The Báb's Two Mountain Prisons

*A retelling for children, based on Nabíl's **Dawn-Breakers** (Chapters X–XIII and XVII).*

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For a while the Báb lived in the city of Iṣfáhán, under the protection of the governor, Manúchihr Khán. When the governor died early in 1847, the man who took his place told the king, Muḥammad Sháh, where the Báb was, and the king called for Him to be brought to the capital.

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The journey was long. At the town of Káshán a believer welcomed the Báb into his home for three nights. The riders went around the city of Qum without entering it, and on toward the capital, Ṭihrán. But before they got there, an order came to take the Báb to a village instead, where He waited in a tent.

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Then a letter came from the king: the Báb was to be sent to the castle of Máh-Kú, far away in the north-west of Persia. So the road turned towards the city of Tabríz, and from there to the little town at the foot of the mountain of Máh-Kú.

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The castle stood on the top of the mountain, close to the borders of two other countries. The king's chief minister had chosen this faraway place on purpose, so that the Báb's followers could not reach Him. The people of the town belonged to a different branch of Islam and had long been unfriendly toward siyyids, the descendants of the Prophet Muḥammad, like the Báb. The warden of the castle, 'Alí Khán, was very strict. For the first two weeks no one except the Báb's two helpers was allowed to see Him.

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Then one day, at dawn, 'Alí Khán saw the Báb praying beside the river outside the castle. But when he went back, he found the castle gates closed and the Báb sitting in His room. He came to the Báb humbly, and from then on he let visitors come to see the Báb during the day. Believers travelled from all over Persia to visit Him.

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The townspeople changed too. Every morning, before work, they looked for a place where they could catch a glimpse of His face, and they asked for His blessing on their day's work.

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Inside the castle the Báb wrote the *Persian Bayán*, the most important of all His writings. People living at the foot of the mountain could hear His voice as He spoke its verses aloud for others to write down.

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After nine months, the chief minister heard how devoted the warden had become, and he ordered the Báb moved to another castle, called Chihríq. The people there were even more unfriendly to siyyids than the people of Máh-Kú.

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But the same thing happened again. The new warden also came to love the Báb, and he let everyone in to see Him. The people of the area came every morning to look toward His prison and ask for His blessing. So many visitors came that they had to stay in the old town of Chihríq, an hour away. Some of the most important men of the nearby town of Khuy became His followers.

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These two mountain prisons held the Báb for most of the last three years of His life.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Báb's Journey to Máh-Kú and Chihríq"](/stories/db-bab-mah-ku-chihriq-prison-journey).*

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