A Trilogy of Consecration:
The Courier, the Historian and the Missionary

by Boris Handal

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About: This centenary year of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is an occasion for the celebration of His life and those of His closest devotees. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá always took pride in the believers’ achievements and was very generous in praising their qualities and spirit of service. In His talks and writings, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá referred from time to time to their sacrifices and how their detachment assisted in the growth of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. This book depicts the lives of three of these sixty-nine believers who were associated with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at different stages of His life throughout the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith.

This Trilogy presents the lives of Shaykh Salmán, Nabíl-i-A'zam and Mullá Sádiq, three personages closely related to the early years of the Bahá'í Faith in Persia.

Shaykh Salmán was Bahá'u'lláh's on-foot courier travelling annually between Persia and the Holy Land. Nabíl-i-A'zam was the chronicler who carefully documented events of the Heroic Age of the Bahá'í Faith and a talented poet. Mullá Sádiq stood out as the one who travelled broadly disseminating the new Faith with wisdom, dignity and grace. The first was illiterate, while the second was a self-made scholar who started out in life as a shepherd, whereas Mullá Sádiq came from an educated family of means.

Empowered by faith, certitude, and love to Bahá'u'lláh, these three men became a new creation, the like of whom we rarely see in human existence. To their wonder, amazing capacities and invincible powers became theirs, which made it possible for them to endure the most formidable vicissitudes with an ever-increasing spirit of faith and certitude. After glimpsing the greatness of such a Message, nothing had the power to deter them in their path of service—not age, nor lack of means, nor family circumstances, nor the constant danger of being beaten and killed.

A Trilogy of Consecration is available from The Australian Book Store, bahaibooks.com.au/products/trilogy-consecration.