Never Neglectful of Duty: The Two Carpenters of Káshán

A retelling drawn from Memorials of the Faithful, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's first-person reminiscences of the believers in Bahá'u'lláh's circle. Phrases in quotation marks are 'Abdu'l-Bahá's own words preserved in that book.

Not every story of perfection is the story of a famous scholar or a celebrated artist. In Memorials of the Faithful, alongside the divines and the calligraphers, 'Abdu'l-Bahá pauses to remember two working men — two brothers who made their living with their hands — and the way He remembers them is itself a lesson in what perfection of character means.

They were carpenters. Their names were Ustád Báqir and Ustád Aḥmad, and they were brothers, "of pure lineage," natives of the city of Káshán in Persia. From the moment they recognized the new Revelation, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, "each held the other in his embrace"; they "harkened to the voice of God," and to His ancient call, "Am I not your Lord?" they answered, "Yea, verily!" For a time they stayed on in their own country, "occupied with the remembrance of God, characterized by faith and knowledge," and — note the testimony of their neighbours — "respected by friend and stranger alike, known to all for righteousness and trustworthiness, for austerity of life and the fear of God." Their reputation, in other words, was already that of men who did things rightly.

When persecution rose against them and "the oppressor stretched forth his hands against them," tormenting them "beyond endurance," they emigrated to 'Iráq, "to the sheltering care of Bahá'u'lláh." They were, the Master says simply, "two most blessed souls." The path of exile soon parted them. Ustád Aḥmad went on with the party of Bahá'u'lláh, journey after journey, all the way to the Most Great Prison in 'Akká; Ustád Báqir was taken as a captive to Mosul, and from there in time came also to 'Akká. Both brothers, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, were "under the protection of God and free from every earthly bond."

What they did in that prison-city is the heart of why their story belongs to a Feast of Perfection. They did not let captivity become an excuse for idleness or despair. "In the prison," the Master records, "they worked at their craft" — they remained carpenters, keeping faithfully to the labour they knew, plying their tools within the walls that held them. And the spirit in which they worked is captured in a single sentence that gathers up a whole philosophy of character: "Tranquil, dignified, confident, strong in faith, sheltered by the All-Merciful, they happily spent their days."

Then comes the testimony that crowns the chapter. Describing their long years of imprisonment, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes that "during that long stay in the prison they were never neglectful of duty, never at fault." Consider what that means. These were men with every imaginable reason to let their standards slip — prisoners, exiles, far from home, stripped of comfort and security. No one would have blamed them for bitterness, or for letting the quality of their work or the steadiness of their conduct decline. And yet, year after year, in the hardest of circumstances, they simply kept doing right: faithful in their craft, faithful in their devotions, faithful in their bearing toward others. The perfection 'Abdu'l-Bahá honours in them is not brilliance or genius; it is the quiet, unbroken excellence of two souls who never once let their duty go.

Nor was this faithfulness grim or joyless. "These two," the Master writes, "were firm believers, loyal, patient, at all times thankful, at all times supplicating God in lowliness." Far from being crushed by their lot, "they were constantly joyful, for they had drunk deep of the holy cup." Ustád Báqir was the first to die; "some time afterward his brother followed him." When they "soared upward, out of the world," the friends mourned them and prayed for them, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá testifies that "the Blessed Beauty was well pleased with them both."

This is the perfection the Feast of Kamál holds before us — and perhaps the most attainable kind. We will not all be peerless scholars or master artists. But the excellence of Ustád Báqir and Ustád Aḥmad is open to anyone: to do one's daily work well, to keep one's character upright when no one is watching and circumstances give every excuse to let go, to remain faithful to duty and joyful in spirit through long, hard, unglamorous years. Two carpenters, in a prison, "never neglectful of duty, never at fault" — and well pleasing, the Master says, to God.

This is a retelling. For the fuller 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/