But Haji Muhammad was not always so quick to obey.  Perhaps you know that he was an excellent marksman.  His bullets never missed their targets.  He could even hit a small bird in full flight while galloping on horseback.  One day, with his rifle on his shoulder, he came upon a group of Baha’is who were on an outing with Baha’u’llah and decided to join them.

When Baha’u’llah saw that Haji Muhammad was going to use his rifle, He told him not to kill innocent birds.  Haji Muhammad did not pay any attention to what Baha’ullah said because his mind was on shooting, which he loved very much.  So, he continued shooting at every bird he saw.  But he was quite surprised to find that none of his bullets hit.  He shot once, he shot twice, he shot many times – but did not bring down even one bird.  He shot at big birds and at little birds, without any success. 

The group was returning from the outing when a large, beautiful, white bird caught Haji Muhammad’s eye.  It was so big that it could not fly quickly, and Haji Muhammad thought that surely it would be easy to hit this one.  His first shot missed.  Then he fired four more times, but he missed every time.  In a panic, the frightened bird flew near them.  Haji Muhammad thought that now he could not possibly miss.  He fired two more shots, but the bird escaped.  

Haji Muhammad was astonished, and he began to think about the whole incident.  All of a sudden, he understood something very important.  He realized that Baha’u’llah had given him a clear command, but in his preoccupation with his own wishes and desires, he had ignored Baha’u’llah.  That day Haji Muhammad made a firm decision to obey the commandments of God at all times.