The Storm makes Landfall at Báfurúsh

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Section 2

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Section Two: The Storm makes Landfall at Bárfurúsh

Bárfurúsh: A misguided populace led by hate and fear

As the news reached Bárfurúsh of the approach of the band of Bábís led by Mullá Husayn under the Black Standard, the clergy of the town panicked. The head cleric of Bárfurúsh, the Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá

[head of the ‘ulamá], was an exceedingly power-hungry, scheming and vicious person. He called all the townspeople to the masjid

[mosque] and put on an act which used the age-old trick of appealing to the prejudice, blindness and fear of an ignorant population, to incite them to do what he wanted. Nabíl records this:

An immense crowd of men and women thronged the masjid, saw him ascend the pulpit, fling his turban to the ground, tear open the neck of his shirt, and bewail the plight into which the Faith had fallen. “Awake,” he thundered from the pulpit, “for our enemies stand at our very doors, ready to wipe out all that we cherish as pure and holy in Islám! Should we fail to resist them, none will be left to survive their onslaught. …

It is the duty of all the inhabitants of Bárfurúsh, both young and old, both men and women, to arm themselves against these contemptible wreckers of Islám, and by every means in their power to resist their onset. Tomorrow, at the hour of dawn, let all of you arise and march out to exterminate their forces.”

The entire congregation arose in response to his call. They assembled arms, ammunition and any other weapon they could devise, and set out at the break of day from the town.

“Not until the aggressor forces us to protect ourselves must our swords leave their scabbards”

It was at the outskirts of Bárfurúsh, where Mullá Husayn and his companions encountered the armed multitude from that town. The companions, in the face of the uproar of this angry populace, began to unsheathe their swords. Mullá Husayn, however commanded: