Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, the uncle of the Báb, was one of these martyrs. He had recently returned from his visit to the Báb in Chihríq (see p. [150]) and could easily have left the capital, when rumours were rife following the events of Mázindarán and Yazd. But he fearlessly stayed on, spurned all efforts made to induce him to recant, and met death gladly in the path of his Nephew.
The other six were: Mírzá Qurbán-`Alí of Bárfurúsh, Ḥájí Mullá Ismá`íl-i-Qumí, Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Turshízí, Ḥájí Muḥammad-Taqíy-i-Kirmání, Siyyid Murtaḍáy-i-Zanjání and Áqá Muḥammad-Ḥusayn-i-Marághi'í.
Mírzá Qurbán-`Alí had been a Ni`matu'lláhí dervish, and a leading figure of that mystic order. He was well-known in the ruling circles of the capital and greatly respected. Mírzá Taqí Khán (the Grand Vizier) particularly wished to save him, but the faith of the dervish remained unshakable. At his execution, the first blow of the executioner's sword only knocked his turban off his head, whereupon he recited aloud:
Happy he whom love's intoxication
So hath overcome that scarce he knows
Whether at the feet of the Beloved
It be head or turban which he throws![22]
Ḥájí Mullá Ismá`íl had been a disciple of Siyyid Káẓim. Even at the moment of his execution, someone came up to him with a message from a friend, pleading with him to recant, but his answer was:
Zephyr, prythee bear for me a message
To that Ishmael[FK] who was not slain,
'Living from the street of the Beloved
Love permits not to return again.'[23]
Ḥájí Muḥammad-Taqí and Siyyid Murtaḍá were merchants of note, and Siyyid Ḥusayn had been a divine famed for his piety. Siyyid Murtaḍá was a brother of that Siyyid Káẓim-i-Zanjání who attended the Báb during His journey to Iṣfahán and later fell a martyr at Shaykh Ṭabarsí. Áqá Muḥammad-Ḥusayn had been tortured to betray his companions, but he would not implicate innocent men in fictitious plots.
The Báb, from his remote prison in Chihríq and already overwhelmed by calamity, eulogized these heroic men as the 'Seven Goats' of Islamic tradition, who would precede the promised Qá'im, their true Shepherd, to His own martyrdom.[FL]
The Episode of Zanján
The fiercest and most devastating of the three military actions against the Bábís began in Zanján, in May 1850, after the return of Ḥujjat from his detention in Ṭihrán. (See p. [125].) Although he had enjoyed the protection of Muḥammad Sháh in his defence of the Faith of the Báb, he was feared and hated as an infidel by the divines of Zanján. With the death of the Sháh and the accession to power of Mírzá Taqí Khán under the succeeding reign, he was the object of a concealed hostility on the part of the authorities, while enjoying the devoted loyalty and affection of countless men and women of his native town.