One of the captives who were sent on from Ba_gh_dád to Mosul was Mírzá Muḥammad-i-Vakíl. This righteous soul was among those who became believers in Ba_gh_dád. It was there he drank from the cup of resignation to the will of God and sought his rest in the shade of the celestial Tree. He was a man high-minded and worthy of trust. He was also an extremely capable and energetic administrator of important affairs, famous in ‘Iráq for his wise counsel. After he became a believer, he was distinguished by the title of Vakíl—deputy. It happened in this way: There was a notable in Ba_gh_dád by the name of Ḥájí Mírzá Hádí, the jeweler. He had a distinguished son, Áqá Mírzá Músá, who had received from Bahá’u’lláh the title “Letter of Eternity.” This son had become a staunch believer. As for his father, the Ḥájí, he was a princely individual known for his lavish open-handedness not only in Persia and ‘Iráq but as far away as India. To begin with he had been a Persian vazír; but when he saw how the late Fatḥ-‘Alí _Sh_áh eyed worldly riches, particularly the worldly riches of Persian vazírs, and how he snatched whatever they had accumulated, and how, not content with confiscating their costly vanities and lumber, he punished and tortured them right and left, calling it a legal penalty—the Ḥájí dreaded that he too might be catapulted into the abyss. He abandoned his position as vazír, and his mansion, and fled to Ba_gh_dád. Fatḥ-‘Alí _Sh_áh demanded that the Governor of Ba_gh_dád, Dávúd Pá_sh_á, send him back, but the Pá_sh_á was a man of courage and the Ḥájí was widely known for his able mind. Accordingly, the Pá_sh_á respected and helped him and the Ḥájí set up in business as a jeweler. He lived with pomp and splendor, like a great prince. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time, for within his palace he carried on a life of gratification and opulence, but he left his pomp, style and retinue behind, occupied himself with his business affairs and realized great profits. The door of his house was always open. Turks and Persians, neighbors, strangers from far places, all were his honored guests. Most of Persia’s great, when they came on pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines, would stop at his house, where they would find a banquet laid out, and every luxury ready to hand. The Ḥájí was, indeed, more distinguished than Persia’s Grand Vazír; he outshone all the vazírs for magnificence, and as the days passed by he dispensed ever more largesse to all who came and went. He was the pride of the Persians throughout ‘Iráq, the glory of his fellow nationals. Even on the Turkish vazírs and ministers and the grandees of Ba_gh_dád he bestowed gifts and favors; and for intelligence and perceptivity he had no equal.