A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb

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Chapter 7

        Concerning several of the persons mentioned in the passage to which this note refers, the information at present at my disposal is deplorably scanty. Such as it is, however, I set it down, hoping that others may be able in the future to supplement these meagre notes with further details.

        Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh ('The Gate of the Gate,' ~~~). Concerning this illustrious personage we have the fullest information. The Násikhu't- Tawáríkh devotes some 10 pages (each containing about 600 words) to his history, and the Rawzatu's-Safá gives an almost equally detailed account of his career. Gobineau and Kazem-Beg both treat of his life, work, and gallant death at Sheykh Tabarsí very fully, and in the present work a sufficient summary thereof is contained. Some account of his conversion will be found in Note E above. Nothing further need be added here except that, so far as I can learn, his mortal remains still repose in the little inner room of the shrine of Sheykh Tabarsí where, at the direction of Mullá Muhammad 'Alí Bárfurúshí, they were reverently laid by the hands of his sorrowing comrades in the beginning of the year A.D. 1849.

        Mírzá Ahmad of Azghand is mentioned in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd in the following passage:-

[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]

[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "In short, after a while His Excellency 'the Gate of the Gate' [i.e. Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh above mentioned] set out for Khurásán. And after that there emanated from the Source of Command [i.e. the Báb] an epistle to confer honour on the faithful, wherein it was made incumbent upon them to proceed to Khurásán in the case of this being possible and their being able. And in the epistle addressed to Áká Mírzá Ahmad Azkandí, who was one of the chief disciples of the late Seyyid [Kázim of Resht], he [the Báb] foreshadowed the catastrophe of Mázandarán." In only one other passage in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd can I find any reference to Mírzá Ahmad of Azghand, and this, consisting of a mere list of the names of learned and pious persons who believed in the Báb and "most of whom attained the lofty rank of martyrdom," throws no further light on the matter. I cannot find any other mention of this Mírzá Ahmad in any of the documents at my disposal.

        Mullá [Muhammad] Sádik, entitled "the Holy" (~~~), or "the Holy one of Khurásán (~~~), was, according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, one of the first converts gained by Mullá Huseyn to the new faith. He was, previously to his conversion, a mudarris, or professor, at one of the colleges of Isfahán. On the arrival of Mullá Huseyn in that city (the first visited by him on the missionary journey which at the command of his master he undertook) Mullá Sádik. sought and obtained an interview with him, listened to his arguments, examined the sacred books of the new creed, and, after a brief but severe mental struggle, wherein love of truth finally triumphed over fear and prudence, embraced the doctrines of

the Báb. We next find him some months later (Sept. 23rd or 24th, A.D. 1845) at Shíráz, suffering the penalty of his zeal as described in the text. Expelled from Shíráz, he seems to have made his way to Mázandarán; at all events we find him amongst the number of the besieged at Sheykh Tabarsí, and after the capitulation he was one of those reserved from the general massacre to grace the triumphal entry of Prince Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá into Bárfurúsh. Here again fortune so far favoured him that he was saved by being sold into slavery¹ from the direr fate which overtook almost all of his companions. What befel him after this I know not, but from the manner in which he is referred to in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd it would appear that he was no longer alive at the time when that work was composed.

        Sheykh Abú Turáb of Ashtahárd is only twice alluded to in the Táríkh-i- Jadíd, and I can find no further account of him elsewhere. In the second of these passages his name is merely mentioned in the list of eminent men converted to the new faith of which I have already spoken. In the first it is stated that he was married to the sister of Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh, a woman of extraordinary virtue and piety, who, from association with the celebrated Kurratu'l-'Ayn [see Note Q, infra], had attained to the highest degree of excellence and learning. Although the Sheykh Abú Turáb here mentioned is described as Kazvíní, not as Ashtahárdí, I think that the same person is intended in both passages.

        Mullá Yúsuf of Ardabíl. See Kazem-Beg (Journal Asiatique, sixi≤me série, tome vii, pp. 357, 358, 467, 468, 473, 477, 486, and 522). Mullá Yúsuf was one of the Báb's most energetic missionaries, and was deputed to preach the doctrine in Ázarbaiján. Through his instrumentality the majority of the inhabitants of Mílán were converted. He afterwards attempted to join the Bábís at Sheykh Tabarsí, but on his way thither fell into the hands of Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá, who detained him as a prisoner till the conclusion of the siege, when, in company with several of the Bábí chiefs reserved from the general massacre to grace the Prince's triumph, he was led captive into Bár-

furúsh. There, according to M. Sévruguin's account quoted by Kazem-Beg (loc. cit, p. 522), he was blown from the mouth of a cannon. The remainder of Kazem-Beg's account differs from that given in the Táríkh-i- Jadíd, in that it represents him not only as reaching the Castle of Sheykh Tabarsí, but as taking a prominent part in the defence thereof.

        Mullá Jalíl of Urúmiyya and Mullá Mahdí of Kand are merely mentioned in the list of illustrious martyrs contained in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd.

        Of Sheykh Sa'íd the Indian I can find no other mention.

        Mullá 'Alí of Bistám, according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, was one of those who, on the death of Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht, assembled in the mosque at Kúfa to fast and pray for guidance. Subh-i-Ezel in December 1889 wrote for me a short account of the history of the Bábí movement, which at some future date I hope to publish. In this occurs the following message:-

([five lines of Persian/Arabic text])

        "His Excellency Mullá 'Alí Bistámí, who was noted for his sanctity (for he is 'the Holy One of Khurásán'), set out towards Turkey, but in Baghdad they took him and imprisoned him. Then, at the decision of the Muftí, they sent him off towards Constantinople, but martyred him by poison at a place near Baghdad called Bad- rá'í." In one of the interviews which I had with Subh-i-Ezel during my stay at Famagusta in March 1890 he communicated to me the

following additional particulars:- "Mullá 'Alí of Bistám was the first martyr, and the only one who died by the hands of the Osmánlí Turks. His martyrdom occurred in the second or third year of the 'Manifestation' [A.H. 1262-3, A.D. 1846-7]. He was arrested at Baghdad and cast into prison. All the muftís of Baghdad, headed by Mahmud Efendí and Sheykh Muhammad Hasan¹, signed his death-warrant, save one, Muhsin or Hasan by name, who refused, saying that he was doubtful as to the rightfulness of so doing. Subsequently the Báb addressed these words to the above-mentioned Muhsin or Hasan in the Book of Names (~~~):- 'Because you doubted and declined to take part in this murder, therefore hath God decreed that in the Day of Resurrection the fire shall not touch you.'"

        ¹ Probably the same Sheykh Muhammad Hasan who is censured in the Kitáb-i-Akdas (see B. ii, p. 980).

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