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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
155 stories on this theme.
Some referred to the teaching of Buddha. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Fátimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs, who bore persecution, poverty and the death of her son with thankfulness, but could not survive her grief at Bahá’u’lláh’s passing.
O maid-servant of God! This prison is indeed more precious and sweet than a garden to me, this fetter is greater than any liberty and the confinement is broader than the most spacious wilderness.
In the Mazandaran village of Máhfurúzak, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and his wife ‘Alavíyyih Khánum organized village life around prayer, schools and a cooperative; after his execution in Tehran in 1883 she devoted her life to the Faith.
Three brothers from Tabríz gave their hearts to Bahá’u’lláh: Hájí Hasan was killed for proclaiming the Faith in Ádhirbáyján, while Hájí Ja‘far and Hájí Taqí followed Him into the ‘Akká prison.
The Báb’s three maternal uncles took different paths: Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid ‘Alí raised Him and died one of the Seven Martyrs of Tehran; Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad received the Kitáb-i-Íqán; the youngest believed some years later.
In 1889 Ḥájí Muḥammad-Riḍá Iṣfahání was murdered in the bazaar of Ashkhabad; the Russian authorities tried and convicted the killers, the Bahá’ís interceded for their lives, and the community went on to build its own institutions.
A Kirmán merchant who embraced the Faith through the Báb’s uncle, and a Zanján merchant whose brother had fought beside Mullá Ḥusayn, were among the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán, both eager to lay down their lives.
Ḥájí Mullá Ismá‘íl-i-Qumí, a disciple of Siyyid Káẓim named Sirru’l-Vujúd at Badasht, was kept from Ṭabarsí by illness and later met martyrdom in Tihrán, forgiving his executioner.
Mírzá Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz, an early believer and calligrapher of Shíráz for whom Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Tablet of the Verse of Light, was betrayed, imprisoned and put to death in his native city.
Bahá’u’lláh’s son Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight in the ‘Akká barracks in 1870 and offered his life so that the believers might attain his Father’s presence; in 1939 Shoghi Effendi reburied him on Mount Carmel.
As boys, two brothers of Isfahan served the Báb at their father's banquet. Grown into honest, generous merchants, they were put to death in 1879, and Bahá’u’lláh named them the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs.
Mírzá Mustafá of Naráq, a believer since the days of the Báb, teaches the Faith openly in Tabríz with Shaykh Ahmad-i-Khurásání; when captured he reveals who he is, and at the place of execution asks to die first.
Mirza Qurban-‘Ali, a revered dervish of Barfurush who embraced the Cause through Mulla Husayn, was arrested in Tihran, boldly defended his faith before the Amir-Nizam, and was beheaded as the second of the Seven Martyrs.
Imprisoned in Tihrán with other disciples of the Báb, Muḥammad-Ḥusayn-i-Marághi’í would not say a word under torture; at the execution he embraced the body of the friend who had taught him the Faith and begged to be martyred at once.
The second to believe in the Báb carried His message to the shrine cities of Iraq, was tried in Baghdad by Sunni and Shiite clerics, and died at forced labor near Istanbul, the first Bábí to die for his faith.
The titles the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave to Quddús, with an outline of his life: pilgrimage with the Báb, confinement in Sárí, leadership at Shaykh Ṭabarsí and martyrdom in Bárfurúsh in 1849.
After his father was killed for his faith near Káshán, ‘Alí-Akbar attained Bahá’u’lláh’s presence in ‘Iráq, later crossed deserts and mountains with his wife to reach Him again, and stayed loyal to the Covenant.
Siyyid Husayn-i-Turshízí, a mujtahid trained in Najaf, was converted to the Báb's Cause by a merchant friend. Led out to die with the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán, he offered to prove its truth before the city's divines, but an officer stabbed him dead.
Won to the Faith by Jamal Effendi, Siyyid Mustafa Rumi spent his life teaching in India and Burma. He was killed at Daidanaw during the Second World War, and in 1945 Shoghi Effendi named him a Hand of the Cause of God.
Sent by Muhammad Shah to investigate the Báb, the renowned divine Siyyid Yahya of Darab met Him three times in Shiraz and was won over by His commentary on the Surih of Kawthar. He later gave his life at Nayriz.
Tahirih Siyavushi, a nurse who served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shiraz, was arrested along with her husband, Jamshid. He was hanged two days before her. When she knew she would also be executed, she told her family she was relieved and happy.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s memorial of Táhirih: the learned woman of Qazvín who recognized the Báb, taught boldly in Karbilá and Baghdád, appeared unveiled at Badasht, and was put to death in Tihrán.
An overview of the Báb’s mission, from His declaration in 1844 and His call to prepare for “Him Whom God shall make manifest” to His martyrdom in the barracks square of Tabríz in 1850.
O my dear sister! I have read what you wrote, and as I became aware of the content, I wept bitter tears. Then I carried the letter itself to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and He read it from beginning to end.
Concerning the remnants of the martyrs’ families, you have mentioned how eager they are to hear a word of commendation assuring them that this act of self-sacrifice and martyrdom will be acceptable in the sight of God.
O steadfast ones, gathered beneath the Abhá Beauty’s standard of oneness, O faithful lovers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!
This terrible imprisonment lasted four months, but Bahá’u’lláh and His companions remained zealous and enthusiastic, in the greatest of happiness.
About this time Bahá’u’lláh wrote His famous letter to the Sulṭán of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the Pope, and the Sháh of Persia.
On the 9th of July, 1850, the Báb Himself, Who was then in His thirty-first year, fell a victim to the fanatical fury of His persecutors.
As a religious body, Bahá’ís have, at the express command of Bahá’u’lláh, entirely abandoned the use of armed force in their own interests, even for strictly defensive purposes.
This last quotation reveals the spirit which animated the Báb’s whole life.
In consequence of these declarations of the Báb and the alarming rapidity with which people of all classes, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, were eagerly responding to His teaching, attempts at suppression became more and more ruthless and determined.
The great Prophets of religion have always been, at Their coming, despised and rejected of men.
Unfortunately it is impossible, within the space at our disposal, to describe in detail the progress of the Bahá’í Faith throughout the world.
After the Báb’s martyrdom, His remains, with those of His devoted companion, were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall.
Two pilgrims in ‘Akká argued over which kind of martyrdom was best. When they entered ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s room, His words, spoken without any notice of their arrival, affirmed first one choice and then the other.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá told of Mírzá Qurbán-‘Alí, a timid Bábí who, when the Prime Minister asked him to repudiate the Báb, answered with a question and went to his martyrdom with a serene face.
In Mashhad in 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn's attendant is cruelly paraded through the streets; after the ensuing uproar Prince Hamzih Mírzá receives Mullá Ḥusayn as a guest, and an admiring officer gives him a sword and a horse.
On the morning of His martyrdom in July 1850, the Báb was led through the streets of Tabriz amid insults while three leading clerics, refusing even to see Him, supplied the warrants for His execution.
Imprisoned in Chihríq, the Báb was so grieved by news of the fate of the defenders of Ṭabarsí that He languished in sorrow for five months; He then wrote in praise of Mullá Ḥusayn, Quddús and their companions.
In July 1850 the Báb and His young follower Anís were suspended before a regiment in the barracks square of Tabríz. The first volley only cut their ropes; the second took their lives, and a dust storm darkened the city.
On the day before His martyrdom in Tabríz, a youth, Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí, surnamed Anís, forced his way through the crowd and begged to follow the Báb. That night the Báb chose him to share His martyrdom.
Bahá’u’lláh recalls how Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází, chained beside Him in the Ṭihrán prison, dreamed of soaring through infinite space, and went to his martyrdom that same morning wearing Bahá’u’lláh’s own shoes.
In Isfahán, a city famed for its clergy, the first to accept the Báb was a humble sifter of wheat, who later set out with his sieve to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí; the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh both refer to him.
A retelling of the Báb's life: His childhood in Shiraz, His declaration to Mulla Husayn in 1844, His imprisonment, and His martyrdom in Tabriz in 1850, together with His promise of Him Whom God shall make manifest.
After Sám Khán's regiment failed to harm the Báb, the Nasiri regiment carried out His execution in Tabríz in 1850. Nabíl records how, within three years, every member of that regiment had perished.
Shoghi Effendi describes how Táhirih, knowing her death was near, dressed as a bride and awaited her martyrdom in prayer, and how at her death she declared, “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”
Moved to tears by verses Nabíl read to him, the unruly youth Áqá Buzurg walks to 'Akká, meets Bahá'u'lláh twice, receives the name Badí, and is given the task of carrying His Tablet to the Sháh.
The youth Buzurg of Nayshábúr walks to 'Akká, is named Badí by Bahá'u'lláh, and carries His Tablet on foot to Násiri'd-Dín Sháh, giving his life rather than betray his fellow believers.
The life of Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb: his mission to Tihrán, his walk to the prison of Máh-Kú, the defense of Fort Shaykh Ṭabarsí, and his death in 1849.
On the morning of His martyrdom in Tabríz, a volley of 750 rifles left the Báb unharmed, and He was found finishing His interrupted conversation. Sám Khán withdrew his regiment, and another regiment carried out the execution.
On 9 July 1850 the Báb and His companion were suspended before a regiment in Tabríz. When the smoke of the first volley cleared, the Báb was gone from the wall, untouched.
On pilgrimage, Corinne True met the martyr's widow who served tea to the Master's family each morning, and marvelled at His household of over forty people of many races and nations, where no word of dispute was heard.
On 9 July 1850 in Tabríz, the first volley fired at the Báb and Anís cut only their ropes, and the Báb was found back in His room finishing a conversation. A second regiment carried out the execution.
In July 1848, at the Báb's bidding, Mullá Ḥusayn left Mashhad wearing the Báb's green turban, with the Black Standard carried before him, and led his companions to the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí in Mázindarán.
Before dawn on 2 February 1849, Mullá Ḥusayn led a sortie from the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, was shot in the breast, and was carried back to the fort, where he died after a last conversation with Quddús.
On 2 February 1849, before dawn, Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb, rode out of the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí wearing the Báb's turban. He was shot, carried back into the fort, and died there beside Quddús.
In 1849 the defenders of Fort Ṭabarsí came out on a prince's oath sworn on the Qur'án. The oath was broken, and Quddús was handed over to his enemies in his native town of Bárfurúsh and killed in its public square.
Shaykh Sálih, an Arab of Karbilá who accepted the Báb's Cause through Ṭáhirih, was falsely accused of murder and put to death in Ṭihrán, the first believer to shed his blood on Persian soil. A retelling from Nabíl's Dawn-Breakers.
In 1850 fourteen Bábís arrested in Ṭihrán were ordered to recant or die. Seven recanted; the other seven, among them the Báb's uncle and a revered dervish, were put to death. A retelling from Nabíl's Dawn-Breakers.
Writing a century after the death of Mirza Mihdi, the Purest Branch, the Universal House of Justice recalls his dying plea to his Father and the words in which Bahá’u’lláh revealed the meaning of his sacrifice.
At Badasht each believer received a new name without knowing who had given it. Hájí Mullá Ismá'íl-i-Qumí, named there Sirru'l-Vujúd, missed the defence of Tabarsí through illness and later died in Tihrán as one of the Seven Martyrs.
Speaking in Chicago in November 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told the believers how the Bahá'ís of Yazd, though strong enough to resist, met their executioners without raising a hand, some even offering them sweets.
In the village of Manshad a boy heard chanting at secret meetings and asked the Babi doctor Radiu'r-Ruh what it meant. The doctor warned that telling him could cost many lives, then taught him; later he was poisoned for his faith.
Badí', a youth of seventeen, carried Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh on foot from 'Akká to Ṭihrán, delivered it to the king, and was tortured and put to death for it.
In Tabríz on July 9, 1850, the young believer Anís begged to die with the Báb. The first volley only cut their ropes; before the second, the Báb held up the youth's example to the watching crowd.
Ibn-i-Asdaq begged Bahá’u’lláh for the station of utter self-sacrifice. In a Tablet of January 1880, Bahá’u’lláh answered that service to the Cause is the greatest of deeds and that one may live and yet be counted a martyr.
In a village in northern Iran, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and ‘Alavíyyih Khánum started family prayer, schools for girls and boys, and a cooperative. He was martyred in 1883; she spent the rest of her life teaching the Faith.
The Báb's three uncles came to His Faith at different times: one early, who died among the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán; one after Bahá'u'lláh answered his questions in the Kitáb-i-Íqán; and one some years later.
In 1889 an elderly Bahá'í was killed in the bazaar of 'Ishqábád. For the first time, the killers of a Bahá'í were brought to justice, and then the Bahá'ís asked that their lives be spared.
Ḥájí Muḥammad-Taqí, a merchant of Kirmán, and Siyyid Murtaḍá, a merchant of Zanján, were among the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán in 1850. At the end, each asked to give his life before the others.
Ḥájí Mullá Ismá'íl of Faráhán searched for the truth from his youth and found it in the Báb. He was the third of the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán, and before he died he forgave his executioner.
Mírzá Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz of Shíráz asked Bahá'u'lláh to explain the isolated letters of the Qur'án, and received the Tablet of the Verse of Light. He was later martyred for his faith.
Mírzá Mihdí, the youngest son of Bahá'u'lláh, fell through a skylight in the prison of 'Akká and, as he lay dying, asked that his life be accepted as a sacrifice so that pilgrims could reach his Father.
As boys, two brothers of Isfahan served the Báb at their father's banquet. They grew up to be honest, generous merchants and devoted Bahá'ís, were put to death in 1879, and were named by Bahá'u'lláh the King and the Beloved of Martyrs.
Mírzá Mustafá of Naráq gave up everything for the Faith and taught it openly in Tabríz. When the men sent to arrest him doubted they had the right man, he took off his hat to show his long hair and said, "I am the one."
Mírzá Qurbán-‘Alí, a much-loved man of Mázindarán, accepted the Báb through Mullá Husayn. Arrested in Tihrán, he told the chief minister that he had judged the Báb fairly, and he gave his life as one of the Seven Martyrs.
Muḥammad-Ḥusayn of Marághih, one of the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán, would not say a word to his captors. At the end he embraced the body of the friend who had taught him the Faith and would not be parted from him.
In Tabríz in 1850 a regiment fired at the Báb and His young follower Anís, but the bullets only cut their ropes. The Báb was found in His room, calmly finishing a conversation.
At the Báb's request, Mullá Ḥusayn set out from Mashhad wearing the Báb's green turban, with a black flag carried before him, and led his companions to the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí.
Before dawn on a winter morning in 1849, Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb, rode out of the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí at the head of his companions. He was wounded and died in the fort beside Quddús.
Quddús, the leader of the believers at Fort Ṭabarsí, was betrayed by a broken promise and killed in his home town. On his last day he prayed for the people who hurt him and spoke of his death as his wedding.
Shaykh Sálih, a follower of the Báb who had learned of the Faith from Ṭáhirih, was blamed for a crime he did not commit and went joyfully to his death.
Fourteen followers of the Báb in Ṭihrán were told to give up their Faith or die. Seven would not give it up, among them the Báb's own uncle.
Anís, a young believer in Tabríz, begged to stay with the Báb to the end. Before He was martyred, the Báb told the watching crowd that they should have followed the youth's example.
When soldiers in Tabríz fired at the Báb, the bullets only cut the ropes, and He was found in another room. The soldiers laid down their arms and would not fire again.
May Maxwell died only weeks after arriving in South America as a pioneer. The Guardian wrote that she laid down her life in a spirit that merited the crown of martyrdom.
Fáṭimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs, was orphaned young and left destitute when her husband was martyred. She bore every loss with thanks, until the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh proved more than she could endure.
Sháh-Muḥammad, who had the title of Amín, the Trusted One, was among the earliest of believers, and most deeply enamored.
Khurshíd Begum, who was given the title of Shamsu’d-Ḍuḥá, the Morning Sun, was mother-in-law to the King of Martyrs.
On Naw-Rúz 1909, after the Báb's remains had been hidden and moved for decades, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them with His own hands in the Shrine He had built on Mount Carmel, and wept so that all who were present wept with Him.
Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí raised the Báb after His father's death, stood surety for Him before the governor of Shíráz, and in 1850 gave his life in Tihrán rather than deny Him.
The poet Varqá and his twelve-year-old son Rúḥu'lláh were imprisoned in Ṭihrán. After the Sháh's assassination in 1896, the Ḥájibu'd-Dawlih killed Varqá before the boy's eyes, then had Rúḥu'lláh strangled when he refused to recant.
In 1889 Ḥájí Muḥammad-Riḍáy-i-Iṣfahání was stabbed to death in the bazaar of ʻIshqábád. A Russian military court condemned his killers, and the Bahá'ís interceded for their lives, a deed Bahá'u'lláh praised.
Badíʻ, a seventeen-year-old believer, asked Bahá'u'lláh for the honour of carrying His Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh. He walked alone to Ṭihrán, brought it to the king, and was tortured and killed. Bahá'u'lláh named him the Pride of Martyrs.
The Báb sent Mullá ʻAlíy-i-Bastámí, one of the Letters of the Living, to Najaf and Karbilá, telling him he would be the first to suffer for God's sake. He proclaimed the new Revelation, was denounced, chained, tried in Baghdád and sent away as a prisoner, never to be seen again.
Mírzá Qurbán-ʻAlí, a dervish revered by many, was arrested in Ṭihrán in 1850. Officials pleaded for his life and the Amír-Niẓám was loath to condemn him, but he would not deny the Báb, and he became one of the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán.
Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb, led the defence of the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí. Before dawn on 2 February 1849 he rode out against the besieging army, was shot, and died in the fort after a last conversation with Quddús.
Vaḥíd, the learned divine whom Muḥammad Sháh sent to investigate the Báb, became His follower. In 1850 he taught openly in Nayríz, was besieged in the Fort of Khájih, and was killed after his enemies broke an oath sworn on the Qur'án.
How Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí of Zanján, called Ḥujjat, accepted the Báb after reading His writings, and how the believers of Zanján, besieged by the army, were at last deceived by oaths sworn on the Qur'án and put to death.
'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers Mullá Ṣádiq, Ismu'lláhu'l-Aṣdaq: led through Shíráz with a halter for teaching the Báb's Faith, starved at Fort Ṭabarsí, rescued from execution, and a teacher of the Faith for the rest of his life.
In 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight while praying on the roof of the barracks of 'Akká. Dying, he asked Bahá'u'lláh to accept his life as a ransom for the believers who could not reach His presence.
Arrested in Ṭihrán in 1852, Ḥájí Sulaymán Khán refused to recant and was allowed to choose how he would die. He asked that lighted candles be set in wounds in his flesh, and walked through the bazaar praising the Báb.
In Iṣfahán in 1879 two merchant brothers known for their honesty and generosity were denounced as Bábís by a cleric who owed them money. They refused to recant and were beheaded. Bahá'u'lláh mourned them in His Tablets for years.
In 1852 Ṭáhirih, held in the house of the Kalantar of Ṭihrán, dressed in white silk and told her hostess that her death was near. That night she was taken to a garden outside the city and strangled with a silken kerchief she had set aside for the purpose.
Ashraf was born in the besieged fort of Zanján. Years later, when he was condemned for his faith, his enemies brought his mother to persuade him to recant. She urged him to stand firm instead, and Bahá'u'lláh praised her in a Tablet.
Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid ʻAlí, the uncle who had raised the Báb, was among fourteen believers arrested in Ṭihrán in 1850. He refused a ransom and the Grand Vazír's offer of freedom, and asked to be the first of the Seven Martyrs to die.
Two brothers of Iṣfáhán, later titled the King and the Beloved of Martyrs by Bahá'u'lláh, built a prosperous business, gave generously to the poor and to Bahá'u'lláh's exiled companions, and were renowned for their honesty.
Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Zunúzí, called Anís, was confined by his stepfather for his love of the Báb. In a vision the Báb promised that he would share His martyrdom, and on 9 July 1850 he died beside Him in Tabríz.
In A Traveller's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá records the Grand Vizier's order, the volleys that left the Báb unharmed, His death under a second regiment, and how persecution only made the Faith grow.
After the martyrdom of the Báb in 1850, believers hid His remains in shrines and houses in Ṭihrán for nearly fifty years, then carried them to the Holy Land, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them to rest on Mount Carmel in 1909.
Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Yazdí, the Báb's amanuensis, spent His last night with Him in the barracks of Tabríz and was told not to confess his faith, so that he could later tell what he alone knew. In 1852 he was martyred in Ṭihrán.
In Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, Dr. J. E. Esslemont told English-speaking readers how the Báb and a young follower were suspended in the barrack square of Tabríz, survived the first volley, and were killed by a second regiment.
Forty days before He was taken from Chihríq to Tabríz, the Báb gave His writings, pen-case, seals and rings to Mullá Báqir, a Letter of the Living, to be passed through Mírzá Aḥmad to Bahá'u'lláh in Ṭihrán.
After the martyrdom, the bodies of the Báb and His companion were left under guard beside the moat of Tabríz. Ḥájí Sulaymán Khán had them carried away by night, and at Bahá'u'lláh's instruction they were later brought to Ṭihrán and kept hidden.
Sám Khán, the Christian colonel ordered to execute the Báb, begged to be freed from shedding His blood. When his regiment's volley left the Báb unharmed, he marched his men out of the barracks and swore never to take part again.
On the night before His martyrdom, in a cell in the barracks of Tabríz, the Báb spoke with His companions with joy and cheerfulness, and chose the youth Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alí to share His martyrdom.
Mírzá Taqí Khán, the Amír-Niẓám, ordered the Báb's execution against the advice of his own counsellors. Within two years he lost the Sháh's favour and was put to death in the bath of Fín, near Káshán.
For nearly sixty years believers kept the remains of the Báb hidden from His enemies. On Naw-Rúz 1909 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them with His own hands in a tomb on Mount Carmel, on the spot Bahá'u'lláh had chosen, and wept over the casket.
In Ṭihrán in 1850, fourteen followers of the Báb were told to recant or die. Seven recanted and went free; seven refused, among them the Báb's uncle and a revered dervish, and were put to death.
Chained in the underground Síyáh-Chál of Tihrán among nearly 150 prisoners, Bahá’u’lláh taught His companions verses to chant each night, and those called to their deaths went forth with hope and joy.
In the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of St.
As for the Báb—may my soul be His sacrifice!—at a youthful age, that is to say, when He had reached the twenty-fifth year of His blessed life, He stood forth to proclaim His Cause.
Glory be unto Him Who knoweth all that is in the heavens and in the earth.
Glory be unto Thee, O Lord!
God had, in truth, proposed Our Mission unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to bear it and were afraid thereof.
How numerous the souls raised to life who were exposed to dire humiliation in Thy Path for exalting Thy Word and for glorifying Thy divine Unity!
O Lord! Render victorious Thy forbearing servants in Thy days by granting them a befitting victory, inasmuch as they have sought martyrdom in Thy path.
O Peoples of the East and the West!
O Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love.
O ye illumined loved ones and ye handmaids of the Merciful!
Thou seest me, O my God, bowed down in lowliness, humbling myself before Thy commandments, submitting to Thy sovereignty, trembling at the might of Thy dominion, fleeing from Thy wrath, entreating Thy grace, relying upon Thy forgiveness, shaking with awe at Thy fury.
O ye who have turned your faces toward the Exalted Beauty!
O thou who art enraptured by the sweet breathings of the Lord!
In the Síyáh-Chál in 1852, Bahá'u'lláh's fellow prisoners were called out one by one to their deaths. The executioner, who had grown friendly to Him, would afterwards tell Him how each had died.
Keith Ransom-Kehler went to Persia in 1932 to appeal for the lifting of the ban on Bahá'í literature. She died of smallpox in Isfahán in October 1933, and the Guardian called her the American believers' first and distinguished martyr.
El-Baha, praise, light, blessing and peace be upon thee, O thou fire of the Love of God, thou light of the Kingdom of God, thou radiance of the Gift of God, thou peerless pearl in the Sea of the Mercy of God, thou sturdy lion in the Jungle of the Guidance of God!
O thou lamp of the Love of God!
O thou lamp who art enkindled with the fire of the Love of God!
O thou peerless, matchless, glorious martyr!
O thou who art attracted unto the Beauty of ABHA!
O thou who hast arisen to render service to the Cause of God in His Great Vineyard!
O ye brilliant realities!
The first light which shone forth from the horizon of Eternity, the first radiance which was cast forth from the Morn of Guidance, and the first mercy which descended from the Kingdom of Heaven, be upon thee, O thou manifest light …
“Moral life consists in the government of one's self. Immortality is government of a human soul by the Divine Will.”
We looked again at the faces of the Blessed Perfection and the Báb in the inner room.
The night before the battle, Hurr, the commander who had blocked every road to Husayn, was overcome with remorse. At dawn he rode to the Imam to beg forgiveness, and was killed by the soldiers he had once commanded.
In a prayer for a memorial gathering, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalls Fáṭimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs: her sufferings after his martyrdom, her patience, and her years of humble service in the Holy Land.
Ill with tuberculosis, Thomas Breakwell sent ever more joyful letters to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, never asked to be healed, and told the other patients he was not going to die but merely departing for the Kingdom of God.
In A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá tells of the Báb's martyrdom in the barrack square of Tabríz in 1850. The first regiment's volleys left Him and His young companion unharmed; a second regiment then carried out the sentence.
These things have been put to the proof, and the greatest proof is this very transaction.
When he reached Hamadán his character became known, and, as he was of the clerical class, the doctors vehemently pursued him, handed him over to the government, and ordered chastisement to be inflicted.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls how the Bábís handed over to the populace for torture remained unflinching, chanting prayers and asking God to pardon and bless their murderers.
Keith Ransom-Kehler, sent by Shoghi Effendi to Persia, pleaded the cause of its persecuted Bahá'ís before the authorities and died in Iṣfáhán in 1933. The Guardian called her the American believers' first and distinguished martyr.