No sooner had Muhammad Sháh condemned the Báb to captivity amid the mountain fastnesses of Ádhirbayján than he became afflicted with a sudden reverse of fortune, such as he had never known before and which struck at the very foundations of his State. Appalling disaster surprised his forces that were engaged in maintaining internal order throughout the provinces. The standard of rebellion was hoisted in Khurásán, and so great was the consternation provoked by that rising that the projected campaign of the Sháh to Hirát was immediately abandoned. Hájí Mírzá Aqásí’s recklessness and prodigality had fanned into flame the smouldering fires of discontent, had exasperated the masses and encouraged them to stir up sedition and mischief. The most turbulent elements in Khurásán that inhabited the regions of Quchán, Bujnurd, and Shíraván leagued themselves with the Salar, son of the Asifu’d-Dawlih, the elder maternal uncle of the Sháh and governor of the province, and repudiated the authority of the central government. Whatever forces were despatched from the capital met with immediate defeat at the hands of the chief instigators of the rebellion. Ja’far-Qulí Khán-i-Namdar and Amír Arslán Khán, son of the Salar, who conducted the operations against the forces of the Sháh, displayed the utmost cruelty and, having repulsed the attacks of the enemy, mercilessly put their captives to death.
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
