By: Siyyid Muhammad Tabib-i Manshadi
Aqa Siyyid Husayn was yet another Baha'i who had taken refuge at a home of a Muslim friend. Two days prior to all the convulsions, his eldest son, Siyyid Javad, who was only fourteen years old, has fallen while working in the fields with his father, breaking one leg and severely injuring the other. His injuries were so severe that he could not move and was bed ridden. Everyday I would visit the boy and tend to his wounds. On the first day of the massacre, Aqa Siyyid Husayn had taken his injured son and wife to a home of a Muslim friend and where he planned to stay during the impending period of unrest. Siyyid Husayn also had another younger son and daughter that were left alone. These two homeless young children would roam the streets during the day and at night, hungry, thirsty and desolate they would hid in a field or a farm with no one to look after them.
On that Friday, which was now the fourteenth day of the troubles, the vicious mob was searching every household in Manshad in hope of finding more Baha'is to kill. Aqa Siyyid Husayn's host informed him of the days events, indicating to him that soon his house would be searched, and expressing his fear for their lives. Aqa Siyyid Husayn relayed the same to his wife and also told her that his death was near. He alone left the home which had been his family's refuge, bidding farewell to his wife and son, not knowing that the hand of fate would only allow them one more meeting. Taking the advice of his host, he dressed as a begger, planning to take refuge behind the pulpit of a nearby mosque. His host asked him to remain there until the mob had finished searching his house and then he would be able to return back.
Although the anticipated search of the house did not result in any findings, a number of women in the neighborhood reported having seen Siyyid Husayn entering the mosque. Siyyid Husayn, aware of his dire situation, had no choice but to leave the mosque, running a distance of two hundred yards and then climbing over a wall into a wheat field. He hid between two hay stacks, but was spotted by a woman who informed the search party of his whereabouts. Upon finding him, a member of the mob immediately struck him with a wooden stick, while another fired at Siyyid Husayn's face. throwing his body over the same wall he had earlier climbed, the men dragged his nearly dead body by feet to house of Mulla Baba'yi, a recent martyr himself. Siyyid Husayn's wife and children, being informed of his condition, ran to the scene but were stopped and assaulted by the curses and obscenities shouted by the men. Withstanding the brutality and the verbal assault, they were then allowed to go near the body. Siyyid Husayn, on hearing the crying voices of his family, opened his eyes and looked at the direction of his wife and children. The family threw themselves on his body and with his arms around them he embraced them. While holding his loved ones, tears streaming from his broken and sorrow-filled eyes, Aqa Siyyid Husayn bid farewell to his earthly life. That evening his remains were taken to his home and buried. He was forty years old.
When he heard the news of his father's martyrdom, a bed- ridden and broken-hearted Siyyid Javad pleaded for one last opportunity to visit and bid farewell to his father. Alas, no one paid any attention to this poor boy, though he was only a short distance away from his fallen father. After Siyyid Husayn's death, the son, Siyyid Javad, was taken back to his own home. He was constantly hear saying and praying: "How I wish that the enemies had seen and taken my life on that day too! If only they would come now and allow me to join that exalted soul!" Not a day went by that he did not wish for his own death and the opportunity to joint his beloved father in the Abha kingdom. His wailing and lamenting was destined to be as ephemeral as his fleeting life, for he was alive only fourteen days from the time his father was so brutally martyred. Every night his mother would take the other two children, afraid that the neighbors would bring harm to them, and spend the night at friends' home. Each night before her leaving, Siyyid Javad would beg his mother not to be left alone. He feared to die alone with no one around. But the poor mother had no choice but to look after the other two young children and protect them too. Indeed one morning when she returned home, her son's body was found lifeless in the bed. After mourning for his death, Siyyid Javad was laid to rest next to Siyyid Husayn, where to this day both the father and son remain -- a union in both this world and the next.
On the same Friday that Siyyid Husayn was martyred, another young man by the name of Aqa Husayn-Ali was also martyred. Fearing the bloodthirsty mob, this young man had gone to the northern mountains on the outskirts of Manshad and was hiding in a cave. When the mob was finished with Siyyid Husayn, they went to the mountains in search for other believers. Upon locating Aqa Husayn-Ali, he was captured with the intention to be brought back to town. On the way he feel victim to countless beatings and stoning. In a final act of contempt, one of them fired at him, the rest beating him to death with sticks and stones. He was buried on that spot, at the tender age of nineteen.
The following day, Aqa Ghulam-Husayn, a Baha'i from Yazd who had came to Manshad to escape the brutal pogrom unfolding there, along with another Baha'i named Aqa Siyyid Baqir, where found hiding in one of the caves on the eastern mountains. Two hours after sunrise, the mob surrounded the cave, calling for the two believers to surrender. Acquiescing, they emerged, whereupon Aqa Ghulam-Husayn was killed instantly by a huge volley of gunfire and later beheaded. His headless body was left alone and later buried in the same spot. His head was taken to Muhammad-i Kalantar who instructed one of his messenger to take it to Mushiru'l- Mamalik, the governor of province of Yazd. Aqa Ghulam- Husayn was sixty-three years old at the time of his martyrdom.
After Aqa Ghulam-Husayn was killed, the mob sought out Aqa Siyyid Baqir, who had escaped the fate of his companion and returned back to his own home some time earlier. When approached at the door of his home, Aqa Siyyid Baqir invited the men inside for refreshments and fruits. Accepting his invitation, they entered, had the refreshments and then arrested him and with his hand tied led him taken to the home of Muhammad-i Kalantar, at which time his imprisonment was ordered.
(to be continued)
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Translated by, and reprinted with permission of Ahang Rabbani.
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