Khadíjih Bagum Remembers the Báb

A retelling based on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2 by Adib Taherzadeh (pp. 382–387), which quotes the memoirs of Munírih Khánum. Words in quotation marks are Khadíjih Bagum's, as Munírih Khánum recorded them.

Khadíjih Bagum was a paternal cousin of the Báb's mother. Her marriage to the Báb took place almost two years before He declared His mission in 1844. Early in 1872 Munírih Khánum, on her way to 'Akká, stayed for a short while in Shíráz and met her several times. She asked the wife of the Báb to recount her memories of Him and of their marriage. "I do not remember every detail," Khadíjih Bagum said, "but will tell you what I can remember."

She was one of three sisters. One night she dreamt that Fáṭimih, the daughter of the Prophet Muḥammad, came to their house to propose marriage. "With great joy and ecstasy my sisters and I went to her. She then came forward to me and kissed my forehead. I understood in the dream that she had chosen me." In the morning she was happy but too shy to tell anyone. That afternoon the mother of the Báb came to the house. "Exactly as I had dreamt, she came forward, kissed my forehead and embraced me." After the visitor left, the eldest sister told Khadíjih that the mother of the Báb had come to ask for her hand in marriage for her son. "I replied, 'This is a great felicity for me.'" Then she told them her dream. (It was the custom then, Taherzadeh explains, for the mother, sisters or close female relatives of a man to make the proposal on his behalf.)

A few days later gifts were sent as a token of the engagement, and the Báb went to Búshihr on business with His uncle. While He was there she dreamt that she was sitting in His presence. "It appeared as though it was the evening of our wedding. The Báb was dressed in a green cloak around the borders of which were inscribed the verses of the Qur'an ... and light was emanating from Him." After this dream, she said, "I was assured in my heart that the Báb was a distinguished personage." When He returned from Búshihr, His uncle arranged the wedding.

"After the wedding, I entertained no thought of earthly things in my mind. My heart was entirely attracted to the person of the Báb." His words and conduct made it clear to her that He was a distinguished person. "But the thought never occurred to me that He could be the Qa'im, the Promised One. Most of the time He was engaged in praying and reading verses."

In the evenings, as merchants did, He would ask for His business papers and account books, but she noticed that they were not business papers. When she asked what they were, He once said: "It is the Book of the accounts of all the peoples of the world." If a visitor arrived unexpectedly, He would spread a handkerchief over the papers. His uncles and aunts, she said, "were fully conscious of His exalted personality" and showed Him the utmost respect.

Then came the night of 22 May 1844, when Mullá Ḥusayn attained the presence of the Báb. "The Báb intimated that we were having a guest who was dear to Him. He was as if on fire and in the utmost excitement." He told her to go to bed. "Although I was lying awake the whole night, I remained in bed as I did not wish to disobey Him. I could hear His voice until morning as He conversed with Jinab-i-Babu'l-Bab. He was reading the verses of God and adducing proofs."

Of the sufferings that followed she said she could not bear to speak. She recalled only the night she woke to find that the chief constable, 'Abdu'l-Ḥamíd, had entered the house from the roof with his men and taken the Báb away. "I never attained His presence again."

This is a retelling. For the full account, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2 by Adib Taherzadeh.

Taherzadeh, A.. (1977). *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2*. George Ronald.