This honored man was successful in converting a multitude. For the sake of
God he cast all caution aside, as he hastened along the ways of love. He
became as one frenzied, as a vagrant and one known to be mad. Because of
his new Faith, he was mocked at in Ṭihrán by high and low. When he walked
through the streets and bázárs, the people pointed their fingers at him,
calling him a Bahá’í. Whenever trouble broke out, he was the one to be
arrested first. He was always ready and waiting for this, since it never
failed.
Again and again he was bound with chains, jailed, and threatened with the
sword. The photograph of this blessed individual, together with that of
the great Amín, taken of them in their chains, will serve as an example to
whoever has eyes to see. There they sit, those two distinguished men, hung
with chains, shackled, yet composed, acquiescent, undisturbed.
Things came to such a pass that in the end whenever there was an uproar
Mullá ‘Alí would put on his turban, wrap himself in his ‘abá and sit
waiting, for his enemies to rouse and the farrá_sh_es to break in and the
guards to carry him off to prison. But observe the power of God! In spite
of all this, he was kept safe. “The sign of a knower and lover is this,
that you will find him dry in the sea.” That is how he was. His life hung
by a thread from one moment to the next; the malevolent lay in wait for
him; he was known everywhere as a Bahá’í—and still he was protected from
all harm. He stayed dry in the depths of the sea, cool and safe in the
heart of the fire, until the day he died.
After the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, Mullá ‘Alí continued on, loyal to the
Testament of the Light of the World, staunch in the Covenant which he
served and heralded. During the lifetime of the Manifestation, his
yearning made him hasten to Bahá’u’lláh, Who received him with grace and
favor, and showered blessings upon him. He returned, then, to Írán, where
he devoted all his time to serving the Cause. Openly at odds with his
tyrannical oppressors, no matter how often they threatened him, he defied
them. He was never vanquished. Whatever he had to say, he said. He was one
of the Hands of the Cause of God, steadfast, unshakable, not to be moved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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