Table of Contents
Chapter One: Bahá’u’lláh’s Imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál
The news of the assassination attempt on the Sháh
On 15 August 1852, Bahá’u’lláh was staying in the village of Afchih, Lavásán as a guest of the Grand Vazír’s brother, when the news of the attempt on the life of Násiri’d-Dín Sháh reached Him. The Grand Vazír’s brother sent Him a confidential message urging Him to remain concealed in the neighbourhood, because the mother of the Sháh was denouncing many as potential collaborators of the assassination attempt and Bahá’u’lláh was on that list.
Bahá’u’lláh’s house in Afchih village in Lavásán [just outside Tihrán, in the Shimíránát county]. He was staying here when the news of the attempt on the life of the Sháh reached Him. Archival photo.
Bahá’u’lláh refuses to hide
Bahá’u’lláh refused the hide away as proposed by the Grand Vazír’s brother. The Afchih village in Lavásán was the part of the Grand Vazír’s estate so would have been a safe hiding place. Instead, the next day, Bahá’u’lláh, with calm confidence, rode out from Lavásan to the headquarters of the imperial army stationed in Níyávarán in the Shimírán district.
Bahá’u’lláh’s brother-in-law [Mírzá Majíd-i-Áhí] was the secretary to the Russian minister. The seat of the Russian legation was the village of Zarkandih in the Shimírán district. Bahá’u’lláh went straight to Mírzá Majíd’s Zarkandih residence which adjoined that of the Russian minister. When the court and the Sháh were informed of Bahá’u’lláh’s location, they sent a message that He should be delivered into their hands. The Russian minister refused, instead requesting Bahá’u’lláh to go to the Grand Vazír’s residence. Bahá’u’lláh did accept that request. However, soon after setting out, the officers of the imperial army intervened and arrested Bahá’u’lláh.
Bahá’u’lláh is taken to the Síyáh-Chál
Síyáh-Chál [the Black Pit] was the name given to the prison in Tihrán by the Sháh’s palace. It was the prison to which the worst criminals and those accused of crimes such as treason were sent. As soon as Bahá’u’lláh was outside the Russian legation’s area [Zarkandih village in Shimírán], He was seized by the imperial forces. He was taken on foot to be imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál in Tihrán. Nabíl describes that journey in these words:
From Shimírán to Tihrán, Bahá’u’lláh was several times stripped of His garments, and was overwhelmed with abuse and ridicule. On foot and exposed to the fierce rays of the midsummer sun, He was compelled to cover, barefooted and bareheaded, the whole distance from Shimírán to the dungeon already referred to. All along the route, He was pelted and vilified by the crowds whom His enemies had succeeded in convincing that He was the sworn enemy of their sovereign and the wrecker of his realm. Words fail me to portray the horror of the treatment which was meted out to Him as He was being taken to the Síyáh-Chál of Tihrán. As He was approaching the dungeon, and old and decrepit woman was seen to emerge from the midst of the crowd, with a stone in her hand, eager to cast it at the face of Bahá’u’lláh. Her eyes glowed with a determination and fanaticism of which few women of her age were capable. Her whole frame shook with rage as she stepped forward and raised her hand to hurl her missile at Him. “By the Siyyidu’sh-Shuhadá [Imám Husayn] I adjure you,” she pleaded, as she ran to overtake those into whose hands Bahá’u’lláh had been delivered, “give me a chance to fling my stone in his face!” “Suffer not this woman to be disappointed,” were Bahá’u’lláh’s words to His guards, as He saw her hastening behind Him. “Deny her not what she regards as a meritorious act in the sight of God.”
The Conditions in the Síyáh-Chál
Nabíl describes the conditions in the Síyáh-Chál in these words:
The Síyáh-Chál, into which Bahá’u’lláh was thrown, originally a reservoir of water for one of the public baths of Tihrán, was a subterranean dungeon in which criminals of the worst type were wont to be confined. The darkness, the filth, and the character of the prisoners, combined to make of that pestilential dungeon the most abominable place to which human beings could be condemned. His feet were placed in stocks, and around His neck were fastened the Qará-Guhar chains, infamous throughout Persia for their galling weight. For three days and three nights, no manner of food or drink was given to Bahá’u’lláh. Rest and sleep were both impossible to Him. The place was infested with vermin, and the stench of that gloomy abode was enough to crush the very spirits of those who were condemned to suffer its horrors. Such were the conditions under which He was held down that even one of the executioners who were watching over Him was moved with pity. Several times this man attempted to induce Him to take some tea which he had managed to introduce into the dungeon under the cover of his garments. Bahá’u’lláh, however, would refuse to drink it. His family often endeavoured to persuade the guards to allow them to carry the food they had prepared for Him into His prison. Though at first no amount of pleading would induce the guards to relax the severity of their discipline, yet gradually they yielded to His friends’ importunity. No one could be sure, however, whether that food would eventually reach Him, or whether He would consent to eat it whilst a number of His fellow-prisoners were starving before His eyes.
Many years later, Bahá’u’lláh Himself, described what occurred in that period:
By the righteousness of God! We were in no wise connected with that evil deed [the assassination attempt on the Sháh], and Our innocence was indisputably established by the tribunals. Nevertheless, they apprehended Us, and from Níyávarán, which was then the residence of His Majesty, conducted Us, on foot and in chains, with bared head and bare feet, to the dungeon of Tihrán. A brutal man, accompanying Us on horseback, snatched off Our hat, whilst We were being hurried along by a troop of executioners and officials.
We were consigned for four months to a place foul beyond comparison. As to the dungeon in which this Wronged One and others similarly wronged were confined, a dark and narrow pit were preferable. Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to the place of confinement assigned to Us. The dungeon was wrapped in thick darkness, and Our fellow prisoners numbered nearly a hundred and fifty souls: thieves, assassins and highwaymen. Though crowded, it had no other outlet than the passage by which We entered. No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell. Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on. God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!
Shouldst thou at some time happen to visit the dungeon of His Majesty the Sháh, ask the director and chief jailer to show thee those two chains, one of which is known as Qará-Guhar, and the other as Salásil. I swear by the Daystar of Justice that for four months this Wronged One was tormented and chained by one or the other of them. “My grief exceedeth all the woes to which Jacob gave vent, and all the afflictions of Job are but a part of My sorrows!”
“God is sufficient unto me; He verily is the All-sufficing!”
Nabíl further writes that he had heard Bahá’u’lláh Himself describe the conditions in the Síyáh-Chál and what happened to them in these words:
All those who were struck down by the storm that raged during that memorable year in Tihrán were Our fellow-prisoners in the Síyáh-Chál, where We were confined. We were all huddled together in one cell, our feet in stocks, and around our necks fastened the most galling of chains. The air we breathed was laden with the foulest impurities, while the floor on which we sat was covered with filth and infested with vermin. No ray of light was allowed to penetrate that pestilential dungeon or to warm its icy-coldness. We were placed in two rows, each facing the other. We had taught them to repeat certain verses which, every night, they chanted with extreme fervour. “God is sufficient unto me; He verily is the All-sufficing!” one row would intone, while the other would reply: “In Him let the trusting trust.” The chorus of these gladsome voices would continue to peal out until the early hours of the morning. Their reverberation would fill the dungeon, and, piercing its massive walls, would reach the ears of Násirí’d-Dín Sháh, whose palace was not far distant from the place where we were imprisoned. “What means this sound?” he was reported to have exclaimed. “It is the anthem the Bábís are intoning in their prison,” they replied. The Sháh made no further remarks, nor did he attempt to restrain the enthusiasm his prisoners, despite the horrors of their confinement, continued to display.
“One day, there was brought to Our prison a tray of roasted meat”
One day, there was brought to Our prison a tray of roasted meat, which they informed Us the Sháh had ordered to be distributed among the prisoners. “The Sháh,” We were told, “faithful to a vow he made, has chosen this day to offer to you all this lamb in fulfilment of his pledge.” A deep silence fell upon Our companions, who expected Us to make answer on their behalf. “We return this gift to you,” We replied; “we can well dispense with this offer.” The answer We made would have greatly irritated the guards had they not been eager to devour the food we had refused to touch. Despite the hunger with which Our companions were afflicted, only one among them, … showed any desire to eat of the food the sovereign had chosen to spread before us. With a fortitude that was truly heroic, Our fellow-prisoners submitted, without a murmur, to endure the piteous plight to which they were reduced. Praise of God, instead of complaint of the treatment meted out to them by the Sháh, fell unceasingly from their lips—praise with which they sought to beguile the hardships of a cruel captivity.
“Every day Our jailers … would call the name of one of Our companions”
Every day Our jailers, entering Our cell, would call the name of one of Our companions, bidding him arise and follow them to the foot of the gallows. With what eagerness would the owner of that name respond to that solemn call! Relieved of his chains, he would spring to his feet and, in a state of uncontrollable delight, would approach and embrace Us. We would seek to comfort him with the assurance of an everlasting life in the world beyond, and, filling his heart with hope and joy, would send him forth to win the crown of glory. He would embrace, in turn, the rest of his fellow-prisoners and then proceed to die as dauntlessly as he had lived. Soon after the martyrdom of each of these companions, We would be informed by the executioner, who had grown to be friendly to Us, of the circumstances of the death of his victim, and of the joy with which he had endured his sufferings to the very end.
A southern section of Tihrán where criminals were hanged and where many Bahá’í martyrdoms took place. Síyáh-Chál site in the far distance is marked with X. Archival photo.
These companions in the Síyáh-Chál who were martyred included believers such as Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí, one of the Letters of the Living. He had been the amanuensis of the Báb in Máh-Kú and Chihríq and very trusted by Him. “Such was his knowledge of the teachings of the Faith that the Báb, in a Tablet addressed to Mírzá Yahyá, urged the latter to seek enlightenment from him in whatever might pertain to the sacred Writings.” Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí had longed to be martyred with his Master, but that was not his destiny. After the martyrdom of the Báb, he had come to Tihrán and been imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál. Frequently the officials tried to induce him to recant, but he refused in spite of his arduous imprisonment. His last days of his long imprisonment in that dungeon were however blissful, as they were spent in the company of Bahá’u’lláh. At the end, he was handed over to the officers of the highest rank in the army who hacked him to pieces. [Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí’s father and younger brother had already been martyred at Tabarsí; Act 10, Chapter 3].
Among the companions in the Síyáh-Chál who were martyred was also another of the amanuenses of the Báb, Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karim-i-Qazvíní. Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karim was named Mírzá Ahmad by Bahá’u’lláh. Nabíl met him in Tihrán shortly after Nabíl became a Bábí. They became close life-long friends. Nabíl says of his friend: “I found him [to be] the very incarnation of love and kindness”. Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karim was given to the artillery soldiers who tore him apart with their daggers. Also martyred was Hájí Mírzá Jání, the faithful merchant of Káshán, who had acted as host to the Báb in that city [Act 5, Chapter 3]. And among Nabíl’s account of martyrdoms of these Síyáh-Chál companions, is that of the radiant youth ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází. We will recount that in his mini-portrait. [ADD LINK TO HIS MINI-PORTRAIT].
Bahá’u’lláh’s time in the Síyáh-Chál: Four months
Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál began sometime in the last two weeks in August 1852 and lasted about four months, ending mid-December of that year. The gruelling conditions of His imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál took its toll on His body. Years later, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalled the one time he was allowed into the prison to see his beloved Father. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was just over eight years old then [nine years old by the lunar calendar]. :
They sent me with a black servant to His blessed presence in the prison. The warders indicated the cell, and the servant carried me on his shoulders. I saw a dark, steep place. We entered a small, narrow doorway, and went down two steps, but beyond those one could see nothing. In the middle of the stairway, all of a sudden we heard His blessed voice: “Do not bring him in here”, and so they took me back. We sat outside, waiting for the prisoners to be led out. Suddenly they brought the Blessed Perfection [Bahá’u’lláh] out of the dungeon. He was chained to several others. What a chain! It was very heavy. The prisoners could only move it along with great difficulty. Sad and heart-rending it was.
And in another account of the physical condition of Bahá’u’lláh at that time, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá noted: “Bahá’u’lláh was terribly altered, so ill He could hardly walk, His hair and beard unkempt, His neck galled and swollen from the pressure of a heavy steel collar, His body bent by the weight of His chains …”
It was while Bahá’u’lláh was physically in these dire conditions in the Síyáh-Chál that He received the Divine Summons fulfilling the prophecy of the “year nine”. The time for “Him Whom God shall manifest” to arise had come.
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