CHAPTER 4 THE FIRST MARTYR

Lady Sheil, whose husband was the British envoy in Ṭihrán,[BC] states in her book, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, that the Báb declared His mission in Káẓimayn, near Baghdád, and that 'Incensed at this blasphemy, the Turkish authorities issued orders for his execution, but he was claimed by the Persian consul as a subject of the Shah, and sent to his native place'.[1] Obviously Lady Sheil was confused. She had heard of the arrest of Mullá `Alíy-i-Basṭámí in `Iráq and of his imprisonment. She mistook him for the Báb.

Mullá `Alí, as we have seen, was directed to `Iráq by the Báb, and took with him a copy of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the commentary on the Súrih of Yúsuf (Joseph). The news and the message that he gave aroused eager interest and ready response from his hearers. But hostile reaction was also swift. It was Mullá `Alí who, in Karbilá, informed Qurratu'l-`Ayn of the advent of the Báb. He was not at liberty to mention His Name. We do not know whether, in view of the fact that Qurratu'l-`Ayn had been elevated to the high and honoured position of a Letter of the Living, Mullá `Alí gave her any information other than the tidings of the appearance of the Báb. The disciples of Siyyid Káẓim were in a much stronger position there than in Najaf, in spite of the fact that in Karbilá they had a redoubtable opponent in the person of Siyyid Ibráhím-i-Qazvíní. There in Karbilá, Mullá `Alí remained safe. But the story was different in Najaf. Nabíl-i-A`ẓam writes:

In the presence of Shaykh Muḥammad-Ḥasan, one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics of shí`ah Islám, and in the face of a distinguished company of his disciples, Mullá `Alí announced fearlessly the manifestation of the Báb, the Gate whose advent they were eagerly awaiting. 'His proof,' he declared, 'is His Word; His testimony, none other than the testimony with which Islám seeks to vindicate its truth. From the pen of this unschooled Háshimite Youth of Persia there have streamed, within the space of forty-eight hours, as great a number of verses, of prayers, of homilies, and scientific treatises, as would equal in volume the whole of the Qur'án, which it took Muḥammad, the Prophet of God, twenty-three years to reveal!' That proud and fanatic leader, instead of welcoming, in an age of darkness and prejudice, these life-giving evidences of a new-born Revelation, forthwith pronounced Mullá `Alí a heretic and expelled him from the assembly. His disciples and followers, even the Shaykhís, who already testified to Mullá `Alí's piety, sincerity, and learning, endorsed, unhesitatingly, the judgment against him. The disciples of Shaykh Muḥammad-Ḥasan, joining hands with their adversaries, heaped upon him untold indignities. They eventually delivered him, his hands bound in chains, to an official of the Ottoman government, arraigning him as a wrecker of Islám, a calumniator of the Prophet, an instigator of mischief, a disgrace to the Faith, and worthy of the penalty of death. He was taken to Baghdád under the escort of government officials, and was cast into prison by the governor of that city.[2]

Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafáy-i-Baghdádí,[3] in a short autobiography which he wrote at the instance of Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍí, describes Mullá `Alí's arrival in `Iráq and the events which followed:

The messenger, Mullá `Alí al-Basṭámí,[BD] reached Kúfih in the year A.H. 1260 [A.D. 1844] and distributed books, treatises and tablets amongst the divines. Due to this a body of the divines in Najaf and Karbilá were seized with consternation. They arose in opposition and stirred themselves to vociferous denunciation. The Government hearing of what had transpired, became concerned lest disorders might ensue, and deemed it politic to imprison the messenger, confiscate the books and tablets in his possession and send him to the seat of the province, that is Baghdád. The Válí, at that time, was Najíb Páshá, the same man who captured Karbilá....[BE]

When the messenger reached Baghdád the Válí kept him in prison and placed the books and the treatises in the council-chamber. My father, Shaykh Muḥammad, visited the messenger every day in the prison, and heard the Word of God from him for three months. Whatever he heard he imparted to those who were seekers, so that, during this short time, a large number of people came to believe. Shaykh Bashír an-Najafí was one of them, a mujtahid seventy-five years old. Then there were Shaykh Sulṭán al-Karbilá'í and a group with him in Karbilá; Siyyid Muḥammad-Ja`far, Siyyid Ḥasan Ja`far, and Siyyid `Alí Bishr and a group with him in the town of Káẓimíyyah; Shaykh Muḥammad Shibl [the author's father], Siyyid Muḥsin al-Káẓimí, Shaykh Ṣáliḥ al-Karímí and a group with them of villagers like Shaykh `Abbás, Mullá Maḥmúd, `Abdu'l-Hádí and Mihdí....

When the Government noticed that the Cause was gaining ground day by day, the afore-mentioned Válí, Najíb Páshá, ordered the divines of all the regions to come to Baghdád....[4] They summoned my father, Shaykh Muḥammad, to present himself. But my father left Baghdád in disguise, because he had learned that the Válí intended to make him give witness against the Cause of the Day of Judgment. They brought the messenger to this terrible assembly and asked him who the Lord of the Cause was. He answered: 'The awaited Spirit of Truth hath come. He is the One promised in the Books of God.' Then he read them some verses and prayers and called upon them to believe. It went hard with them to accept the Cause. They arose to deny and to reject it, full of haughtiness. They agreed to denounce the messenger as a heretic and passed the sentence of death upon him, and thus ended that assemblage of ill omen. The Válí sent the account of the proceedings to the Sublime Porte, whence came the orders that the messenger should be sent in fetters, together with his books, to the capital. The messenger languished for six months in the gaol of Baghdád and was then dispatched to the Sublime Porte, under escort, by way of Mosul. The fame of the Cause was noised abroad in Mosul, and when he passed Mosul nothing more was heard of him.[5]

The circumstances of Mullá `Alí's arrest were also noted by Major Henry Rawlinson,[6] then British Political Agent in Baghdád, who, on January 8th 1845, reported to Sir Stratford Canning, the Ambassador in Istanbul:

I have the honor to report for Your Excellency's information the following circumstances which are at present causing much excitement at this place, and which threaten in their consequences to give rise to renewed misunderstanding between the Persian & Turkish Govts.

About three months ago, an inferior priest of Shiraz appeared in Kerbela, bearing a copy of the Koran, which he stated to have been delivered to him, by the forerunner of the Imam Mehdi, to be exhibited in token of his approaching advent. The book proved on examination to have been altered and interpolated in many essential passages, the object being, to prepare the Mohammedan world for the immediate manifestation of the Imam, and to identify the individual to whom the emendations of the text were declared to have been revealed, as his inspired & true precursor. It was in consequence pronounced by a part of the Sheeah divines at Nejef and Kerbela, to be a blasphemous production, and the priest of Shiraz was warned by them of the danger; which he incurred in giving currency to its contents—but a considerable section nevertheless of the Sheeahs of Nejef, who under the name of Usúlí, or 'Transcendentalists', have lately risen into notice as the disciples of the High Priest Sheikh Kazem, and who are in avowed expectation of the speedy advent of the Imam, adopted the proposed readings, and declared themselves ready to join the Precursor; as soon as he should appear amongst them—These parties owing to local dissensions, were shortly afterwards denounced to the Govt. by the orthodox Sheeas as heretics, and attention being thus drawn to the perverted copy of the Koran, upon which they rested their belief, the volume was seized & its bearer being brought to Bagdad, was cast into prison, as a blasphemer against Islam and a disturber of the public peace. [BF][7]

Mullá `Alí was the first martyr of the Bábí Faith. Though his arrest and sufferings lasted only a few months, he was the centre of conjecture, the subject of official report, and the cause of increased rancour between the Sunní and Shí`ah sects, and the Ottoman and Iranian governments. European officials who were drawn into this obscure drama included Major Rawlinson, who submitted frequent and lengthy reports to Sir Stratford Canning in Istanbul and Lt.-Col. Sheil in Ṭihrán, and received their advice and instructions; M. de Titow, Russian envoy in Istanbul who joined Canning in urging the Sublime Porte to restrain Najíb Páshá from putting 'the Persian Priest' to death, and instead to inflict on him only 'the mildest punishment consistent with the public tranquillity'; and Lord Aberdeen, the British Foreign Secretary in London, who was apprised of the final outcome.

Although the dispatches of Major Rawlinson are in certain aspects subject to grave reservations, for his knowledge was sometimes meagre and at second hand, even inaccurate, they do portray the agitation, confusion and opposition created by the claim of the Báb and the teaching of Mullá `Alí. Thus he wrote to Canning:

The Soonnee Priesthood have taken up the case in a rancorous spirit of bigotry, and their inveteracy has enlisted the sympathies of the entire Sheeah sect, in favor of the imprisoned Persian ... the question has now become one of virulent contest, between the Soonee & Sheeah sects, or which is the same thing in this part of the Ottoman Empire, between the Turkish & Persian population....[8]

It was the Governor (Válí) of Baghdád, Najíb Páshá, who bore the responsibility of controlling these passions; but being himself a fanatical Sunní, he was resolved that the Shí`ahs should submit to the Sunní authority, and determined to bar any intrusions of the Persians into the affairs of his Páshálik.[BG] Nevertheless, as reported by Rawlinson:

Nejib Pasha at the same time, to give all due formality to his proceedings, and to divest the affair of the appearance of mere sectarian persecution, has brought in the chief Priests from Nejef & Kerbela, to hold a solemn Court of Inquisition in conjunction with the heads of the Soonnee religion in Bagdad, but I do not anticipate much benefit from this compulsory & most unwilling attendance of the former parties—They will probably make an effort to save the life of their unfortunate countryman, proposing the banishment of the messenger and of the heads of the Usúlí sect, as the simplest method of suppressing the heresy, but they will be intimidated & overruled....[9]

Indeed, such an unwieldy court of Sunní and Shí`ah divines could come to no agreement about Mullá `Alí's punishment. On January 16th 1845, Rawlinson wrote to Sheil, in Ṭihrán:

The Court of Inquisition convened for the trial of the Persian priest, was held on Monday last [January 13th], H.E. Nejib Pasha presiding, and Moola Abdool Azeez being also present, to afford his countenance to the accused—The perverted copy of the Koran being produced in Court, was unanimously condemned as a blasphemous production, and parties avowing a belief in the readings which it continued [sic], were declared to be liable to the punishment of death—It was then argued whether or not the Shirazee had thus avowed his belief in a blasphemous production—he himself distinctly repudiated the charge, and although witnesses were brought forward, who stated that he had in their presence declared his adoption of the spurious text, of which he was the bearer, yet as there was reason to suspect the fidelity of their evidence, the Sheeah divines were disposed to give him the benefit of his present disavowal—After much discussion the Soonee law-officers adjudged the culprit to be convicted of blasphemy & passed sentence of death on him accordingly, while the Sheeahs returned a verdict, that he was only guilty of the dissemination of blasphemy, & liable in consequence to no heavier punishment than imprisonment or banishment....

To this Rawlinson added:

I understand that considerable uneasiness is beginning to display itself at Kerbela & Nejef, in regard to the expected manifestation of the Imam, and I am apprehensive that the measures now in progress will rather increase than allay the excitement. [BH][10]

The personal intervention of Najíb Páshá had served also to influence the course of events in another way. By referring the matter to the Sublime Porte, he prevented the extradition of the Persian prisoner to his native land, as requested by the Iranian Prime Minister, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí.

A similar request for the transfer of Mullá `Alí to Persian jurisdiction was made to Major Rawlinson by the Governor of Kirmánsháh, Muḥibb-`Alí Khán, for, as he wrote:

In the first place it is improper to arrest and imprison anyone on a mere accusation, which may be true or false,—and in the second place, supposing that he (the Shirázee) were guilty; as a subject of the exalted Govt. of Persia, he ought not to be subject to arrest—if his crime were proved, his punishment should be that of banishment from the Turkish territory—I have therefore considered it necessary to represent this matter to you my friend, and to request that, as a well wisher to the preservation of friendship between the two Governments, You will communicate with H. Excy. Nejib Pasha on the subject, and will suggest to him, that if the guilt of the Persian be fully substantiated, he may be sent to Kermanshah, in order that I may transfer him to Tehran for punishment—and if on the other hand, the accusations against him prove to be malicious and without foundation, he may be at once released and set at liberty.

Under any circumstances his continued imprisonment is unbecoming and contrary (to custom).[11]

This request was duly submitted by Rawlinson to Najíb Páshá but, as the Governor had already referred the matter to the Sublime Porte after the religious court's examination, the prisoner remained in Turkish custody.

It was on April 15th that Rawlinson reported to Canning that 'Nejib Pasha received orders by yesterday's post to transmit to Constantinople the Persian priest who has been in confinement for the last 3 months at Bagdad.... His Excy. is preparing to obey these instructions with all available despatch.' He also says in the same letter:

... [the] more in fact these Mujtiheds[BI] are degraded by the Turkish Govt., the more complete, I think, will be their ascendancy over the minds of their disciples and the only results, therefore, which are likely to attend the proscription of their public duties, are the more complete isolation of the Persian community of this province, and an increase of the rancorous feeling with which the dominant Soonee party is regarded—[12]

On the last day of April, Rawlinson wrote once more to Canning:

I take this opportunity of reporting that the Persian priest of Shiraz so long detained in confinement at this place, was sent a prisoner to Constantinople in company with the Tartar [BJ] who conveyed the last Bagdad post.[13]

Meanwhile, as early as February, Major Rawlinson came to an erroneous conclusion about the Báb, which subsequent events belied. He wrote to Canning on the 18th:

... the excitement which has been for some time prevalent in this vicinity among the Sheeah sect in connection with the expected manifestation of the Imam Mehdi, is beginning gradually to subside, the impostor who personated the character of the forerunner of the Imam ... having been deterred by a sense of personal danger from a further prosecution of the agitation, which he set on foot at Kerbela in the Autumn on his passage from Persia to Mecca.[14]

He was also in error in stating to Sheil, ten days later, that 'the impostor ... joined as a private individual the Caravan of pilgrims which is travelling to Persia by the route of Damascus and Aleppo'.[15]

In considering this episode of the arrest, imprisonment and banishment of the first Bábí martyr, there are four aspects which deserve special note. First is the fact that while the Bábís in Shíráz were being punished by Ḥusayn Khán, Governor of the province of Fárs,[BK] the Persian Government was trying to rescue Mullá `Alí in Baghdád. Secondly, whereas the Shí`ah divines were demanding a light punishment, the Sunnís were clamouring for the death penalty. A third point, important to students of the Bábí Faith, is that from the earliest stage of its history rumours and misinformation about the Báb abounded. It is also of considerable interest that this episode was reported to Lord Aberdeen, the British Foreign Secretary in London.

As to Mullá `Alí, what precisely happened to him, how and where he died and where he was interred, have all remained mysteries. It has been said that he died in the prison of Karkúk, but no definite proof exists. He was the first of the concourse of martyrs whose numbers were soon to swell into hundreds and thousands.