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February 17, 2018

Mirzá Muhammad-Báir - the first in Mashhad, Persia, to embrace the Cause of the Báb; - builder of Bábíyyih, the first Baha’i center; designer of structural reinforcement of Fort Tabarsi; lieutenant and trusted counsellor of Quddús

Mírzá Muhammad-Báqir, known as Haratí, though originally a resident of Qayin. He was a close relative of the father of Nabíl-i-Akbar, and was the first in Mashhad to embrace the Cause. It was he who built the Bábíyyih, and who devotedly served Quddús during his sojourn in that city. When Mullá Husayn hoisted the Black Standard, he, together with his child, Mírzá Muhammad-Kázim, eagerly enrolled under his banner and went forth with him to Mázindarán… It was Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir who acted as the standard-bearer of the company, who designed the plan of the fort, its walls and turrets and the moat which surrounded it, who succeeded Mullá Husayn in organising the forces of his companions and in leading the charge against the enemy, and who acted as the intimate companion, the lieutenant and trusted counsellor of Quddús until the hour when he fell a martyr in the path of the Cause. 
- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers’; translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)