Shaykh Salmán, the Faithful Courier

A retelling based on 'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Shaykh Salmán in Memorials of the Faithful. Words in quotation marks are from His text, as translated by Marzieh Gail.

Shaykh Salmán was living in Hindíyán when, in 1266 A.H. (1849–50), he first heard the call of God. He walked all the way to Ṭihrán and secretly joined the believers there. One day he was seen in the bázár with a believer and followed home, and the next day he was taken to the chief of police. His story was checked and found false, and the officer leading him away told him, "You are a Bábí." At a crossroads a merchant from Shúshtar came out of his shop, took him for a friend of his, a Khájih Muḥammad-'Alí, told the officer that he was a God-fearing Muslim, and paid him to let the prisoner go. In the shop Salmán told the merchant that he was not Khájih Muḥammad-'Alí. The merchant asked for his money back. Salmán gave it to him at once, walked out through the city gate and returned to Hindíyán.

When Bahá'u'lláh arrived in 'Iráq, Salmán was the first messenger to reach Him, and he went back with Tablets for the friends in Hindíyán. From then on, once each year, he set out on foot to see Bahá'u'lláh and then retraced his steps, carrying Tablets to Iṣfáhán, Shíráz, Káshán, Ṭihrán and other cities.

From 1269 A.H. until the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh in 1309 A.H. (1892), he came every year, "bringing letters, leaving with the Tablets, faithfully delivering each one to him for whom it was intended." Each year he came on foot from Persia to 'Iráq, or to Adrianople, or to the Most Great Prison at 'Akká, and went back again.

'Abdu'l-Bahá writes that he had remarkable powers of endurance. He travelled on foot, "as a rule eating nothing but onions and bread; and in all that time, he moved about in such a way that he was never once held up and never once lost a letter or a Tablet." In Iṣfáhán he was subjected again and again to severe trials, and he bore them patiently. People who were not Bahá'ís called him "the Bábís' Angel Gabriel." Bahá'u'lláh looked on him with special favour, and revealed Tablets in his name.

After the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, Salmán remained faithful to the Covenant. As before, he came every year to the Most Great Prison, now bringing the believers' letters to 'Abdu'l-Bahá and taking His answers back to Persia. He died in Shíráz.

'Abdu'l-Bahá writes of him: "From the dawn of history until the present day, there has never been a messenger so worthy of trust; there has never been a courier to compare with Salmán."

This is a retelling. For the full account, see Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1915). *Memorials of the Faithful*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/memorials-faithful/