The Name From an Unknown Hand

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'zam. Short phrases in quotation marks are words preserved in that account.

In the hamlet of Badasht, at the beginning of summer, Bahá'u'lláh rented three gardens: one for Quddús, one for Táhirih and her attendant, and one for Himself. Eighty-one believers gathered there, and from the day they arrived to the day they dispersed, all of them were His guests. Every day He revealed a Tablet, which Mírzá Sulaymán-i-Núrí chanted to the assembled believers, and upon each of them He bestowed a new name.

One of them was Hájí Mullá Ismá'íl-i-Qumí, a native of Faráhán. The name he received at Badasht was Sirru'l-Vujúd.

He did not know who had given it to him, and neither did the others. Nabíl writes: "Even the identity of Him who had bestowed a new name upon each of those who had congregated in that hamlet remained unknown to those who had received them." Each guessed according to his own understanding, and few, if any, dimly surmised that Bahá'u'lláh was the Author of the changes being made there. Later the Báb revealed a special Tablet for each of those who had been at Badasht, and addressed each one by the name recently conferred upon him.

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In his early youth Ismá'íl had gone to Karbilá "in quest of the Truth," had associated with the leading divines of Najaf and Karbilá, and had sat at the feet of Siyyid Kázim. A few years later, in Shíráz, he recognized the Báb. When the Báb's call to His followers to hasten to Khurásán reached him, he responded at once, joined the companions on their way to Badasht, and there received his new name.

In their company his understanding of the Cause grew deeper and his zeal increased with it. Few could match his insight into the meaning of the Qur'án and the traditions, and his eloquence won the admiration of his fellow-disciples. He grew to be "the very embodiment of detachment," Nabíl says, and became more and more impatient to show in a fitting way the spirit his Faith had given him.

But when the fort of Shaykh Tabarsí became the rallying centre for the disciples of the Báb, he "languished disconsolate upon a sick-bed," unable to play his part in its defence. When he recovered, the siege had ended with the massacre of his fellow-disciples. He arose with added determination to make up by his own labours for the loss the Cause had suffered.

He was not the only one kept away by illness. Mírzá Qurbán-'Alí of Barfurúsh, so revered that crowds had lined his route when he made a pilgrimage to Karbilá, had also been unable to join the defenders. Nabíl heard him say several times in Tihrán: "How greatly I grieve to have been deprived of my share of the cup which Mulla Husayn and his companions have quaffed!"

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In Tihrán fourteen believers were arrested, and whoever among them would not recant was to be put to death. Seven gave way under the pressure and were released. The other seven became the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán. Among them were the Báb's maternal uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí; Mírzá Qurbán-'Alí; and Hájí Mullá Ismá'íl-i-Qumí.

When Qurbán-'Alí was brought before the Amír-Nizám, the minister said he was reluctant to sentence a man of such standing to death. Qurbán-'Alí answered: "Are you not aware that all names descend from Heaven?" He Whose name is 'Alí, he said, meaning the Báb, in Whose path he was laying down his life, had long ago inscribed his name, Qurbán-'Alí, in the scroll of His chosen martyrs. Qurbán, a note explains, means sacrifice: his name meant Sacrifice for the Báb. "This is indeed the day on which I celebrate the Qurban festival."

The Báb's uncle was beheaded first. Qurbán-'Alí flung himself upon his body and was killed holding it in his arms.

Then came Ismá'íl's turn. According to an account quoted in the notes to Nabíl's narrative, someone came to him with an offer: a friend would pay a sum of money to save him, if only he would say he was not a Bábí. He replied, "Were I willing to recant, even without money none would touch me." When they pressed him, he drew himself up to his full height amid the crowd and called out, so that all might hear:

Zephyr, prithee bear for me a message To that Ishmael who was not slain: "Living from the street of the Beloved Love permits not to return again."

At the block he turned his gaze to the two martyrs who had gone before him, still lying in each other's embrace. "Well done, beloved companions!" he cried. "You have turned Tihran into a paradise! Would that I had preceded you!"

He took a coin from his pocket, gave it to the executioner, and asked him to buy something to sweeten his mouth. He ate a little of it and gave the rest to the executioner, saying: "I have forgiven you your act; approach and deal your blow. For thirty years I have yearned to witness this blessed day, and was fearful lest I should carry this wish with me unfulfilled to the grave."

Then he turned his eyes to heaven and cried: "Accept me, O my God, unworthy though I be, and deign to inscribe my name upon the scroll of those immortals who have laid down their lives on the altar of sacrifice."

He was still praying when the executioner, at his own request, cut short his prayer.

Nabíl lists him third among the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'zam.

Nabíl-i-A'zam. (1932). *The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.