away
from this dust gulf of perdition to an unsullied country; packed her gear
and journeyed to the land of lights. Unto her be salutations and praise,
and most great mercy, sheltered in the compassion of her omnipotent Lord.

TAHIRIH

A woman chaste and holy, a sign and token of surpassing beauty, a burning
brand of the love of God, a lamp of His bestowal, was
Jinab-i-Tahirih.(116) She was called Umm-Salma; she was the daughter of
Haji Mulla Salih, a mujtahid of Qazvin, and her paternal uncle was Mulla
Taqi, the Imam-Jum'ih or leader of prayers in the cathedral mosque of that
city. They married her to Mulla Muhammad, the son of Mulla Taqi, and she
gave birth to three children, two sons and a daughter; all three were
bereft of the grace that encompassed their mother, and all failed to
recognize the truth of the Cause.

When she was still a child her father selected a teacher for her and she
studied various branches of knowledge and the arts, achieving remarkable
ability in literary pursuits. Such was the degree of her scholarship and
attainments that her father would often express his regret, saying, "Would
that she had been a boy, for he would have shed illumination upon my
household, and would have succeeded me!"(117)

One day she was a guest in the home of Mulla Javad, a cousin on her
mother's side, and there in her cousin's library she came upon some of the
writings of _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i.(118) Delighted with what he had to
say, Tahirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mulla Javad
violently objected, telling her: "Your father is an enemy of the Twin
Luminous Lights, _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim. If he should even
dream that any words of those two great beings, any fragrance from the
garden of those realities, had come your way, he would make an attempt
against my life, and you too would become the target of his wrath."
Tahirih answered: "For a long time now, I have thirsted after this; I have
yearned for these explanations, these inner truths. Give me whatever you
have of these books. Never mind if it angers my father." Accordingly,
Mulla Javad sent over the writings of the _Sh_ay_kh_ and the Siyyid.

One night, Tahirih sought out her father in his library, and began to
speak of _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad's teachings. The very moment he learned that his
daughter knew of the _Sh_ay_kh_i doctrines, Mulla Salih's denunciations
rang out, and he cried: "Javad has made you a lost soul!" Tah