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| Aqa Jan Khan-i-Khamsih who carried out the order for the execution of the Báb |
As we recall, the Armenian regiment that was ordered to
perform that heinous task of executing the Báb and His companion Anis by firing
squad on July 9th, 1950 didn’t succeed at their mission. This was because
before carrying out their order their Christian commander Sam Khan had some
doubts about that assignment. To him, the Prisoner looked kind and
compassionate. He wondered for what crime was He to be put to death? Unable to
still the voice of his conscience, Sam Khan had approached the Báb and confessed
that as a Christian he entertained no ill against Him, but that he had to carry
out his assignment. He told the Báb: ‘If your Cause be the Cause of truth,
enable me to free myself from the obligation to shed your blood.' To this
request the Báb had told him: 'Follow your instructions, and if your intention
be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you from your perplexity.'
Having received this assurance from the Báb, Sam Khan
ordered his regiment of seven-hundred and fifty soldiers to carry out their
duty. They positioned themselves in three rows and fired seven-hundred and
fifty bullets. When the smoke of the gunpowder settled they discovered to their
amazement that the two captives were completely unharmed. Their commander, Sam
Khan, witnessing this miracle refused to order his soldiers to make a second
attempt. Another regiment was therefore brought in. Their commander was Aqa Jan
Khan-i-Khamsih. Whereas the first regiment was composed of Armenian Christians,
the soldiers belonging to the second regiment were Muslims. They were known as
the Nasiri regiment.
The Nasiri regiment fired. The bodies of the Báb and His
disciple were shattered, and their flesh was united. But the face of the Báb
was untouched. Then a storm descended upon Tabriz. Tempestuous winds blew and
dust darkened the skies, and the skies remained dark, until the darkness of the
day merged into the darkness of the night – a condition very similar to what
happened after the crucifixion of Jesus.
Nabil describes what happened to the Nasiri regiment
afterwards:
As to the regiment… two hundred and fifty of its members met
their death in that same year, together with their officers, in a terrible
earthquake. While they were resting on a hot summer day under the shadow of a
wall on their way between Ardibíl and Tabríz, absorbed in their games and
pleasures, the whole structure suddenly collapsed and fell upon them, leaving
not one survivor.
The remaining five hundred suffered the same fate as that
which their own hands had inflicted upon the Báb. Three years after His
martyrdom, that regiment mutinied, and its members were thereupon mercilessly
shot by command of Mírzá Sádiq Khán-i-Núrí. Not content with a first volley, he
ordered that a second one be fired in order to ensure that none of the
mutineers had survived. Their bodies were afterwards pierced with spears and
lances, and left exposed to the gaze of the people of Tabríz.
That day many of the inhabitants of the city, recalling the
circumstances of the Báb’s martyrdom, wondered at that same fate which had
overtaken those who had slain Him.
“Could it be, by any chance, the vengeance of God,” a few
were heard to whisper to one another, “that has brought the whole regiment to
so dishonourable and tragic an end? If that youth had been a lying impostor,
why should his persecutors have been so severely punished?”
These expressed misgivings reached the ears of the leading
mujtahids of the city, who were seized with great fear and ordered that all
those who entertained such doubts should be severely punished. Some were
beaten, others were fined, all were warned to cease such whisperings, which
could only revive the memory of a terrible adversary and rekindle enthusiasm
for His Cause.
(Adapted from ‘The Báb, The Herald of the Day of Days’, by H.M.
Balyuzi; and from ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, by Nabil, translated and edited by
Shoghi Effendi)
