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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
The first eighteen disciples of the Báb — the founders of the Bábí community.
200 years ago in Persia, there were many with the same expectation, that the Qa’im, the promised one, would soon appear. Amongst them lived Siyyid Kazim, wise man, teacher, spiritual divine, who studied the texts of the Holy books and…
Badasht is a village some distance from Tihrán in the northeast part of the country. The Conference of Badasht was held in July 1848. Eighty-one of the Báb’s most distinguished followers came together in this Conference. The principal…
The Bab's three uncles: Haji Mirza Siyyid Ali aka the Greatest Uncle - he was the middle brother, Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad aka the Greater Uncle - he was the eldest of the three brothers, and Haji Mirza Hassan Ali, the younger Uncle.…
No sooner had Haji Muhammad-Taqi uttered these words than Siyyid Murtada, who was one of the noted merchants of Zanjan, hastened to take precedence of his companions. He flung himself over the body of Haji Muhammad-Taqi, and pleaded that,…
When young, he joined the circle of the late Siyyid Kázim and became one of his disciples. He was known in Persia for his purity of life, winning fame as Mullá Ṣádiq the saintly. ** Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq (Mullá ****Ṣ****ádiq…
An elaborate and exhaustive interrogation was conducted in the presence of the representatives of the Persian government and others during which Fadil had the opportunity to explain the purpose of his mission and defend the Bahá'í…
He was the fifteenth Letter of the Living. He was the brother of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí Qazvíní. ** Mírzá Hádí-i-Qazvíní, Letter of the…
He was the son of Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, a mujtahid (preeminent religious scholar) of Qazvin; cousin and brother-in-law of Táhirih, closely associated with her in Karbala. ** Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alíy-i-Qazvíní, Letter of the…
He was the third Letter of the Living and was the nephew of Mullá Husayn. ** Mírzá Muhammad Báqir Bushrú’í, Letter of the…
He was the younger brother of Mulla Husayn and the second Letter of the Living. ** Mírzá Muhammad Hasan Bushrú’í, Letter of the…
Mírzá Muhammad Rawdih-Khán Yazdí (or Dhákir-i-Masá’ib) was the eighth Letter of the Living. ** Mírzá Muhammad Rawdih-Khán Yazdí, Letter of the…
Large crowds of people thronged the approaches to the headquarters of the government, eager to learn what would befall him. "Since last night," the Amir, as soon as he had seen him, remarked, " I have been besieged by all classes of State…
During the nineteen days that he remained there he drank his fill from the life-giving draught of the presence of the Master and on daily basis paid homage to the Sacred Shrine of Baha’u’llah. **Mirza Yusuf Vahid Kashfi Born:**…
He was the twelfth Letter of the Living. He was present at the Conference of Badasht, a gathering of the Báb’s followers held in 1848. ** Mullá Ahmad-i-Ibdál-i-Marághi’í, Letter of the…
Mullá ‘Alí set out according to the Bab’s special instructions. He went first to Bushehr, where he met with the Báb’s uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, who years later accepted both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. By the late summer of 1844,…
He assisted Táhirih in Karbala, then traveled to Iran with her. He was present at the Conference of Badasht and later visited the Báb while He was in prison in Azerbaijan. ** Mullá Báqir-i-Tabrízí, Letter of the…
Mullá Hasan Bajistání was the sixth Letter of the Living. ** Mullá Hasan Bajistání, Letter of the…
He cheered and strengthened the disconsolate disciples of his beloved chief ** Mullá Husayn Bushrú’í, Letter of the…
The Bab often remarked how out of a city full of clergy, divines and religious institutions that the first to recognize the truth was a sifter of wheat, Mulla Jafar Isfahani. ** Mulla Jafar Isfahani (Sifter of…
Mullá Jalíl Urúmí was the eleventh Letter of the Living. He taught the Bábí Faith especially in Azerbaijan and Qazvin ** Mullá Jalíl-i-Urúmí, Letter of the…
He was the fifth Letter of the Living. He returned to Karbala from Shiraz. ** Mullá Khudá-Bakhsh Qúchání, Letter of the…
Mullá Mahmúd Khú’í was the tenth Letter of the Living. ** Mullá Mahmúd-i-Khú’í (Letter of the…
He was noted for his learning and eloquence. He played an active and prominent role among the Bábís. ** Mullá Yúsuf-i-Ardibílí, Letter of the…
He was designated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha as the “Moon of Guidance” and his “appearance the Revelation of St. John the Divine anticipated as one of the two ‘Witnesses’ into whom, ere the ‘second woe is past,’ the ‘spirit of life from God’ must…
Shaykh Hasan recognized in the Báb all those attributes his master had predicted, and he became His devoted disciple, travelling far and wide to be close to the newest Manifestation of God on earth. When the ulama of Isfahan issued the…
He accompanied the Báb as His secretary during His imprisonment in Mákú and Chihríq. He became known as Kátib (the Amanuensis). ** Siyyid Husayn Yazdí, Letter of the…
Siyyid Mirza Husayn-i-Mutavalli was the recipient of the Tablet Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand. This man was a Babi who had been with 300 others under the leadership of Quddus at the Tabarsi fort, where they were attacked and starved. **…
When the prison authorities brought the Baha'i prisoners together in February, Tahirih saw her husband for the first time since their arrest. He had been so badly beaten that she could barely recognize him. **Tahirih Siyavushi, one…
Táhirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mullá Javád violently objected, telling her: “Your father is an enemy of the Twin Luminous Lights, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. **…
Although the young merchant's given name was Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, He took the name "Báb"…
On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He declared that “God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Bábhood.” In “A Traveller’s Narrative”7 we read that:—“What he intended by the term Báb was this,…
The first eighteen disciples of the Báb (with Himself as nineteenth) became known as “Letters of the Living.” These disciples He sent to different parts of Persian and Turkistán to spread the news of His advent. Meantime He Himself set…
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<div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Siyyid Kazim died in Karbila, Iraq, on December 31, 1843, his enemies became emboldened and renewed their hurtful activities to further discredit his teachings…
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here is a brief story of the early life of Mulla Husayn whose amazing station is summarized below by the beloved Guardian:</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family: "verdana" ,…
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Táhirih was a woman of rare accomplishment. Most Persian women were not educated, but Táhirih's father had recognized early on that his young daughter was gifted with an especially keen mind. He loved her dearly and educated her the same…
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<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the whole range of Bahá'u'lláh's Writings, the Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude) has most importance, with the exception of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book). It was revealed in Baghdad…
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Nabíl records the nine-month imprisonment of the Báb at the mountain fortress of Máh-Kú on the western frontier of Persia — and the remarkable transformation of His warden, 'Alí Khán, from a hostile jailer into a devoted believer who could no longer hold the door closed against the friends.
Late in 1844 the Báb, accompanied by Quddús, sailed from Búshihr for the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The voyage was long, the water was scarce, the bedouins were thieves; and at the heart of the Sacred Mosque the Báb proclaimed His station openly to a prominent scholar of His age.
Nabíl's chronicle records the return of Bahá'u'lláh from Karbilá in the autumn of 1842 — a young nobleman not yet thirty, returning by horse to Tihrán with the resolve to take up the work the city had been preparing for. The intervening years of His ministry to the wider Bábí community would, in retrospect, take their root in that journey home.
In the weeks following Mullá Ḥusayn's recognition of the Báb in Shíráz in May 1844, seventeen further disciples of Siyyid Káẓim arrived from various provinces. Each came expecting to be tested. Each was, instead, recognised by the Báb Himself before they had spoken. They became the Letters of the Living — and one place remained reserved.
Following the Báb's instruction sent from Máh-Kú, Mullá Ḥusayn left Mashhad in the summer of 1848 wearing the Báb's own green turban, the Black Standard unfurled before him. He was, the Master had told him, to march to *the Verdant Isle* — Mázindarán — and the seventy-two companions who would die at his side were already gathering.
Nabíl's chronicle records the death of Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú'í, first of the Letters of the Living, in the closing months of the siege of the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí in Mázindarán. He led the final sortie at dawn on February 2, 1849, and fell with a musket-ball to the chest in the same charge that broke the Imperial line.
After the betrayal of the Bábís at Fort Ṭabarsí in the spring of 1849, Quddús was led back into Bárfurúsh. He was eighteen of the Báb's Letters of the Living and the only one besides Bahá'u'lláh who would be honoured by the Báb with a written commentary. He was killed in the open square of the town. His last words were of the splendour of his nuptials.
Nabíl's chronicle opens with the figure of Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í, the Arabian scholar who, at the age of forty, set out from al-Aḥsá in 1216 A.H. to prepare a generation of disciples for the imminent appearance of the promised One. He recognized the birth of Bahá'u'lláh in Núr in 1233 A.H. as the secret event that justified his entire ministry.
As his life drew to a close in Karbilá in 1259 A.H., Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí gathered his disciples and gave them the charge that the Dawn-Breakers treats as the immediate prologue to the Báb's Declaration: scatter yourselves over the face of the earth, detach yourselves from all earthly things, and seek the Promised One who is now manifest.
Nabíl's chronicle records the final months of Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí in late 1843 and early 1844 — the second of the two great preparatory teachers of the dawn of the Revelation. He told his closest students that the Promised One would appear in their own lifetime; that he himself would not live to see Him; that they must scatter across Persia in search of Him.
Nabíl's chronicle records the conference at Badasht in the summer of 1848 — the meeting at which the eighty-one principal Bábí teachers of the time gathered in three small gardens to consult on the relation of the new Faith to the Islamic past. The decisive moment came when Ṭáhirih appeared before the assembled men with her veil removed.
Shoghi Effendi's account, in *God Passes By*, of the conference at Badasht in 1848 — and the moment when Ṭáhirih, "adorned yet unveiled," announced that the day of the new Dispensation had begun.
Nabíl's account, in *The Dawn-Breakers*, of the night of May 22–23, 1844, when Mullá Ḥusayn met the Báb at the gate of Shíráz, accepted His invitation home, and at two hours and eleven minutes after sunset became the first to recognise Him.
In the 1840’s the sea journey from Bushihr to Jiddah was a dangerous and uncomfortable one; the distance was about 4000 kilometres and the journey took about two months. The seas were often rough, the storms frequent, water was scarce and…
It was June of 1847. An immense crowd of people thronged the gate of the city of Tabriz to witness the very first time that the Báb entered their city. Some were merely curious, while others were earnestly trying to find out if the Báb…
1.For the author of The Dawn-Breakers, see Nabíl-i-Zarandí.2.Cf. Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 395, note 1.3.Cf. Qur’án 19:98.4.Qur’án 3:91.5.Qur’án 54:55.6.1849–1850.7.1853; 1892.8.Áqá Ján. Cf. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p.…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas — the Khurásání cleric who, after recognising the Báb, suffered the bastinado in Shíráz with Quddús and went on to give the rest of his life to the Cause through every successive trial of its early decades.
Munirih Khánum, who later became the wife of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, met Khadijih-Bagum before leaving Persia for Holy Land. She was living at the time in Isfahan, a city about 200 miles north of Shiraz, and was summoned to ‘Akka by Bahá’u’lláh.…
My son, Ethan Olinga, who is ten years old now, was sung to during pregnancy and early months of his life as I fed him, just as the Master says mothers should. He was also exposed to the photo of the Master and always encouraged to have an…
No students have had to study harder or more earnestly than those theology students in the madrisihs. They read day and night, neglecting food and sleep. Some invented means by which to keep themselves awake to study more, such as tying…
In the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of St. John it is…
Question.—Those who are blessed with good actions and universal benevolence, who have praiseworthy characteristics, who act with love and kindness toward all creatures, who care for the poor, and who strive to establish universal…
How veiled are ye, O My creatures,62 ... who, without any right, have consigned Him unto a mountain [Mákú], not one of whose inhabitants is worthy of mention... With Him, which is with Me, there is no one except him who is one of the…
Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants and all abide by His bidding! Footnotes 1.This is the first letter of ‘Thamárih’ which means ‘fruit’. Shoghi Effendi, in…
O Ye who are invested with the Bayán! Be ye watchful on the Day of Resurrection, for on that Day ye will firmly believe in the Vahíd of the Bayán, though this, even as your past religion which proved of no avail, can in no wise benefit…
In the early days of His Declaration in 1844, the Báb addressed a Tablet to Mullá Ḥusayn, His first disciple, on the eve of Mullá Ḥusayn's departure from Shíráz to begin the work of teaching the new Cause across Persia. The Tablet preserved in Selections from the Writings of the Báb sets out the spirit in which that mission was to be carried out.
Twelve hundred and seventy years have elapsed since the declaration of Muḥammad, and each year unnumbered people have circumambulated the House of God [Mecca]. In the concluding year of this period He Who is Himself the Founder of the…
In the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most…
Tahirih loved pretty clothes, and perfumes, and she loved to eat. She could eat sweets all day long. Once, years after Tahirih had gone, an American woman traveled to 'Akka and sat at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Table; the food was good; and she ate…
“When you give the Message of this Manifestation many say, 'This is nothing new—I prefer the home of my old religious belief which has been so serviceable and trustworthy.'” ‘Abdu'l-Bahá answered: “Bahá‘u'lláh is the same Light in a…
There was then in Baghdad an earnest Bábí, formerly a pupil of Kurratu I'Aeyn (Tahirih, a woman famous for her beauty and learning, who was one of the disciples of the Báb, and a martyr). This man said to us that as he had no ties and did…
Touching the individual known as the Báb and the true nature of this sect diverse tales are on the tongues and in the mouths of men, and various accounts are contained in the pages of Persian history and the leaves of European…
absolutism in [the conduct of] affairs: on his own decisive resolution, without seeking permission from the Royal Presence or taking counsel with prudent statesmen, he issued orders to persecute the Bábís, imagining that by overweening…
Upon His arrival in Jaddih, the Báb donned the pilgrim's garb, mounted a camel, and set out on His journey to Mecca [to perform His pilgrimage]. Quddus, however, notwithstanding the repeatedly expressed desire of his Master, preferred to…
While in Sari, Quddus frequently attempted to convince Mirza Muhammad-Taqi of the truth of the Divine Message. He freely conversed with him on the most weighty and outstanding issues related to the Revelation of the Báb. His bold and…
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