The Báb's Epistle from Chihríq Addressed to Áqá Mírzá Ḥasan-ʿAlí

Abstract: This hallowed Epistle, enshrined in Ma’khadh-i Ash‘ār dar Āthār-i Bahā’ī, vol. 4, pp. 73–74, as compiled by the distinguished scholar Vahid Rafati, is deemed to have been revealed within the fortress of Chihríq on the first day of Dhū’l-Qaʿdih 1265 A.H. (October 18, 1849) and addressed to Áqá Mírzá Ḥasan-ʿAlí, the Báb’s younger maternal uncle, then dwelling in Yazd. Rafati adduces no further testimony in support of this dating, nor does he cite corroborating sources. Yet, within the text itself, the Báb alludes to a letter dispatched to His dearly-beloved mother and grandmother on the twenty-eighth day of Shaʿbān. The original of that missive — still extant and precisely dated to 1265 A.H. (1849 C.E.) — establishes with certainty that this Epistle to His younger uncle was likewise revealed in that same year, during His incarceration in the mountain fastness of Chihríq.