The great Sacrifice

O Purest Branch!
O Thou who hast been created from the Light of Bahá,
From birth Thou hast known
The agony of separation with your loved ones;
Pain and suffering was your companion,
Causing all things to groan
And every pillar to tremble.

O Purest Branch!
......Exile....Imprisonment was your destiny.
Wronged of the world!
Thou were lain, blood-stained,
In that most great prison;
Face to face with your Creator,
Begging your Lord, The Lord of Hosts,
That your life be a ransom
To the lovers of Bahá.
Like The Son of God, Jesus The Christ.

O PUREST BRANCH!
And when The Glory of God,
The Heavenly Father,
Did accept your request
And made Abraham's sacrifice renewed,
All the dwellers of the Abhá tabernacle wept
And all the Concourse on High did lament.

O Mírzá Mihdí!
Great is thy blessedness,
for thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God!
Great is thy martydom in the path of your Lord,
alike Imam Husayn.
Great, indeed, for the Supreme Manifestation of God
IS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

O Mírzá Mihdí,
The Purest Branch!
So pure was your soul
That the earth trembled to welcome you.

O Purest Branch!
From you, all the dwellers of this world
Will be united.
Praise be upon you, O sacrifice of the worlds.

~Josian Dholah
January 30, 2005




MIRZA MEHDI
MIRZA MEHDI



La Plus-pure-branche est décédé très jeune à 22 ans en 1870, alors qu'il priait en marchant sur le toit de la prison d'Akka et tomba à travers. Alors qu'il pouvait le sauver, son Père Baha'u'llah à la demande de Mihdi, offrit sa vie pour la paix du monde. Lieux: Akka, Israël
A l'irritant fardeau de ces adversités s'ajouta bientôt l'amertume d'un chagrin causé par une tragédie brutale, la perte prématurée du noble et pieux Mirzá Mihdi, la plus pure Branche, frère d'Abdu'l-Bahá, âgé de vingt-deux ans, l'un des secrétaires et compagnons d'exil de Bahá'u'lláh depuis l'époque où, encore enfant, il avait été amené de Tihrán à Baghdád pour rejoindre son père revenu de Sulaymàniyyih. Un soir, alors qu'il allait et venait sur le toit de la caserne, au crépuscule, absorbé dans ses prières habituelles, il tomba à travers une ouverture non protégée et se transperça les côtes sur un cageot en bois, posé au-dessous, sur le sol; il mourut vingt-deux heures après, le 23 rabi'u'l-avval 1287 A.H. (23 juin 1870). La dernière supplication qu'il adressa à un père désolé fut que sa vie puisse être acceptée en rançon pour ceux qui n'avaient pas pu atteindre la présence de leur Bien-Aimé.

Dans une prière d'une signification profonde, que Bahá'u'lláh révéla en mémoire de son fils - prière qui élève sa mort au rang de ces grands actes de rachat correspondant au sacrifice qu'Abraham se disposait à faire de son fils, à la crucifixion de Jésus-Christ et au martyre de l'Imàm Husayn -, on lit ce qui suit: "J'ai sacrifié ô mon Dieu, ce que tu m'as donné, fin que tes serviteurs puissent être ranimés et que tout ce qui demeure sur la terre soit uni", et encore ces paroles prophétiques, adressées à son fils martyr: "Tu es le dépôt de Dieu et son trésor en ce pays. Bientôt, Dieu révélera, par toi, ce qu'il a désiré."

Lorsque, en présence de Bahá'u'lláh, fut terminée la toilette de celui "qui avait été créé de la lumière de Bahá" dont la "douceur" fut attestée par la plume suprême de Bahá'u'lláh, et dont les "mystères" de l'ascension furent mentionnés par cette même plume, celui-là fut transporté, sous l'escorte des gardes de la forteresse, et enterré au-delà des murs de la cité, en un lieu contigu au tombeau de Nabi Sàlih. Soixante-dix ans plus tard, ses restes devaient être transférés, en même temps que ceux de son illustre mère, sur les pentes du mont Carmel, à proximité de la tombe de sa soeur, et sous l'ombre du saint sépulcre du Báb.

Tablet from Baha'u'llah concerning the Purest Branch

Tablet revealed by Baha'u'llah at the time when the Purest Branch was being prepared for the grave in His presence

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The third child of Navvab was her noble and
long-suffering son, the Purest Branch. He was the one
who, in the prime of youth, offered up his life in the path
of his Lord.[1] In a prayer revealed after his martyrdom
Bahá'u'lláh makes the following statement which Shoghi
Effendi describes as astounding: [1 For a more detailed
study of his life, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 3.]

"I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast
given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all
that dwell on earth be united." [7-12]

It is at once significant and mysterious that the
unity of mankind, the pivot around which all the teachings
of Bahá'u'lláh revolve, would come into being as a result
of the sacrifice of the Purest Branch. Here are
Bahá'u'lláh's words after that tragic event:

"At this very moment, My son is being washed
before My face, after Our having sacrificed him in the
Most Great Prison. Thereat have the dwellers of the
Abha Tabernacle wept with a great weeping, and such as
have suffered imprisonment with this Youth in the path
of God, the Lord of the promised Day, lamented. Under
such conditions My Pen hath not been prevented from
remembering its Lord, the Lord of all nations. It
summoneth the people unto God, the Almighty, the
All-Bountiful. This is the day whereon he that was
created by the light of Baha has suffered 124
martyrdom, at a time when he lay imprisoned at the
hands of his enemies.

"Upon thee, O Branch of God! be the remembrance
of God and His praise, and the praise of all that dwell in
the Realm of Immortality, and of all the denizens of the
Kingdom of Names. Happy art thou in that thou hast been
faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, until
Thou didst sacrifice thyself before the face of thy Lord,
the Almighty, the Unconstrained. Thou, in truth, hast
been wronged, and to this testifieth the Beauty of Him,
the Self-Subsisting. Thou didst, in the first days of thy
life, bear that which hath caused all things to groan; and
made every pillar to tremble. Happy is the one that
remembereth thee, and draweth nigh, through thee, unto
God, the Creator of the Morn.

"Glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God! Thou seest me
in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son blood-stained
before Thy face, O Thou in Whose hands is the kingdom
of all names. I have, O my Lord, offered up that which
Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened
and all that dwell on earth be united. Blessed art thou,
and blessed he that turneth unto thee, and visiteth thy
grave, and draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the
Lord of all that was and shall be... I testify that thou
didst return in meekness unto thine abode. Great is thy
blessedness and the blessedness of them that hold fast
unto the hem of thy outspread robe... Thou art, verily, the
trust of God and His treasure in this land. Erelong will
God reveal through thee that which He hath desired. He,
verily, is the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. When
thou wast laid to rest in the earth, the earth itself
trembled in its longing to meet thee. Thus hath it been
decreed, and yet the people perceive not.... Were We to
recount the mysteries of thine ascension, they that are
asleep would waken, and all beings would be set ablaze
with the fire of the remembrance of My Name, the
Mighty, the Loving." [7-13]

Indeed, the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Navvab,
whose 'husband' is 'the Lord of Hosts', has been fulfilled.

"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;
and great shall be the peace of thy children." 125

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p.