Memorials of the Faithful Part 18

_ 21 Gh_ariq. The letters composing this word total 1310, which Hijra year began July 26, 1892.

22 Terms used by the Sufis.

23 ?idq, truth.

24 Qur'an 54:55.

25 This word has a number of meanings, including truthful, loyal and just.

26 Ya _Sh_afi.

27 Qur'an 76:5.

28 Nabil of Qa'in was his t.i.tle.

29 Qur'an 5:59.

30 The kran was 20 _sh_ahis, or almost 8 cents. Cf. Webster, op. cit.

31 Mirza Mihdi, the son of Baha'u'llah who, praying one evening on the barracks roof, fell to his death. Cf. G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 188.

32 Cf. Qur'an 13:28; 2:99; 3:67.

33 Yazid (son of Mu'aviyyih), Ummayad Caliph by whose order the Imam ?usayn was martyred. Proverbial for cruelty. Cf. S. Haim, New Persian-English Dictionary, s.v.

34 The rebellion of Mirza Ya?ya, who had been named provisional chief of the Babi community. The Bab had never appointed a successor or viceregent, instead referring His disciples to the imminent advent of His Promised One. In the interim a virtual unknown was, for security reasons, made the ostensible leader. Following His declaration in 1863 as the Promised One of the Bab, Baha'u'llah withdrew for a time, in Adrianople, to allow the exiles a free choice as between Him and this unworthy half brother, whose crimes and follies had threatened to destroy the infant Faith. Terrified at being challenged to face Baha'u'llah in a public debate, Mirza Ya?ya refused, and was completely discredited. As Baha'i history has repeatedly demonstrated, this crisis too, however grievous, resulted in still greater victories for the Faith-including the rallying of prominent disciples to Baha'u'llah, and the global proclamation of Baha'u'llah's mission, in His Tablets to the Pope and Kings. Cf. G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 28, Chapter X and pa.s.sim.

35 Mirza Ya?ya had not been banished from Persia. Now, however, he was being exiled from Adrianople to Cyprus, and 'Abdu'l-_Gh_affar was one of the four companions condemned to go with him. Cf.

Baha'u'llah's Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 166, and G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 182.

36 Cf. Qur'an 11:101; 11:100; 76:5; 76:22; 17:20.

37 Cf. G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 108.

38 Cf. G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, pp. 186; 193; 196.

39 Qur'an 54:55.

40 This reference to two worlds, du jihan, may indicate the saying: I?fahan is half the world-Isfahan nisf-i-jihan.

41 For this definition of the Manifestation of G.o.d, see G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 119.

42 These "twin shining lights" were two brothers, famous merchants of I?fahan. Because he owed them a large sum of money, the leading priest-Imam Jum'ih-of the city brought about their martyrdom. See Baha'u'llah's Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, and G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, pp.

200201 and 219.

43 Qur'an 89:2730.

44 Qur'an 24:35.

45 Qur'an 89:2730.

46 Cf. Qur'an 13:28: "Truly in the remembrance of G.o.d are the hearts set at rest."

47 Qur'an 76:5.

48 Qur'an 13:28.

49 Qur'an 3:91.

50 Qur'an 29:19; 53:48; 56:62.

51 Mirza Musa.

52 Cf. G.o.d Pa.s.ses By, p. 186.

53 Some four hundred miles northwest of Ba_gh_dad.

_ 54 Sh_ikastih-broken-a cursive or half-shorthand script, is thought to have been invented at the close of the seventeenth century, in Hirat.

55 Gawhar _Kh_anum's marriage to Baha'u'llah took place in Ba_gh_dad.

She remained with her brother in that city when Baha'u'llah left 'Iraq and later proceeded to Akka at His instruction. While traveling from Ba_gh_dad to Mosul, she was made captive together with other believers, among them Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin. Baha'u'llah makes reference to this captivity in His Tablet to the _Sh_ah.

Gawhar _Kh_anum broke the Covenant of Baha'u'llah following His pa.s.sing. She pa.s.sed away during the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

56 Qur'an 76:9.

57 A famed calligrapher who lived and wrote at the court of _Sh_ah-'Abbas, the Safavi (15571628).

58 Mi_sh_k is musk. Mi_sh_kin-Qalam means either musk-scented pen, or jet black pen.

59 Qur'an 61:4.

60 In some of this artist's productions, the writing was so arranged as to take the forms of birds. When E. G. Browne was in Persia, he was told that "these would be eagerly sought after by Persians of all cla.s.ses, were it not that they all bore, as the signature of the penman, the following verse:

Dar diyar-i-_kh_a?? _sh_ah-i-sahib-'alam Bandiy-i-bab-i-Baha, Mi_sh_kin-Qalam."

Cf. A Year Amongst the Persians, p. 227. The verse might be translated:

Lord of calligraphy, my banner goes before; But to Baha'u'llah, a bondsman at the door, Naught else I am, Mi_sh_kin-Qalam.

Note the wordplay on door, which makes possible the inclusion of the Bab's name as well as Baha'u'llah's.

61 Ustad is a master, one who is skilled in an art or profession.

62 Qur'an 6:127.

63 Qur'an 3:28.

64 Qur'an 2:266, 267.