'Abdu'l-Bahá's Account of the Martyrdom

A retelling based on A Traveller's Narrative by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, written anonymously and translated by E. G. Browne. Words in quotation marks are preserved in that account.

In A Traveller's Narrative 'Abdu'l-Bahá set down the history of the Báb and His followers, including an account of His martyrdom.

He places the responsibility on the Prime Minister, Mírzá Taqí Khán, the Amír-Niẓám, who acted on his own authority. The governor of Ádhirbáyján, Prince Ḥamzih Mírzá, was unwilling to carry out the sentence, so the Amír sent a second order to his brother, Mírzá Ḥasan Khán: "Obtain a formal and explicit sentence from the learned doctors of Tabríz who are the firm support of the Church of Ja'far (upon him be peace) and the impregnable stronghold of the Shí'ite faith; summon the Christian regiment of Urúmíyyih; suspend the Báb before all the people; and give orders for the regiment to fire a volley."

The Báb's turban and sash, the signs of His descent from the Prophet, were taken from Him, and He was confined in a cell at the barrack-square of Tabríz. The next day He was delivered, with a young man named Áqá Muḥammad-'Alí, "of a noble family of Tabríz," to Sám Khán, colonel of the Christian regiment, on the written sentences of the leading divines. A nail was driven into the staircase of their cell and two ropes hung from it. "By one rope the Báb was suspended and by the other rope Áqá Muḥammad-'Alí, both being firmly bound in such wise that the head of that young man was on the Báb's breast."

Crowds filled the housetops. "A regiment of soldiers ranged itself in three files. The first file fired; then the second file, and then the third file discharged volleys." When the smoke cleared, the young man was standing, and the Báb was found "seated by the side of His amanuensis Áqá Siyyid Ḥusayn in the very cell from the staircase of which they had suspended them. To neither one of them had the slightest injury resulted."

Sám Khán asked to be excused, and another regiment took its turn. The Báb and the young man were bound again to the same nail. 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that the Báb "uttered certain words which those few who knew Persian understood, while the rest heard but the sound of His voice." Before noon on the twenty-eighth day of Sha'bán, 1266 A.H. (9 July 1850), the colonel gave the order to fire, and this time the volley killed them both.

The bodies were taken to the edge of the moat outside the city and left there that night. On the second night, at midnight, the believers carried them away. When the bodies could not be found, the clergy proclaimed from their pulpits that wild beasts had devoured them, but 'Abdu'l-Bahá writes that inquiry proved otherwise: the body had been obtained through the mayor of Tabríz and handed to Ḥájí Sulaymán Khán, a devoted follower of the Báb, and was sheltered that night in the workshop of a believer of Mílán before being sent away in secret.

'Abdu'l-Bahá then describes what the Amír-Niẓám's persecutions achieved. He had imagined that a crushing punishment would make the Báb's followers disappear, but "ere long had passed the contrary of his imagination appeared." "Quaking and affliction resulted in constancy and stability, and grievous pains and punishment caused acceptance and attraction." He states the principle:

For it hath been proved by experience in the world that in the case of such matters of conscience laceration causeth healing; censure produceth increased diligence; prohibition induceth eagerness; and intimidation createth avidity.

"The root is hidden in the very heart," He continues, "while the branch is apparent and evident. When one branch is cut off other branches grow."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see A Traveller's Narrative by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1886). *A Traveler's Narrative*. Cambridge University Press. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/travelers-narrative/