Among the Hands of the Cause of God who have departed this
life and ascended to the Supreme Horizon was Jináb-i-Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq.
Another was Jináb-i-Nabíl-i-Akbar. Still others were Jináb-i-Mullá ‘Alí-Akbar
and Jináb-i-Shaykh Muhammad-Ridáy-i-Yazdí. Again, among others,
was the revered martyr, Áqá Mírzá Varqá.
Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq was truly a servant of the Lord from the
beginning of life till his last breath. When young, he joined the circle of the
late Siyyid Kázim and became one of his disciples. He was known in Persia for
his purity of life, winning fame as Mullá Sádiq the saintly. He was a blessed
individual, a man accomplished, learned, and much honored. The people of Khurásán
were strongly attached to him, for he was a great scholar and among the most
renowned of matchless and unique divines. As a teacher of
the Faith, he spoke with such eloquence, such extraordinary power, that his
hearers were won over with great ease.
After he had come to Baghdád 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 Fath-‘Alí
Sháh, 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 Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim.
He became a believer in Shíráz, 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 Shíráz
and went to Khurásán, 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.
Think, for example, how the enemy had completely hemmed in
the Fort, and were endlessly pouring in cannon balls from their siege guns. The
believers, among them Ismu’lláh, went eighteen days without food. They lived on
the leather of their shoes. This too was soon consumed, and they had nothing
left but water. They drank a mouthful every morning, and lay famished and
exhausted in their Fort. When attacked, however, they would instantly spring to
their feet, and manifest in the face of the enemy a magnificent courage and
astonishing resistance, and drive the army back from their walls. The hunger
lasted eighteen days. It was a terrible ordeal. To begin with, they were far
from home, surrounded and cut off by the foe; again, they were starving; and then
there were the army’s sudden onslaughts and the bombshells raining down and
bursting in the heart of the Fort. Under such circumstances to maintain an
unwavering faith and patience is extremely difficult, and to endure such dire
afflictions a rare phenomenon.
Ismu’lláh did not slacken under fire. Once freed, he taught
more widely than ever. He spent every waking breath in calling the people to
the Kingdom of God. In ‘Iráq, he attained the presence of
Bahá’u’lláh, and again in the Most Great Prison, receiving from Him grace and
favor.
He was like a surging sea, a falcon that soared high. His
visage shone, his tongue was eloquent, his strength and steadfastness
astounding. When he opened his lips to teach, the proofs would stream out; when
he chanted or prayed, his eyes shed tears like a spring cloud. His face was
luminous, his life spiritual, his knowledge both acquired and innate; and
celestial was his ardor, his detachment from the world, his righteousness, his
piety and fear of God.
Ismu’lláh’s tomb is in Hamadán. Many a Tablet was revealed
for him by the Supreme Pen of Bahá’u’lláh, including a special Visitation
Tablet after his passing. He was a great personage, perfect in all things.
Such blessed beings have now left this world. Thank God,
they did not linger on, to witness the agonies that followed the ascension of
Bahá’u’lláh — the intense afflictions; for firmly rooted mountains will shake
and tremble at these, and the high-towering hills bow down.
He was truly Ismu’lláh, the Name of God. Fortunate is the
one who circumambulates that tomb, who blesses himself with the dust of that
grave. Upon him be salutations and praise in the Abhá Realm.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Memorials of the Faithful’)
