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Shíráz – Áqá Mírzá Áqá 14PORT
Childhood
In a letter to His wife written while He was imprisoned in Máhkú, the Báb writes:
Do not expect any assistance from thy brothers. They will not help; it is enough that they refrain from insults. Overlook their faults. …. God grant that when the light of thine eyes, Mírzá Áqá reacheth maturity, he will be thy help and support. O God! Preserve him from all the evil of the envious and the contumacious.
This child “the light of thine eyes, Mírzá Áqá” was the Báb’s wife’s nephew. The Báb’s wife (Khadíjih Bagum) was very close to her only sister, Zahrá Bagum, who was married and had two sons. In the summer of 1846, events had reached a point that the Báb had to leave Shíráz. He therefore visited His family members to say His farewells. When the Báb visited Zahrá Bagum’s household to say good-bye, both sons had got smallpox. The younger son, Mírzá Áqá, was four years old at the time, and his older brother, Mírzá ‘Alí-Ridá, was seven years old. The two children, both very ill, were asleep on a couch in the courtyard, when the Báb visited. The older child seemed to be doing much better than the younger one (Mírzá Áqá) who was so ill that everyone thought he would surely die. At the visit, the Báb lifted the sheet on the bed of Mírzá Áqá and prayed over him, but He paid no attention to the elder brother. The elder brother died that very night, and to everyone’s surprise, Mírzá Áqá recovered. He became the only surviving child of Zahrá Bagum.
Mírzá Áqá was four years old when the above event transpired. Khadíjih Bagum had special love for this only child of her sister, and what the Báb had said about him, made her pay even greater attention to his education and upbringing. His spiritual insight showed early. When he was just thirteen years old (in 1855 – five years after the martyrdom of the Báb), seeing the persecution of the Bábís and what was happening in his own family, he turned to his blessed aunt to get answers. Khadíjih Bagum recognized his spiritual readiness and taught him the message of the Báb. In spite of his young age, he recognized the station of the Báb, and became the third Afnán to recognize the Báb [the first being Khadíjih Bagum, and the second being the maternal middle uncle who had raised the Báb (Khál-i-A’zam Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ‘Alí)].