Memorial of Áqá Riḍáy-i-Shírází (the Companion of the Exile)
'Abdu'l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful, (1915), Bahá'í Publishing Trust · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
'Akká (today: Acre, Israel)
In Memorials of the Faithful, 'Abdu'l-Bahá recalls Áqá Riḍáy-i-Shírází among the most steady of the small inner circle of believers who accompanied Bahá'u'lláh through the successive stages of His exile.
Áqá Riḍá was a Shírází by origin — born in the city that had already become, by the events of 1844, the cradle of the new Dispensation. He embraced the Bábí Cause as a young man and followed its teaching through its difficult early years. When Bahá'u'lláh's identity as the Promised One of the Báb began to be known in the Bábí community in Baghdád, Áqá Riḍá found his way there and entered the Master's circle.
From that point his life was given over, without further deliberation, to the household of his Lord. He was among the small group that travelled with Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdád to Constantinople in 1863, accompanied Him on to Adrianople, and made the further journey to the prison-city of 'Akká in 1868. Through each removal he carried the same uncomplaining willingness — packing, unpacking, attending the household, doing whatever the small day's particular labour required.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's portrait of him emphasises his pastoral qualities. He was a sweet-natured man, gentle in speech, faithful in the small daily things, never absent from his post. He was not, in the public record, a teacher or a writer. His service was the steady silent service of the companion. He did not draw attention to himself. He did the small things that allowed his Lord to do the great ones.
The Master notes that Áqá Riḍá was particularly trusted with the practical management of the household — the marketing, the preparation of meals, the maintenance of the small material order on which the spiritual labour of the household depended. In the strained financial circumstances of the exile years — circumstances often barely above subsistence — this stewardship required both skill and unflinching character. Áqá Riḍá brought both.
After Bahá'u'lláh's ascension in 1892, Áqá Riḍá remained in the service of the household and turned his loyalty unhesitatingly to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He continued, into the early years of the Master's ministry, the same patient daily work he had been performing for thirty years. He died at length in 'Akká, having spent the whole adult portion of his life in the company of his Lord.
The Master concludes: He has joined the company of the faithful in the realm above, and the Supreme Companion welcomes him.
Source: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful (Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1915). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19279.
Cite this story
'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1915). *Memorials of the Faithful*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/memorials-faithful/
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
Memorial of Áqá Ḥusayn-i-Áshchí (Cook of the Household)
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Áqá Ḥusayn-i-Áshchí — the household cook of Bahá'u'lláh through the long years of exile, whose patient service in the kitchen sustained the daily life of the prophetic Household for decades.
Content in All Things: Áqá Mírzá Maḥmúd and Áqá Riḍá
Mírzá Maḥmúd of Káshán and Áqá Riḍá of Shíráz walked on foot beside the howdah of Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdád to Constantinople, through famine and exhaustion, cooking and serving the believers far into each night and rising again at dawn. In poverty so deep that seven of them once dined on a single handful of dates, they counted themselves in Heaven — for, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's account, their sole desire was to please Bahá'u'lláh, and they were perfectly content with whatever the will of God sent them.
The Dervish Who Became a Groom: Ṣidq-'Alí's Glad Surrender
Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí was a wandering Sufi, free and detached, who roamed the path of the mystics in search of God. When he found Him in Baghdád in the person of Bahá'u'lláh, he laid down his old independent life at once and begged only to walk beside the caravan of exile as a humble groom — tending the horses by night, singing his Lord's praises by day, and counting that lowly service the highest sovereignty.
Memorial of ‘Abdu’l-Ghaffár of Iṣfáhán
Another of those who left their homeland to become our neighbors and fellow prisoners was ‘Abdu’l-Ghaffár of Iṣfáhán. He was a highly perceptive individual who, on commercial business, had traveled about Asia Minor for many years. He…