Mullá Ḥusayn Returns to Karbilá

The death of Siyyid Kazim was the signal for renewed activity on the part of his enemies. Athirst for leadership, and emboldened by his removal and the consequent dismay of his followers, they reasserted their claims and prepared to realize their ambitions. For a time, fear and anxiety filled the hearts of Siyyid Kazim’s faithful disciples, but with the return of Mulla Husayn Bushrú’í from the highly successful mission with which he had been entrusted by his teacher, their gloom was dispelled.

It was on the first day of Muharram, in the year 1260 A.H., that Mulla Husayn came back to Karbila. He cheered and strengthened the disconsolate disciples of his beloved chief, reminded them of his unfailing promise, and pleaded for unrelaxing vigilance and unremitting effort in their search for the concealed Beloved. Living in the close neighbourhood of the house the Siyyid had occupied, he, for three days, was engaged continually in receiving visits from a considerable number of mourners who hastened to convey to him, as the leading representative of the Siyyid’s disciples, the expression of their distress and sorrow. He afterwards summoned a group of his most distinguished and trusted fellow-disciples and enquired about the expressed wishes and the last exhortations of their departed leader. They told him that, repeatedly and emphatically, Siyyid Kazim had bidden them quit their homes, scatter far and wide, purge their hearts from every idle desire, and dedicate themselves to the quest of Him to whose advent he had so often alluded. “He told us,” they said, “that the Object of our quest was now revealed. The veils that intervened between you and Him are such as only you can remove by your devoted search. Nothing short of prayerful endeavour, of purity of motive, of singleness of mind, will enable you to tear them asunder. Has not God revealed in His Book: ‘Whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways will We guide them’?”

“Why, then,” Mulla Husayn observed, “have you chosen to tarry in Karbila? Why is it that you have not dispersed, and arisen to carry out his earnest plea?” “We acknowledge our failure,” was their reply; “to your greatness we all bear witness. Such is our confidence in you, that if you claim to be the promised One, we shall all readily and unquestionably submit. We herein pledge our loyalty and obedience to whatever you bid us perform.” “God forbid!” exclaimed Mulla Husayn. “Far be it from His glory that I, who am but dust, should be compared to Him who is the Lord of Lords! Had you been conversant with the tone and language of Siyyid Kazim, you never would have uttered such words. Your first obligation, as well as mine, is to arise and carry out, both in the spirit and in the letter, the dying message of our beloved chief.”

Mullá Husayn Bushrú’í went on to become the first to declare his belief in the Báb, in Shiraz on 23 May 1844. He was given the title Bábu’l-Báb, which means “Gate of the Gate,” by the Báb. He was the original leader of a group of Bábís attacked near Babul (Barfurush) in northern Iran in October 1848 and later besieged at the nearby shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí until May 1849. He was killed at Shaykh Tabarsí on 2 February 1849.

Source: Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, chapter 3, pp. 47–48; and “Letters of the Living,” The Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project (2009); as reproduced by Bahá'í Chronicles (https://bahaichronicles.org/mulla-husayn-bushrui/).

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/mulla-husayn-bushrui/