The Báb's Charge to the Letters of the Living

*A retelling based on **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, together with the fuller account in **The Dawn-Breakers**, Nabíl's narrative as translated by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are quoted from those two books.*

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On the evening of 22 May 1844 the Báb declared His mission to Mullá Ḥusayn in Shíráz. He told him that eighteen souls must accept Him "spontaneously and of their own accord," and that "unwarned and uninvited, each of these must seek independently to find Me." Mullá Ḥusayn was to tell no one what he had seen and heard.

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Shoghi Effendi writes in God Passes By that forty days passed before the enrollment of the other seventeen Letters of the Living began. They came gradually, "some in sleep, others while awake, some through fasting and prayer, others through dreams and visions." Many of them had been disciples of Siyyid Káẓim. Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí reached Shíráz with twelve companions; after three nights of prayer he was led in a vision to the Báb, and his companions, each in turn, found Him by their own efforts.

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Two of the eighteen came in other ways. Ṭáhirih of Qazvín, the only woman among them, never met the Báb. She gave her sister's husband, Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí, a sealed letter for the Promised One whom, she said, he was sure to meet on his journey. When he found the Báb and delivered it, the Báb declared her one of the Letters of the Living. The last to come was Quddús, twenty-two years old.

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The Báb had told Mullá Ḥusayn the night before: "To-morrow night the remaining Letter will arrive and will complete the number of My chosen disciples." Quddús met the two of them in the street, and told Mullá Ḥusayn that he could recognise the Báb by His gait. Shoghi Effendi calls him "the last, but in rank the first" of the Letters. With the Báb they made nineteen, the first Váḥid, or Unity, of the new Dispensation.

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Before they dispersed, the Báb summoned them and addressed to them His parting words. Nabíl records them:

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> O My beloved friends! You are the bearers of the name of God in this Day. You > have been chosen as the repositories of His mystery. It behoves each one of > you to manifest the attributes of God, and to exemplify by your deeds and > words the signs of His righteousness, His power and glory. The very members of > your body must bear witness to the loftiness of your purpose, the integrity of > your life, the reality of your faith, and the exalted character of your > devotion.

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He recalled the words of Jesus to His disciples, and said: "O My Letters!

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Verily I say, immensely exalted is this Day above the days of the Apostles of old." He told them: "You are the witnesses of the Dawn of the promised Day of God." He spoke of a mightier Day still to come: "I am preparing you for the advent of a mighty Day." He reminded them how God had given victory to Abraham over Nimrod, to Moses over Pharaoh, to Jesus over the forces ranged against Him, and to Muḥammad over the tribes of Arabia, and ended: "Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory."

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To each He gave a particular task, and many were sent to their own native provinces. They were not to mention His name or person; they were to announce that the Gate to the Promised One had been opened. Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí had already left for Najaf and Karbilá. Mullá Ḥusayn was sent north to Iṣfahán, Káshán, Qum and Ṭihrán, and Quddús stayed to go with the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca. The other fourteen set out from Shíráz at dawn.

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Shoghi Effendi writes that they "scattered far and wide through the provinces of their native land" and held their ground against the opposition that rose against them. By the time of the Báb's own martyrdom in 1850, no fewer than half of the Letters of the Living had already given their lives.

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi and **The Dawn-Breakers**, Nabíl's narrative.*

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