Ali Khan

Play of Ali Khán. (Dramatic reading, 2 actors/readers required)

Ali Khán: My name is Ali Khan. I am a Kurd and was the warden of the prison castle named Máh Kú, the prison that housed His Holiness the Bab. In the beginning, I took my charge seriously. I was simple, rough and uncouth in those days...arrogantly unbending at the start of the Bab’s incarceration at Máh Kú. Before my heart was healed of hatred and ignorance. I will tell you my story.

Many people from all over flocked to see this Prisoner. They would gather at the mountain’s base to gaze upward, hoping to catch a glimpse of Him or receive His blessing. My instructions, however, were clear. This was a man of great danger, a criminal of the worst kind and I would not even let one follower of the Bab stay one night in the town, let alone allow them to see Him. Ha! The arrogance, as if I had a choice in such things!

Shaykh Hasan: I am Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzi, and I was one of the believers who traveled far to see the Bab. When I arrived at the town, I found the only shelter available to me was a mosque inside the town. Although I was prevented from seeing the Bab I was able to meet and exchange letters and messages with Siyyid Hasan, who came into town each day with a guard to buy provisions, and thus for a while there was the smallest link between the Bab and His people. One day Siyyid Hasan came to me and told me that these secret contacts between us were to end. The Bab Himself had told him so. We were astonished that the Bab said He would go Himself to Ali Khán and tell him to permit visitors to come and go in peace! Well, knowing the attitude as well as the character of the warden who kept the people from even coming to the foot of the mountain to catch a glimpse of the Bab, we wondered how such a transformation of soul would occur. Well, the next morning we had our answer! Siyyid Hasan told me that at an early hour all the inmates of the castle were startled by an incessant and agitated knocking. It was Ali Khán, pounding the gate and shouting at the guardsmen for admittance. A guard rushed in to say that the warden wished to come immediately into the presence of the Bab and the Bab replied that He would receive Ali Khán at once. The warden was visibly shaking, obviously caught up by some tremendous emotion.

Ali Khán: I threw myself at the feet of the Bab and begged to be relieved of my misery. I said to Him ‘Deliver me from my perplexity. I adjure You, by the Prophet of God, Your illustrious ancestor, to dissipate my doubts, for their weight has well-nigh crushed my heart. I was riding through the wilderness and was approaching the gate of the town, when, it being the hour of dawn, my eyes suddenly beheld You standing by the side of the river engaged in offering Your prayer. With outstretched arms and upraised eyes, You were invoking the name of God. I stood still and watched you. I was waiting for you to terminate your devotions that I might approach and rebuke You for having ventured to leave the castle without my leave. In Your communion with God, You seemed so rapt in worship that You were utterly forgetful of Yourself. I quietly approached You; in Your state of rapture, You remained wholly unaware of my presence. I was suddenly seized with great fear and recoiled at the thought of awaking You from Your ecstasy. I decided to leave You, to proceed to the guards and to reprove them of their negligent conduct!

I soon found out, to my amazement, that both the outer and inner gates were closed. They were opened at my request, I was ushered into Your presence, and now I find You, to my wonder, seated before me. I am utterly confounded. I know not whether my reason has deserted me.’ The Bab answered me and said, ‘What you have witnessed is true and undeniable. You belittled this Revelation and have contemptuously disdained its Author. God, the All-Merciful, desiring not to inflict you with His punishment, has willed to reveal to your eyes the Truth. By His Divine interposition, He has instilled into your heart the love of His chosen One, and caused you to recognize the unconquerable power of His Faith.’

All my arrogance left me...I was a changed man. I asked if I myself might be allowed to escort in His first visitor that I might serve Him.