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CHAPTER XVII
THE BAB'S INCARCERATION IN THE
CASTLE OF CHIHRIQ
HE incident of Niyala occurred in the middle of the month of
Sha'ban, in the year 1264 A.H.(1)
Towards the end of that same month, the Bab was brought to Tabriz, where He suffered
at the hands of His oppressors a severe and humiliating injury. That deliberate
affront to His dignity almost synchronised with the attack which the inhabitants
of Niyala directed against Baha'u'llah and His companions. The one was pelted
with stones by an ignorant and pugnacious people; the other was afflicted with
stripes by a cruel and treacherous enemy.
I shall now relate the circumstances that
led to that odious indignity which the persecutors of the Bab chose to inflict
upon Him. He had, in pursuance of the orders issued by Haji Mirza Aqasi, been
transferred to the castle of Chihriq(2)
and consigned to the keeping of Yahya Khan-i-Kurd, whose sister was the wife of
Muhammad Shah, the mother of the Nayibu's-Saltanih. Strict and explicit instructions
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had been given by the Grand
Vazir to Yahya Khan, enjoining him not to allow anyone to enter the presence of
his Prisoner. He was particularly warned not to follow the example of Ali Khan-i-Mah-Ku'i,
who had gradually been led to disregard the orders he had received.(1)
Despite the emphatic character of that injunction,
and in the face of the unyielding opposition of the all-powerful Haji Mirza Aqasi,
Yahya Khan found himself powerless to abide by those instructions. He, too, soon
came to feel the fascination of his Prisoner; he, too, forgot, as soon as he came
into contact with His spirit, the duty he was expected to perform. At the very
outset, the love of the Bab penetrated his heart and claimed his entire being.
The Kurds who lived in Chihriq, and whose fanaticism and hatred
of the shi'ahs exceeded the aversion which the inhabitants of Mah-Ku entertained
for that people, were likewise subjected to the transforming influence of the
Bab. Such was the love He had kindled in their hearts that every morning, ere
they started for their daily work, they directed their steps towards His prison
and, gazing from afar at the castle which contained His beloved self, invoked
His name and besought His blessings. They would prostrate themselves on the ground
and seek to refresh their souls with remembrance of Him. To one another they would
freely relate the wonders of His power and glory, and would recount such dreams
as bore witness to the creative power of His influence. To no one would Yahya
Khan refuse admittance to the castle.(2) As Chihriq itself was unable
to accommodate the increasing number of visitors who flocked to its gates, they
were enabled to obtain the necessary lodgings in Iski-Shahr, the old Chihriq,
which was situated at an hour's distance from the
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castle. Whatever provisions
were required for the Bab were purchased in the old town and transported to His
prison.
One day the Bab asked that
some honey be purchased for Him. The price at which it had been bought seemed
to Him exorbitant. He refused it and said: "Honey of a superior quality could
no doubt have been purchased at a lower price. I who am your example have been
a merchant by profession. It behoves you in all your transactions to follow in
My way. You must neither defraud your neighbour nor allow him to defraud you.
Such was the way of your Master. The shrewdest and ablest of men were unable to
deceive Him, nor did He on His part choose to act ungenerously towards the meanest
and most helpless of creatures." He insisted that the attendant who had made that
purchase should return and bring back to Him a honey superior in quality and cheaper
in price.
During the Bab's captivity
in the castle of Chihriq, events of a startling character caused grave perturbation
to the government. It soon became evident that a number of the
most eminent among the siyyids, the ulamas, and the government officials of Khuy
had espoused the Cause of the Prisoner and had completely identified themselves
with His Faith. Among them figured Mirza Muhammad-'Ali and his brother Buyuk-Aqa,
both siyyids of distinguished merit who had risen with fevered earnestness to
proclaim their Faith to all sorts and conditions of people among their countrymen.
A continuous stream of seekers and confirmed believers flowed back and forth,
as the result of such activities, between Khuy and Chihriq.
It came to pass at that time that a prominent
official of high literary ability, Mirza Asadu'llah, who was later surnamed Dayyan
by the Bab and whose vehement denunciations of His Message had baffled those who
had endeavoured to convert him, dreamed a dream. When he awoke, he determined
not to recount it to anyone, and, fixing his choice on two verses of the Qur'an,
he addressed the following request to the Bab: "I have conceived three definite
things in my mind. I request you to reveal to me their nature." Mirza Muhammad-'Ali
was asked to submit this written request to the Bab. A few days later, he received
a reply
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penned in the Bab's handwriting,
in which He set forth in their entirety the circumstances of that dream and revealed
a the exact texts of those verses. The accuracy of that reply brought about a
sudden conversion. Though unused to walking, Mirza Asadu'llah hastened on foot
along that steep and stony path which led from Khuy to the castle. His friends
tried to induce him to proceed on horseback to Chihriq, but he refused their offer.
His meeting with the Bab confirmed him in his belief and excited that fiery ardour
which he continued to manifest to the end of his life.
That same year the Bab had expressed His desire
that forty of His companions should each undertake to compose a treatise and seek,
by the aid of verses and traditions, to establish the validity of His Mission.
His wishes were instantly obeyed, and the result of their labours was duly submitted
to His presence. Mirza Asadu'llah's treatise won the unqualified admiration of
the Bab and ranked highest in His estimation. He bestowed on him the name Dayyan
and revealed in his honour the Lawh-i-Hurufat(1)
in which He made the following statement: "Had the Point of the Bayan(2)
no other testimony with which to establish His truth, this were sufficient--that
He revealed a Tablet such as this, a Tablet such as no amount of learning could
produce."
The people of the Bayan, who utterly misconceived
the purpose underlying that Tablet, thought it to be a mere exposition of the
science of Jafr.(3) When,
at a later time, in the early years of Baha'u'llah's incarceration in the prison
city of Akka, Jinab-i-Muballigh made, from Shiraz, his request that He unravel
the mysteries of that Tablet, there was revealed from His pen an explanation which
they who misconceived the words of the Bab might do well to ponder. Baha'u'llah
adduced from the statements of the Bab irrefutable evidence proving that the appearance
of the Man-Yuzhiruhu'llah(4)
must needs occur no less than nineteen years after the Declaration of the Bab.
The mystery of the Mustaghath(5)
had long baffled the most searching minds among the people of the Bayan and had
proved an unsurmountable
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obstacle to their recognition
of the promised One. The Bab had Himself in that Tablet unravelled that mystery;
no one, however, was able to understand the explanation which He had given. It
was left to Baha'u'llah to unveil it to the eyes of all men.
The untiring zeal which Mirza Asadu'llah displayed
induced his father, who was an intimate friend of Haji Mirza Aqasi, to report
to him the circumstances which led to the conversion of his son, and to inform
him of his negligence in carrying out the duties which the State had imposed upon
him. He expatiated upon the eagerness with which so able a servant of the government
had risen to serve his new Master, and the success which had attended his efforts.
A further cause for apprehension
on the part of the government authorities was supplied by the arrival at Chihriq
of a dervish who had come from India and who, as soon as he met the Bab, acknowledged
the truth of His Mission. All who met that dervish, whom the Bab had named Qahru'llah,
during his sojourn at Iski-Shahr, felt the warmth of his enthusiasm and were deeply
impressed by the tenacity of his conviction. An increasing number of people became
enamoured of the charm of his personality and willingly acknowledged the compelling
power of his Faith. Such was the influence which he exercised over them that a
few among the believers were inclined to regard him as an exponent of Divine Revelation,
although he altogether disclaimed such pretensions. He was often heard to relate
the following: "In the days when I occupied the exalted position of a navvab in
India, the Bab appeared to me in a vision. He gazed at me and won my heart completely.
I arose, and had started to follow Him, when He looked at me intently and said:
`Divest yourself of your gorgeous attire, depart from your native land, and hasten
on foot to meet Me in Adhirbayjan. In Chihriq you will attain your heart's desire.'
I followed His directions and have now reached my goal."
The news of the turmoil which that lowly dervish
had been able to raise among the Kurdish leaders in Chihriq reached Tabriz and
was thence communicated to Tihran. No sooner had the news reached the capital
than orders
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were issued to transfer the
Bab immediately to Tabriz in the hope of allaying the excitement which His continued
residence in that locality had provoked. Before the news of this fresh order had
reached Chihriq, the Bab had charged Azim to inform Qahru'llah of His desire that
he return to India and there consecrate his life to the service of His Cause.
"Alone and on foot," He commanded him, "he should return whence he came. With
the same ardour and detachment with which he performed his pilgrimage to this
country, he must now repair to his native land and unceasingly labour to advance
the interests of the Cause." He also bade him instruct Mirza Abdu'l-Vahhab-i-Turshizi,
who was living in Khuy, to proceed immediately to Urumiyyih, where He said He
would soon join him. Azim himself was directed to leave for Tabriz and there inform
Siyyid Ibrahim-i-Khalil of His approaching arrival at that city. "Tell him," the
Bab added, "that the fire of Nimrod will shortly be kindled in Tabriz, but despite
the intensity of its flame no harm will befall our friends."
No sooner had Qahru'llah received the message
from his Master than he arose to carry out His wishes. To anyone who wished to
accompany him, he would say: "You can never endure the trials of this journey.
Abandon the thought of coming with me. You would surely perish on your way, inasmuch
as the Bab has commanded me to return alone to my native land." The compelling
force of his reply silenced those who begged to be allowed to journey with him.
He refused to accept either money or clothing from anyone. Alone, clad in the
meanest attire, staff in hand, he walked all the way back to his country. No one
knows what ultimately befell him.
Muhammad-'Aliy-i-Zunuzi, surnamed Anis, was
among those who heard of the message from the Bab in Tabriz, and was fired with
the desire to hasten to Chihriq and attain His presence. Those words had kindled
in him an irrepressible longing to sacrifice himself in His path. Siyyid Aliy-i-Zunuzi,
his stepfather, a notable of Tabriz, strenuously objected to his leaving the city,
and was at last induced to confine him in his house and strictly watch over him.
His
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Son languished in his confinement
until the time when his Beloved had reached Tabriz and had been taken back again
to His prison in Chihriq.
I have heard Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunuzi relate
the following: "At about the same time that the Bab dismissed Azim from His presence,
I was instructed by Him to collect all the available Tablets that He had revealed
during His incarceration in the castles of Mah-Ku and Chihriq, and to deliver
them into the hands of Siyyid Ibrahim-i-Khalil, who was then living in Tabriz,
and urge him to conceal and preserve them with the utmost care.
"During my stay in that city, I often visited
Siyyid Aliy-i-Zunuzi, who was related to me, and frequently heard him deplore
the sad fate of his son. `He seems to have lost his reason,' he bitterly complained.
`He has, by his behaviour, brought reproach and shame upon me. Try to calm the
agitation of his heart and induce him to conceal his convictions.' Every day I
visited him, I witnessed the tears that continually rained from his eyes. After
the Bab had departed from Tabriz, one day as I went to see him, I was surprised
to note the joy and gladness which had illumined his countenance. His handsome
face was wreathed in smiles as he stepped forward to receive me. `The eyes of
my Beloved,' he said, as he embraced me, `have beheld this face, and these eyes
have gazed upon His countenance.' `Let me,' he added, `tell you the secret of
my happiness. After the Bab had been taken back to Chihriq, one day, as I lay
confined in my cell, I turned my heart to Him and besought Him in these words:
"Thou beholdest, O my Best-Beloved, my captivity and helplessness, and knowest
how eagerly I yearn to look upon Thy face. Dispel the gloom that oppresses my
heart, with the light of Thy countenance." What tears of agonising pain I shed
that hour! I was so overcome with emotion that I seemed to have lost consciousness.
Suddenly I heard the voice of the Bab, and, lo! He was calling me. He bade me
arise. I beheld the majesty of His countenance as He appeared before me. He smiled
as He looked into my eyes. I rushed forward and flung myself at His feet. "Rejoice,"
He said; "the hour is approaching when, in this very city, I shall be suspended
before the eyes of the multitude
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and shall fall a victim to
the fire of the enemy. I shall choose no one except you to share with Me the cup
of martyrdom. Rest assured that this promise which I give you shall be fulfilled."
I was entranced by the beauty of that vision. When I recovered, I found myself
immersed in an ocean of joy, a joy the radiance of which all the sorrows of the
world could never obscure. That voice keeps ringing in my ears. That vision haunts
me both in the daytime and in the night-season. The memory of that ineffable smile
has dissipated the loneliness of my confinement. I am firmly convinced that the
hour at which His pledge is to be fulfilled can no longer be delayed.' I exhorted
him to be patient and to conceal his emotions. He promised me not to divulge that
secret, and undertook to exercise the utmost forbearance towards Siyyid Ali. I
hastened to assure the father of his determination, and succeeded in obtaining
his release from his confinement. That youth continued until the day of his martyrdom
to associate, in a state of complete serenity and joy, with his parents and kinsmen.
Such was his behaviour towards his friends and relatives that, on the day he laid
down his life for his Beloved, the people of Tabriz all wept and bewailed him."
