A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
Muḥammad-Hádíy-i-Ṣaḥḥáf |
Yet one more among those
who emigrated and came
to settle near Bahá’u’lláh was the bookbinder, Muḥammad-Hádí.
This noted man was from Iṣfahán, and as a
binder and illuminator of books he had no peer. When he
gave himself up to the love of God he was alert on the path
and fearless. He abandoned his home and began a dreadful
68
journey, passing with extreme hardship from one country
to another until he reached the Holy Land and became
a prisoner. He stationed himself by the Holy Threshold,
carefully sweeping it and keeping watch. Through his
constant efforts, the square in front of Bahá’u’lláh’s house
was at all times swept, sprinkled and immaculate.
|
When his sweeping, sprinkling and tidying was done,
he would set to work illuminating and binding the various
books and Tablets. So his days went by, his heart happy in
the presence of the Beloved of mankind. He was an excellent
soul, righteous, true, worthy of the bounty of being
united with his Lord, and free of the world’s contagion.
|
One day he came to me and complained of a chronic
ailment. “I have suffered from chills and fever for two
years,” he said, “The doctors have prescribed a purgative,
and quinine. The fever stops a few days; then it returns.
They give me more quinine, but still the fever returns. I
am weary of this life, and can no longer do my work. Save
me!”
|
I directed them to prepare this for him, and I left. The
next day he presented himself and told me: “I ate a whole
bowlful of the soup. Then I laid my head on my pillow
and slept peacefully till morning.”
69
|
One day a believer came to me and said: “Muḥammad-Hádí
is burning up with fever.” I hurried to his bedside
and found him with a fever of 42 Centigrade. He was
barely conscious. “What has he done?” I asked. “When he
became feverish,” was the reply, “he said that he knew
from experience what he should do. Then he ate his fill of
barley soup with whey and braised garlic; and this was the
result.”
|
I was astounded at the workings of fate. I told them:
“Because, two years ago, he had been thoroughly purged
and his system was clear; because he had a hearty appetite
for it, and his ailment was fever and chills, I prescribed
the barley soup. But this time, with the different foods he
has had, with no appetite, and especially with a high fever,
there was no reason to diagnose the previous chronic condition.
How could he have eaten the soup!” They answered,
“It was fate.” Things had gone too far; Muḥammad-Hádí
was past saving.
|
He was a man short of stature, lofty of station and mind.
His heart was pure, his soul luminous. During all those
days when he served the Holy Threshold, he was loved by
the friends and favored by God. From time to time, a smile
on His lips, the Blessed Beauty would speak to him, expressing
kindness and grace.
|
Muḥammad-Hádí was loyal always, and he accounted
all things other than God’s good pleasure as fiction and
fable, nothing more. Blessed is he for this gift bestowed
upon him, glad tidings to him for the place to which he
shall be led; may it do him good, this wine-cup tempered
at the camphor fountain, and may all his strivings meet
with thanks and be acceptable to God.
1
|
1. | Cf. Qur’án 11:101; 11:100; 76:5; 76:22; 17:20. [ Back To Reference] |