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At the same time an influx of Persian Babis, whose sole object was to attain the presence of Baha'u'llah, swelled the stream of visitors that poured through His hospitable doors. Carrying back, on their return to their native country, innumerable testimonies, both oral and written, to His steadily rising power and glory, they could not fail to contribute, in a vast measure, to the expansion and progress of a newly- reborn Faith. Four of the Bab's cousins and His maternal uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad; a grand- daughter of Fath- 'Ali Shah and fervent admirer of Tahirih, surnamed Varaqatu'r- Ridvan; the erudite Mulla Muhammad- i- Qa'ini, surnamed Nabil- i- Akbar; the already famous Mulla Sadiq- i- Khurasani, surnamed Ismu'llahu'l- Asdaq, who with Quddus had been ignominiously persecuted in Shiraz; Mulla Baqir, one of the Letters of the Living; Siyyid Asadu'llah, surnamed Dayyan; the revered Siyyid Javad- i- Karbila'i; Mirza Muhammad- Hasan and Mirza Muhammad- Husayn, later immortalized by the titles of Sultanu'sh- Shuhada and Mahbubu'sh- Shuhada (King of Martyrs and Beloved of Martyrs) respectively; Mirza Muhammad- 'Aliy- i- Nahri, whose daughter, at a later date, was joined in wedlock to Abdu'l- Baha; the immortal Siyyid Isma'il- i- Zavari'i; Haji Shaykh Muhammad, surnamed Nabil by the Bab; the accomplished Mirza Aqay- i- Munir, surnamed Ismu'llahu'l- Munib; the long- suffering Haji Muhammad- Taqi, surnamed Ayyub; Mulla Zaynu'l- Abidin, surnamed Zaynu'l- Muqarrabin, who had ranked as a highly esteemed mujtahid-- all these were numbered among the visitors and fellow- disciples who crossed His threshold, caught a glimpse of the splendor of His majesty, and communicated far and wide the creative influences instilled into them through their contact with His spirit. Mulla Muhammad- i- Zarandi, surnamed Nabil- i- Azam, who may well rank as His Poet- Laureate, His chronicler and His indefatigable disciple, had already joined the exiles, and had launched out on his long and arduous series of journeys to Persia in furtherance of the Cause of his Beloved.
(130:1)
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