EARLY BELIEVERS

Album of Views - "H.S.M. Taki Manshadi, Mushkin Kalam, Habibolah Shirazi and E.C. Getsinger."

New Commentary - Each of the 4 individuals pictured here will be described, starting from the left.

H.S.M. Taqí Manshadí - He is mentioned on page vi. of the "Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas", Vol. 1, as one of the translators of those Tablets. Might he also be the Siyyid Muhammad-Taqí Manshadí who was memorialized by `Abdu'l-Bahá in "Memorials of the Faithful", pp.54-57 and in "Some Answered Questions", p.271? (Today "Taki" would be transliterated as "Taqí".)

Mírzá Husayn-i-Isfaháni, known as Mishkín-Qalam ("musk-scented pen") is the 15th Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh and the most celebrated calligrapher of the Bahá'í Faith. The caligraphic symbol of "The Greatest Name" which adorns most Bahá'í households is a reproduction of his original rendering. A brief biography of his life appears on pages 270-272 of "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh."

Habíbu'lláh Shírází - [No information found as of this date.]

E.C. Getsinger - Dr. Edward Getsinger, the husband of Lua Getsinger, was in the first group of Western pilgrims to visit `Abdu'l-Bahá on December 10, 1898. GPB, 257. He also made the original voice recording of the Master's voice.

Album of Views - "Abdul Kazim, the gardener of Baha'o'llah, and his assistant."

New Commentary - Abu'l-Qásim served in the Garden of Ridván for many years. (See RB, Vol. 4, 29-32.) He was not, however, the first gardener of the Ridván Garden, that was `Abdu's-Salíh (see "Memorials of the Faithful," pp.26-28). No information about the assistant is available at this time.

Album of Views - "The youngest brother of Baha'o'llah, Mirza M. Kuli."

New Commentary - Mírzá Muhammad-Qulí, a half-brother of Bahá'u'lláh (his mother was Turkamáníyyih) accompanied Him into exile and imprisonment and remained faithful all the days of his life. After leaving the Most Great Prison he acquired a farm on the south-eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee where he died in 1910. In October 1985 his remains were reinterred in a new Bahá'í Cemetary on the slope of Tell Susita. See "The Bahá'í World", Vol. 19, p.56. See also pp.14-15 of "King of Glory."

Album of Views - "Abdul Karim of Cairo, Egypt."

New Commentary - Hájí `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání was a merchant of Tihrán who, in the late 19th century, was residing in Cairo, Egypt. It was `Abdu'l-Karím who taught the Bahá'í Faith to Dr. Ibráhím George Khayru'lláh (1849-1929), a Christian Arab from Lebanon (see "Ibrahim George Kheiralla and the Bahá'í Faith in America" in "From Iran East & West", Vol. 2, pp.94-133). Dr. Khayru'lláh was the first Bahá'í teacher in America.

Album of Views - "Portrait of Abdul-Baha."

[At the bottom of the photograph is this quotation:]

"When the ocean of My Presence hath disappeared and the Book of Origin is achieved to the end, turn your faces toward Him Whom God Hath Purposed, who hath branched from this Pre-Existent Root." --Words of BAHA'O'LLAH.

[Beneath the above quotation we read:]

"This photograph was selected by Abdu'l-Baha from several taken in Paris, recently, and permission granted to circulate it."

New Commentary - This famous portrait of `Abdu'l-Bahá was originally taken in Paris in 1911 and was first published in "Star of the West" in Vol. II, No. 14, p. 2 in the November 23, 1911 issue.

The new translation of the quotation of Bahá'u'lláh cited above reads

"When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." -The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p.63.

Album of Views - "Group of Believers of Acca, and former secretaries of Baha'o'llah. The fourth from your left is Mushkin Kalam, the great penman; in front of him are sitting two sons-in-law of of Abdul-Baha, Mohsin and Hadi Effendi. Sitting at the right end is the venerable Jenabi Zaine, the writer of "The Traveler's Narrative."

New Commentary - Each of the 11 individuals pictured here will be described, starting from the left, for those standing, and then returning to the left for those sitting.

Standing L - R:

(41-01)

[1] Hájí Mírzá Haydar-`Alí of Isfahán, "The Angel of Carmel." Portions of his memoirs were published in English and abridged by Hand of the Cause A.Q. Faizi in the book, "The Delight of Hearts" (1980). See also "The Angel of Carmel," pp.237-250 in "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh." He died in Haifa on 27 December 1920.

(41-02)

[2] The identity of this individual was not known at the time of this publication.

(41-03)

[3] The identity of this individual was not known at the time of this publication.

(41-04)

[4] Mishkín-Qalam ("musk-scented pen") is the 15th Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh and the most celebrated calligrapher of the Bahá'í Faith. The calligraphic symbol of "The Greatest Name" which adorns most Bahá'í households, is a reproduction of his original rendering. A brief biography of his life appears on pages 270-272 of "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh." (See photographs 36 and 42 for other pictures of him.)

(41-05)

[5] Siyyid Mustafá Rúmí, builder of the Burmese Bahá'í community, posthumously appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi in 1945. Mustafá Rúmí was taught the Faith by Sulaymán Khán, the spiritual conqueror of the Indian subcontinent. A photograph and a brief mention of him is made on pages 127-128 of "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh." (He is pictured again in photograph 42.)

(41-06)

[6] The identity of this individual was not known at the time of this publication.

Seated L - R:

(41-S1)

[7] The identity of this individual was not known at the time of this publication.

(41-S2)

[8] The identity of this individual was not known at the time of this publication.

(41-S3)

[9] Mírzá Muhsin, an Afnán. (Afnán's are descendents of the Báb "The Gate".) `Abdu'l-Bahá's second oldest daughter, Túbá Khánum, "married Mírzá Muhsin, an Afnán, a son of Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Hasan (the Great Afnán); the brother of the wife of the Báb. They had three sons: Rúhí, Suhayl, and Fuád, and one daughter, Thurayyá. Their family name was Afnán." (p.358 "The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh") Mírzá Muhsin died in 1927. "Shoghi Effendi described him as the beloved son-in-law of the Master and distinguished servant of His Cause." (Ibid, p.360) "His wife and all of his children were declared Covenant-breakers." (Ibid.)

(41-S4)

[10] "Mírzá Hádí Shírází was an Afnán, a grandson of Hájí Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim, who was a cousin of the mother of the Báb and a brother of His wife." (Ibid.) Mírzá Hádí Shírází married the eldest daughter of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Díyá'íyyih Khánum. From this union Shoghi Effendi was born on 1 March 1897 in the house of `Abdu'l-Bahá in `Akká. The other children were Husayn, Riáz, Rúhangíz and Mehrangíz. "Their family name was Rabbání, a name given to them by `Abdu'l-Bahá." (Ibid.) Shoghi Effendi eventually had to put his entire family out of the Faith.

(41-S5)

[11] Mullá Zaynu'l-Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín ("the Ornament of the Near Ones"), the 18th Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh. Born in Rajab in May of 1818 he died in 1903. His transcriptions of Bahá'u'lláh's Tablets are accounted to be the most accurate. In the original "Album of Views" commentary, the authorship of "A Traveller's Narrative" is wrongly attributed to him. `Abdu'l-Bahá was the Author of that work. A biographical note on Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín is given on pages 274 to 276 of "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh."

Album of Views - "Group of believers, exiles and their children."

New Commentary - This photograph was taken outside of the Pilgrim House at Bahjí. Compare it with the photograph that appears between pages 412 and 413 of "The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh." Many of the Bahá'ís identified in photograph 41 appear here. No further identifications have been made by this writer. Help in this matter will be greatly appreciated and the information that can be substantiated will be published with the next edition of this work.