Table of Contents
Note on province/city names: In some instances, the name of the main city of the province is the same as the name of the province itself, for example, the city of Yazd is the main city in the province of Yazd, the city of Qazvín is the main city in the province of Qazvín, and the city of Tehran (Tihrán) is the main city in the province of Tehran; but this not always the case, for example, the main city in the province of Fárs is Shíráz, the main city in the province of Razaví Khorasan (Khurásán) is Mashhad, and the main city in the province of East Azerbayjan (Ádhirbáyján) is Tabríz.
Mullá Husayn’s route from Shíráz to the province of Khurásán. Route outlined is an approximation as details of all stops are not known.42ACT3
In contrast to the other areas he had been through, Mullá Husayn found several of the most learned of the clergy in the province of Khurásán to be spiritually awakened. The base for his teaching work was the city of Mashhad. Mashhad is not just the most important city of the province of Khurásán, but also a place of special significance for all Shí’a. It is where Imám Ridá, the eighth of the twelve Holy Imáms of the Shí’a, is buried, and therefore a site of pilgrimage for Shí’a. Because of this, over the years Mashhad had become a centre of Shí’a learning and an important commercial centre too. We will soon see that due to the success of Mullá Husayn’s teaching work, the first Bábí centre known as Bábíyyih is established in Mashhad.
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