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Mirza Baqir- i- Shirazi, who had transcribed the Tablets of Baha'u'llah in Adrianople with such unsparing devotion, was slain in Kirman, while in Ardikan the aged and infirm Gul- Muhammad was set upon by a furious mob, thrown to the ground, and so trampled upon by the hob- nailed boots of two siyyids that his ribs were crushed in and his teeth broken, after which his body was taken to the outskirts of the town and buried in a pit, only to be dug up the next day, dragged through the streets, and finally abandoned in the wilderness. In the city of Mashhad, notorious for its unbridled fanaticism, Haji Abdu'l- Majid, who was the eighty- five year old father of the afore- mentioned Badi' and a survivor of the struggle of Tabarsi, and who, after the martyrdom of his son, had visited Baha'u'llah and returned afire with zeal to Khurasan, was ripped open from waist to throat, and his head exposed on a marble slab to the gaze of a multitude of insulting onlookers, who, after dragging his body ignominiously through the bazaars, left it at the morgue to be claimed by his relatives. (200:1) In Isfahan Mulla Kazim was beheaded by order of Shaykh Muhammad- Baqir, and a horse made to gallop over his corpse, which was then delivered to the flames, while Siyyid Aqa Jan had his ears cut off, and was led by a halter through the streets and bazaars. A month later occurred in that same city the tragedy of the two famous brothers Mirza Muhammad- Hasan and Mirza Muhammad- Husayn, the "twin shining lights," respectively surnamed "Sultanu'sh- Shuhada" (King of Martyrs) and "Mahbubu'sh- Shuhada" (Beloved of Martyrs), who were celebrated for their generosity, trustworthiness, kindliness and piety. Their martyrdom was instigated by the wicked and dishonest Mir Muhammad- Husayn, the Imam- Jum'ih, stigmatized by Baha'u'llah as the "she- serpent," who, in view of a large debt he had incurred in his transactions with them, schemed to nullify his obligations by denouncing them as Babis, and thereby encompassing their death. Their richly- furnished houses were plundered, even to the trees and flowers in their gardens, all their remaining possessions were confiscated; Shaykh Muhammad- Baqir, denounced by Baha'u'llah as the "wolf," pronounced their death- sentence; the Zillu's- Sultan ratified the decision, after which they were put in chains, decapitated, dragged to the Maydan- i- Shah, and there exposed to the indignities heaped upon them by a degraded and rapacious populace. "In such wise," Abdu'l- Baha has written, "was the blood of these two brothers shed that the Christian priest of Julfa cried out, lamented and wept on that day." For several years Baha'u'llah in His Tablets continued to make mention of them, to voice His grief over their passing and to extol their virtues.
(200:2)
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