After he had come to Ba_gh_dád and attained the presence of Bahá’u’lláh,
he was seated one day in the courtyard of the men’s apartments, by the
little garden. I was in one of the rooms just above, that gave onto the
courtyard. At that moment a Persian prince, a grandson of Fatḥ-‘Alí
_Sh_áh, arrived at the house. The prince said to him, “Who are you?”
Ismu’lláh answered, “I am a servant of this Threshhold. I am one of the
keepers of this door.” And as I listened from above, he began to teach the
Faith. The prince at first objected violently; and yet, in a quarter of an
hour, gently and benignly, Jináb-i-Ismu’lláh had quieted him down. After
the prince had so sharply denied what was said, and his face had so
clearly reflected his fury, now his wrath was changed to smiles and he
expressed the greatest satisfaction at having encountered Ismu’lláh and
heard what he had to say.
He always taught cheerfully and with gaiety, and would respond gently and
with good humor, no matter how much passionate anger might be turned
against him by the one with whom he spoke. His way of teaching was
excellent. He was truly Ismu’lláh, the Name of God, not for his fame but
because he was a chosen soul.
Ismu’lláh had memorized a great number of Islámic traditions and had
mastered the teachings of _Sh_ay_kh_ Aḥmad and Siyyid Kázim. He became a
believer in _Sh_íráz, in the early days of the Faith, and was soon widely
known as such. And because he began to teach openly and boldly, they hung
a halter on him and led him about the streets and bázárs of the city. Even
in that condition, composed and smiling, he kept on speaking to the
people. He did not yield; he was not silenced. When they freed him he left
_Sh_íráz and went to _Kh_urásán, and there, too, began to spread the
Faith, following which he traveled on, in the company of Bábu’l-Báb, to
Fort Tabarsí. Here he endured intense sufferings as a member of that band
of sacrificial victims. They took him prisoner at the Fort and delivered
him over to the chiefs of Mázindarán, to lead him about and finally kill
him in a certain district of that province. When, bound with chains,
Ismu’lláh was brought to the appointed place, God put it into one man’s
heart to free him from prison in the middle of the night and guide him to
a place where he was safe. Throughout all these agonizing trials he
remained staunch in his faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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