| Hand of the Cause appointed by Bahá'u'lláh. He was the son of Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas-i-Khurasaní, a veteran of the Bábí Faith. As a boy Ibn-i-Aṣdaq was, with his father, confined in the dungeon of Ṭihrán. While still a youth he met Bahá'u'lláh in Bag̲h̲dád, and again met Him in the Most Great Prison. Ibn-i-Aṣdaq longed for martyrdom, and Bahá'u'lláh designated him S̲h̲ahíd Ibn-i-S̲h̲ahíd (Martyr, son of the Martyr) in 1882. He then travelled extensively, teaching the Faith. The first mention of the concept of Hand of the Cause is within a Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in his honour in April 1887. His marriage to a great-granddaughter of Fatḥ-'Alí S̲h̲áh brought him into contact with highly placed people, to whom he gave the message of Bahá'u'lláh's coming. He continued to travel widely, in India, Turkistan and Burma, as well as in Iran. After the passing of Bahá'u'lláh he worked to counter the activities of the Covenant-breakers. He, with the other Hands of the Cause, was appointed by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá to the Spiritual Assembly of Ṭihrán, which eventually became the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran. Together with Aḥmad Yazdání, Ibn-i-Aṣdaq delivered in person the Tablet addressed by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace at the Hague. Ibn-i-Aṣdaq died in 1928 in Ṭihrán. |
