Mullá Ḥusayn's Last Charge

*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative** (translated by Shoghi Effendi), chapters XIX and XX. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that book.*

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Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú'í was the first to believe in the Báb, in Shíráz in May 1844. At eighteen he had met Siyyid Káẓim in Karbilá and studied under him for nine years, and Nabíl writes that those years prepared him to recognize the Báb.

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In the summer of 1848 a message reached him in Mashhad from the Báb, with His green turban: "Adorn your head with My green turban, the emblem of My lineage, and, with the Black Standard unfurled before you, hasten to the Jaziriy-i-Khadra, and lend your assistance to My beloved Quddús." Mullá Ḥusayn raised the Black Standard outside the city and set out for Mázindarán with two hundred and two companions. Near Bárfurúsh they were attacked, and they took refuge at the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, which they fortified. Quddús joined them there.

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Over the following months the defenders were attacked again and again, and Mullá Ḥusayn led them out against much larger forces. Early in 1849 the army of Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, reinforced by 'Abbás-Qulí Khán-i-Láríjání and Sulaymán Khán-i-Afshár, encamped around the fort and built seven barricades.

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Water was scarce, and the defenders dug a well inside the enclosure. On the day it was finished, the eighth of Rabí'u'l-Avval, Mullá Ḥusayn watched the work and said: "To-day we shall have all the water we require for our bath. Cleansed of all earthly defilements, we shall seek the court of the Almighty, and shall hasten to our eternal abode. Whoso is willing to partake of the cup of martyrdom, let him prepare himself and wait for the hour when he can seal with his life-blood his faith in his Cause."

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That afternoon he washed, put on new clothes and the Báb's turban, and in the closing hours before the sortie he sat alone with Quddús. Then, in Nabíl's words:

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> Soon after midnight, as soon as the morning-star had risen, the star that > heralded to him the dawning light of eternal reunion with his Beloved, he > started to his feet and, mounting his charger, gave the signal that the gate of > the fort be opened.

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He rode out at the head of three hundred and thirteen companions, raising the cry "Yá Ṣáḥibu'z-Zamán!" He broke through the first barricade, then the second and the third, and the defenders went on until all seven had been taken.

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'Abbás-Qulí Khán had climbed a tree and was hiding in its branches. The defenders had set fire to the camp, and in its light he could see the riders. Mullá Ḥusayn's horse caught its foot in a tent rope, and before he could free it he was shot in the chest. He dismounted, took a few steps and fell. Two young companions from Khurásán, Qulí and Ḥasan, carried him back into the fort.

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Quddús had the room cleared and the door closed, and the two were alone for two hours. Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir, watching through a crack in the door, heard Quddús say: "You have hastened the hour of your departure, and have abandoned me to the mercy of my foes. Please God, I will ere long join you and taste the sweetness of heaven's ineffable delights." He heard Mullá Ḥusayn answer: "May my life be a ransom for you. Are you well pleased with me?"

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When the others were let in, Mullá Ḥusayn had died. "A faint smile still lingered upon his face." Quddús dressed him in his own shirt and buried him beside the shrine, saying: "Well is it with you to have remained to your last hour faithful to the Covenant of God."

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It was the dawn of 2 February 1849. Nabíl gives his age as thirty-six. Thirty-six of his companions were killed in the same battle. The fort held out until May, when the survivors were drawn out by an oath sworn on the Qur'án and most of them were then killed; Quddús was put to death in Bárfurúsh a few days later.

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

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