BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
SEYYID 'ALI MUḤAMMAD (THE BĀB)
Seyyid 'Ali Muḥammad was born at Hafiz' city. It was not his lot,
however, to rival that great lyric poet; God had far other designs for
him. Like St. Francis, he had a merchant for his father, but this too
was widely apart from 'AH Muḥammad's destiny, which was neither more
nor less than to be a manifestation of the Most High. His birthday was
on the 1st Muḥarrem, A.H. 1236 (March 26, A.D. 1821). His maternal
uncle, [Footnote: This relative of the Bāb is mentioned in
Baha-'ullah's _Book of Ighan_, among the men of culture who
visited Baha-'ullah at Baghdad and laid their difficulties before
him. His name was Seyyid 'Ali Muḥammad (the same name as the
Bāb's).] however, had to step in to take a father's place; he was
early left an orphan. When eighteen or nineteen years of age he was
sent, for commercial reasons, to Bushire, a place with a villainous
climate on the Persian Gulf, and there he wrote his first book, still
in the spirit of Shi'ite orthodoxy.
It was in A.D. 1844 that a great change took place, not so much in
doctrine as in the outward framework of Ali Muḥammad's life. That
the twelfth Imam should reappear to set up God's beneficent kingdom,
that his 'Gate' should be born just when tradition would have him to
be born, was perhaps not really surprising; but that an ordinary lad
of Shiraz should be chosen for this high honour was exciting, and
would make May 23rd a day memorable for ever. [Footnote: _TN_,
pp. 3 (n.1), 220 _f_.; cp. _AMB_, p. 204.]
It was, in fact, on this day (at 2.5 A.M.) that, having turned to God
for help, he cried out, 'God created me to instruct these ignorant
ones, and to save them from the error into which they are plunged.'
And from this time we cannot doubt that the purifying west wind
breathed over the old Persian land which needed it so sadly.
It is probable, however, that the reformer had different ideas of
discipleship. In one of his early letters he bids his correspondent
take care to conceal his religion until he can reveal it without
fear. Among his chief disciples were that gallant knight called the
'Gate's Gate,' Ḳuddus, and his kind uncle. Like most religious
leaders he attached great worth to pilgrimages. He began by journeying
to the Shi'ite holy places, consecrated by the events of the Persian
Passion-play. Then he embarked at Bushire, accompanied (probably) by
Ḳuddus. The winds, however, were contrary, and he was glad to rest a
few days at Mascat. It is probable that at Mecca (the goal of his
journey) he became completely detached from the Muḥammadan form of
Islam. There too he made arrangements for propaganda. Unfavourable
as the times seemed, his disciples were expected to have the courage
of their convictions, and even his uncle, who was no longer young,
became a fisher of men. This, it appears to me, is the true
explanation of an otherwise obscure direction to the uncle to return
to Persia by the overland route, _via_ Baghdad, 'with the verses
which have come down from God.'
The overland route would take the uncle by the holy places of 'Irak;
'Ali [Muh.]ammad's meaning therefore really is that his kinsman is to
have the honour of evangelizing the important city of Baghdad, and of
course the pilgrims who may chance to be at Karbala and Nejef. These
were, to Shi'ites, the holiest of cities, and yet the reformer had the
consciousness that there was no need of searching for a
_kibla_. God was everywhere, but if one place was holier than
another, it was neither Jerusalem nor Mecca, but Shiraz. To this
beautiful city he returned, nothing loth, for indeed the manners of
the pilgrims were the reverse of seemly. His own work was purely
spiritual: it was to organize an attack on a foe who should have been,
but was no longer, spiritual.
Among his first steps was sending the 'First to Believe' to Isfahan to
make a conquest of the learned Mullā Muḳaddas. His expectation was
fully realized. Muḳaddas was converted, and hastened to Shiraz,
eager to prove his zeal. His orders were (according to one tradition)
to introduce the name of 'Ali Muḥammad into the call to prayer
(_azan_) and to explain a passage in the commentary on the Sura
of Joseph. This was done, and the penalty could not be delayed. After
suffering insults, which to us are barely credible, Muḳaddas and his
friend found shelter for three days in Shiraz in the Bāb's house.
It should be noted that I here employ the symbolic name 'the Bāb.'
There is a traditional saying of the prophet Muḥammad, 'I am the
city of knowledge, and 'Ali is its Gate.' It seems, however, that
there is little, if any, difference between 'Gate' (_Bāb_) and
'Point' (_nukta_), or between either of these and 'he who shall
arise' (_ka'im_) and 'the Imām Mahdi.' But to this we shall
return presently.
But safety was not long to be had by the Bāb or by his disciples
either in Shiraz or in Bushire (where the Bāb then was). A fortnight
afterwards twelve horsemen were sent by the governor of Fars to
Bushire to arrest the Bāb and bring him back to Shiraz. Such at
least is one tradition, [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 226.] but some
Bābīs, according to Nicolas, energetically deny it. Certainly it
is not improbable that the governor, who had already taken action
against the Bābī missionaries, should wish to observe the Bāb
within a nearer range, and inflict a blow on his growing
popularity. Unwisely enough, the governor left the field open to the
mullas, who thought by placing the pulpit of the great mosque at his
disposal to be able to find material for ecclesiastical censure. But
they had left one thing out of their account--the ardour of the
Bāb's temperament and the depth of his conviction. And so great was
the impression produced by the Bāb's sermon that the Shah
Muḥammad, who heard of it, sent a royal commissioner to study the
circumstances on the spot. This step, however, was a complete
failure. One may doubt indeed whether the Sayyid Yaḥya was ever a
politician or a courtier. See below, p. 90.
The state of things had now become so threatening that a peremptory
order to the governor was sent from the court to put an end to such a
display of impotence. It is said that the aid of assassins was not to
be refused; the death of the Bāb might then be described as 'a
deplorable accident.' The Bāb himself was liable at any moment to be
called into a conference of mullas and high state-officers, and asked
absurd questions. He got tired of this and thought he would change his
residence, especially as the cholera came and scattered the
population. Six miserable months he had spent in Shiraz, and it was
time for him to strengthen and enlighten the believers elsewhere. The
goal of his present journey was Isfahan, but he was not without hopes
of soon reaching Tihran and disabusing the mind of the Shah of the
false notions which had become lodged in it. So, after bidding
farewell to his relatives, he and his secretary and another well-tried
companion turned their backs on the petty tyrant of Shiraz.
[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 370.] The Bāb, however, took a very wise
precaution. At the last posting station before Isfahan he wrote to
Minuchihr Khan, the governor (a Georgian by origin), announcing his
approach and invoking the governor's protection.
Minuchihr Khan, who was religiously openminded though not scrupulous
enough in the getting of money, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 346.]
granted this request, and sent word to the leading mullā (the
Imām-Jam'a) that he should proffer hospitality to this eminent
new-comer. This the Imām did, and so respectful was he for 'forty
days' that he used to bring the basin for his guest to wash his hands
at mealtimes. [Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 372.] The rapidity with
which the Bāb indited (or revealed) a commentary on a _sura_ of
the Ḳur'an greatly impressed him, but afterwards he gave way to the
persecuting tendencies of his colleagues, who had already learned to
dread the presence of Bābite missionaries. At the bidding of the
governor, however, who had some faith in the Bāb and hoped for the
best, a conference was arranged between the mullās and the Bāb
(poor man!) at the governor's house. The result was that Minuchihr
Khan declared that the mullās had by no means proved the reformer to
be an impostor, but that for the sake of peace he would at once send
the Bāb with an escort of horsemen to the capital. This was to all
appearance carried out. The streets were crowded as the band of
mounted men set forth, some of the Isfahanites (especially the
mullās) rejoicing, but a minority inwardly lamenting. This, however,
was only a blind. The governor cunningly sent a trusty horseman with
orders to overtake the travellers a short distance out of Isfahan, and
bring them by nightfall to the governor's secret apartments or (as
others say) to one of the royal palaces. There the Bāb had still to
spend a little more than four untroubled halcyon months.
But a storm-cloud came up from the sea, no bigger than a man's hand,
and it spread, and the destruction wrought by it was great. On March
4, 1847, the French ambassador wrote home stating that the governor of
Isfahan had died, leaving a fortune of 40 million francs. [Footnote:
_AMB_, p. 242.] He could not be expected to add what the
Bābite tradition affirms, that the governor offered the Bāb all
his riches and even the rings on his fingers, [Footnote: _TN_,
pp. 12, 13, 264-8; _NH_, p. 402 (Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel's narrative),
cp. pp. 211, 346.] to which the prophet refers in the following
passage of his famous letter to Muḥammad Shah, written from Maku:
'The other question is an affair of this lower world. The late
Meu'timed [a title of Minuchihr Khan], one night, made all the
bystanders withdraw, ... then he said to me, "I know full well that
all that I have gained I have gotten by violence, and that belongs to
the Lord of the Age. I give it therefore entirely to thee, for thou
art the Master of Truth, and I ask thy permission to become its
possessor." He even took off a ring which he had on his finger, and
gave it to me. I took the ring and restored it to him, and sent him
away in possession of all his goods.... I will not have a dinar of
those goods, but it is for you to ordain as shall seem good to
you.... [As witnesses] send for Sayyid Yaḥya [Footnote: See above,
p. 47.] and Mullā Abdu'l-Khalik.... [Footnote: A disciple of
Sheykh Aḥmad. He became a Bābī, but grew lukewarm in the faith
(_NH_, pp. 231, 342 n.1).] The one became acquainted with me
before the Manifestation, the other after. Both know me right well;
this is why I have chosen them.' [Footnote: _AMB_, pp. 372,
373.]
It was not likely, however, that the legal heir would waive his claim,
nor yet that the Shah or his minister would be prepared with a scheme
for distributing the ill-gotten riches of the governor among the poor,
which was probably what the Bāb himself wished. It should be added
(but not, of course, from this letter) that Minuchihr Khan also
offered the Bāb more than 5000 horsemen and footmen of the tribes
devoted to his interests, with whom he said that he would with all
speed march upon the capital, to enforce the Shah's acceptance of the
Bāb's mission. This offer, too, the Bāb rejected, observing that
the diffusion of God's truth could not be effected by such means. But
he was truly grateful to the governor who so often saved him from the
wrath of the mullās. 'God reward him,' he would say, 'for what he
did for me.'
Of the governor's legal heir and successor, Gurgin Khan, the Bāb
preserved a much less favourable recollection. In the same letter
which has been quoted from already he says: 'Finally, Gurgin made me
travel during seven nights without any of the necessaries of a
journey, and with a thousand lies and a thousand acts of violence.'
[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 371.] In fact, after trying to impose upon
the Bāb by crooked talk, Gurgin, as soon as he found out where the
Bāb had taken refuge, made him start that same night, just as he
was, and without bidding farewell to his newly-married wife, for the
capital. 'So incensed was he [the Bāb] at this treatment that he
determined to eat nothing till he arrived at Kashan [a journey of five
stages], and in this resolution he persisted... till he reached the
second stage, Murchi-Khur. There, however, he met Mullā Sheykh
Ali... and another of his missionaries, whom he had commissioned two
days previously to proceed to Tihran; and then, on learning from his
guards how matters stood, succeeded in prevailing on him to take some
food.' [Footnote: _NH_, pp. 348, 349.]
Certainly it was a notable journey, diversified by happy meetings with
friends and inquirers at Kashan, Khanliḳ, Zanjan, Milan, and Tabriz.
At Kashan the Bāb saw for the first time that fervent disciple, who
afterwards wrote the history of early Bābism, and his equally
true-hearted brother--merchants both of them. In fact, Mirza Jani
bribed the chief of the escort, to allow him for two days the felicity
of entertaining God's Messenger. [Footnote: _Ibid_. pp. 213, 214.]
Khanliḳ has also--though a mere village--its honourable record, for
there the Bāb was first seen by two splendid youthful heroes
[Footnote: _Ibid_. pp. 96-101.]--Riza Khan (best hated of all the
Bābis) and Mirza Ḥuseyn 'Ali (better known as Baha-'ullah). At
Milan (which the Bāb calls 'one of the regions of Paradise'), as
Mirza Jani states, 'two hundred persons believed and underwent a true
and sincere conversion.' [Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 221. Surely these
conversions were due, not to a supposed act of miraculous healing, but
to the 'majesty and dignity' of God's Messenger. The people were
expecting a Messiah, and here was a Personage who came up to the ideal
they had formed.]What meetings took place at Zanjan and Tabriz, the
early Bābi historian does not report; later on, Zanjan was a focus
of Bābite propagandism, but just then the apostle of the Zanjan
movement was summoned to Tihran. From Tabriz a remarkable cure is
reported, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 226.] and as a natural consequence we
hear of many conversions.
The Bāb was specially favoured in the chief of his escort, who, in
the course of the journey, was fascinated by the combined majesty and
gentleness of his prisoner. His name was Muḥammad Beg, and his moral
portrait is thus limned by Mirza Jani: 'He was a man of kindly nature
and amiable character, and [became] so sincere and devoted a believer
that whenever the name of His Holiness was mentioned he would
incontinently burst into tears, saying,
I scarcely reckon as life the days when to me thou wert all unknown,
But by faithful service for what remains I may still for the past
atone.'
It was the wish, both of the Bāb and of this devoted servant, that
the Master should be allowed to take up his residence (under
surveillance) at Tabriz, where there were already many Friends of
God. But such was not the will of the Shah and his vizier, who sent
word to Khanliḳ [Footnote: Khanliḳ is situated 'about six
parasangs' from Tihran (_NH_, p. 216). It is in the province of
Azarbaijan.] that the governor of Tabriz (Prince Bahman Mirza) should
send the Bāb in charge of a fresh escort to the remote
mountain-fortress of Maku. The faithful Muḥammad Beg made two
attempts to overcome the opposition of the governor, but in vain; how,
indeed, could it be otherwise? All that he could obtain was leave to
entertain the Bāb in his own house, where some days of rest were
enjoyed. 'I wept much at his departure,' says Muḥammad. No doubt the
Bāb often missed his respectful escort; he had made a change for the
worse, and when he came to the village at the foot of the steep hill
of Maku, he found the inhabitants 'ignorant and coarse.'
It may, however, be reasonably surmised that before long the Point of
Wisdom changed his tone, and even thanked God for his sojourn at
Maku. For though strict orders had come from the vizier that no one
was to be permitted to see the Bāb, any one whom the illustrious
captive wished to converse with had free access to him. Most of the
time which remained was occupied with writing (his secretary was with
him); more than 100,000 'verses' are said to have come from that
Supreme Pen.
By miracles the Bāb set little store; in fact, the only supernatural
gift which he much valued was that of inditing 'signs or verses, which
appear to have produced a similar thrilling effect to those of the
great Arabian Prophet. But in the second rank he must have valued a
power to soothe and strengthen the nervous system which we may well
assign to him, and we can easily believe that the lower animals were
within the range of this beneficent faculty. Let me mention one of the
horse-stories which have gathered round the gentle form of the Bāb.
[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 371.]
It is given neither in the Bābī nor in the Muslim histories of
this period. But it forms a part of a good oral tradition, and it may
supply the key to those words of the Bāb in his letter to Muḥammad
Shah: [Footnote: Ibid. pp. 249, 250.] 'Finally, the Sultan
[i.e. the Shah] ordered that I should journey towards Maku without
giving me a horse that I could ride.' We learn from the legend that an
officer of the Shah did call upon the Bāb to ride a horse which was
too vicious for any ordinary person to mount. Whether this officer was
really (as the legend states) 'Ali Khan, the warden of Maku, who
wished to test the claims of 'Ali Muḥammad by offering him a vicious
young horse and watching to see whether 'Ali Muḥammad or the horse
would be victorious, is not of supreme importance. What does concern
us is that many of the people believed that by a virtue which resided
in the Bāb it was possible for him to soothe the sensitive nerves of
a horse, so that it could be ridden without injury to the rider.
There is no doubt, however, that 'Ali Khan, the warden of the
fortress, was one of that multitude of persons who were so thrilled by
the Bāb's countenance and bearing that they were almost prompted
thereby to become disciples. It is highly probable, too, that just now
there was a heightening of the divine expression on that unworldly
face, derived from an intensification of the inner life. In earlier
times 'Ali Muḥammad had avoided claiming Mahdiship (Messiahship)
publicly; to the people at large he was not represented as the
manifested Twelfth Imâm, but only as the Gate, or means of access to
that more than human, still existent being. To disciples of a higher
order 'Ali Muḥammad no doubt disclosed himself as he really was,
but, like a heavenly statesman, he avoided inopportune self-revelations.
Now, however, the religious conditions were becoming different. Owing
in some cases to the indiscretion of disciples, in others to a craving
for the revolution of which the Twelfth Imâm was the traditional
instrument, there was a growing popular tendency to regard Mirza 'Ali
Muḥammad as a 'return' of the Twelfth Imâm, who was, by force of
arms, to set up the divine kingdom upon earth. It was this, indeed,
which specially promoted the early Bābī propagandism, and which
probably came up for discussion at the Badasht conference.
In short, it had become a pressing duty to enlighten the multitude on
the true objects of the Bāb. Even we can see this--we who know that
not much more than three years were remaining to him. The Bāb, too,
had probably a presentiment of his end; this was why he was so eager
to avoid a continuance of the great misunderstanding. He was indeed
the Twelfth Imâm, who had returned to the world of men for a short
time. But he was not a Mahdi of the Islamic type.
A constant stream of Tablets (letters) flowed from his pen. In this
way he kept himself in touch with those who could not see him in the
flesh. But there were many who could not rest without seeing the
divine Manifestation. Pilgrims seemed never to cease; and it made the
Bāb still happier to receive them.
This stream of Tablets and of pilgrims could not however be
exhilarating to the Shah and his Minister. They complained to the
castle-warden, and bade him be a stricter gaoler, but 'Ali Khan, too,
was under the spell of the Gate of Knowledge; or--as one should rather
say now--the Point or Climax of Prophetic Revelation, for so the Word
of Prophecy directed that he should be called. So the order went
forth that 'Ali Muḥammad should be transferred to another
castle--that of Chihriḳ. [Footnote: Strictly, six or eight months
(Feb. or April to Dec. 1847) at Maku, and two-and-a-half years at
Chihriḳ (Dec. 1847 to July 1850).]
At this point a digression seems necessary.
The Bāb was well aware that a primary need of the new fraternity was
a new Ḳur'an. This he produced in the shape of a book called _The
Bayan_ (Exposition). Unfortunately he adopted from the Muslims the
unworkable idea of a sacred language, and his first contributions to
the new Divine Library (for the new Ḳur'an ultimately became this)
were in Arabic. These were a Commentary on the Sura of Yusuf (Joseph)
and the Arabic Bayan. The language of these, however, was a barrier to
the laity, and so the 'first believer' wrote a letter to the Bāb,
enforcing the necessity of making himself intelligible to all. This
seems to be the true origin of the Persian Bayan.
A more difficult matter is 'Ali Muḥammad's very peculiar
consciousness, which reminds us of that which the Fourth Gospel
ascribes to Jesus Christ. In other words, 'Ali Muḥammad claims for
himself the highest spiritual rank. 'As for Me,' he said, 'I am that
Point from which all that exists has found existence. I am that Face
of God which dieth not. I am that Light which doth not go out. He that
knoweth Me is accompanied by all good; he that repulseth Me hath
behind him all evil.' [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 369.] It is also certain
that in comparatively early writings, intended for stedfast disciples,
'Ali Muḥammad already claims the title of Point, i.e. Point of
Truth, or of Divine Wisdom, or of the Divine Mercy. [Footnote: _Beyan
Arabe_, p. 206.]
It is noteworthy that just here we have a very old contact with
Babylonian mythology. 'Point' is, in fact, a mythological term. It
springs from an endeavour to minimize the materialism of the myth of
the Divine Dwelling-place. That ancient myth asserted that the
earth-mountain was the Divine Throne. Not so, said an early school of
Theosophy, God, i.e. the God who has a bodily form and manifests the
hidden glory, dwells on a point in the extreme north, called by the
Babylonians 'the heaven of Anu.'
The Point, however, i.e. the God of the Point, may also be
entitled 'The Gate,' i.e. the Avenue to God in all His various
aspects. To be the Point, therefore, is also to be the Gate. 'Ali, the
cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, was not only the Gate of the City
of Knowledge, but, according to words assigned to him in a
_ḥadith_, 'the guardian of the treasures of secrets and of the
purposes of God.' [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 142.]
It is also in a book written at Maku--the Persian Bayan--that the
Bāb constantly refers to a subsequent far greater Person, called 'He
whom God will make manifest.' Altogether the harvest of sacred
literature at this mountain-fortress was a rich one. But let us now
pass on with the Bāb to Chihriḳ--a miserable spot, but not so
remote as Maku (it was two days' journey from Urumiyya). As
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel tells us, 'The place of his captivity was a house
without windows and with a doorway of bare bricks,' and adds that 'at
night they would leave him without a lamp, treating him with the
utmost lack of respect.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 403.] In the
Persian manner the Bāb himself indicated this by calling Maku 'the
Open Mountain,' and Chihriḳ 'the Grievous Mountain.' [Footnote:
Cp. _TN_, p. 276.] Stringent orders were issued making it
difficult for friends of the Beloved Master to see him; and it may be
that in the latter part of his sojourn the royal orders were more
effectually carried out--a change which was possibly the result of a
change in the warden. Certainly Yaḥya Khan was guilty of no such
coarseness as Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel imputes to the warden of Chihriḳ. And
this view is confirmed by the peculiar language of Mirza Jani,
'Yaḥya Khan, so long as he was warden, maintained towards him an
attitude of unvarying respect and deference.'
This 'respect and deference' was largely owing to a dream which the
warden had on the night before the day of the Bāb's arrival. The
central figure of the dream was a bright shining saint. He said in
the morning that 'if, when he saw His Holiness, he found appearance
and visage to correspond with what he beheld in his dream, he would be
convinced that He was in truth the promised Proof.' And this came
literally true. At the first glance Yaḥya Khan recognized in the
so-called Bāb the lineaments of the saint whom he had beheld in his
dream. 'Involuntarily he bent down in obeisance and kissed the knee of
His Holiness.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 240. A slight alteration has
been made to draw out the meaning.]
It has already been remarked that such 'transfiguration' is not wholly
supernatural. Persons who have experienced those wonderful phenomena
which are known as ecstatic, often exhibit what seems like a
triumphant and angelic irradiation. So--to keep near home--it was
among the Welsh in their last great revival. Such, too, was the
brightness which, Yaḥya Khan and other eye-witnesses agree, suffused
the Bāb's countenance more than ever in this period. Many adverse
things might happen, but the 'Point' of Divine Wisdom could not be
torn from His moorings. In that miserable dark brick chamber He was
'in Paradise.' The horrid warfare at Sheykh Tabarsi and elsewhere,
which robbed him of Bābu'l Bāb and of Ḳuddus, forced human tears
from him for a time; but one who dwelt in the 'Heaven of
Pre-existence' knew that 'Returns' could be counted upon, and was
fully assured that the gifts and graces of Ḳuddus had passed into
Mirza Yaḥya (Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel). For himself he was free from
anxiety. His work would be carried on by another and a greater
Manifestation. He did not therefore favour schemes for his own
forcible deliverance.
We have no direct evidence that Yaḥya Khan was dismissed from his
office as a mark of the royal displeasure at his gentleness. But he
must have been already removed and imprisoned, [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 353.] when the vizier wrote to the Crown Prince (Nasiru'd-Din,
afterwards Shah) and governor of Azarbaijan directing him to summon
the Bāb to Tabriz and convene an assembly of clergy and laity to
discuss in the Bāb's presence the validity of his claims.
[Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 284.] The Bāb was therefore sent, and
the meeting held, but there is (as Browne has shown) no trustworthy
account of the deliberations. [Footnote: _TN_, Note M, 'Bāb
Examined at Tabriz.'] Of course, the Bāb had something better to do
than to record the often trivial questions put to him from anything
but a simple desire for truth, so that unless the great Accused had
some friend to accompany him (which does not appear to have been the
case) there could hardly be an authentic Bābī narrative. And as
for the Muslim accounts, those which we have before us do not bear the
stamp of truth: they seem to be forgeries. Knowing what we do of the
Bāb, it is probable that he had the best of the argument, and that
the doctors and functionaries who attended the meeting were unwilling
to put upon record their own fiasco.
The result, however, _is_ known, and it is not precisely what
might have been expected, i.e. it is not a capital sentence for
this troublesome person. The punishment now allotted to him was one
which marked him out, most unfairly, as guilty of a common
misdemeanour--some act which would rightly disgust every educated
person. How, indeed, could any one adopt as his teacher one who had
actually been disgraced by the infliction of stripes? [Footnote:
Cp. Isaiah liii. 5.] If the Bāb had been captured in battle,
bravely fighting, it might have been possible to admire him, but, as
Court politicians kept on saying, he was but 'a vulgar charlatan, a
timid dreamer.' [Footnote: Gobineau, p. 257.] According to Mirza
Jani, it was the Crown Prince who gave the order for stripes, but his
'_farrashes_ declared that they would rather throw themselves
down from the roof of the palace than carry it out.' [Footnote:
_NH_, p. 290.] Therefore the Sheykhu'l Islam charged a certain
Sayyid with the 'baleful task,' by whom the Messenger of God was
bastinadoed.
It seems clear, however, that there must have been a difference of
opinion among the advisers of the Shah, for shortly before Shah
Muḥammad's death (which was impending when the Bāb was in Tabriz)
we are told that Prince Mahdi-Kuli dreamed that he saw the Sayyid
shoot the Shah at a levee. [Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 355.]
Evidently there were some Court politicians who held that the Bāb
was dangerous. Probably Shah Muḥammad's vizier took the disparaging
view mentioned above (i.e. that the Bāb was a mere mystic
dreamer), but Shah Muḥammad's successor dismissed Mirza Aḳasi, and
appointed Mirza Taḳi Khan in his place. It was Mirza Taḳi Khan to
whom the Great Catastrophe is owing. When the Bāb returned to his
confinement, now really rigorous, at Chihriḳ, he was still under the
control of the old, capricious, and now doubly anxious grand vizier,
but it was not the will of Providence that this should continue much
longer. A release was at hand.
It was the insurrection of Zanjan which changed the tone of the
courtiers and brought near to the Bāb a glorious departure. Not, be
it observed, except indirectly, his theosophical novelties; the
penalty of death for deviations from the True Faith had long fallen
into desuetude in Persia, if indeed it had ever taken root there.
[Footnote: Gobineau, p. 262.] Only if the Kingdom of Righteousness
were to be brought in by the Bāb by material weapons would this
heresiarch be politically dangerous; mere religious innovations did
not disturb high Court functionaries. But could the political leaders
any longer indulge the fancy that the Bāb was a mere mystic dreamer?
Such was probably the mental state of Mirza Taḳi Khan when he wrote
from Tihran, directing the governor to summon the Bāb to come once
more for examination to Tabriz. The governor of Azarbaijan at this
time was Prince Hamzé Mirza.
The end of the Bāb's earthly Manifestation is now close upon us. He
knew it himself before the event, [Footnote: _NH_, pp. 235,
309-311, 418 (Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel).] and was not displeased at the
presentiment. He had already 'set his house in order,' as regards the
spiritual affairs of the Bābī community, which he had, if I
mistake not, confided to the intuitive wisdom of Baha-'ullah. His
literary executorship he now committed to the same competent hands.
This is what the Baha'is History (_The Travellers Narrative_)
relates,--
'Now the Sayyid Bāb ... had placed his writings, and even his ring
and pen-case, in a specially prepared box, put the key of the box in
an envelope, and sent it by means of Mullā Baḳir, who was one of
his first associates, to Mullā 'Abdu'l Karim of Kazwin. This trust
Mullā Baḳir delivered over to Mullā 'Abdu'l Karim at Ḳum in
presence of a numerous company.... Then Mullā 'Abdu'l Karim conveyed
the trust to its destination.' [Footnote: _TN_, pp. 41, 42.]
The destination was Baha-'ullah, as Mullā Baḳir expressly told the
'numerous company.' It also appears that the Bāb sent another letter
to the same trusted personage respecting the disposal of his remains.
It is impossible not to feel that this is far more probable than the
view which makes Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel the custodian of the sacred writings
and the arranger of a resting-place for the sacred remains. I much
fear that the Ezelites have manipulated tradition in the interest of
their party.
To return to our narrative. From the first no indignity was spared to
the holy prisoner. With night-cap instead of seemly turban, and clad
only in an under-coat, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 294.] he reached
Tabriz. It is true, his first experience was favourable. A man of
probity, the confidential friend of Prince Hamzé Mirza, the governor,
summoned the Bāb to a first non-ecclesiastical examination. The tone
of the inquiry seems to have been quite respectful, though the accused
frankly stated that he was 'that promised deliverer for whom ye have
waited 1260 years, to wit the Ḳa'im.' Next morning, however, all
this was reversed. The 'man of probity' gave way to the mullās and
the populace, [Footnote: See _New History_, pp. 296 _f._, a
graphic narration.] who dragged the Bāb, with every circumstance of
indignity, to the houses of two or three well-known members of the
clergy. 'These reviled him; but to all who questioned him he declared,
without any attempt at denial, that he was the Ḳa'im [ = he that
ariseth]. At length Mullā Muḥammad Mama-ghuri, one of the Sheykhi
party, and sundry others, assembled together in the porch of a house
belonging to one of their number, questioned him fiercely and
insultingly, and when he had answered them explicitly, condemned him
to death.
'So they imprisoned him who was athirst for the draught of martyrdom
for three days, along with Aḳa Sayyid Ḥuseyn of Yezd, the
amanuensis, and Aḳa Sayyid Ḥasan, which twain were brothers, wont
to pass their time for the most part in the Bāb's presence....
'On the night before the day whereon was consummated the martyrdom
... he [the Bāb] said to his companions, "To-morrow they will slay
me shamefully. Let one of you now arise and kill me, that I may not
have to endure this ignominy and shame from my enemies; for it is
pleasanter to me to die by the hands of friends." His companions,
with expressions of grief and sorrow, sought to excuse themselves with
the exception of Mirza Muḥammad 'Ali, who at once made as though he
would obey the command. His comrades, however, anxiously seized his
hand, crying, "Such rash presumption ill accords with the attitude of
devoted service." "This act of mine," replied he, "is not prompted by
presumption, but by unstinted obedience, and desire to fulfil my
Master's behest. After giving effect to the command of His Holiness, I
will assuredly pour forth my life also at His feet."
'His Holiness smiled, and, applauding his faithful devotion and
sincere belief, said, "To-morrow, when you are questioned, repudiate
me, and renounce my doctrines, for thus is the command of God now laid
upon you...." The Bāb's companions agreed, with the exception of
Mirza Muḥammad 'Ali, who fell at the feet of His Holiness and began
to entreat and implore.... So earnestly did he urge his entreaties
that His Holiness, though (at first) he strove to dissuade him, at
length graciously acceded.
'Now when a little while had elapsed after the rising of the sun, they
brought them, without cloak or coat, and clad only in their undercoats
and nightcaps, to the Government House, where they were sentenced to
be shot. Aḳa Sayyid Ḥuseyn, the amanuensis, and his brother, Aḳa
Sayyid Ḥasan, recanted, as they had been bidden to do, and were set
at liberty; and Aḳa Sayyid Ḥuseyn bestowed the gems of wisdom
treasured in his bosom upon such as sought for and were worthy of
them, and, agreeably to his instructions, communicated certain secrets
of the faith to those for whom they were intended. He (subsequently)
attained to the rank of martyrdom in the Catastrophe of Tihran.
'But since Mirza Muḥammad 'Ali, athirst for the draught of
martyrdom, declared (himself) in the most explicit manner, they
dragged him along with that (Central) Point of the Universal Circle
[Footnote: i.e. the Supreme Wisdom.] to the barrack, situated
by the citadel, and, opposite to the cells on one side of the barrack,
suspended him from one of the stone gutters erected under the eaves of
the cells. Though his relations and friends cried, "Our son is gone
mad; his confession is but the outcome of his distemper and the raving
of lunacy, and it is unlawful to inflict on him the death penalty," he
continued to exclaim, "I am in my right mind, perfect in service and
sacrifice." .... Now he had a sweet young child; and they, hoping to
work upon his parental love, brought the boy to him that he might
renounce his faith. But he only said,--
"Begone, and bait your snares for other quarry;
The 'Anka's nest is hard to reach and high."
So they shot him in the presence of his Master, and laid his faithful
and upright form in the dust, while his pure and victorious spirit,
freed from the prison of earth and the cage of the body, soared to the
branches of the Lote-tree beyond which there is no passing. [And the
Bab cried out with a loud voice, "Verily thou shalt be with me in
Paradise."]
'Now after this, when they had suspended His Holiness in like manner,
the Shaḳaḳi regiment received orders to fire, and discharged their
pieces in a single volley. But of all the shots fired none took
effect, save two bullets, which respectively struck the two ropes by
which His Holiness was suspended on either side, and severed them. The
Bāb fell to the ground, and took refuge in the adjacent room. As
soon as the smoke and dust of the powder had somewhat cleared, the
spectators looked for, but did not find, that Jesus of the age on the
cross.
'So, notwithstanding this miraculous escape, they again suspended His
Holiness, and gave orders to fire another volley. The Musulman
soldiers, however, made their excuses and refused. Thereupon a
Christian regiment [Footnote: Why a Christian regiment? The reason is
evident. Christians were outside the Bābī movement, whereas the
Musulman population had been profoundly affected by the preaching of
the Bābī, and could not be implicitly relied upon.] was ordered
to fire the volley.... And at the third volley three bullets struck
him, and that holy spirit, escaping from its gentle frame, ascended to
the Supreme Horizon.' It was in July 1850.
It remained for Holy Night to hush the clamour of the crowd. The great
square of Tabriz was purified from unholy sights and sounds. What, we
ask, was done then to the holy bodies--that of Bāb himself and that
of his faithful follower? The enemies of the Bāb, and even Count
Gobineau, assert that the dead body of the Bāb was cast out into the
moat and devoured by the wild beasts. [Footnote: A similar fate is
asserted by tradition for the dead body of the heroic Mullā
Muḥammad 'Ali of Zanjan.] We may be sure, however, that if the holy
body were exposed at night, the loyal Bābīs of Tabriz would lose
no time in rescuing it. The _New History_ makes this statement,--
'To be brief, two nights later, when they cast the most sacred body
and that of Mirza Muḥammad 'Ali into the moat, and set three
sentries over them, Haji Suleyman Khan and three others, having
provided themselves with arms, came to the sentries and said, "We will
ungrudgingly give you any sum of money you ask, if you will not oppose
our carrying away these bodies; but if you attempt to hinder us, we
will kill you." The sentinels, fearing for their lives, and greedy for
gain, consulted, and as the price of their complaisance received a
large sum of money.
'So Haji Suleyman Khan bore those holy bodies to his house, shrouded
them in white silk, placed them in a chest, and, after a while,
transported them to Tihran, where they remained in trust till such
time as instructions for their interment in a particular spot were
issued by the Sources of the will of the Eternal Beauty. Now the
believers who were entrusted with the duty of transporting the holy
bodies were Mullā Ḥuseyn of Khurasan and Aḳa Muḥammad of
Isfahan, [Footnote: _TN_, p. 110, n. 3; _NH_, p. 312, n. 1.] and the
instructions were given by Baha-'ullah.' So far our authority.
Different names, however, are given by Nicolas, _AMB_, p. 381.
The account here given from the _New History_ is in accordance
with a letter purporting to be written by the Bāb to Haji Suleyman
Khan exactly six months before his martyrdom; and preserved in the
_New History_, pp. 310, 311.
'Two nights after my martyrdom thou must go and, by some means or
other, buy my body and the body of Mirza Muḥammad 'Ali from the
sentinels for 400 tumāns, and keep them in thy house for six
months. Afterwards lay Aḳa Muḥammad 'Ali with his face upon my
face the two (dead) bodies in a strong chest, and send it with a
letter to Jenab-i-Baha (great is his majesty!). [Footnote: _TN_,
p. 46, n. 1] Baha is, of course, the short for Baha-'ullah, and, as
Prof. Browne remarks, the modest title Jenab-i-Baha was, even after
the presumed date of this letter, the title commonly given to this
personage.
The instructions, however, given by the Bāb elsewhere are widely
different in tendency. He directs that his remains should be placed
near the shrine of Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, which 'is a good land, by
reason of the proximity of Wahid (i.e. Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel).'
[Footnote: The spot is said to be five miles south of Tihran.] One
might naturally infer from this that Baha-'ullah's rival was the
guardian of the relics of the Bāb. This does not appear to have any
warrant of testimony. But, according to Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel himself, there
was a time when he had in his hands the destiny of the bodies. He says
that when the coffin (there was but one) came into his hands, he
thought it unsafe to attempt a separation or discrimination of the
bodies, so that they remained together 'until [both] were stolen.'
It will be seen that Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel takes credit (1) for carrying out
the Bāb's last wishes, and (2) leaving the bodies as they were. To
remove the relics to another place was tantamount to stealing. It was
Baha-'ullah who ordered this removal for a good reason, viz., that the
cemetery, in which the niche containing the coffin was, seemed so
ruinous as to be unsafe.
There is, however, another version of Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel's tradition; it
has been preserved to us by Mons. Nicolas, and contains very strange
statements. The Bāb, it is said, ordered Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel to place
his dead body, if possible, in a coffin of diamonds, and to inter it
opposite to Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, in a spot described in such a way that
only the recipient of the letter could interpret it. 'So I put the
mingled remains of the two bodies in a crystal coffin, diamonds being
beyond me, and I interred it exactly where the Bāb had directed
me. The place remained secret for thirty years. The Baha'is in
particular knew nothing of it, but a traitor revealed it to
them. Those blasphemers disinterred the corpse and destroyed it. Or if
not, and if they point out a new burying-place, really containing the
crystal coffin of the body of the Bāb which they have purloined, we
[Ezelites] could not consider this new place of sepulture to be
sacred.'
The story of the crystal coffin (really suggested by the Bayan) is too
fantastic to deserve credence. But that the sacred remains had many
resting-places can easily be believed; also that the place of burial
remained secret for many years. Baha-'ullah, however, knew where it
was, and, when circumstances favoured, transported the remains to the
neighbourhood of Ḥaifa in Palestine. The mausoleum is worthy, and
numerous pilgrims from many countries resort to it.
EULOGIUM ON THE MASTER
The gentle spirit of the Bāb is surely high up in the cycles of
eternity. Who can fail, as Prof. Browne says, to be attracted by him?
'His sorrowful and persecuted life; his purity of conduct and youth;
his courage and uncomplaining patience under misfortune; his complete
self-negation; the dim ideal of a better state of things which can be
discerned through the obscure mystic utterances of the Bayán; but
most of all his tragic death, all serve to enlist our sympathies on
behalf of the young prophet of Shiraz.'
'Il sentait le besoin d'une réforme profonde à introduire dans les
moeurs publiques.... Il s'est sacrifié pour l'humanité; pour elle il
a donné son corps et son âme, pour elle il a subi les privations,
les affronts, les injures, la torture et le martyre.' (Mons. Nicolas.)
_In an old Persian song, applied to the Bāb by his followers, it is
written_:--
In what sect is this lawful? In what religion is this lawful?
That they should kill a charmer of hearts! Why art thou a stealer of
hearts?
MULLĀ ḤUSEYN OF BUSHRAWEYH
Mullā Ḥuseyn of Bushraweyh (in the province of Mazarandan) was the
embodied ideal of a Bābī chief such as the primitive period of the
faith produced--I mean, that he distinguished himself equally in
profound theosophic speculation and in warlike prowess. This
combination may seem to us strange, but Mirza Jani assures us that
many students who had left cloistered ease for the sake of God and the
Bāb developed an unsuspected warlike energy under the pressure of
persecution. And so that ardour, which in the case of the Bāb was
confined to the sphere of religious thought and speculation and to the
unlocking of metaphorical prison-gates, was displayed in the case of
Mullā Ḥuseyn both in voyages on the ocean of Truth, and in
warfare. Yes, the Mullā's fragile form might suggest the student,
but he had also the precious faculty of generalship, and a happy
perfection of fearlessness.
Like the Bāb himself in his preparation-period, he gave his adhesion
to the Sheykhi school of theology, and on the decease of the former
leader (Sayyid Kaẓim) he went, like other members of the school, to
seek for a new spiritual head. Now it so happened that Sayyid Kaẓim
had already turned the eyes of Ḥuseyn towards 'Ali Muḥammad;
already this eminent theosophist had a presentiment that wonderful
things were in store for the young visitor from Shiraz. It was
natural, therefore, that Ḥuseyn should seek further information and
guidance from 'Ali Muḥammad himself. No trouble could be too great;
the object could not be attained in a single interview, and as 'Ali
Muḥammad was forbidden to leave his house at Shiraz, secrecy was
indispensable. Ḥuseyn, therefore, was compelled to spend the
greater part of the day in his new teacher's house.
The concentration of thought to which the constant nearness of a great
prophet (and 'more than a prophet') naturally gave birth had the only
possible result. All barriers were completely broken down, and
Ḥuseyn recognized in his heaven-sent teacher the Gate (_Bāb_)
which opened on to the secret abode of the vanished Imām, and one
charged with a commission to bring into existence the world-wide
Kingdom of Righteousness. To seal his approval of this thorough
conversion, which was hitherto without a parallel, the Bāb conferred
on his new adherent the title of 'The First to Believe.'
This honourable title, however, is not the only one used by this Hero
of God. Still more frequently he was called 'The Gate of the Gate,'
i.e. the Introducer to Him through Whom all true wisdom comes;
or, we may venture to say, the Bāb's Deputy. Two other titles maybe
mentioned. One is 'The Gate.' Those who regarded 'Ali Muḥammad of
Shiraz as the 'Point' of prophecy and the returned Imâm (the Ḳa'im)
would naturally ascribe to his representative the vacant dignity of
'The Gate.' Indeed, it is one indication of this that the
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel designates Mullā Ḥuseyn not as the Gate's Gate,
but simply as the Gate.
And now the 'good fight of faith' begins in earnest. First of all, the
Bāb's Deputy (or perhaps 'the Bāb' [Footnote: Some Bābī
writers (including Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel) certainly call MullāḤuseyn
'the Bāb.']--but this might confuse the reader) is sent to Khurasan,
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 44.] taking Isfahan and Tihran in his way. I need
not catalogue the names of his chief converts and their places of
residence. [Footnote: See Nicolas, _AMB_.] Suffice it to mention
here that among the converts were Baha-'ullah, Muḥammad 'Ali of
Zanjan, and Haji Mirza Jani, the same who has left us a much
'overworked' history of Bābism (down to the time of his
martyrdom). Also that among the places visited was Omar Khayyám's
Nishapur, and that two attempts were made by the 'Gate's Gate' to
carry the Evangel into the Shi'ite Holy Land (Mash-had).
But it was time to reopen communications with the 'lord from Shiraz'
(the Bāb). So his Deputy resolved to make for the castle of Maku,
where the Bāb was confined. On the Deputy's arrival the Bāb
foretold to him his own (the Bāb's) approaching martyrdom and the
cruel afflictions which were impending. At the same time the Bāb
directed him to return to Khurasan, adding that he should 'go thither
by way of Mazandaran, for there the doctrine had not yet been rightly
preached.' So the Deputy went first of all to Mazandaran, and there
joined another eminent convert, best known by his Bābī name
Ḳuddus (sacred).
I pause here to notice how intimate were the relations between the two
friends--the 'Gate's Gate' and 'Sacred.' Originally the former was
considered distinctly the greater man. People may have reasoned
somewhat thus:--It was no doubt true that Ḳuddus had been privileged
to accompany the Bāb to Mecca, [Footnote: For the divergent
tradition in Nicolas, see _AMB_, p. 206.] but was not the Bāb's
Deputy the more consummate master of spiritual lore? [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 43, cp. p. 404.]
It was at any rate the latter Hero of God who (according to one
tradition) opened the eyes of the majority of inquirers to the
truth. It is also said that on the morning after the meeting of the
friends the chief seat was occupied by Ḳuddus, while the Gate's
Deputy stood humbly and reverentially before him. This is certainly
true to the spirit of the brother-champions, one of whom was
conspicuous for his humility, the other for his soaring spiritual
ambition.
But let us return to the evangelistic journey. The first signs of the
approach of Ḳuddus were a letter from him to the Bāb's Deputy (the
letter is commonly called 'The Eternal Witness'), together with a
white robe [Footnote: White was the Bābite colour. See _NH_, p. 189;
_TN_, p. xxxi, n. 1.] and a turban. In the letter, it was announced
that he and seventy other believers would shortly win the crown of
martyrdom. This may possibly be true, not only because circumstantial
details were added, but because the chief leaders of the Bābīs do
really appear to have had extraordinary spiritual gifts, especially
that of prophecy. One may ask, Did Ḳuddus also foresee the death of
his friend? He did not tell him so in the letter, but he did direct
him to leave Khurasan, in spite of the encyclical letter of the Bāb,
bidding believers concentrate, if possible, on Khurasan.
So, then, we see our Bābī apostles and their followers, with
changed route, proceeding to the province of Mazandaran, where
Ḳuddus resided. On reaching Miyami they found about thirty
believers ready to join them--the first-fruits of the preaching of the
Kingdom. Unfortunately opposition was stirred up by the appearance of
the apostles. There was an encounter with the populace, and the
Bābīs were defeated. The Bābīs, however, went on steadily till
they arrived at Badasht, much perturbed by the inauspicious news of
the death of Muḥammad Shah, 4th September 1848. We are told that the
'Gate's Gate' had already foretold this event, [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 45.] which involved increased harshness in the treatment of the
Bāb. We cannot greatly wonder that, according to the Bābīs,
Muḥammad Shah's journey was to the infernal regions.
Another consequence of the Shah's death was the calling of the Council
of Badasht. It has been suggested that the true cause of the summoning
of that assembly was anxiety for the Bāb, and a desire to carry him
off to a place of safety. But the more accepted view--that the subject
before the Council was the relation of the Bābīs to the Islamic
laws--is also the more probable. The abrogation of those laws is
expressly taught by Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, according to Mirza Jani.
How many Bābīs took part in the Meeting? That depends on whether
the ordinary Bābīs were welcomed to the Meeting or only the
leaders. If the former were admitted, the number of Bābīs must
have been considerable, for the 'Gate's Gate' is said to have gathered
a band of 230 men, and Ḳuddus a band of 300, many of them men of
wealth and position, and yet ready to give the supreme proof of their
absolute sincerity. The notice at the end of Mirza Jani's account,
which glances at the antinomian tendencies of some who attended the
Meeting, seems to be in favour of a large estimate. Elsewhere Mirza
Jani speaks of the 'troubles of Badasht,' at which the gallant Riẓa
Khan performed 'most valuable services.' Nothing is said, however, of
the part taken in the quieting of these troubles either by the 'Gate's
Gate' or by Ḳuddus. Greater troubles, however, were at hand; it is
the beginning of the Mazandaran insurrection (A.D. 1848-1849).
The place of most interest in this exciting episode is the fortified
tomb of Sheykh Tabarsi, twelve or fourteen miles south of
Barfurush. The Bābīs under the 'Gate's Gate' made this their
headquarters, and we have abundant information, both Bābite and
Muslim, respecting their doings. The 'Gate's Gate' preached to them
every day, and warned them that their only safety lay in detachment
from the world. He also (probably as _Bāb_, 'Ali Muḥammad
having assumed the rank of _Nuḳṭa_, Point) conferred new
names (those of prophets and saints) on the worthiest of the
Bābīs, [Footnote: This is a Muslim account. See _NH_,
p. 303.] which suggests that this Hero of God had felt his way to the
doctrine of the equality of the saints in the Divine Bosom. Of course,
this great truth was very liable to misconstruction, just as much as
when the having all things in common was perverted into the most
objectionable kind of communism. [Footnote: _NH_, p. 55.]
'Thus,' the moralist remarks, 'did they live happily together in
content and gladness, free from all grief and care, as though
resignation and contentment formed a part of their very nature.'
Of course, the new names were given with a full consciousness of the
inwardness of names. There was a spirit behind each new name; the
revival of a name by a divine representative meant the return of the
spirit. Each Bābī who received the name of a prophet or an Imām
knew that his life was raised to a higher plane, and that he was to
restore that heavenly Being to the present age. These re-named
Bābīs needed no other recompense than that of being used in the
Cause of God. They became capable of far higher things than before,
and if within a short space of time the Bāb, or his Deputy, was to
conquer the whole world and bring it under the beneficent yoke of the
Law of God, much miraculously heightened courage would be needed. I am
therefore able to accept the Muslim authority's statement. The
conferring of new names was not to add fuel to human vanity, but
sacramentally to heighten spiritual vitality.
Not all Bābīs, it is true, were capable of such insight. From the
Bābī account of the night-action, ordered on his arrival at Sheykh
Tabarsi by Ḳuddus, we learn that some Bābīs, including those of
Mazandaran, took the first opportunity of plundering the enemy's
camp. For this, the Deputy reproved them, but they persisted, and the
whole army was punished (as we are told) by a wound dealt to Ḳuddus,
which shattered one side of his face. [Footnote: _NH_, 68
_f_.] It was with reference to this that the Deputy said at last
to his disfigured friend, 'I can no longer bear to look upon the wound
which mars your glorious visage. Suffer me, I pray you, to lay down my
life this night, that I may be delivered alike from my shame and my
anxiety.' So there was another night-encounter, and the Deputy knew
full well that it would be his last battle. And he 'said to one who
was beside him, "Mount behind me on my horse, and when I say, 'Bear me
to the Castle,' turn back with all speed." So now, overcome with
faintness, he said, "Bear me to the Castle." Thereupon his companion
turned the horse's head, and brought him back to the entrance of the
Castle; and there he straightway yielded up his spirit to the Lord and
Giver of life.' Frail of form, but a gallant soldier and an
impassioned lover of God, he combined qualities and characteristics
which even in the spiritual aristocracy of Persia are seldom found
united in the same person.
MULLĀ MUḤAMMAD 'ALI OF BARFURUSH
He was a man of Mazandaran, but was converted at Shiraz. He was one of
the earliest to cast in his lot with God's prophet. No sooner had he
beheld and conversed with the Bāb, than, 'because of the purity of
his heart, he at once believed without seeking further sign or proof.'
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 39.] After the Council of Badasht he received
among the Bābīs the title of Jenāb-i-Ḳuddus, i.e. 'His
Highness the Sacred,' by which it was meant that he was, for this age,
what the sacred prophet Muḥammad was to an earlier age, or, speaking
loosely, that holy prophet's 're-incarnation.' It is interesting to
learn that that heroic woman Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn was regarded as the
'reincarnation' of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muḥammad.
Certainly Ḳuddus had enormous influence with small as well as
great. Certainly, too, both he and his greatest friend had prophetic
gifts and a sense of oneness with God, which go far to excuse the
extravagant form of their claims, or at least the claims of others on
their behalf. Extravagance of form, at any rate, lies on the surface
of their titles. There must be a large element of fancy when
Muḥammad 'Ali of Barfurush (i.e. Ḳuddus) claims to be a 'return'
of the great Arabian prophet and even to be the Ḳa'im (i.e. the
Imām Mahdi), who was expected to bring in the Kingdom of
Righteousness. There is no exaggeration, however, in saying that,
together with the Bāb, Ḳuddus ranked highest (or equal to the
highest) in the new community. [Footnote: In _NH_, pp. 359, 399,
Kuddus is represented as the 'last to enter,' and as 'the name of the
last.']
We call him here Ḳuddus, i.e. holy, sacred, because this was his
Bābī name, and his Bābī period was to him the only part of his
life that was worth living. True, in his youth, he (like 'the Deputy')
had Sheykhite instruction, [Footnote: We may infer this from the
inclusion of both persons in the list of those who went through the
same spiritual exercises in the sacred city of Kufa (_NH_, p. 33).]
but as long as he was nourished on this imperfect food, he must have
had the sense of not having yet 'attained.' He was also like his
colleague 'the Deputy' in that he came to know the Bāb before the
young Shirazite made his Arabian pilgrimage; indeed (according to our
best information), it was he who was selected by 'Ali Muḥammad to
accompany him to the Arabian Holy City, the 'Gate's Gate,' we may
suppose, being too important as a representative of the 'Gate' to be
removed from Persia. The Bāb, however, who had a gift of insight,
was doubtless more than satisfied with his compensation. For Ḳuddus
had a noble soul.
The name Ḳuddus is somewhat difficult to account for, and yet it
must be understood, because it involves a claim. It must be observed,
then, first of all, that, as the early Bābīs believed, the last of
the twelve Imāms (cp. the Zoroastrian Amshaspands) still lived on
invisibly (like the Jewish Messiah), and communicated with his
followers by means of personages called Bābs (i.e. Gates), whom the
Imām had appointed as intermediaries. As the time for a new divine
manifestation approached, these personages 'returned,' i.e. were
virtually re-incarnated, in order to prepare mankind for the coming
great epiphany. Such a 'Gate' in the Christian cycle would be John
the Baptist; [Footnote: John the Baptist, to the Israelites, was the
last Imām before Jesus.] such 'Gates' in the Muḥammadan cycle
would be Waraḳa ibn Nawfal and the other Ḥanīfs, and in the
Bābī cycle Sheikh Aḥmad of Aḥsa, Sayyid Kaẓim of Resht,
Muḥammad 'Ali of Shiraz, and Mullā Ḥuseyn of Bushraweyh, who was
followed by his brother Muḥammad Ḥasan. 'Ali Muḥammad, however,
whom we call the Bāb, did not always put forward exactly the same
claim. Sometimes he assumed the title of Zikr [Footnote: And when God
wills He will explain by the mediation of His Zikr (the Bāb) that
which has been decreed for him in the Book.--Early Letter to the
Bāb's uncle (_AMB_, p. 223).] (i.e. Commemoration, or perhaps
Reminder); sometimes (p. 81) that of Nuḳṭa, i.e. Point (= Climax
of prophetic revelation). Humility may have prevented him from always
assuming the highest of these titles (Nuḳṭa). He knew that there
was one whose fervent energy enabled him to fight for the Cause as he
himself could not. He can hardly, I think, have gone so far as to
'abdicate' in favour of Ḳuddus, or as to affirm with Mirza Jani
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 336.] that 'in this (the present) cycle the
original "Point" was Ḥazrat-i-Ḳuddus.' He may, however, have
sanctioned Muḥammad 'Ali's assumption of the title of 'Point' on
some particular occasion, such as the Assembly of Badasht. It is true,
Muḥammad 'Ali's usual title was Ḳuddus, but Muḥammad 'Ali
himself, we know, considered this title to imply that in himself there
was virtually a 'return' of the great prophet Muḥammad. [Footnote:
_Ibid_. p. 359.] We may also, perhaps, believe on the authority of
Mirza Jani that the Bāb 'refrained from writing or circulating
anything during the period of the "Manifestation" of Ḥazrat-i-Ḳuddus,
and only after his death claimed to be himself the Ḳa'im.'
[Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 368.] It is further stated that, in the list of
the nineteen (?) Letters of the Living, Ḳuddus stood next to the
Bāb himself, and the reader has seen how, in the defence of Tabarsi,
Ḳuddus took precedence even of that gallant knight, known among the
Bābīs as 'the Gate's Gate.'