Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí Finds the Báb

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Faith, as translated by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that history.

The Báb declared His mission to Mullá Ḥusayn in Shíráz on the evening of 22 May 1844. He told him that eighteen souls must come to believe in Him, 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, and to go on teaching and leading prayers at the Masjid-i-Ílkhání.

Among the disciples of Siyyid Káẓim who were still searching was Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí. Nabíl calls him "one of the foremost disciples of Siyyid Kazim," so learned that "many regarded him as even superior to Mulla Husayn." After the Siyyid's death he had come with twelve companions to the Masjid-i-Kúfih, found Mullá Ḥusayn there in retreat, and, like him, withdrew for forty days from the society of men.

One night in Shíráz the Báb told Mullá Ḥusayn: "To-morrow thirteen of your companions will arrive." At sunrise the next morning Mullá ‘Alí and his companions reached the Masjid-i-Ílkhání. A few days later Mullá ‘Alí spoke for them all. They had followed Mullá Ḥusayn, he said, "ready to acknowledge whomsoever you accept." Why, then, was he teaching and leading prayers so calmly, when every sign of expectancy had gone from his face? With tears Mullá ‘Alí begged him to name the One who had turned his anxiety into certitude. Mullá Ḥusayn replied:

Beseech me not to grant you this favour. Let your trust be in Him, for He will surely guide your steps, and appease the tumult of your heart.

Mullá ‘Alí told his companions what had been said, and each withdrew to his own cell to fast and pray. On the third night of his retirement Mullá ‘Alí had a vision. A light appeared before him and moved off, and he followed it until it led him to his promised Beloved. In the middle of the night he went to Mullá Ḥusayn and threw himself into his arms. Mullá Ḥusayn embraced him and said: "Praise be to God who hath guided us hither! We had not been guided had not God guided us!"

At daybreak the two went to the Báb's house. At the entrance they met His Ethiopian servant. Before dawn, the servant told them, his Master had instructed him to open the door and wait at the threshold, for two guests would arrive early that morning. He was to welcome them in His name and say to them: "Enter therein in the name of God." Nabíl notes that at Mullá Ḥusayn's first meeting with the Báb the proofs of His mission had been closely examined, but at this one "all argument had been set aside." Mullá ‘Alí's companions, each in turn and by his own efforts, also found the Báb, and they too were numbered among the Letters of the Living.

Mullá ‘Alí was the first of them to be sent out. The Báb directed him to Najaf and Karbilá, warned him of the trials that awaited him, and told him: "You are the first to leave the House of God, and to suffer for His sake." In Najaf he announced the Báb's appearance before one of the most eminent divines of Shí‘ah Islám, was declared a heretic, and was delivered in chains to the Ottoman authorities. He was imprisoned in Baghdad and later sent toward Constantinople, and his end is not known. Nabíl writes that he earned "the immortal distinction of having been the first sufferer in the path of this new Faith of God."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative, translated by Shoghi Effendi.

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/