The Black Flag and the Brave Companions

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XIX — The Mázindarán Upheaval).

It was summer, long ago, in a far-off land. In the city of Mashhad, a man named Mullá Ḥusayn was waiting for a message. He was one of the very first people to believe in the Báb, and he loved Him with his whole heart. When the Báb asked him to do something, Mullá Ḥusayn did it — no matter how hard it was.

The message came at last, sent from the Báb, who was far away. It told Mullá Ḥusayn to begin a long journey. He was to travel to a green land near the sea, a place of forests and mist. And he was not to go quietly. The Báb asked him to wear His own green turban upon his head, and to raise a great Black Standard — a tall black flag — and carry it high before him as he went.

So that is exactly what Mullá Ḥusayn did. He placed the green turban on his head. He lifted the black flag. And he set out from Mashhad, with two hundred and two companions walking with him.

Now here is something amazing, and a little sad. Mullá Ḥusayn knew that the road ahead would be terribly dangerous. He even knew that many of his friends would not come home alive. He had said so out loud:

I, together with seventy-two of my companions, shall suffer death for the sake of the Well-Beloved.

Think about that. He could see the danger clearly — and he marched straight toward it anyway, because his love for the Báb was stronger than his fear. And his companions, knowing the danger too, chose to walk right beside him.

The journey was hard. They traveled west through country where many people were angry at them and wished them harm. In one town, an unkind leader stirred up a crowd into a fury, and the believers met their first real trouble. Then a chieftain named Khusraw made a promise to keep them safe on the road — but it was a trick. He secretly planned to hurt them. Mullá Ḥusayn escaped that trap so narrowly that Nabíl, who wrote the story down, said it could only be called a miracle.

At last they reached the place they were seeking: a small shrine called Shaykh Ṭabarsí, standing in a quiet clearing deep in the forest. The moment they arrived, they got to work. Out of timber and mud they built a fort around the little shrine. It was a humble, handmade thing — but the soldiers of the land, with all their cannons and all their armies, would never be able to break through its walls by charging straight at it.

Then more help arrived. A leader named Quddús, who was very dear to the Báb, came to join them inside the fort. As he arrived, he greeted his companions with words the Báb had chosen for him to say:

The Baqíyyatu'lláh will be best for you if ye are of those who believe.

And far away, in the city of Tihrán, Someone else was thinking of these brave friends. It was Bahá'u'lláh. More than once He tried to make the journey to the fort, to share in the hardships of the believers there. But each time, He was stopped and arrested before He could reach them. When the men who held Him threatened to punish Him, He answered with these words:

If you insist on inflicting your punishment, I offer Myself as a willing Victim of your chastisement.

The brave defenders held out for many long months. Mullá Ḥusayn himself gave his life early on, just as he had said he would. Later, in the spring, Quddús and the friends who remained gave their lives too. The whole world seemed against them — and still they would not give up what they believed.

It can be hard to understand why anyone would walk toward danger on purpose. But Mullá Ḥusayn and his companions show us something true and beautiful: that there are things worth being brave for, and that real courage is not about feeling no fear — it is about loving something so much that you do the right thing even when it is the hardest thing of all. The Bahá'ís have never forgotten them. They were among the very first heroes of the Faith.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Black Standard Unfurled: Mullá Ḥusayn Marches to Ṭabarsí".

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/