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put on duty as sentinels per barricade.44_ACT14 As the enemy bombarded the walls and turrets of the fort, they were rapidly rebuilt from the inside by those assigned to that work. Somehow food was obtained and smuggled into the fort,45_ACT14 although as the siege proceeded, this became very meagre.46_ACT14 It was not just the men, young and old, but the women, teenagers and even children that played a role in keeping the life in the fort moving ahead. One historical analysis states:
The Babis were well organized, and women sewed, baked, nursed the wounded, built and repaired barricades, and gathered spent bullets and cannonballs for reuse. Children helped as well. Occasionally, women extinguished the fuses on shells fired into the Babi positions, using wet blankets kept ready for this task. 47_ACT14
Although usually the women would not directly fight, we shall see that as their men fell, some of the besieged Bábí women of Zanján did take up arms against the attackers.
48_ACT14
The Call of God is raised from the Fort
One day, during the long months of the siege, Hujjat directed the companions in the fort to carry out an injunction of the Báb, to repeat nineteen times the following names of God:
Alláh-u-Akbar [God the Great]
Alláh-u-A’zam [God the Most Great]
Alláh-u-Ajmal [God the Most Beauteous]
Alláh-u-Abhá [God the Most Glorious]
Alláh-u-Athar [God the Most Pure]
49_ACT14
Alláh-u-A’zam
Alláh-u-Ajmal
Alláh-u-Abhá
Alláh-u-Athar
The very night Hujjat’s direction was received, in the dark of the night, all the defenders in the fort joined in simultaneously shouting out these names of God. So loud and compelling was this calling, that the soldiers who were camped outside
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