Faith, and set forth conclusive proofs that the Advent had indeed come to pass. He recited verses from the
Qur’án, and
traditions handed down from the
Prophet Muḥammad and the
Holy Imáms. Following that, in a frenzy of love and longing rapture, he began to sing. It was a
shahnáz melody he sang; the words were from the poets, to say that the Lord had come. And they killed him; they shed his blood. They wrenched and hacked his limbs apart and hid his body underneath the dust.
As for
Ḥájí Muḥammad-Ja‘far, the gently born, he too, like his brother, was bewitched by the
Blessed Beauty. It was in
‘Iráq that he entered the presence of the Light of the World, and he too caught fire with Divine love and was carried away by the gentle gales of God. Like his brother, he was a vendor of small wares, always on a journey from one place to the next. When
Bahá’u’lláh left
Baghdád for the capital of
Islám, Ḥájí Ja‘far was in
Persia, and when the Blessed Beauty and His retinue came to a halt in
Adrianople, Ja‘far and Ḥájí Taqí, his brother, arrived there from Á
dhirbayján. They found a corner somewhere and settled down. Our oppressors then stretched out arrogant hands to send Bahá’u’lláh forth to the
Most Great Prison, and they forbade the believers to accompany the true Beloved, for it was their purpose to bring the Blessed Beauty to this prison with but a few of His people. When Ḥájí Ja‘far saw that they had excluded him from the band of exiles, he seized a razor and slashed his throat.
1 The crowds expressed their grief and horror and the authorities then permitted all the believers to leave in company with Bahá’u’lláh—this because of the blessing that came from Ja‘far’s act of love.
They stitched up his wound but no one thought he would recover. They told him, “For the time being, you