# My Memories of Baha'u'llah

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Ustad Muhammad-'Ali Salmani, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> My Memories of Baha'u'llah
> 
> Ustad Muhammad-'Ali Salmani
> 
> Marzieh Gail, translator
> 
> Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982
> 
> MY MEMORIES
> 
> OF
> 
> BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
> 
> by
> 
> Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, the Barber
> 
> with a selection of his poems
> 
> Translated from the original Persian
> by
> MARZIEH GAIL
> 
> © Kalimát Press 1982
> 
> Los Angeles
> 
> Contents
> 
> The Memoirs........................................3
> 
> Selected Love Poems of Salmání...................111
> 
> Appendix 1: The Bath.............................125
> 
> Appendix 2: The Howdah...........................127
> 
> Appendix 3: The Water Pipe.......................129
> 
> Appendix 4: Andarún and Bírúní...................131
> 
> Appendix 5: Persian Names........................133
> 
> Biographical Notes...............................137
> 
> +P1
> 
> MY MEMORIES OF BAHÁ'U'LLÁH
> 
> by Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání
> 
> +P2 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P3
> 
> I come from Isfahan. My father's name was Muhammad-Ibráhím
> Isfahání. He was a weaver: an illiterate man, but a God-fearing
> and upright Shí`í who believed in the Twelve Imams. My
> mother's name was Maryam and she was from Isfahan, too. I was born the year
> Muhammad Sháh came to the throne [1835].
> 
> When I was about eight, my mother died. She was close to thirty years old when
> she had a stroke and bade this world farewell. After my mother died my father
> chose another wife. My mother had left four children, three boys and a girl. I
> was the oldest of the four.
> 
> There was no barber in our family, and when I was around nine my father sent
> me as an apprentice to a barber's shop. The master barber was named
> Ustád Ismá`íl: he was a very pure and righteous man.
> Mornings I would accompany him to the public bath, and the rest of the day I
> would work around the shop. I left his shop when I was about ten, and I spent
> my days barbering and wandering about in the bazaar of printed cotton cloth,
> which at that time was one of Isfahan's best. I did not work in any particular
> shop.
> 
> It was not long after I left my master's shop that my father died of cholera.
> He had one son by his second wife, but one of my brothers had died too. My
> father left no worldly goods and so taking care of these children, as well as
> the second wife, was up to me.
> 
> +P4
> 
> There were a number of the Bábís in Isfahan, and I was friends
> with some of them. Among these, in our own part of the town, there were several
> Bábís who were extremely pure and devout--such as Ustád
> Áqá Buzurg of Isfahan with his four sons, all of whom were
> Bábís; and then there was a miller, also a Bábí,
> who is famous as the Sifter of Wheat.(1) Besides them, there were several
> others, friends of Áqá Buzurg. Some of these Bábís
> equipped themselves, made their preparations, and went along to the Fort of
> Shaykh Tabarsí. I knew eight persons from among those who
> went to the fort.
> 
> I was about eleven when His Holiness the Primal Point [The Báb] came to
> Isfahan. I only heard rumours about it. All I know is that the Imám
> Jum`ih+F1was a highly esteemed man, and that the Supreme Lord arrived at this
> person's house. In the beginning, there was not much of an uproar about it: the
> word went out that there was a siyyid named Mírzá
> `Alí-Muhammad who could handle his pen with amazing speed--to such a
> degree that when he would take hold of a corner of the paper he would cover it
> so rapidly with script that when he got to the end of the page the first part
> of it was not yet dry.
> 
> Anyway, I had just quit the shop of Ustád Ismá`íl when my
> father died. His death affected me more than I can say. Sick with cholera, he
> died with his head against my breast, and left this swiftly passing world.
> 
> Later on, my relatives decided to find me a wife. One of my kin, named
> Hájí `Abdu'l-Husayn `Alláf, had a pretty daughter. One
> night he invited a company of people to his
> 
> +F1 The chief mullá of the town; the leader of the Friday prayers.
> 
> +P5
> 
> house. At the close of the evening he said: "O my guests! My purpose in giving
> this party was to share with you a certain matter, and it is this: a number of
> people have sought my daughter's hand and asked most insistently to have her.
> But I have never said yes." He mentioned several of her suitors by name, who
> were there among the guests, and they themselves admitted that such was the
> case, and that he had refused them. Then Hájí `Abdu'l-Husayn
> said, "At this time, wholeheartedly and with great pleasure, I bestow my
> daughter upon Muhammad-`Alí."
> 
> I was very much embarrassed, and I got up and left. Later, the others present
> said they would help out, but I told them, "I am not worthy now. I have no
> assets."
> 
> Still and all, like it or not, they gave her to me for my bride. I was then
> seventeen years old. A while later a child was born to this young woman and me.
> And while all this was going on, I declared my faith and became a
> Bábí.
> 
> The manner of my conversion was this: at the beginning of my life and youth, I
> kept my eyes and ears open, and I spent a good deal of time thinking about the
> ulama--their words and their deeds. I absolutely hated them; for I could see
> that their sons were lewd and debauched, and that they themselves had no
> justice in them and did not practice what they made so much noise about.
> 
> Among these ulama was Hájí Mullá Muhammad-Ja`far of
> Ábádih, one of the common sort, and I knew of an abominable thing
> he had done. There was a young and beautiful woman whose husband had died. She
> had been victimized in some way, and had applied to this mullá to undo
> the wrong that that been done her and settle her case. She came in, bowed to
> him, and asked his help.
> 
> +P6
> 
> The mullá said to her, "You must make me your guardian."
> 
> The woman meekly replied, "Sir, I appoint you my guardian with full power to
> act."
> 
> At this, the gentleman told her, "Now that you are in my charge, betake
> yourself to the women's quarters in my house."
> 
> This unfortunate woman was extremely intelligent, however. She referred to her
> good reputation and then added: "I am ready. But first you must come to an
> evening's entertainment at my home. Afterwards, I can be your wedded wife." The
> mullá--stupid fool--went as invited, and the lady took the occasion to
> give him a sound thrashing and drove him out of the house. Next morning, the
> mullá sent word around that he was sick. But I knew the true story of
> it.
> 
> Well, I began to keep company with the learned, and also with poets like
> Mírzá Humáy-i Shá`ir and others. There was a
> Bábi, Mullá `Alí, a good man, who had returned from Fort
> Tabarsí. That is, he had reached there when everything was over. He had
> been much persecuted on account of his Bábí Faith. For example,
> he had a house, and his relatives took it away from him. Since we had been
> friends for some time, Mullá `Alí came and lamented to me,
> saying, "I have no home."
> 
> I said, "Come to my house," and he accepted.
> 
> Every day, along in the afternoon, he would meet me in the bazaar and we would
> go home together. One day, when we were on our way, he said to me,
> "Áqá Muhammad-`Alí, I see you as a person who has no
> wickedness in him. There is something I would like to tell you."
> 
> +P7
> 
> "Go ahead," I told him.
> 
> He said, "I am a Bábí."
> 
> I said, "So be it. I have nothing to do with a person's religion. I am your
> friend. Be whatever you like." Nothing more was said.
> 
> Some time later, I thought to myself that it might be good to find out from
> Mullá `Alí what the aims of the Bábís are, and what
> they say and do. One day as we went along I said to him, "Mullá
> `Alí, a while back you told me you were a Bábí. Do you
> stand by that or not?"
> 
> He said, "I do."
> 
> I said, "I'll ask you just one question, and I want you to answer me with just
> one sentence."
> 
> "Ask," he told me.
> 
> "This siyyid who claims to be the Báb--what does he teach about the
> question of the oneness of God?"
> 
> Mullá `Alí thought for a while, and then replied, "He says that
> no one can find a way into the realm of God: God is God, the creation is the
> creation."
> 
> As soon as I heard this I was deeply moved. Right there, I fell, and bowed my
> forehead to the ground, and I said, "This Being is the True One."
> 
> Well, little by little I investigated, until I truly become a
> Bábí and began to associate with the others. Most of them,
> however, were not virtuous people, and they would do unacceptable things. One
> day--it was the twenty-first day of the Ramadán fast--I went to the home
> of Áqá Muhammad-Javád of Najafábád, a good
> Bábí, loyal and true, a man on fire, but addicted to wine. That
> day Áqá Muhammad was filtering wine, and the smell was all over
> the place. The neighbors could smell it and that is how
> 
> +P8
> 
> they found out what was going on. They broke into the house, arrested us, and
> took us off to the Government House to be jailed.
> 
> At that time in Isfahan, bread had become very expensive. The governor then
> was a prince of the blood, Khánlár Mírzá
> Ihtishámu's-Sultanih. There were five of us in jail: (1)
> Muhammad-Javád, a good man, an old man who spent much of his time riding
> about the Ishfahan area--he being a traveling teacher, (2) `Abdu'l-Karím
> of Isfahan, who today is the basest of Covenant-breakers, (3)
> Muhammad-Sádiq, brother of `Abdu'l-Karím, a Bábí
> who was lukewarm in his faith, and weak, (4) Mullá `Alí, my
> teacher, a man pure in heart, righteous in nature, and (5) I myself,
> Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, the Barber.
> 
> They kept us in prison about two months. Every day, when the citizens would
> come in to protest to the governor about the bread situation, they would also
> scream about us, shouting: "...and, kill these Bábís! How long
> are you going to let them live?"
> 
> As for us in the prison, we consulted together and finally made this plan:
> first off, we would put Muhammad-Sádiq out from our midst, because he
> was not firm in the Faith. That is, we told the jailers: "You arrested this man
> by mistake." And after a while they let him go. Now there were four of us.
> Since, we thought, it would not be right for us to deny the charges, the best
> thing would be for us all to keep to one single statement. Áqá
> Muhammad-Javád said, "The rest of you can put all the blame on me. In
> this way, I--an old man--will be killed, and you will go free."
> 
> We all refused. We told him, "No matter what happens, we are partners, and so
> we must remain." And so
> 
> +P9
> 
> we agreed that all of us would abide by a single statement of our case.
> 
> A day came when the prince-governor summoned the four of us, together with a
> number of thieves. After he had sentenced each of these, he asked
> Áqá Muhammad-Javád, "Are you a Bábí?"
> 
> He answered, "Yes."
> 
> Then he asked Mullá `Alí, "Are you a Bábí, too?"
> 
> "Certainly," replied Mullá `Alí.
> 
> He put the same question to `Abdu'l-Karím and myself. Then he ordered:
> "Take them out to the Maydán-i Sháh [the great public
> square]. Kill Mullá `Alí and Muhammad-Javád. Then slit the
> ears and noses of `Abdu'l-Karím and Muhammad-`Alí and lead them
> around through the four bazaars."
> 
> When we reached the great square, the chief of police arrived there at the
> same time. He was truly a great person. His name was Muhammad-Sádiq, and
> he knew me. As soon as I laid eyes on him I said to him, "My lord, you are a
> young man too." That was all I said. He recognized me. And after hearing this,
> he started to follow us.
> 
> As we went along, Mullá `Alí danced before the onlookers, and
> cried:
> 
> Drunken am I, O bliss! with lovers' wine,
> 
> And freed am I, O bliss! from separation's veil.
> 
> Found have I the treasure of "but God"--
> 
> Released am I, O bliss! from "no God's" spell.+F1
> 
> +F1 A reference to the declaration: "There is no God but God," which is part of
> the Muslim confession of faith.
> 
> +P10
> 
> Áqá Muhammad-Javád said to Mullá `Alí, "We
> could recite many such words as these, but we must have some consideration for
> the two others, lest their blood be needlessly spilled."
> 
> Mullá `Alí fell silent and determined to say but little more.
> 
> Briefly, when we got to the place of execution the first thing they did was
> cut off the hands and feet of the thieves. During this time, Áqá
> Muhammad-Javád and Mullá `Alí were speaking out and
> saying: "O people! We have done nothing wrong. Our only crime is that we
> believe in a certain Being. A Siyyid has declared Himself to be the
> Qá'im, and we believe Him."
> 
> Then Muhammad-Javád lay down on the ground. Having first removed his
> hat, he placed it under his head, and he said, "Come, headsman, do what you
> wish." Mullá `Alí did the same. The executioner first cut off the
> head of Áqá Muhammad-Javád, then of Mullá
> `Alí.
> 
> When my turn came, the chief of police approached and said, "Executioner, cut
> only a little--only enough to justify the word." He did as bidden, but he slit
> the nose and ears of `Abdu'l Karím deeply and severely. Then he walked
> the two of us around the city, and back to prison. That same night our kinfolk
> came and got us out of prison. I set about healing my ears and nose and
> recovered well.
> 
> I saw, however, that Isfahan was no place for me to live in. Whenever they
> would feel like arresting a Bábí they would think of me first.
> So, I said to `Abdu'l-Karím, "I am leaving Isfahan." I stuck to
> business, saved my money, and made preparations. Meanwhile, the people (most of
> them) showed their hostility--until finally I left.
> 
> +P11 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P12 MY DEPARTURE FROM ISFAHAN
> 
> During the days when I was still in Isfahan, one of my friends--who
> incidentally was not a Bábí--returned from Baghdad and Karbala
> and brought me the poem that begins:
> 
> O Thou Who me this cup dost bear
> 
> From an eternal, secret place--
> 
> Draw back the veil from off Thy face.
> 
> He did not tell me the author of it, but I said, "The intent of the one who
> wrote this poem was not merely to compose a poem. He has some other aim in
> mind." At a later time I learned that the author was Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> In Isfahan there was a Mírzá Sulaymán-Qulí of
> Tihrán. He had come from the capital and had taught many. He was a man
> full of spirit and zeal, but I did not come in contact with him.
> 
> A certain siyyid also appeared on the scene--an Indian.(2) He was blind. I did
> not meet him either, but everyone praised his mental faculties very highly; and
> he, likewise, taught the people. All this was in the time of the Blessed
> Beauty, Bahá'u'lláh. This siyyid went to Tihrán, then to
> Burújird--to Prince Uldurim Mírzá, who made a martyr of
> him. Once when I was in the presence of the Blessed Beauty, He said: "That
> siyyid had recognized us." He was widely known for his many skills and for his
> vast learning.
> 
> +P13
> 
> Also in Isfahan there was a Siyyid Ismá`íl of Ardistán,
> and he too eventually attained the presence of Bahá'u'lláh in
> Baghdad. When Bahá'u'lláh asked them to bring tea for the guest,
> he said, "Lord, do Thou bid them bring me the wine of the spirit." When he came
> forth from the holy presence, his condition had undergone a great change.
> Finally, on the road to Kázimayn, that is, outside Baghdad, in a place
> known as Qambar-`Alí, he seized a razor and virtually cut off his own
> head. After he was thus killed, Bahá'u'lláh said, "It was fitting
> that the siyyid should find himself in such a state." Then He added: "Until
> now, no blood so pure as this hath been spilled into the earth."(3)
> 
> I set out from Isfahan with `Abdu'l-Karím and a convoy of pilgrims to
> Karbala. With us were five Isfahanis that I had converted, and a certain Siyyid
> Hasan of Ardistán, who was an early Bábí--and these came
> along as far as Baghdad and then we parted ways.
> 
> +P14 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P15 IN BAGHDAD
> 
> The year of my arrival in Baghdad was one year before the Blessed Beauty
> departed from the city [in 1863], and He had not yet made an explicit
> declaration of His Mission. He would say whatever the Manifestation of God
> would say, but in all He uttered there was no: "I am He!"
> 
> Well, they went into His presence and announced that our group of travelers
> had arrived. With us there was also a man by the name of Mírzá
> Sádiq,+F1who was a member of the Freemasons' Lodge of Malkam
> Khán, and he claimed quite falsely to be a Bábí. He
> too entered the holy presence when we did. We went in. Mírzá
> Áqá Ján was there; Mírzá
> Muhammad-Qulí was there too.
> 
> All hail!
> 
> At that very first sight, I lost my heart. I saw that in everything,
> Bahá'u'lláh was different from the others. But at the time, we
> believed only this much: that this Personage was the leader of the community.
> However, the majesty and power that I found in His sacred countenance convinced
> me that He was everything.
> 
> Mírzá Sádiq, named "Truth-Teller" but a liar, was in His
> presence as a lifeless thing and was soon permitted to leave. For us, they
> arranged a place where we could stay, in a caravanserai, and I stayed there
> with Áqá Dá'í of
> 
> +F1 Sádiq means "truthful."
> 
> +P16
> 
> Isfahan. There were three of us: myself, `Abdu'l-Karím, and
> Áqá Dá'í.
> 
> Mírzá Sadiq entered the holy presence only that one time. After
> two or three days, he left Baghdad, and I don't know what became of him. His
> purpose in coming to Baghdad was that, by infiltrating the Bahá'í
> community, he might provide for his own livelihood. This plan of his led
> nowhere, and so he left.
> 
> It was the custom of the Blessed Beauty when He lived in Baghdad to partake
> of His morning tea in the andarún.+F1He would then leave for the
> bírúní.+F1This bírúní which
> He had was a single clean and tidy room, which had been put up by a builder,
> Ustád Ismá`íl Banná of Kashan. Ustád passed
> away in `Akká.
> 
> And so, Bahá'u'lláh would come to this room. He would walk about
> and pace up and down and the friends would visit Him. Here in the
> bírúní He would remain about half an hour or an hour.
> After that, He would proceed to a coffeehouse. There was in Baghdad a Siyyid
> Habíb the Arab, who was the kad-khudá
> [borough-head] of Old Baghdad. This man had a coffeehouse which
> Bahá'u'lláh would frequent, and as a general thing this is where
> the people would come to be with Him. Áqá Najaf-`Alí and
> Áqá Muhammad-Ibráhím, who were permanent servitors
> of Bahá'u'lláh, would also be present. Sometimes, I too would go
> along.
> 
> +F1 The domestic, or ladies' apartments; the living quarters, as opposed to the
> men's reception area, or bírúní. See Appendix 4,
> "Andarún and Bírúní."
> 
> +P17
> 
> Here Bahá'u'lláh would partake of coffee every day, and the
> water pipe would be prepared for Him. This was His own pipe--from
> Bihbihán--and He would smoke a very little, and would converse with the
> people.(4) His purpose in going to this coffeehouse was to spread the Faith. It
> was an excellent establishment. Siyyid Habíb was not a believer, but he
> was a fine man--and very unassuming. After an hour or an hour and a half,
> Bahá'u'lláh would leave here and return to His living quarters
> until afternoon. Then He would again set out for another visit to the
> coffeehouse and stay until sundown. After that, He would go back to His
> andarún, or sometimes to the bírúní. There the
> friends would usually remain together until two hours after sunset, and then go
> their separate ways. And, sometimes Bahá'u'lláh would be present.
> 
> All the great of Baghdad, and the ulama, and the magistrates, would present
> themselves here at this coffeehouse with extreme deference.
> Bahá'u'lláh, however, would never go to their homes. The
> inhabitants of Baghdad (that is, the Sunnís) would speak, one and all,
> of the utter perfection of Bahá'u'lláh. Many a time they would
> refer difficult questions to Him and request Him to solve them. With
> Námiq Páshá+F1He did not associate.
> 
> One day, there in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh--some of the
> believers from the village of Sultánábád were there-- the
> mullá-báshí said, "You being God, Uncle, why do You
> give us such a hard row to hoe?"...+F2
> 
> +F1 The governor of Baghdad.
> +F2 "Uncle" is used by villagers as a term of
> respect. The question here is a plea to understand the meaning of suffering.
> 
> +P18
> 
> Next, I decided to find some way of serving Bahá'u'lláh, and
> with one or two other believers I went to the public bath, the one known as
> Hammám-i Latíf.+F1It was this bath that was frequented by the
> Blessed Beauty. Here was a Hájí Bashír who on
> occasion would eat far too much opium. He was the barber, and he would attend
> to Bahá'u'lláh. There was a also a certain `Abdu'r-Rahmán
> of Baghdad, who would shave heads. When I arrived at the bathhouse, friends
> told the Hájí that I was a colleague of his and was an excellent
> bath attendant as well.
> 
> Hájí Bashír asked me to work with him, and I
> accepted, on condition Bahá'u'lláh would permit this. He told me
> that he himself would go and obtain the permission, which he did. He said, "I
> would like to keep your attendant with me."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh answered, "Very well," and Bashír
> returned with the news. But Hájí Bashír was a
> good-for-nothing himself.
> 
> On the second day after that, the Blessed Beauty came to the bath alone.
> Before His arrival, Áqá Najaf-`Alí-- who was killed later
> in Tihrán--and Muhammad-Ibráhím of Nayríz, a good
> man, had brought soap, and dye for the hair, and then left. I prepared the
> Blessed Beauty's place, and awaited His arrival. There was a platform at the
> center of the bath, and He seated Himself there.
> 
> Then `Abdu'r-Rahmán, the head-shaver, came in and proceeded to shave
> the back of Bahá'u'lláh's neck, and about the temples, in a style
> favored by the nobles of an earlier day, and then shaved under His chin. I
> stood there watching to see how he did the work, and I noted that
> 
> +F1 See Appendix 1, "The Bath."
> 
> +P19
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh was very particular. For example, He would repeatedly
> lift His hand to a place and say, "Shave here, and shave here." And so, I
> watched to see how the shaving was done.
> 
> Water was then brought, and I soaped Bahá'u'lláh's hair two or
> three times--the various soaps were from Aleppo--and then He withdrew to the
> place where henna would be applied and the body rubbed with a rough bath mitt.
> I then brought Him His own bath towel, and once He was dry He stretched out so
> that I could apply henna to His beard, after which He seated Himself and I used
> the henna on His hair. He then lay down again (and I placed a pillow under His
> head) so that I could rub Him with the mitt--and two or three times I kissed
> His feet. He rose again and seated Himself, and I took the mitt to the backs of
> His hands and arms. Very soon, He directed me to fetch the rinse water. I
> rinsed off the henna, added the dark dye, and finally soaped and rinsed Him off
> and He departed. I was in a state of utter bliss. The Master and the Branches
> and Áqáy-i Kalím+F1used to frequent the same bathhouse. I
> worked there two or three months and every ten days or less they would come in.
> 
> One day at the bath, Bahá'u'lláh said to me, "Tomorrow you are
> to be my guest at Vashshásh.
> +F2 I went there as bidden,
> and that very day a Tablet was revealed called the Tablet of the Holy
> Mariner.(5)
> 
> +F1"The Master" refers to `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Most Great
> Branch. "The Branches" is a reference to the other sons of
> Bahá'u'lláh: The Purest Branch (Mírzá
> Mihdí), the Greater Branch (Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí),
> and others. Áqáy-i Kalím (also known as
> Mírzá Músá) was one of the faithful brothers of
> Bahá'u'lláh.
> +F2 A field on the outskirts of Baghdad known as the
> Marza`iy-i Vashshásh.
> 
> +P20
> 
> One day word came from the bath that someone had treated an Isfahani by the
> name of Mullá Husayn (a servant of Áqáy-i Kalím)
> badly. When Bahá'u'lláh arrived at the bath, the servant of
> Mírzá Yahyá,+F1who was the aggressor, was just putting on
> his clothes. Bahá'u'lláh spoke severely to him, asking why he had
> mistreated the man. The servant fell at Bahá'u'lláh's feet, and
> asked and received forgiveness. The next morning I was summoned to the House
> and was told to go out and find the victim and bring him back. I looked all
> over Baghdad for him, and prevailed on him to return with me, whereupon
> Bahá'u'lláh counseled and admonished him.
> 
> Another time, when I was about to make use of the rubbing mitt,
> Bahá'u'lláh said, "Ustád Muhammad-`Alí, we have in
> mind to take a long journey. What do you say to that?"
> 
> I bowed. And that day went by.
> 
> Two days later, He said He was about to go to Government House. This terrified
> me. I went and fastened on a dagger, concealed a couple of pistols about me,
> and left for the seat of government to see what was happening. I went over the
> bridge and walked past the confectionary shop to Siyyid Husayn of Isfahan--and
> there I saw
> 
> +F1 Mírzá Yahyá (also known as Subh-i Azal, the Morning of
> Eternity) was the half brother of Bahá'u'lláh who eventually
> rebelled against His authority. Azal, who became the Arch-Breaker of the
> Covenant of the Báb, had been nominated by the Báb as His
> successor, to "act solely as a figure-head pending the manifestation of the
> Promised One." (See God Passes By, pp. 28-29, 233.)
> 
> +P21
> 
> Áqáy-i Kalím. He called to me, and I asked him what was
> going on. He replied that Bahá'u'lláh had been summoned. Not much
> time passed before the Blessed Beauty returned, and we learned that orders had
> come from Istanbul to Baghdad, that Bahá'u'lláh should proceed to
> wherever He might desire, away from Baghdad; the choice was to be His, that is,
> within the Ottoman territory.
> 
> It became widely known that Hájí Mírzá Husayn
> Khán+F1was behind this proposal. He had said, "Because of the
> proximity of Baghdad to Persian soil, the Cause of Bahá is constantly
> progressing."
> 
> Námiq Páshá had sent the following message to
> Bahá'u'lláh: "This decree has already been received here ten or
> twelve times, but I did not tell you of it, and my reply to it was:
> `Bahá'u'lláh has lived in Baghdad twelve years,(6) and up to now
> no fault has ever been found in Him.'"
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh had said to the messenger, "Tell Námiq
> Páshá that I will not come to the Government House, but I
> will come to the mosque in its vicinity. I will meet there with whoever wishes
> to address me."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh went to the mosque, and the deputy of Námiq
> Páshá appeared and said, "Námiq had desired to come
> to You himself, but he was ashamed to, and sent me in his place." He then
> recited the particulars of the decree.
> 
> The Beloved said, "I will go to Istanbul." And they approved.
> 
> Afterward, thinking of journey, Bahá'u'lláh said, "I will go
> alone." But the Household wept and insisted and begged. He finally agreed that
> they should accompany
> 
> +F1 The Persian ambassador to Istanbul.
> 
> +P22
> 
> Him, and He named those who were to stay behind. One night Mírzá
> Muhammad Qulí came in and told me: "He says that you must be among the
> ones who go with Him."
> 
> After some days, Bahá'u'lláh proceeded to a garden outside the
> city, and there His tent was pitched. This was the garden of Najíb
> Páshá [later known as the Garden of Ridván] and it
> was here in this garden that He openly declared His Mission. That is, He spoke
> of the manifestation of the Exalted One, the Báb, saying that He was the
> Qá'im, that the Cause was His Cause--and at the same time, with certain
> intimations, He also declared His own Mission. During the twelve days of His
> sojourn in that garden, every morning and every afternoon He would speak of the
> Báb's Cause and declare His own.(7)
> 
> +P23 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P24 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P25
> 
> THE JOURNEY TO ISTANBUL
> 
> Then came the last day. There was a Turk, a Sunní, who owned pack
> mules, and he took charge of our baggage. Some eight or nine howdahs+F1were
> closed up.... The Master was on horseback, and it was he who undertook to watch
> over the animals. Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí was also on
> horseback, as well as a number of other believers, besides several who came
> along on foot.
> 
> I was the one in charge of supplies. That is, when anyone needed some article,
> I would give it to him and see to it that it was returned. A number of the
> friends accompanied us to the first few stopping places and then went back, for
> Bahá'u'lláh had said that anyone following along on this journey
> without permission would come to no good.
> 
> Some of us who were members of His retinue were these: myself,
> Muhammad-`Alí Khayyátbáshí, the
> Tailor, of Kashan; Mírzá Áqá (who had no permission
> and came to a bad end); Najaf-`Alí, who came through my interceding for
> him; Áqá Muhammad-`Alí, the Tobacconist, from Isfahan;
> `Abdu'l-Ghaffár; Áqá Muhammad-Sádiq of
> Isfahan; Mírzá Áqá Ján. And
> Áqáy-i Kalím; Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí;
> His Holiness the Master; Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí; Siyyid
> Muhammad of Isfahan; Hájí Mírzá Ahmad of Kashan,
> who was the brother of Hájí Mírzá
> 
> +F1 See appendix 2, "The Howdah."
> 
> +P26
> 
> Jání and who, because of the quarrel which he had carried on in
> Baghdad with the kinfolk of Mírzá Buzurg Khán-i
> Ílíchí was in mortal danger, and if left behind
> would have perished. Also, there was Áqá Muhammad-`Alí
> Sabbágh, the Dyer, of Yazd; Áqá Muhammad-Hasan
> Musáfir-Khánihí of Qum; and Áqá
> Husayn Áshchí, the Porridge Cook, who was a child and was
> accepted as an attendant around the house. And there was Ahmad, the son of
> Mírzá Yahyá.
> 
> On the point of departure, Bahá'u'lláh had said, "Whoever
> accompanies us on this journey without permission shall come to no good."
> Nevertheless some of these individuals left with Him anyhow.
> 
> At every stopping place, for security along the road, we were given a mounted
> escort, five or six guards, who would come along with us. One night when we
> made camp, a package was missing from the tent of Bahá'u'lláh.
> Someone had stolen it and run off. We looked everywhere, but couldn't find it.
> 
> Most of the stopping places were along the Tigris, and most days the Master
> would go bathing in the river. At each encampment the crowds would come out to
> meet us and watch, for it was widely known that "the leader of the
> Bábís" was on His way to Istanbul. And as a rule, when we neared
> the campsite, the guards would ride on ahead and beat the drums so that the
> populace would congregate for their visit. As soon as they had gathered,
> Bahá'u'lláh would teach them the Faith.
> 
> In Baghdad, Mírzá Yahyá [Azal] would always stay in the
> house, and on the rare occasions when he came out,
> 
> +P27
> 
> he would arrange things so that no one was aware of it. When
> Bahá'u'lláh was about to leave the city, He told Azal: "Say where
> you would want to go. I will provide a servant for you, so you will be safe."
> 
> Azal had answered, "My Lord, wherever You go, I will go too." And he thought
> it prudent to add; "But send me on ahead. Let me go first, so that I will not
> be seen in Your company."
> 
> An Arab, a person named Zá'í,+F1a shrewd man and a believer,
> was appointed to accompany Azal. And Zá'í, along with Azal, left
> Baghdad ahead of the others, in such a way that nobody found out about it. All
> the way to Mosul, which is approximately ten stopping places from Baghdad,
> there was not a trace of Azal to be seen.
> 
> In Mosul, we pitched the Blessed Beauty's tent along the Tigris. Here we noted
> that, hidden off in a corner to one side, there was a little tent with a raised
> flap, and that a minuscule individual with a long beard was living in it.
> Zá'í was with this person. Purely by guessing, some realized that
> the tent-dweller had to be Azal.
> 
> Most of the people of Mosul flocked to Bahá'u'lláh, and He was
> loving and kind to them. In Mosul He attended the public bath, and I served
> Him. He remained three days in this city. As for Azal, not one of the believers
> really knew him. In Mosul, he came to Bahá'u'lláh to complain
> about Zá'í. "He doesn't show me any respect," Azal said. "He's
> too independent. Too free and easy."
> 
> Zá'í replied to the charge by saying to
> Bahá'u'lláh in Arabic: "Lord, I beg You, keep this little fellow
> curtained
> 
> +F1 Or named Záhir, according to God Passes By, p. 164.
> 
> +P28
> 
> off somewhere, and don't let him out. People might see him and lose their
> faith."
> 
> Well, Bahá'u'lláh gave Zá'í some money, and he
> returned to Baghdad. There was a Káshí by the name of
> Báqir, and Bahá'u'lláh requested him to serve
> Mírzá Yahyá. Accordingly, Báqir went with
> Yahyá, who never at any time traveled as one of our caravan.
> 
> To make a long story short, we left Mosul and after a number of days arrived
> at Kirkúk. (There were ten stopping places between Mosul and
> Kirkúk.) Along the way, we came to Mardin, a place on the slope of a
> high mountain where we were to stay overnight. That night, two mules were
> stolen from another caravan which was coming along with ours. The owner of the
> mules complained to Bahá'u'lláh, who told him: "I will stay on
> here until your animals are found." He then went into the town of Mardin and
> told them: "This man's animals must be found. I will remain in this place until
> they are." The mules turned up. Bahá'u'lláh remained three days
> in Mardin.
> 
> In Kirkúk, at an earlier date, there had been a dervish in honor of
> whom the Tablet called The Seven Valleys was revealed.(9) By the time we
> reached Kirkúk that dervish was dead, but he had a son named
> Shaykh-`Alí who presented himself to
> Bahá'u'lláh with many expressions of devotion. In most places the
> people would come and would ask questions and receive answers. Some days later
> we arrived at Diyarbakir. (There were ten stopping places between Diyarbakir
> and Kirkúk.) At Diyarbakir, on the banks of the Tigris, we made camp in
> a garden, and here (as was usual) Bahá'u'lláh would not go into
> the city.
> 
> +P29
> 
> Everywhere, Mírzá Yahyá was shadowing us, and little by
> little some the believers recognized him, but I still did not. In Diyarbakir,
> it was arranged that the party should go by way of Samsun. Of the remaining
> stops along the way, there was Irbíl, where He stayed one day, and
> following this, we reached Sivas and stopped on the bank of the Tigris. At this
> place we had to carry all our possessions over the river.
> 
> I went to the Master and said, "There's a lot of noise and bustle on that side
> of the river, and no one over there to take delivery of our things. If I may be
> permitted, I will cross over ahead of time and be there to receive our
> baggage." And the Master approved.
> 
> When I got into the boat, there was one other passenger sitting there. It was
> Azal, but I failed to recognize him. He said, "Where are you from?" (He would
> speak very roughly, and it was hateful to hear him.)
> 
> I said, "From Isfahan."
> 
> He said, "Why did you get in this boat? Who gave you permission?"
> 
> I said, "I am here by permission of a great Personage."
> 
> He said, "Now that you have come here without anyone's leave, what would you
> do if I gave you two or three blows with my club?" (He had a cudgel in his
> hand.)
> 
> I said, "If I were a mild-mannered person I would forgive you. But if I come
> to any harm from that club, I will take it away from you and give you such a
> thrashing that you will forget all about how brave you were."
> 
> This infuriated him. Anyhow, he said nothing more, and the boat reached the
> other side. I took delivery of our
> 
> +P30
> 
> belongings and determined where to pitch the tent of Bahá'u'lláh,
> and He arrived. Bahá'u'lláh stayed here two days.
> 
> There was a Mír Muhammad of Kázirún who had two or three
> pack animals, and this Mír Muhammad came along, too. He was a man in
> poor health, short in stature, and short on patience.
> 
> As I said, at most of the stopping places the Master would go bathing in the
> river. For example, at this particular place He told me that I, too, should get
> out of my clothes. I excused myself, saying, "I have a cold."
> 
> He said, "Very well, then..."
> 
> Mírzá Áqá Ján ... would also strip, on
> occasion, and sit off in a corner somewhere and bathe.... For this journey Azal
> had changed his name to Mírzá `Alí.
> 
> It was extremely cold in Sivas. There was scarcity here also, and one could
> find neither hay nor oats. The Master bought a wheat field and divided up the
> crop among the animals. Bahá'u'lláh attended the public bath and
> I served Him. After the bathing and the application of hair coloring and henna,
> we returned to camp.
> 
> On occasion, Mírzá Yahyá might enter the family quarters
> of Bahá'u'lláh, but in such a way as to be seen by no one. His
> dinner would be brought to him from the andarún. I was told that once
> when he had eaten tás-kabáb [a meat dish] with onions, he
> said to those around him, "This is an excellent tás-kabáb. I like
> the lemons in it." What he was doing was, he was ... saying to the
> 
> +P31
> 
> others, "I ate those onions by accident: I took them for lemons."+F1Anyway,
> his evening meal was prepared in the andarún of
> Bahá'u'lláh, and they would always set aside an extra plate of it
> and give this to his wife to serve to him the next morning. Really, he ate more
> than enough for two. I had only recently learned who he was, and I knew him
> now.
> 
> Azal's wife quarreled with her traveling companion, who rode on the other side
> of her howdah, so they transferred her to the howdah of Mírzá
> Muhammad-Qulí's wife, who changed places with her. I was in charge of
> the howdah of Azal's wife. Every morning I would observe that Báqir,
> Azal's servant, would come up, take that container of extra food from Azal's
> wife, and carry it to Azal, who would eat as he rode along on his horse. One
> day I was famished, and it so happened that when Báqir came by for
> Azal's food, I wrested it away from him and began eating it myself. Azal saw
> all this from a distance. He rushed at me, attacking me from his horse, and I
> threw away the container of food and ran off. He was in a towering rage. And he
> lost face with everybody, most of all with me. I could see that he was of no
> account: greatness did not set well on him at all.
> 
> He was harsh too, and foul mouthed; very much of a miser, too. In Harput
> [Khárpút], the Blessed Beauty sent for a little Isfahan
> gaz--a sort of nougat--which had been brought along, and divided it
> among all the travelers, sending three fine pieces to Azal. It happened that
> Azal
> 
> +F1 The Báb forbade onions; Bahá'u'lláh permitted them.
> 
> +P32 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P33
> 
> had just eaten (this was in the afternoon), and he had decided to adopt a
> regimen for his health. There was an Ustád Muhammad-Báqir of
> Kashan--brother of the champion, Pahlaván Rida, who died in the
> storehouse--the jail--of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh. He was
> a good man, and he had another brother, Muhammad-Ismá`íl.
> Báqir and his brother were both tailors, but on this journey they were
> in charge of serving tea. Azal called out to Áqá
> Muhammad-Báqir and ordered him to "Take care of those nougats."
> 
> This man ... wrapped the nougats in paper and put the package under his arm. I
> knew what he was doing, but I said nothing. Anyhow, because of the heat, the
> three large pieces of nougat stuck together and melted into a single lump. An
> hour later Ustád Báqir came to me and said, "Those nougats of His
> Holiness Azal are all stuck together. What shall I do?"
> 
> I told him, "His Eminence doesn't care about such things. Let's you and me and
> your brother divide this among us, and eat it up."
> 
> Another hour or so went by and then Azal sent for his nougats. Ustád
> Baqir presented himself, quaking in his shoes, and said, "Sir, the nougats all
> melted together and I was ashamed to offer them to you in that condition, so I
> and my brother and Ustád Muhammad-`Alí divided them up, and we
> ate them."
> 
> Azal was enraged and berated the man very harshly. "You are nothing but a
> traitor," he shouted. "You are all thieves! And you don't really believe in the
> Báb!" He kept on that way for quite a while, in one stopping place after
> another, muttering and grumbling, still mourning his nougats.
> 
> +P34
> 
> In Harput the Blessed Beauty proceeded to the public bath, and Azal went
> along, too. Bahá'u'lláh said to me, "Apply the henna for me, and
> then go and take care of Azal." I made use of the henna as bidden, and went
> over to Azal.
> 
> He told me, "Shave my boy's head." At this time his son was twelve or thirteen
> years old.+F1
> 
> I answered, "No. I will return to Bahá'u'lláh, and if He says to
> shave the boy's head, then I will shave it."
> 
> Azal was furious. I went and asked Bahá'u'lláh, and He said,
> "No. Do not shave the child's head." To make a long story short, I didn't. I
> finished attending to Azal, and left him.
> 
> Then the Purest Branch, Bahá'u'lláh's son, who was then fourteen
> or fifteen, came and I forgot everything else. He was truly the brother of
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, extremely modest and self-effacing. Mírzá
> Muhammad-`Alí was there too, and Áqáy-i Kalím, and
> Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí, and that Majdu'd-Dín. The
> Purest Branch said to me, "This journey has taught us many things. For example,
> Azal believed that everyone would be subservient to him, and yet he now sees
> that such is not the case."
> 
> Finally, we got to Samsun. As we went along, two or three persons had charge
> of the animals and served as grooms--that is, to the animals of the Holy
> Household. One was Darvísh Sidq-`Alí, known as Gul-i
> Mawlá [the Master's Rose] and he is so named in a Tablet; one was
> Áqá Siyyid Husayn of Kashan; and the third was Hájí
> Ibráhím, likewise of Kashan. At this place we reached the Black
> Sea.
> 
> +F1 It was the custom at the time for adult men to shave their heads bald.
> 
> +P35
> 
> There was a chief inspector who had come to Samsun on other business, and with
> great ceremony he entertained Bahá'u'lláh. Also, a Tablet was
> revealed here, called the Tablet of the Howdah.(10) Bahá'u'lláh
> remained two or three days in Samsun, until the ship arrived. Those in charge
> of the pack animals were dismissed here, with generous gifts of money, but the
> horses belonging to the Household were brought along. There was also a horse
> from the pasha of Baghdad, which he was sending to Istanbul, and this animal
> too was loaded on the ship.
> 
> +P36 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P37
> 
> IN ISTANBUL
> 
> We sailed along till we reached Istanbul, where our baggage was taken off,
> and I remained with the horses. Meanwhile, Bahá'u'lláh proceeded
> to the government guest house, which was in the charge of Shamsí
> Bey, and He settled in the upstairs apartments with the Household, while we had
> rooms below. On this lower floor there was one great room, an agreeable place,
> and every day the Master would come to this room. Siyyid Muhammad of Isfahan
> would also frequent this place, as would Hájí Mírzá
> Ahmad of Kashan, and Mírzá Áqáy-i Munír of
> the same city.
> 
> Azal was upstairs, in a separate apartment. He would come downstairs in the
> morning, however, return at lunchtime to have something to eat, and then come
> back down. Part of the time he was a downstairs person, and part of the time an
> upstairs person. He did this so that people would not guess that he was Azal,
> and would take him for a servant of the Blessed Beauty.
> 
> In the course of our journey, at a stop called Ma`dan-Nuqrih [the Silver
> Mine], Nabíl-i Zarandí+F1had come into the presence of
> Bahá'u'lláh, along with a man named Ahmad and another named
> Husayn, both of whom were
> 
> +F1 Nabíl-i Zarandí later became the author of the famous
> Bahá'í chronicle, The Dawn-Breakers.
> 
> +P38
> 
> Káshís. Nabíl had gone on ahead, from Baghdad.
> Bahá'u'lláh had sent Muhammad-`Askar to bring him back, and in
> Baghdad had counseled him at great length, telling him that no one should
> accompany Bahá'u'lláh without leave. Nevertheless, this
> individual caught up with us at Ma`dan-Nuqrih. Here again,
> Bahá'u'lláh gave him the same advice. Well, Nabíl came
> along with us anyhow, and on to Istanbul. As for the two who were with him,
> Ahmad was dismissed and Husayn came to Istanbul with us, and then on to Edirne
> [Adrianople].
> 
> One day, in the downstairs apartments, Siyyid Muhammad, the evil one of
> Isfahan,+F1set Hájí Mírzá Ahmad and
> Mírzá Áqá against each other. They quarreled, and
> even boxed each other's ears. Mírzá Áqá Ján
> went and informed Bahá'u'lláh, returned, and admonished
> Mírzá Áqá at length. The latter remained
> intractable, and a few days afterward he was dismissed. Later on he repented,
> and ultimately he died in Smyrna.
> 
> We remained about fifteen days at the inn in Istanbul, and then rented another
> place and moved there. It was a stately house. In Istanbul
> Bahá'u'lláh* called on no one, and He told Áqáy-i
> Kalím: "I will go nowhere. You go wherever you think best." And so,
> Áqáy-i Kalím would visit the houses of such leaders of
> state as he felt advisable. The Ottoman Government furnished our expenses in
> whatever amounts were suggested to them by Shamsí Bey.
> 
> In Istanbul, every day at noon Bahá'u'lláh would go to the
> Mosque of Sultán Muhammad and there recite the
> 
> +F1 Siyyid Muhammad of Isfahan is the "Antichrist of the Bahá'í
> Revelation," who tempted and manipulated Mírzá Yahyá to
> rebellion against Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> +P39
> 
> prayer in the manner of Islam, and He would chant communes as well. During this
> period, every seven or eight days, He would frequent the bathhouse, and on
> occasion I would be with Him. There was another mosque known as
> Khirqiy-i Sharíf [the Mosque of the Prophets's Cloak], and
> He would visit there, too.
> 
> There in Istanbul people would come to visit, and Bahá'u'lláh
> would converse with them. Finally, word was brought that by government order He
> must leave for Edirne.
> 
> Azal was his usual self: to Shamsí Bey he had not made himself known as
> Bahá'u'lláh's brother, but had presented himself as a servant of
> the Darvísh Mírzá `Alí Khán of
> Khurasan. Most days he would come to see Bahá'u'llah, and one day,
> contrary to his custom, he brought in some news, saying: "There is talk that
> You will be obliged to leave for Edirne."
> 
> Then Shamsí Bey paid an official call and declared on behalf of
> the government: "You are ordered to Edirne."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh categorically stated: "We refuse."
> 
> After Shamsí Bey had gone, Bahá'u'lláh came out
> and said to the friends, "Be confident. Nothing bad will happen." Smiling, He
> added: "And anyway, what could be the harm of it if I should give them two or
> three of you no-goods to put to death?" And then He left.
> 
> Later, into the bírúní came Azal and Siyyid Muhammad and
> Hájí Mírzá Ahmad of Kashan. They sat together, and
> Azal said, "If you want to cross a stream, which is better, that half your
> satchel should get wet, or all of it?"
> 
> +P40
> 
> "Obviously, half of it," was their answer.
> 
> Afterward we reported to Bahá'u'lláh what Azal had said. He
> replied: "I stand by my statement."
> 
> Mírzá Safá of Khurasan came in, and said among other
> things: "By the government's edict, you must go to Edirne. None can refuse to
> obey the government's edict."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh replied, "Mírzá Safá, are you
> trying to frighten me with this government? Even if all the inhabitants of the
> world should come against me with drawn swords, I will still fear no man."(11)
> 
> Azal sent in word: "They will trample down our wives and children! They will
> put us all to death! We will go."
> 
> And Bahá'u'lláh answered: "It makes no difference if they kill
> us. As for our families, we can arrange things in such a way that they will not
> be held. What could be better for us than to be slain by them in the path of
> God!" Then very firmly He said, "We will not go."
> 
> However, Azal and Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí Mírzá
> Ahmad and his wife and children kept at it, constantly repeating: "We will go."
> 
> And people from the government came again, and still they received the
> identical reply from Bahá'u'lláh: "I stand by what I have already
> said. No matter that some others are saying we will go, no matter that they are
> consenting to depart, my answer is the same as before."
> 
> At a later time He commented: "That fellow [Azal] thwarted us. Otherwise the
> Faith would have been widely proclaimed--and now this will not come to pass."
> And another time he said, "If, in Istanbul, Azal had allowed it to happen,
> there would have been a wonderful proclamation of the Cause of God. Had they
> killed us, this
> 
> +P41
> 
> would have spread the Faith far and wide, and had they not killed us--and they
> would not have--this too would have widely proclaimed it." He said this with
> great regret.
> 
> Finally, what with the others' insistence, entreaties, supplications, and
> tears, He bade them prepare for the departure to Edirne. Mírzá
> Músá went wherever he thought best to bid people good-bye. They
> rented a number of ox-drawn carts. The Master rode on a horse.
> Mírzá Yahyá was on a donkey. Nothing new happened along
> the way, except that Bahá'u'lláh would say: "Why did we
> come?"(12)
> 
> +P42
> 
> IN EDIRNE
> 
> At last we reached Edirne,+F1and Bahá'u'lláh chose to stop at
> a caravanserai. With Him from Constantinople had come a Turkish captain--a
> yúz-báshí--with a number of
> soldiers, and this captain made a request of Bahá'u'lláh. He
> said, "I wish to be promoted to
> major--bín-báshí." He went back
> to Istanbul, and he was. An excellent man, and a grateful one too.(13)
> 
> He rented a house for Bahá'u'lláh, another for the friends, and
> third for Mírzá Músá. The house assigned to the
> friends had a stable room, and the horses were brought there. The house of
> Mírzá Músá had a bathhouse and fired it up--for we
> had reached Edirne at that beginning of winter and it was bitterly cold. None
> of us, not even Bahá'u'lláh, had proper clothing, since we had
> come from an Arab country. It was so cold that all the town's springs were
> frozen over. The house of Bahá'u'lláh was near the takyih
> [lodge house] of the Mawlavís.+F2
> 
> As for the bathhouse: Azal would usually be sent there first. One day I went
> to the bath at Mírzá Músá's. Now Azal was very
> hairy--so much so that from the back of his head to his feet, he seemed to be
> one sweep of hair. After he was bathed I was attending to him when, at that
> moment, Bahá'u'lláh came in. Azal moved, and, out of
> 
> +F1 On December 12, 1863.
> +F2 A sufi order of dervishes founded by
> Jalálu'd-Dín Rúmí in the thirteenth century--the
> so-called dancing dervishes.
> 
> +P43
> 
> respect, he placed his hands one upon the other and stood up.
> Bahá'u'lláh said, "His shoulders are bushy. You shave them." I
> came forward to shave them.
> 
> Azal covered his shoulders with both hands and said "Don't!"
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh said, "Let him have his way. It doesn't matter."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh stayed in this house all winter. When the weather
> turned beautiful and we were on the threshold of spring, He came to the
> believers' lodging one day to express His consideration of us, and His loving
> care. That day, a bird was singing in our tree, and He commented: "Better get
> him something for his throat--he isn't doing too well."
> 
> Well, in this house Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí Ahmad of Kashan and
> I and the other friends were all living together, though we had our separate
> rooms. The upstairs was reserved for Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí
> Ahmad, and I too lived upstairs with them. Every day the Master would come to
> us at noontime and leave around that time. One day he told us that the Blessed
> Beauty had directed us to find another lodging so that we could all be
> together. The friends searched high and low until they located a house opposite
> the Mosque of Sultán Salím. It was very spacious, and in all,
> outside and inside, it required forty keys. The name of this residence was
> Bayt-i Amru'lláh.+F1
> 
> +F1 The name can be translated as "House of God's Command" or "House of the
> Cause of God."
> 
> +P44 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P45
> 
> In this house a Tablet was revealed and was sent to Mírzá
> Yahyá through Mírzá Áqá Ján. This
> Tablet is known as the Tablet of the Summons to Azal, and it calls upon Azal to
> believe in Bahá'u'lláh. Seeing it, Azal repudiated the Tablet at
> once, and remarked to Mírzá Áqá Ján, "He has
> even written it in Arabic."(14)
> 
> The house of Azal was a few steps away from that of Bahá'u'lláh,
> and Mírzá Músá had a separate residence opposite.
> The other friends, the Branches+F1and Mírzá
> Muhammad-Qulí, the Consort,+F2 and Bahá'u'lláh Himself,
> and the rest of us, were all in the House of God's Command.
> 
> Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí Mírzá Ahmad had a room to
> themselves. The Master would go to the andarún only to sleep. Usually he
> would have lunch and dinner with Siyyid Muhammad. Most of the time,
> Hájí Mírzá Ahmad would be present as well.
> 
> +F1 That is, the sons of Bahá'u'lláh.
> +F2
> Bahá'u'lláh's wife, Ásíyih Khánum,
> Navváb.
> 
> +P46
> 
> PLOTTINGS OF COVENANT-BREAKERS
> 
> Azal would come to the bath every week, that is, to the bathhouse in the
> House of God's Command. At this time no one had even an inkling of his being a
> violator, a breaker of the Covenant, but he had become somewhat lukewarm. When
> he visited the bath, he would carry on a conversation with me about this and
> that (this period was during the third year after our arrival in Edirne
> [1866]), and, in his own way, he was trying to convert me, but I pretended not
> to understand what he was after.
> 
> Siyyid Muhammad and Hájí Ahmad had only recently become
> acquainted with Azal and they took to one another. Every day Siyyid Muhammad
> would go to the Mosque of Sultán Salím where he was working on a
> book he called "A Summary of the Bayán." Hájí Ahmad,
> Áqá Ridáy-i Qannád, the confectioner, and
> Áqá Mírzá Mahmúd would also copy out Tablets
> and send them about. The Master, too, would be writing most of the time.
> 
> In Istanbul was revealed the Tablet that begins:
> 
> All praise be to Thee,
> 
> O Thou Who art He that is He.
> 
> After a time, Siyyid Muhammad had taken himself to the takyih of the
> Mawlavís and told the leader: "I will come to you and instruct you in
> the Mathnaví of Rúmí."+F1
> 
> +F1 A six-volume classical epic of mystic poems by Jalálu'd-Dín
> Rúmí.
> 
> +P47
> 
> Thus he had struck up an acquaintance with him, and little by little he had
> begun to converse with him in an unseemly way. He would read the
> Mathnaví all the time. Once he said to me, "What are these
> verses?" I quoted him back a few lines from Rúmí, and he
> commented on them. Then he went to Mírzá Músá and
> praised my intelligence. At this time Siyyid Muhammad was about sixty years
> old.
> 
> Once when the Master was present, I said: "That Nabíl certainly has
> strange things to say. One night in Istanbul, when you, Siyyid Muhammad, were
> speaking, Nabíl commented: `That Siyyid Muhammad talks like an
> atheist.'"
> 
> The siyyid was very angry at this, but from fear of the Master, he could say
> nothing. Well, that night passed by, and in the morning when he was going to
> the Mawlavís to give his lesson, he said to me: "Ustád
> Muhammad-`Alí, you and I come from the same city, and wherever I go I
> sing your praises ... (and so on and so on). Now what, what did you mean at the
> meeting last night? How was it that you said to me that I, according to
> Nabíl, had said thus and so?"
> 
> "How should I know?" I shrugged.
> 
> He went on: "You should have whispered all that in my ear."
> 
> I answered: "This place is not the thieves' court of Husayn the Kurd, where
> everybody does as he pleases."+F1
> 
> Anyway, Siyyid Muhammad would go to that place and give lessons, and most days
> Mírzá Músá would come to the apartment of Siyyid
> Muhammad and the Master. Here he would smoke his water pipe and then take his
> leave.
> 
> +F1 Husayn the Kurd was a legendary outlaw who become so powerful and brazen
> that he would hold court at night in the bazaar of Isfahan.
> 
> +P48
> 
> One day when the Master was present, Siyyid Muhammad was carrying on a
> conversation with Hájí Ahmad, and I was standing there. At that
> moment, in the street below, a cart went by. Siyyid Muhammad said, "His
> Holiness the Báb, the Remembrance of God, was like that cart: even as
> the next man, He came, He went."
> 
> Mírzá Músá was indignant. "You shameless fellow!"
> he said. "Remember that this place is directly behind the house of
> Bahá'u'lláh." Angrily, he rose and left the room.
> 
> Siyyid Muhammad was in a rage. Later he betook himself to Mírzá
> Músá, to plead his case with him, and said, "You made me lose
> face."
> 
> Mírzá Músá became angry all over again.
> 
> Siyyid Muhammad complained to him: "Ustád Muhammad-`Alí has said
> thus and so about me."
> 
> Mírzá Músá said, "This Muhammad-`Alí is the
> same man you used to praise so highly. How is it that you are against him now?"
> The matter was also reported to Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> And so, after an interval of three or four days, Siyyid Muhammad went back to
> the same takyih of the Mawlavís, and he stayed there. As the saying
> goes, he was sulking. Two or three nights went by. There was a certain
> Ibráhím, a former steward of Bahá'u'lláh who later
> became a Covenant-breaker, and still lives and now claims to be a firm
> believer. This Ibráhím was summoned by Mírzá
> Áqá Ján and given money and a parcel of clothing to take
> to Siyyid Muhammad. Two days or so afterward, Siyyid Muhammad wrote a letter to
> the mother of the Greater Branch [Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí]
> saying that he was in the takyih of the Mawlavís and so hungry that he
> 
> +P49
> 
> was reduced to eating the leaves off the trees. This, although only three days
> before, money and clothing had been sent to him, in addition to which the
> Mawlavís paid his expenses.
> 
> The following day was the day when Bahá'u'lláh was accustomed
> to frequent the bath. I went there, and Azal came in first. Up to now, for
> quite a while, he had secretly, stealthily, been trying to make me his
> disciple. I applied his henna and he began talking to me. "Last night," he
> said, "I had a dream. I saw a person with a broom in his hand, and he was
> sweeping up all around me." He managed to convey the idea that it was
> Bahá'u'lláh who was plying the broom around him in the dream. And
> so, I understood that this worthless fellow wanted me to do something for him.
> But he said nothing more, and went away.
> 
> Then the Blessed Beauty entered the bath. There was a mirror fastened to the
> wall and I could see Him in the mirror. He said to me, "You are great and your
> image will not fit in a little mirror."+F1
> 
> I pondered what Azal had said. I kept asking myself what his purpose was,
> telling me by indirection and in code that "Bahá'u'lláh was
> sweeping up all around me." It was clear, however, that he had some special
> plan with regard to me.
> 
> Furthermore, Hájí Mírzá Ahmad kept trying to
> convert
> 
> +F1 Azal was known as one of the "Mirrors" of the Bábí
> Revelation. See God Passes By, p. 114.
> 
> +P50
> 
> me to Azal. I noticed in particular that over a period of several days he
> repeatedly tried most urgently to pull me his way. One day I told him:
> "Hájí, you have been teaching people about the invisible Lord. Do
> you yourself believe in that Lord?"
> 
> He said, "Yes."
> 
> I said, "Down your throat with the Lord that you imagine!" And so we
> quarreled.
> 
> Hájí Mírzá Ahmad took the matter to
> Bahá'u'lláh and complained. "Ustád Muhammad," he said,
> "has denied the Invisible of the Invisibles."
> 
> On the following day, Mírzá Áqá Ján came
> and sat down; we all gathered around and he read the Tablet of the Sermon on
> the Unity of God. He also read the Persian Tablet of Ahmad,+F1revealed for
> Hájí Mírzá Ahmad. In Edirne, the Blessed Beauty was
> continually revealing Tablets.
> 
> When the bath day arrived, Azal came in first. He washed his head and body and
> used the henna. I sat beside him to help. He began to talk, and to give me
> advice. He said: "There was at one time a Mírzá Na`ím who
> was the governor of Nayríz. He persecuted the believers, and killed
> them, and greatly harmed the Cause." Next, he began to extol the virtues of
> boldness and courage. He said that some are courageous by nature, and that when
> the moment came, they would prove themselves brave. Then he went back to the
> story of Mírzá Na`ím: he said that of all the
> Nayríz believers' children, one had survived --a boy of eleven or
> twelve. One day Mírzá Na`ím went into the bath, and this
> boy went there as well, and had
> 
> +F1 This is not the Arabic Tablet of the same name so widely known in the West.
> 
> +P51
> 
> brought along a knife with a handle made of horn. When the governor started to
> come up out of the water tank, the boy plunged the knife into his stomach and
> ripped it open. Mírzá Na`ím cried aloud. His servants ran
> in from outside and saw the knife in the boy's hand. They beat the boy within
> an inch of his life, and then went to see how their master was faring. Wounded
> as he was, the child got to his feet and once again drove his knife into
> Mírzá Na`ím.
> 
> Having said this, Azal started in again, praising the virtue of courage. "How
> fine a thing it is," he said, "for a man to be brave. Now see what they are
> doing to the Cause of God! Every one harming the Faith. Every one risen up
> against me! Even my own brother! And I, never allowed a moment's peace! Never a
> tranquil breath!"
> 
> He managed his tones in such a way as to say: "I, the appointee; I, the
> helpless victim--and my brother (God forgive me for repeating this!) a tyrant,
> a usurper!"
> 
> "How wonderful is courage," he went on. "How much needed now, to save the
> Cause of God!"
> 
> Taken all together--the tone of his voice, the story of Mírzá
> Na`ím, the praise of courage, the urging me onward --all this meant only
> one thing: "Kill my brother!" That is, kill the Blessed Beauty.
> 
> When these words were uttered I was overcome by nausea, and sicker than I had
> ever been in my whole life. I felt as if the walls of he bath were falling in
> on me. I was unhinged. Not able to speak, I went away outside the bath, and sat
> down on a bench. And in my awful inward turmoil, I thought to myself, I will go
> back into the bath, and I will cut off his head. Then let whatever happens,
> happen. Then I thought: It would be easy enough to kill
> 
> +P52
> 
> him. But suppose when I stood before the Blessed Beauty I should be condemned?
> Coming before Him in that condition? I went on, thinking it out: After
> murdering this fellow, if I should go and stand in the presence of
> Bahá'u'lláh, and if He should say to me, "Why did you kill him?"
> what answer could I give? It was this thought that stopped me.
> 
> Well, I reentered the bath, and violently angry, raging, I said to him, "Get
> up and get out. God send you to hell!"
> 
> "Pour water over me," he wailed as he approached me. I poured one container of
> water on him and, washed or not washed, in a panic, he went; and I have never
> laid eyes on him since, from that day to this.
> 
> I was in a terrible state and nothing could calm me down. It happened that the
> Blessed Beauty did not come to the bath that day, but Mírzá
> Músá did and I told him: "Today Azal made a bonfire of me," and I
> repeated what he had said.
> 
> Mírzá Músá replied, "He has had such a plan for
> many years. Pay no attention to him. The fellow has always had this in mind."
> He counseled me, and left.
> 
> Well, I finished with the bath, and I closed it up, and went to see the
> Master, and said, "Today Azal said thus and so. I was in a fury and wanted to
> kill him. But in the end, I did nothing."
> 
> The Master replied, "You discovered this matter for yourself. Do not make any
> mention of it. Best that it should remain hidden."
> 
> Then I went and told the story to Mírzá Áqá
> Ján, and asked him to report it to Bahá'u'lláh. He soon
> came back. Bahá'u'lláh had said to him: "Go, and advise my
> devoted Ustád Muhammad-`Alí to say nothing of this anywhere."
> 
> +P53
> 
> I went and gathered up all of Azal's letters and other writings, and that
> night I took them to the coffee room in Bahá'u'lláh's house and
> burned them all in the charcoal brazier. But first I showed them around to
> everyone, so they could see that they were the writings of Azal. There were
> seven or eight of the friends present, and they all strongly objected and said,
> "What have you done? Why this?"
> 
> I told them, "Until today, I have always worshipped the house of this Azal.
> Today, so far as I am concerned, he is less than a dog!"(15)
> 
> Azal had three wives: one from Mázandarán, one from
> Tafrish, and one from Shiraz.+F1Ahmad was born of this last.
> Mírzá Nasru'lláh, and Rida-Qulí of Tafrish,
> the brothers-in-law of Azal, along with the son of Mírzá
> Nasru'lláh, thinking that there might be some material benefit to them
> here in this establishment, had come to Edirne; and they had managed, by
> prompting Azal's wife,+F2 to have him stop speaking with her and keep to
> himself. Their plan was that, after an interval of separation, they would marry
> off their sister to the Master. Meanwhile, Mírzá
> Nasru'lláh died. The sister remained-- and the son of Nasru'lláh,
> and Mírzá Ridá-Qulí. But the Master did not wish to
> marry her.
> 
> +F1 Azal married at least six wives, three of whom were left in Iran after he
> fled to Baghdad. The wives referred to here appear to be Ruqáiyyih,
> Badrí-Ján (Badr-i Jihán), and Mulk-i Jihán
> respectively. See Bahá'u'lláh: The King of Glory
> pp. 278, 336-37; Traveller's Narrative, p. 384.
> +F2 That is, their own
> sister.
> 
> +P54 THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES
> 
> During this period Iran had been filling up with Tablets. The Tablets would
> reach Tihrán through Mírzá Haydar-`Alí,+F1and they
> would then be sent on to Tabriz, to Javád-i Qazvíní. From
> another direction, when Bahá'u'lláh was on the point of leaving
> Istanbul, He sent Nabíl-i Zarandí to Khurasan, and Nabíl
> did wonders there and raised an uproar.
> 
> In Tabriz, through Javád-i Qazvíní, a certain Siyyid
> Ismá`íl, who was much respected by the people of that city (this,
> as a consequence of a religious debate which he had with Javád which
> ended in hostility) was assassinated by two believers. One was Mustafá
> of Kashan, the other a man from Khurasan+F2--they being urged on by
> Javád. Those two, and Javád, were then arrested in Tabriz.
> Javád, using the funds of the Huqúqu'lláh+F3 which had
> been collected and placed in his charge, and which belonged to
> Bahá'u'lláh, took out a thousand tumáns+F4 and bought
> himself free. The other two were killed.
> 
> When Javád lived in Tabriz, there was a certain Hájí
> `Alí-`Askar of Tabriz, a good man. He had a daughter, and he told
> Javád, "Please, you tell Bahá'u'lláh that I
> 
> +F1 Haydar-`Alí later became the author of Bihjatu's Sudúr
> [The Delight of Hearts].
> +F2 Shaykh Ahmad of Khurasan. Cf.
> Memorials of the Faithful, p. 149; The Bábí and
> Bahá'í Religions, pp. 251-52; Bahá'u'lláh:
> The King of Glory, pp. 237-38. +F3 The Right of God: the money
> offered to Bahá'u'lláh by the believers. +F4 The gold
> tumán was equivalent to two U.S. dollars of that day.
> 
> +P55 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P56 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P57
> 
> wish to send this daughter to Him as a wife for the Master." When Javád
> complied, the answer came that Javád himself should wed the girl. But it
> was just at this time that Javád fled from Tabriz. He arranged for an
> elderly lady from Qazvin to bring the daughter of Hájí
> `Alí-`Askar to him later on. `Alí-`Askar arrived in Edirne before
> Javád and came into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh. Finally,
> the daughter was brought to Edirne and married to Javád.
> `Alí-`Askar had two daughters--the one he gave to Javád, the
> other served in the holy Household and finally died in `Akká. The Master
> still did not wish to marry. Nabíl-i Zarandí now arrived in
> Edirne after traveling in Iran with Mishkín-Qalam and
> Mírzá `Alíy-i Sayyáh (who, in Máh-Kú,
> had entered the presence of the Báb and became a believer, and would, by
> any means possible, see to it that the Lord's Tablets reached their addresses).
> They came with two Káshís and a certain
> Jamshíd of Bukhara who had declared his faith in Kashan.
> 
> In several places Mírzá `Alíy-i Sayyáh had
> announced: "I am on my way to Edirne to bring about a reconciliation between
> his Eminence Azal and the Blessed Beauty." Once he arrived and had paid his
> respects to Bahá'u'lláh, he understood what was going on and saw
> that Azal did not figure in the reckoning at all.
> 
> After a time [it was 1866] the Blessed Beauty moved with His Household to
> another house,+F1and no one was permitted to visit Him there. He dismissed
> Hájí Mírzá Ahmad, who went to Baghdad, and He sent
> Muhammad-Sádiq away, and also Áqá Muhammad-Hasan and
> `Abdu'l-Karím. At that time Shaykh Salmán was
> there,
> 
> +F1 The house of Ridá Bey.
> 
> +P58
> 
> and he was dismissed likewise. Bahá'u'lláh also decided to send
> the attendants--myself, and Sidq-`Alí Darvísh, who was the
> groom--to Istanbul, to sell the horses.
> 
> Mírzá `Alíy-i Sayyáh and
> Mishkín-Qalam had become friends, and since they thought that
> Mishkín-Qalam wrote a beautiful hand and could thus earn his
> daily bread, the two went to Istanbul to be scribes. Bahá'u'lláh,
> however, did not want them to go to Istanbul--at least, such was my
> understanding of it.
> 
> Anyhow, the two journeyed there, and in that city went to Hájí
> Mírzá Husayn Khán, the
> Mushíru'd-Dawlih,+F1who showed them great respect. For
> Mishkín-Qalam, he even purchased a handsome
> kashkúl,+F2 since Mishkín-Qalam
> followed the dervish path.
> 
> The ambassador made much of both of them, and he said to
> Mishkín, "You come, and in the presence of the other Persians,
> read an address praising the shah of Iran." And Mishkín did so.
> In short, Mushíru'd-Dawlih wished to promote the two of them. He
> arranged for Mishkín-Qalam to do the calligraphy on a book by
> Sa`dí, and to be paid three hundred liras. Mishkín did
> write a small portion of this book. On occasion, when he called on the
> ambassador, Mishkín would speak of the Faith. Eventually, he
> began to exaggerate, saying how many of us there were, asking if the ambassador
> guessed that right in Istanbul there were thousands of us.
> 
> "You be careful," the ambassador told him. "I am trying to promote you." Well,
> in the end they arrested both of them and shut them up in jail.(16)
> 
> +F1 The ambassador to Istanbul.
> +F2 The traditional begging bowl of a dervish.
> See Appendix 5, "Persian Names."
> 
> +P59 MY ARREST AND EXILE
> 
> As for me, with Sidq-`Alí Darvísh and Áqá
> Muhammad-Báqir Mahallátí, we brought along the horses to
> Istanbul. They stopped us at the city gate, and asked: "Who are you? Where do
> you come from?"
> 
> I asked them, "Why have you held us up?" They were going to let us go. But
> then, I inquired for Mishkín-Qalam.
> 
> The police said, "Come along. We will take you to him." We didn't know where
> they were taking us. Well, they led our animals away and conducted us to the
> sultan's prison and jailed us.
> 
> The next morning they came for us and took us before the governor of Istanbul,
> Husayn Husní Páshá. He asked, "Where are you coming
> from?"
> 
> We said, "From Edirne."
> 
> "What are you here for?"
> 
> "To deliver some horses for Mishkín-Qalam to sell." (I didn't
> know that Mishkín-Qalam was in jail himself.) That was all the
> questioning; they contented themselves with that, led us back down, and kept us
> there. Three or four days went by. We began to talk with our friendly jailers.
> 
> "Brothers," I said, "we have done nothing wrong. We are not thieves. What is
> your reason for arresting us?"
> 
> I thought to myself: Bahá'u'lláh must be under severe pressure
> in Edirne, and there must be disturbances in that
> 
> +P60
> 
> city. It is certain that these people here are going to question us. We shall
> have to come up with a plan. (I had carried with me three packets of Writings
> and one travel notebook, and they had taken all of these away.)
> 
> "When being interrogated," I told the others, "we must do nothing which could
> bring harm to the Household of Bahá'u'lláh. For ourselves, no
> matter. Whatever will happen, will happen. But we must in no way harm the ones
> in Edirne." We all agreed to this.
> 
> The next morning--the third and fourth of our imprisonment --they led us again
> to the house of the governor. He sent for us to come in. They took us three
> upstairs to a large room and put each of us in a different corner of it.
> Áqá Muhammad-Báqir was the cleverest of us, and he was an
> old man. The governor summoned him to another room. I listened carefully to
> find out what they were saying.
> 
> "Where do you come from?"
> 
> "Edirne."
> 
> "What is the reason for your visit?"
> 
> "There are three of us. These horses belong to Bahá'u'lláh, and
> He directed us to deliver them to Mishkín-Qalam, for him to
> sell."
> 
> The voice asked, "Do you know anything about these writings?"
> 
> "Yes."
> 
> "Then read something."
> 
> He started in, reading an Arabic prayer of some ten verses.
> 
> "Who owns these writings?"
> 
> "Ustád Muhammad-`Alí." (For I had told him, should they ask this
> question, to say they were mine.)
> 
> +P61
> 
> He was then asked, "Have you any kinship with Bahá'u'lláh?"
> 
> "No. I am one of His servants."
> 
> Then the voice said, "Bahá'u'lláh has claimed to be the Mahdi.
> What do you say to that?"
> 
> "No! He has made no such claim!"+F1
> 
> The voice said, "You do not understand. He certainly has."
> 
> "No, He has not."
> 
> Asked, "Should he make such a claim, what would you say?"
> 
> "Whatever He says is as He says. We hold Him for a speaker of truth. But He
> has made no such claim." They put him out and he came over to me.
> 
> Then they took Darvísh. (Darvísh was older than
> I.) They asked the same questions as before. They said, "He has claimed to be
> the Mahdi."
> 
> He said, "No! He has not."
> 
> And then they go to, "What will you say if he does?"
> 
> Darvísh answered, "Because of love, whatsoever the Master doeth
> is true and right." They brought him out and summoned me.
> 
> When I went in, I saw that there was a group of Sunní preachers, and
> that the governor himself was the one asking the questions. He asked me, "Are
> these writings yours?"
> 
> I said, "Yes."
> 
> He said, "Can you read and write?"
> 
> +F1 Bahá'ís believe that the Báb was the Mahdi, the
> Promised One awaited by the Sunní Muslims (in addition to being the
> return of the Shí'ih Twelfth Imam). Bahá'u'lláh
> fulfills the Sunní prophecies concerning the Return of Christ.
> 
> +P62
> 
> I said, "No."
> 
> He said, "Then what do you want them for?"
> 
> I said, "I had a friend who would copy these Writings. I paid him and he wrote
> this much for me."
> 
> Then he said, "Who composed these? Are they by him? (He meant
> Bahá'u'lláh.) Or are they by the Báb?"
> 
> "I don't know."
> 
> Then came, "He has claimed to be the Mahdi. What do you say to that?"
> 
> I said, "I have been there for a very long time, and I have never once heard
> such a claim."
> 
> "Nevertheless, he has made this claim."
> 
> " No," I said, "He has not."
> 
> He said, "Should he make the claim, what will you say?"
> 
> I answered--for I wanted to put an end to it: "This hand of yours, can it or
> can it not become an instrument of death?"
> 
> He said, "It certainly can."
> 
> "Up to now," I went on, "it has caused no death. Can a sentence be passed upon
> it?"
> 
> "No."
> 
> Then I said, "He too, up to now, has made no such claim. Can a sentence be
> passed upon Him?"
> 
> This angered him, and he cried in Turkish, "Take him out! Take him out!"
> 
> I told him, "Sir, why did you bring us in, only to send us out? We answered
> your questions. No need to be angry with us."
> 
> Well, they took us downstairs, and right away to a bad prison where there were
> swindlers and thieves. Here were jailed seventeen or eighteen of us. I had a
> handsome belt
> 
> +P63
> 
> and they took it. It was a horrible place. And we had to sleep right on the
> spot where we....+F1And the space was so narrow that there was only just room
> for each one to lie down.
> 
> They sent Muhammad-Báqir to a different prison, Darvísh
> to still another, and none of us knew where the others were. They had taken
> Muhammad-Báqir to the police officer's house, and he fell dangerously
> ill with dysentery. He was ordered to the prison for the sick, so they put him
> in there, in the infirmary. It happened that Mírzá `Alí
> and Mishkín-Qalam were in this very prison. When they saw
> Muhammad-Báqir, Mishkín-Qalam told the authorities: "You
> must transfer the others of our group to this prison." So they brought
> Darvísh and me here, and we all got together with
> Mishkín-Qalam. He kept carrying on and complaining to them that
> unless he could do his calligraphy his head would never quiet down. "Bring me a
> pen case," he would say, "and let me write!" Finally, they brought him writing
> materials and he set to work.
> 
> They fed us lunch and supper in this prison, but the bedbugs were so active
> that sleep was impossible. Well, there we all were, in jail, with no news from
> anywhere. The head of the prison was not a bad individual, and he had an
> officer--I believe his brother's son--whom he brought to
> Mishkín-Qalam and Sayyáh to take lessons. The boy would
> come every day and study for several hours.
> 
> After some days Áqá Bey, who was a police officer, came in and
> said, "Which one is Mishkín-Qalam? How much do you want for your
> nags?"
> 
> +F1 That is, there were no sanitary facilities.
> 
> +P64
> 
> Mishkín-Qalam replied, "Those are thoroughbred horses, not nags.
> Each one of them is worth a hundred liras." When this fellow had gone, there
> was a Jewish visitor come to see an Englishman sentenced for making counterfeit
> banknotes. Mishkín-Qalam said to the visitor (who was free to
> come and go), "We have a number of horses, and we want someone to take them to
> the sultan as a gift on the Muslim Holy Day. And whatever gratuity the sultan
> shall offer will then be divided: we to take out the price of the horses, the
> remainder to be that person's."
> 
> The visitor left, and returned with a man whom he told to groom and decorate
> the horses. The man left, retrieved the animals from the government
> authorities, and named a suitable sum as their price, planning to offer them to
> the sultan on the Holy Day. He did forget one little detail, however; he
> neglected to see the Master of the Horses beforehand, to have him declare the
> horses acceptable. The day came, and the horses were led before the sultan. He
> looked them over and said to his Master of the Horses, "How are they?"
> 
> The latter replied, "They are no good." And the sultan refused them.
> 
> Well, the fellow came back and said, "They were not approved." He wanted to
> collect the sum he had spent on the horses, but Mishkín-Qalam
> told him, "Go now. I will pay later."
> 
> In all, we spent two months in the prison. Jamshíd, the servant
> of Mishkín-Qalam, was also a prisoner; and except for me and
> Muhammad-Báqir and Jamshíd, they planned to send the other
> believers to Cyprus. That day
> 
> +P65
> 
> the steamer did not leave, however, and they brought the prisoners back. The
> next day, they sent for them and also took along Muhammad-Báqir.
> `Abdu'l-Ghaffár, who had been imprisoned with
> Mishkín-Qalam, they took away to Gallipoli, to send him on from
> there to `Akká or Cyprus.
> 
> The following day they led Jamshíd and me to Husayn Husni
> Páshá, the governor. Jamshíd was a big tough
> man with enormous moutachios. The governor said, "These two you shall exile to
> Iran." So they conducted us to a ship along with a decree stating that we were
> Persian Bábís, and at every stopping place along the way they
> read out this document. They took us to Trebizond, and here too, put us in
> jail. Later, they sent us off with two police guards toward Iran. From the next
> stopping place, there was a two-wheeled cart going to Erzurum, and in that city
> we were jailed sixteen days. Once off the ship, we always had to walk.
> 
> Being a prisoner under these conditions was such a torment that once, on a
> mountainside where he kept falling down, my companion Jamshíd
> took a stick and beat his head with it. He was coming behind, I walking ahead,
> with the police ahead of me.
> 
> "Brother," I said to him, "what are you up to? Why this?"
> 
> He answered, "What did I ever do for God to treat me like this? Look at my
> fate! Look at what He has allotted me!"
> 
> I answered, "He has allotted you a pair of moustachios that are second to none
> on earth."
> 
> He burst out laughing: I had put some spirit into him.
> 
> After Erzurum, they led us to Iran. My companion had a heavy quilt--it must
> have weighed ten or fifteen pounds,
> 
> +P66
> 
> and I was carrying it. There were several other prisoners chained to us as
> well. The weather was bitterly cold, and all of us were chained together, going
> along single file. We all had to start out at the same moment, and sometimes we
> would all be plunged at the same moment into a stream. We were truly wretched
> on that journey.
> 
> After Erzurum, they took us to a place called Quzil-Dayzí. Here the
> Persian consul came and looked us over. Ottoman troops had been sent to this
> point, and it was said they wanted to go to war with Iran. Anyway, they led us
> up a mountain where there was a castle, all of white marble and marvelously
> carved. Here they took us to the governor of the place--the castle was the seat
> of government, and it was something to see. They kept us in jail there for
> three or four days, then moved us on toward Iran.
> 
> The Persian consul saw us, and they brought us into Iran. The consul was a
> good-for-nothing individual, too.
> 
> Well, there we were at the frontier of Azerbaijan, at a place called
> Avájih. All the way from Erzurum, they had sent a Persian thief along
> with us, and he entered the country with us. At this spot, they transferred us
> to the charge of the son of `Alí Khán of
> Máh-Kú. He too had drawn up troops and the Persian government had
> stationed him at the frontier so that he could defend it from the Ottoman Turks
> should war break out. Night came and they wanted to put me in jail. Finally,
> they put me down a dry well, though I kept shouting, "You are not going to
> throw me in a well! I am not the Prophet Joseph!"+F1They pulled me up the next
> morning.
> 
> +F1 See Gen. 37:22-24.
> 
> +P67 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P68 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P69
> 
> The only money I had in the world was one lira, which I had concealed. I now
> sold my hat and my shoes and bought a few Azerbaijani camel hair garments. They
> led us on, taking us toward Iran.
> 
> Briefly, we got to Avájih, and there was no caravanserai to be found,
> so they took us to the country seat of Khán Husayn
> Khán, where he lived with great pomp and circumstance. They
> presented him with the documents and the decree.
> 
> He let out a string of oaths, damning the soldiers of Mír `Alí
> Khán, and--See the hand of God!--he took the papers and without
> so much as glancing at them, he tore them up and threw them away. I was happy
> to see those papers go, and myself not recognized. There was that thief with
> us, too.
> 
> `Aqá Jamshíd was a pious man, frank and straightforward.
> But he could not control his tongue: he talked too much. I said to him,
> "Áqá Jamshíd, I have something to tell you. Please
> accept it. I beg of you, by the soul of the Báb, don't speak out. Let me
> do the talking."
> 
> "Very well," he said, "since you adjure me in this way, I will not open my
> mouth."
> 
> That fellow, the Khán, said to me, "Where do you come from?"
> 
> I said, "From Istanbul."
> 
> He said, "Why did you go there?"
> 
> I said, "I had heard that there was a lot of money to be made in Istanbul, and
> I went there to get a couple of coins to rub together. But when I got there,
> the son of the sultan of Russia arrived, and they had lit up all the avenues.
> We didn't know the ways of the country, having just arrived. After we had seen
> the sights and were on the
> 
> +P70
> 
> way back to our lodgings, the police arrested us because we were going along
> without a lamp. They put us on a steamer and banished us to Iran.
> 
> Husayn Khán said, "He speaks the truth." He did not care for the
> thief who was with us, but said, "I'll let you go too, for the sake of your
> friends. So go. But you fellows, do not try Istanbul again."
> 
> "Sir," I said, "why would I go there again? What good did I see there, to draw
> me back?"
> 
> He said, "You may now be dismissed."
> 
> I said, "Sir, I will not leave."
> 
> "Why won't you?" he asked.
> 
> "Because I am your guest. And I have nothing."
> 
> He told them, "Give him lunch."
> 
> Well, they gave us something to eat, and they also gave us a donkey for the
> trip. When we started off he said: "Wait. If you take that road, they will
> strip you naked. It is not safe." He then put us in the charge of two persons
> who would take us in safety to the next stopping place, and sent his own
> servant, mounted on horseback, along with us. And he said, "From here to
> Khúy, if you lose so much as a tittle of your belongings, you
> tell them I'll make them pay for it ten times over."
> 
> I asked him: "Sir, pardon this thief as well."
> 
> He replied, "Very well. Let him go too."
> 
> And so it came about that they conducted us to Khúy with all
> honor and respect, and in Khúy we were free. We went to the
> public bath; we ate bread and drank water; we said farewell to our companions.
> I told them: "I will not remain in Iran." My companion [Áqá
> Jamshíd] went to Salmás and later on to the Holy Land,
> where he lived a long time, and died before the ascension of
> Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> +P71
> 
> I went on to Tabriz and remained there one day. From there I went to
> Zanján. When I reached Zanján I heard that eighteen days before,
> they had martyred Siyyid Ashraf and Abá-Basír. I had many
> trials along the way and was in a miserable condition. Hájí
> Áqáy-i Isfáhání was with me, on his way back
> form Baytu'lláh [`Akká?], and showed me great consideration. I
> was traveling on foot, wretchedly enough, and the caravan would not take me in,
> thinking I was a robber.
> 
> In Zanján, through Hájí Imán-i
> Zanjání, I went to the home of Siyyid Ashraf and paid my
> respects to his mother. The mother of Ashraf was weeping her heart out.
> But not for her son: she was weeping for Abá-Basír. He used to
> come out of his house every day and teach the Faith until they killed him. It
> seemed to me that up to now, in all the earth, there had never been a woman so
> excellent as Ashraf's mother.
> 
> The way of Ashraf's martyrdom was this: He was working in his garden,
> when they came and took him away to the Government House, to the prison.
> Ashraf was an honourable man, and of good reputation, and the people
> were against having him put to death. The governor told them to take him before
> the Shaykhu'l-Islam.+F1They did so, and the shaykh
> saw that Ashraf was openly declaring himself to be a follower of the
> Báb. He would have preferred to have him conceal it, so that his life
> could be spared. He summoned Ashraf's mother to the
> 
> +F1 The chief cleric of the religious court appointed to each large city by the
> shah.
> 
> +P72
> 
> prison, and told her to counsel her son. She came to the prison, and spoke with
> him, and told him: "If you are killed in the pathway of
> Bahá'u'lláh, then you are my son. And if not, you are no son of
> mine."
> 
> They led him back to the Shaykhu'l-Islám, and the
> shaykh put his cloak around the young man to hide him and cried,
> "O people! Siyyid Ashraf denies that he is a Bábí. He
> says, `Let me be, and go about your business.'"
> 
> But Ashraf thrust his head out from the folds of the cloak, and he
> shouted, "No! I am a Bahá'í! Do what you wish with me!"
> Meanwhile, they had arrested Abá-Basír as well, and by the
> governor's order they decapitated both of them in the public square.
> 
> I stayed about twelve days in the house of Ashraf's mother. I was
> running a fever. On the last day, at her urging, I enjoyed the hospitality of
> her bathhouse, and at midnight I said good-bye to her and went along with the
> caravan, sick and feverish as I was.
> 
> I reached Sultániyyih, and I went from there to Qazvin. Here I called
> on Samandar, and my plan was to go on to Isfahan and from there to the Holy
> Land. Samandar had a brother named Shaykh Muhammad-`Alí,
> who would later die a tragic death from poison in Istanbul,(17) and he too was
> in Qazvin at this time. I never saw such solicitous manners as he had, in all
> my life. I stayed here several days, and they gave me medicines and I was
> cured.
> 
> Meanwhile, Hájí Abú'l-Hasan Amín arrived as I was
> about to leave. They said, "Wait. Go with Hájí Amín." The
> Hájí was just back from `Akká, and we traveled together to
> Qum, from Qum to Kashan, and from Kashan to Ardistán. Here
> Hájí Amín journeyed on toward Yazd,
> 
> +P73 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P74 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P75
> 
> and I went to meet Mírzá Fath-`Alí of Ardistán, an
> exceptional man, and one addressed by Bahá'u'lláh as Fath-i
> A`zam, Supreme Victory. On the march to Isatanbul, He also referred to him by
> this name, saying, "Fath-i A`zam is here with me on this journey," although he
> was then in Aridstán. Bahá'u'lláh meant, with Him in the
> world of the heart.
> 
> I went to him now and he offered me many courtesies. He took me to his home,
> although this was not his custom, and conversed with me at length. Then
> Hájí Muhammad-Ismá`íl Dhabíh arrived,
> and Fath-i A`zam said, "I shall not keep him at my house. You two, go tonight
> to the home of Mírzá Haydar-`Alí, one of the believers."
> And there I went.
> 
> When Muhammad-Ismá`íl questioned me about his brother,+F1I
> replied, "He is in a ruinous condition," which did not please him at all. The
> next morning, I was to leave for Isfahan. In Qazvin I had become a grandee: I
> rode now. And so I left.
> 
> I went on to Isfahan and found that they had married my wife to another man by
> force, on the grounds of my being a follower of the Báb. And I could
> learn nothing about what had become of my children.
> 
> I asked myself: Where shall I go? Finally, I went to the home of
> `Abdu's-Sálih, one of the friends. He was in the Holy Land. He had a
> mother who, truly, was a second Umm-i Ashraf [Ashraf's mother] of
> Zanján. I went there and my things were brought later. It was early in
> the morning, still dark. The husband of `Abdu's-Sálih's sister
> 
> +F1 Mírzá Ahmad of Kashan, who was at this time a
> Covenant-breaker.
> 
> +P76
> 
> was a man named Muhammad-Kázim, who made clothing. By mistake, I tried
> the house next to theirs, and rapped on the door. When someone came, I said,
> "Tell Muhammad-Kázim to bring me my `abá--I am on my way
> back to the village."
> 
> The person said, "It's that house over there."
> 
> Over at the right house, I found Siyyid Takhtih-Kanahsí fast
> asleep. (Siyyid Mihdí has recently been given this nickname by the
> Master. His name prior to this was Ismu'lláhu'l-Mihdí.+F1) He got
> up and asked how I was. I gave him particulars, but had no news from Edirne.
> 
> The King of Martyrs+F2 found out about me. Two nights later, he invited me to
> his house, and Siyyid Mihdí also. I saw the King of Martyrs as he was
> going to the house of the Imám-Jum`ih. He acted as the imam's agent and
> advisor, and every morning and evening he would go there. He himself was a
> merchant, affluent and highly esteemed, but the business affairs of the imam
> were also in his hands.
> 
> I met him on his way to the Imám-Jum`ih's house. There were ten or
> fifteen people with him. I greeted him, saying, "Salaam," and he returned by
> greeting. He wished to speak to me, but I bade him farewell and went on by.
> 
> +F1 This Siyyid Mihdíy-i Dahijí broke the Covenant after the
> passing of Bahá'u'lláh and became known as
> Takhtih-Kanah-sí [Bedbug] because of his stubborn personality.
> Ismu'lláhu'l-Mihdí [The Name of God, the Guide] is a title which
> was conferred on the siyyid by Bahá'u'lláh. See The Revelation
> of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 2, pp. 272-75.
> +F2 Mírzá
> Muhammad-Hasan of Isfahan. He and his brother, the Beloved of Martyrs,
> Mírzá Muhammad-Husayn of Isfahan, were honored with these titles
> by Bahá'u'lláh after they were killed for the Faith in 1879, at
> the instigation of the Imám-Jum`ih of Isfahan. See Memorials
> of the Faithful, pp. 173-74, 181-82; God Passes By, pp. 200-1;
> The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, pp. 274-77.
> 
> +P77
> 
> The people saw that he knew me, and so they showed me great respect.
> 
> I went to the house of the King of Martyrs. Several of the friends were there.
> They greeted me with courtesies and I sat down. It was not long before the King
> of Martyrs returned, and his brother, the Beloved of Martyrs, was with him, for
> they lived in the same house. I stayed there that night and they again received
> me in the morning, and I stayed through the day as well. Then I went to the
> home of `Abdu's-Sálih and there learned that he had left for
> `Akká. I wished to be off at once, but they said, "Wait a little."
> 
> Two days later, the King of Martyrs told me, "You must go to Ardistán,"
> and I complied. His reason for sending me there was this: in Ardistán
> some money would be given to me.
> 
> So I went there, stopped over three or four days, delivered a letter to
> Fath-`Alí, and transacted business for the King of Martyrs. As I
> understand it, they had arranged for the money involved to be given to me.
> 
> Well, I returned to Isfahan, and went to the house of `Abdu's-Sálih.
> Again, the King of Martyrs asked for me, and he arranged for my journey, and
> bought some goods for me.
> 
> +P78 FROM ISFAHAN TO `AKKÁ
> 
> These goods were small items which I could trade with everywhere. With these,
> and the money he gave me (some three or four tumáns), I left. A group
> came along to escort me out of the city and get me past the gate. In all I had
> spent fifteen days in Isfahan. My wife was very anxious to see me, but I was
> afraid to see her, lest some evil might come of our meeting, and her husband
> would find out. I went to Kashan, then to Qum.
> 
> In Kashan, I saw the father of Ali-Kuli Khan who is now in America.+F1(They
> are kinfolk of the late Amínu'd-Dawlih.(18)) He was an excellent man. I
> stayed a few nights in Kashan, went to Qum, and stayed with the Isfahanis who
> had traveled with me from Isfahan to Kashan. They were first-rate scoundrels,
> but I became friendly with them.
> 
> I was travelling on foot, but in Qum I saw a fellow whose pack animals were
> carrying no loads, and I rented his animals and traveled with him. I did not
> get to Qazvin. This driver came from near Sultáníyyih. When I
> reached the outskirts, people said, "They are bringing Bábís from
> Baghdad and conducting them to Tihrán." These Bábís proved
> to be Mullá Hasan and Qánitih, with her son by
> 
> +F1 Ali-Kuli Khan was sent to the United States by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1901,
> as interpreter for the Bahá'í philosopher, Mírzá
> Abu'l-Fadl.
> 
> +P79
> 
> Azal, Núru'lláh. (Qánitih was Azal's wife...+F1) One of
> the believers from Khurasan, `Askar Sáhib, was with them as well.
> 
> I stayed at the house of the muleteer, and I did not see Qánitih. I
> went on to Hamadán and I suffered a lot along the way. In Hamadan, I
> stopped at a caravanserai and went about looking for a muleteer. I found one,
> rented a pack animal, and left for Sávij-Buláq. In all, I did not
> stay in Hamadan longer than four hours. In Sávij-Buláq there was
> a believer, but I did not get to see him. They had a merchants' caravanserai,
> and I went there to do a little business.
> 
> A servant came up and wanted to buy some of my wares; then he asked me to go
> along with him to the customs officer. There were some Isfahanis here who knew
> me, and they had reported to the customs officer that I had dutiable goods. I
> went to the officer and he asked me, "Where do you come from?"
> 
> I said, "Isfahan."
> 
> "Where are you headed for?"
> 
> "I'm going to Rawándúz, Turkish territory," I said.
> 
> He asked if I had anything to declare.
> 
> I said, "No, but I am ready to do whatever you wish." So I played along with
> him. He set out a chair for me and I sat down. After expressions of courtesy,
> he told his servant to bring my wares, and he returned them to me. I refused
> them, but he insisted I take them back.
> 
> +F1 Qánitih (also know as Maryam) was one of the wives Azal left in Iran
> after his flight to Baghdad.
> 
> +P80
> 
> After more courtesies, he said to me, "I am a customs officer, but I can turn
> my hand to anything. Tell me what you have in mind."
> 
> I said, "Truly, I have nothing in mind." I went to where my goods were spread
> out, and sat. The customs officer stood up and came over. He saw that I had
> nothing special. He sat down, talked to me, and left.
> 
> When the head of the caravanserai saw that the customs officer had treated me
> with respect, he did the same. Every day while I was in
> Sávij-Buláq, the customs officer would come to see me. Finally,
> one day I told him, "I want to leave for Rawándúz."
> 
> "Don't go," he said. "The road is not secure. They will strip you bare. I will
> send you there in such a way that you will be safe."
> 
> At this time, two or three mullás came up to buy some small items like
> scissors and pen cases. I treated them well, we got acquainted, and once in a
> while they would stop by. Then the muleteer came up and the customs man called
> him over and said, "When do you leave?"
> 
> "In two or three days," he answered.
> 
> "Very well," said the customs officer, "when you leave, you must take this man
> with you. I entrust him to you." The head of the caravanserai also recommended
> me to him.
> 
> I went and bought a good pack animal for eight tumáns, got my affairs
> in order, and the muleteer wanted to take off. The customs officer put my hand
> in the muleteer's hand and took an oath: "If one hair of his head is missing,
> never show your face in this province again." And, as mentioned, the
> caravanserai man also commended me to the muleteer's care. I procured a
> passport, too. I
> 
> +P81 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P82
> 
> bought a mat--more like a good carpet--and left with the muleteer.
> 
> There were several fellow travelers along with me. When we were setting out,
> the mullás who were my friends came and told me, "We are making the
> journey with you, but there is a problem. We have two or three rolls of cotton
> canvas and we would like to load them on your pack animal."
> 
> I said, "Fine. Bring them over." They were traveling on foot. They were all
> disciples of Shaykh `Ubaydu'lláh, who later rebelled
> against Násiri'd-Dín Sháh, and they were treated
> with great respect along the way.
> 
> Well, we got to Rawándúz and I gave the preachers their rolls of
> canvas, and they went their way. Then an individual came to me with a message:
> Shaykh `Ubaydu'lláh was asking for me. So I called on him
> and found that one of the mullás had sung my praises, with the result
> that the shaykh offered me many courtesies. He sent and had my
> things and my pack animal brought, and told me that I must be his guest.
> 
> I said, "Your honor, it wouldn't work out. I have this mule--I must stay
> somewhere by myself."
> 
> "Very good," he told me. He sent and found me a house and I stayed there. He
> sent for me several times and treated me with great courtesy.
> Shaykh `Ubaydu'lláh was a man so honored among the Kurds
> that they swore by the hem of his robe, and by his shoes.
> 
> After a while I said to him, "My honorable shaykh, I must go on
> to Mosul."
> 
> He said, "Bide your time. I have a muleteer who is now on the road between
> here and Mosul. He will be coming along, and you can travel to Mosul with
> him--because the
> 
> +P83
> 
> road is not safe." I waited several days and the muleteer arrived. The
> shaykh sent for me and entrusted me to the driver's care, telling
> him, "I want you to get this man to Mosul. And you will have to bring me back a
> letter from him, approving of what you did." Repeatedly, he commended me to the
> muleteer's care.
> 
> I procured a little tobacco and some raisins to give to the muleteer. Wherever
> we went, the drivers would take me into the merchandise shelter and would get
> me whatever I wanted; and he showed me great respect.
> 
> Well, we reached Mosul, and before we arrived there, when we were on the bank
> of a river, they brought word from the city that they were commandeering
> everybody's animals for the army. The muleteers came to me for my letter of
> commendation. I said, "Let whoever can write, write the letter." But none of
> them could read or write, either. I went down to the river, took a boat and
> crossed over to Mosul, and the muleteers went back home.
> 
> I betook myself to the house of Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín, who lived in that
> city. I stayed a few days and questioned him about events in `Akká. He
> told me, "It is forbidden to travel back and forth to `Akká."
> 
> I said, "I am going anyhow, come what may."
> 
> I also learned of a certain Muhammad from Baghdad, one of the friends, who had
> been in Mosul, arriving before me, and had gone on ahead toward `Akká.
> They told me to hurry, and I would catch up with him. Since he was an Arab,
> they would not make trouble for him when he entered `Akká.
> 
> I left for Kirkúk, went from there to Diyarbakir, and from there to
> Aleppo, where I took a house. Here there was a believer, an old man who
> polished gems, and I
> 
> +P84 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P85
> 
> visited him. I also found Muhammad [the Arab] in Aleppo. His father was a man
> of substance, but had disinherited him on account of his religion, so that he
> traveled on foot.
> 
> When I told the Aleppo believer that I wished to sell my pack animal, he
> offered to sell it for me. I agreed. He sold it for exactly the same eight
> tumáns I had paid for it, although it was worth more.
> 
> From there, I rented a pack animal as far as the Mediterranean Sea, where I
> took a ship. By this time I had sold all my goods. In Beirut I stopped at a
> caravanserai that was known as "The Judge's Court."
> 
> That Muhammad was so quick tempered that there is no describing it. I had
> known a few quick-tempered people in my time--such as Nabíl-i
> Zarandí and Muhammad Mustafá of Baghdad, who were both
> thunderbolts-- and Muhammad was the same. In Beirut, I went out and bought
> something to eat, and brought it back. Muhammad the Hot-Tempered took one look
> at the food and started calling me names, crying, "You are nothing but a dog!"
> 
> I listened to him, and then I said, "Áqá Muhammad, you come here
> now and you eat this food. A person can be angry anytime. No hurry about that."
> 
> When I said, "You come here now and you eat," he burst out laughing. He came
> over and kissed me and said, "Very well, now tell me: what's up?"
> 
> I saw that he had imagined I had something against him, or that I wanted him
> to pay for my food. He apologized.
> 
> I had with me two or three parcels that I was to deliver
> 
> +P86
> 
> to the Blessed Beauty; while in Beirut I got the idea of buying something or
> other to trade with as an excuse for going to `Akká. So I bought a case
> full of things, various items, and got a boat ticket. When they held me up at
> the customs, I told Muhammad, "Don't wait. Take the steamer." I finally got
> myself through customs and just at that moment a freighter was about to leave
> for `Akká.
> 
> +P87 MY ARRIVAL AT `AKKÁ
> 
> I left on the freighter, so my steamer ticket was wasted. Meanwhile, the
> steamer had accidentally carried Muhammad off to Jaffa. That night we were
> still out to sea when a steamer arrived at `Akká from another direction,
> and I landed by means of a rowboat from that steamer. From the beginning of my
> exile until my arrival at `Akká, one year had gone by. [It was 1869.]
> 
> I reached `Akká by night, and went to the hospice, where I found
> Hájí `Abbás. He was an Arab from Baghdad, and became a
> Covenant-breaker in the end. Hájí `Abbás had been in
> Beirut, heading for `Akká, and I had said to him, "Don't tell anyone in
> `Akká that Ustád Muhammad-`Alí is coming."
> 
> I had with me about sixty letters from believers in Iran which they had,
> despite my protests, insisted on giving me to deliver. I had fastened them to
> my leg, because the authorities would search you.
> 
> Contrary to my request, Hájí `Abbás told the Master that
> I was coming, and the Master announced to the friends: "Ustád
> Muhammad-`Alí will arrive today." It so happened that I had on the very
> same clothes that I had worn in the old days at Edirne. I had taken my case out
> of the boat, and disembarked at the city gate, when I saw that a number of the
> friends had gathered there. I joined them, and my clothes looked like theirs,
> so that the police
> 
> +P88 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P89
> 
> did not take me for a new arrival--otherwise, they would not have let me in.
> 
> A guard came up and said to the believers, "Get back into the city."
> 
> I said, "What about my things?"
> 
> "Take them and get back in," he said.
> 
> I went straight to the prison of the Blessed Beauty. He sent for me and I left
> my things in the barracks, climbed to the upper story, entered His presence,
> and fell at His feet. (This happened in the room that they called the room of
> Mírzá Áqá Ján.)
> 
> Then He addressed me, saying: "Ustád Muhammad-`Alí, you have not
> missed anything--you were spared having to see them bring us to `Akká.
> Badí`+F1has been here and gone. We gave permission, and they brought
> him here. I saw him, and I put him in the room of Mírzá
> Áqá Ján. We were together, he and I. We turned him into an
> orb of flame, and let him go.
> 
> "We told him not to strike up a friendship with anyone, not to go to anyone's
> house, not to get to know anyone at all: only to deliver the Tablet to the
> shah.
> 
> "He went to the shah and sat on a rock in the hunting field and held the
> letter up high. He refused to give the letter up. He told them, `I must put it
> in the shah's hand myself.' The shah summoned him; he went; he delivered the
> letter. The shah saw it was a letter of the Bábís and told them
> to arrest him. The shah was in a fury. And no matter what they asked
> Badí`, he only declared his Faith
> 
> +F1 Áqá Buzurg of Khurasan, the young believer who delivered
> Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to the shah of Iran and was martyred. See
> God Passes By, p. 199; Bahá'u'lláh: The King of
> Glory, pp. 293-310.
> 
> +P90
> 
> and said not a word about the friends. Finally, they killed him."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh added: "Truly this thing is to me like wine to the
> drinker." (After the martyrdom of Hájí Muhammad-Ridá+F1
> He also said--not once, but several times, "He shed his blood in the way that
> we desired." Again, He would say: "The blood of Badí`, the blood of
> Hájí Muhammad-Ridá, was shed in accord with our good
> pleasure.") After telling me the story of Badí` in great detail, He then
> dismissed me. I went below and stayed in the barracks, and I wrapped up my
> money and gave it to Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí to present to
> Bahá'u'lláh. (I had also bought merchandise in Beirut in the
> amount of eight liras.)
> 
> Mírzá Mihdí of Kashan had a sister whom he wished to
> marry to Bahá'u'lláh, saying that she could live in the
> andarún and serve. The sister was in Baghdad when
> Bahá'u'lláh left that city, and He placed the girl in the
> household of her brother, and did not take her as His wife. Mírzá
> Mihdí then wrote that he wished to come to `Akká. He begged and
> begged to come, and finally he and his sister arrived in area....
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh then summoned me and said, "Ustád
> Muhammad-`Alí, you must go to the pasha, the governor of `Akká,
> and tell him exactly what I am about to say."
> 
> Accordingly, I went to the pasha and told him, "I have come on ahead of a
> member of Bahá'u'lláh's Household, and for some days I have been
> a guest in the barracks. I
> 
> +F1 A prominent believer who was martyred in the bazaar of
> `Ishqábád, Turkestan (Russian territory), by Muslim
> fanatics in 1889. See God Passes By, pp. 202-3; The
> Bábí and Bahá'í Religions, pp. 296-99.
> 
> +P91 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P92
> 
> am here without funds. My hope is that you will grant me permission to engage
> in trade."
> 
> The pasha replied, "That is good. Go and do business." I was overjoyed and
> reported back to Bahá'u'lláh that the pasha had granted me
> permission.
> 
> "Go rent a shop," Bahá'u'lláh then told me. "The reason for this
> is not that you should make money; the reason is that here, for the sake of
> God, a shop should be opened in His name." Finding a shop in `Akká was
> never easy. However, it happened that just at that moment there was one to be
> had. I rented it, took my merchandise there, and set up business.
> Bahá'u'lláh told me to sell small, necessary items, for good
> merchandise of that kind was not to be found in that prison city.
> 
> Since good water was not available either, He also directed that on whatever
> day there were jars to be had, I should take them and bring in water from
> outside the city. In Edirne this matter of bringing water had also been
> entrusted to me. Every day thereafter, I would fetch water for the Household.
> Today, that water comes flowing into the city of `Akká.+F1
> 
> +F1 For when the governor asked to do Him a service, Bahá'u'lláh
> suggested that he restore a long disused aqueduct. See God Passes By, p.
> 192.
> 
> +P93
> 
> REMEMBERING EDIRNE
> 
> Going back to the time in Edirne: After those words Azal had spoken to me, he
> was to some degree unmasked and was cut off. Bahá'u'lláh had all
> the household goods, including candles, copper utensils, and rugs, gathered
> together and He sent Azal his share. Darvísh Báqir was, in
> Edirne, dismissed, and Darvísh Sidq-`Alí was directed to
> go to Azal's house every day and fetch whatever he asked. However, as soon as
> Azal was separated from the rest of us, and his "brotherhood" was ended,
> Darvísh refused to go to his house. "After a thing like that," he
> said, "I cannot go there anymore."
> 
> A little time passed, and then Tablets were revealed by
> Bahá'u'lláh for all His companions. Among them was one for
> Mír Muhammad of Kázirún, who had come to Edirne from
> Samsun. In this Tablet Bahá'u'lláh dismissed Siyyid Muhammad. He
> gave the siyyid money for his expenses, and he went his way.
> 
> Mír Muhammad, when he read what was revealed in this Tablet, said: "He
> [Bahá'u'lláh] has shed his poison upon me." (There was a madness
> in Mír Muhammad.) This he said, and he went to Azal at the time of the
> separation and told him, "Our master, Bahá'u'lláh, now claims to
> be the embodiment of `Mine is My dominion,' and announces that all must be
> subject to his command. Here is his tablet revealed for me. What have you to
> say?"
> 
> Azal replied, "His Holiness the Exalted One, the Báb, appointed me as
> His successor. The successor is myself."
> 
> +P94
> 
> "Don't confuse us," Mír Muhammad said. "You speak thus--he makes a
> claim that is absolute. Go and sit down; settle the question between you."
> 
> "I am willing," Azal said. "I can vindicate my claim in any way he chooses."
> 
> Mír Muhammad went to the house of Bahá'u'lláh and told
> Mírzá Áqá Ján, who went to
> Bahá'u'lláh and brought back this word: "I am willing. Let him
> designate a place and I will be present there. Let him appoint whomever he
> wishes for the arbiter, so that all will be made clear."
> 
> The friends had, at this time, rented the property of a grocer, and it was in
> his house that Bahá'u'lláh was staying. This was a long way away
> from the house of Azal. Mír Muhammad went back and reported to Azal:
> "You are to designate a meeting place. He will come to that place, and there
> you will speak together."
> 
> Azal thought for a while and said, "The Mosque of Sultán Salím
> would be a good place. I will go there and we will say what we have to say."
> Mír Muhammad returned with the message.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh said, "Well and good. At what time will he come?"
> 
> Mír Muhammad went back again, asked Azal when he wished to be present,
> and was told: "Tomorrow, at high noon."
> 
> And Mír Muhammad brought back the word: "Tomorrow, at high noon."
> 
> Before noon the next day, Bahá'u'lláh stepped out of the
> andarún, and the revelation was upon Him. "No one shall accompany me."
> He said, and none did, except for Mír Muhammad. It was a long way to the
> mosque of
> 
> +P95
> 
> Sultán Salím. Bahá'u'lláh went to that mosque, and
> there was no Azal to be seen. (Taking precautions, Azal was now being referred
> to by the name of Mírzá `Alí.) Bahá'u'lláh
> waited there about one hour. No Azal. Mír Muhammad went and told him,
> "Look here, fellow, you come!
> 
> And Azal said, "Go on back. I will be there." Back and forth went Mír
> Muhammad, two or three times. Still no Azal. And his falsity was exposed for
> all to see.
> 
> After two hours or more, Bahá'u'lláh returned by way of the
> bazaar, revealing verses as He went. When He reached home His comment was: "The
> fellow said he would appear. But there was no sign of him."
> 
> Mír Muhammad let it be known among the friends: "That man is nothing
> but a liar. He never showed his face." Permitted to leave, Mír Muhammad
> then departed for Istanbul.(19)
> 
> About two months after the event of the mosque, Azal's wife, who was from
> Shiraz and was the mother of Ahmad, went to the government authorities in
> Istanbul and complained, telling them: "Bahá'u'lláh abandoned us
> some time ago. He gives us no money for our expenses-- nothing. We have no food
> to eat. We are penniless."
> 
> "Go back," they told her. "We will see to it." After this an inspector came
> from the seat of government, said his say, and investigated. (Following the
> separation, Bahá'u'lláh would divide the funds that were allotted
> by the government, giving an adequate sum to Mírzá
> Músá and Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí, giving a share
> to the friends. For example, He paid me five majídís every month.
> And
> 
> +P96
> 
> after all the others were provided for, He and Azal would be left. He would
> keep a small amount for Himself, which would be in the hands of
> Mírzá Áqá Ján, and the remainder --a share
> larger than anyone's--He would give to Azal.) The inspector examined the books
> and saw that the complaint was demonstrably a calumny and nothing more.(20)
> 
> After the separation Azal engaged a servant, and no one else was with him,
> except for Siyyid Muhammad, who, after sulking at the Mawlavís', had
> come over to Azal (and all those villainous doings were his doings). Not a soul
> would go to see him anymore--except a certain Hájí
> Ibráhím of Kashan, worked here as a groom, and who had
> accompanied us from Baghdad without permission. This Hájí
> Ibráhím lived in the house of the believers.
> 
> Our expenses in that house were separate--that is, we received our wages but
> made our own arrangements among ourselves. And this Ibráhím would
> come and go secretly to Azal and Siyyid Muhammad in such a way that we did not
> find out about it. These two had made an arrangement with Ibráhím
> to this effect: "We will send you to Iran," Siyyid Muhammad told him. "You will
> take them the letters written by His Holiness Azal, and I will append a
> statement as to all that has happened. Carry these to each and every province
> of Iran." And the stupid fellow was talked into going.
> 
> In the days when Sidq-`Alí Darvísh would come and go to
> Azal and serve as his attendant, Azal had ordered a fur cloak from Iran and
> they had sent it to him. It was a handsome garment, and they brought it first
> to Bahá'u'lláh. "This is a good one," He said, and told
> Sidq-`Alí,
> 
> +P97
> 
> "Give it to Azal." And Darvísh did so. Meanwhile, the two had
> provided this Hájí Ibrahim with some small amount of money and
> readied their plans: prepared the letters, given him the necessary
> instructions, and were on the point of sending him to Iran.
> 
> After His departure from the House of God's Command, the Blessed Beauty had
> given these fellows up, and left them to themselves. Following the separation,
> He had even shut his doors and clearly stated that none was to call on Him--and
> no one was admitted. We were all abandoned, put out to pasture.
> 
> Before leaving the House of God's Command, Bahá'u'lláh, had
> permitted His servant Najaf-`Alí to go, and he went to Iran. So there
> now remained as attendants in the Blessed Beauty's house only
> Muhammad-Ibráhím of Zanján and Mírzá
> Áqá Ján--no one else.
> 
> Once Siyyid Muhammad and Azal resumed speaking to each other, Siyyid Muhammad
> would, day after day, keep on with his diabolical suggestions, and would spend
> time in the shops of the Persians. The weeks passed, and
> Bahá'u'lláh directed that His doors be opened again, saying that
> whoever wished could come to Him and whoever did not could stay away.
> 
> Outside the city of Edirne there is a great grove of trees, and here was once
> raised the palace of former kings: a vast and spacious area. I used to go there
> every day, close by the cemetery, and enjoy the beauty of it. It was a fine
> place to be, and a river ran through it. I would go and walk there, and I would
> not meet any of the friends.
> 
> One day, deeply despondent, I went to the grove and
> 
> +P98 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P99
> 
> stood at the foot of a tree--a plane tree. Suddenly, I saw the Master, all
> alone on the other bank of the river, and crossing over to my side. The moment
> I caught sight of him I hid myself in a fold of the tree trunk, thinking that
> he might not wish to speak with me, now that I was not to be received at the
> House. (With Mírzá Áqá Ján as well, whenever
> he saw us in the bazaar, he would turn his face away.)
> 
> After a little time, the Master came up to my hiding place in the tree trunk.
> He said, "Ustád?"
> 
> I said, "Yes."
> 
> He said, "Come out. Let me see you."
> 
> I came out and began to shed tears. He consoled me, spoke to me in loving
> terms. I complained about being excluded.
> 
> "No," he told me. "Not so. You were reared in the sheltering shade of
> Bahá'u'lláh. Do not grieve." The frogs in the water were calling
> out. "Go," He said, "and above all things be true, be loyal. What people say is
> only like these sounds in the water."
> 
> He walked about a little, and then he left, and I went home by another way. To
> a degree I was comforted.
> 
> For about two months the Blessed Beauty shut His doors, and His purpose was
> that all those who were loyal should stand by Him, and all who wished to leave
> Him should go their way. Not one wavered, except only Hájí
> Ibráhím--upon him be whatever came upon him.
> 
> Then the doors of the House were flung open. The Blessed Beauty sent for us to
> come there in the afternoon. And that afternoon we gathered in a body at the
> House.
> 
> +P100
> 
> He was there, in the bírúní, and its door was open, and He
> Himself was seated by the samovar and poured out the tea. Such a thing never
> happened before or since, that He Himself would pour the tea. As for us, as
> soon as we laid eyes on that blessed Form, we cried.
> 
> He comforted us, saying, "Why do you weep? Here I am, beside you. Why these
> tears?" He told us to be seated. We sat. The samovar was there on the floor.
> With His own hands He made the tea, and one after the other, served by
> Mírzá Áqá Ján, we drank. Later,
> Bahá'u'lláh rose and left for the andarún. And afterward
> He Himself rented a house for us, near to His own, and we believers settled
> there, and all was bliss.
> 
> This house had an upstairs and a downstairs to it, and a kitchen as well--and
> large grounds. Little by little we planted things, and there was a well so that
> we could draw up water for our plants. The water was pure and sweet to the
> taste. The day after we settled in the house, we started our garden. We made
> some fine flower beds; they were something to see. Every day we drew up water
> for the garden, and we took great care of it.
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá would associate continually with the local people. At one
> time He would bring the deputy governor here, or again the pasha of the city.
> We had a mat that was made of straw, and we would lay this on the ground and
> the Master would come and drink his tea, visit with us, and go.
> 
> There was a man named Husayn, whom Nabíl-i Zarandí had brought
> with him, and in this house Husayn fell ill of anthrax. His entire body was
> ulcerated, and he died. In the house at this time there was only myself and
> Darvísh.
> 
> +P101
> 
> The day that Husayn worsened he said, "Ustád Muhammad-`Alí, I
> want to see our Masters (He meant `Abdu'l-Bahá, Mírzá
> Muhammad-`Alí, the Purest Branch, Mírzá
> Badí'u'lláh, and Mírzá
> Diyá'u'lláh--born in Edirne.+F1)-- to see them, and then I will
> die."
> 
> "Mother," we told him--joking with him, we used to call him mother--"you old
> scoundrel, you are lying. You won't die at all." But he swore that if he could
> only set eyes on them, he would die. He was a good man, and nothing wrong was
> ever known of him.
> 
> I went to the House and reported to the Master: "Husayn is in poor condition.
> He is very ill, and this is what he says...." So they all went over to his
> bedside and visited with him.
> 
> After they had taken their leave, I said to him, "Well, mother, you gave us
> your word that you would die. Now, why don't you?"
> 
> He said, "There is just one more favor I want to ask of you. And then come,
> say your say, I will listen."
> 
> "Tell me," I said.
> 
> He said, "Go to Áqá Muhammad-Báqir at his coffee-house
> and bring me some tobacco, about one-sixth of a pound, the aromatic kind. I
> want to smoke my water pipe." I went, procured the tobacco, and brought it
> back. (Sometimes, in Edirne, they would smoke the water pipe, and the Master
> too would briefly take it in his hand. Later, in `Akká, its use was
> discontinued.) I prepared his pipe, and he smoked it.
> 
> Then he announced: "I am not going to die. I have taken a new lease on life."
> 
> +F1 The sons of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> +P102
> 
> Well, we kept telling him, "You must die. You promised," and he kept saying
> that he would not. But, by now his entire body was nothing but perforations,
> and finally, after being sick thirty or forty days, he passed away.
> 
> "Darvísh," I said, "we can hardly take him to the body-washer's
> in this condition. Go and draw up water, and I will clean him up a little; and
> then we will hand him over." And so we did. The body-washer bathed him some
> too, and buried him.
> 
> At this time, after the door of the Blessed Beauty was opened wide,
> Hájí Ibráhím would come to the house of
> Bahá'u'lláh. One day he appeared in the
> bírúní and he was carrying a satchel and dressed for
> traveling. He said that he had come to take his leave. He then told
> Mírzá Áqá Ján that for some time he had been
> going to Azal and Siyyid Muhammad to find out what they were saying, and that
> the believers were not aware of it. "Now they have appointed me," he went on,
> "to go to Iran and spread their teachings, and they have given me documents and
> letters to deliver--but I have no wish to go. My only aim was to find out what
> they are up to."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh directed Mírzá Áqá
> Ján, "Go to Hájí Ibráhím and say: `Whatever
> they gave you, without opening it, take it and deliver it in Iran according to
> the terms of your mission.'" So they told him he must obey.
> 
> But he said, "I will go nowhere." And this poor fool, whose being one of us
> and being a Bahá'í could not be determined, and who was one of
> those odd Káshís, disappeared for a time. Siyyid Muhammad
> and Azal thought he had gone on to his mission.
> 
> +P103
> 
> Little by little, the companions opened up Azal's writings (but not at
> Bahá'u'lláh's bidding) and learned that all the evil things done
> by Azal himself, he had attributed to Bahá'u'lláh. "They plan to
> kill me," he had written. "I am in hiding. Only Siyyid Muhammad comes by
> sometimes to ask about me. They did not even give me that fur cloak you sent
> me."
> 
> Darvísh, who had delivered the cloak himself, went around
> saying, "Woe is me! And I personally carried that fur cloak to him!"
> 
> In Edirne, after some time had passed the Blessed Beauty left this house, the
> house of Ridá Bey, and moved to the grocer's house. It had no reception
> area, no bírúní, but the domestic apartments were
> excellent. The house was, indeed, perfect except for lacking a
> bírúní, and the Master had one built.
> 
> As before, I was there in the Household, and I served in the room where the
> beverages were prepared. Wherever the Master would go at night, I would
> accompany him.
> 
> Hájí Ibráhím was there, too. He was directed to go
> to Iran [as bidden by Azal] and was given money for the journey, and he left,
> but stayed on in the area around Edirne, until he finally came to `Akká.
> He lived in the house where Mishkín-Qalam and Sayyáh and
> their companions stayed. Afterward, as has been related, they insisted on
> leaving, and Bahá'u'lláh finally said, "Very well. You may go."
> They left and were arrested [in Istanbul].
> 
> It was also from this very house that we left with the horses and suffered all
> those misfortunes. And it was to this very house that I carried in the water
> every day, from outside.
> 
> +P104
> 
> One day when I was bringing water into the reception area, someone told me:
> "Áqá Jamál of Burújird+F1is here." I went into the
> room and saw Jamál sitting in a corner, all twisted into his
> `abá, wearing a gigantic turban, and with one hand poked out to indicate
> that, should someone wish to kiss it, this could be accomplished. He had not
> yet been received by Bahá'u'lláh. He was certainly one rascally
> preacher.
> 
> I went and opened the door--I thought I was very smart in those days--and I
> entered and said, "Alláh-u Abhá!" Then I took a seat greatly
> above his, completely disregarding him. I stretched out. Then I stood up, then
> sat down again: all this to take him down a peg or two, because he was sitting
> there being so important in the reception room of Bahá'u'lláh.
> Assuming superiority, I paid him great inattention. I sat down again, glanced
> over his way, and then I said, "And you are you?" He nodded his head. I
> rose and went about my business.
> 
> When it was afternoon, and he was due to enter the presence of
> Bahá'u'lláh, they came and said, "Let Áqá
> Jamál come in."
> 
> I went and told him, "Áqá Jamál,
> bismi'lláh. Enter in the name of God."
> 
> He rose and came, with me escorting him, his eyes glued
> 
> +F1 This man was an important Bahá'í teacher during
> Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime. But, afterward, he rebelled against
> `Abdu'l-Bahá's authority and became one of the most implacable of
> Covenant-breakers. See God Passes By, pp. 247-8; Stories from
> The Delight of Hearts, pp.128-29, 135-43 passim; The Revelation of
> Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 2, p. 119-19, 264-67.
> 
> +P105
> 
> to the innermost corners of the andarún. He climbed up the stairs, and I
> went along with him. I stood by the entrance, and the fellow went in, making
> himself quiver all over a little--for show--and fell to the floor.
> 
> The Blessed Beauty was seated. The Purest Branch came forward to lift up the
> visitor, but Bahá'u'lláh said, "Let him be. He will arise by
> himself." Little by little, he rose, took a seat, and rose again.
> Bahá'u'lláh did not address him, beyond giving him leave to go.
> 
> Áqá Jamál came downstairs, remained several days, and
> then was excused. He was a man corrupt from the beginning, and his single aim
> was to rule over others. He went away to Iran, where he proclaimed, not the
> Faith, but himself.
> 
> Well, afterwards we took those horses to Istanbul, and then came our terrible
> ordeal. Meanwhile, the Blessed Beauty had written the government authorities in
> Istanbul that He had debts, money owing the butcher and the baker, that He
> could not leave until all these were paid-- and for them to send Him money for
> the horses so that He could settle the debts and go.
> 
> At the time when we were in prison with Mishkín-Qalam, they
> would secretly pass letters to us. One letter arrived from Mírzá
> Áqá Ján, most of the wording being
> Bahá'u'lláh's. It contained a personal, loving message to each
> one of us. The message He sent me was this: "Every day since you left, my head
> has been in a different pair of hands."
> 
> It brought me joy. TAMÁM
> 
> +P106 (Map on this page]
> 
> +P107 (Map on this page]
> 
> +P108 (This page is blank)
> 
> +P109
> 
> SELECTED LOVE POEMS
> 
> of Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání
> 
> Translated by Marzeih Gail
> 
> Persian consultant: Yousef Mostaghim
> 
> +P110 (This page is blank)
> 
> +P111
> 
> And if unto Thy robe I cannot cling,
> 
> Then I must sate myself with tears and sighs.
> 
> Cut off by fowler's net on every side,
> 
> Or in Thine ambience I'd spread my wings.
> 
> I weep alone here in my prison cage,
> 
> O nightingale that with the rose dost dwell!
> 
> O caravan that to my Love intend,
> 
> My ears are longing for the starting-bell.
> 
> In blood unwritten lies, from start to end,
> 
> This loneliness of mine on my heart's page.
> 
> If only this, my final breath,
> 
> The mournful tale had penned.
> 
> My love is like that fabled bird
> 
> That doth a crown presage.
> 
> And for the rest, or so I gauge,
> 
> This whole round world
> 
> Is but a midge,
> 
> Or say, a bagatelle.
> 
> Each man has someone for his haven--I
> 
> Have but Bahá.
> 
> And truth to tell,
> 
> To me, none but Bahá
> 
> In either world doth dwell.
> 
> +P112
> 
> I bound my restless heart to His black and tangled hair,
> 
> And thus I darkened
> 
> All my days to come.
> 
> If only once, by night, I held his locks in hand,
> 
> Then I'd recount my countless sorrows
> 
> One by one.
> 
> Thine eyes did slay me suddenly, their lashes are
> 
> like darts.
> 
> Thou seized my lands, O King,
> 
> With Turkish guns.
> 
> And wilt Thou never pass among Thy slain,
> 
> To see with Thine own eyes
> 
> That red-stained ground?
> 
> To say Thou art the sun would bring me shame,
> 
> For my Beloved's
> 
> Far above the sun.
> 
> O friends, that hour the roses turned to thorns,
> 
> When midst the flowers I saw
> 
> That rosy-petaled Gem.
> 
> +P113
> 
> So far has love burnt up my helpless self,
> 
> No ash is left
> 
> For wind to blow--
> 
> Not one.
> 
> If only out of pity, show Thy face!
> 
> What harm, Bahá, to waft on us
> 
> That musk, thy fragrant breath?
> 
> +P114
> 
> O tangled head that gives no heed to my disheveled
> 
> state,
> 
> That of my secret suffering knows not!
> 
> Designed for my derangement, Thy locks intoxicate:
> 
> The fame of sweet insanity is all my lot.
> 
> Those watchers from behind the veil of life
> 
> Are spirit witnesses to this my state.
> 
> These are not brows you see above my eyes--
> 
> Of my indenture they're the written lines.
> 
> (Look Thou, O new-sprung Rose of blossomed hope,
> 
> The nightingale's gone mad with this song of mine!)
> 
> I know not how to offer Thee my life,
> 
> That none should say I held it dear, who learned
> 
> my fate.
> 
> But long before life's structures were built up
> 
> Love rose on every hand my ruin to create.
> 
> +P115
> 
> O Love, without Thee never can I rest
> 
> Nor ever solve
> 
> My mind's predicament,
> 
> Nor find a moment's peace within my breast.
> 
> Thou stealest from the sugar all its sweet,
> 
> And from the rose its red,
> 
> With every smile of Thine,
> 
> And every blandishment.
> 
> And who to others turn away instead,
> 
> They all would come to Thee as pilgrims poor,
> 
> If of Thy love they caught
> 
> The faintest hint.
> 
> Surpassing musk of Tartary,
> 
> The morning wind blows through Thy hair.
> 
> Like ambergris the very air,
> 
> Like Jesus' breath and scent.
> 
> Love is the bird of prey,
> 
> And I a poor hen-sparrow.
> 
> See what hath painted those rapacious claws,
> 
> Of my blood redolent!
> 
> Love all my life doth harrow.
> 
> What shall I say?
> 
> How win the fray?
> 
> What beggar at this threshold would consent
> 
> To leave Him so he could
> 
> O'er all the earth hold sway?
> 
> +P116
> 
> No lover can complain
> 
> If he love true
> 
> Of anything his best-beloved may do.
> 
> Even the loved one's cruelty
> 
> Brings healing to the heart.
> 
> So if my cries have set a soul on fire,
> 
> It is no wonder,
> 
> For lover's tears, like flooding rain,
> 
> Can even split the cliffs asunder.
> 
> The secret of love's code is never found
> 
> By those who but to reasoning are prone.
> 
> What rose could spring from out that brackish ground,
> 
> Or what anemone from stone?
> 
> O brighter than the bright sun art Thou!
> 
> It is Thy light that veils Thee from men's eyes.
> 
> But who has ever glimpsed Thy face he cries:
> 
> The Sun of Truth is dawning on me now!
> 
> A thousand gaze upon Thy face and none
> 
> Is worthy he should ever look thereon.
> 
> How could I ever on Thy beauty dwell?
> 
> O, this unease!
> 
> Thou art not to be sung.
> 
> Of Thee my tongue
> 
> Could never tell--neither by speaking out,
> 
> Nor by holding its peace.
> 
> +P117
> 
> If Thou shouldst wish to cut my wings or grant
> 
> me wings,
> 
> Still in Thine ambience I'll ever soar.
> 
> From nothingness Thy love did me bring forth.
> 
> I sprang from nothing: I know nothing more.
> 
> To sing of this, my every bone a flute.
> 
> But if, from love, these bones to ashes burn,
> 
> How could they then a breath to song transmute,
> 
> And tell the tale of Thee for whom they yearn?
> 
> What ease it is to yield Thy curling hair,
> 
> To cast this life aside--easy it is and sweet.
> 
> Not difficult this whole world to forswear--
> 
> And if the chance come, perish at Thy feet.
> 
> The bow of His brow, the darts of His lashes--
> 
> They kindle a flame that will burn me to ashes!
> 
> Still this I sing:
> 
> That if he slays
> 
> His loving ways
> 
> Me back to life will bring.
> 
> +P118
> 
> I never studied logic in a book--
> 
> For love I have
> 
> But wept my heart away.
> 
> I chose the path to the Beloved's door,
> 
> And thus did free myself
> 
> From this world's sway.
> 
> And I shall cease this longing for Thee never,
> 
> Though I may burn forever
> 
> And a day.
> 
> O pilgrims of the Truth
> 
> Who seek the Friend:
> 
> I've set my head upon the block,
> 
> And thrown my soul away.
> 
> From halting-place I've passed to halting-place,
> 
> Nor yet have made a start
> 
> Upon Love's way.
> 
> How good if I could die before Thy feet!
> 
> It's in this hope that I
> 
> Live out my day.
> 
> And with this wine from out Thy flowing cask,
> 
> I'll never ask
> 
> For heaven's fabled fountains
> 
> That pious thirsts allay.
> 
> +P119
> 
> Nothing in the path of love surpasses martyrdom.
> 
> Win all your friends to this
> 
> If to it they will come.
> 
> And this is the best.
> 
> I said, for Him I'd die like moth in flame.
> 
> "Rather," He said, "like the candle keep:
> 
> "To light and weep, to light and weep.
> 
> "Then take this for your aim,
> 
> For this is best."
> 
> How well we know that human life is sweet,
> 
> And so find gold, and to be eminent.
> 
> But if your life to win His love is spent,
> 
> Then fling it at His feet,
> 
> For this is best.
> 
> Let reason's hoary counsel go unheard.
> 
> By like a child who plays
> 
> On love's path all his days.
> 
> "Become like little children," was His word.
> 
> And this is best.
> 
> I tore my heart from both the worlds away,
> 
> And took and bound it to Thy hair.
> 
> Caught fast it is within Thy snare:
> 
> Burn it, or stamp it out, I pray.
> 
> And this is best.
> 
> O harpist, must thou ever
> 
> Of the Scripture then intone?
> 
> To us sing but of love,
> 
> And change thy tune.
> 
> For this is best.
> 
> +P120
> 
> O let them burn me up a hundred times,
> 
> I would not even know,
> 
> So lost am I in Thee.
> 
> I'll never take my eyes from off Thy face--
> 
> Without Thy beauty's light
> 
> How could they see?
> 
> I've placed Thee here within my inmost core--
> 
> And in my eyes, so wheresoe'er I look,
> 
> I only look on Thee.
> 
> And in this love,
> 
> Whatever thorn may sting
> 
> Is only balm,
> 
> And but a rose to me.
> 
> I with the wind would journey
> 
> All my days
> 
> That one day it might
> 
> Carry me to Thee.
> 
> O Thou Messiah, raising up dead hearts!
> 
> With Thy breath, like a scented breeze
> 
> Raise up this corpse to Thee.
> 
> +P121
> 
> Thou art love's flutist,
> 
> I am but the flute:
> 
> What dost Thou play in me?
> 
> What song is this that to the world's edge brings
> 
> Poor helpless me?
> 
> O Candle of desire!
> 
> Moth-like I'm shedding fire
> 
> From my wings.
> 
> +P122
> 
> Perplexed am I to gaze on Thee
> 
> Thy beauty to behold.
> 
> O what art Thou to me:
> 
> My well-beloved, or my very soul?
> 
> Where'er I look I see
> 
> These souls burnt up by Thee:
> 
> Moths to Thy candle flame, beyond control.
> 
> One life is all my capital and store,
> 
> And still away from Thee I cannot turn.
> 
> And freely would I pay it all
> 
> To Thee for whom I burn,
> 
> If absence does not finish me before.
> 
> And though both wise and mad do counsel me in turn,
> 
> What is the use? I'm lost in longing
> 
> For Thy tangled hair.
> 
> Hast Thou seen how a man will hunt after the water
> 
> of life,
> 
> His object to stay young and fair?
> 
> I am even as he--and a hundred times more.
> 
> What harm if Thou my robe of life dost tear?
> 
> Of all such borrowed clothes I am stripped bare.
> 
> Lettered, unlettered, they all
> 
> For a place at thy table compete.
> 
> But I, heart and soul, would be but the dust at Thy feet.
> 
> +P123APPENDIXES
> 
> +P124 (This page is blank)
> 
> +P125
> 
> APPENDIX 1
> 
> The Bath
> 
> A Persian bath, or hammám (from the Arabic hamma --to
> make hot), is an elaborate affair, quite unlike the American three-minute
> shower.
> 
> Requiring great quantities of desert thorn (as many an over-burdened donkey
> could testify) to heat the water, it is somewhat of a luxury, and includes
> rooms of different temperatures, with at least one large, very hot chamber
> where the floor is slabs of stone, light filters down through the steam, and
> the walls resound with voices.
> 
> Bath procedures comprise sudsing and rinsing, rubbing the body with rough
> mitt, attention to finger- and toe-nails, shaving, use of henna and black dye
> on beard and head, and removal of body hair by a quick-acting depilatory made
> of lime and orpiment (an age-old custom practiced by peoples from the ancient
> Greeks to the pagan Arabs).
> 
> Hours may be spent at the hammám, where, traditionally, food is served,
> tea is drunk, the water pipe is smoked, and even musicians and dancers may
> complete the festivities. Men and women, it goes without saying, do not
> frequent the bath at the same time.
> 
> Since Persians do not care for nudity, each bather is wrapped in a towel,
> often of cotton with a design of dark blue and yellow checks.(22)
> 
> +P126 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P127
> 
> APPENDIX 2
> 
> The Howdah
> 
> When Bahá'u'lláh was exiled out of Baghdad, traveling north to
> Constantinople with the spring, He sometimes rode His thoroughbred--a red roan
> stallion--along with the caravan, and sometimes rested in a howdah reserved for
> His use.
> 
> The caravan consisted of "fifty mules, a mounted guard of ten soldiers with
> their officer, and seven pairs of howdahs, each pair surmounted by four
> parasols..."(23) The journey from Baghdad to Samsun on the Black Sea took one
> hundred and ten days.
> 
> The Persian howdah (depicted on p. 24 of this book) consisted of two wooden
> compartments, each just large enough for one traveler--arched, cloth covered,
> and balanced on either side of a sturdy pack animal.
> 
> Other modes of travel included the kajávih, two open crates
> roped together and balanced on either side of a pack animal (the word is said
> to mean "that which hangs crooked," because the crates certainly did), and the
> "running chair" or takht-i-raván, like a
> small room with door and windows, fixed on shafts, onto which mules are
> fastened at either end. According to C. Colliver Rice, "from the nose of the
> mule to the tail of the other the length is at least twenty feet."(24) He adds
> that this was Persia's first-class travel, but very difficult in turning
> corners; also that some travelers could not stand the motion, because the mules
> do not walk in step.
> 
> +P128 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P129
> 
> APPENDIX 3
> 
> The Water Pipe
> 
> Lighting up and maintaining a water pipe (ghalyán)
> is not the easiest of tasks.
> 
> The Persian water pipe is about two feet high and consists primarily of a
> large glass bowl or vase holding one quart of water. From the vase rises a
> wooden tube, perhaps fifteen inches high, possibly of elaborately carved wood,
> and surmounted by a decorative container. A wooden stem to smoke through is
> inserted at an angle into the vase. The stem has a silver mouthpiece.
> 
> The tobacco, a kind grown in Shiraz, said to be scented rather like
> sandalwood--and which can be smoked only in a water pipe--is moistened,
> squeezed out, and packed in the decorative top of the ghalyán,
> under a piece of burning coal made from the root of the tobacco plant. The coal
> itself must first be placed in a small metal basket on a wire, lit, and whirled
> around until it catches. (The lit coal makes a circle in the dark.)
> 
> The smoke passes through the water and is drawn straight into the lungs. Each
> smoker takes three or four puffs--this makes a chugging sound--and passes the
> pipe on to the smoker at his right.(25)
> 
> +P130 [Photo on this page]
> 
> +P131
> 
> APPENDIX 4
> 
> Andarún and Bírúní
> (The Within and The Without)
> 
> Persians of an earlier day, if they had the means, lived in walled compounds
> enclosing trees, pools and flowers, utility buildings such as cook house and
> stables, and two main houses: one for men, called the
> bírúní; the other for women, the
> andarún.
> 
> Men servants took care of the bírúní; women, the
> andarún.
> 
> The women of the time were not only black-veiled (almost impenetrably) in
> public, but they wore Madonna-like house veils, brightly colored, in the
> andarún as well. Should any man other than her husband or a close
> relative appear there, a woman would quickly draw part of the veil across her
> face. To keep the veil adjusted, she would sometimes hold a corner in her
> teeth. Doctors were obliged to make their diagnoses somehow around the veil:
> they would be vouchsafed one sore eye, or perhaps a bruised elbow would appear
> among the folds.
> 
> Women did not frequent the bírúní, which was devoted to a
> man's more or less public life, while the andarún was the focus of
> domestic life. The two buildings might be equally beautiful, but as a rule the
> private bath with its tank of water, fed through an opening in the wall by a
> stream from outside, was located in the andarún.
> 
> A Presbyterian missionary named James Bassett, who spent fourteen years in
> Iran, starting in 1871, has provided
> 
> +P132
> 
> these details on Persian life as he found it:(26) there were from five to ten
> million inhabitants, he thought (no census existed), of two races, Iranian or
> pure Persian, and Turanian--that is, Tartar and Turkish tribes. The chief
> building material was sun-baked brick. Many houses and gateways were
> decoratively faced with enameled tiles showing hunting scenes, portraits,
> landscapes. The rarest of such tiles might be nine hundred years old.
> 
> Persian removed their shoes indoors; Europeans, not wishing to do this, wore
> overshoes and left them outside a Persian's rooms. Considerable drinking went
> on, but in secret, because of heavy fines and the attendant disgrace. He writes
> of the men playing cards and smoking in the
> bírúní--hunting, hawking, going to horse races and ram
> fights. The women's life of the andarún, he says, was feasting, eating
> candies, gossiping, watching hired dancers, both girls and boys, or listening
> to a mullá reading poetry from an adjoining room. He says that few girls
> married after the age of sixteen, except widows.
> 
> +P133
> 
> APPENDIX 5
> 
> Persian Names
> 
> Persians of the nineteenth century did not use surnames. Men were given
> proper names, such as Muhammad, Husayn, or Ibráhím, and often
> more then one-- Muhammad-`Alí, or Ridá-Qulí. Many times
> the second name was one of the ninety-nine Most Beauteous Names of God, from
> the Qur'án. For example, `Abdu'r-Rahím [Servant of the
> All-Merciful].
> 
> To distinguish one individual from another, titles and descriptions would be
> added to the given name. Hájí Muhammad-Hasan
> Isfahání, for example, would indicate the man from Isfahan named
> Muhammad-Hasan who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca; Ustád Mahmúd
> Banná would designate the Mahmúd who was the master builder; and
> so forth.
> 
> The following are a few of the many titles and descriptions added to Persian
> names:
> 
> Áqá: Sir, mister. General term of respect.
> 
> Darvísh: A Muslim mystic. Often a wandering, mendicant ascetic
> who traditionally carries an ax and a begging bowl
> (kashkúl).
> 
> Hájí: One who had made the Muslim pilgrimage.
> 
> Káshí: Someone from Kashan.
> 
> Mírzá: A general term of respect which usually indicates that
> the one designated is literate. Used after the name it indicates a prince.
> 
> +P134
> 
> Mullá: A Muslim priest.
> 
> Shaykh: An elder; a chief; a professor; or the head of a dervish
> order.
> 
> Siyyid: A descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
> 
> Ustád: A master craftsman.
> 
> Biographical notes
> 
> +P135
> 
> The stories of many of the believers who are mentioned in this book are told
> in other Bahá'í publications which are readily available. As a
> service to the reader, some of the most important references are provided
> below. Not every person in the memoirs of Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i
> Salmání has been listed, nor are the references intended to be
> exhaustive. The titles of the books cited are given in shortened form below.
> Complete citations can be found in the bibliography, pp. 149.
> Abá-Basír (Áqá Naqd-`Alí). Prominent
> Bahá'i teacher martyred with Siyyid Ashraf. See Wolf, p.
> 73; God Passes By, p. 199; Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 226-27.
> 
> `Abbás, Hájí. Mentioned, Memorials, p. 63.
> `Abdu'l-Ghaffár, Áqá, of Isfahan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh in exile who attempted suicide when informed that he
> was to be sent to Cyprus and separated from Him. See Memorials, pp.
> 59-61; God Passes By, p. 182; Bahá'u'lláh, p. 467
> (biographical note); Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 287-88. Abu'l-Hasan,
> Hájí, of Ardíkán (Amín-i
> Iláhí). First pilgrim to attain the presence of
> Bahá'u'lláh in `Akká. See God Passes By, p. 187;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 398 and passim; Bábí and
> Bahá'í, pp. 355-56.
> 
> `Abdu'l-Karím Kharrát of Isfahan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh in `Akká. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 325, 330. `Abdu's-Salih, the Gardener.
> See Memorials, pp. 26-28.
> 
> +P136
> 
> Ahmad, Mírzá. Son of Mírzá Yahyá. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 232.
> 
> `Alí-`Askar, Hájí, of Tabriz. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 161-64;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 469-70 (biographical note) and passim.
> Ali-Kuli Khan, Dr (Nabílu'd-Dawlih). Believer sent to America as an
> interpreter for Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl. He later became the
> Chargé d'Affaires for the Persian Legation in Washington, D.C. He was
> appointed a member of the Persian Peace Delegation to the Versailles
> Conference. Also served as Chargé d'Affaires of Persian Embassy at
> Istanbul, and then became head of the Persian Crown Prince Regent's court,
> before returning to private life in the United States, when the
> Qájár dynasty fell.
> 
> `Alíy-i Sayyáh, Mírzá (Mullá
> Ádí Guzal). Companion of Bahá'u'lláh in Edirne who
> was exiled to Cyprus and was separated from Him. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 468 (biographical note) and passim;
> Bábí and Bahá'í, passim.
> Amínu'd-Dawlih (Farrukh Khán). See
> Memorials, p. 29. See also Reference #18, p. 148.
> 
> Áqá Ján, Mírzá
> (Khádimu'lláh). Amanuensis and close companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh--the first to accept His Station--who eventually
> broke the Covenenant and rebelled against `Abdu'l-Bahá. See God
> Passes By, pp. 115-16; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 109-12 and
> passim; Revelation, Vol 1, pp. 40-42, 315-19; Delight of Hearts,
> pp. 145-48.
> 
> Áshchí. See Husayn-i Áshchí,
> Áqá.
> 
> Ashraf, Áqá Siyyid, of Zanján. Famous
> Bahá'í martyr.
> 
> +P137
> 
> See Wolf, p. 73; God Passes By, pp. 199-200;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 470 (biographical note) and passim;
> Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 223-30. Azal. See Yahyá,
> Mírzá (Subh-i Azal).
> 
> Badí` (Áqá Buzurg of
> Níshápúr). Youth who carried
> Bahá'u'lláh's Epistle to Násiri'd-Dín
> Sháh and was martyred. See Wolf, p. 73; God Passes
> By, p. 199; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 298-310.
> 
> Beloved of Martyrs (Hájí Siyyid Muhammad-Husayn of Isfahan). One
> of two Bahá'í brothers martyred in Isfahan. See footnote, p. 76.
> See also Wolf, p. 72; God Passes By, pp. 200-01;
> Bábí and Bahá'í, pp. 274-77.
> 
> Fath-`Alí, Mírzá, of Ardistán (Fath-i A`zam). See
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 471 (biographical note); Delight of
> Hearts, pp. 123, 134.
> 
> Haydar-`Alí, Hájí Mírzá (Angel of Carmel).
> Famed Bahá'í teacher and author of Bihjatu's Sudúr
> (Delight of Hearts). See Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 236, 248-50 and
> passim; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 28-29, Vol. 2, pp. 68-73, 194-202 and
> passim; Stories from The Delight of Hearts.
> 
> Husayn-i Áshchí, Áqá. Youthful companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh who served as a cook in His Household. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 473-74 (biographical note) and passim.
> 
> Husayn, Áqá Siyyid, of Kashan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad and Edirne. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 175 and passim.
> 
> Ibráhím, Hájí, of Kashan. Fickle believer who
> vacilated
> 
> +P138
> 
> between allegiance to Bahá'u'lláh and association with Azal. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 156, 330.
> 
> Ímán, Hájí, of Zanján. See
> Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 224-25; Bábí and
> Bahá'í, p. 361.
> 
> Ismá'íl Banná, Ustád, of Kashan. Early
> Bahá'i pilgrim to `Akká. See Memorials, pp. 29-32; God
> Passes By, pp. 187-88; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 290, 292.
> 
> Ja`far, Mullá, of Isfahan. See Sifter of Wheat.
> 
> Jamál, Áqá, of Burújird
> (Ismu'lláhu'l-Jamál). Important Bahá'í teacher at
> the time of Bahá'u'lláh who later broke the Covenant and rebelled
> against `Abdu'l-Bahá. See God Passes By, pp. 247-48;
> Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 118-19, 264-67; Delight of Hearts, pp.
> 128-29, 135-43 and passim.
> 
> Jamshíd of Bukhara (Áqá Jamshíd-i
> Gurjí). See Memorials, pp. 120-22;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 475 (biographical note) and passim.
> 
> Javád of Qazvín (Muhammad-Javád-i Qazvíní).
> Important scribe of Bahá'u'lláh who eventually broke the Covenant
> and rebelled against `Abdu'l-Bahá. See God Passes By, p. 247;
> Delight of Hearts, pp. 126, 128.
> 
> Kalím, Áqáy-i (Mírzá Músá).
> Loyal half brother of Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, p.
> 86-90; God Passes By, p. 108 and passim. See also numerous references in
> Bahá'u'lláh and Revelation, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
> 
> King of Martyrs. One of two Bahá'í brothers martyred in Isfahan.
> See footnote, p. 76. See also Wolf, p. 72; God Passes By, pp.
> 200-01; Bábí and Bahá'í, pp. 274-77.
> 
> +P139
> 
> Mahd-i `Ulyá. Wife of Bahá'u'lláh, mother of
> Mírzá Muhammad-`Alí. See Bahá'u'lláh,
> p. 277; Materials, p. 63.
> 
> Mahmúd, Áqá Mírzá, of Kashan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 39-41;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 475 (biographical note) and passim.
> 
> Majdu'd-Dín, Mírzá. Son of Áqáy-i
> Kalím who eventually broke the Covenant and rebelled against
> `Abdu'l-Bahá. See God Passes By, p. 247;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 277; `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 54;
> Revelation, Vol. 2, p. 316; Delight of Heart, pp. 154-55.
> 
> Mihdíy-i Dahijí, Siyyid (Takhtih-Kanah-sí, Bedbug).
> See footnote p. 76. See also Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 242-47 and
> passim.
> 
> Mihdí-Qulí, Mírzá, of Kashan. Comapanion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 95-97.
> 
> Mishkín-Qalam (Áqá Mírzá Husayn of
> Isfahan). Famous Bahá'í calligrapher and companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 97-101;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 247-49; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp.
> 126-28.
> 
> Muhammad, Siyyid, of Isfahan. The "Antichrist of the Bahá'í
> Revelation." See footnote, p. 38. See also God Passes By, pp.
> 112-13, 164; Bahá'u'lláh , pp. 108-325 passim;
> Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 246-56, Vol. 2, pp. 66-75, 325-28 and passim.
> 
> Muhammad, Mír, of Kázirún. The believer who arranged the
> aborted meeting between Bahá'u'lláh and Mírzá
> Yahyá in Edirne. See God Passes By, pp. 168-69.
> 
> +P140
> 
> Muhammad-`Alí, Mírzá Ghusn-i Akbar). Son of
> Bahá'u'lláh, half brother of `Abdu'l-Bahá; the archbreaker
> of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant. See God Passes By, pp. 246-51;
> Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 131-33, Vol. 2, pp. 259-61. See also numerous
> references in Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Muhammad-`Alí, Hájí Shaykh (Nabíl ibn
> Nabíl). See Wolf, pp. 108-11; Bahá'u'lláh,
> pp. 387-400.
> 
> Muhammad-`Alí, Áqá, the Tobacconist, of Isfahan. Companion
> of Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 23-25;
> Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 18, 370-73.
> 
> Muhammad-`Alí Sabbágh, Áqá, the Dyer
> (Sabbágh-i Yazdí). Companion of Bahá'u'lláh.
> See Memorials, pp. 57-59; Bahá'u'lláh, p. 477
> (biographical note) and passim; Revelation, Vol. 2, p. 59.
> 
> Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, Ustád, the Barber.
> Companion of Bahá'u'lláh who acted as His barber and bath
> attendant; the author of this memoir. See Memorials, pp. 120-21; God
> Passes By, p. 166; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 227-30, 260-61,
> 325, 483 (biographical note); Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 155-61.
> 
> Muhammad-Báqir, Áqá Ustád, of Kashan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh who died in the barracks at `Akká. See
> Memorials, pp. 167-70; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 156, 283
> and passim.
> 
> Muhammad-Báqir, Áqá (Qahvih-chiy-i
> Mahallátí). Companion of Bahá'u'lláh. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 156, 250-52; Revelation, Vol. 2,
> pp. 329-30.
> 
> Muhammad-Hasan, Hájí Siyyid, of Isfahan. See King of Martyrs.
> 
> +P141
> 
> Muhammad-Hasan Musáfir-Khánihí, Áqá,
> of Qum. Companion of Bahá'u'lláh. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 157, 178-79, 237.
> 
> Muhammad-Husayn, Hájí Siyyid, of Isfahan. See Beloved of Martyrs.
> 
> Muhammad-Ibráhím-i Amír, Áqá, of
> Nayríz. Companion of Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials,
> pp. 94-95; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 144, 156, 477 (biographical
> note).
> 
> Muhammad-Ismá`íl, Áqá, the Tailor, of Kashan.
> Companion of Bahá'u'lláh who died in the barracks at
> `Akká. See Memorials, pp. 167-70;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 156, 279, 283.
> 
> Muhammad-Ismá'íl Dhabíh, Hájí, of
> Kashan (Anís). Early Believer. See God Passes By, p. 180;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 253, 260, 261, 264; Revelation,
> Vol. 2, pp. 411-13.
> 
> Muhammad-Qulí, Mírzá. Loyal half brother of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 70-71; God Passes
> By, p. 108; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 14 and passim;
> Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 15-16.
> 
> Muhammad-Ridá, Hájí, of Isfahan. Martyr of
> `Ishqábád. See Wolf, pp. 77-78; God Passes
> By, pp. 202-03; Bábí and Bahá'í,
> pp. 196-99. See also note, p. 90.
> 
> Muhammad-Sádiq, Áqá, of Isfahan. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Bahá'u'lláh, p. 478
> (biographical note) and passim; Revelation, Vol. 1, p. 287.
> 
> Munír, Mírzá Áqáy-i, of Kashan
> (Ismu'lláhu'l-Muníb). Companion of Bahá'u'lláh who
> died on the journey from
> 
> +P142
> 
> Edirne to `Akká. See Memorials, pp. 145-47; God Passes
> By, p. 182; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 157, 176-77, 479
> (biographical note); Revelation, Vol. 1, 283-87, Vol. 2, 72-77;
> Delight of Hearts, pp. 13-14.
> 
> Músá, Mírzá. See Kalím,
> Áqáy-i.
> 
> Mustafá, Mírzá, of Kashan. Bahá'í martyred
> in Tabriz. See Memorials, pp. 148-50; Bahá'u'lláh,
> pp. 204-205, 237-38.
> 
> Nabíl of Zarand (Nabíl-i A`zam). Amanuensis of
> Bahá'u'lláh who became the author of the famous
> Bahá'í chronicle, The Dawn-Breakers. See Memorials,
> pp. 32-36; God Passes By, p. 130; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 202-06
> and passim. See also numerous references in Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Najaf-`Alí, Áqá, of Zanján. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh who was later martyred in Tihrán. See
> Wolf, p. 73; God Passes By, p. 178;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 144 and passim; Revelation, Vol. 2,
> pp. 222-23; Delight of Hearts, p. 15.
> 
> Nasru'lláh, Mírzá. Brother-in-law of Mírzá
> Yahyá. See Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 236-323;
> Bábí and Bahá'í, p. 19.
> 
> Navváb (Ásíyih Khánum, The Most Exalted
> Leaf). First wife of Bahá'u'lláh; mother of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Bahíyyih Khánum (The Greatest Holy Leaf), and
> Mírzá Mihdí (The Purest Branch). See God Passes By,
> p. 108; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 17, 369 and passim;
> Revelation, Vol. 1, p. 15.
> 
> Núru'lláh, Mírzá. Son of Mírzá
> Yahyá. See Bahá'u'lláh, p. 390.
> 
> Pahlaván Ridá, the Champion. See Memorials, pp. 167-69.
> 
> +P143
> 
> Ridáy-i Qannád, Áqá, of Shiraz (Áqá
> Muhammad-Ridáy-i Qannád). Companion of Bahá'u'lláh.
> See Memorials, pp. 39-41; Bahá'u'lláh, p. 478
> (biographical note) and passim; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 288-89.
> 
> Ridá-Qulí, Mírzá, of Tafrish. Brother-in-law
> of Mírzá Yahyá. See Bahá'u'lláh, pp.
> 236-37, 320-23; Bábí and Bahá'í, p.
> 19.
> 
> Sádhijiyyih Khánum. The infant daughter of
> Bahá'u'lláh who died. See Bahá'u'lláh, p.
> 203. Salmán, Shaykh. Believer who for forty years carried
> Tablets and letters between Bahá'u'lláh and the
> Bahá'ís of Iran. See Memorials, pp. 13-16;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 226, 344-47, 441-44; Revelation,
> Vol. 1, pp. 109-13, 255-56.
> 
> Sidq-`Alí, Darvísh, of Qazvín. Companion of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Memorials, pp. 36-38;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 482 (biographical note) and passim;
> Revelation, Vol. 1, p. 289, Vol. 2, pp. 164-65 and passim; Delight of
> Hearts, pp. 71-72.
> 
> Sifter of Wheat (Mullá Ja`far of Isfahan). First believer of Isfahan.
> See The Dawn-Breakers, p. 99; The Báb, pp. 50-51.
> 
> Subh-i Azal. See Yahyá, Mírzá.
> 
> Sulaymán-Qulí, Mírzá, of Tihrán
> (Khátibu'r-Rahmán). Bábí martyr. See
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 88-89.
> 
> Takhtih-Kanah-sí. See Siyyid Mihdí-i Dahijí.
> 
> Umm-i Ashraf. The mother of Siyyid Ashraf. Gleanings, pp.
> 135-36; Wolf, pp. 73-74; Revelation, Vol. 2, pp. 223-230.
> 
> +P144
> 
> Yahyá, Mírzá (Subh-i Azal). Perfidous half brother of
> Bahá'u'lláh. See Wolf, pp. 166-68; God Passes By,
> pp. 112, 114, 163-70 and passim; Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 14,
> 183-84 and passim; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 53-56, 246-56. See also
> numerous references in Revelation, Vol. 2.
> 
> Zá'í (Zahír). See God Passes By, p. 164;
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 183-84, 224.
> 
> Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín of Najafábád (Mullá
> Zaynu'l-`Ábidín). Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh. See
> Memorials, pp. 150-53; God Passes By, p. 130;
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 120; Revelation, Vol. 1, pp. 25-26,
> Vol. 2, pp. 335-36; Delight of Hearts, pp. 5-8 and passim.
> 
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