God Passes By
by Shoghi Effendi
Edition 1, (September 2006)
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CONTENTS
Baha'i Terms of Use
Foreword
FIRST PERIOD: THE MINISTRY OF THE BAB 1844-1853
Chapter I: The Birth of the Babi Revelation
Chapter II: The Bab's Captivity in Adhirbayjan
Chapter III: Upheavals in Mazindaran, Nayriz and Zanjan
Chapter IV: The Execution of the Bab
Chapter V: The Attempt on the Life of the Shah and Its Consequences
SECOND PERIOD: THE MINISTRY OF BAHA'U'LLAH 1853-1892
Chapter VI: The Birth of The Baha'i Revelation
Chapter VII: Baha'u'llah's Banishment to 'Iraq
Chapter VIII: Baha'u'llah's Banishment to 'Iraq (Continued)
Chapter IX: The Declaration of Baha'u'llah's Mission and His Journey to
Constantinople
Chapter X: The Rebellion of Mirza Yahya and the Proclamation of
Baha'u'llah's Mission in Adrianople
Chapter XI: Baha'u'llah's Incarceration in Akka
Chapter XII: Baha'u'llah's Incarceration in Akka (Continued)
Chapter XIII: Ascension of Baha'u'llah
THIRD PERIOD: THE MINISTRY OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA 1892-1921
Chapter XIV: The Covenant of Baha'u'llah
Chapter XV: The Rebellion of Mirza Muhammad-'Ali
Chapter XVI: The Rise and Establishment of the Faith in the West
Chapter XVII: Renewal of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Incarceration
Chapter XVIII: Entombment of the Bab's Remains on Mt. Carmel
Chapter XIX: 'Abdu'l-Baha's Travels in Europe and America
Chapter XX: Growth and Expansion of the Faith in East and West
Chapter XXI: The Passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha
FOURTH PERIOD: THE INCEPTION OF THE FORMATIVE AGE OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
1921-1944
Chapter XXII: The Rise and Establishment of the Administrative Order
Chapter XXIII: Attacks on Baha'i Institutions
Chapter XXIV: Emancipation and Recognition of the Faith and Its
Institutions
Chapter XXV: International Expansion of Teaching Activities
Retrospect and Prospect
FOREWORD
On the 23rd of May of this auspicious year the Baha'i world will celebrate
the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. It
will commemorate at once the hundreth anniversary of the inception of the
Babi Dispensation, of the inauguration of the Baha'i Era, of the
commencement of the Baha'i Cycle, and of the birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The
weight of the potentialities with which this Faith, possessing no peer or
equal in the world's spiritual history, and marking the culmination of a
universal prophetic cycle, has been endowed, staggers our imagination. The
brightness of the millennial glory which it must shed in the fullness of
time dazzles our eyes. The magnitude of the shadow which its Author will
continue to cast on successive Prophets destined to be raised up after Him
eludes our calculation.
Already in the space of less than a century the operation of the
mysterious processes generated by its creative spirit has provoked a
tumult in human society such as no mind can fathom. Itself undergoing a
period of incubation during its primitive age, it has, through the
emergence of its slowly-crystallizing system, induced a fermentation in
the general life of mankind designed to shake the very foundations of a
disordered society, to purify its life-blood, to reorientate and
reconstruct its institutions, and shape its final destiny.
To what else can the observant eye or the unprejudiced mind, acquainted
with the signs and portents heralding the birth, and accompanying the
rise, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah ascribe this dire, this planetary
upheaval, with its attendant destruction, misery and fear, if not to the
emergence of His embryonic World Order, which, as He Himself has
unequivocally proclaimed, has "deranged the equilibrium of the world and
revolutionized mankind's ordered life"? To what agency, if not to the
irresistible diffusion of that world-shaking, world-energizing,
world-redeeming spirit, which the Bab has affirmed is "vibrating in the
innermost realities of all created things" can the origins of this
portentous crisis, incomprehensible to man, and admittedly unprecedented
in the annals of the human race, be attributed? In the convulsions of
contemporary society, in the frenzied, world-wide ebullitions of men's
thoughts, in the fierce antagonisms inflaming races, creeds and classes,
in the shipwreck of nations, in the downfall of kings, in the
dismemberment of empires, in the extinction of dynasties, in the collapse
of ecclesiastical hierarchies, in the deterioration of time-honored
institutions, in the dissolution of ties, secular as well as religious,
that had for so long held together the members of the human race--all
manifesting themselves with ever-increasing gravity since the outbreak of
the first World War that immediately preceded the opening years of the
Formative Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah--in these we can readily
recognize the evidences of the travail of an age that has sustained the
impact of His Revelation, that has ignored His summons, and is now
laboring to be delivered of its burden, as a direct consequence of the
impulse communicated to it by the generative, the purifying, the
transmuting influence of His Spirit.
It is my purpose, on the occasion of an anniversary of such profound
significance, to attempt in the succeeding pages a survey of the
outstanding events of the century that has seen this Spirit burst forth
upon the world, as well as the initial stages of its subsequent
incarnation in a System that must evolve into an Order designed to embrace
the whole of mankind, and capable of fulfilling the high destiny that
awaits man on this planet. I shall endeavor to review, in their proper
perspective and despite the comparatively brief space of time which
separates us from them, the events which the revolution of a hundred
years, unique alike in glory and tribulation, has unrolled before our
eyes. I shall seek to represent and correlate, in however cursory a
manner, those momentous happenings which have insensibly, relentlessly,
and under the very eyes of successive generations, perverse, indifferent
or hostile, transformed a heterodox and seemingly negligible offshoot of
the _Sh_ay_kh_i school of the I_th_na-'A_sh_'ariyyih sect of _Sh_i'ah
Islam into a world religion whose unnumbered followers are organically and
indissolubly united; whose light has overspread the earth as far as
Iceland in the North and Magellanes in the South; whose ramifications have
spread to no less than sixty countries of the world; whose literature has
been translated and disseminated in no less than forty languages; whose
endowments in the five continents of the globe, whether local, national or
international, already run into several million dollars; whose
incorporated elective bodies have secured the official recognition of a
number of governments in East and West; whose adherents are recruited from
the diversified races and chief religions of mankind; whose
representatives are to be found in hundreds of cities in both Persia and
the United States of America; to whose verities royalty has publicly and
repeatedly testified; whose independent status its enemies, from the ranks
of its parent religion and in the leading center of both the Arab and
Muslim worlds, have proclaimed and demonstrated; and whose claims have
been virtually recognized, entitling it to rank as the fourth religion of
a Land in which its world spiritual center has been established, and which
is at once the heart of Christendom, the holiest shrine of the Jewish
people, and, save Mecca alone, the most sacred spot in Islam.
It is not my purpose--nor does the occasion demand it,--to write a detailed
history of the last hundred years of the Baha'i Faith, nor do I intend to
trace the origins of so tremendous a Movement, or to portray the
conditions under which it was born, or to examine the character of the
religion from which it has sprung, or to arrive at an estimate of the
effects which its impact upon the fortunes of mankind has produced. I
shall rather content myself with a review of the salient features of its
birth and rise, as well as of the initial stages in the establishment of
its administrative institutions--institutions which must be regarded as the
nucleus and herald of that World Order that must incarnate the soul,
execute the laws, and fulfill the purpose of the Faith of God in this day.
Nor will it be my intention to ignore, whilst surveying the panorama which
the revolution of a hundred years spreads before our gaze, the swift
interweaving of seeming reverses with evident victories, out of which the
hand of an inscrutable Providence has chosen to form the pattern of the
Faith from its earliest days, or to minimize those disasters that have so
often proved themselves to be the prelude to fresh triumphs which have, in
turn, stimulated its growth and consolidated its past achievements.
Indeed, the history of the first hundred years of its evolution resolves
itself into a series of internal and external crises, of varying severity,
devastating in their immediate effects, but each mysteriously releasing a
corresponding measure of divine power, lending thereby a fresh impulse to
its unfoldment, this further unfoldment engendering in its turn a still
graver calamity, followed by a still more liberal effusion of celestial
grace enabling its upholders to accelerate still further its march and win
in its service still more compelling victories.
In its broadest outline the first century of the Baha'i Era may be said to
comprise the Heroic, the Primitive, the Apostolic Age of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, and also the initial stages of the Formative, the
Transitional, the Iron Age which is to witness the crystallization and
shaping of the creative energies released by His Revelation. The first
eighty years of this century may roughly be said to have covered the
entire period of the first age, while the last two decades may be regarded
as having witnessed the beginnings of the second. The former commences
with the Declaration of the Bab, includes the mission of Baha'u'llah, and
terminates with the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The latter is ushered in by
His Will and Testament, which defines its character and establishes its
foundation.
The century under our review may therefore be considered as falling into
four distinct periods, of unequal duration, each of specific import and of
tremendous and indeed unappraisable significance. These four periods are
closely interrelated, and constitute successive acts of one, indivisible,
stupendous and sublime drama, whose mystery no intellect can fathom, whose
climax no eye can even dimly perceive, whose conclusion no mind can
adequately foreshadow. Each of these acts revolves around its own theme,
boasts of its own heroes, registers its own tragedies, records its own
triumphs, and contributes its own share to the execution of one common,
immutable Purpose. To isolate any one of them from the others, to
dissociate the later manifestations of one universal, all-embracing
Revelation from the pristine purpose that animated it in its earliest
days, would be tantamount to a mutilation of the structure on which it
rests, and to a lamentable perversion of its truth and of its history.
The first period (1844-1853), centers around the gentle, the youthful and
irresistible person of the Bab, matchless in His meekness, imperturbable
in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance, unrivaled in the dramatic
episodes of His swift and tragic ministry. It begins with the Declaration
of His Mission, culminates in His martyrdom, and ends in a veritable orgy
of religious massacre revolting in its hideousness. It is characterized by
nine years of fierce and relentless contest, whose theatre was the whole
of Persia, in which above ten thousand heroes laid down their lives, in
which two sovereigns of the Qajar dynasty and their wicked ministers
participated, and which was supported by the entire _Sh_i'ah
ecclesiastical hierarchy, by the military resources of the state, and by
the implacable hostility of the masses. The second period (1853-1892)
derives its inspiration from the august figure of Baha'u'llah, preeminent
in holiness, awesome in the majesty of His strength and power,
unapproachable in the transcendent brightness of His glory. It opens with
the first stirrings, in the soul of Baha'u'llah while in the Siyah-_Ch_al
of Tihran, of the Revelation anticipated by the Bab, attains its plenitude
in the proclamation of that Revelation to the kings and ecclesiastical
leaders of the earth, and terminates in the ascension of its Author in the
vicinity of the prison-town of Akka. It extends over thirty-nine years of
continuous, of unprecedented and overpowering Revelation, is marked by the
propagation of the Faith to the neighboring territories of Turkey, of
Russia, of 'Iraq, of Syria, of Egypt and of India, and is distinguished by
a corresponding aggravation of hostility, represented by the united
attacks launched by the _Sh_ah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey, the two
admittedly most powerful potentates of the East, as well as by the
opposition of the twin sacerdotal orders of _Sh_i'ah and Sunni Islam. The
third period (1892-1921) revolves around the vibrant personality of
'Abdu'l-Baha, mysterious in His essence, unique in His station,
astoundingly potent in both the charm and strength of His character. It
commences with the announcement of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, a document
without parallel in the history of any earlier Dispensation, attains its
climax in the emphatic assertion by the Center of that Covenant, in the
City of the Covenant, of the unique character and far-reaching
implications of that Document, and closes with His passing and the
interment of His remains on Mt. Carmel. It will go down in history as a
period of almost thirty years' duration, in which tragedies and triumphs
have been so intertwined as to eclipse at one time the Orb of the
Covenant, and at another time to pour forth its light over the continent
of Europe, and as far as Australasia, the Far East and the North American
continent. The fourth period (1921-1944) is motivated by the forces
radiating from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, that Charter of
Baha'u'llah's New World Order, the offspring resulting from the mystic
intercourse between Him Who is the Source of the Law of God and the mind
of the One Who is the vehicle and interpreter of that Law. The inception
of this fourth, this last period of the first Baha'i century synchronizes
with the birth of the Formative Age of the Baha'i Era, with the founding
of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah--a system which is
at once the harbinger, the nucleus and pattern of His World Order. This
period, covering the first twenty-three years of this Formative Age, has
already been distinguished by an outburst of further hostility, of a
different character, accelerating on the one hand the diffusion of the
Faith over a still wider area in each of the five continents of the globe,
and resulting on the other in the emancipation and the recognition of the
independent status of several communities within its pale.
These four periods are to be regarded not only as the component, the
inseparable parts of one stupendous whole, but as progressive stages in a
single evolutionary process, vast, steady and irresistible. For as we
survey the entire range which the operation of a century-old Faith has
unfolded before us, we cannot escape the conclusion that from whatever
angle we view this colossal scene, the events associated with these
periods present to us unmistakable evidences of a slowly maturing process,
of an orderly development, of internal consolidation, of external
expansion, of a gradual emancipation from the fetters of religious
orthodoxy, and of a corresponding diminution of civil disabilities and
restrictions.
Viewing these periods of Baha'i history as the constituents of a single
entity, we note the chain of events proclaiming successfully the rise of a
Forerunner, the Mission of One Whose advent that Forerunner had promised,
the establishment of a Covenant generated through the direct authority of
the Promised One Himself, and lastly the birth of a System which is the
child sprung from both the Author of the Covenant and its appointed
Center. We observe how the Bab, the Forerunner, announced the impending
inception of a divinely-conceived Order, how Baha'u'llah, the Promised
One, formulated its laws and ordinances, how 'Abdu'l-Baha, the appointed
Center, delineated its features, and how the present generation of their
followers have commenced to erect the framework of its institutions. We
watch, through these periods, the infant light of the Faith diffuse itself
from its cradle, eastward to India and the Far East, westward to the
neighboring territories of 'Iraq, of Turkey, of Russia, and of Egypt,
travel as far as the North American continent, illuminate subsequently the
major countries of Europe, envelop with its radiance, at a later stage,
the Antipodes, brighten the fringes of the Arctic, and finally set aglow
the Central and South American horizons. We witness a corresponding
increase in the diversity of the elements within its fellowship, which
from being confined, in the first period of its history, to an obscure
body of followers chiefly recruited from the ranks of the masses in
_Sh_i'ah Persia, has expanded into a fraternity representative of the
leading religious systems of the world, of almost every caste and color,
from the humblest worker and peasant to royalty itself. We notice a
similar development in the extent of its literature--a literature which,
restricted at first to the narrow range of hurriedly transcribed, often
corrupted, secretly circulated, manuscripts, so furtively perused, so
frequently effaced, and at times even eaten by the terrorized members of a
proscribed sect, has, within the space of a century, swelled into
innumerable editions, comprising tens of thousands of printed volumes, in
diverse scripts, and in no less than forty languages, some elaborately
reproduced, others profusely illustrated, all methodically and vigorously
disseminated through the agency of world-wide, properly constituted and
specially organized committees and Assemblies. We perceive a no less
apparent evolution in the scope of its teachings, at first designedly
rigid, complex and severe, subsequently recast, expanded, and liberalized
under the succeeding Dispensation, later expounded, reaffirmed and
amplified by an appointed Interpreter, and lastly systematized and
universally applied to both individuals and institutions. We can discover
a no less distinct gradation in the character of the opposition it has had
to encounter--an opposition, at first kindled in the bosom of _Sh_i'ah
Islam, which, at a later stage, gathered momentum with the banishment of
Baha'u'llah to the domains of the Turkish Sultan and the consequent
hostility of the more powerful Sunni hierarchy and its Caliph, the head of
the vast majority of the followers of Muhammad--an opposition which, now,
through the rise of a divinely appointed Order in the Christian West, and
its initial impact on civil and ecclesiastical institutions, bids fair to
include among its supporters established governments and systems
associated with the most ancient, the most deeply entrenched sacerdotal
hierarchies in Christendom. We can, at the same time, recognize, through
the haze of an ever-widening hostility, the progress, painful yet
persistent, of certain communities within its pale through the stages of
obscurity, of proscription, of emancipation, and of recognition--stages
that must needs culminate in the course of succeeding centuries, in the
establishment of the Faith, and the founding, in the plenitude of its
power and authority, of the world-embracing Baha'i Commonwealth. We can
likewise discern a no less appreciable advance in the rise of its
institutions, whether as administrative centers or places of
worship--institutions, clandestine and subterrene in their earliest
beginnings, emerging imperceptibly into the broad daylight of public
recognition, legally protected, enriched by pious endowments, ennobled at
first by the erection of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of I_sh_qabad, the
first Baha'i House of Worship, and more recently immortalized, through the
rise in the heart of the North American continent of the Mother Temple of
the West, the forerunner of a divine, a slowly maturing civilization. And
finally, we can even bear witness to the marked improvement in the
conditions surrounding the pilgrimages performed by its devoted adherents
to its consecrated shrines at its world center--pilgrimages originally
arduous, perilous, tediously long, often made on foot, at times ending in
disappointment, and confined to a handful of harassed Oriental followers,
gradually attracting, under steadily improving circumstances of security
and comfort, an ever swelling number of new converts converging from the
four corners of the globe, and culminating in the widely publicized yet
sadly frustrated visit of a noble Queen, who, at the very threshold of the
city of her heart's desire, was compelled, according to her own written
testimony, to divert her steps, and forego the privilege of so priceless a
benefit.
FIRST PERIOD: THE MINISTRY OF THE BAB 1844-1853
Chapter I: The Birth of the Babi Revelation
May 23, 1844, signalizes the commencement of the most turbulent period of
the Heroic Age of the Baha'i Era, an age which marks the opening of the
most glorious epoch in the greatest cycle which the spiritual history of
mankind has yet witnessed. No more than a span of nine short years marks
the duration of this most spectacular, this most tragic, this most
eventful period of the first Baha'i century. It was ushered in by the
birth of a Revelation whose Bearer posterity will acclaim as the "Point
round Whom the realities of the Prophets and Messengers revolve," and
terminated with the first stirrings of a still more potent Revelation,
"whose day," Baha'u'llah Himself affirms, "every Prophet hath announced,"
for which "the soul of every Divine Messenger hath thirsted," and through
which "God hath proved the hearts of the entire company of His Messengers
and Prophets." Little wonder that the immortal chronicler of the events
associated with the birth and rise of the Baha'i Revelation has seen fit
to devote no less than half of his moving narrative to the description of
those happenings that have during such a brief space of time so greatly
enriched, through their tragedy and heroism, the religious annals of
mankind. In sheer dramatic power, in the rapidity with which events of
momentous importance succeeded each other, in the holocaust which baptized
its birth, in the miraculous circumstances attending the martyrdom of the
One Who had ushered it in, in the potentialities with which it had been
from the outset so thoroughly impregnated, in the forces to which it
eventually gave birth, this nine-year period may well rank as unique in
the whole range of man's religious experience. We behold, as we survey the
episodes of this first act of a sublime drama, the figure of its Master
Hero, the Bab, arise meteor-like above the horizon of _Sh_iraz, traverse
the sombre sky of Persia from south to north, decline with tragic
swiftness, and perish in a blaze of glory. We see His satellites, a galaxy
of God-intoxicated heroes, mount above that same horizon, irradiate that
same incandescent light, burn themselves out with that self-same
swiftness, and impart in their turn an added impetus to the steadily
gathering momentum of God's nascent Faith.
He Who communicated the original impulse to so incalculable a Movement was
none other than the promised Qa'im (He who ariseth), the Sahibu'z-Zaman
(the Lord of the Age), Who assumed the exclusive right of annulling the
whole Qur'anic Dispensation, Who styled Himself "the Primal Point from
which have been generated all created things ... the Countenance of God
Whose splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can
never fade." The people among whom He appeared were the most decadent race
in the civilized world, grossly ignorant, savage, cruel, steeped in
prejudice, servile in their submission to an almost deified hierarchy,
recalling in their abjectness the Israelites of Egypt in the days of
Moses, in their fanaticism the Jews in the days of Jesus, and in their
perversity the idolators of Arabia in the days of Muhammad. The arch-enemy
who repudiated His claim, challenged His authority, persecuted His Cause,
succeeded in almost quenching His light, and who eventually became
disintegrated under the impact of His Revelation was the _Sh_i'ah
priesthood. Fiercely fanatic, unspeakably corrupt, enjoying unlimited
ascendancy over the masses, jealous of their position, and irreconcilably
opposed to all liberal ideas, the members of this caste had for one
thousand years invoked the name of the Hidden Imam, their breasts had
glowed with the expectation of His advent, their pulpits had rung with the
praises of His world-embracing dominion, their lips were still devoutly
and perpetually murmuring prayers for the hastening of His coming. The
willing tools who prostituted their high office for the accomplishment of
the enemy's designs were no less than the sovereigns of the Qajar dynasty,
first, the bigoted, the sickly, the vacillating Muhammad _Sh_ah, who at
the last moment cancelled the Bab's imminent visit to the capital, and,
second, the youthful and inexperienced Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah, who gave his
ready assent to the sentence of his Captive's death. The arch villains who
joined hands with the prime movers of so wicked a conspiracy were the two
grand vizirs, Haji Mirza Aqasi, the idolized tutor of Muhammad _Sh_ah, a
vulgar, false-hearted and fickle-minded schemer, and the arbitrary,
bloodthirsty, reckless Amir-Nizam, Mirza Taqi _Kh_an, the first of whom
exiled the Bab to the mountain fastnesses of A_dh_irbayjan, and the latter
decreed His death in Tabriz. Their accomplice in these and other heinous
crimes was a government bolstered up by a flock of idle, parasitical
princelings and governors, corrupt, incompetent, tenaciously holding to
their ill-gotten privileges, and utterly subservient to a notoriously
degraded clerical order. The heroes whose deeds shine upon the record of
this fierce spiritual contest, involving at once people, clergy, monarch
and government, were the Bab's chosen disciples, the Letters of the
Living, and their companions, the trail-breakers of the New Day, who to so
much intrigue, ignorance, depravity, cruelty, superstition and cowardice
opposed a spirit exalted, unquenchable and awe-inspiring, a knowledge
surprisingly profound, an eloquence sweeping in its force, a piety
unexcelled in fervor, a courage leonine in its fierceness, a
self-abnegation saintly in its purity, a resolve granite-like in its
firmness, a vision stupendous in its range, a veneration for the Prophet
and His Imams disconcerting to their adversaries, a power of persuasion
alarming to their antagonists, a standard of faith and a code of conduct
that challenged and revolutionized the lives of their countrymen.
The opening scene of the initial act of this great drama was laid in the
upper chamber of the modest residence of the son of a mercer of _Sh_iraz,
in an obscure corner of that city. The time was the hour before sunset, on
the 22nd day of May, 1844. The participants were the Bab, a twenty-five
year old siyyid, of pure and holy lineage, and the young Mulla Husayn, the
first to believe in Him. Their meeting immediately before that interview
seemed to be purely fortuitous. The interview itself was protracted till
the hour of dawn. The Host remained closeted alone with His guest, nor was
the sleeping city remotely aware of the import of the conversation they
held with each other. No record has passed to posterity of that unique
night save the fragmentary but highly illuminating account that fell from
the lips of Mulla Husayn.
"I sat spellbound by His utterance, oblivious of time and of those who
awaited me," he himself has testified, after describing the nature of the
questions he had put to his Host and the conclusive replies he had
received from Him, replies which had established beyond the shadow of a
doubt the validity of His claim to be the promised Qa'im. "Suddenly the
call of the Mu'a_dhdh_in, summoning the faithful to their morning prayer,
awakened me from the state of ecstasy into which I seemed to have fallen.
All the delights, all the ineffable glories, which the Almighty has
recounted in His Book as the priceless possessions of the people of
Paradise--these I seemed to be experiencing that night. Methinks I was in a
place of which it could be truly said: 'Therein no toil shall reach us,
and therein no weariness shall touch us;' 'no vain discourse shall they
hear therein, nor any falsehood, but only the cry, "Peace! Peace!"';
'their cry therein shall be, "Glory to Thee, O God!" and their salutation
therein, "Peace!", and the close of their cry, "Praise be to God, Lord of
all creatures!"' Sleep had departed from me that night. I was enthralled
by the music of that voice which rose and fell as He chanted; now swelling
forth as He revealed verses of the Qayyumu'l-Asma, again acquiring
ethereal, subtle harmonies as He uttered the prayers He was revealing. At
the end of each invocation, He would repeat this verse: 'Far from the
glory of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, be that which His creatures affirm of
Him! And peace be upon His Messengers! And praise be to God, the Lord of
all beings!'"
"This Revelation," Mulla Husayn has further testified, "so suddenly and
impetuously thrust upon me, came as a thunderbolt which, for a time,
seemed to have benumbed my faculties. I was blinded by its dazzling
splendor and overwhelmed by its crushing force. Excitement, joy, awe, and
wonder stirred the depths of my soul. Predominant among these emotions was
a sense of gladness and strength which seemed to have transfigured me. How
feeble and impotent, how dejected and timid, I had felt previously! Then I
could neither write nor walk, so tremulous were my hands and feet. Now,
however, the knowledge of His Revelation had galvanized my being. I felt
possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples
and its potentates, to rise against me, I would, alone and undaunted,
withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my
grasp. I seemed to be the voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all
mankind: 'Awake, for, lo! the morning Light has broken. Arise, for His
Cause is made manifest. The portal of His grace is open wide; enter
therein, O peoples of the world! For He Who is your promised One is
come!'"
A more significant light, however, is shed on this episode, marking the
Declaration of the Mission of the Bab, by the perusal of that "first,
greatest and mightiest" of all books in the Babi Dispensation, the
celebrated commentary on the Surih of Joseph, the first chapter of which,
we are assured, proceeded, in its entirety, in the course of that night of
nights from the pen of its divine Revealer. The description of this
episode by Mulla Husayn, as well as the opening pages of that Book attest
the magnitude and force of that weighty Declaration. A claim to be no less
than the mouthpiece of God Himself, promised by the Prophets of bygone
ages; the assertion that He was, at the same time, the Herald of One
immeasurably greater than Himself; the summons which He trumpeted forth to
the kings and princes of the earth; the dire warnings directed to the
Chief Magistrate of the realm, Muhammad _Sh_ah; the counsel imparted to
Haji Mirza Aqasi to fear God, and the peremptory command to abdicate his
authority as grand vizir of the _Sh_ah and submit to the One Who is the
"Inheritor of the earth and all that is therein"; the challenge issued to
the rulers of the world proclaiming the self-sufficiency of His Cause,
denouncing the vanity of their ephemeral power, and calling upon them to
"lay aside, one and all, their dominion," and deliver His Message to
"lands in both the East and the West"--these constitute the dominant
features of that initial contact that marked the birth, and fixed the
date, of the inception of the most glorious era in the spiritual life of
mankind.
With this historic Declaration the dawn of an Age that signalizes the
consummation of all ages had broken. The first impulse of a momentous
Revelation had been communicated to the one "but for whom," according to
the testimony of the Kitab-i-Iqan, "God would not have been established
upon the seat of His mercy, nor ascended the throne of eternal glory." Not
until forty days had elapsed, however, did the enrollment of the seventeen
remaining Letters of the Living commence. Gradually, spontaneously, some
in sleep, others while awake, some through fasting and prayer, others
through dreams and visions, they discovered the Object of their quest, and
were enlisted under the banner of the new-born Faith. The last, but in
rank the first, of these Letters to be inscribed on the Preserved Tablet
was the erudite, the twenty-two year old Quddus, a direct descendant of
the Imam Hasan and the most esteemed disciple of Siyyid Kazim. Immediately
preceding him, a woman, the only one of her sex, who, unlike her
fellow-disciples, never attained the presence of the Bab, was invested
with the rank of apostleship in the new Dispensation. A poetess, less than
thirty years of age, of distinguished birth, of bewitching charm, of
captivating eloquence, indomitable in spirit, unorthodox in her views,
audacious in her acts, immortalized as Tahirih (the Pure One) by the
"Tongue of Glory," and surnamed Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Solace of the Eyes) by
Siyyid Kazim, her teacher, she had, in consequence of the appearance of
the Bab to her in a dream, received the first intimation of a Cause which
was destined to exalt her to the fairest heights of fame, and on which
she, through her bold heroism, was to shed such imperishable luster.
These "first Letters generated from the Primal Point," this "company of
angels arrayed before God on the Day of His coming," these "Repositories
of His Mystery," these "Springs that have welled out from the Source of
His Revelation," these first companions who, in the words of the Persian
Bayan, "enjoy nearest access to God," these "Luminaries that have, from
everlasting, bowed down, and will everlastingly continue to bow down,
before the Celestial Throne," and lastly these "elders" mentioned in the
Book of Revelation as "sitting before God on their seats," "clothed in
white raiment" and wearing on their heads "crowns of gold"--these were, ere
their dispersal, summoned to the Bab's presence, Who addressed to them His
parting words, entrusted to each a specific task, and assigned to some of
them as the proper field of their activities their native provinces. He
enjoined them to observe the utmost caution and moderation in their
behavior, unveiled the loftiness of their rank, and stressed the magnitude
of their responsibilities. He recalled the words addressed by Jesus to His
disciples, and emphasized the superlative greatness of the New Day. He
warned them lest by turning back they forfeit the Kingdom of God, and
assured them that if they did God's bidding, God would make them His heirs
and spiritual leaders among men. He hinted at the secret, and announced
the approach, of a still mightier Day, and bade them prepare themselves
for its advent. He called to remembrance the triumph of Abraham over
Nimrod, of Moses over Pharaoh, of Jesus over the Jewish people, and of
Muhammad over the tribes of Arabia, and asserted the inevitability and
ultimate ascendancy of His own Revelation. To the care of Mulla Husayn He
committed a mission, more specific in character and mightier in import. He
affirmed that His covenant with him had been established, cautioned him to
be forbearing with the divines he would encounter, directed him to proceed
to Tihran, and alluded, in the most glowing terms, to the as yet
unrevealed Mystery enshrined in that city--a Mystery that would, He
affirmed, transcend the light shed by both Hijaz and _Sh_iraz.
Galvanized into action by the mandate conferred upon them, launched on
their perilous and revolutionizing mission, these lesser luminaries who,
together with the Bab, constitute the First Vahid (Unity) of the
Dispensation of the Bayan, scattered far and wide through the provinces of
their native land, where, with matchless heroism, they resisted the savage
and concerted onslaught of the forces arrayed against them, and
immortalized their Faith by their own exploits and those of their
co-religionists, raising thereby a tumult that convulsed their country and
sent its echoes reverberating as far as the capitals of Western Europe.
It was not until, however, the Bab had received the eagerly anticipated
letter of Mulla Husayn, His trusted and beloved lieutenant, communicating
the joyful tidings of his interview with Baha'u'llah, that He decided to
undertake His long and arduous pilgrimage to the Tombs of His ancestors.
In the month of _Sh_a'ban, of the year 1260 A.H. (September, 1844) He Who,
both on His father's and mother's side, was of the seed of the illustrious
Fatimih, and Who was a descendant of the Imam Husayn, the most eminent
among the lawful successors of the Prophet of Islam, proceeded, in
fulfillment of Islamic traditions, to visit the Kaaba. He embarked from
Bu_sh_ihr on the 19th of Ramadan (October, 1844) on a sailing vessel,
accompanied by Quddus whom He was assiduously preparing for the assumption
of his future office. Landing at Jaddih after a stormy voyage of over a
month's duration, He donned the pilgrim's garb, mounted a camel, and set
out for Mecca, arriving on the first of _Dh_i'l-Hajjih (December 12).
Quddus, holding the bridle in his hands, accompanied his Master on foot to
that holy Shrine. On the day of Arafih, the Prophet-pilgrim of _Sh_iraz,
His chronicler relates, devoted His whole time to prayer. On the day of
Nahr He proceeded to Muna, where He sacrificed according to custom
nineteen lambs, nine in His own name, seven in the name of Quddus, and
three in the name of the Ethiopian servant who attended Him. He
afterwards, in company with the other pilgrims, encompassed the Kaaba and
performed the rites prescribed for the pilgrimage.
His visit to Hijaz was marked by two episodes of particular importance.
The first was the declaration of His mission and His open challenge to the
haughty Mirza Muhit-i-Kirmani, one of the most outstanding exponents of
the _Sh_ay_kh_i school, who at times went so far as to assert his
independence of the leadership of that school assumed after the death of
Siyyid Kazim by Haji Muhammad Karim _Kh_an, a redoubtable enemy of the
Babi Faith. The second was the invitation, in the form of an Epistle,
conveyed by Quddus, to the Sherif of Mecca, in which the custodian of the
House of God was called upon to embrace the truth of the new Revelation.
Absorbed in his own pursuits the Sherif however failed to respond. Seven
years later, when in the course of a conversation with a certain Haji
Niyaz-i-Ba_gh_dadi, this same Sherif was informed of the circumstances
attending the mission and martyrdom of the Prophet of _Sh_iraz, he
listened attentively to the description of those events and expressed his
indignation at the tragic fate that had overtaken Him.
The Bab's visit to Medina marked the conclusion of His pilgrimage.
Regaining Jaddih, He returned to Bu_sh_ihr, where one of His first acts
was to bid His last farewell to His fellow-traveler and disciple, and to
assure him that he would meet the Beloved of their hearts. He, moreover,
announced to him that he would be crowned with a martyr's death, and that
He Himself would subsequently suffer a similar fate at the hands of their
common foe.
The Bab's return to His native land (Safar 1261) (February- March, 1845)
was the signal for a commotion that rocked the entire country. The fire
which the declaration of His mission had lit was being fanned into flame
through the dispersal and activities of His appointed disciples. Already
within the space of less than two years it had kindled the passions of
friend and foe alike. The outbreak of the conflagration did not even await
the return to His native city of the One Who had generated it. The
implications of a Revelation, thrust so dramatically upon a race so
degenerate, so inflammable in temper, could indeed have had no other
consequence than to excite within men's bosoms the fiercest passions of
fear, of hate, of rage and envy. A Faith Whose Founder did not content
Himself with the claim to be the Gate of the Hidden Imam, Who assumed a
rank that excelled even that of the Sahibu'z-Zaman, Who regarded Himself
as the precursor of one incomparably greater than Himself, Who
peremptorily commanded not only the subjects of the _Sh_ah, but the
monarch himself, and even the kings and princes of the earth, to forsake
their all and follow Him, Who claimed to be the inheritor of the earth and
all that is therein--a Faith Whose religious doctrines, Whose ethical
standards, social principles and religious laws challenged the whole
structure of the society in which it was born, soon ranged, with startling
unanimity, the mass of the people behind their priests, and behind their
chief magistrate, with his ministers and his government, and welded them
into an opposition sworn to destroy, root and branch, the movement
initiated by One Whom they regarded as an impious and presumptuous
pretender.
With the Bab's return to _Sh_iraz the initial collision of irreconcilable
forces may be said to have commenced. Already the energetic and audacious
Mulla 'Aliy-i-Bastami, one of the Letters of the Living, "the first to
leave the House of God (_Sh_iraz) and the first to suffer for His sake,"
who, in the presence of one of the leading exponents of _Sh_i'ah Islam,
the far-famed _Sh_ay_kh_ Muhammad Hasan, had audaciously asserted that
from the pen of his new-found Master within the space of forty-eight
hours, verses had streamed that equalled in number those of the Qur'an,
which it took its Author twenty-three years to reveal, had been
excommunicated, chained, disgraced, imprisoned, and, in all probability,
done to death. Mulla Sadiq-i-_Kh_urasani, impelled by the injunction of
the Bab in the _Kh_asa'il-i-Sab'ih to alter the sacrosanct formula of the
a_dh_an, sounded it in its amended form before a scandalized congregation
in _Sh_iraz, and was instantly arrested, reviled, stripped of his
garments, and scourged with a thousand lashes. The villainous Husayn
_Kh_an, the Nizamu'd-Dawlih, the governor of Fars, who had read the
challenge thrown out in the Qayyumu'l-Asma, having ordered that Mulla
Sadiq together with Quddus and another believer be summarily and publicly
punished, caused their beards to be burned, their noses pierced, and
threaded with halters; then, having been led through the streets in this
disgraceful condition, they were expelled from the city.
The people of _Sh_iraz were by that time wild with excitement. A violent
controversy was raging in the masjids, the madrisihs, the bazaars, and
other public places. Peace and security were gravely imperiled. Fearful,
envious, thoroughly angered, the mullas were beginning to perceive the
seriousness of their position. The governor, greatly alarmed, ordered the
Bab to be arrested. He was brought to _Sh_iraz under escort, and, in the
presence of Husayn _Kh_an, was severely rebuked, and so violently struck
in the face that His turban fell to the ground. Upon the intervention of
the Imam-Jum'ih He was released on parole, and entrusted to the custody of
His maternal uncle Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali. A brief lull ensued, enabling
the captive Youth to celebrate the Naw-Ruz of that and the succeeding year
in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity in the company of His mother,
His wife, and His uncle. Meanwhile the fever that had seized His followers
was communicating itself to the members of the clergy and to the merchant
classes, and was invading the higher circles of society. Indeed, a wave of
passionate inquiry had swept the whole country, and unnumbered
congregations were listening with wonder to the testimonies eloquently and
fearlessly related by the Bab's itinerant messengers.
The commotion had assumed such proportions that the _Sh_ah, unable any
longer to ignore the situation, delegated the trusted Siyyid
Yahyay-i-Darabi, surnamed Vahid, one of the most erudite, eloquent and
influential of his subjects--a man who had committed to memory no less than
thirty thousand traditions--to investigate and report to him the true
situation. Broad-minded, highly imaginative, zealous by nature, intimately
associated with the court, he, in the course of three interviews, was
completely won over by the arguments and personality of the Bab. Their
first interview centered around the metaphysical teachings of Islam, the
most obscure passages of the Qur'an, and the traditions and prophecies of
the Imams. In the course of the second interview Vahid was astounded to
find that the questions which he had intended to submit for elucidation
had been effaced from his retentive memory, and yet, to his utter
amazement, he discovered that the Bab was answering the very questions he
had forgotten. During the third interview the circumstances attending the
revelation of the Bab's commentary on the surih of Kaw_th_ar, comprising
no less than two thousand verses, so overpowered the delegate of the
_Sh_ah that he, contenting himself with a mere written report to the Court
Chamberlain, arose forthwith to dedicate his entire life and resources to
the service of a Faith that was to requite him with the crown of martyrdom
during the Nayriz upheaval. He who had firmly resolved to confute the
arguments of an obscure siyyid of _Sh_iraz, to induce Him to abandon His
ideas, and to conduct Him to Tihran as an evidence of the ascendancy he
had achieved over Him, was made to feel, as he himself later acknowledged,
as "lowly as the dust beneath His feet." Even Husayn _Kh_an, who had been
Vahid's host during his stay in _Sh_iraz, was compelled to write to the
_Sh_ah and express the conviction that his Majesty's illustrious delegate
had become a Babi.
Another famous advocate of the Cause of the Bab, even fiercer in zeal than
Vahid, and almost as eminent in rank, was Mulla Muhammad-'Aliy-i-Zanjani,
surnamed Hujjat. An A_kh_bari, a vehement controversialist, of a bold and
independent temper of mind, impatient of restraint, a man who had dared
condemn the whole ecclesiastical hierarchy from the Abvab-i-Arba'ih down
to the humblest mulla, he had more than once, through his superior talents
and fervid eloquence, publicly confounded his orthodox _Sh_i'ah
adversaries. Such a person could not remain indifferent to a Cause that
was producing so grave a cleavage among his countrymen. The disciple he
sent to _Sh_iraz to investigate the matter fell immediately under the
spell of the Bab. The perusal of but a page of the Qayyumu'l-Asma, brought
by that messenger to Hujjat, sufficed to effect such a transformation
within him that he declared, before the assembled 'ulamas of his native
city, that should the Author of that work pronounce day to be night and
the sun to be a shadow he would unhesitatingly uphold his verdict.
Yet another recruit to the ever-swelling army of the new Faith was the
eminent scholar, Mirza Ahmad-i-Az_gh_andi, the most learned, the wisest
and the most outstanding among the 'ulamas of _Kh_urasan, who, in
anticipation of the advent of the promised Qa'im, had compiled above
twelve thousand traditions and prophecies concerning the time and
character of the expected Revelation, had circulated them among His
fellow-disciples, and had encouraged them to quote them extensively to all
congregations and in all meetings.
While the situation was steadily deteriorating in the provinces, the
bitter hostility of the people of _Sh_iraz was rapidly moving towards a
climax. Husayn _Kh_an, vindictive, relentless, exasperated by the reports
of his sleepless agents that his Captive's power and fame were hourly
growing, decided to take immediate action. It is even reported that his
accomplice, Haji Mirza Aqasi, had ordered him to kill secretly the
would-be disrupter of the state and the wrecker of its established
religion. By order of the governor the chief constable, 'Abdu'l-Hamid
_Kh_an, scaled, in the dead of night, the wall and entered the house of
Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali, where the Bab was confined, arrested Him, and
confiscated all His books and documents. That very night, however, took
place an event which, in its dramatic suddenness, was no doubt
providentially designed to confound the schemes of the plotters, and
enable the Object of their hatred to prolong His ministry and consummate
His Revelation. An outbreak of cholera, devastating in its virulence, had,
since midnight, already smitten above a hundred people. The dread of the
plague had entered every heart, and the inhabitants of the stricken city
were, amid shrieks of pain and grief, fleeing in confusion. Three of the
governor's domestics had already died. Members of his family were lying
dangerously ill. In his despair he, leaving the dead unburied, had fled to
a garden in the outskirts of the city. 'Abdu'l-Hamid _Kh_an, confronted by
this unexpected development, decided to conduct the Bab to His own home.
He was appalled, upon his arrival, to learn that his son lay in the
death-throes of the plague. In his despair he threw himself at the feet of
the Bab, begged to be forgiven, adjured Him not to visit upon the son the
sins of the father, and pledged his word to resign his post, and never
again to accept such a position. Finding that his prayer had been
answered, he addressed a plea to the governor begging him to release his
Captive, and thereby deflect the fatal course of this dire visitation.
Husayn _Kh_an acceded to his request, and released his Prisoner on
condition of His quitting the city.
Miraculously preserved by an almighty and watchful Providence, the Bab
proceeded to Isfahan (September, 1846), accompanied by Siyyid
Kazim-i-Zanjani. Another lull ensued, a brief period of comparative
tranquillity during which the Divine processes which had been set in
motion gathered further momentum, precipitating a series of events leading
to the imprisonment of the Bab in the fortresses of Mah-Ku and _Ch_ihriq,
and culminating in His martyrdom in the barrack-square of Tabriz. Well
aware of the impending trials that were to afflict Him, the Bab had, ere
His final separation from His family, bequeathed to His mother and His
wife all His possessions, had confided to the latter the secret of what
was to befall Him, and revealed for her a special prayer the reading of
which, He assured her, would resolve her perplexities and allay her
sorrows. The first forty days of His sojourn in Isfahan were spent as the
guest of Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, the Sultanu'l-'Ulama, the Imam-Jum'ih, one
of the principal ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm, in accordance
with the instructions of the governor of the city, Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an, the
Mu Tamidu'd-Dawlih, who had received from the Bab a letter requesting him
to appoint the place where He should dwell. He was ceremoniously received,
and such was the spell He cast over the people of that city that, on one
occasion, after His return from the public bath, an eager multitude
clamored for the water that had been used for His ablutions. So magic was
His charm that His host, forgetful of the dignity of his high rank, was
wont to wait personally upon Him. It was at the request of this same
prelate that the Bab, one night, after supper, revealed His well-known
commentary on the surih of Va'l-'Asr. Writing with astonishing rapidity,
He, in a few hours, had devoted to the exposition of the significance of
only the first letter of that surih--a letter which _Sh_ay_kh_
Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i had stressed, and which Baha'u'llah refers to in the
Kitab-i-Aqdas--verses that equalled in number a third of the Qur'an, a feat
that called forth such an outburst of reverent astonishment from those who
witnessed it that they arose and kissed the hem of His robe.
The tumultuous enthusiasm of the people of Isfahan was meanwhile visibly
increasing. Crowds of people, some impelled by curiosity, others eager to
discover the truth, still others anxious to be healed of their
infirmities, flocked from every quarter of the city to the house of the
Imam-Jum'ih. The wise and judicious Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an could not resist
the temptation of visiting so strange, so intriguing a Personage. Before a
brilliant assemblage of the most accomplished divines he, a Georgian by
origin and a Christian by birth, requested the Bab to expound and
demonstrate the truth of Muhammad's specific mission. To this request,
which those present had felt compelled to decline, the Bab readily
responded. In less than two hours, and in the space of fifty pages, He had
not only revealed a minute, a vigorous and original dissertation on this
noble theme, but had also linked it with both the coming of the Qa'im and
the return of the Imam Husayn--an exposition that prompted Manu_ch_ihr
_Kh_an to declare before that gathering his faith in the Prophet of Islam,
as well as his recognition of the supernatural gifts with which the Author
of so convincing a treatise was endowed.
These evidences of the growing ascendancy exercised by an unlearned Youth
on the governor and the people of a city rightly regarded as one of the
strongholds of _Sh_i'ah Islam, alarmed the ecclesiastical authorities.
Refraining from any act of open hostility which they knew full well would
defeat their purpose, they sought, by encouraging the circulation of the
wildest rumors, to induce the Grand Vizir of the _Sh_ah to save a
situation that was growing hourly more acute and menacing. The popularity
enjoyed by the Bab, His personal prestige, and the honors accorded Him by
His countrymen, had now reached their high watermark. The shadows of an
impending doom began to fast gather about Him. A series of tragedies from
then on followed in rapid sequence destined to culminate in His own death
and the apparent extinction of the influence of His Faith.
The overbearing and crafty Haji Mirza Aqasi, fearful lest the sway of the
Bab encompass his sovereign and thus seal his own doom, was aroused as
never before. Prompted by a suspicion that the Bab possessed the secret
sympathies of the Mu'tamid, and well aware of the confidence reposed in
him by the _Sh_ah, he severely upbraided the Imam-Jum'ih for the neglect
of his sacred duty. He, at the same time, lavished, in several letters,
his favors upon the 'ulamas of Isfahan, whom he had hitherto ignored. From
the pulpits of that city an incited clergy began to hurl vituperation and
calumny upon the Author of what was to them a hateful and much to be
feared heresy. The _Sh_ah himself was induced to summon the Bab to his
capital. Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an, bidden to arrange for His departure, decided
to transfer His residence temporarily to his own home. Meanwhile the
mujtahids and 'ulamas, dismayed at the signs of so pervasive an influence,
summoned a gathering which issued an abusive document signed and sealed by
the ecclesiastical leaders of the city, denouncing the Bab as a heretic
and condemning Him to death. Even the Imam-Jum'ih was constrained to add
his written testimony that the Accused was devoid of reason and judgment.
The Mu'tamid, in his great embarrassment, and in order to appease the
rising tumult, conceived a plan whereby an increasingly restive populace
were made to believe that the Bab had left for Tihran, while he succeeded
in insuring for Him a brief respite of four months in the privacy of the
Imarat-i-_Kh_ur_sh_id, the governor's private residence in Isfahan. It was
in those days that the host expressed the desire to consecrate all his
possessions, evaluated by his contemporaries at no less than forty million
francs, to the furtherance of the interests of the new Faith, declared his
intention of converting Muhammad _Sh_ah, of inducing him to rid himself of
a shameful and profligate minister, and of obtaining his royal assent to
the marriage of one of his sisters with the Bab. The sudden death of the
Mu'tamid, however, foretold by the Bab Himself, accelerated the course of
the approaching crisis. The ruthless and rapacious Gurgin _Kh_an, the
deputy governor, induced the _Sh_ah to issue a second summons ordering
that the captive Youth be sent in disguise to Tihran, accompanied by a
mounted escort. To this written mandate of the sovereign the vile Gurgin
_Kh_an, who had previously discovered and destroyed the will of his uncle,
the Mu'tamid, and seized his property, unhesitatingly responded. At the
distance of less than thirty miles from the capital, however, in the
fortress of Kinar-Gird, a messenger delivered to Muhammad Big, who headed
the escort, a written order from Haji Mirza Aqasi instructing him to
proceed to Kulayn, and there await further instructions. This was, shortly
after, followed by a letter which the _Sh_ah had himself addressed to the
Bab, dated Rabi'u'_th_-_th_ani 1263 (March 19-April 17, 1847), and which,
though couched in courteous terms, clearly indicated the extent of the
baneful influence exercised by the Grand Vizir on his sovereign. The plans
so fondly cherished by Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an were now utterly undone. The
fortress of Mah-Ku, not far from the village of that same name, whose
inhabitants had long enjoyed the patronage of the Grand Vizir, situated in
the remotest northwestern corner of A_dh_irbayjan, was the place of
incarceration assigned by Muhammad _Sh_ah, on the advice of his perfidious
minister, for the Bab. No more than one companion and one attendant from
among His followers were allowed to keep Him company in those bleak and
inhospitable surroundings. All-powerful and crafty, that minister had, on
the pretext of the necessity of his master's concentrating his immediate
attention on a recent rebellion in _Kh_urasan and a revolt in Kirman,
succeeded in foiling a plan, which, had it materialized, would have had
the most serious repercussions on his own fortunes, as well as on the
immediate destinies of his government, its ruler and its people.