Restraint at Shaykh Ṭabarsí

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Faith, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi. Words in quotation marks are as that history records them.

In October 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn was leading a band of the Báb's followers into the province of Mázindarán. One morning after prayer he told them to throw away their possessions. "Leave behind all your belongings," he urged them, "and content yourselves only with your steeds and swords, that all may witness your renunciation of all earthly things, and may realise that this little band of God's chosen companions has no desire to safeguard its own property, much less to covet the property of others." They obeyed at once. One of them threw aside a satchel of turquoise from his father's mine.

A farsang from the town of Barfurúsh they found the way blocked by an armed crowd. The companions began to draw their swords. "Not yet," Mullá Ḥusayn commanded; "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. Only when a siyyid from Yazd, who had walked all the way from Mashhad, was shot dead at his feet did Mullá Ḥusayn raise his eyes to heaven and pray: "Thou hast Thyself commanded us to defend our lives against the assaults of the enemy. Faithful to Thy command, I now arise with my companions to resist the attack which they have launched against us."

On October 12 they reached the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí. That evening a body of horsemen from the village of Qádí-Kalá rode out of the forest, shouting that they had come to kill them all. The companions drove them off and, fearing a second attack, followed them in the dark to a village they took to be Qádí-Kalá. The men of the village fled, and in the confusion a woman was killed.

The women of the village cried out that they had nothing to do with Qádí-Kalá. Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqíy-i-Juvayní, who was leading the companions, at once ordered them to stop until they knew where they were. The village belonged to a man named Nazar Khán, and the woman who had died was his mother. Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí was greatly distressed. "We did not intend to molest either the men or the women of this village," he said. "Our sole purpose was to curb the violence of the people of Qadi-Kala, who were about to put us all to death." He apologized earnestly for what had happened.

Nazar Khán, who had been hiding in his house, believed him. Despite his loss he invited Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí into his home, and asked to be introduced to Mullá Ḥusayn. At dawn the two of them came to the shrine and found Mullá Ḥusayn leading the congregational prayer, and Nazar Khán joined in the prayers. When it was over and Mullá Ḥusayn learned what had happened, he told Nazar Khán in the most touching language of the sympathy he and all his companions felt for him. "God knows," he said, "that our sole intention was to protect our lives rather than disturb the peace of the neighbourhood." He again told him of his sorrow at his mother's death.

"Afflict not your heart," Nazar Khán replied. "Would that a hundred sons had been given me, all of whom I would have joyously placed at your feet and offered as a sacrifice to the Sahibu'z-Zaman!" He pledged his loyalty to Mullá Ḥusayn and went back to his village to bring them provisions.

The companions were besieged at Ṭabarsí for months. Mullá Ḥusayn fell as a martyr in February 1849. In the spring of 1849, as a new assault was launched on the fort, Quddús sent out a small party to repel it and reminded them of the principle they had kept from the beginning: "Never since our occupation of this fort have we under any circumstances attempted to direct any offensive against our opponents. Not until they unchained their attack upon us did we arise to defend our lives."

In the end the besiegers, unable to take the fort by force, sent the defenders a copy of the Qur'án on which the prince had written and sealed his oath that they would be safe if they came out. Quddús accepted, the companions left the fort, and the oath was broken.

This is a retelling. For the full account, see The Dawn-Breakers, chapters 19 and 20.

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/