Síyáh-Chál

The Síyáh-Chál ( literally "black pit") was a subterrenean dungeon southeast of Golestan Palace in Tehran. It carries a significant role in the history of the Baháʼí Faith, because its founder, Baháʼu'lláh was held there for four months in 1852, and it is where he claimed to have received a revelation. The Síyáh-Chál is regarded as the second holiest place in Iran to Baháʼís, after the house of the Báb, in Shiraz.

The pit was a discarded cistern converted into a dungeon. It had three flights of steep stairs descending into an area that received no light. There was no functioning latrine, and the small area was filled with up to 150 men.

On 15 August 1852, a radical group of Bábís attempted to assassinate Naser al-Din Shah Qajar and failed. The group of Bábís linked with the plan were rounded up and executed, but notwithstanding the assassins' claim that they were working alone, the entire Bábí community was blamed, precipitating a pogrom against the Bábí community that was encouraged and orchestrated by the government. During this time many Bábís were killed, and about 30, including Baháʼu'lláh, were imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál along with many criminals.

According to Baháʼu'lláh, it was during this four-month imprisonment in appalling conditions that he had several mystical experiences, and received a vision of a maiden, through whom he received his mission as a messenger of God and as the one whose coming the Báb had prophesied. It was also the place where he composed his first known tablet, the Rashḥ-i-ʻAmá.

The ambassador of Imperial Russia requested that Baháʼu'lláh and others apparently unconnected with the conspiracy be spared. After he had been in the Síyáh-Chál for four months, Baháʼu'lláh was released on the condition that he would leave Iran.

In 1868 the dungeon was filled-in and the Takyeh Dowlat, a royal theatre, was built over the site. The site was Baháʼí property from 1954 until the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Maid of Heaven

In October 1852, after two months had passed in the dungeon, Baháʼu'lláh described his vision in the Síyáh-Chál as a 'Maid of Heaven' (). He described his experiences in the '' Epistle to the Son of the Wolf'' and '' Súriy-i-Haykal''. For example, in the ''Súriy-i-Haykal'' he wrote:

The Maid of Heaven also appears in several tablets of Baháʼu'lláh's, including ''Tablet of the Maiden'' (''Lawh-i-Húrí''), '' Tablet of the Deathless Youth'' (''Lawh-i-Ghulámu'l-Khuld''), '' Tablet of the Wondrous Maiden'' (''Húr-i-'Ujáb''), '' Tablet of the Holy Mariner'' (''Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds'') (all written in the Baghdad period 1856–63), the '' Súrih of the Pen'' (''Súriy-i-Qalam''; c. 1865) and the ''Tablet of the Vision'' (''Lawh-i-Ruʼyá''; 1873).

Hatcher and Hemmat interpret the different occurrences of the Maid of Heaven throughout the writings of Bahá'u'lláh as the gradual unveiling of the station of Bahá'u'lláh. Sours describes parallels with Sophia, the personification of Wisdom in the Wisdom literature in the Bible. John Walbridge categorized her appearance under four themes: 'the maiden revealed' as the personification of the spirit of God, 'the maiden in love' as a bride personifying his coming revelation, 'the maiden heartbroken' in sorrow and grief over impending exile and of internal and external enemies, and 'the maiden afterwards' representing healing of spiritual wounds and the increasing tranquility of Bahá'u'lláh's later years.

The Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith, Shoghi Effendi, compares the Maid of Heaven with the Holy Spirit as manifested in the burning bush of Moses, the Dove to Jesus, and the angel Gabriel to Muhammad. Further, Farshid Kazemi discusses links with the Zoroastrian divine personification Daena. Effendi wrote about the Maiden in '' God Passes By'': "He lauded the names and attributes of His Creator, extolled the glories and mysteries of His own Revelation, sang the praises of that Maiden that personified the Spirit of God within Him".

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siyah-Chal
History of the Bahá'í Faith
Islamic architecture in Asia
History of Tehran