Esslemont's Account of the Martyrdom

A retelling based on Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont (chapter 2, "The Báb: The Forerunner"), an early introduction to the Faith for English-speaking readers. Words in quotation marks are Esslemont's own.

Dr. John Esslemont, a Scottish physician, became a Bahá'í in 1915 and wrote Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era to introduce the Faith to readers who had never heard of it. In its second chapter he tells the story of the Báb's martyrdom in a few short paragraphs.

The barrack square

On the 9th of July, 1850, Esslemont writes, the Báb, "Who was then in His thirty-first year, fell a victim to the fanatical fury of His persecutors." With Him was a young follower, Áqá Muḥammad-'Alí, "who had passionately begged to be allowed to share His martyrdom." The two were led to the old barrack square of Tabríz.

About two hours before noon they were suspended by ropes under their armpits, so that the young man's head rested against the breast of his Master. A regiment of Armenian soldiers was drawn up and ordered to fire:

Promptly the volleys rang out, but when the smoke cleared, it was found that the Báb and His companion were still alive. The bullets had but severed the ropes by which they were suspended, so that they dropped to the ground unhurt.

The Báb went to a room nearby, "where He was found talking to one of His friends."

The second regiment

About noon the two were suspended again. "The Armenians, who considered the result of their volleys a miracle, were unwilling to fire again," so another regiment had been brought, which fired when ordered. "This time the volleys took effect." The bodies of both, Esslemont writes, "were riddled by bullets and horribly mutilated, although their faces were almost untouched."

The remains were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall. "On the second night they were rescued at midnight by some of the Bábís," and, "after being concealed for years in secret depositories in Persia, were ultimately brought, with great danger and difficulty, to the Holy Land." There they were laid in a tomb on the slope of Mount Carmel.

Who the Báb was

Esslemont adds that the Báb was more than a herald. "The Báb has been compared to John the Baptist," he writes, "but the station of the Báb is not merely that of the herald or forerunner. In Himself the Báb was a Manifestation of God, the Founder of an independent religion." Yet in His references to Bahá'u'lláh, "Him whom God shall manifest," the Báb revealed, in Esslemont's words, "an utter selflessness." To know and love God, to mirror forth His attributes and to prepare the way for the coming Manifestation were, Esslemont writes, "the sole aim and object of His being."

Of the Báb's willingness to die, he writes:

For Him life had no terrors and death no sting, for love had cast out fear, and martyrdom itself was but the rapture of casting His all at the feet of His Beloved.

And he calls Him "this pure and beautiful soul, this inspired teacher of Divine Truth, this devoted lover of God and of His fellowmen."

This is a retelling. For the full account, see Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont, chapter 2.

Esslemont, J.. (1923). *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.