The Merchant Who Heard the Good News

*A retelling for children, based on the account of Husayn Effendi Tabrízí in **Bahá'í Chronicles**, drawn from 'Abdu'l-Bahá's* Memorials of the Faithful.

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In a busy harbor town called Smyrna, where ships came and went and merchants counted their coins, a young man named Husayn heard some words he would never forget.

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Husayn had grown up far away, in the city of Tabríz in Persia. While he was still young, he had packed up and sailed off to faraway lands to make his living buying and selling goods. He was a merchant, busy with his prices and his ledgers — the lists where merchants write down every coin that comes in and every coin that goes out.

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But Husayn carried something else inside him, too. His heart was full of the love of God, the way a cup is filled right up to the brim.

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One day, in that harbor town, someone brought him astonishing news. A new Messenger of God had appeared on the earth — Bahá'u'lláh. When Husayn heard it, he could not hold in his joy. He shouted out loud. He felt as if the whole world had filled with music and he was swept up in the wonder of it.

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And then he did something brave. Husayn looked at his shop, and his coins, and his long lists of buying and selling — and he left them all behind. None of it mattered now beside this one great thing. He set out to find Bahá'u'lláh, the Beloved of his heart.

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His journey carried him all the way into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh. And there Husayn was given a wonderful gift: for a time he stayed close by as a trusted helper, serving Bahá'u'lláh Himself. Then Bahá'u'lláh asked him to go and make his home in the city of Haifa.

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So Husayn settled in Haifa, and his house became something special. Whenever Bahá'ís traveled through, weary from the road, they knew where they could stop. Husayn's door was always open. He looked after the friends and welcomed travelers like family.

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And he was kind to everyone — not only to the friends he knew, but to strangers too, and to people from every land and nation. He wished good things for all of them. He had a bright and gentle way about him, and his heart was always set on the things of the spirit.

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Husayn stayed faithful and true his whole life long. He felt richer than the kings of the earth — not because of gold, but because his heart belonged to God.

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When someone loves God with a whole and brimming heart, that love does not stay locked inside. It spills out as kindness — an open door, a welcome for the stranger, a good wish for every person who passes by. That is the kind of treasure no merchant's ledger could ever measure.

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Husayn rests today in Haifa, and the Bahá'ís remember him with love.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["Husayn Effendi Tabrízí"](/stories/bc-husayn-effendi-tabrizi).*

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