Mullá Báqir Tabrízí
Mullá Báqir Tabrízí | |
|---|---|
| Declared | 1844 |
| Died | 1881 |
Mullá Muhammad Báqir Tabrízí (d. c. 1881) was one of the Letters of the Living, the first eighteen Bábí's. He was among the few Letters to survive the persecution of the Bábí community in the 1840's and early 1850's and the only Letter to become a Bahá’í.
Biography[edit]
Tabrízí was from the city of Tabríz. He moved to Iraq at some point where he studied under Siyyid Káẓim.[1] In approximately July 1844 Tabrízí traveled to Shiraz. After a period of prayer and meditation, he deduced the identity of the Báb, individually met with Him and accepted His claims, and was appointed as a Letter of the Living.[2][3]
After a short time the Báb instructed the Letters to leave Shiraz and proclaim His religion,[4] and Tabrízí traveled to Iraq settling in Karbila where he supported Ṭáhirih.[5][6] He was a member of the group which accompanied Ṭáhirih from Baghdad to Qazvin and then settled in Tehran.[7][8][9] In 1848 Tabrízí attended and participated in the Conference of Badasht,[10] and between 1848 and 1850 he visited the Báb while He was imprisoned in Chihríq.[11] He began serving as an emissary of the Báb delivering communications on His behalf from Chihríq across Persia and the Báb was able to provide funds to support his travels in the role.[12][13]
Tabrízí received a Tablet from the Báb in which the Báb advised him he would meet He Whom God Shall Make Manifest in 1852,[11] and shortly before the Martyrdom of the Báb in 1850 the Báb entrusted Tabrízí with important documents, Tablets, His seals, and rings instructing him to deliver them to Bahá’u’lláh.[14] Immediately after the Martyrdom of the Báb Tabrízí began traveling across Persia ultimately settling in Tabriz.[9]
In 1852 Tabrízí met with Bahá’u’lláh shortly after He had been released from imprisonment in the Siyah-Chal where He received the Revelation that He was He Whom God Shall Make Manifest.[15] He later visited Him in Baghdad after His exile and came to regard Him as the leader of the Bábí community.[16] After the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh in 1863 Tabrízí became a Bahá’í and a firm supporter of Bahá’u’lláh writing refutations of the claims of Mírzá Yaḥyá and his followers. He settled in the province of Adhirbayjan where he taught the Bahá’í Faith.[14]
Tabrízí made two pilgrimages to the Holy Land after Bahá’u’lláh had been exiled to Akka and met with Him. On his second pilgrimage he received permission from Bahá’u’lláh to establish his residence in Constantinople and he lived in the city until his passing of natural causes in 1881.[14]
References[edit]
- ↑ Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921, Volume 1, George Ronald: Oxford, 2015, p 67
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 178
- ↑ Nabil, The Dawn-Breakers, US Publishing Trust, 1932, pp 68-69
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 212
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 212
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 306
- ↑ Nabil-i-Zarandi, The Dawn-Breakers, US Baha'i Publishing Trust: Wilmette, 1932, p 273
- ↑ Hussein Ahdieh & Hillary Chapman, The Calling, Ibex Publishers, Inc.: Bethesda, 2017, p 125
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Moojan Momen, The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851-1921, Volume 1, George Ronald: Oxford, 2015, p 69
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 1977, p 146
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nabil, The Dawn-Breakers, US Publishing Trust, 1932, p 248
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 284
- ↑ Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Kalimat Press: Los Angeles, 2005, p 383
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 1977, p 147
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah: Volume 2, George Ronald: Oxford, 1977, p 146
- ↑ Letters of the Living, published at The Baha'i Encyclopedia Project
