Ḥujjat and the Fort at Zanján

*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers** by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XXIV, The Zanján Upheaval).*

1 / 15

Mullá Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i-Zanjání was one of the leading religious authorities of Zanján, in north-western Persia. He sent an envoy to the Báb in Shíráz with a petition and gifts. The envoy came back with a sealed letter in which the Báb conferred on him one of His own titles, *Ḥujjat* (the Proof), and urged him to proclaim His teachings openly from the pulpit.

2 / 15

The clergy of Zanján complained of him to the Grand Vazír, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí, and Muḥammad Sháh ordered him brought to Ṭihrán. There, at meetings convened by the Sháh's order, he defended his Faith before the assembled ‘ulamás of the capital. He was kept in Ṭihrán, virtually a prisoner. When Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh came to the throne, the new Grand Vazír made his confinement more rigorous. Learning that his life was in danger, Ḥujjat left Ṭihrán in disguise and returned to Zanján.

3 / 15

The hostility of the local clergy and of the governor grew. In the spring of 1850 the first of the believers of Zanján was killed in the governor’s presence. At the urging of his companions, Ḥujjat moved to the fort of ‘Alí-Mardán Khán, adjacent to the quarter in which he lived, and ordered that the women and children, with such provisions as they needed, be taken there. His companions, Nabíl states, numbered three thousand. Whenever they went out to drive back an attack, Ḥujjat cautioned them against shedding blood needlessly and reminded them that their action was purely defensive.

4 / 15

The siege went on into the winter. Regiment after regiment was sent from the capital. One Imperial commander, Ṣadru’d-Dawlih, had to confess that after nine months of fighting only thirty crippled soldiers were left of the two regiments he had brought.

5 / 15

Nabíl gives a long account of the women of the fort. Disguised as men, some rushed forward to take the places of the fallen; others carried skins of water on their shoulders to the wounded. They sewed the garments, baked the bread, tended the sick and wounded, and repaired the barricades. A village maiden named Zaynab cut off her hair, put on men’s clothes, and took up sword and musket.

6 / 15

No one discovered who she was until Ḥujjat recognised her from one of the turrets. He granted her request to fight, and warned her not to exceed the bounds their Faith had set:

7 / 15

> We are called upon to defend our lives against a treacherous assailant, and > not to wage holy war against him.

8 / 15

For no less than five months she fought in the ranks, until she fell beneath a shower of bullets.

9 / 15

During a heavy bombardment Ḥujjat was struck in the right arm by a bullet as he was performing his ablutions. When his companions left their posts and hurried to him, the enemy forced the gate of the fort. The survivors crowded into the houses around Ḥujjat’s residence and fought on. Later a cannon-ball struck the room of his wife, Khadíjih, as she held their baby, Hádí, and killed her; the child died soon afterwards of his injuries.

10 / 15

His companions, grieved and indignant, wished to make a last desperate effort. He dissuaded them, and bade them resign themselves to the will of God and remain calm and steadfast to the end, whenever that end might come.

11 / 15

For nineteen days he endured the pain of his wound. On the morning of 5 Rabí‘u’l-Avval 1267 (January 1851), he passed away while prostrate in prayer, invoking the name of the Báb. Two of his companions buried him at midnight in a room that they then pulled down, to keep the place secret.

12 / 15

Only two hundred able-bodied men now remained. A final general assault overwhelmed them. The captives were put to death with great cruelty, and the wounded, held in the bitter cold of that winter, all died within a few days.

13 / 15

Nabíl visited Zanján nine years later. He saw the ruins of the fort of ‘Alí-Mardán Khán, and could still make out on its gates and walls the traces of the fighting that had marked its surrender.

14 / 15

*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers** by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XXIV, The Zanján Upheaval). For the fuller account, see the original.*

15 / 15