read and answer my letters, therefore
> obey!'
> 
> The spirit and meaning of the Tablet to Násiri'd-Dín Shah was, in
> short, this: 'Now that the time has come, when the Cause of the Glory
> of God has appeared, I ask that I may be allowed to come to Tehran and
> answer any questions the priests may put to Me.
> 'I exhort you to detach yourself from
> the worldly magnificence of your Empire. Remember all those great kings
> who have lived before you -- their glories have passed away!'
> 
> The letter was written in a most beautiful manner, and continued warning
> the King and telling him of the future triumph of the Kingdom of
> Bahá'u'lláh, both in the Eastern and in the Western World.
> 
> The Shah paid no attention to the warning of this letter and continued
> to live in the same fashion until the end. (Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris
> Talks, p. 77)
> 
> There is a beautiful prayer in Shi'ah Islam, usually said during the
> period of fasting in the month of Ramadan, which invokes God through His
> names. There are nineteen invocations in this prayer and each revolves
> around one of His names, the first being Baha (Glory). The Báb has taken
> these names in the same order and given them to the nineteen months of
> His calendar, each month having nineteen days. This calendar is the
> basis of the Badi' Calendar, which is the one in use in this
> Dispensation. (a)
> 
> (a) Bahá'u'lláh specified that this calendar should begin in A.D. 1844
> (the year of the Declaration of the Báb), and He also determined the
> position of the intercalary days. Nabil-i-A'zam was asked by
> Bahá'u'lláh, about A.D. 1871, to transcribe the text of the Badi'
> Calendar and instruct the believers in its details. (Adib Taherzadeh,
> The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh v 1, p. 116)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views32457 views since posted 2004-10-07; last edit 2016-05-03 20:31 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../francis_badi_biography;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Badi, Áqa Buzurg (Used by permission of the curator)*