Síyáh-Chál

Síyáh-Chál (Persian: سیاه چال‎ literally "black pit") is the common word in Persian language for "dungeon".

Original corridor to the entrance of the Síyáh-Chál in Tehran.

Historically, siyah-chals were used as a harsher form of incarceration. Typically, such dungeons had no windows or outlets, other than the entrance, consisting of a short stairway into the ground.

In Baháʼí history the "Síyáh-Chál" refers to the dungeon south east of the palace of the Sháh and near the Sabzih-Maydán in Tehran where Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, was in captivity in 1852,[1] together with about 30 other Bábí's[2] if not more.[1] He claimed that here he had a vision of a Maid of Heaven, through whom he received his mission as a Manifestation of God and as the One whose coming the Báb had prophesied.[3] He described his experiences in the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf and Súriy-i-Haykal.[4][5][6] It was also the place where he composed his first known tablet, the Rashḥ-i-ʻAmá.[7]

In 1868 the dungeon was filled-in and the Tikyíh Dowlat, an opera house, was built over the site.[8] The site was Baháʼí property from 1954 until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It has been described by Shoghi Effendi as the second holiest Baháʼí site in Iran.[3]

References
  1. Momen, Mojan (2009). "Tehran (Tihrán), Iran". Baháʼí Encyclopedia Project. Evanston, IL: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States.
  2. Baháʼí International Community (1992). Baháʼu'lláh. Baháʼí World Centre. p. 3.
  3. Smith, Peter (2000). "Síyáh-Chál". A concise encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 323–267. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
  4. Momen, Moojan. Two Episodes from the Life of Bahá'u'lláh in Iran, in Lights of Irfan 20 (2019).
  5. Baháʼu'lláh (1988) [1892]. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Baháʼí Publishing Trust. pp. 20–22. ISBN 0-87743-182-5.
  6. Baháʼu'lláh, Summons of the Lord of Hosts, pp. 5
  7. Juan Ricardo Cole (1984). "Baháʼu'lláh and the Naqhbandí Sufis in Iraq, 1854–1856". In Moojan Momen (ed.). From Iran East and West. Kalimat Press. pp. 1–28. ISBN 978-0-933770-40-9.
  8. Khadem, Dhikru'llah (March 1976). "Baháʼu'lláh and His Most Holy Shrine". Baháʼí News (540): 1–16.


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