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Date 1896-05-02, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1896 1 May
[189-]
The martyrdom of Hand of the Cause of God Varqa ('Dove'), Mírzá 'Ali-Muhammad. (b.1856 in Yazd, d. in Tehran) He and his young son, Ruhu'lláh, were killed by, Hajib'ud-Dawleh, one of the Qajar courtiers, in fact, the Chief Steward, in the aftermath of the assassination of Nasir'd-Din Shah. Varqá was slashed to death before the eyes of his twelve-year-old son who, still refusing to recant, was strangled. [GPB296; BBRXXIX; SUR77; BW18p384; Bahá'í Encyclopedia Project]
  • For the story of their lives see MRHK405–22 and World Order: Winter 1974-1975, Vol. 9 No.2 p29-44 as well as LoF42-49.
  • For a Western account of the episode see BBR361–2.
  • 'Abdu'l-Bahá named him posthumously as a Hand of the Cause and Shoghi Effendi designated him as one of the Apostles of Bahá-u-lláh. [EB75-97 LoF42-49, BBR361-362, SoBSNBp225-229]
  • See Varqá and Son: The Heavenly Doves by Darius Shahrokh.
  • See also Bahá'í Chronicles.
  • See SoW Vol 12 No 4 (17 May 1921 (Volume 7 pg93) for a photo of Varqá, Ruhu'lláh and their two companions.
  • Varqa; Varqá, Mírzá `Alí-Muhammad; Varqa, Ruhullah; In Memoriam; - Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh; - Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, referred to as such by `Abdu'l-Bahá; Hands of the Cause, Appointments; Hands of the Cause, Births and deaths; Births and deaths; Hands of the Cause, Activities; Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Deaths; - Persecution; Yazd, Iran; Tehran, Iran; Iran
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