aji Mirza Hadi, the
jeweler. He had a distinguished son, Aqa Mirza Musa, who had received from
Baha'u'llah the title "Letter of Eternity." This son had become a staunch
believer. As for his father, the Haji, he was a princely individual known
for his lavish open-handedness not only in Persia and 'Iraq but as far
away as India. To begin with he had been a Persian vazir; but when he saw
how the late Fath-'Ali _Sh_ah eyed worldly riches, particularly the
worldly riches of Persian vazirs, and how he snatched whatever they had
accumulated, and how, not content with confiscating their costly vanities
and lumber, he punished and tortured them right and left, calling it a
legal penalty--the Haji dreaded that he too might be catapulted into the
abyss. He abandoned his position as vazir, and his mansion, and fled to
Ba_gh_dad. Fath-'Ali _Sh_ah demanded that the Governor of Ba_gh_dad, Davud
Pa_sh_a, send him back, but the Pa_sh_a was a man of courage and the Haji
was widely known for his able mind. Accordingly, the Pa_sh_a respected and
helped him and the Haji set up in business as a jeweler. He lived with
pomp and splendor, like a great prince. He was one of the most remarkable
men of his time, for within his palace he carried on a life of
gratification and opulence, but he left his pomp, style and retinue
behind, occupied himself with his business affairs and realized great
profits.

The door of his house was always open. Turks and Persians, neighbors,
strangers from far places, all were his honored guests. Most of Persia's
great, when they came on pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines, would stop at his
house, where they would find a banquet laid out, and every luxury ready to
hand. The Haji was, indeed, more distinguished than Persia's Grand Vazir;
he outshone all the vazirs for magnificence, and as the days passed by he
dispensed ever more largesse to all who came and went. He was the pride of
the Persians throughout 'Iraq, the glory of his fellow nationals. Even on
the Turkish vazirs and ministers and the grandees of Ba_gh_dad he bestowed
gifts and favors; and for intelligence and perceptivity he had no equal.

Because of the Haji's advancing years, toward the end of his days his
business affairs declined. Still, he made no change in his way of life.
Exactly as before, he continued to live with elegance. The prominent would
borrow heavily from him, and never pay him back. One of them, the mother
of Aqa _Kh_an Mahallati, borrowed 10