page_title: Mullá Husayn
section_title: Construction of Fort Tabarsi
hierarchical_section_title: Mullá Husayn / Biography / Mazandaran Upheaval (1848–1849) / Construction of Fort Tabarsi
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar&#32;(1831–1896), Persian king
context_page_description: Mullá Husayn, also known by the honorific Jináb-i Bábu'l-Báb, was a Persian religious figure in 19th century Persia and the first Letter of the Living of the Bábí religion. He was the first person to profess belief in the Báb as the promised Mahdi of Islam and a Manifestation of God, founding a new independent religion. The title of Bábu'l-Báb was bestowed upon him by the Báb in recognition of his status as the first Bábí.
  As a young man Mullá Husayn studied Usuli Shia theology, becoming an authorized member of the Shia clerical order at the age of 21. He later became a follower of the millenarian Shaykhi school, studying under its leader Siyyid Kazim Rashti and traveling to debate prominent Usuli clerics to gain support for Rashti's teachings.
  After Rashti's death, Mullá Husayn led a group of Shaykhis who traveled in search of the Mahdi. On 22 May 1844, in Shiraz, Mullá Husayn became the first person to profess belief in the Báb as the Mahdi, and the first follower of the Báb's religion, known as Bábism. He was appointed as the first of the Báb's apostles, called the Letters of the Living. The anniversary of his conversion is celebrated annually as a holy day in the Baháʼí Faith.
context_section_description: After the encounter at Barfurush the group constructed defensive fortifications at the nearby Shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, a local saint. Upon arriving at the shrine, the Bábís, numbering a little over 300 according to Bábí and Baháʼí sources and according to court historians, were now under imminent attack from government forces, yet their numbers swelled to between 540 and 600 people as Bábís from the region streamed to their defense.  The Bábí combatants represented almost every social class, including clergymen, merchants, craftsmen, and representatives of the landed nobility; the youngest was a twelve-year-old boy. The distribution of urban and rural participants has been shown to be roughly identical to the makeup of Persian society at the time, demonstrating the wide array of respondents to the religion of the Báb. Unlike at later Bábí upheavals where women would play a significant, or even majority role, all of the participants at Tabarsi were male.
  At Tabarsi Mullá Husayn instituted a degree of martial order, centralizing food production, construction, and defensive duty. He appointed his nephew Muhammad-Baqir as his lieutenant. During their first day at Tabarsi they gained the patronage of a wealthy man from a nearby village who converted to Bábism and provided them supplies. With so many people to feed, the makeshift fort attracted a small collection of merchants from the region.
  
  After the completion of the fort, the gathered Bábís were visited by Baháʼu'lláh, who inspected the fort and expressed his pleasure with the construction and organization. He advised Mullá Husayn to send a group of men to Sari, where Quddús was now imprisoned, to bring Quddús to the fort. Before leaving Baháʼu'lláh consulted with Mullá Husayn on some matters of strategy and expressed his desire to return to assist the gathered Bábís.  Mullá Husayn sent seven men to Sari with instructions to return with Quddús; they did so with the willing consent of the cleric in whose home he was held. During the mission to retrieve Quddús, Mullá Husayn instructed the Bábís at Tabarsi that after Quddús's arrival they should regard Quddús as the commanding officer of the company, and Mullá Husayn only as his lieutenant.  Upon his arrival, Quddús instituted a missionary element to the fort, sending representatives to the villages in the area and attracting a stream of new converts, many of whom took up residence in the fort.
caption: Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, King of Persia during the Battle of Fort Tabarsi
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