Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál

In August 1852, two young Bábís of Ṭihrán, Ṣádiq-i-Tabrízí and Fatḥu'lláh-i-Qumí, attacked Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh while the imperial army was encamped in Shimírán. Nabíl calls them "two obscure and irresponsible young men" who acted in a frenzy of despair to avenge their slaughtered brethren. They had loaded their pistols with shot, and the Sháh survived. Earlier that year Bahá'u'lláh had met 'Aẓím, who had been planning the attack, and had condemned the plan in the strongest terms and warned him that it would bring fresh disasters on the believers.

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The attack set off a wave of arrests and killings of Bábís. Bahá'u'lláh was staying at Afchih, in Lavásán, a village belonging to the Grand Vazír, when the news reached Him. The Sháh's mother was denouncing Him as the would-be murderer of her son. He was offered a guide to take Him to a place of safety, but He refused, and the next morning He rode to the headquarters of the imperial army at Níyávarán.

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He stayed briefly at the house of His brother-in-law, next to the Russian legation, and then at the house of the Grand Vazír. The Russian minister asked that He be protected, but He was arrested. He was made to walk from Shimírán to Ṭihrán on foot and in chains, bareheaded and barefoot under the midsummer sun, while the crowds along the way pelted and reviled Him.

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The dungeon was the Síyáh-Chál, "the Black Pit," once a reservoir for one of the public baths of Ṭihrán. Bahá'u'lláh later described it in the *Epistle to the Son of the Wolf*:

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> Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black > corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to > the place of confinement assigned to Us. The dungeon was wrapped in > thick darkness, and Our fellow prisoners numbered nearly a hundred > and fifty souls: thieves, assassins and highwaymen.

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His feet were placed in stocks, and around His neck were fastened the Qará-Guhar chains, infamous throughout Persia for their weight. Their marks remained on His body for the rest of His life. For three days and nights He was given no food or drink. Later His enemies intercepted the food sent to Him from His home and put poison in it. It did not kill Him, but it harmed His health for years.

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Many of the believers put to death in Ṭihrán that year were His fellow-prisoners in the dungeon. Nabíl heard Bahá'u'lláh describe how they were taken:

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> Every day Our gaolers, entering Our cell, would call the name of > one of Our companions, bidding him arise and follow them to the > foot of the gallows.

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In the same Epistle Bahá'u'lláh recalled what He heard in that dungeon:

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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 was held in the Síyáh-Chál for four months. When 'Aẓím was questioned, in the presence of an interpreter from the Russian legation, he declared that the leader of the community had been the Báb, not Bahá'u'lláh, and that he alone had conceived the plan. His declaration was chiefly responsible for Bahá'u'lláh's release. Soon afterwards the government ordered Bahá'u'lláh to leave Persia, and He set out with His family for Baghdád.

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*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers** by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XXVI — Attempt on the Sháh's Life, and Its Consequences), with Bahá'u'lláh's own words from the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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