Síyáh-Chál
Dungeon ("Black Pit") in Tehran, Iran / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Síyáh-Chál (Persian: سیاه چال literally "black pit") was a subterrenean dungeon southeast of the palace of the Sháh 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.[1] The Síyáh-Chál is regarded as the second holiest place in Iran to Baháʼís,[2] 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.[1]
On 15 August 1852, a radical group of Bábís attempted the assassination of the Shah and failed.[3] 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.[4] During this time many Bábís were killed, and about 30, including Baháʼu'lláh, were imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál along with many criminals.[5]
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.[3][6] It was also the place where he composed his first known tablet, the Rashḥ-i-ʻAmá.
The ambassador of 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 in fact finally released, on condition he left Iran.
In 1868 the dungeon was filled-in and the Tikyíh Dowlat, an opera house, was built over the site. The site was Baháʼí property from 1954 until the Islamic Revolution of 1979.[2]