her only companions, and her
comrades were cries; when she was mated to anguish, and had nothing but
grief for a friend. And yet in these sufferings, O my Lord, she did not
cease to love Thee; she did not fail Thee, O my Beloved, in these fiery
ordeals. Though disasters followed one upon another, though tribulations
compassed her about, she bore them all, she patiently endured them all, to
her they were Thy gifts and favors, and in all her massive agony--O Thou,
Lord of most beauteous names--Thy praise was on her lips.

Then she gave up her homeland, rest, refuge and shelter, and taking her
young, like the birds she winged her way to this bright and holy Land--that
here she might nest and sing Thy praise as the birds do, and busy herself
in Thy love with all her powers, and serve Thee with all her being, all
her soul and heart. She was lowly before every handmaid of Thine, humble
before every leaf of the garden of Thy Cause, occupied with Thy
remembrance, severed from all except Thyself.

And her cries were lifted up at dawntide, and the sweet accents of her
chanting would be heard in the night season and at the bright noonday,
until she returned unto Thee, and winged her way to Thy Kingdom; went
seeking the shelter of Thy Threshold and soared upward to Thine
everlasting sky. O my Lord, reward her with the contemplation of Thy
beauty, feed her at the table of Thine eternity, give her a home in Thy
neighborhood, sustain her in the gardens of Thy holiness as Thou willest
and pleasest; bless Thou her lodging, keep her safe in the shade of Thy
heavenly Tree; lead her, O Lord, into the pavilions of Thy godhood, make
her to be one of Thy signs, one of Thy lights.

Verily Thou art the Generous, the Bestower, the Forgiver, the
All-Merciful.

SHAMSU'D-DUHA

_Kh_ur_sh_id Begum, who was given the title of _Sh_amsu'd-Duha,(105) the
Morning Sun, was mother-in-law to the King of Martyrs. This eloquent,
ardent handmaid of God was the cousin on her father's side of the famous
Muhammad-Baqir of Isfahan, widely celebrated as chief of the 'ulamas in
that city. When still a child she lost both her parents, and was reared by
her grandmother in the home of that famed and learned mujtahid, and well
trained in various branches of knowledge, in theology, sciences and the
arts.

Once she was grown, she was married to Mirza Hadiy-i-Nahri; and since she
and her husband were both strongly attracted to the mystical teachings of
that