The Babis' Angel Gabriel

A retelling based on Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Short phrases in quotation marks are words preserved in that account.

"Who are you?" the chief of police asked.

The day before, the man standing in front of him had been seen in the bazaar of Tihran, walking beside Aqa Muhammad Taqiy-i-Kashani. The farrashes had followed him and found out where he lived. Now the police had come looking for him and brought him here.

"I am from Hindiyan," he replied. "I have come to Tihran and am on my way to Khurasan, for a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Imam Rida."

His name was Shaykh Salman. In the year 1266 A.H., in Hindiyan, he had first heard the summons of God, and his heart had leapt for joy. The pull of it was too strong to resist. He had walked all the way to Tihran, and there, secretly and with ardent love, he had joined the believers.

What had he been doing yesterday, the chief wanted to know, with that man in the white robe?

Salman said he had sold the man an 'aba the day before, and yesterday he was to be paid for it.

"You are a stranger here," said the chief. "How could you trust him?"

"A money-changer guaranteed the payment," Salman answered. He was thinking of a respected believer, Aqa Muhammad-i-Sarraf, whose very name means money-changer.

So a farrash was sent with him to the money-changer's to look into it. The farrash went in ahead and asked what all this was about the sale of an 'aba and a guarantee of payment. The money-changer said he knew nothing about it.

"Come along," the farrash said to Salman. "All is clear at last. You are a Babi."

As it happened, the turban on Salman's head was like the turbans worn in Shushtar. As the two of them were passing a crossroads, a man from Shushtar came out of his shop, threw his arms around Salman and cried: "Where have you been, Khajih Muhammad-'Ali? When did you arrive? Welcome!"

Salman replied, "I came here a few days ago and now the police have arrested me."

"What do you want with him?" the merchant asked the farrash. "What are you after?"

"He is a Babi," was the answer.

"God forbid!" cried the man from Shushtar. He knew him well, he said: Khajih Muhammad-'Ali was a God-fearing Muslim, a devout follower of the Imam 'Ali. With that he gave the farrash a sum of money, and Salman was freed.

They went into the shop together, and the merchant began to ask him how he was faring.

Salman told him: "I am not Khajih Muhammad-'Ali."

The man from Shushtar was dumbfounded. "You look exactly like him!" he exclaimed. "You two are identical. However, since you are not he, give me back the money I paid the farrash."

Salman gave him the money at once. Then he left the shop, went out through the city gate, and set off for Hindiyan.

When Baha'u'llah arrived in 'Iraq, the first messenger to reach His presence was Salman, and he went home carrying Tablets addressed to the friends in Hindiyan. After that, once every year, he set out on foot to see his Well-Beloved. Then he retraced his steps, carrying Tablets to Isfahan, Shiraz, Kashan, Tihran and many other cities.

From the year 69 until the ascension of Baha'u'llah in 1309 A.H., some forty years, he did this every single year. He walked from Persia to 'Iraq, or to Adrianople, or to the Most Great Prison at 'Akka. He arrived bringing letters and left carrying Tablets, and he delivered each one to the person it was written for. He came, 'Abdu'l-Baha writes, "with the greatest eagerness and love, and then went back again."

He had remarkable powers of endurance. On the road he usually ate nothing but onions and bread. And he travelled so carefully that in all those years he was never once held up and never once lost a letter or a Tablet. "Every letter was safely delivered; every Tablet reached its intended recipient."

In Isfahan he was put through severe trials, over and over again, and each time he remained patient and thankful. People who did not share his faith gave him a name. They called him "the Babis' Angel Gabriel." In Islamic belief, Gabriel is the angel who brought the Word of God to the Prophet Muhammad.

Salman was close to the heart of Baha'u'llah, Who looked upon him with special favour and grace. There are Tablets in the Holy Writings revealed in his name.

After the ascension of Baha'u'llah, Salman stayed faithful to the Covenant, and he kept on coming. Every year, as before, he came to the Most Great Prison with the believers' mail and went back to Persia carrying the answers. At last, in Shiraz, he "winged his way to the Kingdom of glory."

'Abdu'l-Baha writes of him: "From the dawn of history until the present day, there has never been a messenger so worthy of trust; there has never been a courier to compare with Salman."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Baha.

'Abdu'l-Baha. *Memorials of the Faithful*.