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Zanján – Ashraf and Naqd-‘Alí
Ashraf of Zanján
His full name was Siyyid ‘Alí-Ashraf and he will come to be known as Ashrafu’sh-Shuhadá [Noblest of Martyrs]. His father and mother had stood valiantly under the banner of Hujjat. They were only newly married when the Zanján upheaval broke out, and Ashraf was born in the Fort of ‘Alí-Mardán Khán. His father was martyred during that upheaval, but the new-born Ashraf and his mother survived.
Ashraf was raised by his mother to be a devoted follower of the Báb and later of Bahá’u’lláh. When Bahá’u’lláh was in Adrianople [December 1863 – August 1868], Ashraf went attain His presence. At the end of his second visit to Baháu’lláh, a tablet was revealed for him – called Lawh-i-Ashraf (Tablet to Ashraf). A provisional translation of this tablet can be found on Bahá’í Library: Tablet to Ashraf.
Ashraf’s faith was set doubly ablaze with meeting Bahá’u’’lláh. When he returned to Zanján, he had a room built in which he and his fellow-believer friends would gather to pray and read and transcribe the Writings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. The enemy was however alert and they seized Ashraf together with his friend, Naqd-‘Alí.
Naqd-‘Alí of Zanján
Like Ashraf’s father, Naqd-‘Alí’s father had also died under the banner of Hujjat. Like Ashraf and his mother, Naqd-‘Alí and his mother had survived. And like Ashraf, Naqd-‘Alí was a lover of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. Naqd-‘Alí was physically blind, but Bahá’u’lláh had given him the title of Abú-Basír [the Father of Insight]. Naqd-‘Alí and Ashraf were close friends.
Ashraf and Naqd-‘Alí are martyred
Upon their capture and their refusal to recant their Faith, the ‘ulamá of Zanján issued the order of their execution. It is said of Ashraf, that he was so handsome and so engaging a youth, that many Muslim friends called his mother to come and