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Hello again
I will go directly to the story about Tahirih.You should know the whole story.
The priests of Baghdad REFUSED, MADE EXCUSES, and instead complained to the government about the revolution she was stirring up.
The following story is told of a Jewish physician Hakim Masih, who in the company of the king, passed through Baghdad on his way to Karbila. One day he came upon a large group of people, mostly priests, listening to a lecture by a woman who was sitting veiled from their sight behind a curtain. He went in to listen. As soon as she finished, they began arguing with her. Her speech was so logical and convincing that the doctor was very much attracted. The priests were unable to answer her proofs. He was very astonished and soon he became convinced that this woman was right. He thought that this magic speaker must be the Promised One of Whom everyone was speaking. He attended her lectures and learned of the message of the Bab, and believed in Him. Thus a Jew who had passed by the wonderful message of both the Christ and Muhammad was won over to the Faith of the Bab by the eloquence and logic of Tahirih. Now he believed in both Christ and Muhammad, and all the Messengers of God."
(Do you recognize this now , "believed.. in all the messengers of God.")
One day a delegation of the ablest religious leaders of Baghdad came to see Tahirih. Her popularity had grown so astonishingly that they became alarmed at the effect she might have upon their people and united against her. This delegation had representatives from the two leading sects of Islam, and from the Jewish and Christian communities as well. Their mission was to silence her.
"We have come," they informed her, "to convince you of the folly of your actions, and to turn you from your purpose."
Prior to this meeting, these religious leaders had thought of Tahirih as a gifted woman whose enthusiasm for something new had overleaped the bounds of moderation. Her popularity, they felt sure, was based on novelty, but once she came face to face with a group of such eminent religious leaders, she would be subdued and once more resume her humble place as a woman.
They were unprepared for her reckless indifference to their combined wisdom and her cool appraisal of their motives. Following that meeting they looked upon her as a dangerous and powerful adversary. Tahirih was able to silence every protest. She astounded them with the force of her argument and the depth of her knowledge. She was not lowly and submissive before them as they expected. Instead, she was aflame with the love of God and she burned away their flimsy reasoning with the fire of her words. "She is no mere woman," they said. They were embarrased at their inability to subdue her. Disillusioned at their complete failure, they withdrew. Such victories increased her fame and their anger.
So great was the influence which Tahirih exerted on the people, so intense became the exitement caused by her teaching, that she was seized by the authorities and placed in the house of the chief-lawyer, by order of the governor of Baghdad. She was kept there under virtual arrest until the governor could receive instructions about her from the central Turkish government in Constantinople.
During her imprisonment there, Tahirih defended her Faith and her own character before the chief-lawyer with great ability. Before she left his home, he told her sincerely," I share your belief, but I am apprehensive of the swords of the ruling family of Turkey."
With so many powerful local leaders pitted against her, the government felt the question had to be settled quickly as to whether or not she should be permitted to continue her teaching. Her case was submitted first to the governor of Baghdad, and finally to the authorities in Constantinople.
That same lawyer later wrote a book in Arabic in which he spoke of Tahirih's stay in his home. He said that every morning in the early hours of dawn she would arise to pray and meditate. She fasted frequently. He stated that he had never seen a woman more virtous, more devoted, nor had he seen any man more learned or more courageous than she.
One evening the chief-lawyer's father came to call upon his son. He did not even greet Tahirih. Instead in her presence, he began to rebuke his son for his kindness to her and cursed her as an enemy of religion. The father said with grim satisfaction that a message had just arrived from Constantinople. The sultan of Turkey had given Tahirih her life and her freedom, but she was commanded to leave Turkish territory immediately.
"Make preparations to leave Iraq tomorrow," the father told her bluntly, the only harsh words he spoke to her, then he departed.
The chief-lawyer was ashamed of his fathers behaviour. He apologized to Tahirih. After she had left his home, he confided to his friends:"I see in her such knowledge, such education, politeness and good character as I have not seen in any man of this country."
Tahirih crossed the Turkish-Persian border and entered the city of Kirmanshah. Here, unlike Baghdad, she was given an enthusiastic welcome. The priests, the government officials and people all came out to welcome so famous a figure. They were impressed by her eloquence and fearlessness. She translated one of the Writings of the Bab and had it read publicly in Kirmanshah. The governor and his family acknowledged the truth of the Cause of the Bab during her presence. They showed their great admiration and love for Tahirih.
In the village of Karand, Tahirih remained for three days. Openly she proclaimed the teachings of the Bab, and was successful in awakening an interest among all classes of people. Twelve hundred persons are reported to have accepted the Faith.
In the next village, her reception outshone even that of Karand. Upon her departure the inhabitants of the village begged to be allowed to gather together the members of their community to come with her. They were prepared to leave everything behind and join her in the spread and promotion of the Faith of the Bab. Tahirih, however, advised them to remain where they were and to teach among their own people.
In Hamadan, the city was divided in its attitude towards her.
One of the leading priests of Hamadan deeply resented her fame, and wished to kill her. He would have openly urged the people to attack her except for his fear of reprisal of her friends.
Tahirih knew of the priests desire, and she wrote him a long letter explaining carefully the teachings of the Bab, She sent it to him by a faithful friend, mulla Ibrahim. He arriverd with his letter just at an hour when several of these unfriendly priests were meeting to decide what steps they should take against Tahirih to silence her. They considered the letter impudent. It enraged them. They all fell upon Tahirih's friend and beat him until he was unconscious. When he was carried back to Tahirih, still unconscious, she did not weep at the sight of him as those about her had expected her to do. She astonished them all by saying:"Get up, mulla Ibrahim! Praised be God you have suffered in the path of your Beloved. Now raise up, and continue to work for Him!"
When he opened his eyes, Tahirih smiled at him."O mulla Ibrahim, she said."For one small beating you became unconscious. This is the time we are ready to give our lives. Did not the disciples of Christ do it, and the disciples of Muhammad?" And mulla Ibrahim actually arose from his faint and departed from her presence and began to teach.
From Hamadan Tahirih planned to go to Tihran to try and meet his majesty Muhammad Shah, so that she could tell the king about these new Teachings. However one of the priests who had refused to meet her in open debate when she was in Kirmanshah had secretely written to her father in Qazvin. He told him that his daughter was disgracing the reputation of all the clergy, let alone her family.
Her father at once sent his son with a strong party of relatives to Hamadan to interrupt Tahirih and to urge her to return home. Some time before they arrived from Qazvin, Tahirih said to her companions. "they are coming from for us from Qazvin.We shall go out to meet them before they arrive here." She gave up her visit to Tihran, and returned home with her escort.
The first night when Tahirih arrived in Qazvin, there was a family council. Her father and her uncle striongly reproached her for her behaviour.
"What can I do with you." her father complained, "when you chose to follow this Shirazi lad?"
Her uncle cursed the Bab and His Faith. In his violenbt anger he struck tahirih several blows. With her quick intuition of the avenging hand of God, Tahirih uttered fatal words of foresight.
"O uncle," she cried out."I see your mouth fill with blood!"
These words so infuriated him that he tratened to have her branded with hot irons. The council broke up in anger. Next day the family tried to persuade her to return to her husband, hoping this would keep her under restraint.
"We have been separated for three years," she said. "He has rejected the religion of God. He is ashamed of me. There can never be anything in common between us."
Her husband who considered himself to be one of the great religious leaders of Persia, sent a stern message to Tahirih to transfer her residence at once to his house. She replied: "Neither in this world or in the next can I ever be associated with him. I have cast him out of my life for ever."
Her husband in a burst of fury pronounced her a heretic and strove to undermine her position and sully her fame; in anger he divorced her three weeks later.
Her father and her brothers still hoped that by having Tahirih at home they could diminish her influence and slowly win her back to the old ways. However the opposite proved true. Her fearlessness, her organizing ability, her skill, and her unquenchable enthusiasm won many new victories for the Bab.
Tahirihs uncle, Taqi, was murdered one Friday in the Mosque. He was stabbed in the throat. Although the evidence clearly showed that the murderer was not a follower of the Bab, still Tahirih was accused of the slaying. Her family recalled those prophetic words spoken on the night of her return: "O uncle I see your mouth fill with blood!"
The entire city was aroused. The mobs were encouraged to seek revenge by arresting, robbing and killing, and plundering the houses of anyone suspected of being a follower of the Bab.
Tahirih herself was placed in strict confinement. Out of respect of her father, an eminent jurist, the authorities permitted him to save her life and imprison Tahirih in the cellar of his home, but the women who were assigned to watch her were told never to let her out of their sight. She must not escape.
A member of Tahirihs family, one day years later while showing visitors the prison cellar in which she had been confined, said: "Tahirihs father truly loved his gifted daughter even though he clashed violently with her in religious belefs. He imprisoned her in his home trying to protect her from the savagery of those who were ready to brand her with hot irons because she belonged to the despised (Faith of the Bab) but even her father could not save her."
Do you wonder who is my heroine in my Faith?
I'll continue
later
Kind regards from
Laila
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