e companion
to the believers, and so it was after Baha'u'llah's departure: he remained
true to the Covenant, and in the domain of servitude he stood like a
towering palm; a noble, superior man, patient in dire adversity, content
under all conditions.

Strong in faith, in devotion, he left this life and set his face toward
the Kingdom of God, to become the object of endless grace. Upon him be
God's mercy and good pleasure, in His Paradise. Greetings be unto him, and
praise, in the meadows of Heaven. The Consort of the King of Martyrs

Among the women who came out of their homeland was the sorrowing
Fatimih(100) Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs. She was a holy leaf of
the Tree of God. From her earliest youth she was beset with uncounted
ordeals. First was the disaster which overtook her noble father in the
environs of Bada_sh_t, when, after terrible suffering, he died in a desert
caravanserai, died hard--helpless and far from home.

The child was left an orphan, and in distress, until, by God's grace, she
became the wife of the King of Martyrs. But since he was known everywhere
as a Baha'i, was an impassioned lover of Baha'u'llah, a man distracted,
carried away, and since Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah thirsted for blood--the hostile
lurked in their ambush, and every day they informed against him and
slandered him afresh, started a new outcry and set new mischief afoot. For
this reason his family was never sure of his safety for a single day, but
lived from moment to moment in anguish, foreseeing and dreading the hour
of his martyrdom. Here was the family, everywhere known as Baha'is; their
enemies, stony-hearted tyrants; their government inflexibly, permanently
against them; their reigning Sovereign rabid for blood.

It is obvious how life would be for such a household. Every day there was
a new incident, more turmoil, another uproar, and they could not draw a
breath in peace. Then, he was martyred. The Government proved brutal and
savage to such a degree that the human race cried out and trembled. All
his possessions were stripped away and plundered, and his family lacked
even their daily bread.

Fatimih spent her nights in weeping; till dawn broke, her only companions
were tears. Whenever she gazed on her children, she would sigh, wearing
away like a candle in devouring grief. But then she would thank God, and
she would say: "Praised be the Lord, these agonies, these broken fortunes
are on Baha'u'llah's account, for His de