The late Pidar-Jan was among those believers who emigrated to Ba_gh_dad.
He was a godly old man, enamored of the Well-Beloved; in the garden of
Divine love, he was like a rose full-blown. He arrived there, in
Ba_gh_dad, and spent his days and nights communing with God and chanting
prayers; and although he walked the earth, he traveled the heights of
Heaven.
To obey the law of God, he took up a trade, for he had nothing. He would
bundle a few pairs of socks under his arm and peddle them as he wandered
through the streets and bazars, and thieves would rob him of his
merchandise. Finally he was obliged to lay the socks across his
outstretched palms as he went along. But he would get to chanting a
prayer, and one day he was surprised to find that they had stolen the
socks, laid out on his two hands, from before his eyes. His awareness of
this world was clouded, for he journeyed through another. He dwelt in
ecstasy; he was a man drunken, bedazzled.
For some time, that is how he lived in 'Iraq. Almost daily he was admitted
to the presence of Baha'u'llah. His name was 'Abdu'llah but the friends
bestowed on him the title of Pidar-Jan--Father Dear--for he was a loving
father to them all. At last, under the sheltering care of Baha'u'llah, he
took flight to the "seat of truth, in the presence of the potent
king."(24)
May God make fragrant his sepulcher with the outpouring rains of His mercy
and cast upon him the eye of Divine compassion. Salutations be unto him,
and praise.