The Last Dawn at the Little Fort

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam (Chapter XIX — The Siege of the Fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí).

It was the coldest part of winter, and inside a small fort deep in the forests of Mázindarán, a few hundred friends were hungry, tired, and far from home. Snow lay all around them. An enormous army had circled their little fort, with fresh soldiers, cannons, and wagons of food arriving week after week. The friends inside had almost nothing left at all.

These were followers of the Báb. Years before — on a spring night in the city of Shíráz — one of them had become the very first person on earth to believe in Him. His name was Mullá Ḥusayn. From that night on, he had given everything to the One he loved. Now he was the leader who kept the little fort going, day after difficult day.

The fort had been built around the quiet tomb of a holy man who had lived long ago. When the friends first arrived, back in the autumn, they had dug a deep ditch around it and piled up walls of earth to keep themselves safe. For months they had held on. And for a while, a young leader named Quddús, who was very dear to the Báb, had come to stay with them. Just having him there made every heart braver and lighter.

But by the deep of winter, things had grown very hard to bear. The food was long gone — so completely gone that the friends had eaten the leather of their own saddles and stripped the bark from the trees to chew on. Many of them were hurt. Many were sick. And still the great army outside only grew stronger.

On the evening before the last day, Mullá Ḥusayn called all the friends together at the foot of the shrine. He prayed for a long, long time. Then he spoke to them, gently, about that spring night in Shíráz nearly five years before — the night a bond had been made that nothing could ever break. He reminded them of the great Promise that all of this was for, and that their sacrifice was like a seed planted for something beautiful still to come. And then, quietly, he told them exactly what they would do when the sun came up.

The next morning, in the cold gray light of dawn, the moment came. Nabíl, who wrote down this whole true story, tells it in just one line:

Mounted on his horse, with his sword unsheathed, Mullá Ḥusayn led the remnant of his companions out of the gate.

Out they rode, this small handful of weary friends, straight toward the first line of the great army. And the line broke. The friends pressed forward, right into the middle of the enemy camp. Tents toppled over. The big guns were made useless. Soldiers by the hundreds turned and fled before that tiny band of riders. It was almost too amazing to believe.

But just at the moment when the friends were winning, Mullá Ḥusayn was struck in the chest. He was so brave that he stayed up on his horse for a little while longer, still leading — and then he turned and rode back toward the fort. His friends carried him gently inside, into the small room where Quddús was waiting for him.

Quddús took him into his arms. The two of them, who loved each other so dearly, spoke together for a long while. No one was close enough to hear what they said, and so it stays a quiet secret between them. And as the sun rose over the forest, Mullá Ḥusayn passed away. He was thirty-five years old.

Long ago he had gone searching for the Promised One, and he had been the very first to find Him. From that night until this last dawn, he never once turned back — not when it was dangerous, not when he was hungry and cold, not even at the very end. That is what real courage looks like: it is not about never being afraid. It is about loving something so much that you give it your whole heart, all the way to the end. The Bahá'ís have never forgotten Mullá Ḥusayn, and they never will.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Last Charge: Mullá Ḥusayn Falls at 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/