The Stirrup-Maker of Shíráz

Mirza Aqay-i-Rikab-Saz, an early martyr of the Faith, was the recipient of the Tablet of the Verse of Light, as he had requested that Bahá’u’lláh interpret the isolated letters at the chapter beginnings of the Qur’an. He was devoted to the Báb, unshakable in his faith despite persecution.

The name Rikáb-Sáz means “stirrup-maker.” H. M. Balyuzi counts him among the early Bábís of Shíráz, one who gave his allegiance to the Báb after the Báb was brought to the Mosque of Vakíl, and one of the very few believers to be martyred in Shíráz itself. He wrote a fine naskh hand. Balyuzi owned a copy of the Kitáb-i-Íqán in Mírzá Áqá’s handwriting, and its first page appears as the frontispiece of his book Bahá’u’lláh, The King of Glory.

Adib Taherzadeh explains that Mírzá Áqá asked Bahá’u’lláh to interpret a certain verse of the Qur’án and to explain the meaning of the isolated letters that stand at the beginning of some of its chapters, “letters which had puzzled many of the divines and students of the Qur’an.” Bahá’u’lláh answered both questions in a lengthy Tablet revealed in Arabic, the Lawḥ-i-Áyiy-i-Núr, which is also known as the Interpretation of the Isolated Letters.

Balyuzi relates that when Ḥisámu’s-Salṭanih was governor-general of Fárs, Mushíru’l-Mulk, the vazír of the province, stirred up trouble against the Bahá’ís of Shíráz. Mírzá Áqá was betrayed to Shaykh Ḥusayn, the Náẓimu’sh-Sharí‘ih, a bitter enemy of the Báb, and was arrested. Several other Bahá’ís were imprisoned with him. Some were released through the efforts of friends; Mírzá Áqá was not, and he met his death in the governor’s prison. Shoghi Effendi records it in these words:

“In Shíráz Mírzá Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz, together with Mírzá Rafí-i-Khayyát and Mashhadí Nabí, were by order of the local mujtahid simultaneously strangled in the dead of night, their graves being later desecrated by a mob who heaped refuse upon them.”

Sources: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, ch. XII; Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 1, pp. 125–26; H. M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 230, and The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days, ch. 7; as compiled by Bahá'í Chronicles (https://bahaichronicles.org/mirza-aqay-i-rikab-saz/).

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mirza-aqay-i-rikab-saz/