Table of Contents
Your faith must be immovable as the rock, must weather every storm and survive every calamity. ⊠You are the first to leave the House of God, and to suffer for His sake. If you be slain in His path, remember that great will be your reward, and goodly the gift which will be bestowed upon you.
120ACT2
As soon as these words were uttered, MullĂĄ âAlĂy-i-BastĂĄmĂ jumped on his feet, bade his farewell and set out on his mission. Just as the Bab had prophesied MullĂĄ âAlĂy-i-BastĂĄmĂ will become the first BĂĄbĂ to suffer persecution for the Cause of God. 121ACT2 He will also become the first BĂĄbi to be martyred; although his martyrdom will occur in Constantinople [Ottoman empire] and not on Persian soil. 122ACT2
The other fourteen were assigned by the BĂĄb to their own native province as the field of their work. At dawn the next day, they all left ShĂrĂĄz, each resolved to carry out their sacred mission. TĂĄhirih, who is in KarbalĂĄâ, received her instructions in a letter delivered to her by MĂrzĂĄ Muhammad-âAlĂy-i-QazvĂnĂ her cousin/brother-in-law who was now also a Letter of the Living. 123ACT2
The remaining two Letters of the Living, the first and the last, MullĂĄ Husayn and QuddĂșs, were directed to different paths. The BĂĄb had previously indicated that He planned to go on pilgrimage to Mecca and MedĂna and that He would take one of the Letters of the Living with Him. MullĂĄ Husayn had hoped it would be him but the BĂĄb chose QuddĂșs instead. He consoled MullĂĄ Husayn with these words and instructions:Â
Grieve not that you have not been chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to HijĂĄz. I shall, instead, direct your steps to that city which enshrines a Mystery of such transcendent holiness as neither HijĂĄz nor
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