The Covenant of Baha'u'llah
by Adib Taherzadeh
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Chapter 7
The Family of Bahá'u'lláh
At the passing of Bahá'u'lláh in 1892 the Bahá'à community was plunged into such a state of grief and consternation as it had never experienced before. The light of divine Revelation, which had shone forth for forty years, was now withdrawn, and the believers tasted the bitter agony of separation from their Lord. Their only source of consolation was the Person of Abdu'l-Bahá who, as the Centre of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant, succeeded in imparting new life and vigour to the body of the Cause of God and who called on the believers to arise and spread the healing message of Bahá'u'lláh to the people of the East and the West. Within a short period of time the fringes of the five continents of the globe were illumined with the splendours of the light of the Faith.Stupendous as was this progress of the Cause during the Ministry of the Master, the onslaught of the unfaithful from within the community and especially the fierce opposition of most of the members of Bahá'u'lláh's family to the Centre of the Covenant, created an unprecedented tempest. This raged furiously within the community for several decades and threatened to disrupt its unity and shake its divinely ordained but young and vulnerable institutions. The fierce onslaught of the Covenant-breakers upon the Cause of God on the one hand, and their eventual extinction on the other, constitute the most dramatic episodes in the ministries of Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. These are some of the darkest pages in the history of the Faith, and yet they cast light upon the mysterious forces operating within the Cause of God, forces that tear down every obstacle in the onward march of the Cause toward its ultimate victory. They clearly demonstrate the vitality and the indestructibility of the Faith and serve to delineate the pattern of crisis and victory which characterises its future growth and development throughout the world.
In order to study the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and grasp its significance, it is necessary to examine the manner in which Bahá'u'lláh conducted His personal life and the way He communicated His Message to mankind. A common feature of the Manifestations of God is that they appear among people without making a great display of their divine power, knowledge or glory. They seem to be ordinary people with all the human characteristics. Inwardly they are invested with divine knowledge and power, but it is against the law of God for them to reveal these qualities to the generality of mankind, for if they do, all human beings will witness their awesome glory, will bow before their majesty and submit their will entirely to God's Viceregent on earth. Should this happen, man would become a puppet of God and lose his free will; everyone would follow the path of truth not by his own volition, but by capitulating to the irresistible power of the Manifestation of God. By the force of God's command, all would obey His Teachings and would live a goodly life; no one could have the choice to be different and there would be no wickedness. If this were to happen, man would become devoid of the power of creativity, and turn into a creature whose actions were controlled from a higher realm. Then the principles of justice, of reward and punishment would become inoperative and meaningless in society. This is one of the reasons why a Manifestation of God conceals His glory and powers behind the veil of His human characteristics. Only those who have spiritual eyes can see a glimpse of His radiant Light and recognize His station; the great majority of the people fail to discover His inner spiritual reality. In this way man can exercise his free will to accept or to reject the Message of God, to live in accordance with His teachings or to disobey Him.
We therefore observe that a Manifestation of God has two sides: human and divine. It is the human side which veils the splendours of the divine light that shine within His Person. A Manifestation of God is subject to all human characteristics. He has to eat, sleep, and carry on His life like any other person. These limitations of human nature become barriers for people in recognizing Him as the Manifestation of God. One of these barriers is the question of marriage. This is an especially great obstacle for many of Christian background, who have been brought up to believe that celibacy befits a holy person and that marriage is inappropriate for a Manifestation of God. Perhaps this attitude stems from the fact that Christ did not seem to have been married when He declared His Mission. However Christ Himself did not speak against marriage. On the other hand should one attribute a lack of sexual urge to a holy person, this would amount to a physical deficiency rather than a virtue, for the Manifestations of God are perfect in body as in spirit. That Christ did not marry is probably because His Ministry was short and that for most of it He was homeless, going from place to place until He was crucified.
Since the Manifestations of God share with the people all characteristics of human nature, it follows that they may live a normal life, engage in a profession, have a home, marry and raise a family. They also possess all the human sentiments and emotions. They are sensitive beings with feelings of joy and sadness, of pain and comfort, of likes and dislikes. What distinguishes them from the rest of mankind is that their spiritual side completely dominates their physical nature, and they are absolutely detached from the material world.
Another feature of the life of a Manifestation of God is that He lives in accordance with the laws and conventions of the society to which He belongs. He eats the same type of food, wears the same type of clothes, and carries out the same customs as the rest of the people of His culture and background. He does not live His life in the pattern of a future society which will emerge centuries later as a result of His teachings and about which He has full knowledge. For example, during the Ministry of Jesus two thousand years ago. Christ lived in a manner similar to the Israelites of the time. He did not project Himself out of that society and did not live a different pattern of life from that of the age He lived in.
By following the customs of the people of His own land, the Manifestation of God does not appear conspicuously different from the rest of the people, and this is how His glory is hidden behind His human facade. In this way, His contemporaries look upon Him as an ordinary man.
Bahá'u'lláh belonged to a noble family of Tihran. His father, Mirza Abbas-i-Nuri, known as Mirza Buzurg, held a very important ministerial position in the court of the Shah, and was regarded in high esteem by the dignitaries of the realm. Circumstances of family life in Islamic countries were totally different from those of present-day Western society. The law of Islam concerning polygamy was in force, allowing men to have a maximum of four wives at the same time. Mirza Buzurg married four wives and had three concubines and fifteen children — five daughters and ten sons. Bahá'u'lláh was born on 12 November 1817 in Tihran. His mother, Khadijih Khanum, the second wife of Mirza Buzurg, had a son and two daughters from a previous marriage. As a result Bahá'u'lláh had eleven brothers and seven sisters.[1] Some of them became steadfast believers, some followed Mirza Yahya, while others remained indifferent or died before Bahá'u'lláh's declaration in the Garden of Ridvan .
[1 For more details, see Balyuzi, Bahá'u'lláh, The King of Glory, pp. 13-14.]
Bahá'u'lláh received an elementary education in His childhood in Tihran. The nobility of those days usually employed the services of a teacher at home to tutor their children. The main subjects were calligraphy, the study of the Qur'an and the works of the Persian poets. This type of schooling ended after only a few years when the child was in his early teens. Bahá'u'lláh's education did not go further than this: He Himself testifies in His Tablet to Nasiri'd-Din Shah that He did not attend any school in His life:
"O king! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven, and for this there befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of understanding to flow. The learning current amongst men I studied not; their schools I entered not. Ask of the city wherein I dwelt, that thou mayest be well assured that I am not of them who speak falsely. This is but a leaf which the winds of the will of thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred. Can it be still when the tempestuous winds are blowing? Nay, by Him Who is the Lord of all Names and Attributes! They move it as they list." [7-1]
It is beyond the scope of this book to dwell on Bahá'u'lláh's eventful life during the years of His youth. Some of these stories are already published. [7-2] For the purpose of studying the Covenant, however, it is necessary to become informed of Bahá'u'lláh's marriages and His children. Bahá'u'lláh had married three wives before the declaration of His Mission in 1863. As has already been stated, the Manifestation of God conducts His personal life according to the customs of the time. Polygamy was a normal practice in those days; indeed, it would have been abnormal for a man who belonged to the nobility to be monogamous in that society.
In order to appreciate this subject, it is essential to become familiar with the Islamic world of the nineteenth century. Among the Muslim communities of the Middle East, women lived entirely under the domination of men and were not allowed to take part in public affairs. Girls grew up in the home of their parents, lived most of their time indoors and had no contact with the public. When they were given in marriage to their husbands (an event over which they had no control) they moved into a different house and spent most of their time in complete seclusion until they died. No man, except a very close relative, was ever allowed to see the face of a woman. She had to wear a chadur[1] and veil her face. When a male guest arrived at a home, all the women had to retire into the inner apartment, their sanctuary where no strange man would ever be admitted. It was considered a sin for a woman to show her face to any man.
[1 A large piece of cloth which covers the entire body from top to toe and is wrapped around one's clothes.]
Another restriction was that women, especially unmarried girls, were not supposed to talk to men. Neither would they be permitted to go out for shopping or other services; these were the exclusive function of men. Such an act would have necessitated women taking part in public affairs and coming into contact with men. So strict was this practice that if ever a woman was seen talking to a strange man she would receive very severe punishment from her parents or husband. The stigma attached to this behaviour was so repugnant that sometimes the poor victim would commit suicide.
Some Muslim clergy in Persia are known to have inflicted torturous chastisements upon a man who was accused of talking to a woman. Usually a much more severe punishment awaited a non-Muslim man if he was ever found speaking to a Muslim woman.
Women in those days had no status in the community. They were treated as if they were part of the furniture. Some members of the clergy went as far as to claim that women had no souls, much as Christian theologians had done seven hundred years earlier. Within such a society a woman's life was spent almost entirely within the four walls of a house, caring for her family and all the menfolk who lived there. It was very rare for a young girl to receive any education. The great majority of women were illiterate and were therefore left out of the mainstream of human progress and civilization.
Even the few who received some education were circumscribed in their activities. For instance, the renowned Tahirih, the heroine of the Babi Dispensation, usually sat behind a curtain in order to take part in the seminars conducted by her teacher Siyyid Kazim, for it was considered unchaste for a women to sit among men. How revolutionary, then, was her act of proclamation at the Conference of Badasht when she appeared in the gathering of men unveiled and seated herself beside Quddus. It is hardly surprising that as a result of her action several Babis present at the conference left the Faith of the Bab altogether. One person went so far as to cut his own throat after observing Tahirih breaking, even momentarily, one of the most cherished Islamic practices of segregation between the sexes. The following account by Nabil-i-A'zam vividly portrays the scenes of alarm among the participants.
"...when suddenly the figure of Tahirih, adorned and unveiled, appeared before the eyes of the assembled companions. Consternation immediately seized the entire gathering. All stood aghast before this sudden and most unexpected apparition. To behold her face unveiled was to them inconceivable. Even to gaze at her shadow was a thing which they deemed improper, inasmuch as they regarded her as the very incarnation of Fatimih,[1] the noblest emblem of chastity in their eyes.
[1 The daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, she is considered to be the holiest woman in Islam.]
"Quietly, silently, and with the utmost dignity, Tahirih stepped forward and, advancing towards Quddus, seated herself on his right-hand side. Her unruffled serenity sharply contrasted with the affrighted countenances of those who were gazing upon her face. Fear, anger, and bewilderment stirred the depths of their souls. That sudden revelation seemed to have stunned their faculties. Abdu'l-Khaliq-i-Isfahani was so gravely shaken that he cut his throat with his own hands. Covered with blood and shrieking with excitement, he fled away from the face of Tahirih. A few, following his example, abandoned their companions and forsook their Faith. A number were seen standing speechless before her, confounded with wonder." [7-3]
It was the parents' responsibilities to arrange marriages for their children. Usually the parties most concerned had no say in the arrangement; it was customary to betrothe boy and girl soon after they were born. When the boy reached his late teens, he had to marry; the couple had no choice in the matter. There was no question of the partners loving each other before their marriage; the boy was not even allowed to see the face of his bride until after the wedding. If the two parties were not betrothed so young, the parents would usually seek a bride for their son once he was in his teens. This was done by a female member of the family, such as a mother or a sister. Once the choice was made, by them, the marriage could take place. All the young man knew about his future wife was a figure wrapped in a chadur and heavily veiled. Perhaps his female relatives had described to him what his bride really looked like!
The parents were also responsible for providing their son with his livelihood, his home and all his needs — including a wife, who would be given to him as a matter of routine!
In the western world today, a couple meet and get to know one another, fall in love and get married. But in the time of Bahá'u'lláh this was not the case in the East, and often not in the West either. 'Love' took second place to family duty, appropriate social ties and questions of inheritance.
But although a couple were not in a position to choose their partners in marriage and had no possibility of knowing and loving each other, the reader must not believe that all marriages were devoid of love and unity. It is not difficult to visualize the case of a couple unacquainted with each other initially, who develop a bond of friendship, love and harmony after marriage. Yet within such an atmosphere, the domineering position of the husband was noticeably upheld as he exercised unquestioned authority over his wife.
In these circumstances all the responsibility of running the home — which entailed hard labour in those days — was left to the wife, who would be lucky if there were other female members of the family to help her in her duties. It was considered improper to employ a maid to assist in the work, since only a woman who was a close relative could be admitted into the household. However, since polygamy was commonly practised, a man could usually marry up to four wives, and they were expected to assist each other in managing the family home. This often became a necessity where the husband was a wealthy and influential person and had to maintain a large household and conduct a life-style befitting his station in society. Usually it was the first wife who would seek out, or give her consent for, the person who was to become the second wife.
It is clear that marriage customs in Persia during the nineteenth century were not by any stretch of the imagination comparable to those of the present-day in most parts of the world. The mere mention of polygamy today will raise in people's minds such things as sex, lustfulness, corruption and unchastity. But this was not true in the case of people who contracted marriages according to Islamic law over a hundred years ago. Men practiced polygamy not necessarily because of lust but because they were conducting their lives within a society which had established certain customs and conventions to which all had to conform. Thus, a young man happily submitted his will to that of his parents and carried out their wish in marrying someone of their choosing; thereafter he contracted further marriages as a routine matter.
Bahá'u'lláh married Asiyih Khanum in Tihran in 1251 AH (1835) when He was over eighteen years of age. Asiyih Khanum, later surnamed Navvab by Bahá'u'lláh, was a daughter of a nobleman, Mirza Isma'il-i-Vazir. Her date of birth is not known. She was a most noble and faithful follower of Bahá'u'lláh who served her Lord till the end of her life in 1886. There were seven children of the marriage, four of whom died in childhood. The other three were Abbas, entitled the 'Most Great Branch', 'Abdu'l-Bahá'; Fatimih, entitled Bahiyyih Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf; and Mihdi, entitled 'the Purest Branch'.
The second wife of Bahá'u'lláh, whom He married in Tihran in 1849, was Fatimih Khanum, usually referred to as Mahd-i-'Ulya. She was a cousin of Bahá'u'lláh, and gave birth to six children of whom four survived. They were one daughter, Samadiyylh, and three sons, Muhammad-Ali, Diya'u'llah and Badi'u'llah. These four, along with their mother, violated the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Mahd-i-'Ulya died in 1904.
The third wife, Gawhar Khanum, was not known by any other title. Her dates of birth, marriage and death are not known. Her marriage took place some time in Baghdad before the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh's Mission. While Navvab and Mahd-i-'Ulya travelled with Him in all His exiles, Gawhar Khanum remained in Baghdad with her brother, Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani.[1] For some years she was among the Bahá'à refugees in Mosul,[2] and later went to Akka at Bahá'u'lláh's instruction. She gave birth to one daughter, Furughiyyih; mother and daughter both became Covenant-breakers after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh.
[1 See Abdu'l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful, p- 95.]
[2 See The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 2.]
It is appropriate at this juncture to clarify a point which has puzzled the minds of many, namely the lack of detailed information about the wives of Bahá'u'lláh. Here again, one has to consider the social circumstances of the time. As has already been stated, women in those days took no part in public affairs; their entire lives were spent at home in private life. To enquire into the life of a woman was considered to be unethical, even insulting. It was discourteous to ask even the name of someone's wife. She would be usually referred to as the 'person in the house', or, if she had a son, she could be called 'mother of...'. Within such a society historians (always male) usually did not, and could not, invade the privacy of women by delving into their lives. Otherwise, they could highly offend the men folk!
Although one would not find such practices in Bahá'u'lláh's household, and those believers who were close to Him had come in contact with the female members of His family, nevertheless, owing to the customs of the time and the privacy to which women in general were entitled, very little has been recorded about their lives by oriental historians of the Faith.
Navvab, honoured by Bahá'u'lláh by the designation 'The Most Exalted Leaf', was truly an embodiment of nobility. She was utterly detached from the things of the world and most faithful to the Cause of God. Navvab's deep attachment to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh was one of her great distinguishing features. She had a compassionate and loving nature, was patient, humble and utterly resigned to the will of Bahá'u'lláh. She suffered a great deal at the hands of those in the family who later broke the Covenant. Her faith in Bahá'u'lláh, whom she knew as the Supreme Manifestation of God, was resolute and unshakeable. She served her Lord with exemplary devotion and complete self-effacement. Her daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf, has described her in these words:
"I wish you could have seen her as I first remember her, tall, slender, graceful, eyes of dark blue — a pearl, a flower amongst women.
"I have been told that even when very young, her wisdom and intelligence were remarkable. I always think of her in those earliest days of my memory as queenly in her dignity and loveliness, full of consideration for everybody, gentle, of a marvellous unselfishness, no action of hers ever failed to show the loving-kindness of her pure heart; her very presence seemed to make an atmosphere of love and happiness wherever she came, enfolding all comers in the fragrance of gentle courtesy." [7-4]
In one of His Tablets Bahá'u'lláh bestows upon Navvab the unique distinction of being His perpetual consort in all the worlds of God. The following passages gleaned from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh clearly demonstrate the glory with which He invested her:
"The first Spirit through which all spirits were revealed, and the first Light by which all lights shone forth, rest upon thee, O Most Exalted Leaf, thou who hast been mentioned in the Crimson Book! Thou art the one whom God created to arise and serve His own Self, and the Manifestation of His Cause, and the Day-Spring of His Revelation, and the Dawning-Place of His signs, and the Source of His commandments; and Who so aided thee that thou didst turn with thy whole being unto Him, at a time when His servants and handmaidens had turned away from His Face.... Happy art thou, O My handmaiden, and My Leaf, and the one mentioned in My Book, and inscribed by My Pen of Glory in My Scrolls and Tablets.... Rejoice thou, at this moment, in the most exalted Station and the All-highest Paradise, and the Abha Horizon, inasmuch as He Who is the Lord of Names hath remembered thee. We bear witness that thou didst attain unto all good, and that God hath so exalted thee, that all honour and glory circled around thee.
"O Navvab! O Leaf that hath sprung from My Tree, and been My companion! My glory be upon thee, and My loving-kindness, and My mercy that hath surpassed all beings. We announce unto thee that which will gladden thine eye, and assure thy soul, and rejoice thine heart. Verily, thy Lord is the Compassionate, the All-Bountiful. God hath been and will be pleased with thee, and hath singled thee out for His own Self, and chosen thee from among His handmaidens to serve Him, and hath made thee the companion of His Person in the day-time and in the night-season.
"Hear thou Me once again ... God is well-pleased with thee, as a token of His grace and a sign of His mercy. He hath made thee to be His companion in every one of His worlds, and hath nourished thee with His meeting and presence, so long as His Name, and His Remembrance, and His Kingdom, and His Empire shall endure. Happy is the handmaid that hath mentioned thee, and sought thy good-pleasure, and humbled herself before thee, and held fast unto the cord of thy love. Woe betide him that denieth thy exalted station, and the things ordained for thee from God, the Lord of all names, and him that hath turned away from thee, and rejected thy station before God, the Lord of the mighty throne.
"O faithful ones! Should ye visit the resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the Glorious Companion, stand ye and say: 'Salutation and blessing and glory upon thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him. May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him." [7-5]
Abdu'l-Bahá in a Tablet states that the 54th chapter of Isaiah refers to Navvab, the Most Exalted Leaf, whose 'seed shall inherit the Gentiles', and whose husband is the 'Lord of Hosts'. Abdu'l-Bahá also refers to the verse, 'For more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife', and states that this refers to Navvab. This is part of the 54th chapter:
"Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
"For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth...
"For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
"For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit...
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee...
"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
"And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children ... whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake." [7-6]
Abdu'l-Bahá goes on to bear witness to the sufferings of Navvab and extol her wonderful qualities:
"And truly the humiliation and reproach which she suffered in the path of God is a fact which no one can refute. For the calamities and afflictions mentioned in the whole chapter are such afflictions which she suffered in the path of God, all of which she endured with patience and thanked God therefor and praised Him, because He had enabled her to endure afflictions for the sake of Baha. During all this time, the men and women (Covenant-breakers) persecuted her in an incomparable manner, while she was patient, God-fearing, calm, humble and contented through the favour of Her Lord and by the bounty of her Creator." [7-7]
The three members of the family of Navvab occupy the highest rank in the Faith. Abdu'l-Bahá is of course the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, the Perfect Exemplar and the embodiment of all divine virtues. His sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf, is regarded as the noblest woman in this Dispensation and its outstanding heroine.
Even a brief outline of her life is outside the scope of this book; the following passages must suffice. They allow us a few glimpses of her saintly life[1] — a life laden with unbearable sufferings in the path of Bahá'u'lláh and dedicated to the service of His Cause. These are the words of Bahá'u'lláh as He showers His loving bounties upon His Greatest Holy Leaf.
[1 For a more detailed study of her life see Bahiyyih Khanum, The Greatest Holy Leaf (Bahá'à World Centre, 1982).]
"Let these exalted words be thy love-song on the tree of Baha, O thou most holy and resplendent Leaf: 'God, besides Whom is none other God, the Lord of this world and the next!' Verily, We have elevated thee to the rank of one of the most distinguished among thy sex, and granted thee, in My court, a station such as none other woman hath surpassed. Thus have We preferred thee and raised thee above the rest, as a sign of grace from Him Who is the Lord of the throne on high and earth below. We have created thine eyes to behold the light of My countenance, thine ears to hearken unto the melody of My words, thy body to pay homage before My throne. Do thou render thanks unto God, thy Lord, the Lord of all the world.
"How high is the testimony of the Sadratu'l-Muntaha for its leaf; how exalted the witness of the Tree of Life unto its fruit! Through My remembrance of her a fragrance laden with the perfume of musk hath been diffused; well is it with him that hath inhaled it and exclaimed: 'All praise be to Thee, O God, my Lord the most glorious!' How sweet thy presence before Me; how sweet to gaze upon thy face, to bestow upon thee My loving-kindness, to favour thee with My tender care, to make mention of thee in this, My Tablet — a Tablet which I have ordained as a token of My hidden and manifest grace unto thee." [7-8]
In another Tablet He testifies to her faithfulness and devotion to His Cause.
"O My Leaf! Hearken thou unto My Voice: Verily there is none other God but Me, the Almighty, the All-Wise. I can well inhale from thee the fragrance of My love and the sweet-smelling savour wafting from the raiment of My Name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous. Be astir upon God's Tree in conformity with thy pleasure and unloose thy tongue in praise of thy Lord amidst all mankind. Let not the things of the world grieve thee. Cling fast unto this divine Lote-Tree from which God hath graciously caused thee to spring forth. I swear by My life! It behoveth the lover to be closely joined to the loved one, and here indeed is the Best-Beloved of the world." [7-9]
In many Tablets Abdu'l-Bahá too pays tribute to the purity and nobility of her soul. For example, He writes to her in these words:
"O thou my affectionate sister! In the day-time and in the night-season my thoughts ever turn to thee. Not for one moment do I cease to remember thee. My sorrow and regret concern not myself; they centre around thee. Whenever I recall thine afflictions, tears that I cannot repress rain down from mine eyes..." [7-10]
On the occasion of her ascension to the Kingdom on high in 1932, Shoghi Effendi, grief-stricken at the loss of that noble heroine of the Faith, wrote a most moving eulogy. The following are a few excerpts from his celebrated letter to the Bahá'Ãs of the world.
"It would take me too long to make even a brief allusion to those incidents of her life, each of which eloquently proclaims her as a daughter, worthy to inherit that priceless heritage bequeathed to her by Bahá'u'lláh. A purity of life that reflected itself in even the minutest details of her daily occupations and activities; a tenderness of heart that obliterated every distinction of creed, class and colour; a resignation and serenity that evoked to the mind the calm and heroic fortitude of the Bab; a natural fondness of flowers and children that was so characteristic of Bahá'u'lláh; an unaffected simplicity of manners; an extreme sociability which made her accessible to all; a generosity, a love, at once disinterested and undiscriminating, that reflected so clearly the attributes of Abdu'l-Bahá's character; a sweetness of temper; a cheerfulness that no amount of sorrow could becloud; a quiet and unassuming disposition that served to enhance a thousandfold the prestige of her exalted rank; a forgiving nature that instantly disarmed the most unyielding enemy — these rank among the outstanding attributes of a saintly life which history will acknowledge as having been endowed with a celestial potency that few of the heroes of the past possessed...
"Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf! Through the mist of tears that fill my eyes I can clearly see, as I pen these lines, thy noble figure before me, and can recognize the serenity of thy kindly face. I can still gaze, though the shadows of the grave separate us, into thy blue, love-deep eyes, and can feel in its calm intensity, the immense love thou didst bear for the Cause of thine Almighty Father, the attachment that bound thee to the most lowly and insignificant among its followers, the warm affection thou didst cherish for me in thine heart. The memory of the ineffable beauty of thy smile shall ever continue to cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch of thine hand shall spur me on to follow steadfastly in thy way. The sweet magic of thy voice shall remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to hold fast to the rope thou didst seize so firmly all the days of thy life...
"Whatever betide us, however distressing the vicissitudes which the nascent Faith of God may yet experience, we pledge ourselves, before the mercy-seat of thy glorious Father, to hand on, unimpaired and undivided, to generations yet unborn, the glory of that tradition of which thou has been its most brilliant exemplar.
"In the innermost recesses of our hearts, O thou exalted Leaf of the Abha Paradise, we have reared for thee a shining mansion that the hand of time can never undermine, a shrine which shall frame eternally the matchless beauty of thy countenance, an altar whereon the fire of thy consuming love shall burn for ever." [7-11]
The third child of Navvab was her noble and long-suffering son, the Purest Branch. He was the one who, in the prime of youth, offered up his life in the path of his Lord.[1] In a prayer revealed after his martyrdom Bahá'u'lláh makes the following statement which Shoghi Effendi describes as astounding:
[1 For a more detailed study of his life, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 3.]
"I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united." [7-12]
It is at once significant and mysterious that the unity of mankind, the pivot around which all the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh revolve, would come into being as a result of the sacrifice of the Purest Branch. Here are Bahá'u'lláh's words after that tragic event:
"At this very moment, My son is being washed before My face, after Our having sacrificed him in the Most Great Prison. Thereat have the dwellers of the Abha Tabernacle wept with a great weeping, and such as have suffered imprisonment with this Youth in the path of God, the Lord of the promised Day, lamented. Under such conditions My Pen hath not been prevented from remembering its Lord, the Lord of all nations. It summoneth the people unto God, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful. This is the day whereon he that was created by the light of Baha has suffered martyrdom, at a time when he lay imprisoned at the hands of his enemies.
"Upon thee, O Branch of God! be the remembrance of God and His praise, and the praise of all that dwell in the Realm of Immortality, and of all the denizens of the Kingdom of Names. Happy art thou in that thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, until Thou didst sacrifice thyself before the face of thy Lord, the Almighty, the Unconstrained. Thou, in truth, hast been wronged, and to this testifieth the Beauty of Him, the Self-Subsisting. Thou didst, in the first days of thy life, bear that which hath caused all things to groan; and made every pillar to tremble. Happy is the one that remembereth thee, and draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the Creator of the Morn.
"Glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God! Thou seest me in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son blood-stained before Thy face, O Thou in Whose hands is the kingdom of all names. I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united. Blessed art thou, and blessed he that turneth unto thee, and visiteth thy grave, and draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the Lord of all that was and shall be... I testify that thou didst return in meekness unto thine abode. Great is thy blessedness and the blessedness of them that hold fast unto the hem of thy outspread robe... Thou art, verily, the trust of God and His treasure in this land. Erelong will God reveal through thee that which He hath desired. He, verily, is the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. When thou wast laid to rest in the earth, the earth itself trembled in its longing to meet thee. Thus hath it been decreed, and yet the people perceive not.... Were We to recount the mysteries of thine ascension, they that are asleep would waken, and all beings would be set ablaze with the fire of the remembrance of My Name, the Mighty, the Loving." [7-13]
Indeed, the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Navvab, whose 'husband' is 'the Lord of Hosts', has been fulfilled.
"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."
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