Yadu'lláh Vahdat, son of Mukhtár, a veteran believer of Ishtihárd, could trace his ancestry back to Shaykh Abú-Turáb Ishtihárdí who, as mentioned in The Dawn-breakers, 'was responsible for such behaviour ... as to cause him to suffer imprisonment in Tihrán, in the same dungeon within which Bahá'u'lláh was confined' and who 'remained steadfast to the very end, and crowned a life of loving sacrifice with the glory of martyrdom'.2 Yadu'lláh's schooling began under a local tutor but, on his elder brother's advice, he moved to Tihrán and enrolled in the Tarbíyat School where he passed the elementary and secondary grades.
Drawn to the army, he entered the military academy and emerged as a second lieutenant.
He married his cousin, Qudsíyyih; the flame of their affection for each other remained undimmed right to the end. She is serving a life sentence in an 'Ádil-Ábád prison today. She is not a young woman, is in ill health and is partially paralysed. The couple had four children, all active in the Cause. The youngest daughter, Mahvash, who was in Shíráz throughout the entire period of the recent convulsion, visited her parents in jail four times a week and was herself imprisoned during the last nine days of her father's life — a circumstance which made it possible for her to see him just before he was killed. She was called by her father 'the fearless lioness in the field of service'.
When Yadu'lláh was to be led to the place of execution, he expressed the wish to bid his wife and daughter goodbye. In spite of an official ban, the guards conducted his daughter to him and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing and weeping grievously. He comforted her, bade her be composed and brave and tend her mother which, when she calmed down, she promised to do. Yadu'lláh next proceeded to his wife's cell and the same scene was re-enacted there with her promising to take care of their daughter when he had gone. 'Bear constantly in mind,' he assured her, 'that I am a soldier in Bahá'u'lláh's army and as such must needs lay down my life for His Cause. Be not perturbed, therefore, at the fate that awaits me; rejoice, rather, that so supreme a bounty has been accorded me. Be steadfast and patient under all conditions and never, ever bow down to these guards or seek any help from them.' As he was being taken to the scene of his martyrdom Yadu'lláh exclaimed, 'It is I who am going towards the bullet, not the bullet towards me!'
When he received his commission, Yadu'lláh was posted to Adhirbáyján and chose Salmás as the base of operations for his military service and his Bahá'í activities, in both of which he was highly successful. Later he returned to Tihrán with the rank of captain. After a while he was stationed at Shíráz where he seized the chance, when on official tours, to promote the Cause. He went on pilgrimage at this time and met the beloved Guardian who advised him to remain in Shíráz, to protect the Bahá'ís there, to be brave and to repose full trust in Bahá'u'lláh. The Guardian graciously designated him as the 'shield of the Faith' in that region. So it was that he made Shíráz his permanent home and was active there until the baleful year 1955 when he planned to go on pilgrimage once again. He applied for leave to do so but the commanding officer, Major-General Bátmánqilích,1 turned down his request and wrathfully threatened to place him on the retired list. Yadu'lláh responded that as a Bahá'í he would readily accept whatever the authorities decreed. He was, thereupon, retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Now he was free, at last, to serve the Cause full time, and was appointed an Auxiliary Board member.
On 27 February 1981 Yadu'lláh Vahdat and his wife, a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shíráz, were arrested and confined within the compass of the Hazíratu'l-Quds of Shíráz. After a preliminary examination he was included in a group of nine persons who were assured freedom upon delivery of the effects of the House of the Báb in Shíráz. This promise was not kept, however, and they were transferred to a prison in 'Ádil-Ábád. After a period of suspense and unease, five of them were executed, of whom three were not only refused the fundamental human right of meeting their loved ones before execution but were denied a decent burial, armed guards being posted to ensure that appropriate internment could not take place.
In the diary of a fellow prisoner, Yadu'lláh had written: 'What memories flood my mind! The recollection of the divine bounty that surrounds and confirms the friends and adorns them with the mantle of a saintly character and goodly attributes and enables them to introduce the Faith to those around them in prison; the spirit of love and friendship which prevails among the loved ones and evokes the envy and jealousy of others; the prayers and invocations which ascend from our hearts by day and by night; the tears we shed as we remember the divine grace so profusely showered upon us undeserving ones; the vision of the glorious crown placed on our heads — a crown which our offspring shall cherish with pride and honour ... The life and actions of a Bahá'í do not revert to him alone; their reverberations affect the entire Bahá'í world.'
In a letter dated 14 February 1981 written to a friend by Mr. Vahdat from 'Ádil-Ábád prison shortly before his martyrdom he stated, in part:
'My dear and precious brother. It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity and honour of writing to you. I am sure that the beloved of God, wherever they are, are supporting these prisoners and wronged ones. We are all certain that the friends all over the world are clinging to the hem of the robe of the Blessed Beauty, praying for us.
'Today marks the ninth month of our imprisonment ...
'My trial took place three days ago, from 8-10 February 1981. Each day the trial lasted for five gruelling hours. I have been accused of being a spy for Israel and the focal point of relationships with Zionism, corrupt on earth, etc. I lay all my affairs in the hands of God. The very first day I came to this prison, I happily accepted everything that was happening to me in the path of Bahá'u'lláh ...
'My dear friend, I know how much you and the other friends outside prison are worrying about us. I know that your suffering is not less than ours, but my beloved, I am over seventy-one years old and have already lived longer than the other men in our family. Suppose God — exalted be His Name! — grants me through His Grace four or five more years? What would that matter? Old age is often more of a burden than a comfort; therefore, wouldn't it be wonderful if my blood were worthy to be shed in the path of His Faith? Would it be better if I took my last breath in comfortable bed? God forbid! I should not say what is to my liking. Whatever is the Will of God, I accept with humility and gratitude.
'You have sent a message that the Bahá'ís are grateful to the prisoners in Írán, that by accepting hardships and imprisonment in the path of God, the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh has been strengthened beyond our imagination. You have said this, my dear friend; therefore, why worry about a few months of imprisonment which has bestowed such honour upon us. If it has spread the fame of the Cause, it is my dearest wish that I remain in prison the rest of my life ... '
Yadu'lláh's last message before his execution on 30 April 1981 said: 'Convey my greetings to all the friends and assure them that whatever befalls us is through the will of God and that whatsoever Bahá'u'lláh decrees will surely come to pass.'
Mrs. Qudsíyyih Vahdat writing from prison on 12 October 1981, stated: 'My husband had no greater wish than to sacrifice himself in the path of God, but for me who was privileged to spend forty-five years of life with him, each year brimming with love, to be separated from him is very difficult. My consolation is that he has attained his destiny; well is it with him. I wish you to know with what happiness he left us. He bade farewell to Mahvash, who at that time was also in prison. Then he came to see me and told me, "For the sake of your children [outside] and your daughter in prison, be brave and steadfast." Then he kissed me goodbye and went away ... The next night when the guards who had been with him during the last moments of his life brought to me my husband's clothing and personal effects I could not bear it and became very sad. They admonished me, "Why are you sad? Last night your husband was full of smiles. At the time of his death he said to us, 'Don't tie my hands or cover my eyes,' and placing his right hand over his heart he exclaimed, 'Don't shoot at my heart because it is the seat of my beloved!' "1 In the shooting his right thumb was struck by a bullet; while his body was being washed for burial it was noticed that his lips were smiling.'
~Baha'i World, Vol 18
Drawn to the army, he entered the military academy and emerged as a second lieutenant.
He married his cousin, Qudsíyyih; the flame of their affection for each other remained undimmed right to the end. She is serving a life sentence in an 'Ádil-Ábád prison today. She is not a young woman, is in ill health and is partially paralysed. The couple had four children, all active in the Cause. The youngest daughter, Mahvash, who was in Shíráz throughout the entire period of the recent convulsion, visited her parents in jail four times a week and was herself imprisoned during the last nine days of her father's life — a circumstance which made it possible for her to see him just before he was killed. She was called by her father 'the fearless lioness in the field of service'.
When Yadu'lláh was to be led to the place of execution, he expressed the wish to bid his wife and daughter goodbye. In spite of an official ban, the guards conducted his daughter to him and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing and weeping grievously. He comforted her, bade her be composed and brave and tend her mother which, when she calmed down, she promised to do. Yadu'lláh next proceeded to his wife's cell and the same scene was re-enacted there with her promising to take care of their daughter when he had gone. 'Bear constantly in mind,' he assured her, 'that I am a soldier in Bahá'u'lláh's army and as such must needs lay down my life for His Cause. Be not perturbed, therefore, at the fate that awaits me; rejoice, rather, that so supreme a bounty has been accorded me. Be steadfast and patient under all conditions and never, ever bow down to these guards or seek any help from them.' As he was being taken to the scene of his martyrdom Yadu'lláh exclaimed, 'It is I who am going towards the bullet, not the bullet towards me!'
When he received his commission, Yadu'lláh was posted to Adhirbáyján and chose Salmás as the base of operations for his military service and his Bahá'í activities, in both of which he was highly successful. Later he returned to Tihrán with the rank of captain. After a while he was stationed at Shíráz where he seized the chance, when on official tours, to promote the Cause. He went on pilgrimage at this time and met the beloved Guardian who advised him to remain in Shíráz, to protect the Bahá'ís there, to be brave and to repose full trust in Bahá'u'lláh. The Guardian graciously designated him as the 'shield of the Faith' in that region. So it was that he made Shíráz his permanent home and was active there until the baleful year 1955 when he planned to go on pilgrimage once again. He applied for leave to do so but the commanding officer, Major-General Bátmánqilích,1 turned down his request and wrathfully threatened to place him on the retired list. Yadu'lláh responded that as a Bahá'í he would readily accept whatever the authorities decreed. He was, thereupon, retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Now he was free, at last, to serve the Cause full time, and was appointed an Auxiliary Board member.
On 27 February 1981 Yadu'lláh Vahdat and his wife, a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shíráz, were arrested and confined within the compass of the Hazíratu'l-Quds of Shíráz. After a preliminary examination he was included in a group of nine persons who were assured freedom upon delivery of the effects of the House of the Báb in Shíráz. This promise was not kept, however, and they were transferred to a prison in 'Ádil-Ábád. After a period of suspense and unease, five of them were executed, of whom three were not only refused the fundamental human right of meeting their loved ones before execution but were denied a decent burial, armed guards being posted to ensure that appropriate internment could not take place.
In the diary of a fellow prisoner, Yadu'lláh had written: 'What memories flood my mind! The recollection of the divine bounty that surrounds and confirms the friends and adorns them with the mantle of a saintly character and goodly attributes and enables them to introduce the Faith to those around them in prison; the spirit of love and friendship which prevails among the loved ones and evokes the envy and jealousy of others; the prayers and invocations which ascend from our hearts by day and by night; the tears we shed as we remember the divine grace so profusely showered upon us undeserving ones; the vision of the glorious crown placed on our heads — a crown which our offspring shall cherish with pride and honour ... The life and actions of a Bahá'í do not revert to him alone; their reverberations affect the entire Bahá'í world.'
In a letter dated 14 February 1981 written to a friend by Mr. Vahdat from 'Ádil-Ábád prison shortly before his martyrdom he stated, in part:
'My dear and precious brother. It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity and honour of writing to you. I am sure that the beloved of God, wherever they are, are supporting these prisoners and wronged ones. We are all certain that the friends all over the world are clinging to the hem of the robe of the Blessed Beauty, praying for us.
'Today marks the ninth month of our imprisonment ...
'My trial took place three days ago, from 8-10 February 1981. Each day the trial lasted for five gruelling hours. I have been accused of being a spy for Israel and the focal point of relationships with Zionism, corrupt on earth, etc. I lay all my affairs in the hands of God. The very first day I came to this prison, I happily accepted everything that was happening to me in the path of Bahá'u'lláh ...
'My dear friend, I know how much you and the other friends outside prison are worrying about us. I know that your suffering is not less than ours, but my beloved, I am over seventy-one years old and have already lived longer than the other men in our family. Suppose God — exalted be His Name! — grants me through His Grace four or five more years? What would that matter? Old age is often more of a burden than a comfort; therefore, wouldn't it be wonderful if my blood were worthy to be shed in the path of His Faith? Would it be better if I took my last breath in comfortable bed? God forbid! I should not say what is to my liking. Whatever is the Will of God, I accept with humility and gratitude.
'You have sent a message that the Bahá'ís are grateful to the prisoners in Írán, that by accepting hardships and imprisonment in the path of God, the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh has been strengthened beyond our imagination. You have said this, my dear friend; therefore, why worry about a few months of imprisonment which has bestowed such honour upon us. If it has spread the fame of the Cause, it is my dearest wish that I remain in prison the rest of my life ... '
Yadu'lláh's last message before his execution on 30 April 1981 said: 'Convey my greetings to all the friends and assure them that whatever befalls us is through the will of God and that whatsoever Bahá'u'lláh decrees will surely come to pass.'
Mrs. Qudsíyyih Vahdat writing from prison on 12 October 1981, stated: 'My husband had no greater wish than to sacrifice himself in the path of God, but for me who was privileged to spend forty-five years of life with him, each year brimming with love, to be separated from him is very difficult. My consolation is that he has attained his destiny; well is it with him. I wish you to know with what happiness he left us. He bade farewell to Mahvash, who at that time was also in prison. Then he came to see me and told me, "For the sake of your children [outside] and your daughter in prison, be brave and steadfast." Then he kissed me goodbye and went away ... The next night when the guards who had been with him during the last moments of his life brought to me my husband's clothing and personal effects I could not bear it and became very sad. They admonished me, "Why are you sad? Last night your husband was full of smiles. At the time of his death he said to us, 'Don't tie my hands or cover my eyes,' and placing his right hand over his heart he exclaimed, 'Don't shoot at my heart because it is the seat of my beloved!' "1 In the shooting his right thumb was struck by a bullet; while his body was being washed for burial it was noticed that his lips were smiling.'
~Baha'i World, Vol 18
Yadu'lláh Vahdat, son of Mukhtár, a veteran believer of Ishtihárd, could trace his ancestry back to Shaykh Abú-Turáb Ishtihárdí who, as mentioned in The Dawn-breakers, 'was responsible for such behaviour ... as to cause him to suffer imprisonment in Tihrán, in the same dungeon within which Bahá'u'lláh was confined' and who 'remained steadfast to the very end, and crowned a life of loving sacrifice with the glory of martyrdom'.2 Yadu'lláh's schooling began under a local tutor but, on his elder brother's advice, he moved to Tihrán and enrolled in the Tarbíyat School where he passed the elementary and secondary grades.
Drawn to the army, he entered the military academy and emerged as a second lieutenant.
He married his cousin, Qudsíyyih; the flame of their affection for each other remained undimmed right to the end. She is serving a life sentence in an 'Ádil-Ábád prison today. She is not a young woman, is in ill health and is partially paralysed. The couple had four children, all active in the Cause. The youngest daughter, Mahvash, who was in Shíráz throughout the entire period of the recent convulsion, visited her parents in jail four times a week and was herself imprisoned during the last nine days of her father's life — a circumstance which made it possible for her to see him just before he was killed. She was called by her father 'the fearless lioness in the field of service'.
When Yadu'lláh was to be led to the place of execution, he expressed the wish to bid his wife and daughter goodbye. In spite of an official ban, the guards conducted his daughter to him and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing and weeping grievously. He comforted her, bade her be composed and brave and tend her mother which, when she calmed down, she promised to do. Yadu'lláh next proceeded to his wife's cell and the same scene was re-enacted there with her promising to take care of their daughter when he had gone. 'Bear constantly in mind,' he assured her, 'that I am a soldier in Bahá'u'lláh's army and as such must needs lay down my life for His Cause. Be not perturbed, therefore, at the fate that awaits me; rejoice, rather, that so supreme a bounty has been accorded me. Be steadfast and patient under all conditions and never, ever bow down to these guards or seek any help from them.' As he was being taken to the scene of his martyrdom Yadu'lláh exclaimed, 'It is I who am going towards the bullet, not the bullet towards me!'
When he received his commission, Yadu'lláh was posted to Adhirbáyján and chose Salmás as the base of operations for his military service and his Bahá'í activities, in both of which he was highly successful. Later he returned to Tihrán with the rank of captain. After a while he was stationed at Shíráz where he seized the chance, when on official tours, to promote the Cause. He went on pilgrimage at this time and met the beloved Guardian who advised him to remain in Shíráz, to protect the Bahá'ís there, to be brave and to repose full trust in Bahá'u'lláh. The Guardian graciously designated him as the 'shield of the Faith' in that region. So it was that he made Shíráz his permanent home and was active there until the baleful year 1955 when he planned to go on pilgrimage once again. He applied for leave to do so but the commanding officer, Major-General Bátmánqilích,1 turned down his request and wrathfully threatened to place him on the retired list. Yadu'lláh responded that as a Bahá'í he would readily accept whatever the authorities decreed. He was, thereupon, retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Now he was free, at last, to serve the Cause full time, and was appointed an Auxiliary Board member.
On 27 February 1981 Yadu'lláh Vahdat and his wife, a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shíráz, were arrested and confined within the compass of the Hazíratu'l-Quds of Shíráz. After a preliminary examination he was included in a group of nine persons who were assured freedom upon delivery of the effects of the House of the Báb in Shíráz. This promise was not kept, however, and they were transferred to a prison in 'Ádil-Ábád. After a period of suspense and unease, five of them were executed, of whom three were not only refused the fundamental human right of meeting their loved ones before execution but were denied a decent burial, armed guards being posted to ensure that appropriate internment could not take place.
In the diary of a fellow prisoner, Yadu'lláh had written: 'What memories flood my mind! The recollection of the divine bounty that surrounds and confirms the friends and adorns them with the mantle of a saintly character and goodly attributes and enables them to introduce the Faith to those around them in prison; the spirit of love and friendship which prevails among the loved ones and evokes the envy and jealousy of others; the prayers and invocations which ascend from our hearts by day and by night; the tears we shed as we remember the divine grace so profusely showered upon us undeserving ones; the vision of the glorious crown placed on our heads — a crown which our offspring shall cherish with pride and honour ... The life and actions of a Bahá'í do not revert to him alone; their reverberations affect the entire Bahá'í world.'
In a letter dated 14 February 1981 written to a friend by Mr. Vahdat from 'Ádil-Ábád prison shortly before his martyrdom he stated, in part:
'My dear and precious brother. It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity and honour of writing to you. I am sure that the beloved of God, wherever they are, are supporting these prisoners and wronged ones. We are all certain that the friends all over the world are clinging to the hem of the robe of the Blessed Beauty, praying for us.
'Today marks the ninth month of our imprisonment ...
'My trial took place three days ago, from 8-10 February 1981. Each day the trial lasted for five gruelling hours. I have been accused of being a spy for Israel and the focal point of relationships with Zionism, corrupt on earth, etc. I lay all my affairs in the hands of God. The very first day I came to this prison, I happily accepted everything that was happening to me in the path of Bahá'u'lláh ...
'My dear friend, I know how much you and the other friends outside prison are worrying about us. I know that your suffering is not less than ours, but my beloved, I am over seventy-one years old and have already lived longer than the other men in our family. Suppose God — exalted be His Name! — grants me through His Grace four or five more years? What would that matter? Old age is often more of a burden than a comfort; therefore, wouldn't it be wonderful if my blood were worthy to be shed in the path of His Faith? Would it be better if I took my last breath in comfortable bed? God forbid! I should not say what is to my liking. Whatever is the Will of God, I accept with humility and gratitude.
'You have sent a message that the Bahá'ís are grateful to the prisoners in Írán, that by accepting hardships and imprisonment in the path of God, the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh has been strengthened beyond our imagination. You have said this, my dear friend; therefore, why worry about a few months of imprisonment which has bestowed such honour upon us. If it has spread the fame of the Cause, it is my dearest wish that I remain in prison the rest of my life ... '
Yadu'lláh's last message before his execution on 30 April 1981 said: 'Convey my greetings to all the friends and assure them that whatever befalls us is through the will of God and that whatsoever Bahá'u'lláh decrees will surely come to pass.'
Mrs. Qudsíyyih Vahdat writing from prison on 12 October 1981, stated: 'My husband had no greater wish than to sacrifice himself in the path of God, but for me who was privileged to spend forty-five years of life with him, each year brimming with love, to be separated from him is very difficult. My consolation is that he has attained his destiny; well is it with him. I wish you to know with what happiness he left us. He bade farewell to Mahvash, who at that time was also in prison. Then he came to see me and told me, "For the sake of your children [outside] and your daughter in prison, be brave and steadfast." Then he kissed me goodbye and went away ... The next night when the guards who had been with him during the last moments of his life brought to me my husband's clothing and personal effects I could not bear it and became very sad. They admonished me, "Why are you sad? Last night your husband was full of smiles. At the time of his death he said to us, 'Don't tie my hands or cover my eyes,' and placing his right hand over his heart he exclaimed, 'Don't shoot at my heart because it is the seat of my beloved!' "1 In the shooting his right thumb was struck by a bullet; while his body was being washed for burial it was noticed that his lips were smiling.'
~Baha'i World, Vol 18
Drawn to the army, he entered the military academy and emerged as a second lieutenant.
He married his cousin, Qudsíyyih; the flame of their affection for each other remained undimmed right to the end. She is serving a life sentence in an 'Ádil-Ábád prison today. She is not a young woman, is in ill health and is partially paralysed. The couple had four children, all active in the Cause. The youngest daughter, Mahvash, who was in Shíráz throughout the entire period of the recent convulsion, visited her parents in jail four times a week and was herself imprisoned during the last nine days of her father's life — a circumstance which made it possible for her to see him just before he was killed. She was called by her father 'the fearless lioness in the field of service'.
When Yadu'lláh was to be led to the place of execution, he expressed the wish to bid his wife and daughter goodbye. In spite of an official ban, the guards conducted his daughter to him and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing and weeping grievously. He comforted her, bade her be composed and brave and tend her mother which, when she calmed down, she promised to do. Yadu'lláh next proceeded to his wife's cell and the same scene was re-enacted there with her promising to take care of their daughter when he had gone. 'Bear constantly in mind,' he assured her, 'that I am a soldier in Bahá'u'lláh's army and as such must needs lay down my life for His Cause. Be not perturbed, therefore, at the fate that awaits me; rejoice, rather, that so supreme a bounty has been accorded me. Be steadfast and patient under all conditions and never, ever bow down to these guards or seek any help from them.' As he was being taken to the scene of his martyrdom Yadu'lláh exclaimed, 'It is I who am going towards the bullet, not the bullet towards me!'
When he received his commission, Yadu'lláh was posted to Adhirbáyján and chose Salmás as the base of operations for his military service and his Bahá'í activities, in both of which he was highly successful. Later he returned to Tihrán with the rank of captain. After a while he was stationed at Shíráz where he seized the chance, when on official tours, to promote the Cause. He went on pilgrimage at this time and met the beloved Guardian who advised him to remain in Shíráz, to protect the Bahá'ís there, to be brave and to repose full trust in Bahá'u'lláh. The Guardian graciously designated him as the 'shield of the Faith' in that region. So it was that he made Shíráz his permanent home and was active there until the baleful year 1955 when he planned to go on pilgrimage once again. He applied for leave to do so but the commanding officer, Major-General Bátmánqilích,1 turned down his request and wrathfully threatened to place him on the retired list. Yadu'lláh responded that as a Bahá'í he would readily accept whatever the authorities decreed. He was, thereupon, retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Now he was free, at last, to serve the Cause full time, and was appointed an Auxiliary Board member.
On 27 February 1981 Yadu'lláh Vahdat and his wife, a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shíráz, were arrested and confined within the compass of the Hazíratu'l-Quds of Shíráz. After a preliminary examination he was included in a group of nine persons who were assured freedom upon delivery of the effects of the House of the Báb in Shíráz. This promise was not kept, however, and they were transferred to a prison in 'Ádil-Ábád. After a period of suspense and unease, five of them were executed, of whom three were not only refused the fundamental human right of meeting their loved ones before execution but were denied a decent burial, armed guards being posted to ensure that appropriate internment could not take place.
In the diary of a fellow prisoner, Yadu'lláh had written: 'What memories flood my mind! The recollection of the divine bounty that surrounds and confirms the friends and adorns them with the mantle of a saintly character and goodly attributes and enables them to introduce the Faith to those around them in prison; the spirit of love and friendship which prevails among the loved ones and evokes the envy and jealousy of others; the prayers and invocations which ascend from our hearts by day and by night; the tears we shed as we remember the divine grace so profusely showered upon us undeserving ones; the vision of the glorious crown placed on our heads — a crown which our offspring shall cherish with pride and honour ... The life and actions of a Bahá'í do not revert to him alone; their reverberations affect the entire Bahá'í world.'
In a letter dated 14 February 1981 written to a friend by Mr. Vahdat from 'Ádil-Ábád prison shortly before his martyrdom he stated, in part:
'My dear and precious brother. It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity and honour of writing to you. I am sure that the beloved of God, wherever they are, are supporting these prisoners and wronged ones. We are all certain that the friends all over the world are clinging to the hem of the robe of the Blessed Beauty, praying for us.
'Today marks the ninth month of our imprisonment ...
'My trial took place three days ago, from 8-10 February 1981. Each day the trial lasted for five gruelling hours. I have been accused of being a spy for Israel and the focal point of relationships with Zionism, corrupt on earth, etc. I lay all my affairs in the hands of God. The very first day I came to this prison, I happily accepted everything that was happening to me in the path of Bahá'u'lláh ...
'My dear friend, I know how much you and the other friends outside prison are worrying about us. I know that your suffering is not less than ours, but my beloved, I am over seventy-one years old and have already lived longer than the other men in our family. Suppose God — exalted be His Name! — grants me through His Grace four or five more years? What would that matter? Old age is often more of a burden than a comfort; therefore, wouldn't it be wonderful if my blood were worthy to be shed in the path of His Faith? Would it be better if I took my last breath in comfortable bed? God forbid! I should not say what is to my liking. Whatever is the Will of God, I accept with humility and gratitude.
'You have sent a message that the Bahá'ís are grateful to the prisoners in Írán, that by accepting hardships and imprisonment in the path of God, the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh has been strengthened beyond our imagination. You have said this, my dear friend; therefore, why worry about a few months of imprisonment which has bestowed such honour upon us. If it has spread the fame of the Cause, it is my dearest wish that I remain in prison the rest of my life ... '
Yadu'lláh's last message before his execution on 30 April 1981 said: 'Convey my greetings to all the friends and assure them that whatever befalls us is through the will of God and that whatsoever Bahá'u'lláh decrees will surely come to pass.'
Mrs. Qudsíyyih Vahdat writing from prison on 12 October 1981, stated: 'My husband had no greater wish than to sacrifice himself in the path of God, but for me who was privileged to spend forty-five years of life with him, each year brimming with love, to be separated from him is very difficult. My consolation is that he has attained his destiny; well is it with him. I wish you to know with what happiness he left us. He bade farewell to Mahvash, who at that time was also in prison. Then he came to see me and told me, "For the sake of your children [outside] and your daughter in prison, be brave and steadfast." Then he kissed me goodbye and went away ... The next night when the guards who had been with him during the last moments of his life brought to me my husband's clothing and personal effects I could not bear it and became very sad. They admonished me, "Why are you sad? Last night your husband was full of smiles. At the time of his death he said to us, 'Don't tie my hands or cover my eyes,' and placing his right hand over his heart he exclaimed, 'Don't shoot at my heart because it is the seat of my beloved!' "1 In the shooting his right thumb was struck by a bullet; while his body was being washed for burial it was noticed that his lips were smiling.'
~Baha'i World, Vol 18
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