The Night of the Báb's Declaration

After the passing of his teacher Siyyid Káẓim, Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú’í spent forty days in retirement and prayer, then set out in search of the Promised One. He left Karbilá, visited the shrine at Najaf, and went on to Búshihr on the Persian Gulf. From there he travelled north to Shíráz. At the gate of the city he sent his brother and his nephew ahead to the Masjid-i-Ílkhání, hoping to join them there for the evening prayer.

That same day, a few hours before sunset, while he was walking outside the city gate, a Youth of radiant countenance who wore a green turban came towards him and greeted him with a smile. He embraced Mullá Ḥusayn as though they were lifelong friends and invited him to His home. Mullá Ḥusayn asked to be excused, saying his companions were waiting for him. The Youth answered, "Commit them to the care of God; He will surely protect and watch over them," and bade him follow. At the door of a house of modest appearance He crossed the threshold with the words, "Enter therein in peace, secure."

Inside, the Youth poured water over His guest's hands, gave him a refreshing drink, and Himself prepared tea. When Mullá Ḥusayn rose, saying he had promised to join his friends for evening prayer at the Masjid-i-Ílkhání, the Youth replied with calm courtesy that "His will has decreed otherwise," and that he need have no fear of having broken his pledge.

That night was the eve of the fifth day of Jamádíyu’l-Avval, 1260 A.H., the evening of 22 May 1844. About an hour after sunset the Youth asked Mullá Ḥusayn whom he regarded as Siyyid Káẓim's successor, and whether his teacher had given any signs of the Promised One. Mullá Ḥusayn listed them: of pure lineage and of the seed of Fáṭimih; more than twenty and less than thirty years of age; endowed with innate knowledge; of medium height; abstaining from smoking; free from bodily deficiency. The Youth paused, and then declared: "Behold, all these signs are manifest in Me!"

Mullá Ḥusayn gave Him a treatise he had written on the abstruse teachings of Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Káẓim. The Youth glanced at certain passages and, within a few minutes, unravelled all its mysteries and resolved all its problems, and went on to explain truths that Mullá Ḥusayn had never found in the writings of either teacher. Then He took up His pen and, with incredible rapidity, revealed the entire Súrih of Mulk, the first chapter of His commentary on the Súrih of Joseph, never once pausing, His voice gently intoning the verses as He wrote.

When Mullá Ḥusayn at last rose to leave, the Youth smilingly bade him be seated: "If you leave in such a state, whoever sees you will assuredly say: 'This poor youth has lost his mind.'"

At that moment, Nabíl records, the clock registered two hours and eleven minutes after sunset. The Youth declared:

This night, this very hour will, in the days to come, be celebrated as one of the greatest and most significant of all festivals.

Mullá Ḥusayn stayed with Him through the night, until the call to morning prayer. Before dismissing him, his Host addressed him in these words:

O thou who art the first to believe in Me! Verily I say, I am the Báb, the Gate of God, and thou art the Bábu’l-Báb, the gate of that Gate.

Mullá Ḥusayn later described how he felt as he left the house: "I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world ... to rise against me, I would ... withstand their onslaught."

Bahá’ís commemorate this night each year on the eve of the Declaration of the Báb, at about two hours after sunset.

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers (Nabíl-i-A‘ẓam, translated by Shoghi Effendi), chapter 3. For the fuller account, see the original.

Nabíl-i-A'ẓam. (1932). *The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/other-literature/historical/dawn-breakers/