and instead asked them to be sent as prisoners to Tehran. This was despite Dutchman Johan Colligan's testifying to their innocence. The Ulama then decided that the brothers would likely be set free due to their innocence. They then decided to ensure their death before departing for Tehran. They used their power as religious leaders to encourage over 50 other divines, each with his own crowd of rioters, to approach the house of the governor and demand the death of the brothers, chanting "Oh for our Religion!" The governor argued with the Ulama that the two brothers were not guilty of any treasonable act and had done nothing hostile to the State. He refused to give orders for their execution. One of the Ulama then offered to kill them with his own hands. A large sum of money was offered to the governor, which he accepted. Before the orders could be carried out, a crowd broke into the prison holding them and dragged them into the street, where they were torn apart. Rope were fastened to the corpses, and they were then dragged around the city and left at the gallows, where people continued to throw stones at them. At the close of the day, their bodies were taken to an archway, which was brought down over them. The date was March 17, 1879. They were eventually buried in the Takht-i-Fulad cemetery. Aftermath Baháʼu'lláh wrote several tablets lamenting over the loss of the two brothers, and denouncing the treachery that provoked their murder. One such tablet, Lawh-i-Burhán, was addressed to Shaykh Muhammad Báqir, giving him the title of the 'Wolf', and the title of 'She-Serpent' to Muhammad Husayn, the Imám Jum'ih of Isfahán. The two, along with the governor of Isfahan were the three main conspirators against the brothers. Baháʼu'lláh also wrote the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf to the son of Shaykh Muhammad Báqir. Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan left behind a widow named Fátimih Begum, and a son named Mírzá ʻAbdu'l-Husayn. Baháʼu'lláh directed them to come to Akka so that they might be compensated for all that had passed. Mírzá ʻAbdu'l-Husayn, died in the city. (Memorials of the Faithful, pg. 173) The third of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's four surviving daughters, Rúhá Khánum, married Mírzá Jalál, another son of the King of Martyrs. She broke the Covenant in the 1940s. References Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh Iranian Bahá'ís Bahá'í martyrs 1879 deaths People executed