The Siege Ends Through False Promises2

Early May 1849: A messenger is sent with false promises to the fort

A messenger was selected who knew two Bábí brothers from Kand, both of whom were in the fort. The messenger approached the fort and called the Bábí sentinels. He asked them to convey a message to the brother he was closest to, Mullá Mihdí of Kand, that his old friend wanted to speak to him. Mullá Mihdí reported the matter to Quddús who permitted him to meet his friend. Years later, this same messenger, described this meeting:

I saw, Mullá Mihdí appear above the wall of the fort, his countenance revealing an expression of stern resolve that baffled description. He looked as fierce as a lion, his sword was girded on over a long white shirt after the manner of the Arabs, and he had a white kerchief around his head. “What is it that you seek?” he impatiently enquired. “Say it quickly, for I fear that my master will summon me and find me absent.” The determination that glowed in his eyes confused me. I was dumbfounded at his looks and manner.

The thought suddenly flashed through my mind that I would awaken a dormant sentiment in his heart. I reminded him of his infant child, Rahmán, whom he had left behind in the village, in his eagerness to enlist under the standard of Mullá Husayn. In his great affection for the child, he had specially composed a poem which he chanted as he rocked his cradle and lulled him to sleep. “Your beloved Rahmán” I said, “longs for the affection which you once lavished upon him. He is alone and forsaken, and yearns to see you.” “Tell him from me,” was the father’s instant reply, “that the love of the true Rahmán, a love that transcends all earthly affections, has so filled my heart that it has left no place for any other love besides His.” …

“What,” I asked him, “if I venture to enter the fort and join you?” “If your motive be to seek and find the Truth,” he calmly replied, “I will gladly show you the way. And if you seek to visit me as an old and lifelong friend, I will accord you the welcome of which the Prophet of God has spoken: ‘Welcome your guests though they be of the infidels.’ I will, faithful to that injunction, offer you the boiled grass and the churned bones which serve as my meat, the best I can procure for you. But if your intention be to harm me, I warn you that I will defend myself and will hurl you from the heights of these walls to the ground.”

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