The Call to Prayer at Bárfurúsh
Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, (1932), Bahá'í Publishing Trust · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Bárfurúsh (today: Babol, Iran)
A retelling based on the account in The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Bahá'í Revelation (chapter 19, "The Mázindarán Upheaval"). Words in quotation marks are quoted from that history.
Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bushrú'í was the first to believe in the Báb, who greeted him with the words, "O thou who art the first to believe in Me!" In 1848, while Mullá Ḥusayn was in Mashhad, a messenger reached him with the Báb's green turban and a charge: to unfurl the Black Standard and go to the aid of Quddús in Mázindarán. He raised the Standard outside the city and set out westward with two hundred and two companions, proclaiming the new Day in the villages along the way. Nabíl recalls a saying of the Prophet Muḥammad that Black Standards proceeding from Khurásán would proclaim the advent of the promised Mihdí.
When the company neared the town of Bárfurúsh, its leading mujtahid, the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá, called the people to the mosque. There he flung his turban to the ground, tore open the neck of his shirt, and told the whole town, young and old, men and women, to arm themselves and march out at dawn against the approaching band.
About a farsang from Bárfurúsh the companions found the road blocked by an armed crowd. They made as if to draw their swords, but Mullá Ḥusayn stopped them: "Not yet; not until the aggressor forces us to protect ourselves must our swords leave their scabbards." The crowd opened fire and six of the companions fell. When one of them begged to be allowed to defend themselves, Mullá Ḥusayn answered, "The time is not yet come; the number is as yet incomplete." A seventh, a siyyid from Yazd who had walked all the way from Mashhad, was shot dead at his feet. Only then did Mullá Ḥusayn pray aloud that God Himself had commanded them to defend their lives, and draw his sword.
He rode after the man who had killed the siyyid. The man hid behind a tree and held up his musket as a shield, and with a single stroke Mullá Ḥusayn cut through the tree, the musket and the man. The crowd fled. Nabíl later questioned Mírzá Muḥammad-i-Furúghí, who had been there and had known Mullá Ḥusayn since childhood. He said he had seen the stroke with his own eyes, and that Mullá Ḥusayn had never been trained with the sword; his hand used to tremble when he wrote.
Mullá Ḥusayn rode on into Bárfurúsh, circled the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá's house three times, and called on him to come out and lead the holy war he had preached. The people of the town surrendered, crying "Peace, peace!" That afternoon Mullá Ḥusayn asked the crowd why they had risen against men who had never denied the truth of their Faith.
He then took his companions to the caravanserai of Sabzih-Maydán and sent for bread and water. The men he sent came back empty-handed: they had been unable to get bread from the baker or water from the public square. Mullá Ḥusayn had the gates closed and asked his companions to stay with him until sunset. As evening came he asked whether any of them would give up his life for his Faith by climbing to the roof and sounding the adhán, the call to prayer.
A youth gladly stood up. He had only said "Alláh-u-Akbar" when a bullet killed him. "Let another one among you arise," Mullá Ḥusayn said, "and, with the selfsame renunciation, proceed with the prayer which that youth was unable to finish." A second youth went up and was shot as he said, "I bear witness that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God." A third took up the prayer and had nearly reached its end, at the words "There is no God but God," when he too fell dead.
After the third death Mullá Ḥusayn opened the gate and charged, with his companions, into the crowd that had gathered in the Sabzih-Maydán. By evening the square was empty. Soon afterwards the notables of the town came on foot to ask for peace, laying the blame on the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá.
From Bárfurúsh the company went on to the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, where they were besieged for months and where Mullá Ḥusayn himself was killed.
This is a retelling. For the full account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam.
Cite this story
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/
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