Ṭáhirih's Brave Announcement

A retelling for children, based on Shoghi Effendi's account in God Passes By.

It was summer, many years ago, in a tiny village called Badasht in the north of Persia. Three gardens had been rented there, side by side, for a small gathering of friends who all followed the new teachings of the Báb. One garden was kept by Bahá'u'lláh. The second was given to a man named Quddús. And the third was given to a woman named Ṭáhirih.

Now you should know something about Ṭáhirih. She was a poet, and she was a scholar who had studied the holy books deeply — and she was brave in a way that astonished everyone who met her. In those days, women were expected to stay quiet, to cover their faces with a veil, and to let the men do the speaking. Ṭáhirih was about to do something no one in that gathering had ever seen a woman do.

The friends at Badasht had a hard question to face. For a very long time, the people of that land had followed the old religious laws, just as their parents and grandparents had. But the Báb had come with a new message — a new day was beginning, with new teachings for a new age. Saying so out loud was a frightening thing. It would change everything.

One day, the friends were gathered together when Ṭáhirih appeared before them — beautifully dressed, but with her face uncovered, without the veil. For the men in that room, this was almost more than they could bear. Some of them gasped. Some looked away. Their hearts filled with fear, and anger, and confusion all at once.

But here is something they did not all know. This moment had been planned with great care. By an arrangement with Bahá'u'lláh, Quddús had agreed ahead of time to act as the careful, worried voice in the room — to speak up for the old ways, so that everyone's fears could be brought out into the open and answered. So Quddús sat there, looking as though he might leap up in fury. It was all part of the plan.

Ṭáhirih did not run away. She did not lower her eyes or apologize. She stood before them all, calm and unafraid, and she spoke. Her words were like fire. She told them, plainly and beautifully, that the old day was over and a wonderful new day had begun. One man was so overwhelmed by what he was seeing that he could not stay in the room. But Ṭáhirih kept on, in language as grand and sweeping as the oldest scriptures, until she came to the words that people have remembered ever since:

I am the Word which the Qá'im is to utter, the Word which shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth!

And just like that, it was said. The new day had been announced out loud, in front of everyone, and it could never be taken back. Shoghi Effendi calls that moment a great trumpet-blast — the sound that says the old time has ended and a new time has begun. The gathering was small, and the garden was quiet, but what happened there was enormous. From that day on, the friends moved forward together, carrying the message of a new age.

Four years later, Ṭáhirih gave her life for what she believed, as brave at the very end as she had been in the gardens of Badasht.

Sometimes doing the right thing means being the first one to stand up, even when everyone around you is afraid. Ṭáhirih teaches us that one person with a fearless heart can open a door that changes the whole world.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Trumpet-Blast at Badasht: Ṭáhirih's Unveiling".

Effendi, S.. (1944). *God Passes By*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/god-passes-by/