Shaykh Ismá‘íl and the Ode of Sulaymáníyyih

Shaykh Ismá‘íl was the leader of the Khálidíyyih Order of Sufis in Sulaymáníyyih. When Bahá’u’lláh withdrew to the mountains of Kurdistán, Shaykh Ismá‘íl came in contact with Him and was intensely attracted to Him, and in the end persuaded Him to leave His retreat for the town of Sulaymáníyyih.[1]

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At first the people of the town took Bahá’u’lláh to be what He presented Himself as, a dervish from Persia. Then a fragment of His writing came into the hands of one of Shaykh Ismá‘íl’s disciples, who took it to his teacher. Shaykh Ismá‘íl and some of his disciples hurried into Bahá’u’lláh’s presence and learned much from Him. When they asked Him to explain the Futúḥát al-Makkíyyih of Ibnu’l-‘Arabí, He replied that He had never read it, but granted their wish: a page was read to Him each day, and He expounded it.[2]

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They then begged Him to compose a poem in the same rhyme and meter as the Qasídiy-i-Tá’íyyih of Ibn-i-Fáriḍ, something no one had done before. He dictated some two thousand verses, and chose one hundred and twenty-seven of them, which He allowed them to keep, “deeming the subject matter of the rest premature and unsuitable to the needs of the times.” These verses are the Qasídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih.[3]

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**Sources:**

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1 – Adib Taherzadeh, *The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh*, vol. 1, p. 61

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2 – H. M. Balyuzi, *Bahá’u’lláh, The King of Glory*, p. 118

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3 – H. M. Balyuzi, *Bahá’u’lláh, The King of Glory*, p. 118; Shoghi Effendi, *God Passes By*, chapter VII

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