Chapter Three: They Became the Letters of the Living

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Section Three: They Became the Letters of the Living

Since the birth of recorded human civilization till May 1844, the fastest long-distance method of communication was the carrier pigeon. On the 24^th of May 1844, Samuel Morse revolutionized communication by sending the first telegram between Baltimore and Washington. The words that were telegraphed were from the Bible: “What hath God wrought” [What has God made!]. What most did not realize was that the true meaning of this verse had just been made manifest in Shíráz on the eve of the 22^nd of May 1844. A spiritual revolution had been begun.

Mullá Husayn – the First Letter of the Living:

Mullá Husayn, the first to discover and recognize the Báb, now returned to the Masjid-i-Ílkhání to his companions. His mind and soul were soaring. In his own words:

The knowledge of His Revelation had galvanised my being. I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to rise against me, I would, alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp.

But Mullá Husayn had to remain silent, because the Báb’s instructions to him were:

Eighteen souls must, in the beginning, spontaneously and of their own accord, accept Me and recognise the truth of My Revelation. Unwarned and uninvited, each of these must seek independently to find Me. … It is incumbent upon you not to divulge, either to your companions or to any other soul, that which you have seen and heard. Be engaged in the Masjid-i-Ílkhání in prayer and in teaching. I, too, will there join you in congregational prayer. Beware lest your attitude towards Me betray the secret of your faith.

Mullá Husayn was the first of these special eighteen souls who of their own accord come to recognize the Báb. They will be declared by the Báb to be the Letters of the

³⁵ Dawn-Breakers Chapter 3, p65

³⁶ Dawn-Breakers Chapter 3, p63