Mullá Ṣádiq’s Joy Under the Lash

In 1845 Mullá Ṣádiq, who was posthumously named a Hand of the Cause by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was arrested in Shíráz together with Quddús as a result of a commotion that was stirred up in the city. This was caused by an addition to the Muslim call to prayer that the Báb had enjoined, which Mullá Ṣádiq proclaimed while leading his congregation in prayer. They were both brought to the governor’s residence and subjected to his angry inquiry. Becoming sorely displeased with Mullá Ṣádiq’s answers, he ordered his attendants to inflict upon them a hideous and exceptionally cruel punishment, including a thousand lashes for Mullá Ṣádiq. Below is an eye-witness account reported to Nabíl by a man who was not a believer; Nabíl later confirmed it with Mullá Ṣádiq himself:

An eye-witness of this revolting episode, an unbeliever residing in Shíráz, related to me the following: “I was present when Mullá Sádiq was being scourged. I watched his persecutors each in turn apply the lash to his bleeding shoulders, and continue the strokes until he became exhausted. No one believed that Mullá Sádiq, so advanced in age and so frail in body, could possibly survive fifty such savage strokes. We marvelled at his fortitude when we found that, although the number of the strokes of the scourge he had received had already exceeded nine hundred, his face still retained its original serenity and calm. A smile was upon his face, as he held his hand before his mouth. He seemed utterly indifferent to the blows that were being showered upon him. When he was being expelled from the city, I succeeded in approaching him, and asked him why he held his hand before his mouth. I expressed surprise at the smile upon his countenance. He emphatically replied: ‘The first seven strokes were severely painful; to the rest I seemed to have grown indifferent. I was wondering whether the strokes that followed were being actually applied to my own body. A feeling of joyous exultation had invaded my soul. I was trying to repress my feelings and to restrain my laughter. I can now realise how the almighty Deliverer is able, in the twinkling of an eye, to turn pain into ease, and sorrow into gladness. Immensely exalted is His power above and beyond the idle fancy of His mortal creatures.’” Mullá Sádiq, whom I met years after, confirmed every detail of this moving episode.

— Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 144–148

Source: Baha'i Stories Blog (https://bahaistories.blogspot.com/2021/01/divine-intervention-in-twinkling-of-eye.html).

Various. *Baha'i Stories Blog*. https://bahaistories.blogspot.com/2021/01/divine-intervention-in-twinkling-of-eye.html