Mullá Ḥusayn and the Báb's Turban

A retelling for children, based on The Dawn-Breakers (Nabíl's Narrative, translated by Shoghi Effendi), Chapters III and XX.

Mullá Ḥusayn was a student of a teacher named Siyyid Káẓim, who had told his students that the Promised One would soon appear. After his teacher died, Mullá Ḥusayn set out to find Him. His search brought him to the city of Shíráz. There, one evening in 1844, he met the Báb in His house, and before the night was over he knew his search had ended. Mullá Ḥusayn became the very first person to believe in the Báb.

From then on, Mullá Ḥusayn gave his whole life to serving the Báb and travelled far to tell others about Him. Many people in power opposed the new Faith. In time, a few hundred believers took shelter in a fort they built around the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, in the forests of Mázindarán, and an army surrounded them.

One winter afternoon, Mullá Ḥusayn got ready. He washed, put on fresh clothes, and placed on his head a green turban that the Báb Himself had sent to him. Soon after midnight, when the morning star had risen, he climbed onto his horse and, with his companions behind him, rode out of the fort to face the army.

They rode forward so bravely that the soldiers scattered before them. They broke through one of the army's barricades, then another, then another.

But Mullá Ḥusayn was shot and badly hurt. Two young companions carried him back into the fort. Quddús, the young leader he loved, asked to be left alone with him, and the two of them talked together for about two hours. Then Mullá Ḥusayn passed away. Nabíl, who wrote down this story, tells us that a faint smile was still on his face. It was the hour of dawn, and Mullá Ḥusayn was thirty-six years old.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Mullá Ḥusayn's Last Ride" and The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl.

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