Downloads   

A Sketch on the Story of the Martyrdom of the Bab

We present :  ........       

............... as:  Sam Khan ,Commander of the regiment of Christian soldiers

 ..............   as : The son of Sam Khan

................ as :The Voice: reading the quotations by the Bab 

.................as Narrator

Narrator: The dispensation of the Bab began in 1844 and lasted only nine years. Its Primary purpose was to prepare the way for the coming of Baha'u'llah. Although brief, the Bab's Dispensation was of such tremendous spiritual intensity that its effect will be felt for hundreds of generations to come.

Son: Dad, tell me the story of the Bab. I was too young to understand it at the time.

Sam Khan: Well, that's something I'll never forget to my dying day. It was back in 1850 - I remember it was July the 9^th - a very hot summer's day. I was the commander of the regiment and I was ordered to carry out the execution of a young, gentle and innocent man.

I was greatly troubled by this as I felt that he possessed a spiritual power and begged Him to enable me to free myself from the obligation to shed his blood.

Son: What did the Bab say?

Voice: He said "Follow your instructions and if your intention be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you from your perplexity.

Son: Why did they want to kill an innocent man?

Sam Khan: Well, He claimed to be the Promised one, the manifestation of God that people have been waiting for to appear in 1844 according to the prophecies.

Son: Did He have any followers?

Sam Khan: Oh yes, He had many followers who were ready to die for him, In fact 20.000 did in the years that followed. His power and influence were other reasons that had alarmed the clergy and the government. They'd imprisoned him but still felt that they could not stop his Cause. So He was ordered to be brought to Tabriz from the fortress of Chehriq and face the religious authorities.

Son: So what happened then ?

Sam Khan: Well He was questioned by the Clergy . Whom do you claim to be and What's your message ?

Voice: The Bab said: "I am, I am I am, the Promised one. I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose mention you have risen, whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word and to pledge allegiance to My person "

Sam Khan: Well this made the clergy even more threatened and angry and they were convinced that as long as the Bab remained alive, it would be impossible to stop his growing influence. So they decided to sign his death warrant.

Son: It was a great pity they asked your regiment to carry out the order:

Sam Khan: Yes as I said I was afraid of the wrath of God.

Music:

Sam Khan: On that day 10,000 people gathered in the barracks to witness the execution. I ordered my men to drive an iron nail into the wall and attach two ropes to it. A companion of the Bab called Anis was to die with him.

I had 750 men arranged in 3 rows with rifles ready to shoot, but when they went to fetch the Bab he was in the middle of a conversation with his secretary.

Voice: The Bab said " Not until I have said to him all those things that I wish to say can any earthly power silence me. Though all the world be armed against me yet shall they be

Powerless to deter Me from fulfilling to the last word My intention."

Sam Khan:  But they dragged Him away and brought the Bab and Anis to be tied up with the ropes.

Sam Khan: I shouted Fire !

Loud Music:   

One after the other each row fired.  There was thick smoke everywhere. We couldn't see a thing. But when the smoke died down the Bab had disappeared from sight and Anis was standing there. The bullets had miraculously severed the ropes and the Bab was found finishing his conversation with his secretary in his room.

I was stunned.  I refused to allow my men to shoot again and ordered them to leave the courtyard. Another regiment had to be brought in to carry out the execution. This time the bullets found their mark. The bodies of the Bab and Anis were completely shattered, yet their faces remained almost untouched.

Soft Music:

Sam Khan: Do you know what happened to the regiment that shot the Bab?

Son: No

Well, 250 of its members met their death in that same year, together with their officers, in a terrible earthquake.  A wall collapsed and fell on them leaving not one survivor.

The remaining 500 suffered the same fate as that which their own hands hand inflicted

upon the Bab. There years after the Bab's martyrdom the regiment mutinied and its members were all shot.

Music: 3 minutes

Voice: The Bab's final words to the gazing multitudes were:

"Had you believed in Me, O wayward generation, every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you and willingly would have sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."