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Town of Ámul, circa 1935
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The hostile clerics of Ámul had created a major commotion in
the town. Having Baha’u’llah and His companions in their midst, the situation
was further exacerbated by the divines calling upon the people to protect their
religion by demanding severe punishment upon the captives – including murder.
People were told to come to the mosque, fully armed -- the butcher with his
axe, the carpenter with his hatchet – prepared to make a rush at Baha'u'llah
and murder Him. The divines of Amul were particularly marked for their
rapacity.
The Acting Governor realized that any indulgence on his part
would be fraught with personal danger. By inflicting a befitting punishment
upon the captives, he sought to check the mob’s passions. He ordered punishment
by bastinado - a form of torture that involves being beaten on the soles of the
feet with a rod. He also promised that the captives would be kept in custody
following this punishment until the return of the governor.
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The Mosque of Ámul, circa 1935
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Taken to the mosque of the chief priest, the first to be
bound in order to receive the bastinado was Mulla Baqir of Tabriz, one of the
Letters of the Living. Said he, 'I am only a groom of Mirza Busayn-'Ali... [Baha’u’llah].' Whereupon
Baha’u’llah intervened and succeeded in inducing his captors to release him. So
too He interceded for Haji Mirza Jani, the merchant of Kashan who, He said, was
a mere tradesman and whom He regarded as His guest, so that He himself was
responsible for any charges brought against him. This merchant had earlier
acted as host to the Báb in Kashan, he was also the first chronicler of His
Faith. Mirza Yahya, His half-brother and ward, was also set free as soon as
Baha’u’llah had declared him to be His attendant. . “None of these men,”
Baha’u’llah told the acting governor, “are guilty of any crime. If you insist
on inflicting your punishment, I offer Myself as a willing Victim of your
chastisement.” The acting governor was reluctantly compelled to give orders
that Bahá’u’lláh alone be chosen to suffer the indignity which he had intended
originally for His companions.
When He had been bound in the humiliating
bastinado position, His legs in the air, bare feet exposed and lashed to a bar
held by assistants, Mulla Zaynu'l-'Abidin, Baha’u’llah’s paternal uncle and one
of the company, threw himself in front of Baha’u’llah, and was thrashed until
he fainted from the pain. Baha’u’llah was then beaten with rods until His feet
bled. He was then removed, along with
his companions, to one of the rooms of the mosque, and held there until the
return of the Governor from his visit to Fort Shaykh Tabarsi.
(Adapted from
‘The Dawn-Breakers’, by Nabil, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi;
‘Baha’u’llah, The King of Glory’, by Balyuzi; and ‘The Robe of Light, vol. 1’,
by Ruhe)
