Mírzá Qurbán-ʻAlí Before the Amír-Niẓám

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Faith, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi (chapter 21, "The Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán"). Words in quotation marks are quoted from that book.

In 1850 seven believers were put to death in Ṭihrán for their faith in the Báb. They are remembered as the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán. One of them was Mírzá Qurbán-ʻAlí of Bárfurúsh, a leading figure among the Niʻmatu'lláhí dervishes.

Nabíl describes him as a man of sincere piety and great nobleness of nature. A considerable number of the notables of Mázindarán, Khurásán and Ṭihrán had pledged him their loyalty. When he made the pilgrimage to Karbilá, crowds of admirers lined his route, yet he disliked such attention; "He avoided the crowd and disdained the pomp and circumstance of leadership." On his return he met Mullá Ḥusayn and through him accepted the Báb. Illness kept him from joining the defenders of Fort Ṭabarsí, and Nabíl often heard him grieve that he had missed his share of their sacrifice. He dressed simply, in a white tunic and a coarse ʻabá.

He was preparing to leave Ṭihrán when he was arrested. When he was brought before the Amír-Niẓám, the chief minister, large crowds gathered outside the seat of government. "Since last night," the Amír told him, "I have been besieged by all classes of State officials who have vigorously interceded in your behalf." He said that Qurbán-ʻAlí would have done better to claim leadership for himself than to declare allegiance to the Báb.

Qurbán-ʻAlí answered that his knowledge had led him to bow down before the One he recognized as his Lord. "Ever since I attained the age of manhood, I have regarded justice and fairness as the ruling motives of my life. I have judged Him fairly, and have reached the conclusion that should this Youth, to whose transcendent power friend and foe alike testify, be false, every Prophet of God, from time immemorial down to the present day, should be denounced as the very embodiment of falsehood!" He added that he had more than a thousand admirers and could not change the heart of the least of them, while the Báb, "unaided and alone," had so influenced a thousand like him that, without even attaining His presence, they had flung aside their own desires.

"I am loth," the Amír said, "whether your words be of God or not, to pronounce the sentence of death against the possessor of so exalted a station." Qurbán-ʻAlí would not let him hesitate. "The sooner you strike off my head, the greater will be my gratitude to you." The Amír had him taken away, and ordered the executioners to release anyone they could induce to recant and to behead the rest.

Qurbán-ʻAlí went to his death rejoicing. At the place of execution he took in his arms the body of his fellow-believer, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid ʻAlí, the Báb's uncle, who had just been killed, and called to the executioner to strike. When the blow fell, Nabíl writes, "Cries of sorrow and lamentation ascended from the hearts of the multitude."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam.

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/