The Báb is Brought to Tabríz

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DB 23

Section 1

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Section One: The Báb is Brought to Tabríz

The Amír-Kabír decides to execute the Báb

The Amír-Kabír, the Grand Vazír of the Sháh, had been watching with chagrin the outcome of the various Bábí upheavals, in Mázindarán [Fort Shaykh Tabarsí], in Yazd, in Nayríz and in Zanján. It didn’t seem to matter that the forces opposing the Bábís were overwhelming and that many were brutally killed; their spirit could not be broken. He therefore decided the only way to kill off the Bábí movement was to remove its very source. He decided to order the execution of the Báb.

Although he had already made his decision, the Amír-Kabír assembled his ministers to get their formal opinions on it. Only one minister, Mírzá Áqá Khán-i-Núrí, who will later become the next Grand Vazír replacing the Amír-Kabír, suggested this might not be the best path forward.

The plans to execute the Báb were initially kept secret by the Amír-Kabír and his ministers. They could not directly charge the Báb with treason or leading a rebellion, so they wanted a religious decree condemning the Báb as a heretic against the interests of Islam and the country. This religious ruling [a fatwá

] would be the official order for His execution, and this is what they worked to get from the leading ‘ulamá in Tabríz.

The Báb knows what is coming

Forty days before the officers arrived at Chihríq to take Him to Tabríz, the Báb collected all His documents, and together with His pen-case, His seals, and His agate ring, placed them in a coffer. He entrusted that coffer to Mullá Báqir, one of the Letters of the Living [DB 3, Section 3], and told him to deliver it, together with a letter which contained the keys to the coffer, to Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím of Qazvín. The Báb had emphasized to Mullá Báqir the sacredness of this trust and told him to