Some thirty years ago when 'Abdu'l-Baha was surrounded by
His bitter enemies; when they were instigating the Turkish Government to
illtreat Him; when in His confined place of 'Akka He had a very small group of
true and faithful Baha'is, 'Abdu'l-Baha always expressed great joy and
happiness at the thought of being martyred like unto Jesus Christ and His
disciples, and like unto thousands of faithful followers of the blessed Báb and
Baha'u'llah.
In those days the doors were opened wide for the Oriental
friends to enter heaven.[1] All the true believers prayed to God and yearned to
be accepted for martyrdom. One day one of the pilgrims and I were discussing
the best way of being admitted to sacrifice. My friend, M. Fazlullah, said that
he preferred to be killed by Shamajeen like Suleiman Khan, who danced with joy
during that terrible torture. (Shamajeen means decorated, grafted with
candles.)
This is the way that Suleiman Khan was martyred. His body
was cut through in several places and burning candles were planted in the
wounds. In such a horrible state he was driven for several hours throughout the
city to show the people the fate of a distinguished and honorable man converted
to the new Faith. This was the way that the government, instigated by the
clergy, punished the believers, in order to terrify those who desired to know
about the new religion.
Now my friend, M. Fazlullah, preferred this way of being
sacrificed in the Path of Baha'u'llah. But I did not choose this way. I
preferred to be put to death by cannon shot, for that was the best way of
propagating throughout the world the call to steadfastness. Several prominent
people have been martyred in that way. This was the way that I had chosen, and
I implored God to help me to attain to it. But I could not convince my friend
that mine was the best way. He stuck obstinately to his own way. The discussion
lasted a long time without being able to convince each other.
At last we left the pilgrims' room and went to the room of
'Abdu'l-Baha. In His simple courtyard room, we found Him standing among a dozen
of the faithful ones who were from the different oriental countries. They had
surrounded Him like unto a number of butterflies of various colors gathered
around a lighted candle. He was full of joy, uttering heavenly words, giving
divine exhortation. And the first words we heard Him say, as we arrived, in
continuation of His speech was: "In the Path of Baha'u'llah, the faithful
Baha'i
must become Shamajeen."
On hearing this my friend looked at me severely. I
understood what he meant by that look.
But lo! What heard we after that? 'Abdu'l-Baha, without
paying any attention to our arrival, said: "Yes, the true believer is he
who wishes to be sacrificed with cannon shot for the sake of the Cause of
Baha’u’llah!"
Hearing this, I did not fail to look at once at my friend,
and could not help smiling. I am sure he understood what I meant to say.
This was the end of our discussion. None of us has ever
proved worthy to attain to the zenith of such a desire. But the remembrance of
the heavenly power of 'Abdu'l-Baha to know our mind and to conciliate the
different thoughts of His disciples gives me such an eternal joy and spiritual
happiness that I mentioned this event once in Europe and am repeating it now in
order to sanctify His Name for ever and ever.
- Dr. Youness Afroukhteh (One of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s secretaries between 1900 to 1909, told this story to some Baha’is in Germany; Star of the West [The Baha’i Magazine], vol. 22, no. 9, December 1931)
[1] So violent were the persecutions that thousands were
being put to death at this time.
