And matters went from bad to worse. Mírzá Riḍá's report to his chief, the following November 24th, was one long catalogue of woes, not totally devoid of amusing points:
Last Friday, from the ten Quarters of Hyedree [Ḥaydarí] and Naamutte [Ni`matí] a Mob and Crowd was again collected in the open plain, which has ever been the scene of their conflicts, for the purpose of fighting. From Midday to Sunset they fought with slings and stones, sticks and arms.... As Meerza Mahomed Ali, the secretary of Hajee Kuwam [Ḥájí Qavám], a fine intelligent youth, was leaving his dwelling about midday upon some business, a drunken lootee,[BW] without reason or previous quarrel, plunged a dagger into his right side ... two cousins, both young, in a state of Drunkenness, were disputing regarding a woman, no person not even the woman being present, when one struck a dagger into the thigh of the other, who expired two days after ... some men of the Fehlee[BX] Tribe were sitting together one night, talking over occurrences of former years, when ... an excellent horseman, was shot in the side with a pistol, and immediately yielded his life.[11]
Qubád Khán, a nephew of the Ílkhání (the supreme head of the Qashqá'í tribe), who governed Fírúzábád in the heart of the Qashqá'í terrain, had, for a financial consideration, put armed men at the disposal of some headmen of the village of Maymand to settle a vendetta—and so the story trails on.
Towards the end of the year 1844 Ḥusayn Khán was given the governorship of Fárs, but as late as December 21st and December 24th Mírzá Riḍá was still pouring out tales of woe to Captain Hennell in Búshihr. Matters had reached such a pitch, he said, that people were stripped naked in plain daylight in public thoroughfares, and if anyone offered resistance he was repeatedly stabbed; at night so many matchlocks were fired at random that no sleep was possible, and in any case people had to keep awake to guard their homes. The unpleasant yet humorous experience of a physician clearly shows the breakdown of law in Shíráz at that time:
... some of the Alwat[BY] brought a horse to the door of a Physician's Dispensary, whose equipment and clothes were of the best, saying, 'We have an invalid who is very ill, take the trouble to come to him and we will attend you.' The Poor Physician starts for the sickman's [sic] dwelling, and they take him through two or three streets when they desire him to be so good as to dismount from the horse; he does so, and they strip him from head to foot and go their way.[12]
During that period of anarchy the Báb was on pilgrimage and absent from Shíráz. Ḥusayn Khán arrived at his post in the early part of 1845, when the Báb was about halfway back to His native land. The new Governor set about with all dispatch to give the Shírázís a lesson which he was certain they would take to heart. There were mutilations and executions until order was finally restored. But in little more than three years when Muḥammad Sháh died, Shírázís, headed once again by the astute Ḥájí Qavámu'l-Mulk and the headstrong Muḥammad-Qulí Khán (the Ílbagí[BZ] of the Qashqá'ís), rebelled and forced the dismissal of Ḥusayn Khán.
Ḥusayn Khán was the first official in Persia to raise his hand against the Báb and His people. Having meted out cruel punishments to Quddús and the other two Bábís, and having acquainted himself with the identity of the Báb and ascertained that He had arrived at Búshihr, Ḥusayn Khán commissioned a body of horsemen to go to that port, arrest the Báb and bring Him to Shíráz. In the meantime the Báb had completed His arrangements to return to the city of His birth.
At Dálakí, some forty miles to the north-east of Búshihr, where the coastal plain ends and the plateau begins to rise, Ḥusayn Khán's horsemen encountered the Báb. He was the first to notice them and sent His Ethiopian servant to call them to Him. They were reluctant to approach Him, but Aṣlán Khán, a man senior in their ranks, accepted the invitation. However, to the Báb's query regarding the purpose of their mission they evasively replied that the Governor had sent them to make some investigation in that neighbourhood. But the Báb said to them:
The governor has sent you to arrest Me. Here am I; do with Me as you please. By coming out to meet you, I have curtailed the length of your march, and have made it easier for you to find Me.[13]