Muhammad-Ibrahim, who bore the title of Mansur--Victorious--was a
coppersmith. This man of God, yet another among the emigrants and
settlers, was a native of Ka_sh_an. In the early flowering of his youth he
recognized the newborn Light and drank deep of the holy cup that is
"tempered at the camphor fountain."(47) He was a man of pleasing
disposition, full of zest and the joy of life. As soon as the light of
faith was lit in his heart, he left Ka_sh_an, journeyed to Ba_gh_dad, and
was honored with coming into the presence of Baha'u'llah.
Aqa Muhammad had a fine poetic gift, and he would create verses like
stringed pearls. In Zawra--that is, Ba_gh_dad, the Abode of Peace--he was on
amicable terms with friend and stranger alike, ever striving to show forth
loving-kindness to all. He brought his brothers from Persia to Ba_gh_dad,
and opened a shop for arts and crafts, applying himself to the welfare of
others. He, too, was taken prisoner and exiled from Ba_gh_dad to Mosul,
after which he journeyed to Haifa, where day and night, lowly and humble,
he chanted prayers and supplications and centered his thoughts on God.
He remained a long time in Haifa, successfully serving the believers
there, and most humbly and unobtrusively seeing to the travelers' needs.
He married in that city, and fathered fine children. To him every day was
a new life and a new joy, and whatever money he made he spent on strangers
and friends. After the slaying of the King of Martyrs, he wrote an elegy
to memorialize that believer who had fallen on the field of anguish, and
recited his ode in the presence of Baha'u'llah; the lines were touching in
the extreme, so that all who were there shed tears, and voices were raised
in grief.
Aqa Muhammad continued to live out his life, high of aim, unvarying as to
his inner condition, with fervor and love. Then he welcomed death,
laughing like a rose suddenly full-blown, and crying, "Here am I!" Thus he
quitted Haifa, exchanging it for the world above. From this narrow slip of
land he hastened upward to the Well-Beloved, soared out of this dust heap
to pitch his tent in a fair and shining place. Blessings be unto him, and
a goodly home.(48) May God sheathe him in mercies; may he rest under the
tabernacles of forgiveness and be brought into the gardens of Heaven.