1844 11 Aug 184- |
The Báb sent Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí to Najaf and Karbalá to proclaim His Cause among the Shaykhís. In Najaf Mullá `Alí delivered a letter from the Báb to Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan Najafí, the leading Shí`í divine and the keeper of the shrines in Iraq. [BBRSM15; DB87-91; SBBH20–1, HotD46]
The Shaykh's rejection of the claim led to a violent debate. Mullá `Alí was taken to Baghdád and imprisoned there. After a public trial, a joint tribunal of Sunní and Shí`í `ulamá, he was sent to Istanbul. He was the first martyr of the Bábí Dispensation. It is significant that Mullá Hasan Gawhar, a leading figure of the Shaykhí school, participated in the condemnation as it marks the first major challenge to Bábism from a Shaykhí leader. [Bab27, 37–8, 58; BBR83–90; BBRSM17; BKG31; DB90–2; MMBA, BBR2p17, GPB10] |
* Báb, The (chronology); Mulla Ali Bastami; Ulama; Persecution, Iraq; - Persecution, Arrests; - Persecution, Deaths; - Persecution; Shaykhism; Firsts, other; Trials; Court cases; - Persecution, Court cases; - Letters of the Living; Istanbul, Turkey; Turkey; Iraq; Baghdad, Iraq; Najaf, Iran; Karbala, Iraq |
First martyr of the Bábí Dispensation; first major challenge to Babism from a Shaykhí leader |