Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Káẓim Prepare the Way

A retelling based on the first chapters of The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Faith, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are from that book.

Nabíl does not begin his history with the Báb. He begins with two teachers who came before Him, Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í and his successor Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí, and with the disciples they trained to watch for the Promised One.

Shaykh Aḥmad

At a time, Nabíl writes, when Islam had been obscured by "the ignorance, the fanaticism, and perversity of the contending sects into which it had fallen," there appeared "that luminous Star of Divine guidance, Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í." He came to believe that no reform within Islam would be enough, and that only a new and independent Revelation could renew it. "Bereft of all earthly possessions, and detached from all save God," he gave the rest of his life to that conviction when he was forty years old.

He studied first in Najaf and Karbilá, where he was declared a mujtahid and gained authority over the other scholars. Then he went to Persia. In Shíráz he praised the city in terms that puzzled its own people, and told them: "Among you there shall be a number who will live to behold the glory of a Day which the prophets of old have yearned to witness." In Yazd he wrote most of his books, and there a young scholar from Gílán, Siyyid Káẓim, came to join him. Within a few weeks the Shaykh told him to stop attending his lectures and to answer the questions of the other disciples himself.

From Mashhad, Nabíl says, Shaykh Aḥmad perceived "from the direction of Nur, in the province of Mazindaran," the first signs of the coming Day, and he set out for Ṭihrán. It was in those days that a Child was born into "an ancient and noble family of Nur." That Child was Bahá'u'lláh, born at dawn on 12 November 1817. The Shaykh understood what the birth meant and longed to stay near Him, but he had to leave for Kirmánsháh. Before leaving Ṭihrán he prayed that his countrymen would recognize "this hidden Treasure of God."

Later he settled in Karbilá, and at last left for Mecca and Medina. Before he went he confided the secret of his mission to Siyyid Káẓim, "his chosen successor." His parting words to him began: "You have no time to lose." He went on to say: "For verily I say, the Hour is drawing nigh, the Hour I have besought God to spare me from witnessing, for the earthquake of the Last Hour will be tremendous." Shaykh Aḥmad died in 1826, at the age of eighty-one, and was buried in Medina near the resting-place of the Prophet Muḥammad.

Siyyid Káẓim

Siyyid Káẓim carried on the work in Karbilá for the next seventeen years, in the face of constant slander and hostility. When his enemies joined together against him, he looked for a disciple who would go to Iṣfahán and win the support of one of the most powerful clerics in Persia. He chose the young Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú'í: "Arise and perform this mission, for I declare you equal to this task. The Almighty will graciously assist you, and will crown your endeavours with success." Mullá Ḥusayn went, defended the teachings of Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Káẓim before the cleric and his assembled disciples, and came away with a written testimony in their favour.

The Siyyid spoke often of the One who was to come. "You behold Him with your own eyes," he would say, "and yet recognise Him not!" When his disciples asked for signs, he told them: "He is of noble lineage. He is a descendant of the Prophet of God, of the family of Hashim. He is young in age, and is possessed of innate knowledge. His learning is derived, not from the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad, but from God."

As his life drew to a close he urged his students again and again: "Scatter far and wide, detach yourselves from all earthly things, and humbly and prayerfully beseech your Lord to sustain and guide you." He added: "Well is it with every one of you who will quaff the cup of martyrdom in His path."

In his last year, on the road to Káẓimayn, an Arab shepherd came up to him and said that in a dream the Prophet Muḥammad had told him to give Siyyid Káẓim a message: he would die on the day of 'Arafih, three days after returning to Karbilá, and soon after that the Truth would be made manifest. His companions were grieved. The Siyyid asked them: "Is not your love for me for the sake of that true One whose advent we all await? Would you not wish me to die, that the promised One may be revealed?" He died in Karbilá on the day of 'Arafih, 31 December 1843.

The search

Mullá Ḥusayn was away on his teacher's mission when the Siyyid died. He returned to Karbilá early in 1844 and found that most of the disciples had not gone anywhere. Some said they must guard their master's vacant seat, or care for his children. Mullá Ḥusayn reminded them of the Siyyid's last instructions, and then acted on them himself. With his brother and his nephew he spent forty days in prayer and fasting at the Masjid-i-Kúfih, and then travelled by way of Najaf and Búshihr to Shíráz.

On the afternoon of 22 May 1844, outside the gate of Shíráz, a Youth in a green turban came up to him, greeted him with a smile and invited him to His home. That evening, less than five months after Siyyid Káẓim's death, the Báb declared His mission to Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in Him.

This is a retelling. For the full account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, Chapters I–III.

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/