The birth of Fátimih Umm-Salamih, Táhirih (the Pure One), Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Solace of the Eyes), Zarrín-Táj (Crown of Gold). [BBD220; GPB7, 73, 75; DB81note2]
• In BBRSM16 her name was given as Fátimih Bigum Baragháni and birth year is 1814.
• See Light of Faith: A collection of stories by Paris Sadeghzadeh and Behnam Golmohammadi p67-78.

The arrival of Táhirih in Karbilá. She had learned of the views of Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim and had corresponded with the latter from whom she received her name, Qurratu'l-Ayn, meaning "Solace of the Eyes". Against the wishes of her family she had left her home to join the circle of his students but arrived in Karbilá ten days after his passing. Convinced that the Promised One would soon appear she stayed on in that city as Siyyid Kázim's disciples were departing in their search. To one of them, her brother-in-law, Mírzá Muhammad-i-Alíy-i-Qazvíní, she gave a sealed letter and told him to deliver it to the One Sought. This he did and the Báb recognized her as one of the Letters of the Living. [B25-26; DB81note2]
• She had had a dream in which a youth, a Siyyid wearing a black cloak and a green turban, appeared to her in the heavens, who with upraised hands was reciting certain verses, one of which she noted down in her book. Later on, when she had a copy of the Báb's Súrih of Joseph, she discovered that same verse which she had heard in her dream. [DB81note2]

Declaration of the Báb's Mission

Two hours and eleven minutes after sunset Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad made His declaration to Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í in the upper room of His House. [DB52-65]

"I am, I am, I am, the promised One! I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose mention you have risen, whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word and to pledge allegiance to My person." [DB315-316]

• See SI231 for information on the anticipated return of the Hidden Imam. See BBR2pg42-3 and DB57 for a list of signs by which the Promised One would be known.
• See BW5p600-4 for a brief biography of William Miller the founder of the Adventist sect who, after intense study of the Bible, had predicted the return of Christ on March 21, 1844. See BW5p604 for mention of other Christians who made similar predictions.
• See DB383 and BBR2pg25 for information on Mulla Husayn-i-Bushru'i. See CoB110 for the significance of the first believer.
• See SBBH1:14 for a possible explanation for Mullá Husayn's presence in Shíráz at this time.
• Nabíl-i-A`zam relates that Mullá Husayn was welcomed at the Báb's mansion by Mubárak, His Ethiopian servant. Others resident in this house at the time were Fiddih (f), responsible for the preparation of the food and the mother of Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad, Zahrá Bagum. [DB53; KBWB5]
• For more information about Mubarack see Black Pearls: Servants in the Household of the Bab and Baha'U'Llah p21-22.
• He revealed the first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' (the Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph. The entire text would later be translated from the original Arabic by Táhirih. [B19–21; BBD190–1; BBRSM14–15; BKG28; BW12:85–8; BWMF16; DB52–65, 264, 216, BBR2pg14-15, GPB23, 73; MH56–71; SBBH17, HotD30]
  • Bahá'u'lláh has described this book as being `the first, the greatest, and mightiest of all books' in the Bábí Dispensation. [GPB23]
  • See SBBH5pg1 for discussion on the Qayyumu'l-Asma'.
  • This text was the most widely circulated of all the Báb's writings and came to be regarded as the Bábí Qur'an for almost the entirety of His mission. [BBRSM32]
  • Images of the Qayyum al-asma' ('Maintainer of the names') can be see at the website of the British Library, Discovering Sacred Texts.
• This date marks the end of the Adamic Cycle of approximately six thousand years and the beginning of the Bahá'í Cycle or Cycle of Fulfilment. [BBD9, 35, 72; GPB100] Shoghi Effendi is quoted as saying that this is the second most important anniversary on the Bahá'í calendar. [ZK320]
• The beginning of the Apostolic, Heroic or Primitive Age. [BBD35, 67]
• See MH86–7 for an explanation of the implication of the word `Báb' to the Shí'í Muslims.
• Three stages of the Báb's Revelation:
  1. He chose the title `Báb' and Mullá Husayn was given the title Bábu'l-Báb (the gate of the Gate).
  2. In the second year of the Revelation (from His confinement in the house of His uncle in Shíráz) He took the title of Siyyid-i-dhikr (dhikr means `remembrance of God') and gave the title `Báb' to Mullá Husayn. At Fort Tabarsí Mullá Husayn was called `Jináb-i Báb' by his companions.
  3. At His public declaration the Báb declared Himself to be the promised Qá'im. [MH87–8]

Forty days after the Declaration of the Báb, the second Letter of the Living, Mullá `Alíy-i-Bastámí, had a vision that led him to Mullá Husayn and he accepted the Báb. It is said that he became a believer upon hear one word from the Báb.
During this period of waiting for the second person to recognize the Báb, He called Mulla Husayn to His house several times. He always came at night and stayed until dawn. [HotD41; Bahá'í Encyclopedia].
• Sixteen others recognized Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad as the Promised One. The 18 were later designated `Letters of the Living'. [BBD138, B21–7; DB63–71, 80–2; MH73–81, MH121, SBBH1:16–17, GPB7-8]
• See RB2:145–6 for the fate of the Letters of the Living.
• See Bab26–7, BBD138, DB80–1, MH81 ; Letters of the Living (Hurúf-i-Hayy) for a list of the Letters of the Living.
• See BBRSM24–5 for more on the Letters of the Living.
• See BBRSM24–5 for a discussion of the special places occupied by Quddús, Mullá Husayn and Táhirih. See DB81-82 for the story of how Tahirih was recognized as a Letter of the Living by the Báb.
• The Báb was the 19th Letter of the Living. [LW5.2]

The Báb was released to the custody of His uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí. [DB151, LTDT13]
• Báb was asked by Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim to attend a Friday gathering at the Mosque of Vakíl to appease the hostility and the curiosity of some of the residents of Shíráz and to clarify His position. The exact date of His attendance is unknown. He made a public pronouncement that He was neither the representative of the Hidden Imám nor the gate to him, that is, His station was higher. Many of those who witnessed His address became partisans. [Bab94–8; DB153–157]
• see DB152 for pictures of the above mosque.
• This time has been described by Shoghi Effendi as the `most fecund period' of the Báb's ministry. It marks the birth of the Bábí community. [Bab89–90]
• During this time He was asked to speak in mosques and in colleges and He addressed gatherings in His home. The clergy sent their most able mullas to refute and humiliate Him without success. He never attacked the government or Islam but rather called out the corrupt clergy and the abuses of all classes of society. His fame and acceptance among the population grew. [DB157note1]
• A considerable number of the Báb's followers had congregated in Isfahan at His instruction when He informed them He would not go to Karbilá when He returned from Mecca as He had previously stated. Upon hearing the news of the confinement of the Báb, Mullá Husayn and his companions, his brother and nephew, left Isfahán where they have been awaiting further instructions. They travelled to Shíráz in disguise. Mullá Husayn was able to meet secretly with the Báb several times in the house of His uncle. The Báb sent word to the remainder of His followers in Isfahán to leave and to travel to Shíráz in small, inconspicuous numbers. Among those gathered were some who were jealous of Múllá Husayn and the attention he received from the Báb. They threw their lot in with the detractors and were eventually expelled from the city for the unrest they caused. [DB160-162; Bab102–3; MH128–9]
• After a time the presence of Mullá Husayn in Shíráz threatened to cause civil unrest. The Báb instructed him to go to Khurásán via Yazd and Kirmán and told the rest of the companions to return to Isfahán. He retained Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím to transcribe His Writings. [Bab90, 102–3; DB170; MH130]
• The Sháh sent one of the most learned men in Persia, Siyyid Yahyáy-i-Dárábí, (a town near Nayriz) surnamed Vahíd, (the peerless one) to investigate the claims of the Báb. He became an adherent of the Cause of the Báb. To him He revealed some 2,000 verses at one sitting of five hours and among them a commentary on the Surih of Kawthar. Vahíd and 'Abdu'l-Karím spent three days and three nights transcribing this Tablet. Siyyid Yahyáy-i-Dárábí wrote to the Sháh and resigned his post. On the instructions of the Báb he journeyed home to acquaint his father with the new Message. As a result of his conversion most of the inhabitants of the town of Nayríz later became Bábís. [Bab90–4; BBD216; BBRSM41; CH21; DB171–7; GPB11–12; TN7–8; DB171-172note 2; Tablet of Patience (Surih Sabr): Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh and Selected Topics by Foad Seddigh p370; RoB1p325-331] iiiii
  • See as well Light of Faith: A collection of stories by Paris Sadeghzadeh and Behnam Golmohammadi p34-37.
• Another learned scholar, Muhammad-`Alíy-i-Zanjání, surnamed Hujjat, became a believer after reading only one page of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá'. Several thousand of his fellow townspeople in Zanján became Bábís. [Bab100–2; BBD111; BBRSM16; GPB12; DB177-179]
• Mírzá Ahmad-i-Azghandí, yet another learned man, who had compiled traditions and prophecies concerning the expected Revelation, became a believer as well. [GPB12–13]

Among those attracted was the personal court physician during the Qájár Dynasty, Hakím Masíh, who first learned about the Faith when he was accompanying Muhammad Sháh to Karbila. While en route he encountered Tahirih in Baghdad, who was giving a lecture. He also met with her personally and observed her interactions with the divines. Years later he was called upon to treat a child, Ibn -I-Asdaq, who, with his father Ismu'lláhu'l-Asdaq, were chained together in the Siyáh-Chál for two years and four months. For a period of two months he visited the child regularly and learned more of the Faith from his father. Hakím Masíh taught the Faith to his family and this was the start of the Jewish conversion in Hamadán and Káshan. He was favoured by a number of tablets from Bahá'u'llah and his youngest grandson, Dr Lutfu'lláh h Hakím served the Master as well as Shoghi Effendi and was elected to the first Universal House of Justice in 1963. [Rob3p265-268]

Táhirih's activities in Iraq so alarm some Bábís of Kázimayn that they agitated against her. Siyyid `Alí Bishr wrote to the Báb in Máh-Kú on their behalf. The Báb replied praising Táhirih, causing the Kázimayn Bábís to withdraw from the Faith. [Bab163]
• Among those Táhirih met in Baghdád was Hakím Masíh, a Jewish doctor who years later becomes the first Bahá'í of Jewish background. [Bab165]
• Táhirih was sent back to Persia by Najíb Páshá. She was accompanied by a number of Bábís; they made a number of stops along the way, enrolling supporters for the Cause of the Báb. [Bab163–4; BBRSM216]
• Ma'ani says Táhirih left Baghdád early in 1847.
• In Kirand 1,200 people are reported to have volunteered to follow her. [Bab164 DB272; TN20]
• B164 says the number is 12,000; DB272 says it was 1,200.
• In Kirmánsháh she was respectfully received by the `ulamá. [Bab164; DB272]
• Táhirih arrived in Hamadán. Her father had sent her brothers here to persuade her to return to her native city of Qazvín. She agreed on condition that she may remain in Hamadán long enough to tell people about the Báb. [Bab165; DB273]
• MF180 says Táhirih remained in Hamadán for two months.

The Báb sent a letter to the Sháh requesting an audience. [B121; DB229; TN11]

Some accounts maintain that the prime minister intervened in the correspondence between the Báb and the Sháh. En route to Tabríz the Báb wrote to various people, including the Grand Vizier, the father and uncle of Táhirih, and Hájí Sulaymán Khán. Hujjat learned of this last letter and sent a message to the Bábís of Zanján to rescue the Báb. The Báb declined their assistance. [Bab124–5; DB235–6]

• See B126 for an account of the Báb's demonstration to His guards that He could have escaped had He so wished.

Upon arriving in Qazvín, Táhirih refused her estranged husband's attempts at reconciliation and lived with her father. Her father-in-law Hájí Mullá Taqí, felt insulted and denounced the Shaykhís and Bábís. [B166; DB2736]

Mullá Husayn was residing in Mashhad, in Khurásán, where he had been since returning from Shíráz in 1845. The leader of a local rebellion wished to enlist the Bábís on his side and sought a meeting with Mullá Husayn. To avoid entanglement in the affair, Mullá Husayn decided to make a pilgrimage to Máh-Kú. [TB56; DB254–5; MH133–5]
• As an act of piety, he made the whole 1,200-mile journey on foot. Along the route he visited the Bábís and in Tihrán met secretly with Bahá'u'lláh. No account of their interview survives. In Qazvín, Mullá Husayn met Táhirih for the first time. [DB255; MH137]

The murder of Hájí Mullá Muhammad Taqí, the powerful uncle of Táhirih, by Mullá `Abdu'lláh of Shíráz. [B166; BBRSM216; DB276–8]
• BBRSM22 says the murder took place towards the end of October.
• Mullá `Abdu'lláh indicated that he was `never a convinced Bábí'. [DB276]

Bahá'u'lláh, who was living in Tihrán, visited the detainees from Qazvin and gave them money. [BKG41; DB278–9; GPB68]
• Mullá `Abdu'lláh confessed to the murder of Hájí Mullá Muhammad Taqí and was helped to escape. [BKG41–2; DB278]
• See BKG42 for why Bahá'u'lláh was thought to have engineered his escape. Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned for a few days for having assisted in Mullá `Abdu'lláh's escape.
• This was Bahá'u'lláh's first imprisonment. [BKG41; BW18:380; DB585]
• Shaykh Salib-i-Karímí, one of the imprisoned Bábís, was publicly executed in Tihrán.
• He was the first to suffer martyrdom on Persian soil. His remains were interred in the courtyard of the shrine of the Imám-Zádih Zayd in Tihrán. [B166; BW18:380; DB280]
• The remaining captives were returned to Qazvín. Hájí Asadu'lláh-i-Farhádí was secretly put to death in prison. Mullá Táhir-i-Shírází and Mullá Ibrahím-i-Maballátí were also put to death. [B166; BW18:380; DB280–3]
• DB280–3 says `the rest of' the detainees were put to death by the relatives of Hájí Mullá Muhammad Taqí.

Bahá'u'lláh planed Táhirih's escape, giving the task to Mírzá Hádíy-i-Farhádí, the nephew of Hájí Asadu'lláh-i-Farhádí. Táhirih was rescued and escorted from Qazvín to Bahá'u'lláh's home in Tihrán. [B167; BKG42; DB284–5; MF199]
• While she was in Bahá'u'lláh's home she was visited by Vahíd and challenged him by saying `Let deeds, not words, be our adorning!' [DB285; MF200]
• After a few days Bahá'u'lláh sent Táhirih to a place of safety before sending her on to Khurásán. [DB286–7; GPB68]
• Note: Ma'ani says this was the house of Mírzá Áqá Khán-i Núrí, who was then living in Káshán as an exile. His sister acted as Táhirih's hostess until she left for Badasht.

The Conference of Badasht

Bahá'u'lláh, who hosted and directed the event, rented three gardens, one for Quddús, another for Táhirih and the third for Himself. [Bab168; GPB31, 68; MF200]

The conference coincided with the removal of the Báb to Tabríz for interrogation in July. It was held near the village of Sháhrúd in Semnan province. [BBRSM23; DB292]

• `The primary purpose of that gathering was to implement the revelation of the Bayán by a sudden, a complete and dramatic break with the past — with its order, its ecclesiasticism, its traditions, and ceremonials. The subsidiary purpose of the conference was to consider the means of emancipating the Báb from His cruel confinement in Chihríq.' [BBRSM23; BKG43; DB297–8; GPB31, 157]
• From the beginning of His ministry the Báb had implicitly claimed some higher spiritual station than merely that of being the "bábu'l-imám" and in the early months of 1848 while still in prison in Máh-Kú He put forward these claims to his companions. He proclaimed HImself to be the Imam Mahdi, the promised Q´'im (He who will arise), the inaugurator of the Resurrection and the abrogator of the Islamic holy law. [BBRSM23]
• Bab167 says that the Bábís did not come to Badasht to make plans to rescue the Báb.
• It was attended by 81 believers and lasted 22 days. [BKG43–4, 46; DB292–3; GPB312]
• Each day Bahá'u'lláh revealed a Tablet, and on each believer He conferred a new name. Each day an Islamic law was abrogated. Henceforth, when the Báb was addressing the believers, He used the new name that Bahá'u'lláh had bestowed upon them. [DB293; GPB32]
• See BKG44–5; DB293 and MF201 for the story of the central event, Táhirih's confrontation with Quddús and removal of her veil.
  Ṭáhirih, seizing upon the opportunity, arose and, unveiled, came forth from the garden. She proceeded towards the tent of Bahá'u'lláh crying out and proclaiming: "I am the Trumpet-blast; I am the Bugle-call!"—which are two of the signs of the Day of Resurrection mentioned in the Qur'án. Calling out in this fashion, she entered the tent of Bahá'u'lláh. No sooner had she entered than Bahá'u'lláh instructed the believers to recite the Súrih of the Event from the Qur'án, a Súrih that describes the upheaval of the Day of Resurrection.
  [Twelve Table Talks given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká, no. 9, "Ṭáhirih and the Conference of Badasht"]
• Also see Bab167–9; BBD31–2; BBRSM46; BKG43–7; DB292–8; RB2:353.
• See The World-Wide Influence of Qurratul-'Ayn by Standwood Cobb.

Táhirih was arrested and was later taken to Tihrán where she was held in the home of Mahmúd Khán, the Kalántar of Tihrán, until her martyrdom in August 1852.

Mullá Husayn left the army camp near Mashhad where he had been a guest of a brother of the Sháh. He planned to make a pilgrimage to Karbalá. While making preparations for the journey he received a Tablet from the Báb instructing him to go to Mázindarán to help Quddús, carrying a Black Standard before him. He was also instructed to wear the Báb's own green turban and to take the new name Siyyid `Alí. [Bab171; BKG50; DB324; MH174]

The Bábís left Badasht for Mázindarán. They were attacked by a mob of more than 500 outside the village of Níyálá. [B170–1; BKG46–7; BW18:380; DB298; GPB68]
• Bahá'u'lláh travelled to Núr with Táhirih. He entrusted her into the care of Shaykh Abú-Turáb-i-Ishtahárdí, to be taken to a place of safety. [BKG48; DB299]
• Bahá'u'lláh travelled to Núr `in easy stages'. By September He was in Bandar-Jaz. [BKG48]

The Women's Rights Convention was held in the Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls, NY. The principle organizer was Lucretia Mott, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as its driving intellect. A significant role was played by an African-American man, an abolitionist and a recently freed slave, Frederick Douglass. The convention adopted a Declaration of Rights and Sentiments that consisted of 11 resolutions including the right for women to vote. The signatories were the 68 women and 32 men in attendance. The right for women to vote became part of the United States Constitution in 1920. [The Calling: Tahirih of Persia and her American Contemporaries p114-160, "Seneca Falls First Woman's Rights Convention of 1848: The Sacred Rites of the Nation" by Bradford W. Miller (Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 8.3, 1998)]
• This conference has been compared to the Conference of Badasht with respect to the emancipation of women and entrenched prejudices.
• Tahirih and Women's Suffrage written by / on behalf of Universal House of Justice in which they deal with the question of the relationship between Táhirih and women's sufferage as well as the station of Táhirih herself.

The martyrdom of Táhirih (Qurratu'l-'Ayn) in Tihrán. [BBR172–3; BBRSM:30; BW18:382; BKG87; MF203]
• She was martyred in the Ílkhání garden, strangled with her own silk handkerchief which she had provided for the purpose. Her body was lowered into a well which was then filled with stones. [BBD220; DB622–8; GPB75]
• See GPB73–5 for a history of her life.
• See the story of her martyrdom and her life in the article in Radio France International.
• 'Abdu'l-Bahá is reported to have said:
  She went to that garden with consummate dignity and composure. Everyone said that they were going to kill her, but she continued to cry out just as she had before, declaring, "I am that trumpet-call mentioned in the Gospel!" It was in this state that she was martyred in that garden and cast into a well. [Talk by Abdu'l-Baha Given in Budapest to the Turanian Society on 14 April 1913 (Provisional)
  iiiii

The unveiling of Statue of a Liberated Woman by sculptor Fuad Abdurahmanov (b. 28 April, 1915 in Shaki, d. 15 June, 1971 Baku) The statue stands in central Baku and depicts a woman casting off her veil. It is said to have been influenced by the story of Tahirih. [BWNS1150]
• For a photo of the statue from another angle see Part III of my Will and Testament by Vahid Houston Ranjbar.

The opening of the play about Tahirih called Daughter of the Sun to an audience of 450 people at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama. The dramatic presentation was produced by journalist Kamale Selim Muslimgizi and came at a time when the life of Tahirih was gaining renewed attention and interest in Azerbaijani society due, in part because a book on Tahirih's life and works that were translated and published in 2016 which catalyzed a growing interest among the people of Azerbaijan about the life of this iconic champion of women's emancipation.
• Tahirih wrote in Persian, Arabic, and Azeri, a widely spoken language in Qazvin and the surrounding region. Azeri is also the main language of Azerbaijan. Tahirih has long attracted interest among scholars. Western Orientalists of the 19th century wrote of her influence on literature and gender equality. In recent years, there have been numerous academic articles and books about her as well as translations of three volumes of her poetry into English.
• The play continued its run in Baku and in the following months on stage in other cities across the country. [BWNS1276; 30 April, 1960]

In addition to her critiques on Persian literature she published a biography of Zandokht Shiraizi, a pioneer in the feminist movement in Iran. She resided in New Jersey where she worked on the editorial board of the New Jersey-based magazine, Persian Heritage. Bassari also assisted in books on the life of Táhirih and contributed with Persian to English translations in academia. [Wikipedia]