The place in the citadel in Akka, Israel, where Baha’u'llah’s son, Mirza Mihdi, known as the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight to his death whilst meditating on the flat roof of the prison. Baha’u'llah granted his wish that his death would open the prison doors for the Baha’i pilgrims who otherwise trudged all the way from Persia for just a glimpse of Baha’u'llah.
One of the things I’ve been doing during the Baha’i Fast is praying for the safety and freedom of the Baha’is in Iran, particularly the “Yaran” – the ad hoc group that used to coordinate the activities of the Baha’i community until the group (six of whose members have been in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran since May last year; the secretary of the group has been detained for a year) voluntarily decided to stop their collective activities.
In doing so, I’m joining my prayers to those of millions of Baha’is around the world during this very special time in the Baha’i calendar.
Love prayer
‘Abdu’l-Baha, the eldest son of the Baha’i Faith’s Founder, composed the prayer that I recite every day. It’s a prayer for the many Iranian Baha’is who gave their lives in the path of service to God. It is suffused with ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s tender love for these souls who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their devotion to God.
Some parts of this beautiful and heart-rending prayer aptly describe what the Baha’is in Iran are going through right now.
O Lord! These are the survivors of the martyrs, that company of blessed souls. They have sustained every tribulation and displayed patience in the face of grievous injustice. They have forsaken all comfort and prosperity, have willingly submitted to dire suffering and adversity in the path of Thy love, and are still held captive in the clutches of their enemies who continually torment them with sore torment, and oppress them because they walk steadfastly in Thy straight path. There is no one to help them, no one to befriend them. Apart from the ignoble and the wicked, there is no one to associate and consort with them.
O Lord! These souls have tasted bitter agony in this earthly life and have, as a sign of their love for the shining beauty of Thy countenance and in their eagerness to attain Thy celestial kingdom, tolerated every gross indignity that the people of tyranny have inflicted upon them.
‘Reinforce them with a new spirit…’
And then it beseeches God to relieve them of their suffering:
O Lord! Graciously reinforce them with a new spirit; illumine their eyes by enabling them to behold Thy wondrous evidences in the gloom of night; destine for them all good that aboundeth in Thy Kingdom of eternal mysteries; make them as brilliant stars shining over all regions, luxuriant trees laden with fruit and branches moving in the breezes of dawn.
Reciting the prayer at sunrise
I love to read this prayer around sunrise. My wife and I get up before sunrise to have breakfast. Then we sit together as the sun rises and read the wondrous long fasting prayer – we read it verse and verse about – before we say our private prayers, one of which is the prayer for the martyrs. As I pray it silently within myself I focus on those Baha’is who are still in prison, particularly the seven souls whose only guilt is their devotion to a faith which the Iranian regime wishes to extirpate from Iran.
If you would like to join in saying this prayer in remembrance of those who are so sorely abused in Iran, you can find it here.
Photograph © John Barnabas Leith, 2008
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, persecution, martyrs, martyrdom, prayer, fasting, spirituality
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{ 2 comments }
Thanks for those reflections, Barney.
I couldn’t help but notice much-loved members of our Canadian National Assembly in your photo!
I took the picture during International Convention last year. The visit to the Akka prison was such an amazing experience.
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