Táhirih's Words to Vahíd

A retelling based on the account of Táhirih in Memorials of the Faithful by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that book.

Táhirih, the poet and scholar of Qazvín, was the only woman among the Letters of the Living. Siyyid Káẓim had given her the name "Solace of the Eyes" (Qurratu'l-'Ayn) in their correspondence, before she became a follower of the Báb.

After her uncle, Mullá Taqí, was murdered in Qazvín, Táhirih was held a prisoner in that town, watched on every side by attendants, guards and her enemies. Bahá'u'lláh sent Hádíy-i-Qazvíní from Ṭihrán, and by a stratagem they freed her and brought her to the capital at night. She was lodged in an upper apartment of Bahá'u'lláh's house.

When word spread that she was in Ṭihrán, the government searched for her everywhere. Still the believers came to see her in a steady stream, and she would talk with them seated behind a curtain.

One day Siyyid Yaḥyá, surnamed Vahíd, was among the visitors. The Dawn-Breakers describes him as one of the most learned men in Persia, whom Muḥammad Sháh had once sent to question the Báb and report back, and who had instead become His follower. Vahíd sat outside the curtain and spoke, 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes, "with eloquence and fervor" on the signs and verses that bore witness to the coming of the new Manifestation. Táhirih listened from behind the veil.

'Abdu'l-Bahá was there. "I was then a child," He recalls, "and was sitting on her lap."

Táhirih suddenly interrupted Vahíd and, raising her voice, declared:

"O Yaḥyá! Let deeds, not words, testify to thy faith, if thou art a man of true learning. Cease idly repeating the traditions of the past, for the day of service, of steadfast action, is come. Now is the time to show forth the true signs of God, to rend asunder the veils of idle fancy, to promote the Word of God, and to sacrifice ourselves in His path. Let deeds, not words, be our adorning!"

'Abdu'l-Bahá's account moves straight on to what followed. Bahá'u'lláh made arrangements for Táhirih's journey to Badasht and sent her there with an escort, following Himself some days later. At Badasht she appeared before the gathered believers with her face unveiled.

Both of them gave their lives. Vahíd was killed at Nayríz in 1850, and Táhirih was put to death in Ṭihrán in 1852.

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

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1915). *Memorials of the Faithful*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19279/pg19279-images.html