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made from the bones of the dead, they ate this strange mixture and took up their guns once more.63_ACT9
In the historical account Memorials of the Faithful, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when describing the hardships and sufferings endured by the heroic defenders of Fort Shaykh Tabarsí, writes:
For eighteen days, they remained without food. They lived on the leather of their shoes. This too was soon consumed, and they had nothing left but water. They drank a mouthful every morning and lay famished and exhausted in their fort. When attacked, however, they would instantly spring to their feet, and manifest in the face of the enemy a magnificent courage and astonishing resistance…. Under such circumstances to maintain an unwavering faith and patience is extremely difficult, and to endure such dire afflictions a rare phenomenon.64_ACT9
Nabíl’s account adds:
As their strength declined, as they languished exhausted within the walls of their fort, Quddús multiplied his visits to them, and endeavoured by his words of cheer and of hope to lighten the load of their agony.65_ACT9
End April 1849: The last attack
All the structures the Bábís had erected in the fort were mainly made of wood, reed and straw. As the bombardment continued, “the outer defenses of the fort were brought down; nothing was left of them but fallen girders, smoked and burning timbers, scattered stones.”66_ACT9
The Islamic month of Jamádíyu’th-Thaní [24 April – 23 May 1849] had just begun, when the Prince ordered a detachment of the army consisting of several regiments of infantry and cavalry to storm the fort67_ACT9. As the sound of their approach became evident, Quddús summoned the companions to repulse their attack. He added:
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