The Dervish Who Sang Beside the Horses

A retelling based on Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, with details from The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh by Adib Taherzadeh and Bahá'u'lláh, The King of Glory by H. M. Balyuzi. Words in quotation marks are preserved in those accounts.

Áqá Ṣidq-'Alí, known as Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí, was one of those who left their native land, journeyed to Bahá'u'lláh and were put in the Prison. He was a dervish, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, a man who lived free and detached from friend and stranger alike. He belonged to the mystic element and was a man of letters, and he had spent some time wearing the dress of poverty and travelling the Path of the Ṣúfís. He had cleansed himself of vain imaginings, and he searched only for God, spoke of God, and followed the path of God.

He had a fine poetic gift and wrote odes in praise of Him Whom the world has wronged and rejected. He was living in Qazvín, Balyuzi records, when he heard of the Faith and left Persia for Baghdád. There, 'Abdu'l-Bahá says, "that free and independent soul discovered ... a trace of the untraceable Beloved." He witnessed the dawning of the Daystar above the horizon of 'Iráq, came under the spell of Bahá'u'lláh, and was enraptured by that tender Companion. He was a quiet man who held his peace, yet his very limbs, the Master writes, were like so many tongues crying out their message.

When Bahá'u'lláh and His companions were about to leave Baghdád, Ṣidq-'Alí implored permission to go along as a groom. All day he walked beside the convoy, and when night came he attended to the horses, working with all his heart. Only after midnight would he lie down to rest. His bed was his mantle, and his pillow a sun-dried brick.

As he journeyed, filled with yearning love, he would sing poems, and he greatly pleased the friends. In him, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, the name bespoke the man, for ṣidq means truth, and he was pure candour and truth. "In his high station, that of groom, he reigned like a king; indeed he gloried over the sovereigns of the earth."

The company went on to Constantinople, then to Adrianople, and finally to the prison of 'Akká, and Ṣidq-'Alí was present throughout.

In Adrianople Bahá'u'lláh revealed in his honour the Lawḥ-i-Laylatu'l-Quds, the Tablet of the Holy Night. Its theme, Taherzadeh writes, is unity among the believers, and it includes these words:

Be most loving one to another. Burn away, wholly for the sake of the Well-Beloved, the veil of self with the flame of the undying Fire, and with faces joyous and beaming with light, associate with your neighbor.

Later in Adrianople, when Bahá'u'lláh withdrew to the house of Riḍá Big, He had His brother Áqáy-i-Kalím let His half-brother, Mírzá Yaḥyá, choose one of the companions to serve his household. Mírzá Yaḥyá asked for Ṣidq-'Alí. Bahá'u'lláh sent word to the Darvísh to serve him with the utmost truthfulness and sincerity, saying that no one among the unfaithful would be able to rob him of the love he cherished for the Blessed Beauty. He also urged him to read the Tablet of the Holy Night again, and assured him that this time he would understand its hidden meanings. On hearing the message, Taherzadeh writes, Ṣidq-'Alí fell prostrate on the ground in humility and thankfulness, and said that it was enough to sustain him, and that he would remain happy even if he had to endure afflictions for the rest of his life. He did not have to remain in that service for long.

In 1868, when Bahá'u'lláh and His companions were living in great austerity, He sent Ṣidq-'Alí and two other servants to Constantinople to sell three Arab horses that a believer in Baghdád had given Him. On arrival they were arrested and questioned by a commission. Asked whether Bahá'u'lláh had claimed to be the Mihdí, Ṣidq-'Alí replied that he had never heard Him make such a claim. Asked whether He had made any other claim, he said that Bahá'u'lláh counselled His followers to pray and fast, to observe the commandments of God and to be loving towards each other. Of himself he said that he was only a servant of Bahá'u'lláh. Later that year his name was recorded in the royal edict among those who were to go with Bahá'u'lláh to 'Akká.

In the barracks at 'Akká he wrote a poem whose chief couplet 'Abdu'l-Bahá preserves:

A hundred hearts Thy curling locks ensnare, And it rains hearts when Thou dost toss Thy hair.

While in the barracks, Bahá'u'lláh set apart a special night and dedicated it to Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí. He wrote that every year on that night the dervishes should bedeck a meeting place, which should be in a flower garden, and gather there to make mention of God. He explained, too, what the word "dervish" should mean: not those who wander about spending their nights and days in fighting and folly, but those who are completely severed from all but God, who cleave to His laws, are firm in His Faith, loyal to His Covenant, and constant in worship.

Ṣidq-'Alí spent the rest of his life under the sheltering favour of God. He was completely detached from worldly things, attentive in service, a servant to all the believers and faithful at the Holy Threshold. He died not far from his Lord in the year 1299 of the Islamic calendar, and his grave is in 'Akká.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, volume 2, by Adib Taherzadeh.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1915). *Memorials of the Faithful*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.