- 1808-01-05 — Birth of Muhammad Mírzá (later Sháh), son of Crown Prince `Abbás Mírzá and grandson of Fath-`Alí Sháh.
- 1834-09-09 —
The end of the reign of Fath-`Alí Sháh and the accession of his grandson, Muhammad Sháh. [B7; BBD83, 164; BBR153, 482]
- Fifty–three sons and 46 daughters survived Fath-`Alí Sháh. [B7]
- After his accession Muhammad Sháh executed the Grand Vizier, the Qá'im Máqám, the man who had raised him to the throne. He then installed his tutor, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, to the position (1835). During his first year in office Hájí Mírzá Áqásí succeeded in removing most of the supporters of the previous prime minister from power, filling their positions with his own appointees from Máh-Kú. Among those removed from power was Mírzá Buzurg Núrí, Bahá'u'lláh's father. [B10–11]
- See BBD164 for picture.
- See B11–122 for the relationship between the Sháh and his new Grand Vizier, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí.
- For details on the life of Hájí Mírzá Áqásí see BBD19.
- For an example of Hájí Mírzá Áqásí's machinations against Bahá'u'lláh and others see DB120-122.
- 1844-07-02 —
The intention of the Báb was to introduce the new Revelation slowly so as not to cause estrangement. He instructed the Letters of the Living to spread out and teach His Faith and to this end He assigned each one a special task, most often to their own native provinces. This is analogous to Christ's instructions to His disciples. He instructed them to record the name of every believer who embraced the Faith and to send their lists to His uncle, Hájí Mírzá 'Alí in Shíráz in a sealed envelope. His intention was to classify these lists once received into 18 sets of names with 19 names each (one Vahid meaning "Unity"). A list with the names of 18 Letters of the Living plus His own name would constitute the 19th set making one Kull-i-Shay (meaning "all things" with a value of 361). Thus fourteen Letters of the Living were dispatched; only Mullá Husayn and Quddús remained with Him. [BBRSM14–16, 36; SWB119; BBR2p36; DB92–4, 123; MH82–6; SBBH1:19]
- To Mullá Husayn He had given the task of delivering a Tablet to Bahá'u'lláh in Tihrán and going to the court of the Sháh to apprise him of the Báb's cause. Mullá Husayn was not able to gain access to the Sháh. [B48–57; BBRSM15 BKG32–3; CH22–3; DB85-87, 96, 97; MH90–2, 102] He was also directed to send Him a written report on the nature and progress of his activities in Isfáhán, Tehran and in Khurásán. Not until He received this letter from Khurásán would He depart on pilgrimage. [DB123]
- Mullá Husayn carried a Tablet revealed by the Báb for Muhammad Sháh to Tihrán . This was the first of a number of unsuccessful attempts to make him aware of the Revelation. [BBRSM20–1; MH102; SWB13]
- Note: MH118-119 and DB127-128 indicate that Mullá Husayn had been in Tehran "between the months of Jámádí and Rajab". The first day of Jámádí, 1260 corresponds to 18 June, and the last day of Rajab to 15 August, 1844.
- See RB2:303, `The Báb … sent Tablets to only two monarchs of His day — Muhammad Sháh of Persia and Sultán `Abdu'l-Majíd of Turkey.'
- From Shiraz Mullá Husayn journeyed north to Isfahán where his message was rejected by the 'ulamás. Mullá Ja'far, the sifter of wheat, was the first and only one to embrace the Cause of the Báb in that city. There was however, a disciple of Siyyid Kazim, Mírzá Muhammad-'Alíy-i-Nahrí, who had been instructed to go to Isfahan some five years earlier to prepare the way for the advent of the new Revelation, who was receptive to the message of Mulla Husayn. He was instructed to go to Kirmán and acquaint Hájí Mírzá Karím Khán with the Message and then to travel to Shiraz. (This man's daughter was subsequently joined in wedlock with 'Abdu'l-Bahá.)[DB100]
- Mullá Husayn then traveled to Káshán, about 130 miles from Isfahán. He had great success in that city but news of his conversion brought the wrath of the official clergy down upon him. [DB101note1; DB123-125]
- He then went to Qum, another 100 miles from Káshán where he met with no success. After Qum he went to Tihrán. [MH98–101, DB101]
- In Tihrán he took residence in a madrisih and first met with the leader of the shaykhí community, Hájí Mírzá Muhammad, but he failed to win him over. He did, however, manage to convince a number of souls in private conversations. [DB103note1] This same reference seems to indicate that his well-wishers assisted in delivering the Tablet to Muhammad Sháh and his minister, Hájí Mírzá Àqásí but they did not receive it. " the book was not submitted to thy presence, through the intervention of such as regard themselves the well-wishers of the government." [Selections from the Writings of the Báb page 13]
- See Bab53–6; DB104–7, MH104–110 for the delivery of the Báb's Tablet to Bahá'u'lláh by the young student, Mullá Huhammad-i-Mu'allim, a native of Núr. Mullá Husayn did not meet Bahá'u'lláh on this occasion.
- On receiving the Tablet of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh accepted His Cause and asked that a gift of a loaf of Russian sugar and a package of tea be given to Mulla Husayn for delivery to the Báb. [DB106-107] See DB123-125 for his activities in Khán.
- Mullá Husayn left for Khurásán, as he had been instructed, winning supporters for the Báb's Cause while there he wrote to the Báb regarding these new believers and Bahá'u'lláh's immediate response to the Báb's Revelation. [Bab56, DB128–9, MH118]
- After Khurásán he travelled to Najaf and Karbilá where he was to wait for further instructions from the Báb. [DB86]
- See MH121–2 for a discussion of the speed of Mullá Husayn's journey before the letter was dispatched to the Báb. It assumes that Mullá Husayn departed after the Báb met with all the Letters of the Living (date not before 2 July, 1844.) In fact both Mullá Husayn and Mullá 'Alíy-Bastámí had been dispatched before this meeting. [DB85-86, 92, HotD46]
- 1845-08-00 —
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 the 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 Íabr): 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]
- 1846-09-23 —
Up to this point the Báb had not been critical of the civil government but considering that His denunciations of the intellectually dishonest and plundering clergy were so unrelenting, could they expect to escape His scrutiny? The governor, Husayn Khán, was thus threatened by the Báb's rising popularity and ordered His arrest. The chief constable, `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán, took the Báb into custody and escorted Him to the governor's home but found it abandoned. He took the Báb to his own home where he learned that a cholera epidemic had swept the city and that his sons have been stricken. At the chief constable's insistence the Báb cureed the boys by requesting they drink some of the water with which He had washed His own face. `Abdu'l-Hamíd resigned his post and begged the governor to release the Báb who agreed on condition the Báb leave Shíráz. The incident proved to be Husayn Khán's undoing: the Sháh dismissed him from office shortly after. [B104–5; BBRSM55; DB194–7; DB194note1; GPB13; TN9]
- This cholera outbreak was evidently a sign of the coming Manifestation. The outbreak raged for four years. [DB196note2)
- See BBR170–1 and DB197 for the fate of Husayn Khán who was immediately dismissed by the Sháh.
- DB196–7 says `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán had only one ill son.
- DB195Note1 gives this date as 1845. If this were the case how could the Báb have celebrated "The second Naw-Rúz after the declaration..." [DB190] MBBA165n237 says that it took place on the 10th of September 1846 and that He was in His own house at the time.
- 1847-07-00 —
The people of Máh-Kú show markeded hostility to the Báb on His arrival. Later they were won over by His gentle manners and His love. They congregated at the foot of the mountain hoping to catch a glimpse of Him. [Bab129; DB244–5]
At the beginning of the Báb's incarceration the warden `Alí Khán kept the Báb strictly confined and allowed no visitors. He had a vision of the Báb engaged in prayer outside of the prison gates, knowing that the Báb is inside. He became humble and permitted the Bábís to visit the Báb. [Bab129–31; DB245–8]
The winter the Báb spent in Máh-Kú was exceptionally cold. [DB252]
Many of the Báb's writings were revealed in this period. [GPB24–5]
- It was probably at this time that He addressed all the divines in Persia and Najaf and Karbalá, detailing the errors committed by each one of them. [GPB24]
- He revealed nine commentaries on the whole of the Qur'an, the fate of which is unknown. [DB31; GPB24]
- He revealed the "Mother Book" of the Bábí Revelation, the Persian Bayán, containing the laws and precepts of the new Revelation in some 8,000 verses. It is primarily a eulogy of the Promised One. [BBD44–5; BBRSM32; BW12:91 GPB24–5; ESW165; SWB102, 159] It is possible that the latter part of the Persian Bayán was revealed while He was confined in Chihríq.
- The Báb began the composition of the `smaller and less weighty' Arabic Bayán. [Bab132; BBD45; GPB25]
- He stated in the Bayán that, to date, He had revealed some 500,000 verses, 100,000 of which had been circulated. [BBRSM32, GPB22]
- In the Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih (Seven Proofs) the Báb assigned blame to the seven powerful sovereigns then ruling the world and censured the conduct of the Christian divines who, had they recognized Muhammad, would have been followed by the greater part of their co-religionists. [BBD63; BW12:96; GPB26]
- The Báb wrote His `most detailed and illuminating' Tablet to Muhammad Sháh. [GPB26]
- 1848-04-10 —
The Báb in Chihríq
The Báb was transferred to the fortress of Chihríq, `Jabal-i-Shadíd' (the Grievous Mountain) into the custody of Yahyá Khán, a brother-in-law of Muhammad Sháh. [BR72; BBRSM216; GPB19]
- He remained there for two years. [BBD55; BBR73; GPB27]
- He was subjected to a more rigorous confinement than He had been at Máh-Kú and the warden was harsh and unpredictable. [Bab135; DB302]
- See Light of Faith: A collection of stories by Paris Sadeghzadeh and Behnam Golmohammadi p50, 54-55, 59-60.
- 1848-07-31 —
Mullá Husayn and his companions, marching to Mázindarán, were joined by Bábís who had been at Badasht as well as newly-converted Bábís. [B171–2]
- Their numbers rose to 300 and possibly beyond. [B172; BKG50]
- The Black Standard was raised on the plain of Khurásán on the 21st of July. [B171, 176–7; BBD46; BBRSM52; MH175]
- The Black Standard flew for some 11 months. [B176–7; DB351]
- See DB326 and MH177–83 for details of the journey.
- See MH182 for Mullá Husayn's prophecy of the death of Muhammad Sháh.
- 1848-09-00 — Bahá'u'lláh was in Bandar-Jaz (now Bandar-e Gaz). An edict came from Muhammad Sháh ordering His arrest. The man who was to have made the arrest was, on that very day, preparing a feast for Bahá'u'lláh and so delayed the arrest. News of the death of the flizih cancelled the decree. [DB 298-300; BW19p381
- 1848-09-04 —
The death of the chronically ill Muhammad Sháh whom Shoghi Effendi described as bigoted, sickly and vacillating. [BBR153–4; GPB4; Encyclopædia Iranica]
- This precipitated the downfall of the Grand Vizier, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí because many of Tehran's elite arose against him. [Bab147; BBD19; BBR156]
- For details of his life, fall and death in Karbila on the 1st of August, 1849, see BBR154–6 and BKG52–5.
- The edict for Bahá'u'lláh's arrest was rendered null. [BKG50; BW18:381; DB298-300] iiiii
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