Mirza ‘Ali-Muhammad surnamed Varqá became one of the Apostles
of Bahá'u'lláh. He has related the following two incidents that took place
during his first pilgrimage in around 1878-9.
The first time he gazed upon the face of His Lord Varqá was
surprised, because he thought that he had previously seen Him somewhere, but he
could not remember the occasion or the place. He was puzzled by this until one
day after several times coming into His presence, Bahá'u'lláh said to him, 'Varqá!
Burn away the idols of vain imaginings!' On hearing these words, Varqá
immediately recalled a dream he had had when he was a child. He was in a garden
playing with some dolls when 'God' arrived, took the dolls from him and burned
them in the fire. When he told this dream to his parents they pointed out to
him that no one can see God. However, he had completely forgotten this dream
until that day when the words of Bahá'u'lláh exhorting him to burn the idols
aroused his memory, and he knew that he had seen Bahá'u'lláh in his dream as a
child.
The other incident took place during one of the occasions
when Varqa was in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh. On that occasion a thought
entered into his mind as he gazed in adoration upon the countenance of
Bahá'u'lláh. He said to himself, 'I know that Bahá'u'lláh is the supreme
Manifestation of God, but I wish He would give me a sign to this effect.' At
that same instant the following verse from the Qur'án flashed into Varqa's
mind:
