The Rise of Baha
6. Alleged Baha’s leading role in the Badasht Conference
6.2 Nabil’s Version of the Account
Unlike the three Bahai historians (authors of Tarikh-i Jadid, Traveller’s Narrative, and Mirza Jawad’s Epitome), in the Dawn-Breakers, Nabil’s Narrative, PP. 288-300, Nabil speaks of the leading role played by Baha in the Badasht conference: “The conferees were eighty-one in number, all of whom, from the time of their arrival to the day of their dispersion, were guests of Baha … Each day of that memorable gathering witnessed the abrogation of a new law and the repudiation of a long-established tradition. The veils that guarded the sanctity of the ordinances of Islam were sternly rent asunder, and the idols that had so long claimed the adoration of their blind worshipers were rudely demolished ….
No one knew, however the Soura whence there bold and defiant innovations proceeded, no one suspected the Hand which steadily and merringly steered their course …. Few, if any, dimly surmised that Baha was the Author of the far-reaching change which were being so fearlessly introduced …. Baha’s sojourn in Badasht lasted two and twenty days. In the course of their journeys to Mazandaran, a few of the followers of the BÁB sought to abuse the liberty which the repudiation of the laws and sanctions of an outgrown Faith had conferred upon them. They viewed the unprecedented action of Tahira in discarding the veil as a signal to transgress the bounds of moderation and to gratify their selfish desires.
The excesses in which a few indulges provoked the wrath of the almighty and caused their immediate dispersion. In the village of Niyala, they were grievously tested and suffered severe injuries at the hands of their enemies, … I have heard Baha himself [Nabil continues] describe that incident : “We were all gathered in the village of Niyala and were resting at the foot of a mountain, when at the hour of dawn, we were suddenly awakened by the stones which the people of the neighbourhood were hurling upon us from the top of the mountain.’ “
Nabil concludes: Muhammad Shah ordered the arrest of Baha. But fate granted the Shah no respite for he died [on September 4, 1848], and the warrant for Baha’s arrest lost its efficiency.”
In ibid, P. 301, Nabil states that “the incident of Niyala occurred in the middle of the month of Sha’ban, in the year A.H. 1284 (July 3-August 1, 1848).”
According to the Kitab-i-Zuhur-al-Haq (Manifestation of the Truth), written anonymously by a Bahai historian, Vol. III,. P. 109, “The Badasht conference was held in Rabi-al-Thani (March-April, 1848).”
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