The Marriage of Ásíyih Khánum

*A retelling based on the spoken chronicles of Bahíyyih Khánum and Túbá Khánum in **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield.*

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Lady Blomfield wrote that most of the details in Bahíyyih Khánum's spoken chronicle were given to her in conversations with Khánum herself. The chronicle opens with Khánum's parents and with her mother's marriage.

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Ásíyih Khánum, her daughter recalled, was married to Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʿAlí of Núr, later known as Bahá'u'lláh, when she was very young. She was the only daughter of a Persian vizier of high degree, Mírzá Ismá'íl, and both he and Bahá'u'lláh's father, Mírzá 'Abbás, possessed great wealth. When Ásíyih Khánum's brother also married Bahá'u'lláh's sister, the double alliance of the two noble families roused much interest throughout the land. "It is adding wealth to wealth," the people said.

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Her wedding treasures were extensive, as was the custom in families of their standing. Forty mules were loaded with her possessions when she came to her husband's home. For six months before the marriage a jeweller worked at her home, and even the buttons of her garments were of gold, set with precious stones.

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Bahíyyih Khánum told Lady Blomfield:

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> I wish you could have seen her as I first remember her, tall, slender, > graceful, eyes of dark blue - a pearl, a flower amongst women.

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She had been told that even when her mother was very young, her wisdom and intelligence were remarkable. From the early years of their marriage, Ásíyih Khánum and Bahá'u'lláh took as little part as possible in State functions, social ceremonies and the luxurious habits of wealthy Persian families. They counted these worldly pleasures meaningless, and preferred to spend their time caring for the poor and for all who were unhappy or in trouble. "From our doors nobody was ever turned away," Khánum said. The people called Bahá'u'lláh "The Father of the Poor" and Ásíyih Khánum "The Mother of Consolation."

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The wealth did not last. In 1852, when Bahá'u'lláh was arrested and thrown into prison, nearly all their relations, friends and servants fled, and the house was stripped of everything. Ásíyih Khánum saved a few of her marriage treasures and sold them, and with the money she paid the gaolers to take food to her husband in prison. Before the family was banished to Baghdád she sold almost all that remained to prepare for the journey. The jewelled gold buttons, her daughter said, were exchanged for bread on the terrible exile journey from Ṭihrán to Baghdád.

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Her granddaughter Túbá Khánum, the daughter of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, remembered her in the little hired house in 'Akká, in a tiny, bare room. Bahá'u'lláh had only two coats, which were apt to wear out, and Túbá Khánum remembered her spending much of her time patching and darning them. Bahá'u'lláh addressed her as "Navváb," a title of great courtesy and respect.

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*A retelling based on **The Chosen Highway**. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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