In the spring of 1845 Mullá Husayn received news that Bábís wishing to visit the Báb after his return from pilgrimage had been instructed to gather in Isfahan. Mullá Husayn, currently en route to Karbala, met with a group of pilgrims and in Isfahan. After only a few days, he received news that Quddús and another prominent Bábí had been arrested in Shiraz after their pilgrimage with the Báb and publicly tortured and banished, while the Báb was under house arrest in the home of his uncle Hajji Mirza Sayyid 'Ali. Along with his brother and nephew, Mullá Husayn made their way into Shiraz overnight in disguise. After making contact with that uncle of the Báb, the three of them were able to take up temporary residence in Shiraz and received permission to invite the Bábís gathered in Isfahan to gradually make their way into the city. As the number of Bábís in Shiraz grew, opposition to the Báb and Mullá Husayn increased, particularly when the Báb began to give public addresses and sermons, and was engaged in debates by local clerics. The Báb eventually dismissed all the Bábís resident in Shiraz, including Mullá Husayn, whom he directed to return to Khorasan. After being directed by the Báb to return to Khorasan, Mullá Husayn continued spreading Babism in Mashhad and throughout the province. During his time in Mashhad, a rebellion against the government of the Shah broke out in Khorasan, involving an alliance between local Kurdish tribes and the sheriff of Mashhad. Mullá Husayn learned that the leader of the rebellion hoped to secure his support as a representative of the growing Bábi community, and decided on leaving Mashhad to avoid entangling the local Bábís in the chaos expected to result when the forces of the Shah eventually arrived. About the same time news arrived that the Báb had been arrested and imprisoned in the mountain fortress of Maku near the Turkish border, following the increased controversy surrounding the Báb who was sent from Shiraz to Isfahan and then being ordered to Tehran by the Shah. In early 1848 Mullá Husayn embarked on foot from Mashhad—on the eastern edge of Persia–to Tehran, with the intention of continuing on to Maku—located in the far northwest. On his journey he was solely accompanied by a Bábí servant named Qambar-Ali.