‘Abdu’l-Hamíd Khán and his men did as they were ordered. In the middle of the night, they quietly broke into Hájí Mírzá Siyyid ‘Alí’s house [the Báb’s middle uncle’s residence where the Báb was now staying]. They found the Báb in the company of His middle uncle and a believer Siyyid Kázim of Zanján 4ACT5 . They arrested them, collected whatever documents they could find, and beat the uncle so severely that it would take him several months to recover.5ACT5
They ordered the uncle to remain in his house and took the Báb and Siyyid Kázim of Zanján to put their execution plans into effect. As they were being taken, the Báb, undaunted, was heard to calmly repeat this verse of the Qur’án:
That with which they are threatened is for the morning.
Is not the morning near?
6ACT5
“Is not the morning near?”
No sooner had the chief constable and his prisoners reached the marketplace than they discovered people were fleeing on every side in panic. They saw long trains of coffins being hurriedly transported through the streets, each followed by a procession of men and women loudly uttering shrieks of agony and pain. When they asked what was going on, they were told:
This very night, a plague of exceptional virulence has broken out. We are smitten by its devastating power. Already since the hour of midnight it has extinguished the lives of over a hundred people. Alarm and despair reign in every house. The people are abandoning their homes, and in their plight are invoking the aid of the Almighty.
7ACT5
‘Abdu’l-Hamíd Khán, the chief constable, ran to the home of Husayn Khán. He was met at the door of the house by the doorkeeper who told him the house was deserted. Apparently, several of the servants had already died this night and Husayn Khán’s family members had also gotten dangerously ill, so in despair, Husayn Khán had fled with the rest of his family to another residence outside the city, leaving the dead unburied here.
Table of Contents
