"I bear witness

that thou hast believed

in God and in His (beautiful) signs,

and answered His Call,

and turned unto Him,

and held fast to His (life-giving) cord,

and clung to the hem

of His grace, and (yes) fled

thy home in His path, and chosen

to live as a stranger,

out of love for His presence

and in thy longing to serve Him", Navvab.

~

Chorus: We love thee, O Most Exalted Leaf. (repeat)

~

Bridge: "We pray God that He

may forgive us, and forgive them

that have turned unto thee,

and grant their desires,

and bestow upon them,

through His wondrous grace,

whatever be their wish."

~

References:

"O faithful ones! Should ye visit the resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the Glorious Companion, stand ye and say: 'Salutation and blessing and glory upon thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him. May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him." - Baha'u'llah

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 119)

~

"Bahá'u'lláh married Asiyih Khanum in Tihran in 1251 AH (1835) when He was over eighteen years of age. Asiyih Khanum, later surnamed Navvab by Bahá'u'lláh, was a daughter of a nobleman, Mirza Isma'il-i-Vazir. Her date of birth is not known. She was a most noble and faithful follower of Bahá'u'lláh who served her Lord till the end of her life in 1886. There were seven children of the marriage, four of whom died in childhood. The other three were Abbas, entitled the 'Most Great Branch', 'Abdu'l-Bahá'; Fatimih, entitled Bahiyyih Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf; and Mihdi, entitled 'the Purest Branch'.

The second wife of Bahá'u'lláh, whom He married in Tihran in 1849, was Fatimih Khanum, usually referred to as Mahd-i-'Ulya. She was a cousin of Bahá'u'lláh, and gave birth to six children of whom four survived. They were one daughter, Samadiyylh, and three sons, Muhammad-Ali, Diya'u'llah and Badi'u'llah. These four, along with their mother, violated the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Mahd-i-'Ulya died in 1904.

The third wife, Gawhar Khanum, was not known by any other title. Her dates of birth, marriage and death are not known. Her marriage took place some time in Baghdad before the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh's Mission. While Navvab and Mahd-i-'Ulya travelled with Him in all His exiles, Gawhar Khanum remained in Baghdad with her brother, Mirza Mihdiy-i-Kashani.[1] For some years she was among the Bahá'í refugees in Mosul,[2] and later went to 'Akká at Bahá'u'lláh's instruction. She gave birth to one daughter, Furughiyyih; mother and daughter both became Covenant-breakers after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh.

[1 See 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful, p- 95.]

[2 See The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 2.]

It is appropriate at this juncture to clarify a point which has puzzled the minds of many, namely the lack of detailed information about the wives of Bahá'u'lláh. Here again, one has to consider the social circumstances of the time. As has already been stated, women in those days took no part in public affairs; their entire lives were spent at home in private life. To enquire into the life of a woman was considered to be unethical, even insulting. It was discourteous to ask even the name of someone's wife. She would be usually referred to as the 'person in the house', or, if she had a son, she could be called 'mother of...'. Within such a society historians (always male) usually did not, and could not, invade the privacy of women by delving into their lives. Otherwise, they could highly offend the men folk!

Although one would not find such practices in Bahá'u'lláh's household, and those believers who were close to Him had come in contact with the female members of His family, nevertheless, owing to the customs of the time and the privacy to which women in general were entitled, very little has been recorded about their lives by oriental historians of the Faith.

Navvab, honoured by Bahá'u'lláh by the designation 'The Most Exalted Leaf', was truly an embodiment of nobility. She was utterly detached from the things of the world and most faithful to the Cause of God. Navvab's deep attachment to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh was one of her great distinguishing features. She had a compassionate and loving nature, was patient, humble and utterly resigned to the will of Bahá'u'lláh. She suffered a great deal at the hands of those in the family who later broke the Covenant. Her faith in Bahá'u'lláh, whom she knew as the Supreme Manifestation of God, was resolute and unshakeable. She served her Lord with exemplary devotion and complete self-effacement. Her daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf, has described her in these words:

"I wish you could have seen her as I first remember her, tall, slender, graceful, eyes of dark blue -- a pearl, a flower amongst women.

"I have been told that even when very young, her wisdom and intelligence were remarkable. I always think of her in those earliest days of my memory as queenly in her dignity and loveliness, full of consideration for everybody, gentle, of a marvellous unselfishness, no action of hers ever failed to show the loving-kindness of her pure heart; her very presence seemed to make an atmosphere of love and happiness wherever she came, enfolding all comers in the fragrance of gentle courtesy." [7-4]

In one of His Tablets Bahá'u'lláh bestows upon Navvab the unique distinction of being His perpetual consort in all the worlds of God. The following passages gleaned from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh clearly demonstrate the glory with which He invested her:

"The first Spirit through which all spirits were revealed, and the first Light by which all lights shone forth, rest upon thee, O Most Exalted Leaf, thou who hast been mentioned in the Crimson Book! Thou art the one whom God created to arise and serve His own Self, and the Manifestation of His Cause, and the Day-Spring of His Revelation, and the Dawning-Place of His signs, and the Source of His commandments; and Who so aided thee that thou didst turn with thy whole being unto Him, at a time when His servants and handmaidens had turned away from His Face.... Happy art thou, O My handmaiden, and My Leaf, and the one mentioned in My Book, and inscribed by My Pen of Glory in My Scrolls and Tablets.... Rejoice thou, at this moment, in the most exalted Station and the All-highest Paradise, and the Abha Horizon, inasmuch as He Who is the Lord of Names hath remembered thee. We bear witness that thou didst attain unto all good, and that God hath so exalted thee, that all honour and glory circled around thee.

"O Navvab! O Leaf that hath sprung from My Tree, and been My companion! My glory be upon thee, and My loving-kindness, and My mercy that hath surpassed all beings. We announce unto thee that which will gladden thine eye, and assure thy soul, and rejoice thine heart. Verily, thy Lord is the Compassionate, the All-Bountiful. God hath been and will be pleased with thee, and hath singled thee out for His own Self, and chosen thee from among His handmaidens to serve Him, and hath made thee the companion of His Person in the day-time and in the night-season.

"Hear thou Me once again ... God is well-pleased with thee, as a token of His grace and a sign of His mercy. He hath made thee to be His companion in every one of His worlds, and hath nourished thee with His meeting and presence, so long as His Name, and His Remembrance, and His Kingdom, and His Empire shall endure. Happy is the handmaid that hath mentioned thee, and sought thy good-pleasure, and humbled herself before thee, and held fast unto the cord of thy love. Woe betide him that denieth thy exalted station, and the things ordained for thee from God, the Lord of all names, and him that hath turned away from thee, and rejected thy station before God, the Lord of the mighty throne.

"O faithful ones! Should ye visit the resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the Glorious Companion, stand ye and say: 'Salutation and blessing and glory upon thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him. May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him." [7-5]

'Abdu'l-Bahá in a Tablet states that the 54th chapter of Isaiah refers to Navvab, the Most Exalted Leaf, whose 'seed shall inherit the Gentiles', and whose husband is the 'Lord of Hosts'. 'Abdu'l-Bahá also refers to the verse, 'For more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife', and states that this refers to Navvab. This is part of the 54th chapter:

"Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

"For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth...

"For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

"For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit...

"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee...

"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

"And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.  

"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children ... whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake." [7-6]

'Abdu'l-Bahá goes on to bear witness to the sufferings of Navvab and extol her wonderful qualities:

"And truly the humiliation and reproach which she suffered in the path of God is a fact which no one can refute. For the calamities and afflictions mentioned in the whole chapter are such afflictions which she suffered in the path of God, all of which she endured with patience and thanked God therefor and praised Him, because He had enabled her to endure afflictions for the sake of Baha. During all this time, the men and women (Covenant-breakers) persecuted her in an incomparable manner, while she was patient, God-fearing, calm, humble and contented through the favour of Her Lord and by the bounty of her Creator." [7-7]

The three members of the family of Navvab occupy the highest rank in the Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá is of course the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, the Perfect Exemplar and the embodiment of all divine virtues. His sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf, is regarded as the noblest woman in this Dispensation and its outstanding heroine.

Even a brief outline of her life is outside the scope of this book; the following passages must suffice. They allow us a few glimpses of her saintly life[1] -- a life laden with unbearable sufferings in the path of Bahá'u'lláh and dedicated to the service of His Cause. These are the words of Bahá'u'lláh as He showers His loving bounties upon His Greatest Holy Leaf.

[1 For a more detailed study of her life see Bahiyyih Khanum, The Greatest Holy Leaf (Bahá'í World Centre, 1982).]

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 117)

~