July 9th - The Martyrdom of Siyyid Ali Muhammad - The Bab (means the gate in Arabic) At His execution, the Bab and a young disciple were suspended by two ropes from a nail driven into a pillar of the soldier barracks in the public square of Tabriz, Persia. A regiment of 750 armed soldiers faced them in three lines of 250 each. A crowd of about 10,000 was gathered on the roof of the barracks and on the roofs of nearby houses. Each group of 250 soldiers fired. The smoke of the guns turned “the light of the noonday sun into darkness.” When the smoke cleared, the multitude was astounded to see that the two ropes were completely severed, and standing there unharmed was the Bab’s disciple. The Bab was nowhere to be seen. After a hurried search, He was found unharmed in the room near the barracks where He had spent the previous night. He was calmly engaged in conversation with one of His disciples. When the guards walked in, the Bab declared that He had completed His conversation and that they could now carry out His execution. The commander of the regiment was so unnerved that he ordered his men to quit the scene immediately. Another regiment was called into service and the sequence of the execution repeated. Once again, the air filled with thick smoke. As the shots were fired, “…a gale of exceptional severity arose and swept over the whole city. A whirlwind of dust of incredible density obscured the light of the sun and blinded the eyes of the people. The entire city remained enveloped in that darkness till night.” The stunning events were reported in newspapers around the world, in diplomatic correspondence among governments, by scholars and historians, and by members of the Faith. The authorities dumped the remains of the Bab into the moat outside the city in the expectation they would be devoured by animals. Instead, they were secretly recovered, preserved, concealed and moved from place to place for almost 60 years. In 1909, they were laid to rest in the Shrine of the Bab on the slopes of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land (now Haifa). The Shrine is one of the holiest places for Baha’is, who visit it while on pilgrimage.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:01:41 +0000
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