Memorial of Ismu'lláhu'l-Aṣdaq (Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas)

Among the Hands of the Cause whom 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers in *Memorials of the Faithful* is Mullá Ṣádiq of Khurásán, known by the title Ismu'lláhu'l-Aṣdaq. When young, the Master writes, he joined the circle of Siyyid Káẓim and became one of his disciples. He was known in Persia for his purity of life, "winning fame as Mullá Ṣádiq the saintly" (Muqaddas), and the people of Khurásán were strongly attached to him as a great scholar and an eloquent teacher.

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He became a believer in Shíráz in the early days of the Faith, and he began to teach openly and boldly. *The Dawn-Breakers* tells what followed. By order of Ḥusayn Khán, the governor of Shíráz, Mullá Ṣádiq was scourged; the beards of both Quddús and Mullá Ṣádiq were burned and their noses pierced, and they were led through the streets by a cord passed through the incision. Soon afterward both were expelled from Shíráz.

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Nabíl writes that by their sufferings they "earned the immortal distinction of having been the first to be persecuted on Persian soil for the sake of their Faith."

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The Master remembers the same ordeal: "they hung a halter on him and led him about the streets and bázárs of the city. Even in that condition, composed and smiling, he kept on speaking to the people. He did not yield; he was not silenced."

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When he was freed he left Shíráz for Khurásán and taught there, and then travelled with Bábu'l-Báb, Mullá Ḥusayn, to Fort Ṭabarsí. He shared the sufferings of its defenders. The enemy poured in cannon balls from their siege guns, and the believers went eighteen days without food. "They lived on the leather of their shoes," the Master writes.

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He was taken prisoner at the fort and handed over to the chiefs of Mázindarán to be led about and finally killed. But when, bound in chains, he was brought to the appointed place, the Master writes, "God put it into one man's heart to free him from prison in the middle of the night and guide him to a place where he was safe."

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Once freed, he taught more widely than ever. He attained the presence of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád, and again in the Most Great Prison. 'Abdu'l-Bahá recalls a day in Baghdád when Mullá Ṣádiq was sitting in the courtyard of the men's apartments and a Persian prince, a grandson of Fatḥ-'Alí Sháh, arrived and asked him who he was. "I am a servant of this Threshold," he answered. "I am one of the keepers of this door." Then he began to teach. The prince objected violently, yet within a quarter of an hour his fury had turned to smiles.

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He always taught cheerfully, the Master writes, and answered gently and with good humour however much anger was turned against him. His tomb is in Hamadán, and many Tablets were revealed for him by Bahá'u'lláh, among them a Tablet of Visitation after his passing.

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*A retelling based on **Memorials of the Faithful** by 'Abdu'l-Bahá (chapter "Ismu'lláhu'l-Aṣdaq"), with the Shíráz episode from **The Dawn-Breakers**. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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