Memorial of His Eminence Kalím (Mírzá Músá)

In *Memorials of the Faithful* ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pauses to remember His own paternal uncle, Mírzá Músá — known to the friends as Áqáy-i-Kalím — the loyal full brother of Bahá’u’lláh. The chapter is brief and tender, the work of a nephew remembering the man who had stood at his father’s side through every banishment.

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The Master begins with Mírzá Músá’s spiritual precocity. From infancy, he says,

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> He drank in the love of God with his mother’s milk; when yet a > suckling, he showed an extraordinary attachment to the Blessed > Beauty.

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Within the household, Áqáy-i-Kalím shone with a quiet, useful luminosity. He was not ambitious; he sought no station for himself.

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> Like a bright lamp, he shone out in that Household. He wished > neither rank nor office, and had no worldly aims at all.

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The Master traces his uncle’s share in each successive exile — from Persia to Iraq, then to Constantinople, then to Adrianople, and finally to the fortress of ‘Akká, where he was condemned to perpetual banishment. Through all the moves Áqáy-i-Kalím carried the burdens, organised the household, met the difficult visitors, and bore in silence the duties no one else wanted.

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The most painful chapter of his life was the rebellion of Mírzá Yaḥyá, his half-brother, against Bahá’u’lláh. Áqáy-i-Kalím did not give him up easily.

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> It was during the sojourn in this latter city that he detected > from Mírzá Yaḥyá the odor of rebellion. Day and night he tried > to make him mend his ways.

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Only when *all hope was gone* did Áqáy-i-Kalím sever the tie. The Master records the rupture without bitterness; loyalty to Bahá’u’lláh was, in the end, the higher claim.

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There is a small story 'Abdu'l-Bahá takes care to preserve. Bahá'u'lláh sent an impoverished tribal chief — an Ílkhání — to seek a recommendation from the Governor of Damascus. Some time later the Ílkhání wrote back from Díyárbakr, addressing his letter to *His Eminence Bahá'u'lláh, Leader of the Bábís.* Bahá'u'lláh laughed when He saw it, the Master writes, and turned to His brother:

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> Kalím, Kalím! The fame of the Cause of God has reached as far > as Díyárbakr!

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Áqáy-i-Kalím spent his last years in ‘Akká, serving the household he had served all his life. He met death, the Master records, *with lowliness and contrition,* and his loyalty held *under all conditions, to the very end.*

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