Mírzá Áqá Ján’s spiritual transformation “was instantly detected by both Mírzá Yahyá and his fellow-conspirator Siyyid Muhammad”

The confidence instilled in Mírzá Áqá Ján by this unexpected and sudden contact with the spirit and directing genius of a new-born Revelation stirred his soul to its depths—a soul already afire with a consuming love born of his recognition of the ascendancy which his newly-found Master had already achieved over His fellow-disciples in both ‘Iráq and Persia. This intense adoration that informed his whole being, and which could neither be suppressed nor concealed, was instantly detected by both Mírzá Yaḥyá and his fellow-conspirator Siyyid Muḥammad. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

Mirzá Aqá Jan becomes Báhá’u’lláh’s attendant, amanuensis and companion

Nabil writes that Mirzá Áqá Jan further related to him that the Abhá Beauty (Bahá’u’lláh) said to him: “‘If you see Me in the marketplace, do not show any sign of recognition, unless I call you Myself.’” That day, when I went out to the bazar, I encountered His Blessed Person. He called out loudly for me and I ran into His presence. For a while, an hour or more, He spoke to me there in the market-place. Afterwards, He went to Najaf. He instructed me: ‘Stay in Karbilá. When I return [from Najaf], should I pass this way, I shall take you with Myself to Baghdad, and should I go [to Baghdád] by way of Hillih, I shall send for you.’

“I stayed in Karbilá for three months. I used to gather thorn and sell it to the bath-keepers. One day. Shaykh Abú-Turáb [-i-Ishtahárdí] told me, ‘If I could get hold of a copy of the Persian Bayán, I would read something out of it to you.’ I said: ‘It can be found.’ ‘Where?’ enquired Shaykh Abú-Turáb. I replied that Háji ’Abdu’l-Majíd-i-Shírází in Kázimayn had a copy, and I left that very hour for Kázimayn to obtain it. When I neared Baghdád I ran into Abu’l-Qásim-i-Káshání and enquired about Háji ‘Abdu'l-Majid. At first, he thought that I intended to meet Azal, but when he realized that my heart had been captivated by someone else, he asked me for a reason, and, when I mentioned the gait and the speech of the Abhá Beauty, he gave me a luminous Tablet revealed for me, in which the People of Bahá and the qualities of the Abhá Beauty had been mentioned. When the news of my coming was given to His Blessed Person, He summoned Me and said that He had intended to send for me.”

Thus began Mirzá Áqá Ján's forty-year-long service to Bahá'u'lláh as attendant, amanuensis and companion. 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

“at this critical juncture” Bahá’u’lláh “was moved to disclose [to Mírzá Áqá Ján] …a glimpse of the as yet unrevealed glory of His station”

To Mírzá Áqá Ján, “the first to believe” in Him, designated later as Khádimu’lláh (Servant of God)—a Bábí youth, aflame with devotion, who, under the influence of a dream he had of the Báb, and as a result of the perusal of certain writings of Bahá’u’lláh, had precipitately forsaken his home in Káshán and traveled to ‘Iráq, in the hope of attaining His presence, and who from then on served Him assiduously for a period of forty years in his triple function of amanuensis, companion and attendant—to him Bahá’u’lláh, more than to any one else, was moved to disclose, at this critical juncture, a glimpse of the as yet unrevealed glory of His station.

This same Mírzá Áqá Ján, recounting to Nabíl his experiences, on that first and never to be forgotten night spent in Karbilá, in the presence of his newly-found Beloved, Who was then a guest of Hájí Mírzá Hasan-i-Hakím-Báshí, had given the following testimony:

“As it was summer-time Bahá’u’lláh was in the habit of passing His evenings and of sleeping on the roof of the House.… That night, when He had gone to sleep, I, according to His directions, lay down for a brief rest, at a distance of a few feet from Him. No sooner had I risen, and … started to offer my prayers, in a corner of the roof which adjoined a wall, than I beheld His blessed Person rise and walk towards me. When He reached me He said: ‘You, too, are awake.’ Whereupon He began to chant and pace back and forth. How shall I ever describe that voice and the verses it intoned, and His gait, as He strode before me! Methinks, with every step He took and every word He uttered thousands of oceans of light surged before my face, and thousands of worlds of incomparable splendor were unveiled to my eyes, and thousands of suns blazed their light upon me! In the moonlight that streamed upon Him, He thus continued to walk and to chant. Every time He approached me He would pause, and, in a tone so wondrous that no tongue can describe it, would say: ‘Hear Me, My son. By God, the True One! This Cause will assuredly be made manifest. Heed thou not the idle talk of the people of the Bayán, who pervert the meaning of every word.’ In this manner He continued to walk and chant, and to address me these words until the first streaks of dawn appeared.… Afterwards I removed His bedding to His room, and, having prepared His tea for Him, was dismissed from His presence.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

“words of warning, of counsel and of assurance” from Bahá’u’lláh ““at a time when the shadows were beginning to deepen around Him”

Little wonder that from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh, Who was as yet unable to divulge the Secret that stirred within His bosom, these words of warning, of counsel and of assurance should, at a time when the shadows were beginning to deepen around Him, have proceeded:

“The days of tests are now come. Oceans of dissension and tribulation are surging, and the Banners of Doubt are, in every nook and corner, occupied in stirring up mischief and in leading men to perdition.… Suffer not the voice of some of the soldiers of negation to cast doubt into your midst, neither allow yourselves to become heedless of Him Who is the Truth, inasmuch as in every Dispensation such contentions have been raised. God, however, will establish His Faith, and manifest His light albeit the stirrers of sedition abhor it.… Watch ye every day for the Cause of God.… All are held captive in His grasp. No place is there for any one to flee to. Think not the Cause of God to be a thing lightly taken, in which any one can gratify his whims. In various quarters a number of souls have, at the present time, advanced this same claim. The time is approaching when … every one of them will have perished and been lost, nay will have come to naught and become a thing unremembered, even as the dust itself.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By)

Mirzá Yahyá had “established himself… in a dilapidated quarter of the city” of Baghdád, and Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfaháni “settled in Karbilá” and together they were “kindling dissensions and in deranging the life of the exiles and of the community that had gathered about them”

The former [Mirzá Yahyá] had, after the execution of the Báb, sustained such a violent shock that his faith almost forsook him. Wandering for a time, in the guise of a dervish, in the mountains of Mázindarán, he, by his behavior, had so severely tested the loyalty of his fellow-believers in Núr, most of whom had been converted through the indefatigable zeal of Bahá’u’lláh, that they too wavered in their convictions, some of them going so far as to throw in their lot with the enemy. He subsequently proceeded to Rasht, and remained concealed in the province of Gílán until his departure for Kirmánsháh, where in order the better to screen himself he entered the service of a certain ‘Abdu’lláh-i-Qazvíní, a maker of shrouds, and became a vendor of his goods. He was still there when Bahá’u’lláh passed through that city on His way to Baghdád, and expressing a desire to live in close proximity to Bahá’u’lláh but in a house by himself where he could ply some trade incognito, he succeeded in obtaining from Him a sum of money with which he purchased several bales of cotton and then proceeded, in the garb of an Arab, by way of Mandalíj to Baghdád. He established himself there in the street of the Charcoal Dealers, situated in a dilapidated quarter of the city, and placing a turban upon his head, and assuming the name of Ḥájí ‘Alíy-i-Lás-Furúsh, embarked on his newly-chosen occupation. Siyyid Muhammad had meanwhile settled in Karbilá, and was busily engaged, with Mírzá Yaḥyá as his lever, in kindling dissensions and in deranging the life of the exiles and of the community that had gathered about them. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

“The conduct of Mírzá Yahyá, who claimed to be the successor of the Báb”, had assumed “such a character that the prestige of the Faith was becoming directly involved, and its future security seriously imperiled”

As the character of the professed adherents of the Báb declined and as proofs of the deepening confusion that afflicted them multiplied, the mischief-makers, who were lying in wait, and whose sole aim was to exploit the progressive deterioration in the situation for their own benefit, grew ever more and more audacious. The conduct of Mírzá Yahyá, who claimed to be the successor of the Báb, and who prided himself on his high sounding titles of Mir’átu’l-Azalíyyih (Everlasting Mirror), of Ṣubh-i-Azal (Morning of Eternity), and of Ismu’l-Azal (Name of Eternity), and particularly the machinations of Siyyid Muhammad, exalted by him to the rank of the first among the “Witnesses” of the Bayán, were by now assuming such a character that the prestige of the Faith was becoming directly involved, and its future security seriously imperiled. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

Bahá’u’lláh’s “first decision was ‘to arise … and undertake, with the utmost vigor, the task of regenerating’” the Bábi community

The morals of the members of this dwindling community, no less than their numbers, had sharply declined. Such was their “waywardness and folly,” to quote Bahá’u’lláh’s own words, that upon His release from prison, His first decision was “to arise … and undertake, with the utmost vigor, the task of regenerating this people.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

Upon arrival in Baghdád, Bahá’u’lláh found “no more than a single Bábí”

Bahá’u’lláh upon His arrival in Baghdád, a city which had witnessed the glowing evidences of the indefatigable zeal of Táhirih, found among His countrymen residing in that city no more than a single Bábí, while in Kázimayn inhabited chiefly by Persians, a mere handful of His compatriots remained who still professed, in fear and obscurity, their faith in the Báb. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

The “source of envy and the quintessence of mischief”: - Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahán: “The black-hearted scoundrel who befooled and manipulated” Mirza Yahyá

The black-hearted scoundrel who befooled and manipulated this vain and flaccid man [Mirza Yahyá] with consummate skill and unyielding persistence was a certain Siyyid Muhammad, a native of Isfahán, notorious for his inordinate ambition, his blind obstinacy and uncontrollable jealousy. To him Bahá’u’lláh had later referred in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as the one who had “led astray” Mírzá Yahyá, and stigmatized him, in one of His Tablets, as the “source of envy and the quintessence of mischief,” while ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá had described the relationship existing between these two as that of “the sucking child” to the “much-prized breast” of its mother. Forced to abandon his studies in the madrisiy-i-Sadr of Isfahán, this Siyyid had migrated, in shame and remorse, to Karbilá, had there joined the ranks of the Báb’s followers, and shown, after His martyrdom, signs of vacillation which exposed the shallowness of his faith and the fundamental weakness of his convictions. Bahá’u’lláh’s first visit to Karbilá and the marks of undisguised reverence, love and admiration shown Him by some of the most distinguished among the former disciples and companions of Siyyid Káẓim, had aroused in this calculating and unscrupulous schemer an envy, and bred in his soul an animosity, which the forbearance and patience shown him by Bahá’u’lláh had served only to inflame. His deluded helpers, willing tools of his diabolical designs, were the not inconsiderable number of Bábís who, baffled, disillusioned and leaderless, were already predisposed to be beguiled by him into pursuing a path diametrically opposed to the tenets and counsels of a departed Leader. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

Winds of dissension: Mirzá Yahyá and Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahání

But winds of dissension were already blowing, and rifts were making their mark. Whilst bound in chains in the Siyáh-Chál of Tihràn, at a time when Mirza Yahya [half-brother of Bahá’u’lláh] was constantly running for shelter, Bahá’u’lláh had vowed to arise and regenerate the shattered community of the Báb. Now, from the obscurity he had chosen, Mirzá Yahyá was secretly engaged in engineering opposition to Bahá’u’lláh, in company with Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahání, who had established himself in Karbilá. 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

Bahá’u’lláh “exhorted all men, and particularly this people, [the Bábís]" and “forbade them to engage in sedition, quarrels, disputes and conflict”; “all unseemly and unholy deeds”

After Our arrival, We revealed, as a copious rain, by the aid of God and His Divine Grace and mercy, Our verses, and sent them to various parts of the world. We exhorted all men, and particularly this people, [the Bábís] through Our wise counsels and loving admonitions, and forbade them to engage in sedition, quarrels, disputes and conflict. 

- Baha'u'llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

In that land We forbad all mischief, and all unseemly and unholy deeds. Day and night We sent forth Our Tablets in every direction. We had no other purpose except to edify the souls of men, and to exalt the blessed Word. 

- Baha'u'llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

Distinguished Persian and Arab followers of the Báb in Iraq and Kázimayn began rallying around Bahá’u’llah

One of the very first to recognize in Bahá’u’lláh that true mentor, counsellor and guide which the community of the Báb sorely needed, was Hàji Háshim-i-‘Attár, a wealthy Persian merchant who lived in new Baghdad. Having once attained the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, he became devoted to Him, and in the end gave Him his allegiance…Aqá Muhammad-Hasan, a merchant of Isfahan; Siyyid Muhammad-Ridá and Siyyid Muhammad-Taqi, two brothers, sons of Siyyid-i-Buká'; Haji ’Abdu’l-Majid-i-Shírází - the father of that glorious martyr, Mirzá ’Abdu’l-Vahháb and his brother, Mirza Hasan, who was known as ’Gul-i-Guláb’ (Red Rose, literally, ‘the flower of the rose-water') - all Persians who lived in Kázimayn - rallied round Him. And so did the Arab Bábis of Baghdad, notably Shaykh Sultán and Áqá Muhammad-Mustafá. Another veteran of the Faith of the Báb, who very soon came to see that the hopes of the Bábis must be centred in the person of Bahá’u’lláh, was Haji Siyyid Javád-i-Karbilá'i.

Shaykh-Ali Mirza of Shiraz, a distinguished figure related to the imám-jum’ih of Shiráz, as well as Siyyid ‘Abdu’r-Rahim of Isfahan (honoured in later years with the designation of Ismu'llahi'r-Rahim 1 the Name of God, the Merciful), and Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, the physician of Zanjan, who was to meet a martyr's death, were the most notable of the Babis in Iran who. from that early time, became convinced that only by turning to Jináb-i-Bahá could they find that sure anchor which could and would steady the storm-tossed ship of their Faith. 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

Upon arrival in Baghdád Bahá’u’lláh found most “of the believers…faint and dispirited, nay utterly lost and dead”

Upon Our arrival in ‘Iráq We found the Cause of God sunk in deep apathy and the breeze of divine revelation stilled. Most of the believers were faint and dispirited, nay utterly lost and dead. Hence there was a second blast on the Trumpet, whereupon the Tongue of Grandeur uttered these blessed words: ‘We have sounded the Trumpet for the second time.’ Thus the whole world was quickened through the vitalizing breaths of divine revelation and inspiration. 

- Bahá’u’llah (‘Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitáb-Aqdas)

Upon taking residence in Baghdád Bahá’u’lláh encouraged Mirza Yahyá, his half-brother, who had already come to Baghdad, to return to Persia to serve the Faith of the Báb, as His ‘nominee’

When Bahá’u’lláh took up residence in Baghdád, where He would live for the next ten years, what had remained of the disconsolate, bewildered and decimated community of the Báb learned to turn to Him for advice, for guidance, for protection, because Mirza Yahyá, who was known as the ‘nominee' of the Báb, was nowhere to be seen. Having managed, as we have seen, to escape from Tákur in the company of his uncle, Mirza Zaynu’l-Ábidin, he was now living in Baghdád under the assumed name of Haji ‘Aliy-i-Lás Furúsh, in the street of the charcoal-vendors (Dhughál-Furúshán). It was Bahá’u’lláh's wish that he should return to Persia, there to serve the Faith of the Báb, as His own words make clear:

“About two months after Our arrival in Iraq, following the command of His Majesty the Shah of Persia -- may God assist him -- Mirza Yahyá joined Us. We said unto him: "In accordance with the Royal command We have been sent unto this place. It is advisable for thee to remain in Persia. We will send Our brother, Mirza Musa, to some other place. As your names have not been mentioned in the Royal decree, you can arise and render some service." Subsequently, this Wronged One departed from Baghdad, and for two years withdrew from the world. Upon Our return, We found that he had not left, and had postponed his departure. This Wronged One was greatly saddened. God testifieth and beareth Us witness that We have, at all times, been busied with the propagation of this Cause. Neither chains nor bonds, stocks nor imprisonment, have succeeded in withholding Us from revealing Our Self.” (Baha'u'llah, ‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’) 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

City of Baghdád and its pivotal role in Bahá’u’llah’s Revelation

In that city, described in Islamic traditions as “Ẓahru’l-Kúfih,” designated for centuries as the “Abode of Peace,” and immortalized by Bahá’u’lláh as the “City of God,” He, except for His two year retirement to the mountains of Kurdistán and His occasional visits to Najaf, Karbilá and Káẓimayn, continued to reside until His banishment to Constantinople.

• To that city the Qur’án had alluded as the “Abode of Peace” to which God Himself “calleth.”
• To it, in that same Book, further allusion had been made in the verse “For them is a Dwelling of Peace with their Lord … on the Day whereon God shall gather them all together.”
• From it radiated, wave after wave, a power, a radiance and a glory which insensibly reanimated a languishing Faith, sorely-stricken, sinking into obscurity, threatened with oblivion.
• From it were diffused, day and night, and with ever-increasing energy, the first emanations of a Revelation which, in its scope, its copiousness, its driving force and the volume and variety of its literature, was destined to excel that of the Báb Himself.
• Above its horizon burst forth the rays of the Sun of Truth, Whose rising glory had for ten long years been overshadowed by the inky clouds of a consuming hatred, an ineradicable jealousy, an unrelenting malice.
• In it the Tabernacle of the promised “Lord of Hosts” was first erected, and the foundations of the long-awaited Kingdom of the “Father” unassailably established.
• Out of it went forth the earliest tidings of the Message of Salvation which, as prophesied by Daniel, was to mark, after the lapse of “a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (1280 A.H.), the end of “the abomination that maketh desolate.”

Baghdad was a provincial center of the Ottoman Empire with a population of about 1.5 million

1853: Passenger landing in circular boats
 (guffa) on the Tigris river in Baghdad

At this time, Baghdad was a provincial center of the Ottoman Empire, with a population of about 60,000. Little there was to bespeak its renowned history as the city built, between ad 762 and 766, by the ‘Abbásid Caliph al-Mansúr, and called by him Madinatu's-Salám - the City of Peace. Al-Mansùr had made his city the capital of a vast empire stretching from Egypt to the confines of China. Subsequent caliphs enlarged and beautified it, until by the tenth century it was some 82 kilometres in length and 74 kilometres in width, filled with the finest palaces, most magnificent mosques, and most extensive bazars of that age. Its population at that time is estimated to have been some 1.5 million. From this time on there was a general decline in Baghdád’s fortunes, until two successive sackings by the Mongols in 1258 and 1401 put a complete end to its former glory. In 1534, the Ottoman Sultán, Sulaymán the Magnificent, took Baghdad and, in the next century, it was ruled alternately by Ottomans and Safavids, until in 1638 it settled into its role as an Ottoman provincial centre until the First World War. 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

After a month Bahá’u’lláh came back to Baghdad and settled in a rental house in the old quarter

Mirzá Ibráhim Khán of Tabriz, - the Consul-General of Persia from 1846 until his death in December 1858 - calling to pay his respects, suggested that because of the fanaticism of the populace and the pilgrims it might be more convenient for Bahá’u’lláh to return to Baghdad and live in the old quarter, which was close to Kázimayn. Bahá’u’lláh agreed and a search was made for a suitable house. About a month later, He and His family came back to Baghdád and settled in the house of Háji ‘Ali Madad, which had been rented for Him. 

- Hasan Balyuzi (‘Bahá’u’lláh King of Glory’)

Bahá’u’lláh then proceeded to Kázimayn about three miles north of Baghdád

From there He proceeded, a few days after, to Kázimayn, about three miles north of the city, a town inhabited chiefly by Persians, and where the two Kázims, the seventh and the ninth Imáms, are buried. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

Views of Baghdad circa 1930s

 

8 April 1853: Bahá’u’lláh arrived in Baghdád

Finally, on the 28th of Jamádíyu’th-Thání 1269 A.H. (April 8, 1853), Bahá’u’lláh arrived in Baghdád, the capital city of what was then the Turkish province of ‘Iráq. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Bahá’u’lláh and His companions received a “warm and enthusiastic reception” from a local governor in Karand about 100 kilometers from Tihran

…except for the warm and enthusiastic reception accorded the travelers during their brief stay in Karand by its governor Hayát-Qulí Khán, of the ‘Alíyu’lláhí sect. He was shown, in return, such kindness by Bahá’u’lláh that the people of the entire village were affected, and continued, long after, to extend such hospitality to His followers on their way to Baghdád that they gained the reputation of being known as Bábís. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

A prayer from Bahá’u’lláh “expatiating upon the woes and trials He had endured in the Síyáh-Chál…[and] hardships undergone in the course of that ‘terrible journey’

In a prayer revealed by Him at that time, Bahá’u’lláh, expatiating upon the woes and trials He had endured in the Síyáh-Chál, thus bears witness to the hardships undergone in the course of that “terrible journey”:

“My God, My Master, My Desire!… Thou hast created this atom of dust through the consummate power of Thy might, and nurtured Him with Thine hands which none can chain up.… Thou hast destined for Him trials and tribulations which no tongue can describe, nor any of Thy Tablets adequately recount. The throat Thou didst accustom to the touch of silk Thou hast, in the end, clasped with strong chains, and the body Thou didst ease with brocades and velvets Thou hast at last subjected to the abasement of a dungeon. Thy decree hath shackled Me with unnumbered fetters, and cast about My neck chains that none can sunder. A number of years have passed during which afflictions have, like showers of mercy, rained upon Me.… How many the nights during which the weight of chains and fetters allowed Me no rest, and how numerous the days during which peace and tranquillity were denied Me, by reason of that wherewith the hands and tongues of men have afflicted Me! Both bread and water which Thou hast, through Thy all-embracing mercy, allowed unto the beasts of the field, they have, for a time, forbidden unto this servant, and the things they refused to inflict upon such as have seceded from Thy Cause, the same have they suffered to be inflicted upon Me, until, finally, Thy decree was irrevocably fixed, and Thy behest summoned this servant to depart out of Persia, accompanied by a number of frail-bodied men and children of tender age, at this time when the cold is so intense that one cannot even speak, and ice and snow so abundant that it is impossible to move.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

The “long and perilous” journey: “undertaken in the depth of an exceptionally severe winter”

The journey, undertaken in the depth of an exceptionally severe winter, carrying the little band of exiles, so inadequately equipped, across the snow-bound mountains of Western Persia, though long and perilous, was uneventful… 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

The two faithful brothers of Bahá’u’lláh “who accompanied Him on that journey”

Of the two brothers who accompanied Him on that journey the first was Mírzá Músá, commonly called Áqáy-i-Kalím, His staunch and valued supporter, the ablest and most distinguished among His brothers and sisters, and one of the “only two persons who,” according to Bahá’u’lláh’s testimony, “were adequately informed of the origins” of His Faith. The other was Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí, a half-brother, who, in spite of the defection of some of his relatives, remained to the end loyal to the Cause he had espoused. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Bahá’u’lláh describes the severity of the journey to Baghdád

…until, finally, Thy [God's] decree was irrevocably fixed, and Thy behest summoned this servant to depart out of Persia, accompanied by a number of frail-bodied men and children of tender age, at this time when the cold is so intense that one cannot even speak, and ice and snow so abundant that it is impossible to move. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘God Passes By’)