Memorials of the Faithful
Táhirih
One day she was a guest in the home of
Mullá Javád, a cousin on her mother’s side, and there in her cousin’s library she came upon some of the writings of
Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Ahsá’í.
1 Delighted with what he had to say, Táhirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mullá Javád violently objected, telling her: “Your father is an enemy of the Twin Luminous Lights,
Shay
kh Aḥmad and
Siyyid Kázim. 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.” Táhirih 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, Mullá Javád sent over the writings of the
Shay
kh and the
Siyyid.
One night, Táhirih sought out her father in his library, and began to speak of
Shay
kh Aḥmad’s teachings. The very moment he learned that his daughter knew of the
Shay
khí doctrines, Mullá Ṣáliḥ’s denunciations rang out, and he cried: “Javád has made you a lost soul!” Táhirih answered, “The late
Shay
kh was a true scholar of God, and I have learned an infinity of spiritual truths from reading his books. Furthermore, he bases whatever he says on the traditions of the
Holy Imáms. You call yourself a mystic knower and a man of God, you consider your respected uncle to be a scholar as well, and most pious—yet in neither of you do I find a trace of those qualities!”
For some time, she carried on heated discussions with her father, debating such questions as the
Resurrection and the Day of Judgment, the
Night-Ascent of Muḥammad to Heaven, the Promise and the Threat, and the Advent
192