, when the Daystar of the
world had set, he could endure no more, and flung himself into the sea.
The waters of sacrifice closed over him; he was drowned, and he came, at
last, to the Most High.

Upon him be abundant blessings; upon him be tender mercies. May he win a
great victory, and a manifest grace in the Kingdom of God.

DARVISH SIDQ-'ALI

Aqa Sidq-'Ali was yet one more of those who left their native land,
journeyed to Baha'u'llah and were put in the Prison. He was a dervish; a
man who lived free and detached from friend and stranger alike. He
belonged to the mystic element and was a man of letters. He spent some
time wearing the dress of poverty, drinking the wine of the Rule and
traveling the Path,(22) but unlike the other Sufis he did not devote his
life to dusty ha_sh_i_sh_; on the contrary, he cleansed himself of their
vain imaginings and only searched for God, spoke of God, and followed the
path of God.

He had a fine poetic gift and wrote odes to sing the praises of Him Whom
the world has wronged and rejected. Among them is a poem written while he
was a prisoner in the barracks at Akka, the chief couplet of which reads:

A hundred hearts Thy curling locks ensnare,
And it rains hearts when Thou dost toss Thy hair.

That free and independent soul discovered, in Ba_gh_dad, a trace of the
untraceable Beloved. He witnessed the dawning of the Daystar above the
horizon of 'Iraq, and received the bounty of that sunrise. He came under
the spell of Baha'u'llah, and was enraptured by that tender Companion.
Although he was a quiet man, one who held his peace, his very limbs were
like so many tongues crying out their message. When the retinue of
Baha'u'llah was about to leave Ba_gh_dad he implored permission to go
along as a groom. All day, he walked beside the convoy, and when night
came he would attend to the horses. He worked with all his heart. Only
after midnight would he seek his bed and lie down to rest; the bed,
however, was his mantle, and the pillow a sun-dried brick.

As he journeyed, filled with yearning love, he would sing poems. He
greatly pleased the friends. In him the name(23) bespoke the man: he was
pure candor and truth; he was love itself; he was chaste of heart, and
enamored of Baha'u'llah. In his high station, that of groom, he reigned
like a king; indeed he gloried over the sovereigns of the earth. He was
assiduous in attendance upon Baha'u'llah; in all things, upright and true.