Varqá ( ar, , born Mírzá ʻAlí-Muhammad ( fa, ); died 1896) was an eminent follower of

Baháʼu'lláh Baháʼu'lláh (born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Persia, and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábí Faith. In 1863, in I ...

, the founder of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. Varqá was referred to by

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian language, Persian: ‎, 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás ( fa, عباس), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was later C ...

as a

Hand of the Cause of God Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá who died in 2007. Hands of ...

and was identified as one of the nineteen

Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh The Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh were nineteen prominent early followers of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. The apostles were designated as such by Shoghi Effendi, head of the religion in the earlier half of the 20th century, an ...

. Baháʼu'lláh wrote
tablet
addressed to Varqá, praising the high station of the King and Beloved of Martyrs.

Execution

Varqá is well known as the father of Rúhu'lláh. The two of them were the first among a large group to be martyred in 1896 by

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

authorities for being Baháʼís. This story is summarized from Balyuzi's book. Varqa (r) and his son Ruhu'llah (l), before their 1896 execution for being Bábís

Varqa (r) and his son Ruhu'llah (l), before their 1896 execution for being Bábís

The executioner, Hajibu'd Dawlih, was particularly enraged with his prisoners, and brought out Varqá and Rúhu'lláh into an inner room. Varqá's calm reply to questioning further maddened his captors. The executioner plunged a dagger into the chest of Varqá saying 'How are you?' to which Varqá replied 'Feeling better than you'. Hajibu'd Dawlih then asked him which should die first, him or his son Rúhu'lláh, to which Varqá replied 'It is the same to me.' Hajibu'd Dawlih and four others then began to tear Varqá apart in front of his son. He made an offer to Rúhu'lláh that he could be adopted, offered an allowance, given a post in the government, but Rúhu'lláh asked to join his father instead. Hajibu'd Dawlih then strangled him with a

bastinado Foot whipping, falanga/falaka or bastinado is a method of inflicting pain and humiliation by administering a beating on the soles of a person's bare feet. Unlike most types of flogging, it is meant more to be painful than to cause actual injury ...

. After his dead body fell to the ground, Rúhu'lláh's body raised and then fell to the ground again, a yard away. The experience scared Hajibu'd Dawlih so much that he ran away screaming.

Family

The second son of Varqá,

Valíyu'lláh Varqá Mírzá Valíyu'lláh Khán-i-Varqá ( fa, ‎ ; 18841955) was a prominent Persian Baháʼí who was appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi. He was the son of Varqá, the martyr-poet, and the father of ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá, ( ...

, later was appointed a

Hand of the Cause Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá who died in 2007. Hands of ...

Shoghi Effendi Shoghí Effendi (; 1 March 1897 – 4 November 1957) was the grandson and successor of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, appointed to the role of Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957. He created a series of teaching plans that over ...

in 1951. When the latter died in 1955, the grandson of Varqá,

ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá ( fa, ;‎ 1911September 22, 2007) was a prominent adherent of the Baháʼí Faith. He was the longest surviving Hand of the Cause of God, an appointed position in the Baháʼí Faith whose main function is to propagate an ...

was appointed in his place.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varqa Hands of the Cause Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh Iranian Bahá'ís 1896 deaths Bahá'í martyrs Year of birth unknown 19th-century Bahá'ís