The Báb's enthusiasm for numerology is adequately documented and nine is a significant numeral in the Bahá'í Faith to this day - the nine-pointed star, the number of members on a Spiritual Assembly and so on. Perhaps it is merely coincidence that the Báb died on the ninth day of July in 1850, rather than on the 8th or the 10th. Or perhaps there was an element of His will in the timing.

After all, the legend is that the Báb's execution in Tabríz surrendered to his preferred timing. The Báb had been in conversation with His secretary when the chief-attendant came to take Him out for execution. It is said that the Báb had advised the chief-attendant that He wished to complete his conversation first but the officer insisted on carrying out the execution forthwith. Tied to a nail in the wall, with the boy Anis beside him, the Báb was the subject of a volley of shots from the 750 soldiers of a regiment. When the dust cleared, the onlookers - a crowd of some ten thousand - were astonished to see that the Báb had disappeared and Anis was still standing, unharmed. The Báb was found in His room - finishing what He had been discussing with His secretary.

The story continues that the collective will of the regiment of soldiers gave way and another regiment had to be formed up into the firing squad. This time there was no intervention in the authorities' plans. The bodies of the Báb and Anis were pulverised by the fusillade. In the attempted degradation of the Báb, whose activities had so alarmed both the clerics and the government, the bodies were dumped in a ditch at the edge of town, to be retrieved later by devotees who lovingly prepared the remains for their decades-long sojourn before eventually being put to rest on Mount Carmel by the hands of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself.

Stephen Maund

In 1918, the eminent scholar Edward Granville Browne published an account of a doctor's meeting with the Báb while He was incarcerated. Browne describes the account as "very valuable as giving the personal impression produced by the Báb ... on a cultivated and impartial Western mind." Dr Cormick attended the Bab to treat Him, after he was struck in the face (whether purposely or not is unknown) with the stick used in the bastinado punishment. Dr Cormick wrote:

"He was very thankful for my attentions to him. He was a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much. Being a Sayyid, he was dessed in the habits of that sect, as were also his two companions. In fact his whole look and deportment went far to dispose one in his favour. Of his doctrine I heard nothing from his own lips, although the idea was that there existed in his religion a certain approach to Christianity. He was seen by some Armenian carpenters, who were sent to make some repairs in his prison, reading the Bible, and he took no pains to conceal it, but on the contrary told them of it. Most assuredly the Musselman (1) fanaticism does not exist in his religion, as applied to Christians, nor is there the restraint of females that now exists."

"Materials for the study of the Bábí Religion" by E G Browne, Cambridge University Press, 1961 edition, p 262.

Glory be to Thee, O God! Thou art the God Who hath existed before all things, Who will exist after all things and will last beyond all things. Thou art the God Who knoweth all things, and is supreme over all things. Thou art the God Who dealeth mercifully with all things, Who judgeth between all things and Whose vision embraceth all things. Thou art God my Lord, Thou art aware of my position, Thou dost witness my inner and outer being. ... (2)

"The day will come when you will have recognised Me ... " (3)

1. Musselman is a now antiquated expression for a Muslim.
2. Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p186.
3. The Báb, cited in God Passes By, p53.

Compiled by Stephen Maund