Ustád Muḥammad-‘Alí | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1835 Isfahan, Iran |
| Died | Ishqabad, Russia |
Ustád Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i-Salmání (1835 - ????) was an early Persian Bahá’í who served as the barber for the household of Bahá’u’lláh, accompanying Him on His exiles.
Biography[edit]
Ustád Muḥammad-‘Alí was born into a Shí`í Muslim family in Isfahan in 1835. His father was Muhammad-Ibráhím Isfahání and his mother was Maryam and he had two younger brothers and a younger sister. In 1843 his mother passed away and his father remarried and had one son with his second wife. In 1844 his father sent him to be an apprentice at a barber's shop before passing of cholera shortly afterwards and Salmání assumed responsibility for caring for his siblings and step-mother.[1]
Salmání became friends with Bábí's in Isfahan and he was aware of the Báb living in Isfahan in 1846 although he did not meet him.[2] In 1852 he was married to a daughter of a relative and they had some children and around the same time he became a Bábí.[3] Shortly after his conversion he was arrested while visiting fellow Bábí Áqá Muhammad-Javád along with others and imprisoned for two months.[4] At the end of his imprisonment two prisoners were executed and Salmání had his nose and ears cut and was paraded throughout the city before being released.[5]
After being released from prison Salmání decided to move to Baghdad and made the journey without his wife arriving in Baghdad in 1862.[6] He met Bahá’u’lláh after arriving and volunteered to serve as his barber being recruited into the service of the household,[7] and he accompanied the household when Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to Constantinople at His request.[8] He also accompanied the household when they were exiled to Adrianople later in 1863.[9]
In early 1866 Mírzá Yaḥyá, who was becoming more open in his opposition to Bahá’u’lláh, began attempting to convince Salmání to support him as leader of the Bábí community,[10] and he ultimately tried to convince Salmání to assassinate Bahá’u’lláh however Salmání rebuked him.[11] Salmání reported the conversation to Mírzá Músá, Mírzá Áqá Ján, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who advised him that Bahá’u’lláh was already aware of the situation and did not want it to be public knowledge.[12] He did not disclose the conversation but did publicly burn copies of some of Mírzá Yaḥyá's writings and denigrated him.[13]
In March 1866 Bahá’u’lláh went into seclusion with His family in an attempt to resolve the disunity between Himself and Mírzá Yaḥyá and Salmání was sent to Constantinople to sell the horses of the household,[14] however after arriving in the city he was arrested due to being a Bahá’í along with Mishkín-Qalam and others.[15] After two months he and other Bahá’ís were sentenced to be exiled back to Iran and was transferred to Trebizond, then Erzurum,[16] then Quzil-Dayzi where the Persian consul met with him and his fellow exiles and he was sent to Avájih, a town on the border of the Ottoman Empire and Iran, where he was imprisoned in a well for one night.[17]
Salmání and his fellow exiles were finally taken to Khúy in Iran where they were released,[18] and after being freed from custody he decided to travel to Akka where Bahá’u’lláh was now imprisoned. From Khúy he went to Tabriz, then Zanján, then Sultániyyih and then Qazvin where he stayed with Kázim-i-Samandar to recover from a fever. He had planned to go from Qazvin to Isfahan where he would be able to get passage to the Holy Land however Hájí Amín arrived in Qazvin before his departure and he instead accompanied him to Qum then Kashan and then Ardistán.[19] In Ardistán Salmání met Mírzá Fath-‘Alí Fath-i-A’zam and he stayed with Mírzá Haydar-`Alí for one night before traveling to Isfahan.[20]
In Isfahan Salmání found his wife had been forced to marry another man due the fact he had become a Bábí and he was unable to contact his children.[21] While staying in Isfahan he was contacted by the prominent Bahá’í Sultánu'sh-Shuhada' who advised him to go back to Ardistán where he was going to arrange for money to be sent for him to make the journey to Akka.[22] He traveled across Iran and into the Ottoman Empire and eventually made his way overland to the Mediterranean Sea where he traveled by ship to Beirut where he was able to travel by steamship to Akka. He had collected sixty letters from Bahá’ís during his travels across Iran to deliver to Bahá’u’lláh.[23]
Salmání arrived in Akka in 1869 and met with Bahá’u’lláh in the Citadel where He was imprisoned,[24] and Bahá’u’lláh instructed him to meet with the Governor of Akka and advise him he was a member of Bahá’u’lláh's household.[25] The governor granted him permission to engage in a trade in the city and he opened a store in the city at the direction of Bahá’u’lláh. He served Bahá’u’lláh by fetching water from outside the city for His household as the water within the city was heavily polluted.[26]
In January 1872 Salmání and six other Bahá’ís were involved in the murder of Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahání and two other Azalis in Akka and the act was strongly condemned by Bahá’u’lláh and Salmání was imprisoned by the authorities. After being released from prison in 1879 he opened another shop in the city where he also performed minor surgeries. After the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892 he moved to Ishqabad where he lived until his passing.[27][28][29]
References[edit]
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 3
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 4
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 5
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 7-8
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 10
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 13-15
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 18
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 22
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 41
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 46
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 51
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 51
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 53
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 58
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 62-63
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 65
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 66
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 70
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 72
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 75
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, pp 75
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 77
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 85
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 89
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 90
- ↑ Ustád Muhammad-`Alíy-i Salmání, My Memories of Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p 92
- ↑ H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah: The King of Glory, George Ronald: Oxford, 1980, p 330
- ↑ H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah: The King of Glory, George Ronald: Oxford, 1980, p 483
- ↑ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume 3: `Akka, The Early Years 1868–77, George Ronald: Oxford, 1984, p 262.
