Nine Days of Mourning at Bahjí

*A retelling based on **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield, from the chapter "The Passing of Bahá'u'lláh" in the spoken chronicle of Túbá Khánum, a daughter of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Words in quotation marks are from that chapter.*

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In 1892 Túbá Khánum was living in 'Akká with her father, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, her mother, her three sisters and her aunt, Bahíyyih Khánum. Bahá'u'lláh was living at Bahjí. One day a servant rode in from Bahjí with a message for the Master from Bahá'u'lláh: "I am not well, come to Me and bring Khanum." 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His sister set off at once.

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Each day news came that the fever had not gone down. "He had a kind of malaria," Túbá Khánum remembered. After five days the rest of the family went to Bahjí.

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On the fifteenth day of the illness the Persian pilgrims and the believers from 'Akká were allowed into His presence. Among them were Mírzá 'Andalíb of Shíráz and Mírzá Baṣṣár, the blind poet. Weeping, they circled His bed and begged to be allowed to give their lives for His. Bahá'u'lláh spoke to them of peace and calm and urged them to be faithful to the Cause of God. "I am very pleased with you all," He told them.

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Two lambs were brought into His room, following the Persian custom of sacrificing a lamb to prolong a beloved life. The Master then went into 'Akká, saw the friends and told them His Father was slightly better, and oversaw the giving of the two lambs to the poor prisoners of 'Akká. In the evening He returned to Bahjí.

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Bahá'u'lláh then asked for the women and children of the family. He told them that He had left in His will directions for their future guidance, and, in Túbá Khánum's words, "that the Greatest Branch, 'Abbás Effendi, would arrange everything for the family, the friends, and the Cause."

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"On the nineteenth day of His illness He left us at dawn." A horseman rode to 'Akká to tell the Muftí, and the news was proclaimed from the minarets of the mosque. "People from all the villages of the country-side crowded to Bahjí to show their respect, and to join in the mourning." Muslims, the Muftí and the mullás, the Governor and officials, Latin and Greek Christian priests, and Druze came. Poets chanted verses in His praise, and funeral orations spoke of His life of self-sacrifice.

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Many of the guests camped under the trees around the Mansion, "where more than five hundred were entertained for nine days." Túbá Khánum recalled that this hospitality "entailed much trouble on the Master, Who made all the arrangements and superintended every detail; money also was given by Him on each of the nine days to the poor."

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At dawn on each of those days the call to prayer and prayers of Bahá'u'lláh were chanted from the balcony of the Mansion. When the call sounded, the Master rose, and the family followed Him to the tomb-shrine, "where He chanted the funeral prayer and the Tablet of Visitation."

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield.*

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