Letters to Bahá'í princesses:
Tablets revealed in honour of the women of Ibn-i Asdaq's household

by Dominic Parvis Brookshaw

Abstract:

This paper is a study of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's tablets to the daughters of Hand of the Cause of God, Ibn-i Asdaq: Laqá'iyya, Huviyya, Rúhá and Talí`a. A number of these tablets will be discussed in detail and translations of them provided in English. In this paper I will aim to answer two important questions:

1. What is the substance of the advice and instruction given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to these young women who each played an important role in the Tehran Bahá'í community at the beginning of the last century?
2. Does 'Abdu'l-Bahá make any reference in these tablets to the Qajar lineage of Ibn-i Asdaq's wife, Diyá al-Hajiyya?

A brief account of the life of Mullá Sádiq Muqaddas Khurásaní, Ism'u'lláh al-Asdaq and of Ibn-i Asdaq, Shahíd ibn-i Shahíd, will also be given. A more detailed biography of Diyá al-Hajiyya's grandmother, Shah Baygum Diyá al-Saltana (Fath-'Alí Shah's seventh daughter) will also be given. Time will also be devoted to a discussion of the tablets revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá in honour of Diyá al-Hajiyya, her mother, Shahansháh Baygum, and her sister, Aghá Sháhzáda.