The Black Standard and the Green Turban

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

In the summer of 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn was in the city of Mashhad. He was the first person who had believed in the Báb. One day a messenger arrived with a gift from the Báb: His own green turban. With it came a message. Mullá Ḥusayn was to wear the turban, carry a Black Standard (a black flag) before him, and hurry to the province of Mázindarán to help Quddús, one of the Báb's dearest followers.

Mullá Ḥusayn did as he was asked. He put on the green turban, raised the black flag, and set out with two hundred and two companions. In the villages along the way they told people about the Báb, and some who listened joined them.

Mullá Ḥusayn knew the journey would be dangerous, and he told his companions so. He said anyone who was not ready for hard trials should go home. As they came near Savád-Kúh, he said:

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

Twenty of the companions turned back. The rest went on with him.

Near the town of Bárfurúsh a crowd, stirred up by one of the town's religious leaders, attacked them, and the companions had to defend themselves. Later a chieftain named Khusraw was given the task of guiding them safely through the forest. But he had secretly been told to kill them all. In the forest his men attacked, and several of the companions were killed before the others were able to stop them.

The next morning they reached the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the burial-place of a learned man who had passed on the sayings of the Imáms. Mullá Ḥusayn had his companions build a fort around it.

Soon after the fort was built, Bahá'u'lláh came to visit. He looked over the fort and told Mullá Ḥusayn that the one thing it needed was the presence of Quddús, who was being held in a nearby town. Mullá Ḥusayn sent seven men to bring him, and Quddús was set free. When Quddús arrived, he got down from his horse, leaned against the shrine, and spoke these words:

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

Baqíyyatu'lláh means "the Remnant of God." Nabíl tells us that by this name Quddús meant Bahá'u'lláh.

Later Bahá'u'lláh set out to join the friends at the fort again, but He and His companions were arrested on the way and brought before the acting governor of the town of Ámul. The governor ordered the prisoners to be punished. Bahá'u'lláh said that His companions had done nothing wrong, and then He said:

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

So the governor ordered that Bahá'u'lláh alone be punished.

The defenders held the fort through the winter. Mullá Ḥusayn gave his life in February 1849. By that day, Nabíl records, seventy-two of the companions had died. In the spring Quddús and most of the friends who remained gave their lives too.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Mullá Ḥusayn and the Black Standard".

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/