last Letter of the Living. He was chosen by the Báb to accompany Him to pilgrimage in Mecca and Medina. And was the cousin to the first letter of the living, Mullá Husayn. (*) - Not included in the list provided by Qatíl which was created far earlier. He does not however provide alternatives and leaves the count at fourteen. Although the Báb seems to have written a tablet to each of the letters, the names are not on any of them so the identities cannot be confirmed. Of these the most distinguished are Mullá Ḥusayn, Ṭáhirih and Quddús. Ṭáhirih is singled out because she is the only woman and recognised the Báb without even meeting him. She sent a letter of belief through her brother-in-law and was sure he would find the Báb. Polemical claims about the Letters The Letters of the Living were all appointed by the Báb in the period between May 1844, when he first declared his mission and October 1844 when he set out for his pilgrimage to Mecca. Individuals such as Mírzá Yaḥyá, Baháʼu'lláh, Áqá Sayyid ʻAli Arab and Mullá Rajab ʻAli who all became Bábís after this period were not and could not have been part of the Letters of the Living as has been claimed in some accounts. Most of the Letters died in Bábí uprisings before Baháʼu'lláh started the Baháʼí Faith. Mírzá Yaḥyá amongst the Letters It has been stated that Mírzá Yaḥyá was the fourth of the Letters of the Living (where the Báb would be the first) by Edward Granville Browne in A Traveller's Narrative (page xvi). The book does not include any other details of the Letters and is against the Baháʼís' commonly accepted view that Mulla Ḥusayn's brother and nephew recognised the Báb shortly after him (since they'd take the third and fourth place). Also the paragraph claims that Baháʼu'lláh was also in the group. The assertion that either were Letters is contrary to Baháʼí accounts. It is notable that Mírzá Yaḥyá would have been 12, or perhaps 13 at the declaration of the Báb. See also Muqatta'at, abbreviated letters of the Qurʼan References External links The Báb's address to the Letters of the Living, published in The Dawn-Breakers E.G. Browne, A Traveller's Narrative - Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb Illustrations of The Bab's Tablets to the Letters of the Living