Martyrdom of the Bab (Baha'i Holy Day) July 9-10th

[arthra]

Baha'is will be observing the Martyrdom of the Bab (Mirza Ali Muhammad) that occurred in Tabriz, Persia in 1850. Baha'is abstain from work and school. Of course this be on a weekend this year.

Here is an account... by historian H.M. Balyuzi, a Hand of the Cause of God, who published several carefully researched histories about the Baháʼí Faith and its central figures:

Sam Khan approached the Bab: 'I profess the Christian Faith and entertain no ill will against you. If your Cause be the Cause of truth, enable me to free myself from the obligation to shed your blood.' To this the Báb replied: 'Follow your instructions, and if your intention be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you from your perplexity.'

The Báb and His disciple were suspended by ropes from a nail in the wall, the head of Mirza Muhammad-'Ali resting on the breast of the Báb. Seven hundred and fifty soldiers were positioned in three files. Roofs of the buildings around teemed with spectators.

Each row of soldiers fired in turn. The smoke from so many rifles clouded the scene. When it lifted the Báb was not there. Only His disciple could be seen, standing under the nail in the wall, smiling and unconcerned. Bullets had only severed the ropes with which they were suspended. Cries rang out from the onlookers: 'The Siyyid-i-Báb has gone from our sight!'

A frantic search followed. The Báb was found, sitting in the same room where He had been lodged the night before, in conversation with His amanuensis. That conversation had been interrupted earlier in the day. Now it was finished and He told the farrash-bashi to carry out his duty. But the farrash-bashi was terror-stricken and ran away, nor did he ever return to his post. Sam Khan, for his part, told his superiors that he had carried out the task given to him; he would not attempt it a second time. So Aqa Jan Khan-i-Khamsih and his Nasiri regiment replaced the Armenians, and the Báb and His disciple were suspended once again at the same spot. The Nasiri regiment fired. The bodies of the Báb and His disciple were shattered, and their flesh was united.

— H.M. Balyuzi, [3]

Additional material can be found at
About the Martyrdom of the Bab - Arts, Podcasts, Videos and Articles

 

[Ahanu]

Dr. Cormick, a "long resident of Tabriz" and a foreign physician who met the Bab, provides another interesting episode.

The account left to us by Dr Cormick throws more light on these startling happenings and introduces his part in these events. He tells us that as part of the process of the Báb’s arraignment, he and two other Persian doctors were sent to examine Him to determine whether He was of “sane mind, or merely a madman, to decide the question whether to put him to death or not.” The Báb was loth to answer the doctor’s questions, except when Dr Cormick averred that he would like to know something about the Báb’s religion, as, not being a Muslim, he might “be inclined to adopt it”. “He regarded me very intently on my saying this”, Dr Cormick wrote, “and replied that he had no doubt of all Europeans coming over to his religion” The report of the three doctors was “of a nature to spare his life” though Dr Cormick goes on to mention that the Báb was put to death sometime later. But his involvement does not end there. According to the Dr Cormick, during the administration of the bastinado, which took place after receipt of the examining doctors report, the Báb was struck on the face, a blow “which produced a great wound and swelling of the face.” On being asked whether He wished a doctor to attend His wound, the Báb specifically asked for Dr Cormick who “accordingly treated him for a few days”. The doctor complained that he was unable to have a “confidential chat” with the Báb on any of these occasions as Government people were always present. The account concludes,

He was very thankful for my attentions to him. He was a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much. Being a Sayyid, he was dressed in the habit of that sect, as were also his two companions. In fact his whole look and deportment went far to dispose one in his favour. Of his doctrine I heard nothing from his own lips, although the idea was that there existed in his religion a certain approach to Christianity. He was seen by some Armenian carpenters, who were sent to make some repairs to his prison, reading the Bible, and he took no pains to conceal it, but on the contrary told them of it. Most assuredly the Mussulman fanaticism does not exist in his religion, as applied to Christians, nor is there that restraint of females that now exists.
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Source: Dr. Cormick, the man who met the Bab
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To link Dr. Cormick to the martyrdom of the Bab, I'll leave this conclusion of questions from the same article:

"What of the links, for example, between the Cormick family and the Armenian community in Tabriz? Dr Cormick’s father, John, was married to an Armenian Christian woman, Shireen, and William’s wife, Tamar, was also from this background. Of particular interest here is that Tamar’s father, Daoud Khan, was a general in the Persian Army. Another Armenian officer figures largely in the story of the Báb, namely Sam Khan, the officer in charge of the regiment that was called on to execute the Báb. Sam Khan was released from a duty he had no heart for, in the most mysterious of circumstances. Is it possible that the Cormicks knew him? Could they have heard from him the details of that most extraordinary day when the Báb was suspended in the town square of the city in order to be done to death?"​