Among those who emigrated and were companions in the Most
Great Prison was Áqá ‘Abdu’s-Sálih. This excellent soul, a child of early
believers, came from Isfáhán. His noble-hearted father died, and this child
grew up an orphan. There was none to rear or care for him and he was the prey
of anyone who chose to do him harm. At last he became adolescent, and older
now, sought out his Well-Beloved. He emigrated to the Most Great Prison and
here, at the Ridván, achieved the honor of being appointed gardener. At this
task he was second to none. In his faith, too, he was staunch, loyal, worthy of
trust; as to his character, he was an embodiment of the sacred verse, “Of a
noble nature art thou.” That is how he
won the distinction of being gardener at the Ridván, and of thus receiving the
greatest bounty of all: almost daily, he entered the presence of Bahá’u’lláh.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk; ‘Memorials of the Faithful’)
