The Bravest Smile

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative (trans. Shoghi Effendi). The one line in quotation marks is exactly as it appears in the book.

A crowd had gathered to watch a man die, and the strangest thing was happening: the man was glad.

His name was Shaykh Sálih, and he was an Arab from a city called Karbilá. This was long ago, in the very first days of the Faith. Shaykh Sálih had heard the teachings of a wonderful woman named Ṭáhirih — a brilliant poet, and the only woman among the Báb's first eighteen followers. Her words lit something inside his heart, like a small flame that would never go out.

When Ṭáhirih set off on a long journey, Shaykh Sálih went along with her, one of the friends who traveled at her side. But these were dangerous years. People who loved the new Faith were often treated cruelly. And when an important man in Karbilá was killed, his family looked around for someone to blame. They pointed at Shaykh Sálih — even though he had done nothing wrong.

He was arrested. He was taken far away to the city of Tihrán. And there they decided that he would have to give his life.

And so it happened that this gentle man, who had come to the Faith because of a woman's teaching, became the very first believer ever to give his life for the Cause of God on Persian soil. He was the first of a great many brave souls who would one day follow.

But here is what surprised everyone who saw him. He was not trembling. He was not begging. He walked forward calm and shining, almost as if he were hurrying toward something good. The crowd could not understand it. How could anyone be so peaceful at such a moment?

The secret was in something he said. He explained that, from the day he first recognized his Lord, the opinions of other people had simply stopped mattering to him:

I discarded the hopes and the beliefs of men from the moment I recognised Thee.

That was the whole secret, right there. Once Shaykh Sálih had found what he loved most, nothing else could frighten him anymore. Whether people liked him or not, whether they praised him or harmed him — none of it could take away the treasure he had found inside his own heart.

That is why we still remember him today. Not because of the wrong that was done to him, though it was a great wrong. We remember him for his gladness. He shows us what happens when faith goes all the way down to the bottom of a person's heart: it can turn even a frightening moment into a quiet, unshakable joy.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The First to Fall".

Nabíl-i-Aʻẓam. (1932). *The Dawn-Breakers (Nabíl's Narrative)*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/nz/DB/