The Báb and the Warden of Máh-Kú

A retelling based on chapter XIII of The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative, translated by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that book.

In 1847 the Grand Vizier of Persia, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí, sent the Báb to the castle of Máh-Kú, in the far north-west of the country, close to the borders of the Ottoman and Russian empires. The castle, a four-towered stone building, stood on the summit of a mountain above the town, and the only road down from it ended at a gate that was always kept closed. The townspeople were Kurds and Sunnís. Nabíl notes that they had long been hostile to the Shí'ahs of Persia and especially to Shí'ah siyyids, as the Báb was. The warden, 'Alí Khán, had a Kurdish mother, and the people trusted and obeyed him. Nabíl writes that Áqásí chose this remote place to cut the Báb off from His followers, in the hope that His movement would die out.

It did not turn out that way. The hearts of the people of Máh-Kú, Nabíl writes, "were softened by the ennobling influence of His love." Every morning their first act was to find a place from which they could catch a glimpse of His face and ask His blessing on their day's work. When they had a dispute, they would go to that spot, look toward His prison, invoke His name and call on one another to tell the truth. 'Alí Khán tried several times to stop them and could not.

The warden himself was severe at first. For two weeks no one was allowed to see the Báb except Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Yazdí and his brother, who were with Him, and no believer who came to Máh-Kú was allowed to stay even one night in the town. One of them, Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí, slept in a mosque outside the town gate and passed messages to the Báb through Siyyid Ḥusayn's brother.

One day the Báb sent word to Shaykh Ḥasan that He would ask 'Alí Khán to change his attitude, and that the warden would bring him to the castle the next day. Early the next morning, before the gate was opened, 'Alí Khán knocked and asked to be admitted. Siyyid Ḥusayn found him standing at the threshold "in an attitude of complete submission," and brought him, trembling, into the Báb's room. 'Alí Khán threw himself at the Báb's feet. At dawn, he said, as he rode toward the town gate, he had seen the Báb standing by the river, praying. He had meant to rebuke Him for leaving the castle without permission, but had not dared to interrupt His prayer, and had gone instead to reprove the guards. He found both the outer and inner gates still shut, and the Báb seated in His room.

The Báb answered: "What you have witnessed is true and undeniable. You belittled this Revelation and have contemptuously disdained its Author. God, the All-Merciful, desiring not to afflict you with His punishment, has willed to reveal to your eyes the Truth."

'Alí Khán asked, as a way of making amends for his harshness toward the Báb's friends, to be allowed to bring Shaykh Ḥasan to Him himself. The Báb consented, and 'Alí Khán went straight to the mosque and brought him in. From then on, within the limits of his orders, the warden did what he could to ease the Báb's captivity. The gate was still closed at night, but by day those whom the Báb wished to see could come to Him. Pilgrims came from many parts of Persia, and after three days the Báb would send each of them back to his work. Every Friday 'Alí Khán came to pay his respects, often bringing the choicest fruit of the district.

It was in the castle of Máh-Kú that the Báb composed the Persian Bayán, which Nabíl calls "the most weighty, the most illuminating and comprehensive of all His works." Shaykh Ḥasan recalled that the voice of the Báb, as He dictated, could be heard by those living at the foot of the mountain.

In March 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb, reached Máh-Kú, having walked the whole way from Mashhad. 'Alí Khán, prompted by a dream, went out to meet him at the bridge and followed him to the castle, where the Báb embraced him at the gate and celebrated Naw-Rúz with His companions. Until then only Siyyid Ḥusayn and his brother had been allowed to spend the night in the castle. Now 'Alí Khán told the Báb that Mullá Ḥusayn could stay as long as He wished, "for I have no will of my own."

Those set to watch the warden reported to Áqásí that he was seen with his Prisoner "in conditions of unrestrained freedom and friendliness," and the minister ordered the Báb moved to the castle of Chihríq. Twenty days after Naw-Rúz the Báb said farewell to the people of Máh-Kú, who, Nabíl writes, "in the course of His nine months' captivity, had recognised to a remarkable degree the power of His personality and the greatness of His character."

This is a retelling. For the full account of the Báb's imprisonment at Máh-Kú, see The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative.

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/