Siyyid Mustafa Rumi: Hand of the Cause of God, Apostle of Baha'u'llah

Bahá’í Publishing 401 Greenleaf Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091 Copyright © 2020 by Iran Furútan Muhájir All rights reserved. Published 2020 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 23 22 21 20 4 3 2 1 ISBN 978-1-61851-157-7 Book design by Patrick Falso Cover design by Carlos Esparza

CONTENTS Acknowledgments............................................................................... xi Foreword by Iran Furútan Muhájir....................................................xiii Introduction by Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí..................................................1 Chapter 1: Childhood and Youth.........................................................3 Chapter 2: The Arrival of Jamál Effendi in India............................... 11 Chapter 3: First Visit to Burma..........................................................27 Chapter 4: Travels in Celebes and Macassar.......................................43 Chapter 5: Return to Rangoon from South Asia................................55 Chapter 6: Return of Jamál Effendi to Burma.................................... 61 Chapter 7: Áqá Mírzá Ma¥ram..........................................................71 Chapter 8: First Pilgrimage, 1903.......................................................85 Chapter 9: Events of 1904–1906........................................................95 Chapter 10: Arrival of the Faith at Daidanow Kalazoo Village...........99 Chapter 11: The Years 1909–13........................................................ 113 Chapter 12: Second Pilgrimage to the Holy Land............................129 Chapter 13: Events of 1914–1920....................................................135 Chapter 14: Third Pilgrimage to Holy Land in 1921........................ 151 Chapter 15: Events of 1921–29......................................................... 159 Chapter 16: My Second Marriage, 1929........................................... 175 Chapter 17: The Ascension of Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf............................................................... 187 Chapter 18: Extracts from Correspondence, 1931–41....................... 191 Chapter 19: Passing to the Abhá Kingdom....................................... 211 Appendix I: Visitors to Burma.......................................................... 219 Appendix II: N. R. Vakil and Pritam Singh......................................245 Notes............................................................................................... 251 About the Compiler and Editor of this Volume................................ 261 Index................................................................................................263

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Tablet in the handwriting of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, addressed to Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí.

O thou my companion!

It seems that thou hast become a prisoner in the city of Haifa, for whenever the means of travel are delayed, the place becomes like unto a prison for the traveler. This, verily, is a bounty from thy Merciful and Compassionate Lord, inasmuch as this pause in Haifa hath become a means of receiving divine blessings, and an opportunity to inhale the heavenly breezes and the musky fragrances. My prayer during thy sojourn is that the Almighty in His loving kindness will confirm and assist thee, and graciously aid thee to serve this Cause.

May thou be triumphant and victorious in resisting the hosts of self and passion, in promoting the divine sweet savours, and uniting the hearts of the beloved of the Lord.

—‘Abdu’l-Bahá

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Dear and most prized co-worker: What you will place on record regarding the history of the Faith in India and Burma will acquire tremendous significance and influence in the days to come. It will serve to instruct, inspire, and cheer countless souls among the rising generation, and will add fresh laurels to those you have so deservedly won in the service of God’s immortal Faith. No words can adequately convey the gratitude I feel in my heart for your continued and inestimable services.

Your true and affectionate brother, Shoghi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the Universal House of Justice for the provisional translations of the Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appearing in this book.

I offer my thanks to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India for giving me access to Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí’s archival documents.

To Mr. Kenneth Bowers, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, for his encouragement and for facilitating the work on the manuscript.

To my dear friend Ramin Abrishamian, who, with his precise engineering mind went over the memoirs with me and put them in the correct sequence. He not only toiled over the manuscript with me, but with his dear wife Diana provided kind hospitality for weeks during my stay at their home.

To my editor Bahhaj Taherzadeh for his conscientious attention to the final editing of the manuscript.

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FOREWORD BY IRAN FURÚTAN MUHÁJIR Each stage of the promulgation of the Faith and development of the Bahá’í community in the vast subcontinent of India—a region that included the present-day countries of India, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, and Bangladesh before their division into independent states—was undertaken at the direction of the Central Figures of the Faith.

During the Ministry of the Báb, there were at least three Indians who recognized His station as a Manifestation of God and embraced His Faith. Nabíl-i-A‘µam, in The Dawn-Breakers, offers a brief account concerning Shaykh Sa’íd-i-Hindi, the eighth Letter of the Living: Among the disciples whom the Báb had instructed, in the early days of His Mission, to disperse and teach His Cause, was a certain Shaykh Sa’íd-i-Hindí, one of the Letters of the Living, who had been directed by his Master to journey throughout India and proclaim to its people the precepts of His Revelation. Shaykh Sa’íd, in the course of his travels, visited the town of Multan, where he met . . . Siyyid Básir, who, though blind, was able to perceive immediately, with his inner eye, the significance of the message Shaykh Sa’íd had brought him.1 Contact with Shaykh Sa’íd was cut off after his travel to Multan, and no more is known of his history.

Nabil recounts details of the life of Siyyid-i-Basir, who was taught the Faith of the Báb by Shaykh Sa’íd-i-Hindi:

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Foreword

The vast learning he had acquired, far from hindering him from appreciating the value of the Cause to which he was summoned, enabled him to grasp its meaning and understand the greatness of its power. Casting behind him the trappings of leadership, and severing himself from his friends and kinsmen, he arose with a fixed resolve to render his share of service to the Cause he had embraced. His first act was to undertake a pilgrimage to Shíráz, in the hope of meeting his Beloved. Arriving in that city, he was informed, to his surprise and grief, that the Báb had been banished to the mountains of Ádhirbayján, where He was leading a life of unrelieved solitude. He straightway proceeded to øihrán, and from thence departed for Núr, where he met Bahá’u’lláh. This meeting relieved his heart from the burden of sorrow caused by his failure to meet his Master. To those he subsequently met, of whatever class or creed, he imparted the joys and blessings he had so abundantly received from the hands of Bahá’u’lláh, and was able to endow them with a measure of the power with which his intercourse with Him had invested his innermost being.2 Nabíl also provides an account of Qahru’lláh, “. . . a dervish who had come from India and who, as soon as he met the Báb, acknowledged the truth of His Mission. All who met that dervish, whom the Báb had named Qahru’lláh, during his sojourn at Iski-Shahr, felt the warmth of his enthusiasm and were deeply impressed by the tenacity of his conviction. An increasing number of people became enamoured of the charm of his personality and willingly acknowledged the compelling power of his Faith. . . . He was often heard to relate the following: ‘In the days when I occupied the exalted position of a navváb in India, the Báb appeared to me in a vision. He gazed at me and won my heart completely. I arose, and had started to follow Him, when He looked at me intently and said: “Divest yourself of your gorgeous attire, depart from your native land, and hasten on foot to meet Me in Ádhirbayján.

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Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí.

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INTRODUCTION

BY SIYYID MUßøAFÁ RÚMÍ On 21 January 1931, I received a loving letter dated 15 December 1930 from our revered Bahá’í friends Mrs. Mariam Haney and Mr. Stanwood Cobb, the editors of the Bahá’í magazine Star of the West, expressing their heartfelt desire that “I might care to write an article for their magazine on the subject of ‘the coming of the Bahá’í Cause into Burma’” as my name had been given to them as a person capable of writing such an article.

They “hoped with all their hearts that” as a faithful and old obedient servant of the beloved Guardian, His Holiness Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, I would “render this service at once.”

After two unsuccessful attempts to perform such a duty, this was a golden opportunity for me to render this service to the supreme Cause.

While I was in the holy presence of my beloved Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1914, a well-known learned Bahá’í teacher who had recently returned from a tour of France, Germany, and England to the holy threshold of the supreme Lord asked me to write in Persian while on pilgrimage about my life and about the history of the Bahá’í movement in India and Burma. In obedience to his loving request I wrote about fifty pages, which was highly appreciated by my fellow-pilgrims when it was read to them. Unfortunately the said teacher suddenly became ill and was sent to Beirut by our Lord for treatment. Also this humble servant and other pilgrims from Bombay were commanded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to return to India and Burma. The Master predicted that the disastrous worlddevastating Great War was at hand. He instructed me to remain in Burma, and not to travel.

Thus, after returning to Burma, I resigned to His Will and occupied all my time in translating some holy scriptures, such as the book of Íqán 1

Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí

into Burmese, and writing other booklets for the enlightenment of the Bahá’ís of Burma. I also tried to complete the history of the Faith in India and Burma in Persian. . . .

Now I am extremely happy that I was able to accomplish this arduous task notwithstanding my advanced age. . . .

I confess frankly that it was my bounty to be bestowed with many accolades such as “teacher of the Cause, proclaimer of the Covenant, promulgator of the Divine Cause” and so on by my Lord ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the beloved Guardian through their supreme merciful grace and clemency. However, I know my limitations. I am a humble servant, unschooled, without any qualifications, and seek no name or fame.

The diadem of my qualification is only, if it is acceptable in His holy presence, to be a most humble servant of all servants of the holy threshold of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the beloved Guardian of their divine Cause, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani. I earnestly desire to sacrifice my worthless life in the glorious path of their love.

Most humbly and devotedly in His supreme service, Siyyid Mustafa Roumie Mandalay, Burma 15 September 19321

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CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH My ancestors came from the Shí‘ih community of I¦fahán (Persia), from the Sháhsha¥án quarter. They left their native country to permanently reside in Karbilá, where they lived in a house opposite the residence of Þájí Siyyid ‘Alí-Naqí, the Mujtahid. My father, Siyyid Mu¥ammad, was an Arabic scholar, who, because of some family disputes, left his home in Karbilá during the reign of Sul¬án Ma¥múd II (1785–1839) for Syria and later Constantinople, Turkey. He was the son of Siyyid ‘Alí, who was the son of Siyyid ‘Abdu’l-Ra¥ím. At the age of thirty he was appointed as Qá¤í (Cadi), an Islamic judge for the Shafi‘i and Sunní Sects in Constantinople. During the Janissary Uprising,1 he left Constantinople for Baghdád and Karbilá and later returned to India as it was not safe for him to remain in the Turkish-ruled areas. For many years he toured India with the surname of Roumie, derived from the historical Islamic name for Constantinople, Roumatu’l-Kubra (Great Roman City).

He studied Sufism in India and in a short time became highly esteemed and honored as a spiritual leader. He soon had thousands of disciples in Baroda (Gujrat), Hyderabad (Deccan), and the Madras and Malabar coasts, among them princes and subjects of the ruling principalities.

Years later he returned to Karbilá and married my mother, øayyibih, from the noble Babush-Shaikhi Arab tribe of Iraq. I was born in Karbilá on 12 Rabí‘u’l-Avval 1268 A.H. [January 5, 1852].* I was seven days

* There is some discrepancy regarding the date of Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí’s birth. This appears to be based on the belief that he was approximately ninety3

Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí

old when my mother passed away and my father entrusted me to the care of my maternal uncle and left for India. He returned when I was twelve years old. My uncle asked for a handsome compensation before my father could take me to live with him. My father was traveling with his new wife, Munavvar Jahán; their infant son, Siyyid Ma¥múd; and his mother-in-law, who was of the family of Dúst Mu¥ammad Khán, the king of Kabul, Afghanistan.

My father purchased a house near the “Baghdád Gate” and opened two fabric stores, mostly of Bengali, Syrian, and Chinese silk cloth, one in Baghdád and another in “Bazaar Dangchinyan” in Karbilá. He left the management of the store in Baghdád to a partner and managed the one in Karbilá with the help of an Indian servant.

Unfortunately, he lost a great portion of his wealth during the dreadful famine of Iraq. Also, when Ná¦iri’d-Dín Sháh of Persia visited Karbilá, his dignitary companions swindled my father and he was unable to reclaim the money owed him even by going to court. In spite of all his problems he distributed a large sum as alms among the starving people.

Another matter pressuring him in Karbilá at this time was the question of the ownership of his house. He had purchased the house for a considerable sum and had made sure that the title was lawfully clear and that the deed of sale was drawn by an expert lawyer and duly registered in the Turkish Government Registration Office in Baghdád. However, after a few months, some dishonest people went to the well-known mujtahid, Shaykh Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín, by the referral of Grand Mujtahid Mírzá Fa¤lu’lláh, both of Mázindarání origin. They filed false claims as heirs of the deceased owner of the property and obtained a decree from the grand mujtahid that the sale was null and void, and the executors had no legal right to execute the deed of sale. My father was summoned to personally nine years of age at the time of his martyrdom [see ‘Abbás-‘Alí Butt, “An Account of the Services of Siyyid Mu¦¬afá Rúmí,” Bahá’í World, vol. X, p. 519], which is reported to have taken place on 13 March 1945. This would place his birth circa 1846; however, it is possible, as was common at the time, that his date of birth was uncertain and his precise age was unknown to his contemporaries.

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Childhood and Youth

appear before the grand mujtahid with all the deeds to the property. He was not acquainted with the law courts and legal proceedings, as he had never been to civil or criminal courts although he had served as a religious justice. He was sure that if he appeared before the mujtahid he would be disgraced and defeated, and he had no trustworthy person to appoint as an agent for himself. He kept quiet until the opposite party filed their suit in the Turkish Civil Court of Baghdád as legal heirs and absolute owners of the property. As a testimony to their claim, the plaintiffs filed the final decision of their religious leader—ordering to set aside the sale.

The case was postponed from time to time and was prolonged for more than a year for want of evidence. Several judges changed until at last the case was decided in favor of my father by a new judge who had arrived from Constantinople. The suit was dismissed with cost. Immediately after the judgment, the plaintiffs ran away to Persia as the instigators of the case refused to help them, fearing they might be prosecuted for the trial cost, which amounted to more than the price of the property.

This incident disheartened my father, who bitterly lamented the regretful condition of the people of Karbilá who polluted that sacred spot through their irreligious misdeeds without understanding and repentance. He felt he could not peacefully pass the remaining days of his life in Karbilá and sold all his moveable and immoveable belongings at sacrificial prices and migrated to India on a permanent basis.

During our stay in Karbilá my father sent me to the school of Shaykh Báqir of I¦fahán, who was a very cruel teacher. One time he slapped me so harshly that I fainted and drops of blood from my nose fell on my book.

The next day my father went to the school, rebuked the shaykh, and took me out of that school. He employed a teacher, Shaykh ‘Alí-Arab, to teach me for a couple of hours a day at home. I could not speak Persian, but I could read and write in Arabic. Sometimes, when my father was free, he would command me to read a book for him. My lessons were quite unsystematic, irregular, and unsatisfactory. However, at home I learned a little Persian and to a certain extent Urdu as my stepmother and her mother spoke these two languages.

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