believed were wealthy, for the purposes of personal benefit. These were then subjected to acts of unspeakable cruelty. Nabíl records:
They were paraded at first through the streets of Nayríz, after which they were subjected to atrocious treatment in the hope of extracting from them whatever material advantage their persecutors had hitherto been unable to obtain. These having satisfied their greed, each victim was made to suffer an agonising death. Every instrument of torture their executioners could devise was utilised to quench their thirst for revenge. They were branded, their nails were pulled out, their bodies were lashed, an incision was made in the nose through which a string was driven, nails were hammered into their hands and feet, and in that piteous state each of them was dragged through the streets, an object of contempt and derision to all the people.
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Another historian records:
His [Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín’s] hatred knew no bounds and it was to last as long as he lived … Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín Khán had entrusted them to a guard who was ordered to walk them through the city beating them as they went. The people of Nayríz were greatly entertained that time. They hung the Bábí’s by four nails and everyone came to gloat over their anguish. They placed burning weeds under the nails of these unfortunate martyrs, they branded them with hot irons, they deprived them of bread and water, they cut holes through their noses, and running through them a cord they led them as one would a bear!
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The darkness of human ignorance versus the light of Divine love
From the many tales of inhuman persecution of the Bábís of Nayríz, what is most enlightening is how ignorance and selfishness can darken one set of hearts, while Divine love overcomes human frailties and brightens the hearts that are open to it. Whether a heart is darkened or lit is not related to what humans profess or norms of the day. It shows itself in times of tests and sacrifice, where we see individuals making the very difficult choices. This was perhaps most markedly exhibited in the cases of individuals that the people of Nayríz first greatly honoured and then turned against. These individuals who had the power and following of people, could easily have chosen the path of material and self-seeking welfare, but instead chose
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