Áqá Buzurg of Khurásán, the illustrious “Badí”
(Wonderful); converted to the Faith by Nabíl; surnamed the “Pride of Martyrs”;
the seventeen-year old bearer of the Tablet addressed to Násiri’d-Dín Sháh;
in whom, as affirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, “the spirit of might and power was
breathed,” was arrested, branded for three successive days, his head beaten to
a pulp with the butt of a rifle, after which his body was thrown into a pit and
earth and stones heaped upon it. After visiting Bahá’u’lláh in the barracks,
during the second year of His confinement, he had arisen with amazing alacrity
to carry that Tablet, alone and on foot, to Tihrán and deliver it into the
hands of the sovereign. A four months’ journey had taken him to that city, and,
after passing three days in fasting and vigilance, he had met the Sháh
proceeding on a hunting expedition to Shimírán. He had calmly and
respectfully approached His Majesty, calling out, “O King! I have come to thee
from Sheba with a weighty message”; whereupon at the Sovereign’s order, the
Tablet was taken from him and delivered to the mujtahids of Tihrán who were
commanded to reply to that Epistle—a command which they evaded, recommending
instead that the messenger should be put to death. That Tablet was subsequently
forwarded by the Sháh to the Persian Ambassador in Constantinople, in
the hope that its perusal by the Sultán’s ministers might serve to further
inflame their animosity. For a space of three years Bahá’u’lláh continued to
extol in His writings the heroism of that youth, characterizing the references
made by Him to that sublime sacrifice as the “salt of My Tablets.”
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
