The Scroll Carried at Dawn

*A retelling based on **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, with the details of the meeting from **The Dawn-Breakers** of Nabíl, who heard them from Bahá'u'lláh's brother Mírzá Músá. Words in quotation marks are quoted from those books.*

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In 1844, after the Letters of the Living had recognised the Báb in Shíráz, He sent them out to teach. Only Mullá Ḥusayn, the first of them, and Quddús, the last, stayed with Him. The Báb was to go on pilgrimage to Mecca with Quddús. To Mullá Ḥusayn He said: "Grieve not that you have not been chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to Ḥijáz.

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I shall, instead, direct your steps to that city which enshrines a Mystery of such transcendent holiness as neither Ḥijáz nor Shíráz can hope to rival." He told him to visit Iṣfáhán, Káshán, Ṭihrán and Khurásán on his way.

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## The student from Núr

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In Ṭihrán Mullá Ḥusayn lodged at the religious school of Mírzá Ṣáliḥ. The leader of the Shaykhí community of the city, who taught there, heard his message and rejected it with contempt. In the next room lived one of that teacher's pupils, Mullá Muḥammad-i-Mu'allim, a native of Núr in Mázindarán. He overheard the whole discussion, was drawn to the young visitor, and at midnight knocked at Mullá Ḥusayn's door.

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Mullá Ḥusayn asked his name and his home. Then he asked whether anyone in the family of the late Mírzá Buzurg-i-Núrí had proved worthy of that house. The student said that one of Mírzá Buzurg's sons had. Asked what His occupation was, he answered: "He cheers the disconsolate and feeds the hungry." Asked His rank, he said: "He has none, apart from befriending the poor and the stranger." His name was Ḥusayn-'Alí, and He was twenty-eight years old.

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Mullá Ḥusayn welcomed every detail with delight. He gave the student a scroll wrapped in a piece of cloth and asked him to hand it to Ḥusayn-'Alí the next day at the hour of dawn, and to bring back any reply.

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## At the house of Bahá'u'lláh

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At daybreak the student went to the house. Bahá'u'lláh's brother, Mírzá Músá, met him at the gate and brought him in. Bahá'u'lláh unfolded the scroll and began to read passages aloud. After a page He turned to His brother and said: "Músá, what have you to say? Verily I say, whoso believes in the Qur'án and recognises its Divine origin, and yet hesitates, though it be for a moment, to admit that these soul-stirring words are endowed with the same regenerating power, has most assuredly erred in his judgment and has strayed far from the path of justice."

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He said no more. He sent the student back to Mullá Ḥusayn with a gift, a loaf of Russian sugar and a package of tea, and a message of appreciation and love. Mullá Ḥusayn received the gift with bowed head, kissed it, and embraced the student, who could not understand why so small a gift should mean so much to him.

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A few days later, leaving for Khurásán, Mullá Ḥusayn told him: "Breathe not to anyone what you have heard and witnessed. Let this be a secret hidden within your breast. Divulge not His name, for they who envy His position will arise to harm Him."

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Shoghi Effendi writes that Bahá'u'lláh, receiving the scroll "scarce three months after the Faith was born," "instantly acclaimed its truth, and arose to champion its cause."

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## The news reaches the Báb

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From Khurásán Mullá Ḥusayn wrote to the Báb, describing his meeting with Bahá'u'lláh and the teaching Bahá'u'lláh had since begun in Núr. The letter reached the Báb in Shíráz on the night before the twenty-seventh of Ramaḍán, when Quddús was His only companion. The Báb's uncle later described the joy he saw on both their faces that night, and said that in those days the Báb often repeated: "How marvellous, how exceedingly marvellous, is that which has occurred between the months of Jamádí and Rajab!"

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According to Shoghi Effendi, it was only after this letter arrived that the Báb decided to set out on His pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Bahá'u'lláh was the Mystery of which He had spoken to Mullá Ḥusayn.

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, chapters I and V, and **The Dawn-Breakers** by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, chapters IV and VI.*

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