Bahá'u'lláh in the Black Pit

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XXVI), with Bahá'u'lláh's own words from the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. It tells of the summer and autumn of 1852.

In the city of Ṭihrán there was an underground prison called the Síyáh-Chál, which means "the Black Pit." It had once been a reservoir that held water for one of the public baths. Prisoners were led along a dark corridor and down three steep flights of stairs to reach it. The place was dark and filthy, and the smell was terrible. Nearly a hundred and fifty prisoners, many of them thieves and robbers, were crowded into it, and there was no way out except the passage they had come in by.

In the summer of 1852 Bahá'u'lláh was thrown into this prison.

Those were hard years for the followers of the Báb. The Báb had been put to death two years before, and His followers were being hunted from place to place. Then two young men, in despair over the sufferings of their fellow believers, did a foolish and wrong thing. They tried to kill the king, Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh. They had loaded their pistols with shot, and the king was only slightly hurt. Earlier, Bahá'u'lláh had met the man who planned the attack and had told him firmly to give up his plan. But after the attack the government began arresting anyone known to follow the Báb.

Bahá'u'lláh was staying in a village in the countryside when the news reached Him. A messenger was sent to take Him to a safe hiding place, but He refused. The next morning He rode out toward the camp of the king's army. On the way He was taken in at the house of the Russian minister, and then sent on to the house of the king's chief minister. But soon He was arrested. He was made to walk, barefoot and bareheaded under the hot summer sun, all the way to the prison in Ṭihrán, while crowds along the road threw things at Him and shouted insults.

In the Black Pit His feet were locked in wooden stocks, and a heavy chain was fastened around His neck. The chain had a name, the Qará-Guhar, and it was known all over Persia for its weight. Its marks stayed on His body for the rest of His life.

For three days and three nights He was given nothing to eat or drink. Later His enemies secretly put poison into the food His family sent Him. It did not kill Him, but it harmed His health for years. Every day the guards came down and called the name of one of the believers imprisoned with Him, and that believer was taken out to be put to death. Bahá'u'lláh later told how each one embraced Him before he went, and how He comforted him with the promise of everlasting life.

It was in this prison that Bahá'u'lláh first learned of the Mission God had given Him. Years later He wrote:

One night, in a dream, these exalted words were heard on every side: "Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy Pen. Grieve Thou not for that which hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in safety. Erelong will God raise up the treasures of the earth—men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as have recognized Him."

Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the Black Pit for four months. The Russian minister in Ṭihrán worked to help Him. A prisoner named 'Aẓím told the officials that he alone had planned the attack, and that the leader of the Bábís had been the Báb, not Bahá'u'lláh. His words were written down, and they did most to win Bahá'u'lláh's release.

As soon as He was free, the government ordered Him to leave Persia with His family within a month. He chose to go to Baghdad.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál".

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/