The Faithful Messenger

A retelling for children, based on the account of Mullá Báqir-i-Tabrízí in Bahá'í Chronicles.

When the Báb first began to teach, He chose a small group of people to be His earliest followers and helpers. They were called the Letters of the Living. One of them was a man named Mullá Báqir, who came from the city of Tabríz. He was the thirteenth of that special group — and his story is the story of a life spent helping others.

It started in a city called Karbala. There lived a brave and brilliant woman named Táhirih, who was teaching the new Faith with great courage. Mullá Báqir became her helper. Wherever the work was hard, he was there to lend a hand. And when Táhirih left Karbala and traveled all the way to Iran, Mullá Báqir did not stay behind where things were easy. He went with her, traveling the long road by her side.

In Iran, the believers gathered for an important meeting in a place called Badasht. Mullá Báqir was there too, among the friends who came together to talk about their new Faith and what it meant for the world.

But perhaps the most important thing Mullá Báqir ever did was something quiet — something that took trust. The Báb had been taken far away and shut up in a prison in the mountains of Azerbaijan. Most people could not reach Him there. Yet Mullá Báqir was allowed to visit Him.

Think about what that meant. When you carry a message for someone, you have to be the kind of person who can be trusted completely — someone who will not lose the letter, will not forget, will not give up partway. The Báb trusted Mullá Báqir to be exactly that kind of messenger. Mullá Báqir carried the Báb's letters and other things out of the prison and made sure they reached the One the Báb wished them delivered to: Bahá'u'lláh.

Later, Mullá Báqir went to the city of Baghdad to visit Bahá'u'lláh Himself. After that visit, his heart was sure, and he became a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. His life of service was not over — not at all. Twice he made the long journey to the city of Acre, far away, just to be near Bahá'u'lláh. And when at last it was time to rest, Bahá'u'lláh gave him permission to spend his final years in the city of Istanbul.

One by one, over many years, the other Letters of the Living passed away. And Mullá Báqir lived on, the last one left — the very last of that first small group the Báb had chosen at the beginning of it all.

Mullá Báqir was never the most famous person in his own story. He was the helper, the traveling companion, the trusted messenger. But that is its own kind of greatness. A life that keeps showing up — carrying the message, walking the long road, staying faithful to the very end — is a life that truly matters.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Mullá Báqir-i-Tabrízí".

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mulla-baqir-tabrizi/