Mahin Ahdieh, a Baha’i from Nayriz, took her young nephew for a trip cross Iran in 1956.Their second stop was Zanjan, the site of a bloody conflict between the Babis and the authorities.
Zanjan was an ancient walled city known for its handicrafts and its manufacture of knives and located a hundred miles from Qazvin. a similar cold and dry climate and a mountain range on its horizon.
Zanjan at the time of Hujjat
Hujjat, a dynamic and independent-minded mullah who had become a Babi, took on the clerical establishment of Zanjan by decrying its immorality and abuse of power, and by issuing pointed legal decisions that were at variance with those of the other Mullas.
Hujjat’s position became more precarious as the Babi Faith spread. Tensions mounted between Muslims and Babis, especially after the siege at Fort Tabarsi, and a street fight in Zanjan that escalated into outright violence fueled by long-standing theological divisions and new political concerns.
Hundreds of Babi men, aided by the women, took up position in a nearby fort, and a bloody siege followed lasting from July to December of 1850 when Hujjat was injured and died. Upon Hujjat’s death, the discouraged Babis peacefully surrendered though only a hundred or so Babi men subsequently survived. Among those who died was Zaynab, a woman who had joined the Babi men in the fight.
Luke Slott tells the story of Zaynab, a heroine of the episode of Zanjan
Baha’u’llah sent the future Baha’i chronicler, Nabil Zarandi, to Zanjan in 1865 to announce his declaration. The Baha’i community was infused with new life when Varqa moved to Zanjan along with his young son Ruhu’llah; both were later martyred. ‘Abdu’l-Baha also sent travel teachers there to increase the activity of the local community.
Avant-garde jazz by Craig Owens and the Bodo Ensemble