The Black Pit: Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál

Nabíl’s *Dawn-Breakers* records the events of the late summer and autumn of 1852 as the lowest point of the Bábí community’s afflictions. The execution of the Báb had taken place at Tabríz two years before. The Bábí forts at Ṭabarsí, Nayríz, and Zanján had fallen one by one. The community was scattered, demoralised, and harried by the authorities.

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In August 1852, two young Bábís of Ṭihrán — distraught at the sufferings of the community and acting without sanction from any of its remaining leaders — made an attempt on the life of Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh as he rode in his hunting park at Níyávarán. The attempt was bungled; the Sháh was lightly wounded; the two youths were seized and torn to pieces on the spot.

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The Sháh’s government answered the act by a general round-up of any person known to the authorities as a Bábí. A particular list was drawn for those of standing. Bahá’u’lláh — then known in the city by his given names as Mírzá Ḥusayn-‘Alí — had been, since the Báb’s declaration, an outwardly respected and inwardly devoted believer. He was at Lavásán, near Níyávarán, when the news reached him.

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Knowing he would be sought, He turned His horse around and rode toward the camp where the search was under way. He was arrested, paraded through the streets of Ṭihrán under the abuses of the populace, and confined in the deepest of the city’s dungeons.

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The dungeon was called the Síyáh-Chál — *the Black Pit.* It had been, before its conversion, a reservoir for the public baths. There was no light. The air was thick. The floor was ankle-deep in foul water. Some hundred and fifty prisoners were chained together along its walls. The chains were of unusual weight; the principal of them, the *Qará-Guhar,* weighed many maunds. It hung from Bahá’u’lláh’s neck and bowed His head forward upon His chest.

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The food was poisoned by the soldiers; Bahá’u’lláh would not eat it. The prisoners about Him were taken out, in batches, to be put to death — sometimes with great cruelty in the public squares of Ṭihrán. Each night some who had been beside Him in the morning were no longer beside Him at evening.

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It was in this place — in the chains, in the foul water, in the darkness, surrounded by the executions of His companions — that the first intimations of the Mission entrusted to Him came to Bahá’u’lláh. He would later write of those nights:

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> One night, in a dream, these exalted words were heard on > every side: *Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by > Thyself and by Thy Pen. Grieve Thou not for that which hath > befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in > safety. Erelong will God raise up the treasures of the > earth — men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through > Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as > have recognized Him.*

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He remained in the Black Pit four months. The intervention of the Russian minister, who took an interest in the case of so prominent a prisoner, secured at length His release. The chain was struck off. He emerged from the dungeon broken in body and unbreakable in spirit. The Mission whose first words He had heard in the dark was, by the moment of His release, already under way.

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