Vaḥíd and the Little Fort

A retelling for children, based on Nabíl's The Dawn-Breakers, the chapter about the events at Nayríz in 1850.

Near the town of Nayríz in Persia there was a small fort called Khájih. In the spring of 1850, seventy-two believers took shelter inside it. They were not soldiers. Some were only lads, and some were very old men. Their leader was a learned man named Siyyid Yaḥyá, known by the title Vaḥíd.

Some years before, the king of Persia had sent Vaḥíd to meet the Báb and find out whether His claim was true. Vaḥíd came back a believer. He traveled from city to city, telling people about the Báb.

When he came to Nayríz, where he had a house, crowds went out to welcome him. Still in his dusty clothes, he went straight into the mosque, climbed into the pulpit, and spoke. About fifteen hundred people answered his call.

The governor of Nayríz was alarmed. He gathered about a thousand armed men to capture Vaḥíd. Vaḥíd sent some of his companions to hold the little fort, and soon he went there himself.

The soldiers surrounded the fort. Again and again the defenders rode out and drove the army back. One of those who went out was a shoemaker more than ninety years old. The governor asked the prince in the city of Shíráz for help, and more soldiers came, with cannons. Still the little band held out. In one battle that lasted eight hours, the women of Nayríz climbed onto their roofs and cheered for the defenders.

The army's leaders could not win by fighting, so they tried a trick. They sent a Qur'án into the fort, marked with their seals, with a letter. Come out, they said, and explain your Faith to us. If you convince us, we will believe too. If not, we promise you can go safely back to your fort.

Vaḥíd received the holy book with reverence and kissed it. "Our appointed hour has struck," he said. He knew what they were planning, but he told his companions it was his duty to go and try once more to explain his Faith to them. He warned them not to trust the enemy's promises, and he went out to the camp with five companions.

For three days the army's leaders treated him with great respect, while in secret they plotted against him. Then they made him write a letter telling his friends to leave the fort. Vaḥíd also wrote a second, secret letter warning them not to be fooled. The man carrying the letters betrayed him and delivered only the first, and the companions left the fort.

Then the promise was broken. Vaḥíd was handed over to his enemies and killed. Nabíl records the words he spoke as he was dying, words the Imám Ḥusayn had spoken long before:

Thou knowest, O my Beloved, that I have abandoned the world for Thy sake, and have placed my trust in Thee alone.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Fort at Khájih: Vaḥíd's Defense at Nayríz".

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/