The Báb and the Governor of Shíráz

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl's narrative of the early days of the Bahá'í Revelation. The narrative is retold in our own words; the passages in quotation marks are from that book.

In 1845, while the Báb was at Búshihr on His return from pilgrimage to Mecca, His disciple Quddús reached Shíráz and passed on His instructions to Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Khurásání. One day, leading the prayer in the Masjid-i-Naw, Mullá Ṣádiq added to the call to prayer the words the Báb had prescribed. The divines in the front rows raised an outcry, the city was stirred up, and the governor of Fárs, Ḥusayn Khán, ordered both men arrested.

The police brought him the copy of the Báb's Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' that they had taken from Mullá Ṣádiq. The governor asked whether it was true that the book told the kings of the earth, "Divest yourselves of the robe of sovereignty, for He who is the King in truth, hath been made manifest!" If so, must Muḥammad Sháh give up his crown, and must he himself give up his power? Mullá Ṣádiq answered that if these were the words of God, "the abdication of Muhammad Shah and his like can matter but little."

Ḥusayn Khán had him stripped and scourged. The beards of both men were burned, their noses were pierced, and they were led through the streets by a cord passed through the wound. Then they were expelled from Shíráz. Nabíl writes that they were the first to be persecuted on Persian soil for the sake of the Faith.

The governor then sent a mounted escort to Búshihr to bring the Báb to Shíráz in chains. Three stages out, in open country, the horsemen came upon the Báb Himself, on horseback and followed by an Ethiopian servant. He greeted them and said: "The governor has sent you to arrest Me. Here am I; do with Me as you please." Their leader begged Him to escape to Khurásán, promising that none of his men would betray Him. The Báb refused: "Never will I turn My face away from the decree of God. He alone is My sure Stronghold, My Stay and My Refuge." He rode on to Shíráz ahead of His escort, "free and unfettered."

Ḥusayn Khán received Him "with the utmost insolence," rebuked Him in front of those present, and accused Him of claiming a revelation that annulled the laws of the Qur'án. The Báb answered with a verse of the Qur'án: "If any bad man come unto you with news, clear up the matter at once, lest through ignorance ye harm others, and be speedily constrained to repent of what ye have done." The governor, taking this as an insult, ordered an attendant to strike Him in the face. The blow knocked His turban to the ground.

The Imám-Jum'ih of Shíráz, Shaykh Abú-Turáb, who disapproved of the governor's conduct, had the turban put back on the Báb's head and seated Him beside himself. The hearing ended when the Báb's maternal uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí, gave a written pledge to hand Him over to the governor whenever required, and took Him home to His mother.

Some time later the governor's agents reported that crowds were visiting the Báb every night. Ḥusayn Khán sent his chief constable, 'Abdu'l-Ḥamíd Khán, to climb into the uncle's house at night and arrest Him, and swore that he would have the Báb executed that same night. The constable took Him away. The Báb was heard to repeat a verse of the Qur'án: "That with which they are threatened is for the morning. Is not the morning near?"

In the market-place the constable found people fleeing and coffins being carried through the streets. A plague had broken out that night and had already killed more than a hundred people. At the governor's house an old doorkeeper told him that two maids and a manservant had died, that members of the family were dangerously ill, and that Ḥusayn Khán had fled with the rest of his family to the Bágh-i-Takht, leaving the dead unburied.

The constable took the Báb to his own house and found his son near death from the plague. He threw himself at the Báb's feet and begged Him to pray for the boy. The Báb, who was performing His ablutions for the dawn prayer, told him to give his son some of the water with which He was washing His face. The son recovered. The constable wrote to the governor begging him to stop his attacks on the Báb, and Ḥusayn Khán replied that the Báb should be released at once and be free to go wherever He pleased.

Nabíl adds that when the Sháh heard of these events, Ḥusayn Khán was dismissed from office, and that he lived out his life in misery and shame, unable in the end to earn even his daily bread. The Báb sent for His uncle, entrusted His mother and His wife to his care, and left Shíráz.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam.

Nabíl-i-A'ẓam. (1932). *The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://bahai-library.com/nabil_dawnbreakers