Raḍá’r-Rúḥ at the House of Vaḥíd

It was during the upheaval at Nayríz. Muhammad-‘Abdu’llah, wounded in the foot, had been carried to the house of Vahid, and the enemy followed him to that house, fully determined to seize and slay him. The clamour of the people that had massed around his house compelled Vahid to order Mulla Muhammad-Riday-i-Manshadi, one of the most enlightened ulamas of Manshad, who had discarded his turban and offered himself as his doorkeeper, to sally forth and, with the aid of six companions, whom he would choose, to scatter their forces. “Let each one of you raise his voice,” he commanded them, “and repeat seven times the words ‘Allah-u-Akbar,’ and on your seventh invocation spring forward at one and the same moment into the midst of your assailants.”

Mulla Muhammad-Rida, whom Bahá’u’lláh had named Rada’r-Ruh, sprang to his feet and, with his companions, straightway proceeded to fulfil the instructions he had received. Those who accompanied him, though frail of form and inexperienced in the art of swordsmanship, were fired with a faith that made them the terror of their adversaries. Seven of the most redoubtable among the enemy perished that day, which was the twenty-seventh of the month of Jamadiyu’th-Thani. “No sooner had we routed the enemy,” Mulla Muhammad-Rida related, “and returned to the house of Vahid, than we found Muhammad-‘Abdu’llah lying wounded before us. He was carried to our leader, and partook of the food with which the latter had been served. Afterwards he was borne to a hiding place, where he remained concealed until he recovered from his wound. Eventually he was seized and slain by the enemy.”

That very night, Vahid bade his companions disperse and exercise the utmost vigilance to secure their safety. He advised his wife to remove, with her children and all their belongings, to the home of her father, and to leave behind whatever was his personal property. “This palatial residence,” he informed her, “I have built with the sole intention that it should be eventually demolished in the path of the Cause, and the stately furnishings with which I have adorned it have been purchased in the hope that one day I shall be able to sacrifice them for the sake of my Beloved.”

Source: Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, chapter 22, pp. 473–474, as reproduced by Bahá'í Chronicles (https://bahaichronicles.org/mulla-muhammad-riday-i-manshadi-radar-ruh/).

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mulla-muhammad-riday-i-manshadi-radar-ruh/