The Herald and His Heroes

Contents Introduction 1 1 Mullá Husayn’s Quest 4 2 Shaykh Ahmad, the Forerunner 8 3 The Hidden Twelfth Imam 12 4 Two Wonderful Events 16 5 A Mysterious Young Man 20 6 Nobody Arose to Search 24 7 He Will Come on a Cloud!

29 8 The Evening of All Evenings 33 9 The Gate of the Gate 38 10 The Letters of the Living 42 11 The Address to the Letters of the Living 47 12 The Youth of the Báb 51 13 ‘The Gate to the Promised One has been Opened’ 56 14 The Secret in Tehran 61 15 The First Martyr 66 16 On Pilgrimage to Mecca 72 17 No Visit to Karbila 78 18 As if Lightning had Struck 82 19 Back in Shiraz 87 20 Another Trial 92 21 Bahá’u’lláh Proclaims the Revelation of the Báb 96 22 The Representative of the Shah 102 23 ‘Abdu’l-Karím, Are You Seeking the Manifestation? 106 24 Driven from the City of His Birth 111 25 Khadíjih Bagum (I) 115 26 Honoured in Isfahan 120 27 Manúchihr Khán’s Trick 125

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

Invited by the Shah 131 The Spiteful Minister 136 Muhammad Big 141 Enthusiastic Welcome in Tabriz 145 The Distant Prison of Máh-Kú 149 Imam Husayn – Prince of Martyrs (I) 154 Imam Husayn – Prince of Martyrs (II) 159 The Persian Bayán 165 If Only She’d Been a Boy 168 A Murder with Terrible Consequences 175 A Mysterious Escape 181 A Pilgrimage on Foot 185 God’s Hidden Treasure 189 The Báb is Taken from Máh-Kú to Chihríq 193 Bábíyyih – The Bábí House 197 Badasht – A Shock like an Earthquake 202 The Portrait of the Báb 207 ‘I Am, I Am, I Am the Promised One’ 211 The Vision of Anís 216 With the Black Standard to the Fore 221 Attacked by the People of Barfurush 226 ‘We Are Approaching Our Karbila’ 231 Building Fort Tabarsi 235 Bahá’u’lláh Visits Fort Tabarsi 238 Quddús is Freed 243 Bahá’u’lláh is Imprisoned in Amul (I) 248 Bahá’u’lláh is Imprisoned in Amul (II) 252 Defeated by Rain and Snow 256 ‘Mount Your Steeds, O Heroes of God!’ 260 The Martyrdom of Mullá Husayn 263 The Attacker is Again Repulsed 268 The Immortal Heroes of Fort Tabarsi 272

60 Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá’s Cowardly Betrayal 276 61 Quddús is Killed 281 62 The Seven Martyrs of Tehran – Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ‘Alí 285 63 The Seven Martyrs of Tehran – Mírzá Qurbán ‘Alí 289 64 The Seven Martyrs of Tehran – ‘If We Fail to Proclaim the Advent of the Qá’im . . .’

293 65 Vahíd in Yazd 296 66 The Battle near Nayriz 300 67 Chihríq, ‘The Grievous Mountain’ 306 68 ‘Not Until I Have Said All Those Things That I Wish To Say . . .’

310 69 That Day in Tabriz 315 70 Hujjat and the Mullas from Zanjan 321 71 Courageous Zaynab 325 72 ‘We Are Not Conducting Holy War’ 330 73 Hájí Mírzá Karím Khán – The Pseudo-scholar 335 74 Only to Divert Attention 340 75 The Attack on the Shah 344 76 The Martyrdom of Táhirih 348 77 The Year Nine 354 78 As If It Had Been In Vain 359 79 The Year Nineteen 365 80 The Gate Between Two Historical Cycles 370 81 The Breaker of the Covenant of the Báb (I) 373 82 The Breaker of the Covenant of the Báb (II) 377 83 Khadíjih Bagum (II) 383 84 The House of the Báb 388 85 The Long Journey of the Mortal Remains of the Báb 393 86 The Queen of Carmel 400 Bibliography 405 vii

13 ‘The Gate to the Promised One has been Opened’ Almost all the Letters of the Living were now travelling, making their way to their home regions. Everywhere they went, they spread the message that the Gate to the Promised One had been opened. They were permitted to share the Báb’s Writings with those who were receptive. They were not, however, allowed to say that He was a descendant of

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Muhammad, a siyyid, nor that He was a Youth of twentyfive years, nor that He lived in Shiraz. That He was the Qá’im could not yet be revealed either.

Only Mullá Husayn and Quddús were still in Shiraz. They were going to travel too, just like the Báb Himself. On the very first evening that the Báb revealed Himself to Mullá Husayn, He had told him that He would go on pilgrimage to the holy places Mecca and Medina. For all these weeks, Mullá Husayn had counted on being the one to accompany the Báb on His journey.

But the Báb called Mullá Husayn to Him and told him that the days spent in His company were almost over. He would soon start His pilgrimage and Quddús would accompany Him. It was surely a big disappointment for Mullá Husayn, for he had wished so ardently to stay with the Báb. But the Báb had a different, a very special, task for him.

He was to travel north, stopping in several cities on the way, and then visit the capital, Tehran. In that city a secret was hidden, a secret of transcendent holiness. It was such a grand mystery that it exceeded even the mysteries of Mecca and Shiraz, the cities of Muhammad and the Báb. When that secret would be made manifest, said the Báb, ‘it shall turn the earth into paradise.’

With that mystery, the Báb meant a person. Mullá Husayn had to deliver a letter from the Báb to this person. The task was very similar to Mullá Husayn’s search for the Báb. He did not know Who He was or where He lived. This, the Báb had not told him, Mullá Husayn had to find it out by himself.

The Báb asked him to pray to God to enable him to find the Beloved to Whom the letter was to be delivered.

The Báb gave Mullá Husayn more tasks. He had to travel through the whole country, from one end to the other.

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Everywhere he went, he was to raise the cry: ‘Awake, awake, for lo, the Gate of God is open, and the morning Light is shedding its radiance upon all mankind! The Promised One is made manifest. Prepare the way for Him, O people of the earth . . . Do not close your eyes to His effulgent glory.’

The Báb warned him that the clergy would cause him difficulties. He would have to bear this with patience, and have faith in God’s will. Just like the other Letters of the Living, Mullá Husayn was not permitted to reveal who the Báb was or where He lived. After Tehran he was to travel to his home region. When he had fulfilled his calling there he was to go to Iraq. There, if it was God’s will, he would meet the Báb again.

The first city that Mullá Husayn visited was Isfahan. He had been there before. On that occasion he had convinced a famous learned man of the truth of the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. Back then, the mullas had strongly opposed him. Now that he returned with the message that the Gate to the Promised One had been opened they opposed him once more, saying: ‘He stubbornly claims that there is Someone Who has revealed a divinely inspired book. It is very similar in tone and language to the Qur’án.

It will not be long before all of Isfahan embraces His Faith.’

Their religious leader silenced them. He told the mullas that every one of them should investigate Mullá Husayn’s claims for himself and without prejudice. But instead of doing this they went to a different religious leader in the city.

‘Woe betide us,’ they loudly protested, ‘for the enemy has risen to disrupt the holy Faith of Islam!’ The religious leader bade them stay calm and told them that Mullá Husayn wasn’t a man who was likely to be taken in by anyone or to 59

follow dangerous heresies. ‘It is your duty’, he said, ‘to investigate his teachings with fairness and you cannot accuse him before carefully investigating. When I have regained my health and strength I will investigate them myself,’ he assured them.

They did not follow the advice to study the Writings that Mullá Husayn had carried with him before all else. They went straight to Manuchír Khán, the governor of the city, to make their complaint. But he told them that it was not something he would interfere with, as it was a religious matter. He also told them not to cause any trouble. They knew Manuchír Khán������������������������������������ well. He could take strong and merciless action when he deemed it necessary. Mullá Husayn would not be troubled by the mullas of Isfahan for some time to come!

In this city with so many learned men, it was a simple youth who first accepted the Faith of the Báb. He was a sifter of wheat by trade. He sifted the wheat until good clean grain remained from which bread could be baked. He became a firm and devout believer who would, several years later, give his life for the Faith.

There was another person who immediately grasped Mullá Husayn’s meaning. This was Mullá Sádiq. Several years ago, Siyyid Kázim had sent him to Isfahan to prepare the people for the coming of the Qá’im. As soon as he heard that Mullá Husayn had arrived in Isfahan, he went to him and asked him to reveal the name of the Promised One. Mullá Husayn answered: ‘To enquire about that name and to divulge it are alike forbidden.’

Mullá Sádiq asked if he could, like the Letters of the Living, discover who He was through prayer. ‘The door of 60

His grace is never closed before the face of him who seeks to find Him,’ replied Mullá Husayn.

Mullá Sádiq immediately retired to a room where he could pray and meditate alone and undisturbed. During his meditations he suddenly remembered something he had seen many years before in Karbila: a Youth, standing at the entrance to the Shrine of Imam Husayn, praying fervently with His face bathed in tears. The same face now appeared before him, as in a vision, and radiated such joy as he could never describe. The Youth smiled at Mullá Sádiq. He went towards Him, ready to throw himself at His feet, but as he was bending towards the ground, lo! the radiant figure vanished from before him.

Overpowered with joy and gladness he immediately ran out to meet Mullá Husayn. Mullá Husayn assured him that he had reached the object of his desire. He urged him to tell no-one of his vision: ‘The time for it has not yet arrived.’

He asked him to go on a journey so that he could tell one of the prominent followers of Siyyid Kázim that the Gate to the Promised One was opened. After that he should travel to Shiraz, where they would both rejoin the Báb.

Mullá Husayn did not stay in Isfahan for longer than was strictly necessary. He was to continue on towards Tehran.

For it was there that he had to deliver the letter. He didn’t know who it was for or where the person he sought lived. It concerned the secret which, when revealed, would turn the earth into paradise.

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End of this sample.

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