Quddús, the Moon of Guidance

Quddús (the Most Holy) is the title given to Mullá Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i-Bárfurúshí.

He was immortalized by the Báb as Ismu’lláhi’l-Ákhir (the Last Name of God); Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet of Kullu’ṭ-Ṭa‘ám “later conferred the sublime appellation of Nuqṭiy-i-Ukhrá (the Last Point)” on him, and in another Tablet Bahá’u’lláh elevated him to “a rank second to none except that of the Herald of His Revelation.” He was designated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the “Moon of Guidance,” and Shoghi Effendi writes that the Revelation of St. John the Divine anticipated his appearance “as one of the two ‘Witnesses’ into whom, ere the ‘second woe is past,’ the ‘spirit of life from God’ must enter.”

Quddús accompanied the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca (1844–45). He was present at Badasht and was subsequently arrested and detained in Sárí for more than three months. He was released when Mullá Ḥusayn, on the instruction of Bahá’u’lláh, sent messengers to Sárí to demand his freedom, and he then joined Mullá Ḥusayn and his companions at the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí late in 1848.

Quddús played a leading role in the Bábí defense and was taken prisoner on May 10, 1849, following the final siege at Shaykh Ṭabarsí, tortured, and then killed on May 16, 1849, in Bárfurúsh (Babol), the town of his birth.

Sources: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 49; Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers; “Quddús,” Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project; as compiled by Bahá'í Chronicles (https://bahaichronicles.org/quddus/).

editors, B. C.. *Bahá'í Chronicles*. https://bahaichronicles.org/quddus/