Martyrdom in Real Time

            The Martydom of the Báb is commemorated around the world at noon on July 9 or 10 (the solar calendar in use by the Bahá’í community no longer corresponds with fixed Gregorian calendar dates), as supposedly, as that was the hour at which He and Anis (a follower) were executed together by firing squad in the barracks square of Tabriz, northwest Iran, in 1850.

            But at what time did it really happen?  It is not really important, and what I am trying to do is simply visualize the whole scene in “real time.”  This historical records provide the essential details of the drama without mentioning the time it took to carry out the acts.  So let’s walk our way through it.

            Let’s begin by assuming that the initial scenario was all in place by noon.  The Báb and Anis were suspended by rope from a cross-beam, Anis wishing to be a human shield.  Seven hundred and fifty soldiers were lined up in three rows with muskets (?) at the ready for the order to shoot.  Up to ten thousand fascinated spectators trembled in trees and on rooftops.  The order was given, and the shooting began.  Was it all at once, or row by row?  A great cloud of dust was raised, and when it cleared, ordinary reality was what remained suspended and the surreal took over.

            There stood Anis on the ground, unhurt, for the rope he’d been hanging from had been shot away, but The Báb was nowhere to be seen.  What was everyone to think?  What would you think?  In all probability, immediate reaction ran the gamut from a miracle to divine intervention, to chicanery and subterfuge – the general citizenry were afraid of the  Bábis, whose acts of bravery and ferocity had already become the stuff of legend.  One way or another, there was some chaos.  What form it took is not known.  Was it hushed silence?  Were people running in all directions?  Screaming and yelling?  Imprecations and accusations?  What we do know is that after a brief (2-15 minutes?) search, The Báb was found back in the jail cell in which He had spent the previous night, dictating something to His secretary.  (He had said earlier that until He had finished dictating, there was nothing they could do to Him, which His jailers had ignored as nonsense.)  So He was taken out to the square once more to get the job done right this time.

            Easier said than done.  The captain of the regiment assigned to execute Him was Sam Khan, an Armenian, and the soldiers were Christians.  Sam Khan had been aware of the Báb’s claims, as he had been Chief of Police in Mashhad in Eastern Persia a few years earlier where two of the closest followers of the Báb had had a school.  So that very morning Sam Khan approached The Báb and asked Him to somehow get him out of this duty to execute Him, for if He really was who He said He was, it was tantamount to saying to a Christian that He was the Return of Jesus Christ, and he wouldn’t want that blood on his hands.  The Báb’s answer is oft-repeated:  “Follow your instructions, and if you are sincere, God is surely able to relieve you of your perplexity.”

            So now Sam Khan took this as a sign from Above, and he not only refused to repeat the execution attempt even should he himself be executed for insubordination, he was taking his regiment with him.  How long did this take?  Let’s assume that the regiment remained standing in place all this time, awaiting further orders, which is not at all certain.  So Sam Khan ordered them out of there – to where?  Back to their barracks, I suppose.  There must have been some confusion amongst them, but let’s say they followed orders promptly and in an orderly fashion. 

            What were the authorities to do?  They couldn’t let The Báb get away again – this wasn’t the first time – after they had come this far.  Mirable dictu, there happened to be another regiment in town, a Muslim one, and the order was given for them to come at once.  How long did this take?  Were they all just sitting, waiting for the call, playing cards or probably having lunch at this hour?  Unless they were on call or alert, wouldn’t many of them have been at the spectacle, watching the great event like others?  Were their barracks close by?  Were they dressed and ready?  Even if they were, mobilizing another seven hundred fifty soldiers has got to take time, at least half an hour, probably much more.

            But they came, and completed the mission.  My guess is that the final shots were fired around two p.m., if not later.

           (Photo of barracks square.  It is now a shopping area.)

         The miracles didn’t end there.  There was an earthquake and a darkening of the sky shortly thereafter.  The remains of The Báb and Anis were taken by His followers and hid in one secret place after another, until more than half a century later, they were interred on Mount Carmel by orders of Bahá’u’lláh Himself, where they still lay.  The soldiers in the regiment who shot them, however, all met their fate within five years of the execution, some by having a wall fall on them, the rest being shot themselves for mutiny.