A standoff followed, with the governor's militia occupying the bazaar quarter and the Bābis holding the Chenār-sūkhta quarter around the mosque. The Bābis defeated the governor's forces in several skirmishes, and he retreated to the nearby village of Qotra.
On 27 May 1850, Sayyed Yahya Darabi arrived in Neyriz to great fanfare, entered the Great Mosque, and proclaimed the coming of the Bāb as the chosen one of Islam. Darabi, who had been a Muslim cleric prior to converting to Bābism, was also known as Wahid, meaning "unique", a name the Bāb had bestowed upon him.