The Episode of Shaykh Ṭabarsí
It was mid-July 1848 when the Bábís were scattered by the assault of the villagers of Níyálá. They took different routes, but many of them came together again. Bahá'u'lláh travelled to Núr, His home in Mázindarán. Quddús was arrested and taken to the town of Sárí, also in Mázindarán, where he was lodged, under restraint, in the home of Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí, the leading divine. Ṭáhirih also went to the same province, and she too was arrested. Later, she was sent to the capital and was given into the charge of Maḥmúd Khán, the Kalántar (Mayor) of Ṭihrán, who detained her until the hour of her martyrdom in August 1852.
Mullá Ḥusayn, whose visit to the camp of Ḥamzih Mírzá had prevented him from attending the conference of Badasht, had in the meantime returned to Mashhad, and intended to go to Karbilá. But an emissary of the Báb overtook him with an urgent message. The Báb had conferred on him the name of Siyyid `Alí, had sent him a green turban of His own to wear, and had instructed him to go to the aid of Quddús with the Black Standard unfurled before him—the Standard of which the Prophet Muḥammad had said:
Should your eyes behold the Black Standards proceeding from Khurásán, hasten ye towards them, even though ye should have to crawl over the snow, inasmuch as they proclaim the advent of the promised Mihdí, the Vicegerent of God.[6]
Mullá Ḥusayn began his long march to Mázindarán to rescue Quddús, accompanied by many of the Bábís who had scattered after the incident in Níyálá, and some of the newly-converted who ranged themselves behind the Black Standard. Their numbers, on that journey, swelled into hundreds. On their way they raised the call of the New Day, finding eager supporters, but also such venomous hostility that they could not take residence in any town or village. Yet they did not intend to engage in combat with anyone, let alone the forces of the State. They were only demonstrating their belief and their vision.
As they approached Bárfurúsh, its leading divine, Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá, was so vituperative in denouncing Mullá Ḥusayn that the whole town rose up to oppose the Bábís. Clashes and casualties were inevitable. Mullá Ḥusayn himself, in the fray, cut through the trunk of a tree and the barrel of a gun, in one stroke of his sword, to fell an adversary.[FA] The people of Bárfurúsh were worsted and asked for a truce, and because of their unrest, their leaders begged Mullá Ḥusayn to leave on the morrow for Ámul. `Abbás-Qulí Khán-i-Láríjání, whom Nicolas names as 'the chief military personage of the province,'[7] gave Mullá Ḥusayn a solemn promise, fortified by an oath on the Qur'án, that Khusraw-i-Qádí-Kalá'í and his horsemen would escort the Bábís to safety through the forests. This military chief impressed on Khusraw the need to do his duty by Mullá Ḥusayn, and to show him respect and consideration. But Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá corrupted Khusraw by telling him that he personally would accept responsibility before God and man for any injury, or even death, that might be inflicted on the Bábís. Once in the depths of the forest, Khusraw and his hundred men treacherously attacked the Bábís. He received his desert at the hands of a man[FB] of learning, not a hardened trooper, who at the first opportunity stabbed and killed Khusraw with a dagger.
The Grand Vizier was particularly irked and infuriated that the Bábís could defeat and put to flight his force, although, for the most part, they were untrained in the arts of war. True, one could find in their ranks men such as Riḍá Khán-i-Turkamán,[FC] an accomplished young courtier, whose father was the Master of the Horse in the royal establishment. But these were exceptions. The vast majority were artisans, small traders, merchants, students of theology, divines.
Khusraw's treachery and death, and raids by hostile villagers on the exposed flanks of the Bábí camp, forced Mullá Ḥusayn to seek a place where the Bábís could be safely lodged. Arriving on October 12th 1848 at the shrine of Shaykh Aḥmad ibn-i-Abí-Ṭálib-i-Ṭabarsí, about fourteen miles south-east of Bárfurúsh, he gave orders for the construction of a fortress round the shrine, under the supervision of the builder of the Bábíyyih in Mashhad (see p. [56]). They were harassed at every stage by neighbouring villagers and had often to defend themselves. No sooner was their work finished than they received a visit from Bahá'u'lláh, who advised Mullá Ḥusayn to seek the release of Quddús, that he might be with them. This mission was soon accomplished and, towards the end of that year, Quddús joined them in the newly-built fortress, to be acknowledged by Mullá Ḥusayn as above him in rank.
On January 30th 1849, Lt.-Col. Farrant, then chargé d'affaires in Ṭihrán, reported to Lord Palmerston that some five hundred persons, 'disciples of a Fanatic, who calls himself the door, or gate of the true Mahomedan Religion', had assembled in Mázindarán, that fighting had broken out, and that `Abbás-Qulí Khán-i-Láríjání had been ordered to proceed to that province and arrest the leaders.[9]
The Bábís would gladly have lived peacefully within the four walls they had erected around the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí. But the continuous clamouring of the divines, led by Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá of Bárfurúsh, and the despotic, obstinate and haughty nature of the Grand Vizier, combined to deny them peace and security. One army after another was sent to reduce them. In sorties from their fortress they inflicted heavy losses on the besieging forces, causing commanders to flee for their lives. Some of the commanders[FD] died on the battlefield, while Quddús, during one of the sorties, received a bullet wound in his mouth.
Bahá'u'lláh, accompanied by His brother Mírzá Yaḥyá, with Ḥájí Mírzá Jání of Káshán, and Mullá Báqir of Tabríz (one of the Letters of the Living), set out from Ṭihrán to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, but they were intercepted and taken to Ámul. Bahá'u'lláh offered to bear the punishment intended for the others, and was bastinadoed.
At dawn of February 2nd 1849, Mullá Ḥusayn led his last sortie. `Abbás-Qulí Khán, in joint command of the Government forces, had climbed a tree and, picking out the figure of Mullá Ḥusayn on horseback, shot him in the chest. He did not know whom he had mortally wounded, until a timorous siyyid from Qum[FE] turned traitor and informed him. Mullá Ḥusayn was carried by his companions to the fort, where he died and was buried inside the shrine. He was thirty-five years old. Bahá'u'lláh wrote of him in the Kitáb-i-Íqán—The Book of Certitude:—'But for him, God would not have been established upon the seat of His mercy, nor ascended the throne of eternal glory.'[10]
Now Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir-i-Qá'iní replaced Mullá Ḥusayn in leading the companions. But the end could not be far off. Of the three hundred and thirteen defenders of the fortress, a number had died, many were wounded, and a few wavered in their resolve. The pressure of the forces arrayed against them increased. Cannon were levelled at them. Food became scarce and they ate grass, leaves of trees, the skin and ground bone of their slaughtered horses, the boiled leather of their saddles. `Abdu'l-Bahá speaks of their sufferings in the Memorials of the Faithful:
For eighteen days they remained without food. They lived on the leather of their shoes. This too was soon consumed, and they had nothing left but water. They drank a mouthful every morning, and lay famished and exhausted in their fort. When attacked, however, they would instantly spring to their feet, and manifest in the face of the enemy a magnificent courage and astonishing resistance.... Under such circumstances to maintain an unwavering faith and patience is extremely difficult, and to endure such dire afflictions a rare phenomenon.[11]
The end came not through abject surrender, but through the perfidy of the foe. Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, brother of Muḥammad Sháh, took a solemn oath on the Qur'án that their lives and property would be inviolate should they come out of the fortress and disperse in peace. A horse was sent for Quddús to take him to the camp of the Prince. But once the companions had been lured out of the fortress, the oath was conveniently forgotten. The Bábís were massacred, the fortress was pillaged and razed to the ground. Hideous outrages were committed upon the corpses of the slain, and a vast area of the forest was strewn with their remains: disembowelled, hacked to pieces, burned. Survivors were few. No more than three or four were kept to be heavily ransomed. A few who were left for dead recovered. Still a few others were sold into slavery and eventually found their way back to the company of their fellow-believers. All the dead were Persians except two Arabs of Baghdád who had come out with Ṭáhirih from `Iráq.[12]
Quddús was taken to Bárfurúsh, his native town, where Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá, his pitiless foe, awaited him. Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, oblivious to his pledge, forsook Quddús and gave him into the hands of that bloodthirsty priest. Imprecations were heaped upon the head of the captive. He was made to suffer refined tortures and searing agonies which an insanely jealous adversary had devised for him. At the height of his torments he was heard to say:
Forgive, O my God, the trespasses of this people. Deal with them in Thy mercy, for they know not what we already have discovered and cherish.[13]
In the public square of Bárfurúsh (the Sabzih-Maydán), Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá struck Quddús down with an axe, and any instrument which a frenzied mob could lay its hands on was used to tear his flesh and dismember him. Then they threw his shattered, mutilated body onto a blazing fire lit in the square. That night, when all were gone, Ḥájí Muḥammad-`Alíy-i-Ḥamzih, a divine, humane and compassionate, universally acclaimed for his integrity, collected from the dying embers what remained of the body of the martyr, and reverently buried it.
The martyrdom of Quddús took place in the month of May 1849, seven months after his fellow-Bábís had first taken refuge in the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí.[14] It marked the end of an episode which had begun, eleven months before, with the raising of the Black Standard on the plain of Khurásán; during which deeds of incredible heroism by some three hundred Bábís had stunned and humiliated opposition forces vastly outnumbering them; which had witnessed the deaths of half the Letters of the Living, including the first, the Bábu'l-Báb, and Quddús, the last and greatest; and which closed with acts of treachery and atrocious cruelty. Words which Quddús spoke during their occupation of the fort are a fitting commentary upon the spirit of those who defended it:
Never ... 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. Had we cherished the ambition of waging holy war against them, had we harboured the least intention of achieving ascendancy through the power of our arms over the unbelievers, we should not, until this day, have remained besieged within these walls. The force of our arms would have by now, as was the case with the companions of Muḥammad in days past, convulsed the nations of the earth and prepared them for the acceptance of our Message. Such is not our way, however, which we have chosen to tread. Ever since we repaired to this fort, our sole, our unalterable purpose has been the vindication, by our deeds and by our readiness to shed our blood in the path of our Faith, of the exalted character of our mission. The hour is fast approaching when we shall be able to consummate this task.[15]