Mirza Hussein Ali Nouri known as Bahaullah

Mirza Hussein Ali Nouri

He was born in Tehran in 1813. His father had two wives and seven sons but paid more attention to Baha and his brother Mirza Yahya ( Sobh-e Azal).

 

Mirza Yahya ( Sobh-i Azal)

 

In his childhood, Mirza Hussein Ali received elementary teachings in the sciences of the day from his father and other members of his family and thus had no need to attend primary school. His elder brother was a secretary at the Russian embassy. Both Hussein Ali and his brother Sobh-e Azal were interested in mysticism and read books in this connection. Bahaullah would gather fragmentary information by taking part in the meetings of poets and men of literature, and would, like Ali Mohammad, claim that he was an illiterate. He had underlined the subject in a letter to Nassereddin Shah. Bahaullah joined Bab at the beginning of the latter’s claim and played a major role in his support especially in his amicable ties with the embassies of Russia and Britain while having a moderate relation with the Ottomans. While he was in Iraq he once left there secretly for the Kurdish populated areas and stayed in disguise in the Qaragelu field near Suleimaniya. Disguised in dervish robes, he would attend the classes of Sheikh Abdul Rahman the local Sufi leader. Under the assumed name of Mohammad, he would engage in alchemy. But, finally, the Sufis expelled him from their monastery and upon the instructions of Sobh-e Azal he returned to Baghdad. He says:”…anyhow, the order was issued by the high functionary, I obeyed and returned.(1) Later, after his disputes with his brother Sobh-e Azal, as mentioned above, Baha was then sent to exile to Akka, where he started killing the Azalis who had been sent there together with the Baha’is, which action led to his imprisonment and that of his sons. Finally, in 1889 he died after taking 20 days of fever and shivering.

Depending on the situation, Hussein Ali laid various conflicting claims. Once he would claim that he was not worthy of mentioning and at times would claim that he was a messenger of God, even God. In order to avoid a dispute among the Baha’is after his death, he surveyed about his possible successors.

Abbas Baha (Abdul Baha)

For this objective, he had two families available: the Ifnani [branches of different sorts] (those related to Ali Mohammad Shirazi) and the Aghsani [branches growing out of branches] (his own relatives), including Abbas Baha, Ghusn-e A’zam (the greatest branch), Mohammad Ali Baha, Ghusn-e Akbar (the greater branch), and Mahdi, Ghusn-e Athar (the chaste branch). In his written will, Bahaullah says: “It’s God’s will that all Aghsan and Ifnan should besupervised by Ghusn-e A’zam…God has placed the status of Ghusn-e Akbar (Mohammad Ali) after that

Mohammad Ali Baha , Ghusn-i Akbar

of Ghusn-e A’zam (Abbas Afandi), that is to say after me Abbas and after him Mohammad Ali are my successors.”

He wrote some 22 books, the most important of which are lqan (Certain) and Aqdas (most Holy), the latter he had unsuccessfully tried to write in Qur’anic style. His writings contain less grammatical mistakes when compared to those of Mohammad Ali but still have major errors. In this connection, he says:

Mirza Mahdi, Ghusn-i Athar

“My works should not be evaluated on the basis of grammatical and syntax rules, rather grammatical and syntax rules should be evaluated according to my writings!!”

Reference:

1. Iqan, page 195

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