Mullá Ḥusayn's Last Dawn at Ṭabarsí

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

In the winter of 1849, a few hundred followers of the Báb were shut inside a small fort in the forests of Mázindarán. They had built it around the shrine of a holy man named Shaykh Ṭabarsí. An army was camped outside, and the soldiers had built seven barricades around the fort.

One of the believers inside was Mullá Ḥusayn. Years before, in the city of Shíráz, he had been the very first person to believe in the Báb. Now he led the companions whenever they rode out to defend themselves. With them in the fort was Quddús, a young man very dear to the Báb. Nabíl writes that Quddús reminded Mullá Ḥusayn of his Beloved, the Báb.

Water was scarce, so the friends dug a well inside the fort. On the day it was finished, Mullá Ḥusayn watched them work. Today, he told them, they would have all the water they needed for their bath, and, cleansed of everything earthly, they would go to God. Anyone ready to give his life should be ready to ride out with him before dawn.

That afternoon he washed, put on new clothes, and placed on his head the green turban the Báb had sent him. He spent his last hours with Quddús, sitting at his feet.

Soon after midnight, when the morning star rose, he mounted his horse and gave the signal to open the gate. He rode out at the head of three hundred and thirteen companions. Together they raised the cry "Yá Ṣáḥibu'z-Zamán!" ("O Lord of the Age!"). He broke through the first barricade, then the second and the third, and his companions pressed on until every barricade had been overthrown.

One of the enemy commanders had climbed a tree and was hiding in its branches. Mullá Ḥusayn's horse became tangled in the rope of a tent, and before he could free it, a bullet struck him in the chest. He got down from his horse, took a few steps, and fell. Two young companions, Qulí and Ḥasan, carried him back into the fort.

Quddús asked everyone else to leave so that he could be alone with him. For two hours the two of them talked. Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir, watching through a crack in the door, heard Mullá Ḥusayn ask Quddús, "Are you well pleased with me?" When the door was opened at last, Mullá Ḥusayn had passed away. A faint smile was still on his face, and he looked as if he had fallen asleep. It was the hour of dawn. He was thirty-six years old.

Quddús dressed him in his own shirt, laid him in the grave with his own hands beside the shrine, and asked the friends to keep the place a secret.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see the longer retelling and Chapter XX of The Dawn-Breakers.

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/