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Shaykh ‘Alí-Akbar-i-Mazgání |
This chief of free souls, of
wanderers for the love of
God, was only an infant when, in Mazgán, he was suckled
at the breast of grace. He was a child of the eminent
scholar, Shaykh-i-Mazgání; his noble father was one of the
leading citizens of Qamsar, near Káshán, and for piety,
holiness, and the fear of God he had no peer. This father
embodied all the qualities that are worthy of praise; moreover
his ways were pleasing, his disposition good, he was
an excellent companion, and for all these things he was
well known. When he threw off restraint and openly declared
himself a believer, the faithless, whether friend or
stranger, turned their backs on him and began to plot his
death. But he continued to further the Cause, to alert the
people’s hearts, and to welcome the newcomers as generously
as ever. Thus in Káshán the fame of his strong faith
reached as high as the Milky Way. Then the pitiless aggressors
rose up, plundered his possessions and killed him.
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‘Alí-Akbar, the son of him who had laid down his life in
the pathway of God, could live in that place no longer.
Had he remained, he too, like his father, would have been
put to the sword. He passed some time in ‘Iráq, and received
the honor of being in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh.
Then he went back to Persia, but again he longed to look
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upon Bahá’u’lláh, and with his wife he set out over the
deserts and mountains, sometimes riding, sometimes on
foot, measuring off the miles, passing from one shore to the
other, reaching the Holy Place at last and in the shade
of the Divine Lote-Tree finding safety and peace.
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When the beauty of the Desired One had vanished
from this world, ‘Alí-Akbar remained loyal to the Covenant
and prospered under the grace of God. By disposition
and because of the intense love in his heart, he
yearned to write poetry, to fashion odes and ghazáls, but
he lacked both meter and rhyme:
I planned a poem, but my Beloved told me,With rapturous longing, his heart desired the realms of his compassionate Lord; consumed by burning love, he left this world at last, and pitched his tent in the world above. May God send down upon his grave, from the Kingdom of His forgiveness, a heavy rain 1 of blessings, bestow a great victory upon him, and grant him mercies, pressed down and running over, in the retreats of Heaven. |
1. | Qur’án 2:266, 267. [ Back To Reference] |