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Hello
You are most welcome. I hope you are all well and sound. Yesterday I made an effort to switch the day and night rythm. I have been up when it is dark and slept in daylight, since I have been without work for several months now. I am a nightowl.But finally I am going to a workingplace soon, so I have to make an shift, which is tiring.
Otherwise I will never, never, never leave my great interest in the Bahai Faith-
Others from the West, quite early in its history, noticed the great commotions in Persia.
And I will relate what has been said by dignitaires, ambassadors, writers etc about Tahirih. All what I have written already lately concerning her tragic fate is from William Sears Book about the history of the Bab and His followers : "Release the Sun"
"Her (Tahirih's) career was dazzling, brief, tragic and eventful. The fame of Tahirih spread with the remarkable swiftness as that of the Bab, Who was the direct source of her inspiration.
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Lord Curzon in his book on Persia states bluntly:"Of no small account, then, must be the tenets of a creed that can awaken in its followers so rare and beautiful a spirit of self-sacrifice."(Persia and the Persian question, vol. I, p.501)
Sarah Bernhardt, the famous actress, requested the playright Catulle Mendes to write a dramatized version of Tahirih's life. The playright himself called her the" Persian Joan of Arc" (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes by,p.76.
A noted commentator on the life of the Bab and His disciples has paid Tahirih the tribute of calling her "a miracle of science and a miracle of beauty."
"The heroism of the lovely but ill-fated poetess," testifies Curzon, "is one of the most affecting episodes in modern history."
The British orientalist,Professor E.G.Browne, said that if the Faith of the Bab had no other claim to greatness than that it had produced a heroine like Tahirih, it would be sufficient. "The appearance of such a woman..."he wrote,"is, in any country and any age, a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy -nay, almost a miracle."
The French diplomat, Comte de Gobineau, writes, "She was held with every justification to be a prodigy."
"This noble woman,...."writes Dr.T.K.Cheyne, a renowned English clergyman, "has the credit of opening the catalogue of social reforms in Persia."
"No memory," writes Sir Valentine Chirol," is more deeply venerated or kindles greater enthusiasm than hers, and the influence she wielded in her lifetime stillinures to her sex."
The famous Turkish poet, Sulayman Nazim Bey, exclaims:"O Tahirih! You are worth a thousand Nasirid-Din-Shahs!"
Marianna Hainish, the mother of one of Austria's presidents says: "The greatest ideal of womanhood has been Tahirih."
One of the most penetrating of those historians who followed her life was this:"Looking back on the short career (of Tahirih) one is chiefly struck by her fiery enthusiasm and by her absolute unworldlyness. This world was,in fact, to her...a mere handful of dust." (Dr.T.K.Cheyne, The Reconciliation of Races and Religions pp 114-115)
"Tahirih lived and died by the words she had spoken so boldly to another great disciple of the Bab one evening in Tihran, so long ago. She had been listening with some of the other believers to a brilliant and eloquent discourse on the Faith of the Bab, given by Vahid 1) . He spoke of the signs and the proofs of the coming of the Bab. Tahirih listened patiently for some time, then suddenly she interrupted his words.
'Let deeds, not words, testify to your faith," she cried out, "if thou art a man of true learning. Cease idly repeating the traditions of the past, for the day of service, of steadfast action, is come. Now is the time to promote the Word of God, and to sacrifice ourselves in His path. Let deeds, not words, be our adorning.'" (Nabil: The Dawn-Breakers p.285, footnote 2 )"
Who is my heroine? Remember?
In the West the industrial revolution was gaining speed and changed our society materially, thereby echoeing that some very special Force had come forth , though it, the West, was almost, except for a few onlookers, completely unaware of the tumultous spiritual revolution of the East.
Now I am telling you, dear readers , and it is about the Release of the Sun of truth, Its coming forth from those" clouds" spoken of in both the Bible and the Qouran. And , I guess, you are not blind but witnessing its" Glory."
The king, who knew that she was innocent and might have saved her, was to fell the most punishing blow of all at a later date. Tahirih's uncle, Taqi, who had brutally struck her, was slain by an assassin. The mayor of Tihran, Mahmud Khan, who kept her imprisoned for nearly three years, and who had aided the Prime Minister in her execution, suffered a death similar to that which he had permitted to befall Tahirih and was strangled to death and thenhanged on the gallows as a warning.
The king ordered his slaying.
I have written before what befell the firing squad who had shot the Bab. Similar blows of retribution occurred many times, for exemple to the shah's army itself and a whole lot of others. The pattern was the same, slaughtering of the Babis drew upon its instigators as well as those ordered to carry it out, the wrath of the Almighty
Such is the avenging Wrath of God on His Own Day, spoken of in all the Holy Scriptures.
1) Vahid, a man had been sent by the king as his personal representative to
investigate the truth of the Bab's mission. He was considered to be
the"Wisest Persian"at the court of the shah. He too was soon to fall in this nation-wide wave
of persecutions. And he too fell gloriously. Read about him too in
"Release the Sun" by William Sears.
Dear friends this is much to digest and to ponder upon. Deeply.
Bye for now
Kind regards from
Laila
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