Bahá'u'lláh’s father - Mirza Buzurg

Specimen of the calligraphy of Mirza Buzurg

Bahá'u'lláh's father was renowned as a calligrapher. Indeed his real name was 'Abbas and he had been given the designation Buzurg (meaning "great") by the king because of his calligraphic prowess. He became the minister to a royal prince who was the commander of the royal guards. He was later a vizier (minister), an official responsible for the collection of taxes, in a province. As was customary among Iran's nobility, Mirza Buzurg had an extensive family.

Bahá'u'lláh’s father was a close associate of Qa'im-M'aqam, the Prime Minister to Muhammad Shah. Qa'im-Maqam was one of the few Iranians who had woken up to the fact that the world was passing Iran by and that the country needed to modernize if it was not to be swallowed up by the colonialist forces that threatened it: Russia from the north and Britain from the south. But in 1835, Muhammad Shah turned against Qa'im-Maqam and had him executed, a not uncommon fate for Qajar Prime Ministers. As a result, Bahá'u'lláh's father fell into disfavour also, particularly as he was at odds with the new Prime Minister, Haji Mirza Aqasi. He lost his position and much of his wealth, and even his mansion in Takur was all but destroyed in a flood. He fell ill and eventually died in the spring of 1839.

(Adapted from ‘Bahá'u'lláh, a Short Biography’, by Moojan Momen)