The Chosen Highway/Ásíyih Khánum
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THE SPOKEN CHRONICLE
of Tuba Khanum,
daughter of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
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CHAPTER I
Asiyth Khanum . I remember our beloved grandmother, Astyih Khanum very well, though I was only seven years old when she passed from us.
Baha’u’llah used to address her as “‘Navvab,” a title of great courtesy and respect, used by Persian noblemen to their wives. She was very beautiful, kind, and gentle. Everybody in trouble went to her for comfort. If any were ill, it was she who nursed them, and soothed and cared for them.
As no laundress was allowed to come whilst we were all in the barrack prison at ‘Akka, she did much of the washing and cooking, helped always by my dear aunt Khanum.
The only servant they had, a negress, had neither time nor strength to do all that was needed. My grandmother and Khanum, then quite young, did much of the hard work, so that this servant should not be overtired.
They also made and mended the garments of the family, a formidable undertaking.
I was told how my grandmother and Khanum made a wonderful coat for Baha’u’llah, to be ready for Him when He should return from the retreat in the wilderness of Sulaymaniyyih. They worked at this labour of love, using small pieces of red tirmih, very precious stuff, which had survived, in some way, the loss of nearly all her extensive and rare wedding treasures. For six months they sewed and fitted these pieces together, and a beautiful coat was the result. Very acceptable indeed, for He came back in the coarse, rough coat of a dervish. And they had no money for buying coats at that time in Baghdad.
Asiyih Khanum lived through the imprisonment time, and afterwards, in the little hired house in the town of ‘Akka.
Her tiny room was simple and bare—the narrow, white bed, which was also the divan in the daytime; a very small table,
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THE QHOSEN HIGHWAY
on which was her prayer and other holy books, her “‘qalam-dan” (pen case), and leaflets for writing; there was also her rosary, sometimes a flower in a pot, and lastly an old painted box holding her other frock and her other under-garment.
Baha’u’'llah had only two coats (made of Barak, a Persian woollen cloth); they were apt to wear out, and much of her time was spent, as I remember her, in patching and darning them and His stockings.
My eyes will always see her in her blue dress, with a white “niqab” on her head, and little black slippers on her tiny feet. Her sweet, smiling face, and her wrapt expression, as she chanted prayers in her musical voice.
One sad day I came in from my lessons, finding many people gathered together in a troubled way. I asked ‘“‘What is the matter?”
“Your grandmother is very ill.”
I saw Baha’u’llah go into her room; after a time He came out; she had passed from the sadness and grief-filled days of her life on earth.
How we all wept! We missed her beautiful presence; her unfailing loving-kindness, and her perfect unselfishness had endeared her to us all.
Lovely and loving, refined and dainty, keenly intelligent, with more strength of character than of physique. A strong sense of humour was also one of her many gifts.
The terrible hardships and anxieties of her life had impaired her health; she had always exerted her strength, however failing, to its utmost.
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