The Second to Believe: Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí

*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers**, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Faith, as translated by Shoghi Effendi. The narrative is retold in our own words; short phrases in quotation marks are words preserved in that history.*

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The Báb declared His mission to Mullá Ḥusayn on the evening of the 23rd of May, 1844, in a small house in Shíráz. But Mullá Ḥusayn, as he soon learned, was the first of a number. The Báb was waiting for others to come, each drawn by an inward summons, each to find Him not by being told but by searching. The first of those who came after Mullá Ḥusayn was a man whose learning was so great that some had reckoned him the equal, even the superior, of Mullá Ḥusayn himself — Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí.

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He had been one of the foremost disciples of Siyyid Káẓim, that teacher who had spent his life telling his students that the Promised One was at hand and that they must arise and seek Him. When Siyyid Káẓim died, Mullá ‘Alí, with a band of companions, set out in obedience to that charge. They had watched Mullá Ḥusayn withdraw for forty days of prayer and fasting before beginning his own quest, and they resolved to follow his example.

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Mullá ‘Alí secluded himself, purified his heart, and then turned, with twelve companions, toward Persia in search of the One their teacher had foretold.

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When they reached Shíráz, they found Mullá Ḥusayn already there — and, to their astonishment, teaching and leading prayers with a serenity that none of them could understand. They had vowed to follow him anywhere and to acknowledge whomever he accepted; now the very man who had set them all in motion seemed at rest, the marks of longing gone from his face. Mullá ‘Alí pressed him to explain the change, and at last to name the One they sought.

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Mullá Ḥusayn would not give him the name. He told him only that he himself had been granted to drink from the cup of God's grace, and that the same grace was open to any soul that sought it. When Mullá ‘Alí begged for a share of that holy draught to quench the thirst in his heart, Mullá Ḥusayn answered with words that The Dawn-Breakers preserves:

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> The door of His grace is never closed before the face of him who seeks to find > Him.

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He bade his friend put his trust in God, who alone could guide his steps and still the tumult of his heart. He would not carry Mullá ‘Alí to the Beloved; he would only turn him toward the path and let him walk it himself. This was the pattern the Báb had set for all the Letters of the Living after the first: each must find Him alone and unaided, through prayer and meditation, so that the recognition might be wholly the soul's own.

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So Mullá ‘Alí went back to his companions, told them that only God could lead them to the Beloved, and each of them withdrew into a room to pray and fast and beseech God to lift the veil. For three nights Mullá ‘Alí prayed. On the third night a light appeared before him, and he followed it in his vision until it brought him into the presence of the One his heart desired.

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At midnight, the chronicle says, the veil was rent and his eyes saw clearly. Beside himself with joy, he hurried to Mullá Ḥusayn's room and, weeping, told him what he had seen. Mullá Ḥusayn, full of gladness, recited to him a verse of the Qur'án: *Praise be to God who hath guided us hither! We had not been guided had not God guided us!*

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At daybreak the two friends went together to the house of the Báb.

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They were met at the door by His servant, who told them that before dawn the Báb had summoned him, bidden him open the door and stand waiting, and said that two guests were to arrive that morning and were to be welcomed in His name with the words, *Enter therein in the name of God.* Mullá ‘Alí crossed the threshold with a heart already full of faith, and threw himself at the Báb's feet, confessing his belief.

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His was a recognition unlike the first: Mullá Ḥusayn had come as an almost unwilling guest, and had asked for proofs; Mullá ‘Alí entered already believing, his certitude won in the secret of prayer.

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His faith would be tested swiftly and to the utmost. The Báb chose him to carry His newly revealed words to one of the great religious leaders of Iraq, and so Mullá ‘Alí became, in the Báb's own testimony preserved by Shoghi Effendi, "the first to leave the House of God" in Shíráz "and the first to suffer for His sake" — the first of that radiant company of eighteen to lay down everything for the Cause he had recognised in the silence of three nights' prayer.

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His story belongs to the Day of the Declaration because it shows what recognition asks and what it costs. The Báb would not be found by those content to be told. He was found by a learned man humble enough to kneel in an empty room and seek, and brave enough, once he had found, to be the first to pay.

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

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