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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
54 stories in the library.
Badasht is a village some distance from Tihrán in the northeast part of the country. The Conference of Badasht was held in July 1848. Eighty-one of the Báb’s most distinguished followers came together in this Conference. The principal…
Late in 1844 the Báb, accompanied by Quddús, sailed from Búshihr for the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The voyage was long, the water was scarce, the bedouins were thieves; and at the heart of the Sacred Mosque the Báb proclaimed His station openly to a prominent scholar of His age.
In the weeks following Mullá Ḥusayn's recognition of the Báb in Shíráz in May 1844, seventeen further disciples of Siyyid Káẓim arrived from various provinces. Each came expecting to be tested. Each was, instead, recognised by the Báb Himself before they had spoken. They became the Letters of the Living — and one place remained reserved.
Following the Báb's instruction sent from Máh-Kú, Mullá Ḥusayn left Mashhad in the summer of 1848 wearing the Báb's own green turban, the Black Standard unfurled before him. He was, the Master had told him, to march to *the Verdant Isle* — Mázindarán — and the seventy-two companions who would die at his side were already gathering.
Nabíl's chronicle records the death of Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú'í, first of the Letters of the Living, in the closing months of the siege of the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí in Mázindarán. He led the final sortie at dawn on February 2, 1849, and fell with a musket-ball to the chest in the same charge that broke the Imperial line.
On a winter dawn at Fort Ṭabarsí, the first man ever to believe in the Báb put on his Master's turban, mounted his horse, and rode out against an army. A retelling from Nabíl's Dawn-Breakers.
After the betrayal of the Bábís at Fort Ṭabarsí in the spring of 1849, Quddús was led back into Bárfurúsh. He was eighteen of the Báb's Letters of the Living and the only one besides Bahá'u'lláh who would be honoured by the Báb with a written commentary. He was killed in the open square of the town. His last words were of the splendour of his nuptials.
Nabíl's chronicle records the conference at Badasht in the summer of 1848 — the meeting at which the eighty-one principal Bábí teachers of the time gathered in three small gardens to consult on the relation of the new Faith to the Islamic past. The decisive moment came when Ṭáhirih appeared before the assembled men with her veil removed.
Shoghi Effendi's account, in *God Passes By*, of the conference at Badasht in 1848 — and the moment when Ṭáhirih, "adorned yet unveiled," announced that the day of the new Dispensation had begun.
In the 1840’s the sea journey from Bushihr to Jiddah was a dangerous and uncomfortable one; the distance was about 4000 kilometres and the journey took about two months. The seas were often rough, the storms frequent, water was scarce and…
The Báb set sail across rough seas to the holy city of Mecca, and there He bravely told the world who He really was.
One by one, eighteen seekers came to the Báb expecting a hard test — and one by one, He knew them before they could say a single word.
A brave believer named Mullá Ḥusayn set out on a long, dangerous journey with a black flag flying before him, ready to give everything for what he loved most.
Mullá Ḥusayn, the first person ever to believe in the Báb, gathered his hungry, weary friends one last time and led them out into the cold dawn for the One he loved.
A brave young hero named Quddús kept his promise to God to the very end, and spoke of joy even on the hardest day of his life.
In three little gardens long ago, the bravest woman of the new Faith stepped forward and showed everyone that a brand-new day had begun.
In a quiet garden long ago, a fearless woman named Ṭáhirih stood before a roomful of startled men and announced that a brand-new day had begun.
Mullá Ḥusayn was the very first person to believe in the Báb. Years later, surrounded by an army, he showed the world what it means to be truly brave.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas — the Khurásání cleric who, after recognising the Báb, suffered the bastinado in Shíráz with Quddús and went on to give the rest of his life to the Cause through every successive trial of its early decades.
In the first weeks of His Revelation, the Báb gave to the youngest of His chosen disciples, Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí of Bárfurúsh, a name that set him apart from all the rest — Quddús, the Most Holy — and chose him, alone among the Letters of the Living, to be His companion on the long pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the summer of 1844, weeks after the Báb declared His mission in Shíráz, a youth named Mullá Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Bárfurúshí arrived footsore from the north. He was the eighteenth and last to find the Báb of his own seeking — and the youngest. He spoke few words, yet the Báb raised him above all the other Letters of the Living and named him Quddús, "the Most Holy."
Soon after declaring His mission in Shíráz, the Báb set out on the great pilgrimage to Mecca, arriving in December 1844. There, in the holiest place of Islam, He openly proclaimed His station — and on His return to Persia the news of His claim kindled both fervent love and bitter opposition, opening the long road of suffering that led at last to His martyrdom.
The first man on earth to recognize the Báb was also among the first to die for Him. Through the long winter siege of the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, Mullá Ḥusayn held a starving, outnumbered band against an imperial army — and at last, having prayed through the night, mounted his horse at dawn and led the charge in which he fell, sealing with his blood the discipleship he had begun on a May night in Shíráz four years before.
Quddús was the youngest and the last of the Báb's first eighteen disciples, the Letters of the Living — and the one He raised highest. A youth of luminous refinement, learning, courtesy, and serenity, Quddús was chosen as the Báb's sole companion on the pilgrimage to Mecca, poured out commentaries of astonishing depth even under arrest and siege, and bore himself through every ordeal with a perfection of character that his companions never forgot.
Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Khurásání was a famous, austere, and exacting divine — a man who had spent his life among the learned and was not easily moved. When word of the Báb reached Iṣfahán, he did not accept it on rumour, nor reject it from pride. He put it to the test. He set the young Quddús a hard examination of proofs — and when the answers came, the proud scholar was undone, and became one of the most steadfast heralds of the new Day.
Besieged with a few hundred companions in the forest fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, Quddús held the failing band together not chiefly with the sword but with his voice — composing a commentary whose verses made the hungry forget their hunger, and rising under the roar of the enemy's cannon to bid his companions fear neither the threats of the wicked nor the clamour of the ungodly.
A few hundred students, merchants, and craftsmen — most of whom had never held a weapon — were besieged in a makeshift fort in the forests of Mázindarán by the trained regiments and artillery of an empire. For eleven months they held, not by numbers or arms, but by a power their enemies could not understand and could not break.
Besieged and starving in the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the companions of the Báb were forbidden by their leader, Mullá Ḥusayn, ever to begin a fight, ever to pursue a fleeing enemy, and ever to strike a man already down. In a country drowning in cruelty, this little band held — even toward those who had come to destroy them — to a discipline of mercy.
Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants and all abide by His bidding! Footnotes 1.This is the first letter of ‘Thamárih’ which means ‘fruit’. Shoghi Effendi, in…
Upon His arrival in Jaddih, the Báb donned the pilgrim's garb, mounted a camel, and set out on His journey to Mecca [to perform His pilgrimage]. Quddus, however, notwithstanding the repeatedly expressed desire of his Master, preferred to…
While in Sari, Quddus frequently attempted to convince Mirza Muhammad-Taqi of the truth of the Divine Message. He freely conversed with him on the most weighty and outstanding issues related to the Revelation of the Báb. His bold and…
The Bab's three uncles: Haji Mirza Siyyid Ali aka the Greatest Uncle - he was the middle brother, Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad aka the Greater Uncle - he was the eldest of the three brothers, and Haji Mirza Hassan Ali, the younger Uncle.…
When young, he joined the circle of the late Siyyid Kázim and became one of his disciples. He was known in Persia for his purity of life, winning fame as Mullá Ṣádiq the saintly. ** Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq (Mullá ****Ṣ****ádiq…
An elaborate and exhaustive interrogation was conducted in the presence of the representatives of the Persian government and others during which Fadil had the opportunity to explain the purpose of his mission and defend the Bahá'í…
He was designated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha as the “Moon of Guidance” and his “appearance the Revelation of St. John the Divine anticipated as one of the two ‘Witnesses’ into whom, ere the ‘second woe is past,’ the ‘spirit of life from God’ must…
Shaykh Hasan recognized in the Báb all those attributes his master had predicted, and he became His devoted disciple, travelling far and wide to be close to the newest Manifestation of God on earth. When the ulama of Isfahan issued the…
Siyyid Mirza Husayn-i-Mutavalli was the recipient of the Tablet Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand. This man was a Babi who had been with 300 others under the leadership of Quddus at the Tabarsi fort, where they were attacked and starved. **…
Táhirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mullá Javád violently objected, telling her: “Your father is an enemy of the Twin Luminous Lights, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. **…
The Báb had three uncles, and each one came to believe in his own way and his own time — one early and bravely, one after his deepest questions were answered, and one last of all.
When angry crowds led him through the streets with a rope around his neck, Mullá Ṣádiq did not stop smiling — or stop speaking the truth he loved.
A boy from a small city in Persia grew into one of the wisest teachers of his time — and the more he learned, the kinder and humbler he became.
An austere and revered cleric of Khurásán recognised the Báb and, with Quddús, became one of the first believers ever to be publicly tortured for the new Faith. Through the bastinado, repeated imprisonments, and a lifetime of banishment, a strange power sustained him — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who knew him, remembered him among the heroes of the dawn.
Taking refuge from the attacks of the people of Barfurúsh and neighbouring villages at the persistent instigation of the vindictive leading divine of that district, Mulla Husayn and his companions…
Mulla Sadiq In 1845 Mulla Sadiq, whom posthumously was appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha as a Hand of the Cause, together with Quddus were arrested in Shiraz as a result of a commotion that was stirred up in…
The whole province of Khurásán was in those days [1848] in the throes of a violent agitation.
The news of the tragic fate which had befallen the heroes of Tabarsí brought immeasurable sorrow to the heart of the Báb.
In about 1848, four years after recognizing the Báb and becoming His first believer, and receiving the title of Bábu’l-Báb (the Gate of the Gate), Mulla Husayn left the city of Mashhad, in the…
We know from the Baha’i Writings that Quddus, in addition to being the last Letter of the Living and the chosen companion of the Báb during His pilgrimage to Mecca, has a high station.
In Badasht there was a field with a stream running through it and gardens to either side. Quddús remained concealed in one of the gardens, and Táhirih resided in the other.
It was the end of June, 1848. Outside the village of Badasht, located about 400 Km northeast of Tehran, Persia, on the other side of the Elburz Mountains in the Province of Semnan, there was a great…
Mulla Husayn was still in Mashhad during the conference of Badasht as a guest of the Governor-General of the province of Khurasan - where he was treated with courtesy and consideration.
It was the summer of 1848. The followers of the Báb, the Bábís, were fiercely persecuted in Persia, the birthplace of their Faith. They needed guidance and support.
In the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of St. John it is…
Question.—Those who are blessed with good actions and universal benevolence, who have praiseworthy characteristics, who act with love and kindness toward all creatures, who care for the poor, and who strive to establish universal…