Portraits – Page 36 – Dawn Breakers

the officials searching everywhere for the Bábís, and ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, undaunted, giving praise to his Lord in the market-place. He was seized and thrown into the Síyáh-Chál. Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází had, at long last, found that repose, that peace of heart and mind which his whole being craved, for he was continuously in the presence of his Lord. He was chained with Bahá’u’lláh.

And it is while imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál, in the same set of chains linked to Bahá’u’lláh’s chains, ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb is taken and martyred. This occurred sometime between end of August to early December 1852, the period Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál.

4. Abdu’l-Vahháb martyrdom: Bahá’u’lláh gives him His own shoes

Many years later, Bahá’u’lláh Himself described to Nabíl the circumstances surrounding ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb’s martyrdom and how He gave His own shoes to ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb as he was taken to be martyred [Dawn-Breakers Chapter 26, p632-634]:

Every day Our gaolers, entering Our cell, would call the name of one of Our companions, bidding him arise and follow them to the foot of the gallows. With what eagerness would the owner of that name respond to that solemn call! Relieved of his chains, he would spring to his feet and, in a state of uncontrollable delight, would approach and embrace Us. We would seek to comfort him with the assurance of an everlasting life in the world beyond, and, filling his heart with hope and joy, would send him forth to win the crown of glory. He would embrace, in turn, the rest of his fellow-prisoners and then proceed to die as dauntlessly as he had lived. Soon after the martyrdom of each of these companions, We would be informed by the executioner, who had grown to be friendly to Us, of the circumstances of the death of his victim, and of the joy with which he had endured his sufferings to the very end.

We were awakened one night, ere break of day, by Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází, who was bound with Us to the same chains. He had left Kázimayn and followed Us to Tihrán, where he was arrested and thrown into prison. He asked Us whether We were awake, and proceeded to relate to

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