Mirza Aqa Jan embraced the religion of the Báb when he was
about sixteen years old and became instantly “aflame with devotion.” He was
neither learned nor rich and made his living in his hometown of Kashan making
and selling soap. Soap-making was a humble trade in those days, often carried
out at home by people who were not well educated.
Mirza Aqa jan was also a seeker of truth who had seen the
Báb in his dreams and believed in Him. He had also read the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh and felt the urge to attain His presence. He left his home in
Kashan unexpectedly and traveled to Iraq.
When he reached Baghdad, he learned that Bahá’u’lláh was
visiting the Babís in the neighboring town of Karbila, and there He was the
guest of one of the resident Bábis. This was before Baha’u’llah’s Declaration
in the Garden of Ridvan. Mirza Aqa Jan followed Baha’u’llah to Karbila.
Bahá’u’lláh liked to spend the hot summer nights on the flat
roof of the house, as people often did. There He chanted His prayers under a
canopy of stars and slept in the fresh night air.
One night Bahá’u’lláh invited Mirza Aqa Jan who had just
arrived in Karbala to join Him on the roof. Bahá’u’lláh was already sleeping
when Mirza Aqa jan spread out his bedding nearby on a carpet and lay down for a
brief rest.
Many years later, Mirza Aqa jan related the following
amazing account to the great Baha’i historian, Nabil:
"As it was summer-time, Bahá'u'lláh was in the habit of
passing His evenings and of sleeping on the roof of the House.... That night,
when He had gone to sleep, I, according to His directions, lay down for a brief
rest, at a distance of a few feet from Him. No sooner had I risen, and ...
started to offer my prayers, in a corner of the roof which adjoined a wall,
than I beheld His blessed Person rise and walk towards me. When He reached me
He said: 'You, too, are awake.' Whereupon He began to chant and pace back and
forth. How shall I ever describe that voice and the verses it intoned, and His
gait, as He strode before me! Methinks, with every step He took and every word
He uttered thousands of oceans of light surged before my face, and thousands of
worlds of incomparable splendor were unveiled to my eyes, and thousands of suns
blazed their light upon me! In the moonlight that streamed upon Him, He thus
continued to walk and to chant. Every time He approached me He would pause,
and, in a tone so wondrous that no tongue can describe it, would say: 'Hear Me,
My son. By God, the True One! This Cause will assuredly be made manifest. Heed
thou not the idle talk of the people of the Bayán, who pervert the meaning of
every word.' In this manner He continued to walk and chant, and to address me
these words until the first streaks of dawn appeared.... Afterwards I removed
His bedding to His room, and, having prepared His tea for Him, was dismissed
from His presence." (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
The Guardian refers to Mirza Aqa Jan as "the first to
believe" Bahá’u’lláh as ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest’. He further
indicates that:
“The confidence instilled in Mirza Aqa Jan by this
unexpected and sudden contact with the spirit and directing genius of a
new-born Revelation stirred his soul to its depths -- a soul already afire with
a consuming love born of his recognition of the ascendancy which his
newly-found Master had already achieved over His fellow-disciples in both Iraq
and Persia. This intense adoration … informed his whole being, and … could
neither be suppressed nor concealed…” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
From that night on, Mirza Aqa Jan knew with certainty that
Baha'u'llah was the Promised One sent by God. He wanted nothing more than to
remain in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh and to serve Him.
The other Bábís of Karbala did not see the "thousands
of oceans of light" that Mirza Aqa Jan saw. They saw only that Mirza Aqa
Jan began to treat Bahá’u’lláh with even greater reverence and devotion than
before. They were not surprised. People all around loved and admired
Bahá’u’lláh.
Bahá’u’lláh chose Mirza Aqa Jan as His personal servant and
gave him the title of Khadim (servant), and later Khadimu'llah (servant of God).
At the same time that Mirza Aqa Jan was the 'servant in attendance', he was
empowered by Bahá'u'lláh to act as His amanuensis in spite of his inadequate
education. For the next forty years Mirza Aqa Jan would serve Baha'u'llah,
writing down the divine tablets He revealed and the letters He dictated, and
sending them to believers near and far. This he did till the end of the
Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh. He served Bahá'u'lláh assiduously for those 40 years
in the triple functions of secretary, servant and companion.
(Adapted from ‘God Passes By’, by Shoghi Effendi, ‘The Story
of Bahá’u’lláh’, by Druzelle Cederquist, ‘The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh’, by Adib
Taherzadeh)