Table of Contents
Section Three: “Not until … ”
The Amír-Kabír’s brother, Mírzá Hasan Khán, had already been working to get the three leading mujtahids of Tabríz to issue the death-warrants for the Báb.16_ACT13 A mujtahid is someone who is recognized as being learned in Islamic law and can issue an authorized religious judicial ruling, a fatwá .
The death fatwás
It was the morning of July 9, 1850. As part of the formality of getting the death fatwás, the farrásh-báshí [the head attendant/warden] and guards now took the Báb to the three mujtahids of Tabríz who were to pronounce their judgement on Him. Mullá Muhammad-i-Mámaqání was the first of these. Mámaqání had made himself the head of the Shaykhís in that region. We have encountered him before, as the one-eyed unfaithful disciple of Siyyid Kázim who was foreseen by Siyyid Kázim to cause great harm DB 17-18, Section 2]. He was part of the group that interrogated the Báb when He was summoned to Tabríz about two years before. Nabíl records what happened when the Báb was brought before him now:
No sooner had he [Mámaqání] recognised Him [the Báb] than he seized the death-warrant [fatwá] he himself had previously written and, handing it to his attendant, bade him deliver it to the farrásh-báshí. “No need,” he cried, “to bring the Siyyid-i-Báb into my presence. This death-warrant I penned the very day I met him at the gathering presided over by the Valí-‘Ahd [heir to the throne]. He surely is the same man whom I saw on that occasion, and has not, in the meantime, surrendered any of his claims.”17_ACT13
The same pattern was repeated with the other two mujtahids of Tabríz.
Attempts to convince Anís
Alongside the Báb, the young Anís was also brought to the mujtahids. This was because Anís’ stepfather was himself a leading mujtahid of Tabríz. The stepfather together with Anis’ older brother and other members of Anis’ family had made every effort to make him separate himself from the Báb.18_ACT13 They even brought his
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