Obedience to the Will of God: Hájí Muhammad-i-Yazdí

A photo of the mansion at Mazra’ih, a short distance north of Akká.  Following more than two years incarceration in the prison city of Akká, a place without verdure of any kind, Bahá’u’lláh was permitted to depart from the city and make His residence a short distance away at Mazra’ih, which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had rented for Him.  Here, he was able to enjoy nature’s greenery, which He loved, and His followers were given much greater freedom to attain His presence.

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Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Thy power that hath encompassed all created things, and by Thy sovereignty that hath transcended the entire creation, and by Thy Word which was hidden in Thy wisdom and whereby Thou didst create Thy heaven and Thy earth, both to enable us to be steadfast in our love for Thee and in our obedience to Thy pleasure, and to fix our gaze upon Thy face, and celebrate Thy glory.

                                                                                                        Bahá’u’lláh

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 Obedience to the will of God, whose will is expressed through His Manifestation, is a virtue. Here is a story of the importance of complete, exact, and instant obedience to that Will. It is from The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Vol. 4, by Adib Taherzadeh.

The story of Hájí Muhammad would not be complete without referring to one of his noble qualities, namely, his utter obedience to the Centre of the Cause. There was a time when Hájí Muhammad had a business concern in ‘Akká. One day he was sitting in his office when the Master arrived with an urgent instruction from Bahá’u’lláh that Hájí Muhammad should immediately proceed to Jaddih (Jiddah) in Arabia. He asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá if he could be permitted to attain the presence of Bahá’u’lláh before departing for Jaddih. The Master told him that there was no time, for the boat was leaving at any minute. Hájí Muhammad at once closed the office, and without even paying a visit to his family boarded the ship which sailed away almost immediately. Once on board, he realized that because of the extraordinary rush, he had not even thought to ask the Master the purpose of his trip to Jaddih. But now it was too late, and he knew that Bahá’u’lláh would guide his steps when he arrived in that city. This is the best example of instant, exact and complete obedience to the command of Bahá’u’lláh.

The journey was fraught with danger because the sea was unusually stormy. The danger of the ship sinking was in everyone’s mind except for Hájí Muhammad, who was sure that it would sail safely to its destination because God had given him a mission in Jaddih, the nature of which was as yet unknown to him. Soon after disembarking from the ship, he heard two people speaking in Persian among the crowds. When he approached them he soon found out that they were Bahá’ís. They were Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí, that illustrious follower of Bahá’u’lláh, and his fellow prisoner Husayn-i- Shírazí who had been set free from their ten-year imprisonment in Khartúm and were on their way to ‘Akká. They were in need of help and guidance, for this was their first journey to the Holy Land. Hájí Muhammad knew then   that the purpose of his mission in Jaddih was to assist these two souls to go to ‘Akká, a task which he then carried out ably. 

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Want to buy this book? Go to http://www.grbooks.com/ or http://www.bahaibookstore.com/.

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