Ṭáhirih's Brave Announcement

A retelling for children of "Ṭáhirih Unveiled at Badasht", based on Shoghi Effendi's account in God Passes By.

In the summer of 1848, in a small village called Badasht in the north of Persia, eighty-one followers of the Báb came together. Bahá'u'lláh had rented three gardens there. One garden He kept for Himself. He gave the second to Quddús, and the third to a woman named Ṭáhirih.

Ṭáhirih was a poet and a gifted scholar, and she was one of the first followers of the Báb. The believers respected her so deeply that even to look at her shadow was thought improper.

The friends at Badasht had come together for a great purpose. The Báb had brought new laws for a new age, and it was time to say openly that the old religious laws had come to an end. Bahá'u'lláh quietly guided the whole gathering. By a plan made beforehand, Quddús pretended to take the side of the old ways and to disagree with Ṭáhirih, so that the gathering would not alarm people too much.

One day, when Bahá'u'lláh was ill in bed, the friends were gathered in His presence. Suddenly Ṭáhirih appeared before them, beautifully dressed but without her veil. She sat down beside Quddús and spoke, and her words were like fire: the old laws were over, and a new day had begun.

The friends were shocked. Fear, anger and confusion filled their hearts. One man ran away from her in horror. A few gave up their Faith. Others stood silent, unable to move. Quddús sat there angry and silent, holding a sword in his hand.

But Ṭáhirih was not troubled. Shoghi Effendi says she was "exultant with joy." She rose and spoke to those who remained, in words that sounded like the holy Qur'án itself, until she came to these words:

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!

Then she asked the friends to embrace one another and celebrate.

Shoghi Effendi calls that day a trumpet-blast, announcing that the old Dispensation had ended and a new one had begun. In the days after it, the friends at Badasht changed their old habits and ways of worship.

Four years later, Ṭáhirih gave her life for her Faith.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Ṭáhirih Unveiled at Badasht".

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