6. _Baha also commends suicide for his sake._ It is narrated by Abdul Baha[543] that rather than be separated in exile from Baha, "Haji Jafar was moved to lamentation, and with his own hand cut his throat." Baha, in the Lawh-i-Raiz, alluded to this event, saying, "One from amongst the Friends sacrificed himself for myself and _cut his throat with his own hand for the love of God_. This is such that we have not heard from former ages. This is that which God hath set apart for this dispensation." Another disciple attempted suicide about the same time.[544] This "old and faithful follower seized a knife and exclaiming, 'If I must be separated from my Lord, I will go and join my God,' cut his throat. With the aid of a physician, his life was saved. Again when the ship bearing the exiles reached Haifa, Abdul Ghaffar, finding himself to be separated from his Lord, determined to sacrifice his life, and threw himself into the sea from the steamer, exclaiming, 'O Baha! O Baha!'" The sailors rescued him.[545] This tendency to suicide reveals an astonishing degree of fanaticism among the Bahais. But suicide is so rare among the Persian Shiahs that these reports arouse suspicion and call for further investigation. I was informed of one person whom the Bahais at Acca reported as a suicide, but who in reality had been murdered by them. Of another, named Haji Mirza Riza, who would have written a history favourable to Azal, the latter wrote to Professor Browne that "they (the Bahais) sought to slay him, and at length gave out that, on the first night of his imprisonment, he had bound a cord about his throat and destroyed himself and so became a martyr."[546] The celebrated Nabil, Bahai poet and historian, is reported to have committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea, shortly after the death of Baha Ullah. "He could stay on earth no longer--he loved and yearned so for Baha Ullah."[547] As this same Nabil had himself claimed to be the Manifestation,[548] it was very convenient that he should make away with himself at that time, instead of renewing his pretensions. These instances of suicide are cited as proofs of the truth of the religion by M. Mohammed Husain Shirazi, who says,[549] "More faithful and devoted (than the early Christians), some martyrs of our day have killed themselves with their own hands out of devotion to their Lord Baha." Again Baha sent Badi, the messenger, to the Shah, with the "Epistle" from Acca, assuring him beforehand that he was going to death.[550] The letter could easily have been sent through one of the foreign consulates without sacrifice of life.