Ásíyih Khánum's Wedding Treasures

A retelling for children, based on the memories of Bahíyyih Khánum and Túbá Khánum in The Chosen Highway by Lady Blomfield.

Ásíyih Khánum was the only daughter of a Persian vizier, an important minister of the government, and her family was very rich. When she was still very young, she married Mírzá Ḥusayn-ʿAlí of Núr, whom the world would later know as Bahá'u'lláh. His family was rich too. Her brother also married His sister, and people all over the land talked about the two noble families joining together. "It is adding wealth to wealth," they said.

Her wedding treasures were splendid. For six months before the wedding, a jeweller worked at her home, and even the buttons on her clothes were made of gold and set with precious stones. When she came to her new home, forty mules were loaded with her things.

Her daughter, Bahíyyih Khánum, later told Lady Blomfield how her mother looked:

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.

But Ásíyih Khánum and Bahá'u'lláh did not care for grand parties and rich living. From the early years of their marriage they spent their time caring for the poor and for anyone who was unhappy or in trouble. Nobody who came to their door was ever turned away. People called Bahá'u'lláh "The Father of the Poor" and Ásíyih Khánum "The Mother of Consolation."

Then hard times came. In 1852 Bahá'u'lláh was put in prison because of His faith, and everything in their house was taken. Ásíyih Khánum saved a few of her wedding treasures and sold them, and with the money she paid the jailers to take food to Him in prison. When the family was sent away into exile, she sold almost everything that was left to prepare for the journey. On the long winter journey from Ṭihrán to Baghdád, those gold buttons were traded for bread.

Many years later, in 'Akká, her granddaughter Túbá Khánum remembered her in a tiny, bare room. Bahá'u'lláh had only two coats, and they wore out, so Ásíyih Khánum spent much of her time patching and darning them.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Marriage of Ásíyih Khánum".

Blomfield, L.. (1940). *The Chosen Highway*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.