BAHA'I FAITH art

Unfurling the Black Standard

“Should your eyes behold the Black Standards proceeding from Khurasan, hasten ye towards them, even though ye should have to crawl over the snow, inasmuch a they proclaim the advent of the promised Mihdi, the vicegerent of God.”

The Prophet Muhammad

Mulla Husayn spent four years traveling throughout Persia proclaiming that Siyyid Ali Muhammad (The Bab) was the Promised One they had been waiting for. He built the first teaching center called the Babyihh in the Holy city of Mashhad. Thousands of seekers poured into the city and swore allegiance to the new Faith.

One day a messenger arrived, with these instructions, from the Bab:
“Adorn your head with my green turban, the emblem of My lineage and with the Black Standard unfurled before you, hasten to the Jaziriy-i-Khadra and lend assistance to My beloved Quddus .”

In this painting we see Mulla Husayn wearing the Bab’s green turban seated on the royal Peacock throne. Also present are Nabil-i-Azam author of the Dawn Breakers, on the far left, next to Mirza Abu-Talib and is seated Muhammad Rida both survivor’s of the Battle of Fort Tabarsi.

Through the window is the golden dome of the Shrine of the Imam Rida and the turquoise dome off the Gowhar Shah Mosque and the interior of this painting is the inside of the mosque.
In the foreground, on the left, is a celestial sphere signifying that Mashhad was the first center of astrological studies in the world.