Portraits – Page 48 – Dawn Breakers

believers coming to see Him (Dawn-Breakers Chapter 13, p245-249). Following Máh-Kú, he continues to accompany the Báb to the prison of Chihríq (Dawn-Breakers Chapter 17, p307). He was present in Tabríz at the interrogation of the Báb, where the Báb publicly announces: “I am, I am, I am the Promised One!” (Dawn-Breakers Chapter 18, p315-316).

Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí was also related to another Bábí from Zunúz, the young man Muhammad ‘Alíy-i-Zunúzí, surnamed Anís, who in later years is martyred with the Báb. Anís’ father (who was not a believer in the Báb) had asked Shaykh Hasan to talk some sense into Anís who wanted to go join the Báb in Chihríq. The account Nabíl gives about Anís and his dream of being martyred with the Báb was related by Shaykh Hasan to Nabíl (Dawn-Breakers Chapter 17, p307-308).

Siyyid Kázim’s prophecy to Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí had a further dimension that was fulfilled later. This is related by Nabíl in Dawn-Breakers Chapter 2, p31-33. While in the prison of Chihríq, when the great encounter at Fort Shaykh Tabarsí had started, the Báb bade all His companions to hasten to that place and join that struggle. The Báb told Shaykh Hasan that if He [the Báb] had not been a prisoner in Chihríq, He Himself would also have gone to Tabarsí. Then the Báb said to Shaykh Hasan:

Participation in that struggle is not enjoined upon you. You should proceed to Karbilá and should abide in that holy city, inasmuch as you are destined to behold, with your own eyes, the beauteous countenance of the promised Husayn. As you gaze upon that radiant face, do also remember Me. Convey to Him the expression of My loving devotion.

He again emphatically added these words:

Verily I say, I have entrusted you with a great mission. Beware lest your heart grow faint, lest you forget the glory with which I have invested you.

Soon after this prophecy of the Báb, Shaykh Hasan left Chihríq and went to Karbalá’ as commanded by the Báb. He worked there as a scribe, but his life was hard due to the persecution the Bábís faced. He was there when the Báb was martyred (9 July 1850) and he remained at his post in obedience to the command of the Báb to him. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until the day of 5 October 1851. Nabíl recounts what Shaykh Hasan told him happened that day:

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