Shaykh Hasan Meets the Promised Husayn

It was during Bahá’u’lláh’s nine-month exile to Karbilá in 1851, on the order of the Persian Prime Minister, that He “encountered, as He was walking through the streets, Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí, to whom He confided the secret He was destined to reveal at a later time in Baghdád. He found him eagerly searching after the promised Husayn, to whom the Báb had so lovingly referred and whom He had promised he would meet in Karbilá.” (Nabíl, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

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Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí was an elderly Bábí who quietly went about his life as a scribe, quite unknown to the community of Bábís in Karbilá. He had been an early disciple of Siyyid Kázim and one who during his days among the Shaykhís in Karbilá had fleetingly encountered the Báb, not yet known to be the One awaited, visiting Him with Siyyid Kázim when first He had arrived from Shíráz.

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After he became a Bábí, Shaykh Hasan remained close to the Báb, and during His imprisonment in the fortress of Máh-Kú he transcribed the verses the Báb dictated to His amanuensis. It was then 1848, the Báb was by now confined in the fortress of Chihríq, and Shaykh Hasan was moved to join the valiant defenders of Fort Shaykh Tabarsí, for the mustering summons had gone forth to the faithful.

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He expressed his wish to the Báb, only to be startled by His countermanding the intention.

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The Báb told him: “Participation in that struggle is not enjoined upon you. You should proceed to Karbilá and should abide in that holy city, inasmuch as you are destined to behold, with your own eyes, the beauteous countenance of the promised Husayn. As you gaze upon that radiant face, do also remember Me. Convey to Him the expression of My loving devotion.” And then He added, “Verily I say, I have entrusted you with a great mission.

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Beware lest your heart grow faint, lest you forget the glory with which I have invested you.” (Nabíl, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

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Soon thereafter Shaykh Hasan departed from the fortress-prison of Chihríq, journeyed to Karbilá in Iraq as instructed and settled into life in that city. Fearing that a prolonged stay in that center of pilgrimage might arouse suspicion, he decided to marry and to earn his livelihood as a scribe. He lived thus for two years until he heard of the martyrdom of his Master in Tabríz, and then waited through another year of anticipation.

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It was the 5th day of October 1851 when Shaykh Hasan passed by the gate of the inner courtyard of the Shrine of Imám Husayn, and there for the first time he saw Bahá’u’lláh.

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Shaykh Hasan later recounted how lovingly Bahá’u’lláh advanced towards him, took him by the hand and said: “This very day I have purposed to make you known as a Bábí throughout Karbilá.” Walking with him all along the market-street, Bahá’u’lláh said in the end: “Praise be to God that you have remained in Karbilá, and have beheld with your own eyes the countenance of the promised Husayn.” (Nabíl, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)

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Shaykh Hasan’s predestined encounter momentarily opened the door into the coming day of light, revealing the key Spirit of the future in a first flash of brilliance, a luminous moment of self-identification. Moreover, it signaled the fulfillment of the Shí‘ih expectation of the return of the Imám Husayn, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, killed in October 680 AD.

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How fitting that the Prime Minister of Persia should send Bahá’u’lláh on exile to Karbilá, the place of His spiritual predecessor (Imám Husayn), there to be discovered in the very month of the battle death of the Imám, this through the Báb’s prescience in dispatching a disciple to Karbilá for the unique mission of first recognition of the Great One!

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(Adapted from ‘Robe of Light’, by David Ruhe)

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