and guard the Holy House. Restless, consumed
with longing, he stayed on. When the friends were banished from Ba_gh_dad
to Mosul, he was among the prisoners, a victim along with the others. With
the greatest hardship, he got to Mosul, and here fresh calamities awaited
him; he was ill almost all the time, he was an outcast, and destitute.
Still he endured it for a considerable period, was patient, retained his
dignity, and continually offered thanks. Finally he could bear the absence
of Baha'u'llah no longer. He sought permission, was granted leave to come,
and set out for the Most Great Prison.

Because the way was long and hard, and he suffered cruelly on the journey,
when he finally reached the Akka prison he was almost helpless, and worn
to the bone. It was during the time when the Blessed Beauty was imprisoned
within the citadel, at the center of the barracks. Despite the terrible
hardships, Mirza Mihdi spent some days here, in great joy. To him, the
calamities were favors, the tribulations were Divine Providence, the
chastisement abounding grace; for he was enduring all this on the pathway
of God, and seeking to win His good pleasure. His illness worsened; from
day to day he failed; then at the last, under sheltering grace, he took
his flight to the inexhaustible mercy of the Lord.

This noble personage had been honored among men, but for God's love he
lost both name and fame. He bore manifold misfortunes with never a
complaint. He was content with God's decrees, and walked the ways of
resignation. The glance of Baha'u'llah's favor was upon him; he was close
to the Divine Threshold. Thus, from the beginning of his life till the
end, he remained in one and the same inner state: immersed in an ocean of
submission and consent. "O my Lord, take me, take me!" he would cry, until
at last he soared away to the world that no man sees.

May God cause him to inhale the sweet scent of holiness in the highest
Paradise, and refresh him with the crystalline wine cup, tempered at the
camphor fountain.(56) Unto him be salutations and praise. His fragrant
tomb is in Akka.

MISHKIN-QALAM

Among the exiles, neighbors, and prisoners there was also a second Mir
Imad,(57) the eminent calligrapher, Mi_sh_kin-Qalam.(58) He wielded a
musk-black pen, and his brows shone with faith. He was among the most
noted of mystics, and had a witty and subtle mind. The fame of this
spiritual wayfarer reached out to every land. He was the l