On the anniversary of the Báb’s death ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks in a litany of grief: this is the day the Sun of Truth was hidden, the day that immaculate breast was riddled with a thousand bullets, the day the Concourse on High laments most intensely. Mourning is where this subject begins, but not where it ends. The account of the execution in Tabríz, with the first volley that left the Báb unharmed and the second that tore His body while barely marring His face, is set beside briefer and sometimes differing reports, and each kind of testimony asks to be read for what it is. The Báb went to the field of sacrifice with joy, His thoughts on those who would carry the teachings forward, and the attempt to extinguish His Cause ended by spreading it. Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles, faithful under the stones and praying for those who threw them [1], offers a comparison in fidelity without equating the two men. The purpose finally assigned to all this suffering is the raising up of souls who become manifestations of true fellowship and sincere love. From here the way leads to the meaning of martyrdom, to the Báb’s life, station and claims, and to the long journey of His sacred remains.
Today is the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of His Holiness the Most Exalted One (the Bab), may my soul be offered up as a ransom for His sacred blood.
This is the Day when the Sun of Truth was hidden behind the clouds of divine providence. This is the Day when that shining Moon did set. This is the Day when that sacred and delicate Body rolled in dust and blood. This is the Day when that gentle and immaculate Breast was riddled with a thousand bullets. This is the Day when that heavenly Lamp was detached from its physical globe.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1898-Dec-31, to Mulla Ali Akbar Shahmirzadi Ayadi -- AB03056)
02
The Bab was subjected to bitter persecution in Shiraz, where He first proclaimed His mission and message. A period of famine afflicted that region, and the Bab journeyed to Isfahan. There the learned men rose against Him in great hostility. He was arrested and sent to Tabriz. >From thence He was transferred to Maku and finally imprisoned in the strong castle of Chihriq. Afterward He was martyred in Tabriz.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the Baha'is at Breed home in Cambridge, 1912-May-23 -- ABU0346)
03
Next day the chief of the farrashes delivered over the Bab and a young man named Aqa Muhammad-'Ali who was of a noble family of Tabriz to Sam Khan, colonel of the Christian regiment of Urumiyyih, at the sentences of the learned divine Mulla Muhammad of Mamaqan, of the second ecclesiastical authority Mulla Mirza Baqir, and of the third ecclesiastical authority Mulla Murtada-Quli and others. An iron nail was hammered into the middle of the staircase of the very cell wherein they were imprisoned, and two ropes were hung down. By one rope the Bab was suspended and by the other rope Aqa Muhammad-'Ali, both being firmly bound in such wise that the head of that young man was on the Bab's breast. The surrounding housetops billowed with teeming crowds. A regiment of soldiers ranged itself in three files. The first file fired; then the second file, and then the third file discharged volleys. From the fire of these volleys a mighty smoke was produced. When the smoke cleared away they saw that young man standing and the Bab seated by the side of His amanuensis Aqa Siyyid Husayn in the very cell from the staircase of which they had suspended them. To neither one of them had the slightest injury resulted.
Sam Khan the Christian asked to be excused; the turn of service came to another regiment, and the chief of the farrashes withheld his hand. Aqa Jan Big of Khamsih, colonel of the bodyguard, advanced; and they again bound the Bab together with that young man to the same nail. The Bab uttered certain words which those few who knew Persian understood, while the rest heard but the sound of His voice.
The colonel of the regiment appeared in person: and it was before noon on the twenty-eighth day of Sha'ban in the year [A.H.] one thousand two hundred and sixty-six. Suddenly he gave orders to fire. At this volley the bullets produced such an effect that the breasts [of the victims] were riddled, and their limbs were completely dissected, except their faces, which were but little marred.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Maqaliy-i-Shakhs Sayyah (A Traveller's Narrative), 1886 ca. -- AB00003)
04
Mr. Latimer: "Was the Babi, Aga Muhammad-'Ali, who was martyred with the Bab, killed with the first volley or the second?"
'Abdu'l-Baha: "With the first one he was killed. He was mutilated. But the body of His Holiness the Bab was not hit by the first discharge."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Latimer, Esslemont, Randall et al, spoken on 1919-Nov-19 -- ABU0913)
05
For this, that remarkable Personality was imprisoned by the Persian government. Eventually, by order of the government He was martyred. The account of this martyrdom, briefly stated, is as follows: He was suspended in a square as a target and shot to death.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Hotel Sacramento on 1912-Oct-25 -- ABU0040)
06
Likewise the Bab - may my spirit be sacrificed for Him - was for a time imprisoned in the fortresses and strongholds of that land and was suspended in the field of sacrifice, His mirror-like breast becoming the target of a thousand bullets and His pure body falling in pieces to the ground.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1900 or <, to Baha'is of Adharbayjan -- AB00562)
07
The Bab and Baha'u'llah over sixty years ago proclaimed the glad tidings of universal peace. The Bab was martyred in the Cause of God. Baha'u'llah suffered forty years as a prisoner and exile in order that the Kingdom of love might be established in the East and West.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at the MacNutt home on 1912-Apr-12 -- ABU0126)
08
Especially the Bab (may my spirit be sacrificed for Him) - His blessed breast became the target of a thousand bullets.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Najjar, Ustad Ibrahim brother of Ustad Isma'il et al -- AB01426)
09
Consider what station that Sun of Reality and Reality of Divinity (may my spirit, my being and my essence be sacrificed for His body) chose for Himself, that they hung Him in public and fired a thousand bullets at His blessed breast.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Mirza Siyyid Muhammad Afnan (Aqa Mirza Aqa Nurud-Din) -- AB01358)
10
God's Love it was that sustained the Bab and brought him to his supreme sacrifice, and made his bosom the willing target for a thousand bullets.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1911-Nov-08 in Paris -- ABU0984)
11
The Bab taught for six years and was two years in exile and prison. When finally He hung on that fatal wall in the public square, His breast the target for a thousand bullets, His thoughts were of those who were to carry on the teachings of God's Kingdom on earth--the faithful followers of the Light.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Siyyid Asadollah around March 1912 -- ABU1874)
12
For instance, had the Bab (may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him) spent His days in the affairs of this mortal world, would that have been better than spending them in the path of God, enduring afflictions, tribulations and calamities, and ultimately drinking the cup of martyrdom?
The Holy Manifestations and previous Prophets suffered greatly, but for limited days.
Verily, the oppressor [King of Persia] slew the Beloved of the Worlds [the Báb] that he might thereby extinguish the light of God among His creatures and deprive mankind of the pure water of life in the days of his Lord, the Mighty, the Kind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the Baha'is at Parsons home in Washington, 1912-Nov-07 -- ABU0336)
14
For twelve hundred years the people of the Furqan clung to vain imaginings and idle fancies, depriving the servants of God from all the infinite divine bounties and heavenly sustenance, such that, as was witnessed, those imaginings and fancies caused the martyrdom of the Primal Point, may the spirit of all else but Him be sacrificed for His sake. I swear by the Sun of certitude that those fancies have been and will continue to be the cause and reason for the kindling of the fire of tyranny throughout the world.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1298-09 [1881-Jul], to Farajullah -- BH05094)
15
Say: "Verily, He Who came unto you by the name of 'Ali was the Herald of this Most Great, Most Glorious Manifestation, and His Most Exalted Pen moved only in My remembrance and praise, and there flowed from His ink naught but this wise Remembrance, until He sacrificed His soul in My love that ye might not commit in the time of the Manifestation what the people of the Furqan, and before them the people of the Torah and the Gospel, committed."
Until He was martyred in My path, along with those who were with Him among the guides of His Self, and all returned to that from which they were created by their Lord's command, and all at that moment rejoice in My knowledge.
(The Báb, Ziyarat for the first [to believe], 1264-1265 [1848-1849] -- BB00666)
17
On the Day of Resurrection during the days of the Exalted One, may my spirit be sacrificed for Him, it raised a tumult and clamor but was silenced by the supreme martyrdom.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1901 or <, to Mirza Ali Bunakdar -- AB02895)
18
After the Bab's breast became the target of a thousand bullets, instead of spending his days with weeping eyes and a burning heart and lamentations, he occupied himself with multiplying wives.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1914-Aug ca., to Maude M Holbach -- AB01065)
19
After the martyrdom of His Holiness the Exalted One [the Bab], Mirza Sa'id Khan wrote a letter, stating, "This movement has ended and none are left except the Blessed Beauty." He wrote this when Mirza Yayha was around.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken on 1914-Jul-13 -- ABU1033)
20
His Holiness the Bab and nearly all his followers were martyred. Upon the death of the Bab, Mirza Yahya, my uncle, who had been appointed viceregent of the Bab, fled, and thus the Babi movement was virtually ended, however there are a few Babis today.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Oct-21 in San Francisco -- ABU0327)
21
Then He added: "When the Bab was martyred the friends were grief-stricken and disheartened while the enemies were greatly rejoicing, saying 'Praise be to God, the Bab was martyred.' But had the Bab not been martyred, the Blessed Beauty would not have declared His Cause.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Nuru'd-Din Mumtazi et al in May 1920 -- ABU2218)
22
You thought that if you martyred the Exalted One (may the spirit of all worlds be sacrificed for Him), this foundation would collapse. You fired a thousand bullets into His pure breast, then saw that the Cause of God appeared more strongly and its light shone more brightly, until it has now reached Istanbul.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1920-Aug-22, to Baha'is of Istanbul -- AB00416)
23
They said they would wholly annihilate the Cause by destroying the Bab. Could they do so? No, the very martyrdom of the Bab strengthened His Cause a thousand-fold.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to pilgrims, spoken on 1906-Jun-29 -- ABU0997)
24
You were vainly imagining that with the martyrdom of His Holiness the Bab this spiritual lamp would have been died out but contrary to the expectation of all the opposers, its light illumined the horizons of the East and the West.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to some friends, spoken on 1915-May-07 -- ABU1466)
25
Say: After the ascension of the Point, We raised up the Cause. Verily He is the Almighty, the Powerful.
(Bahá’u’lláh, ca. 1289-1290?, to Aqa Siyyid Jafar Afnan son of Khal-i-Asghar -- BH07088)
26
On the day of martyrdom of His Holiness the Exalted One - may my spirit be a sacrifice for His dust - circumambulate the purified shrine on behalf of this servant and with utmost supplication and lamentation seek confirmation and success on behalf of 'Abdu'l-Baha, for the hosts of violation are attacking and the faithless ones are at the height of cruelty.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Mirza Buzurg Afnan Alai -- AB02648)
27
Praise be to God, through the grace and bounty of the Blessed Beauty, on the blessed day of Naw-Ruz the sacred remains of the Primal Point, may my spirit be a sacrifice for Him, were laid to rest with utmost glory and beauty in the blessed casket at the Most Exalted Spot - and this is the greatest glad-tidings.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909-Apr-11, to Haji Mirza Muhammad Yazdi Alaqihband -- AB03378)
28
His Holiness the Bab was martyred in Tabriz before thousands of people, many friends sacrificed their lives, innumerable souls hastened toward the arena of self-immolation, persecutions and hardships descended upon the believers like hailstorm, still the people are not awakened nor are they made mindful ...
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken on 1915-Apr-19 -- ABU0159)
The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.
29
O thou who art attracted to the Truth! What thou hadst written was read and recited, and with utmost joy and fragrance its meaning and contents were pondered, for it brought glad tidings of unity and harmony among the friends, and heralded fellowship, oneness and love between the beloved ones.
I swear by the holy dust of the Blessed Threshold that it brought such joy as is beyond description, for the Exalted One - may my spirit be sacrificed for His most pure blood - hastened to the field of martyrdom with utmost joy, and the holy souls sacrificed themselves with perfect gladness, and the Ancient Beauty and the Most Great Name - may my spirit, my being and my essence be sacrificed for His pure threshold - accepted all tribulations and trials, from beating and assault, chains and fetters, captivity and exile and banishment, prison and imprisonment, so that souls might be raised up who would become manifestations of true fellowship and dawning-places of heartfelt, sincere love.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Haji Mirza Muhammad et al -- AB03200)
30
Yet the ungodly denied Him and called Him a sorcerer, even though He was the Bearer of Glad Tidings from God - glorified be His majesty - and gave all people the glad tidings of the Days of God. All turned away and issued verdicts for the shedding of His most pure blood. The Primal Point appeared from the Dawning Place of God's Will with divine majesty from the unseen realm into the visible world, and gave tidings of this blessed and wondrous Day. Yet they denied Him and arose in opposition, and finally martyred Him through the verdict of the abominable Shi'ih divines.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1306 ? [1888-1889], to Aqa Radi -- BH04898)
31
Today is the day of flame and fire, of radiance and surging forth. The Exalted One and Primal Point, may my spirit be sacrificed for Him, made His blessed breast the target of a hundred thousand bullets.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Mirza Abdu'llah Nuri -- AB01801)
32
His Holiness the Exalted One [the Bab] was martyred though He was the quintessence of meekness.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends spoken in Dec. 1907 -- ABU0915)
33
However, since in the blessed days these two holy days were observed on the fifth of Jumada I and the twenty-eighth of Sha'ban, and the loved ones would present themselves in the Most Holy Court, expressing joy on the Day of Declaration and showing intense grief and sorrow in the countenance of the Blessed Beauty on the Day of Martyrdom, we therefore continue to observe these two days on these two dates until now.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-Jan-16, to Abbas Qabil -- AB05139)
34
He was imprisoned at Shiraz, then went to Isfahan, was afterward confined in a fortress at Makow and finally executed in a public square of Tabriz. This supreme martyrdom raised his banner yet higher and heightened the power of divine manifestation on earth, for the reality which is reflected is the same from the beginning.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the friends at Dreyfus home in Paris, 1913-May-23 -- ABU0127)
How does remembrance change when the purpose assigned to suffering is the growth of fellowship and love?
What can we learn from reading a historical narrative, a lament, and a reported conversation alongside one another without forcing their details into a single account?
How does Stephen’s prayer for his attackers invite reflection on the relationship between steadfastness and forgiveness?
What might it mean for an attempt to extinguish a spiritual movement to strengthen it instead?
How could a community’s observance of an anniversary express care for people living in the present?