Siyyid Ḥusayn, the Báb's Amanuensis

*A retelling based on **The Dawn-Breakers**, Nabíl's narrative translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi (chapters 23 and 26), with a few lines from Shoghi Effendi's **God Passes By**. Words in quotation marks are quoted from these books.*

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Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Yazdí, also called 'Azíz, was one of the Letters of the Living, the first disciples of the Báb. He became the Báb's amanuensis, writing down the Tablets He dictated, and he shared His confinement in the fortresses of Máh-Kú and Chihríq. Shoghi Effendi describes him as "a man of rich experience and high merit, deeply versed in the teachings of his Master, and enjoying His unqualified confidence."

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## The last night

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In the summer of 1850 the Báb was brought from Chihríq to Tabríz. When the order for His execution arrived, He was moved to a room in the city's barracks, and Siyyid Ḥusayn went with Him. On the way, near the barracks, the youth Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Zunúzí forced his way through the crowd and threw himself at the Báb's feet. He and two other companions were seized and put in the same cell.

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Nabíl later heard Siyyid Ḥusayn describe that night:

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> That night the face of the Báb was aglow with joy, a joy such as had never > shone from His countenance. Indifferent to the storm that raged about Him, He > conversed with us with gaiety and cheerfulness.

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The Báb told them that the next day would be the day of His martyrdom, and that He would rather be slain by a friend than by an enemy. They wept and refused. Only Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alí sprang to his feet, ready to do whatever the Báb wished. The others held him back, and the Báb declared that this youth would share His martyrdom with Him.

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## "Confess not your faith"

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Early the next morning the farrásh-báshí came to take the Báb to the leading mujtahids of the city for the authorization of His execution. As the Báb was leaving the barracks, Siyyid Ḥusayn asked Him what he should do. "Confess not your faith," He advised him. "Thereby you will be enabled, when the hour comes, to convey to those who are destined to hear you, the things of which you alone are aware."

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The Báb was still speaking with him in confidence when the farrásh-báshí broke in, drew Siyyid Ḥusayn aside by the hand and rebuked him severely. The Báb warned him:

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> Not until I have said to him all those things that I wish to say can any > earthly power silence Me. Though all the world be armed against Me, yet shall > they be powerless to deter Me from fulfilling, to the last word, My intention.

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The farrásh-báshí made no reply and ordered Siyyid Ḥusayn to follow him. He was kept in the room where he had spent the night with the Báb.

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## The finished conversation

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The ropes for the execution were tied to a nail driven into a pillar beside the door of that same room. When Sám Khán's regiment fired, the bullets cut the ropes, Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alí was left standing unhurt, and the Báb was gone from sight. The crowd searched and found Him back in the room where He had spent the night, completing His conversation with Siyyid Ḥusayn. "I have finished My conversation with Siyyid Ḥusayn," the Báb told the farrásh-báshí. "Now you may proceed to fulfil your intention."

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The farrásh-báshí left the scene and resigned his post, and Sám Khán withdrew his regiment. Another regiment was brought in, and at its volley the Báb and His young companion were killed. Siyyid Ḥusayn was not put to death with them.

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## The dungeon in Ṭihrán

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After the martyrdom Siyyid Ḥusayn endured a long confinement in the underground dungeon of Ṭihrán. Nabíl records that Bahá'u'lláh sent him every month whatever money he needed, and that even the gaolers who watched over him praised him. The leading officials of Ṭihrán offered many times to free him. He refused. It had been his deepest wish to die on the same day as the Báb, and now he waited for his own turn.

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In 1852, after the attempt on the Sháh's life, Bahá'u'lláh was Himself cast into that dungeon, the Síyáh-Chál. Nabíl writes that Bahá'u'lláh was Siyyid Ḥusayn's comforter there: "In His company Siyyid Husayn was privileged to remain until the hour of his death." He was put to death by 'Azíz Khán-i-Sardár, the same man who had killed Ṭáhirih. Shoghi Effendi remembers him as "the companion of His exile, the trusted repository of His last wishes, and the witness of the prodigies attendant upon His martyrdom."

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*This is a retelling. For the full account, see **The Dawn-Breakers** by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, chapters 23 and 26, and **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, chapters 4 and 5.*

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