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in his body and burning candles inserted in each, and then to be led through the streets to the gate of Naw, where his body was to be cut in half. 55_ACT15
Hájí Sulaymán Khán was led to the marketplace and the abominable process that would end with his martyrdom began. Seeing the executioner’s hands were trembling when trying to make holes in his body, Hájí Sulaymán Khán reached out his hand saying, “Let me myself perform the deed and light the candles.” He even told them where on his body to pierce the holes: two in his breast, two on his shoulders, one in the nape of his neck, and four on his back.56_ACT15 Nabil then writes:
With stoic calm he endured those tortures. Steadfastness glowed in his eyes as he maintained a mysterious and unbroken silence. Neither the howling of the multitude nor the sight of the blood that streamed all over his body could induce him to interrupt that silence. Impassive and serene he remained until all the nine candles were placed in position and lighted.
57_ACT15
With this, Hájí Sulaymán Khán was led through the streets, with minstrels and drummers in advance, all the way to the gate of Naw. As he walked through the streets, his face gleamed, and he spoke in exclamations of joy to the crowd that pressed upon him. He chanted poems and shouted to the vast throng:
“Would that He whose hand has enkindled my soul were here to behold my state! Think me not to be intoxicated with the wine of this earth!. It is the love of my Beloved that has filled my soul and made me feel endowed with a sovereignty which even kings might envy!”
58_ACT15
Whenever one of the candles fell from his body, he would with his own hand pick it up, light it from the others, and replace it. The executioners, seeing in him such exultation and rapture said: “If thou art so eager for martyrdom, why dost thou not dance?” With this, he began to leap, and to sing, in verses.59_ACT15
He was still in the bazaar when the blowing of a breeze excited the burning of the candles that were placed upon his breast. As they melted rapidly, their
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