Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 15:37:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Khadijih Begum

On 10 November 1882, the brother-in-law of the Bab wrote to the standard-bearer of their family, the far-famed Aqa Mirza Aqay-i Nuri'd-Din, about the passing of his sister, Khadijih Begum, the widow of the Bab. In this letter, Haji Mirza Abu'l-Qasim asked Nuri'd-Din to inform Baha'u'llah of the ascension of Khadijih Begum as result of her profound disappointment in not being able to visit her Lord. Nuri'd-Din wrote as bidden and in response to his missive, he received a Tablet from Baha'u'llah which contained a Tablet of Visitation revealed in honor of Khadijih Begum. Mirza Habib-i Afnan concludes his chapter of memories of the widow of the Bab with the Text of this Arabic Tablet . . .

Author: "Ahang Rabbani " Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 19:12:26 -0600

Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 13:59:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject:Tablets for Khadijih Begum

My attention [has been drawn] to the fact the I was not clear on the provenance of Baha'u'llah's Tablet of Visitation for Khadijih Begum and I would like to rectify this oversight.

This Tablet of Visitation appears in 4 places:

1. Athar-i Qalim A`la, vol 4 (i), 125BE pub., pp 201-4;

2. Athar-i Qalim A`la, vol 4 (ii), 133BE pub., pp 339-341;

3. Khandan-i Afnan, pp 184-6

4. Khatirat-i Hayat, unpublished autobiography of Mirza Habib-i Afnan.

As is to be expected, there are some very minor differences among all of these sources, but the one to be used in Khandan-i Afnan because there not only do we find an accurate typed scripted, but a facsimile of the Tablet in the hand of Khadimu'llah (Mirza Aqa Jan). The other advantage of Khandan-i Afnan is that the full text of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to Aqa Mirza Aqay-i Nuri'd-Din appears in pp 181-6 (and really the facsimile is of the entire Tablet).

Also in Khandan-i Afnan, pp 186-7, we find two other Tablets of Baha'u'llah addressed to the wife of the Bab, and later on pages 188-190, we a Tablet from Baha'u'llah to the wife of Aqa Mirza Aqa, a women by the name of Maryam Sultan Begum (my wife is actually named in her memory!), which largely is about the wife of the Bab.

The other two important Tablets in the same book are on pages 190-1 revealed through the Pen of Abdu'l-Baha where in the second Tablet, He speaks of some future time when an appropriate Shrine will be erected over her resting spot and He calls on the Afnan to regularly visit and circumambulate that grave *on behalf* of Abdu'l-Baha.

I should add that in this last Tablet, the beloved Master [`Abdu'l-Baha] notes that the spirit of the Holy Ones circumambulate in adoration the resting place of Khadijih Begum -- the very same comment that Baha'u'llah has made in the Tablet of Carmel about the Shrine of the Bab.

(As a footnote I should say that Mirza Habib has pulled together great many letters to and from Khadijih Begum during her final year -- two of them from Akka by Munirih Khanum. And all of these have been translated and some day will be published as part of Afnan's autobiography.)

best regards, Ahang.