Table of Contents
Section Three: The Mystery in the City of Tihrán
He was born in Tihrán on 12 November 1817 and given the name of Husayn ‘Alí at birth. As His father was from the district of Núr [meaning light] in the province of Mázindarán, He was generally known as Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí-i-Núrí. A few years after accepting the Message of the Báb, He will take on the title of Bahá [Glory], and in time be known as Bahá’u’lláh [Glory of God].
Bahá’u’lláh’s Family
Bahá’u’lláh’s father, known as Mírzá Buzurg 59ACT3, was a nobleman with an ancestral estate which included a vast mansion in the village of Tákur [in the district of Núr, Mázindarán]. He was a Vazír [minister] in the court of the Sháh. Nabíl records that Bahá’u’lláh Himself described His father’s background and the family’s social status as this:
The late Vazír, My father enjoyed a most enviable position among his countrymen. His vast wealth, his noble ancestry, his artistic attainments, his unrivalled prestige and exalted rank made him the object of the admiration of all who knew him. For a period of over twenty years, no one among the wide circle of his family and kindred, which extended over Núr and Tihrán, suffered distress, injury, or illness. They enjoyed, during a long and uninterrupted period, rich and manifold blessings. Quite suddenly, however, this prosperity and glory gave way to a series of calamities which severely shook the foundations of his material prosperity. … … Despite this sudden change of fortune, the Vazír maintained his dignity and calm, and continued, within the restricted limits of his means, his acts of benevolence and charity. He continued to exercise towards his faithless associates that same courtesy and kindness that had characterised his dealings with his fellow-men. 60ACT3
The prosperous days of Mírzá Buzurg, referred to above, were during the reign of the Qájár king, Fath-‘Alí Sháh [1798–1834]. Mírzá Buzurg was respected by Fath-‘Alí Sháh, and he in fact was very close friends with Fath-‘Alí Sháh’s Grand Vazír, the
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