Mullá 'Alíy-i-Bastámí

Mullá 'Alí-i-Bastámí (died 1846) was the fourth (although second according to some sources) Letter of the Living in the Bábí movement. He is also probably the first and one of the best known martyrs of the early Bábí period.[1][2]

According to Bahá'í tradition, Mullá 'Alí met Mullá Husayn after the latter had discovered the Báb and gained faith in the founding of the new religion of Bábism. After three days of prayer and meditation, Bastámí had a vision[3] and this was enough to convince Mullá Husayn to show Mullá 'Alí to the Báb. Mullá 'Alí accepted the Báb as the "promised one" on their first meeting.

The Báb gave him the very specific mission of leaving Persia and travelling to the holy Shi'a cities of Najaf/Karbila in modern-day Iraq about the summer of 1844.[4] It was here he was to announce the Báb's mission to mujtahid Shaykh Muhammad Hasan,[1] a senior member of the Shi'a clergy. He was put on trial for heresy on the basis of a copy of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' in his possession on 13 January 1845 by a combined jury of Shi'a and Sunni clerics.[1] The trial spun into a political event pitting Ottoman/Sunni interests against Shi'a/Persian interests - the Sunni clergy wanted Bastamí immediate execution while the Shi'a clergy insisted only on banishment and Persian politicians requested his removal to Persia.[1] Instead, in April, he was transferred to Istanbul where he was further sentenced to hard labour in Istanbul's docks.[1] Persian politicians continued insisting but when the Ottoman's finally agreed, 4 December 1846, it was found he had died a few days later and was accounted to be the first Bábi martyr by Bábis and Bahá'ís.[1]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Momen, Moojan (2009). "'Alí Bastámí, Mullá (d. 1846)". Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project. Evanston, IL: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.
  2. ↑ Jonah Winters (1997). "Background to Babism: A brief epitome of Babi history from Shiism to Babism". Dying for God; Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions (Thesis). Master of Arts for the Dept. of Religious Studies (University of Toronto), 1997. Retrieved Feb 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ Abuʾl-Qasim Afnan (1999). Black Pearls: Servants in the Household of the Báb and Baháʼuʼlláh. Kalimat Press. pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-1-890688-03-5.
  4. ↑ Chronology of Principal Events Related in the Dawn-Breakers, Bahai-library.com


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