Portraits – Page 34 – Dawn Breakers

On our way back to Shíráz, my son related to me the dream he had dreamt. A feeling of profound regret gradually seized me. The blamelessness of Mullá ‘Alí was vindicated in my eyes, and the memory of my cruelty to him continued long to oppress my soul. Its bitterness lingered in my heart until the time when I felt obliged to transfer my residence from Shíráz to Baghdád. 48PORT

Note 1: Nabíl adds this comment:

This episode marks the first affliction which befell a disciple of the Báb after the declaration of His mission. Mullá ‘Alí realised from this experience how steep and thorny was the path leading to his eventual attainment of the promise given him by his Master. 51PORT

[Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí will have the honour of being the first to be persecuted and the first to suffer martyrdom for the Cause of the Báb. He will suffer martyrdom in Constantinople.] 52PORT

Note2 : Nabíl records how Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Majíd, the father of ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, was genuinely filled with a lot of remorse for inflicting the severe beating on Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí, and he only felt forgiven for that action several years later:

A few years later, when my son had suffered martyrdom in Tihrán and Bahá’u’lláh had been exiled to Baghdád, He, with infinite loving-kindness and mercy, awakened me from the sleep of heedlessness, and Himself taught me the message of the New Day, washing away with the waters of Divine forgiveness the stains of that cruel act. 53PORT

2 ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb meets Bahá’u’lláh in Kázimayn/Baghdád

Some years after the above incident with Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí, both father and son (Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Majíd and ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb) moved to Baghdád. From Baghdád they moved to Kázimayn, which is adjacent to Baghdád (it is across the river Tigris from what is now called old Baghdád). Kázimayn is where the 7^th and 9^th Shí’a Imáms are buried and therefore one of the holy cities for the Shí’a. Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Majíd described

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