The Jailer Who Changed His Heart

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, the story of the Báb's imprisonment in the castle of Máh-Kú.

High in the mountains, near the far western edge of Persia, there was a stone fortress called Máh-Kú. It stood in cold, rocky country, far from anywhere, where Kurdish villagers lived in the valleys below.

A powerful man named Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí had chosen this lonely place on purpose. He was the chief minister, almost the most important man in the whole land, and he had one plan in mind: to lock the Báb away where no one could hear Him. He thought the mountains were too far, the cold too sharp, and the villagers too unfriendly for anyone to care about a prisoner from the south.

He was wrong about every single part of it.

The Báb knew, even before He arrived, exactly how long He would stay. He had already told His companions that He would be confined for nine months — and nine months it was.

You might think that a prisoner locked in a faraway fortress could do nothing at all. But it was during these very months, behind those thick walls, that the Báb wrote one of His most important books, along with many other writings. His words poured out of Him, day after day. And here is the wonderful part: those walls could not hold His voice in. As He spoke aloud the teachings of His Faith, the people living at the foot of the mountain could hear Him clearly, all the way down below.

The Kurdish villagers were supposed to dislike Him. Instead, something in their hearts pulled them toward Him. They began climbing up to bring Him gifts. They even began to pray the way they saw Him pray.

But the person who guarded the fortress had been picked most carefully of all. His name was 'Alí Khán, and he had been chosen because he had no warm feelings toward the Báb whatsoever. The chief minister had given him strict orders: let no one — no one — near the prisoner. 'Alí Khán meant to obey.

At first he kept his distance. But then, little by little, 'Alí Khán began to come to the cell himself. He came doubting. He came to find something wrong. Yet the more he watched and the more he listened, the harder it became to keep his heart shut tight.

One day 'Alí Khán could hold it in no longer. He came before the Báb and admitted, out loud, the wrong he had done. He confessed that he had looked down on this Faith and treated its Author with scorn — and that everything he had now seen with his own eyes had made such scorn impossible.

"What you have witnessed," he said, "is true and undeniable."

The jailer who had been sent to keep everyone out had become a believer who could no longer bear to keep the door closed.

While the Báb was at Máh-Kú, a devoted follower named Mullá Ḥusayn came to see Him. He had traveled an enormous distance — all the way from his home province in the east, and he had walked the whole way on foot. The Báb welcomed him warmly, with all the tenderness such a long, faithful journey deserved. But when it was time for Mullá Ḥusayn to leave, the Báb gave him a special instruction:

"You have walked on foot all the way from your native province to this place. On foot you likewise must return until you reach your destination."

In the end, the chief minister heard what was happening at Máh-Kú — how even the warden had been won over — and it troubled him. So he ordered the Báb moved to another fortress, even harsher than the first, hoping that there, at last, He could be shut away for good.

It did not work. No wall the chief minister could build was strong enough to stop the Báb's influence from reaching through it.

That is the quiet lesson of Máh-Kú. 'Alí Khán did not begin as a friend; he began as someone sent to do harm. But he was honest enough to look, and brave enough to change his mind when he saw the truth. A heart that is willing to be honest can be transformed — even a heart that started out cold and closed.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Warden Won Over: The Báb's Captivity at Máh-Kú".

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/