"O THOU Remnant Of God! I have sacrificed
myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for
Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but
martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient
witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector,
the Ancient of Days."
The Báb
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
ode to the Shrine of the Bab
This magnificent Edifice [the Shrine of the Bab]
stands facing Baha'u'llah's Most Great Prison,extolled by the Pen of Glory as the "Heaven of heavens,"
and looks toward the Qiblih of the people of Baha,
that Spot within the Vale of Security and Peace,
the Plain of `Akka, round which circle in adoration the Concourse on high.
To her right are the hills of Galilee
in which nestles the childhood home of the beautiful Christ,
and the locality by the banks of the Jordan River
where He who is theSpirit [Jesus] was called to prophethood;
and on her left, on the crest of Carmel,
are to be found the Cave of Elijah
and the exalted Spot which was blessed
by the footsteps of the Most Holy Abha Beauty
and was ennobled through the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel
from the treasury of the Pen of Glory....
High, immeasurably high is this Shrine,
the lofty, the most great, the most wondrous.
Exalted, immeasurably exalted is this Resting-place,
the fragrant, the pure, the luminous, the transcendent.
Glorified, immeasurably glorified is this Spot,
the most august, the most holy, the most blessed, the most sublime....
Upon thee, O Queen of Carmel, be the purest, the most tender salutations,
the fairest, the most gracious blessings!
Glorified is He Whose footsteps have ennobled the spot whereon thou standest,
Who ordained thy Seat, and Who extolled thee in His Tablet and Book.
How great is the potency of thy might,
a might which has bewildered the souls of the favored ones of God and HisMessengers. Methinks I behold thee in my dreams established upon thy glorious throne,
attired in thy white raiment, crowned with thy golden crown,
resplendent with thelights shining within thee and around thee,
calling aloud inringing tones and raising thy voice between earth andheaven.
Methinks I perceive the souls of the holy ones and of the dwellers of the realms above hastening towardthee with utmost joy, eagerness and ecstasy,
pointing to thee, circling round thee, inhaling the perfume of thyflowers and roses,
seeking blessing from the earth of thy precincts,
bowing their foreheads to the ground before thee in recognition of the majesty and glory which surround the Holy Dust reposing within thee,
the Pearlwhich is enshrined in thy bosom.
Blessed, immeasurably blessed is the person who visits thee and circles around thee,
who serves at thythreshold, waters thy flowers, inhales the fragrance of holiness from thy roses, celebrates thy praise and glorifies thy station for the love of God, thy Creator, in this hallowed and radiant, this great, august andwondrous age.
This prayer, or ode to the Shrine of the Bab written by Shoghi Effendi, is a part of his Naw-Ruz 1955Message to the Baha'is of Persia.
The translation wasprepared by the Universal House of Justice, and excerpts from it are included in Hand of the CauseKhadem's article, "The Mountain of God and the Tablet of Carmel" published in U.S. Baha'i News in August, 1975.
The article is included as an appendix to JavidukhtKhadem's "Zikrullah Khadem, The Itinerant Hand of theCause of God," (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1990)pp. 282-286.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The_Bab_prayer
As you know, the prayer has been translated into English by the beloved Guardian and included in the Dawn-Breakers:
"O God, my God! Would that a thousand Ishmaels were given Me, this Abraham of Thine, that I might have offered them, each and all, as a loving sacrifice unto Thee. O my Beloved, my heart's Desire! The sacrifice of this Ahmad whom Thy servant Ali-Muhammad hath offered up on the altar of Thy love can never suffice to quench the flame of longing in His heart. Not until He immolates His own heart at Thy feet, not until His whole body falls a victim to the cruelest tyranny in Thy path, not until His breast is made a target for countless darts for Thy sake, will the tumult of His soul be stilled. O my God, my only Desire! Grant that the sacrifice of My son, My only son, may be acceptable unto Thee. Grant that it be a prelude to the sacrifice of My own, My entire self, in the path of Thy good pleasure. Endue with Thy grace My life-blood which I yearn to shed in Thy path. Cause it to water and nourish the seed of Thy Faith. Endow it with Thy celestial potency, that this infant seed of God may soon germinate in the hearts of men, that it may thrive and prosper, that it may grow to become a mighty tree, beneath the shadow of which all the peoples and kindreds of the earth may gather. Answer Thou My prayer, O God, and fulfil My most cherished desire. Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful." (The Dawn-Breakers, p. 76)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Celebrating the birth of the Bab, Baha’u’llah’s forerunner
On Saturday, Oct. 20, Baha’is around the world celebrate the Birth of the Bab, one of 11 Holy Days in the Baha'i calendar. The Bab is often referred to as the Herald of the Baha'i Faith, because it was His mission to prepare the way for Baha’u’llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith.
Like John the Baptist some 2,000 years before, the Bab called on the people to purify themselves for the coming of the day of God. Unlike John the Baptist, however, He founded an independent religion and claimed equal station with Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Baha’is view the Bab and Baha’u’llah as Manifestations of God.
The similarities between the missions of Jesus and the Bab are often noted with awe. In Thief in the Night, William Sears lists a number of them. Both were known for their meekness. Both condemned the corruption present in religious and secular society. Their chief enemies were the religious authorities. Both were taken before the authorities and publicly interrogated, after which both were scourged. Both went first in triumph and then in suffering through the streets of the cities where they were to be killed. Both were suspended before a multitude as they were put to death. Both spoke words of comfort to one who was to die with them.
Yet in spite of the many similarities, there is one major difference: Almost nothing, it seems, is known about the circumstances attending the Bab’s birth.
We do know that He was born on Oct. 20, 1819, in Shiraz,Persia (now Iran). The Bab, whose name was Siyyid Ali-Muhammad, was the son of a merchant of Shiraz. Both parents were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. When the Bab was young, his father died. Care of the child fell to a maternal uncle and the only relative of the Bab to openly espouse the Bab’s Cause during His lifetime.
Stories of His childhood bear remarkable resemblance (in spirit at least) to the stories told in the Gospels about the young Jesus. For example, when the Bab was sent to school, the schoolmaster was so astonished at His wisdom and intelligence that he sent the child back to His uncle, saying he had nothing to teach such a gifted student. The Bab’s uncle commanded Him to be attentive to His teacher, but as time progressed, the schoolmaster began to feel more like the student than the teacher.
Other accounts speak of the young Bab’s radiant character and the considerable time He spent in prayer. There can be little doubt He was an extraordinary child. Some who had known Him in those early years later became His followers. It seems many of them were hardly surprised by the way events played out.
Baha’is celebrate the birth of the Bab in a variety of simple and joyous ways.
This day is one of the nine Holy Days on which work is to be suspended. Baha’i communities gather for prayers and devotional readings followed by fellowship and celebration. However they are celebrated, these activities are open to all who would like to attend.
--By Dale E. Lehman, Planet Baha’i
On Saturday, Oct. 20, Baha’is around the world celebrate the Birth of the Bab, one of 11 Holy Days in the Baha'i calendar. The Bab is often referred to as the Herald of the Baha'i Faith, because it was His mission to prepare the way for Baha’u’llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith.
Like John the Baptist some 2,000 years before, the Bab called on the people to purify themselves for the coming of the day of God. Unlike John the Baptist, however, He founded an independent religion and claimed equal station with Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Baha’is view the Bab and Baha’u’llah as Manifestations of God.
The similarities between the missions of Jesus and the Bab are often noted with awe. In Thief in the Night, William Sears lists a number of them. Both were known for their meekness. Both condemned the corruption present in religious and secular society. Their chief enemies were the religious authorities. Both were taken before the authorities and publicly interrogated, after which both were scourged. Both went first in triumph and then in suffering through the streets of the cities where they were to be killed. Both were suspended before a multitude as they were put to death. Both spoke words of comfort to one who was to die with them.
Yet in spite of the many similarities, there is one major difference: Almost nothing, it seems, is known about the circumstances attending the Bab’s birth.
We do know that He was born on Oct. 20, 1819, in Shiraz,Persia (now Iran). The Bab, whose name was Siyyid Ali-Muhammad, was the son of a merchant of Shiraz. Both parents were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. When the Bab was young, his father died. Care of the child fell to a maternal uncle and the only relative of the Bab to openly espouse the Bab’s Cause during His lifetime.
Stories of His childhood bear remarkable resemblance (in spirit at least) to the stories told in the Gospels about the young Jesus. For example, when the Bab was sent to school, the schoolmaster was so astonished at His wisdom and intelligence that he sent the child back to His uncle, saying he had nothing to teach such a gifted student. The Bab’s uncle commanded Him to be attentive to His teacher, but as time progressed, the schoolmaster began to feel more like the student than the teacher.
Other accounts speak of the young Bab’s radiant character and the considerable time He spent in prayer. There can be little doubt He was an extraordinary child. Some who had known Him in those early years later became His followers. It seems many of them were hardly surprised by the way events played out.
Baha’is celebrate the birth of the Bab in a variety of simple and joyous ways.
This day is one of the nine Holy Days on which work is to be suspended. Baha’i communities gather for prayers and devotional readings followed by fellowship and celebration. However they are celebrated, these activities are open to all who would like to attend.
--By Dale E. Lehman, Planet Baha’i
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Tablet Concerning
the Day of the
Martyrdom of
His Holiness,
the Exalted One
Translated from the Persian into English by Khazeh Fananapazir
He is the All-Glorious!O thou honoured 'Alí Akbar!This day is the day of the Martyrdom of His Holiness, the Exalted One, may our heart be sacrificed for His sanctified blood.
This Day is the day in which this "Sun of Truth" concealed itself behind the clouds of providence.
This Day is the day in which this luminous Orb did set!
This Day is the day in which that Body, pure and without blemish or spot fell upon and rolled onto the blood soaked earth
This Day is the day in which His chest and His heart, immaculate and pure like unto a spotless mirror, was riddled by thousands of bullets!
This Day is the day in which that "Divine Lamp" became severed from Its physical frame!
This Day is the day in which the cries and lamentations of the Concourse on high are raised
This Day is the day in which the inhabitants of the Kingdom of God weep and moan, the eyes in tears and their hearts torn!
===
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Báb, Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh
"His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold..."1
The object of this tribute by the prominent French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was the nineteenth century prophetic figure known to history as the Báb.
Millenial fervor gripped many peoples throughout the world during the first half of the nineteenth century;
while Christians expected the return of Christ, a wave of expectation swept through Islam that the "Lord of the Age" would appear. Both Christians and Muslims envisioned that, with fulfillment of the prophecies in their scriptures, a new spiritual age was about to begin.
In Persia, this messianic ferment reached
a dramatic climax on May 23, 1844,
when a young merchant--the Báb--announced that He was the Bearer of a long- promised Divine Revelation destined to transform the spiritual life of the human race. "O peoples of the earth," the Báb declared, "Give ear unto God's holy Voice...Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the ways of peace..."2 Against a backdrop of widescale moral breakdown in Persian society, the Báb's declaration that spiritual renewal and social advancement rested on "love and compassion" rather "than force and coercion," aroused hope and excitement among all classes, and He quickly attracted thousands of followers.3
Although the young merchant's given name was Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, He took the name "Báb," a title that means "Gate" or "Door" in Arabic. His coming, the Báb explained, represented the portal through which the universally anticipated Revelation of God to all humanity would soon appear. The central theme of His major work--the Bayan--was the imminent appearance of a second Messenger from God, one Who would be far greater than the Báb, and Whose mission would be to usher in the age of peace and justice promised in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and all the other world religions.
The Shrine of the Báb, Haifa, Israel.
The Báb referred to this coming Divine Teacher as "Him Whom God shall make manifest" and stated that "no words of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any reference in My Book, the Bayan, do justice to His Cause."4 He clarified the central aim of His mission by explaining that "the purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest."5 The basis for all human accomplishment is to be found in the teachings of this promised universal Manifestation of God, and "the sum total of the religion of God is but to help Him."6 For the Báb, a climacteric in human history had been reached, and He was the "Voice of the Crier, calling aloud in the wilderness of the Bayan" announcing to humanity that it was entering the period of its collective maturity.7
Throughout His writings, the Báb warned His followers to be watchful, and as soon as the promised Teacher revealed Himself, to recognize and follow Him. The Báb exhorted them to see with the "eye of the spirit" rather than through their "fanciful imaginations."8 To be worthy of "Him Whom God shall make manifest" required entirely new standards of conduct, a nobility of character that human beings had theretofore not achieved: "Purge your hearts of worldly desires," the Báb urged His first group of disciples, "and let angelic virtues be your adorning...The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him..."9
In several instances the Báb alluded to the identity of the Promised One: "Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá'u'lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made manifest."10 And: "When the Day-Star of Baha will shine resplendent above the horizon of eternity it is incumbent upon you to present yourselves before His Throne."11 Husayn-`Ali, a leading disciple of the Báb known to history as Bahá'u'lláh, assumed the title of "Baha" (Arabic for "glory" or "splendor") at a gathering of the Báb's followers in 1848, a title that was later confirmed by the Báb Himself.
In some respects, the Báb's role can be compared to that of John the Baptist in the founding of Christianity. The Báb was Bahá'u'lláh's herald: His principal mission was to prepare the way for Bahá'u'lláh's coming. Accordingly, the founding of the Bábi Faith is viewed by Bahá'ís as synonymous with the founding of the Bahá'í Faith--and its purpose was fulfilled when Bahá'u'lláh announced in 1863 that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb. Bahá'u'lláh later affirmed that the Báb was "the Herald of His Name and the Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused...the splendour of His light to shine forth above the horizon of the world."12 The Báb's appearance marked the end of the "Prophetic Cycle" of religious history, and ushered in the "Cycle of Fulfillment."
At the same time, however, the Báb founded a distinctive, independent religion of His own. Known as the Bábi Faith, that religious dispensation produced its own vigorous community, its own scriptures, and left its own indelible mark on history. The Bahá'í writings attest that "the greatness of the Báb consists primarily, not in His being the divinely-appointed Forerunner of so transcendent a Revelation, but rather in His having been invested with the powers inherent in the inaugurator of a separate religious Dispensation, and in His wielding, to a degree unrivaled by the Messengers gone before Him, the scepter of independent Prophethood."13 With His call for the spiritual and moral reformation of Persian society, and His insistence upon the upliftment of the station of women and the poor, the Báb indeed assumed a position reminiscent of the Prophets of the past. But unlike those Seers of old who could but look to the far future for the time when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,"14 the Báb by His very appearance signified that the dawn of the "Day of God" had at last arrived.
The hearts and minds of those who heard the message of the Báb were locked in a mental world that had changed little from medieval times. Along with His prescription for spiritual renewal, His promotion of education and the useful sciences was by any measure revolutionary. Thus, by proclaiming an entirely new religion, the Báb was able to help His followers break free from the Islamic frame of reference and to mobilize them in preparation for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh.
Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrú'i, a member of Persia's religious class, described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb: "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.'"15
The transformative impact of the Báb's message was primarily achieved through the dissemination of His epistles, commentaries, and doctrinal and mystical works. Some, though, like Mulla Husayn, were able to hear Him directly. The effect of the Báb's voice was described by one of His followers: "The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Mountain and valley re-echoed the majesty of His voice. Our hearts vibrated in their depths to the appeal of His utterance."16
The boldness of the Báb's proclamation--which put forth the vision of an entirely new society--stirred intense fear within the religious and secular establishments. Accordingly, persecution of the Bábis quickly developed. Thousands of the Báb's followers were put to death in a horrific series of massacres. The extraordinary moral courage evinced by the Bábis in the face of this onslaught was recorded by a number of Western observers. European intellectuals such as Ernest Renan, Leo Tolstoy, Sarah Bernhardt and the Comte de Gobineau were deeply affected by this spiritual drama that had unfolded in what was regarded as a darkened land. The nobility of the Báb's life and teachings and the heroism of His followers became a frequent topic of conversation in the salons of Europe. The story of Tahirih, the great poet and Bábi heroine, who declared to her persecutors, "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women," traveled as far and as quickly as that of the Báb Himself.17
Ultimately, those opposed to the Báb argued that He was not only a heretic, but a dangerous rebel. The authorities decided to have Him executed. On 9 July 1850, this sentence was carried out, in the courtyard of the Tabriz army barracks. Some 10,000 people crowded the rooftops of the barracks and houses that overlooked the square. The Báb and a young follower were suspended by two ropes against a wall. A regiment of 750 Armenian soldiers, arranged in three files of 250 each, opened fire in three successive volleys. So dense was the smoke raised by the gunpowder and dust that the entire yard was obscured.
The report of the execution, written to Lord Palmerston, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, by Sir Justin Shiel, Queen Victoria's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran on July 22, 1850, records: "When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Báb was not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies. The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound but he was dragged from the recess where, after some search he was discovered and shot."18
After the first attempt at execution, the Báb was found back in His cell, giving final instructions to one of His followers. Earlier in the day, when the guards had come to take Him to the courtyard, the Báb had warned that no "earthly power" could silence Him until He had finished all that He had to say. When the guards arrived this second time, the Báb calmly announced: "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."19
Again, the Báb and His young companion were brought out for execution. The Armenian troops refused to fire, and a Muslim firing squad was assembled and ordered to shoot. This time the bodies of the pair were shattered, their bones and flesh mingled into one mass. Surprisingly, their faces were untouched. The light of the "Mystic Fane," as the Báb referred to Himself, had been quenched under a dramatic set of circumstances.20 The last words of the Báb to the crowd were: "O wayward generation! Had you believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."21
Bahá'u'lláh paid this tribute to the Báb: "Behold what steadfastness that Beauty of God hath revealed. The whole world rose to hinder Him, yet it utterly failed. The more severe the persecution they inflicted on that Sadrih [Branch] of Blessedness, the more His fervour increased, and the brighter burned the flame of His love. All this is evident, and none disputeth its truth. Finally, He surrendered His soul, and winged His flight unto the realms above."22
A.L.M. Nicolas, who chronicled the episode of the Báb, wrote: "He sacrificed himself for humanity; for it he gave his body and his soul, for it he endured privations, insults, torture and martyrdom. He sealed, with his very lifeblood, the covenant of universal brotherhood. Like Jesus he paid with his life for the proclamation of a reign of concord, equity, and brotherly love."23
The short six-year duration of the Báb's mission in some respects symbolized the abrupt and startling transition to global consciousness that the Báb had called humanity to undertake. Since His bold proclamation in the middle of the last century, unparalleled scientific and technological advances have indeed provided the first glimmerings of a global society. In His role as the "Primal Point from which have been generated all created things," the Báb set in motion a dramatic new cycle of human creativity and discovery.24 The "breezes" of God's "knowledge" had "stirred" the "minds of men" and caused "the spirits to soar."
The nearly simultaneous appearance of two Manifestations of God, Bahá'u'lláh Himself states, "is a mystery such as no mind can fathom."25 For Bahá'ís, it is both an affirmation that the establishment of universal peace--the "Kingdom of God"--is not too far distant, and a testimony to the greatness of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation. As `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's appointed successor, explains:
The Báb, the Exalted One, is the Morn of Truth, the splendor of Whose light shineth throughout all regions. He is also the Harbinger of the Most Great Light, the Abha Luminary (Bahá'u'lláh). The Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) is the One promised by the sacred books of the past, the revelation of the Source of light that shone upon Mount Sinai, Whose fire glowed in the midst of the Burning Bush. We are, one and all, servants of their threshold, and stand each as a lowly keeper at their door.26
Bahá'u'lláh: Manifestation of God
A.L.M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Báb (Paris: Librairie Critique, 1908), pp. 203-4, 376. Quoted in The Dawnbreakers, p. 515 (footnote).
Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976), p. 50, 61.
Ibid., p. 77.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 62.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 106.
Ibid, p. 85.
Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 12.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 146.
Muhammad-i-Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 164.
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 102.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 123.
Isaiah 11:9
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 65.
Ibid., p. 251.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Il: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944), p. 75.
Quoted in John Ferraby, All Things Made New: A Comprehensive Outline of the Bahá'í Faith (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, revised edition 1975), p. 199.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 463.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 464.
Bahá'u'lláh, The Book of Certitude, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 234.
A.L.M. Nicolas, see note 1.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 126.
Ibid., p. 124.
Ibid., p. 127.
"His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has been the privilege of mankind to behold..."1
The object of this tribute by the prominent French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was the nineteenth century prophetic figure known to history as the Báb.
Millenial fervor gripped many peoples throughout the world during the first half of the nineteenth century;
while Christians expected the return of Christ, a wave of expectation swept through Islam that the "Lord of the Age" would appear. Both Christians and Muslims envisioned that, with fulfillment of the prophecies in their scriptures, a new spiritual age was about to begin.
In Persia, this messianic ferment reached
a dramatic climax on May 23, 1844,
when a young merchant--the Báb--announced that He was the Bearer of a long- promised Divine Revelation destined to transform the spiritual life of the human race. "O peoples of the earth," the Báb declared, "Give ear unto God's holy Voice...Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the ways of peace..."2 Against a backdrop of widescale moral breakdown in Persian society, the Báb's declaration that spiritual renewal and social advancement rested on "love and compassion" rather "than force and coercion," aroused hope and excitement among all classes, and He quickly attracted thousands of followers.3
Although the young merchant's given name was Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, He took the name "Báb," a title that means "Gate" or "Door" in Arabic. His coming, the Báb explained, represented the portal through which the universally anticipated Revelation of God to all humanity would soon appear. The central theme of His major work--the Bayan--was the imminent appearance of a second Messenger from God, one Who would be far greater than the Báb, and Whose mission would be to usher in the age of peace and justice promised in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and all the other world religions.
The Shrine of the Báb, Haifa, Israel.
The Báb referred to this coming Divine Teacher as "Him Whom God shall make manifest" and stated that "no words of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any reference in My Book, the Bayan, do justice to His Cause."4 He clarified the central aim of His mission by explaining that "the purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest."5 The basis for all human accomplishment is to be found in the teachings of this promised universal Manifestation of God, and "the sum total of the religion of God is but to help Him."6 For the Báb, a climacteric in human history had been reached, and He was the "Voice of the Crier, calling aloud in the wilderness of the Bayan" announcing to humanity that it was entering the period of its collective maturity.7
Throughout His writings, the Báb warned His followers to be watchful, and as soon as the promised Teacher revealed Himself, to recognize and follow Him. The Báb exhorted them to see with the "eye of the spirit" rather than through their "fanciful imaginations."8 To be worthy of "Him Whom God shall make manifest" required entirely new standards of conduct, a nobility of character that human beings had theretofore not achieved: "Purge your hearts of worldly desires," the Báb urged His first group of disciples, "and let angelic virtues be your adorning...The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him..."9
In several instances the Báb alluded to the identity of the Promised One: "Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá'u'lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made manifest."10 And: "When the Day-Star of Baha will shine resplendent above the horizon of eternity it is incumbent upon you to present yourselves before His Throne."11 Husayn-`Ali, a leading disciple of the Báb known to history as Bahá'u'lláh, assumed the title of "Baha" (Arabic for "glory" or "splendor") at a gathering of the Báb's followers in 1848, a title that was later confirmed by the Báb Himself.
In some respects, the Báb's role can be compared to that of John the Baptist in the founding of Christianity. The Báb was Bahá'u'lláh's herald: His principal mission was to prepare the way for Bahá'u'lláh's coming. Accordingly, the founding of the Bábi Faith is viewed by Bahá'ís as synonymous with the founding of the Bahá'í Faith--and its purpose was fulfilled when Bahá'u'lláh announced in 1863 that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb. Bahá'u'lláh later affirmed that the Báb was "the Herald of His Name and the Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused...the splendour of His light to shine forth above the horizon of the world."12 The Báb's appearance marked the end of the "Prophetic Cycle" of religious history, and ushered in the "Cycle of Fulfillment."
At the same time, however, the Báb founded a distinctive, independent religion of His own. Known as the Bábi Faith, that religious dispensation produced its own vigorous community, its own scriptures, and left its own indelible mark on history. The Bahá'í writings attest that "the greatness of the Báb consists primarily, not in His being the divinely-appointed Forerunner of so transcendent a Revelation, but rather in His having been invested with the powers inherent in the inaugurator of a separate religious Dispensation, and in His wielding, to a degree unrivaled by the Messengers gone before Him, the scepter of independent Prophethood."13 With His call for the spiritual and moral reformation of Persian society, and His insistence upon the upliftment of the station of women and the poor, the Báb indeed assumed a position reminiscent of the Prophets of the past. But unlike those Seers of old who could but look to the far future for the time when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,"14 the Báb by His very appearance signified that the dawn of the "Day of God" had at last arrived.
The hearts and minds of those who heard the message of the Báb were locked in a mental world that had changed little from medieval times. Along with His prescription for spiritual renewal, His promotion of education and the useful sciences was by any measure revolutionary. Thus, by proclaiming an entirely new religion, the Báb was able to help His followers break free from the Islamic frame of reference and to mobilize them in preparation for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh.
Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrú'i, a member of Persia's religious class, described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb: "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.'"15
The transformative impact of the Báb's message was primarily achieved through the dissemination of His epistles, commentaries, and doctrinal and mystical works. Some, though, like Mulla Husayn, were able to hear Him directly. The effect of the Báb's voice was described by one of His followers: "The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Mountain and valley re-echoed the majesty of His voice. Our hearts vibrated in their depths to the appeal of His utterance."16
The boldness of the Báb's proclamation--which put forth the vision of an entirely new society--stirred intense fear within the religious and secular establishments. Accordingly, persecution of the Bábis quickly developed. Thousands of the Báb's followers were put to death in a horrific series of massacres. The extraordinary moral courage evinced by the Bábis in the face of this onslaught was recorded by a number of Western observers. European intellectuals such as Ernest Renan, Leo Tolstoy, Sarah Bernhardt and the Comte de Gobineau were deeply affected by this spiritual drama that had unfolded in what was regarded as a darkened land. The nobility of the Báb's life and teachings and the heroism of His followers became a frequent topic of conversation in the salons of Europe. The story of Tahirih, the great poet and Bábi heroine, who declared to her persecutors, "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women," traveled as far and as quickly as that of the Báb Himself.17
Ultimately, those opposed to the Báb argued that He was not only a heretic, but a dangerous rebel. The authorities decided to have Him executed. On 9 July 1850, this sentence was carried out, in the courtyard of the Tabriz army barracks. Some 10,000 people crowded the rooftops of the barracks and houses that overlooked the square. The Báb and a young follower were suspended by two ropes against a wall. A regiment of 750 Armenian soldiers, arranged in three files of 250 each, opened fire in three successive volleys. So dense was the smoke raised by the gunpowder and dust that the entire yard was obscured.
The report of the execution, written to Lord Palmerston, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, by Sir Justin Shiel, Queen Victoria's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran on July 22, 1850, records: "When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Báb was not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies. The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound but he was dragged from the recess where, after some search he was discovered and shot."18
After the first attempt at execution, the Báb was found back in His cell, giving final instructions to one of His followers. Earlier in the day, when the guards had come to take Him to the courtyard, the Báb had warned that no "earthly power" could silence Him until He had finished all that He had to say. When the guards arrived this second time, the Báb calmly announced: "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."19
Again, the Báb and His young companion were brought out for execution. The Armenian troops refused to fire, and a Muslim firing squad was assembled and ordered to shoot. This time the bodies of the pair were shattered, their bones and flesh mingled into one mass. Surprisingly, their faces were untouched. The light of the "Mystic Fane," as the Báb referred to Himself, had been quenched under a dramatic set of circumstances.20 The last words of the Báb to the crowd were: "O wayward generation! Had you believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."21
Bahá'u'lláh paid this tribute to the Báb: "Behold what steadfastness that Beauty of God hath revealed. The whole world rose to hinder Him, yet it utterly failed. The more severe the persecution they inflicted on that Sadrih [Branch] of Blessedness, the more His fervour increased, and the brighter burned the flame of His love. All this is evident, and none disputeth its truth. Finally, He surrendered His soul, and winged His flight unto the realms above."22
A.L.M. Nicolas, who chronicled the episode of the Báb, wrote: "He sacrificed himself for humanity; for it he gave his body and his soul, for it he endured privations, insults, torture and martyrdom. He sealed, with his very lifeblood, the covenant of universal brotherhood. Like Jesus he paid with his life for the proclamation of a reign of concord, equity, and brotherly love."23
The short six-year duration of the Báb's mission in some respects symbolized the abrupt and startling transition to global consciousness that the Báb had called humanity to undertake. Since His bold proclamation in the middle of the last century, unparalleled scientific and technological advances have indeed provided the first glimmerings of a global society. In His role as the "Primal Point from which have been generated all created things," the Báb set in motion a dramatic new cycle of human creativity and discovery.24 The "breezes" of God's "knowledge" had "stirred" the "minds of men" and caused "the spirits to soar."
The nearly simultaneous appearance of two Manifestations of God, Bahá'u'lláh Himself states, "is a mystery such as no mind can fathom."25 For Bahá'ís, it is both an affirmation that the establishment of universal peace--the "Kingdom of God"--is not too far distant, and a testimony to the greatness of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation. As `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's appointed successor, explains:
The Báb, the Exalted One, is the Morn of Truth, the splendor of Whose light shineth throughout all regions. He is also the Harbinger of the Most Great Light, the Abha Luminary (Bahá'u'lláh). The Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) is the One promised by the sacred books of the past, the revelation of the Source of light that shone upon Mount Sinai, Whose fire glowed in the midst of the Burning Bush. We are, one and all, servants of their threshold, and stand each as a lowly keeper at their door.26
Bahá'u'lláh: Manifestation of God
A.L.M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Báb (Paris: Librairie Critique, 1908), pp. 203-4, 376. Quoted in The Dawnbreakers, p. 515 (footnote).
Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976), p. 50, 61.
Ibid., p. 77.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 62.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 106.
Ibid, p. 85.
Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 12.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 146.
Muhammad-i-Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 164.
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 102.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 123.
Isaiah 11:9
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 65.
Ibid., p. 251.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Il: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944), p. 75.
Quoted in John Ferraby, All Things Made New: A Comprehensive Outline of the Bahá'í Faith (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, revised edition 1975), p. 199.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 463.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
The Dawn-Breakers, p. 464.
Bahá'u'lláh, The Book of Certitude, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 234.
A.L.M. Nicolas, see note 1.
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 126.
Ibid., p. 124.
Ibid., p. 127.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
SLIDES OF THE HOLY SHRINE ON MOUNT CARMEL
style="color:#ff0000;"> The Return of the Prophet Elijah to Mount Carmel....
TABRIZ
PERSIA
9th JULY 1850
Upon speaking of The Bab:
Gracious God! In His Book, which He hath entitled "Qayyúmu'l-Asmá',"
-- the first, the greatest and mightiest of all books --
He prophesied His own martyrdom.
In it is this passage:
"O thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake; and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient Witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days!"
~ Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 231
style="color:#ff0000;"> The Return of the Prophet Elijah to Mount Carmel....
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The cave of ELIJAH ON MOUNT CARMEL
...With the transference of the remains of the Báb--Whose advent marks the return of the Prophet Elijah--to Mt. Carmel, and their interment in that holy mountain, not far from the cave of that Prophet Himself, the Plan so gloriously envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh, in the evening of His life, had been at last executed, and the arduous labors associated with the early and tumultuous years of the ministry of the appointed Center of His Covenant crowned with immortal success. A focal center of Divine illumination and power, the very dust of which `Abdu'l-Bahá averred had inspired Him, yielding in sacredness to no other shrine throughout the Bahá'í world except the Sepulcher of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation Himself, had been permanently established on that mountain, regarded from time immemorial as sacred.A structure, at once massive, simple and imposing; nestling in the heart of Carmel, the "Vineyard of God"; flanked by the Cave of Elijah on the west, and by the hills of Galilee on the east; backed by the plain of Sharon, and facing the silver-city of Akká, and beyond it the Most Holy Tomb, the Heart and Qiblih of the Bahá'í world; overshadowing the colony of German Templars who, in anticipation of the "coming of the Lord," had forsaken their homes and foregathered at the foot of that mountain, in the very year of Bahá'u'lláh's Declaration in Baghdád (1863), the mausoleum of the Báb had now, with heroic effort and in impregnable strength been established as "the Spot round which the Concourse on high circle in adoration." Events have already demonstrated through the extension of the Edifice itself, through the embellishment of its surroundings, through the acquisition of extensive endowments in its neighborhood, and through its proximity to the resting-places of the wife, the son and daughter of Bahá'u'lláh Himself, that it was destined to acquire with the passing of the years a measure of fame and glory commensurate with the high purpose that had prompted its founding. Nor will it, as the years go by, and the institutions revolving around the World Administrative Center of the future Bahá'í Commonwealth are gradually established, cease to manifest the latent potentialities with which that same immutable purpose has endowed it. Resistlessly will this Divine institution flourish and expand, however fierce the animosity which its future enemies may evince, until the full measure of its splendor will have been disclosed before the eyes of all mankind. "Haste thee, O Carmel!" Bahá'u'lláh, significantly addressing that holy mountain, has written, "for lo, the light of the Countenance of God ... hath been lifted upon thee... Rejoice, for God hath, in this Day, established upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the dayspring of the evidences of His Revelation. Well is it with him that circleth around thee, that proclaimeth the revelation of thy glory, and recounteth that which the bounty of the Lord thy God hath showered upon thee." "Call out to Zion, O Carmel!" He, furthermore, has revealed in that same Tablet, "and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendor is revealed.Beware lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God that hath descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favored of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the most exalted angels."
MIDI
LE 9 JUILLET 1850
TABRIZ LA PERSE
"L'éclatant soleil de juillet se reflétait d'une façon éblouissante sur les canons
des sept cent cinquante fusils prêts à faire feu et à lui ôter la vie.
Il semblait si jeune pour mourir, à peine atteignait-il la trentaine.
Il était si noble, désarmé et courageux.
Pouvait-il vraiment être coupable du crime affreux dont il était accusé?
Des milliers de spectateurs impatients bordaient la place publique.
Il garnissait de grappes humaines la crête de toits avoisinant la scène de mort.
Ils voulaient le voir une dernière fois car ils ne savaient que penser de lui.
Etait-il un héros ou un coupable ? Nul n'en était certain.
Dans ce décor aride de la Perse,
le soleil dardait ses rayons sur la cour de la caserne de Tabriz…
Midi allait sonner… C'était le 9 juillet 1850.
"La succession des évènements aboutissant à cette scène débuta en 1844.
Ce fut une époque de ferveur religieuse.
Partout, l'on prêchait le retour du Christ et l'on incitait les hommes à s'y préparer. Wolff en Asie, Sir Edwards Irwing en Angleterre, Léonard H. Kelber en Allemagne, Mason en Ecosse, Davis en Caroline du Sud et William Miller en Pennsylvanie, tous étaient tombés d'accord pour reconnaître que leurs études des Ecritures indiquaient clairement que l'heure du retour du Christ était proche.Le poème "La Crise" de James Russel Lowell fut écrit en ces temps d'enthousiasme en vue de l'avènement :Une fois pour chaque homme,
Et pour chaque nation,Survient le moment du choix,
Quelque grande cause, le nouveau Messie de Dieu.
Il était généralement admis que les années comprises entre 1843 et 1847 devaient marquer le retour du Christ.
Des études approfondies des prophéties avaient conduit théologiens et chercheurs, en différentes parties du monde, à ces années fatidiques.
N'y eut-il donc aucun signe du retour du Christ au cours de ces années ? Ou plutôt cette période ne devait-elle pas être comparée à celle qui suivit la naissance et la proclamation du message du Christ; aux années qui s'écoulèrent sans aucun signe visible pour le peuple de Palestine indiquant que le Promis était venu?
Et le souvenir de la crucifixion d'un fauteur de troubles de Nazareth était chassé de tous les esprits.
L'histoire allait-elle s'arrêter comme elle s'était arrêtée au temps de Jésus, pendant plus de cent ans, avant que le nouveau message ne commence à toucher la conscience des êtres humains.
Fallait-il que le drame du calvaire se répète devant un poteau d'exécution sur la place publique de Tabriz?Ce fut en 1844, en Perse, que commence cette histoire.
Elle débute la veille du 23 mai, à Shiraz, la "ville des rossignols et des fontaines de céramique bleue",
Shiraz, dans ce qui fut, autrefois, l'ancienne province de l'Elam décrite par Daniel le prophète comme étant l'endroit de la vision relative aux temps de la fin et mentionnée dans le Livre de Jérémie:
"Et j'installerai mon trône en Elam".C'est la qu'un jeune homme déclara être Celui que toutes les Ecritures saintes du passe avaient annoncé.
Il proclama qu'Il était venu pour inaugurer une nouvelle ère, un printemps nouveau dans le coeur des hommes.
Il fut appelé "Le Bab" ce qui signifie "La Porte", ou "L'Entrée". Son enseignement devait conduire à un nouvel âge d'unité :
"le monde est un seul pays et l'humanité ses citoyens; il n'y a qu'une religion et tous les prophètes l'ont enseignée".
Comme Jésus avait parle à Pierre le pêcheur, de même le Bab parla à un étudiant persan, Mulla Husayn.
Les paroles de ce dernier peuvent le mieux décrire la profondeur de cette expérience:"Je m'assis, sous le charme de ses paroles, oublieux du temps.
Cette révélation qui me fut si soudainement,
si magistralement imposée, me frappa comme un coup de foudre.
Pendant un certain temps, elle sembla avoir paralysé toutes mes facultés. Surexcitation, joie, crainte, et surprise remuèrent les profondeurs de mon être. Mais par-dessus toutes ces émotions, une sensation de bonheur et de force inexprimables semblait m'avoir transfiguré. J'étais assis, captivé par le charme de sa voix et la force entraînante de sa révélation.
A regret, je finis par me lever de mon siège et demandai la permission de me retirer.""Le Bab, souriant, me pria de me rasseoir et dit "si vous partez dans un tel état quiconque vous verra dira assurément: ce pauvre jeune homme a perdu la raison".Au même instant, l'horloge marquait deux heures et onze minutes après le coucher du soleil, dans la nuit du 23 mai 1844. Comme Mulla Husayn se préparait à partir, le Bab lieu déclara: "Cette nuit, cette heure même, seront célèbres dans l'avenir comme une des fêtes les plus grandes et les plus significatives."Cent années après, le 23 mai 1944, dans plus de huit cents communautés baha'ies établies dans le monde entier cette même heure fut commémorée comme étant l'aube d'un nouvel âge, le commencement d'une ère d'unité et de fraternité.En un siècle, à partir de la soirée marquant sa naissance, cette foi mondiale proclamée par le Bab s'était entendue dans la plupart des pays, groupant des êtres humains de toutes tendances, de toutes convictions religieuses, de toute couleur de peau.La renommée du Bab ne tarda pas à s'étendre au-delà du cercle de ses disciples. Elle parvint bientôt jusqu'aux autorités de l'Eglise et de l'Etat, qui s'inquiétèrent de l'enthousiasme avec lequel le peuple acceptait le message du Bab. Le clergé dirigea immédiatement ses attaques contre lui. Les savants et les orateurs les plus sages et les plus capables furent réunis afin de discuter avec lui et d'essayer de le confondre. De grands débats publics furent organisés à Shiraz dans l'espoir de discréditer le jeune prophète. Le gouverneur, le clergé, les chefs militaires et aussi le peuple y furent invités.Le Bab énonça des vérités si évidentes que, jour après jour, la foule de ses auditeurs augmentait.
La pureté de sa vie, à un âge où les passions sont les plus vives, impressionnait les personnes qui le rencontraient. Il était doué d'une éloquence et d'une audace extraordinaires. De ce fait, plutôt que de combler les espoirs du clergé, les débats organises par lui, au contraire, augmentèrent encore le prestige du Bab à leur détriment. Il y dénonça sans les ménager leurs vices et leur corruption ; Il prouva leur infidélité envers leur propre doctrine. Il les couvrit de honte pour leur genre de vie. Il les confondit au moyen de leur propre Livre sacré.Bientôt toute la Perse parla du Bab. Le Shah lui-même entreprit de vérifier la véracité des rapports le concernant. Il délégua Siyyid-i-Darabi, surnomme Vahid, à Shiraz pour y étudier en personne la question. Vahid fut choisi parce qu'on l'appelait "le plus érudit et le plus influent de tous les sujets du Shah". Vahid eut trois entrevues avec le Bab. Apres la première, il déclara à un ami: "En sa présence, je fis étalage à l'excès de mes propres connaissances. Il fut capable de donner en quelques mots une réponse à toutes mes questions."Par la suite, Vahid devait encore dire: "Aussitôt que j'étais introduit en sa présence, une sensation de crainte, que je ne pouvais réprimer, me saisissait subitement. Le Bab, constatant mon état, se leva de son siège, avança vers moi, et, me prenant par la main, me fit asseoir à ses côtés. "Demandez-moi, dit-il, tout ce que désire votre coeur. Je vous le révélerai volontiers.""Comme un enfant ne pouvant ni parler ni comprendre, je me sentais incapable de répondre.
Le Bab souriait tout en me regardant. Il dit :"Si je vous révèle les réponses aux questions que vous vous posez, reconnaîtrez-vous que mes paroles sont nées de l'esprit de Dieu. Admettrez-vous que mes propos ne sont en aucune façon empreints de magie et de sorcellerie?""Comment pourrais-je décrire cette scène d'inexprimable majesté? Les versets coulaient de sa plume avec une rapidité réellement surprenante. L'incroyable facilité de son écriture, le doux murmure de sa voix et la prodigieuse force de son style me stupéfièrent et me désorientèrent."Vahid résuma le rapport relatif à son enquête sur le Bab en disant: "Tel fut l'état de certitude auquel j'étais parvenu que rien ne pouvait ébranler ma confiance en la grandeur de sa cause."Lorsque le Shah en fut informé, il dit à son Premier ministre: "Nous avons été informé que Vahid est devenue un disciple du Bab; si cela est vrai, il nous incombe de cesser d'amoindrir la cause de ce jeune homme."Toujours trouble par la réponse de Vahid concernant l'enseignement du Bab, le Shah - ayant reçu sur ces entrefaites une lettre du Bab demandant une audience - ordonna que celui-ci soit convoqué à Téhéran.
Dans sa lettre, le Bab exprimait sa confiance dans la justice du roi et son souhait de venir participer dans la capitale à des conférences avec les prêtres de l'empire, en la présence du Shah, des autorités et du peuple. Le Bab offrait d'expliquer sa cause et le but poursuivi par lui. Il déclarait encore qu'il acceptait d'avance le jugement du Shah et que, en cas d'échec, il était prêt à sacrifier sa vie.
Le Bab n'arriva jamais a Téhéran, le Premier ministre, Haji Mirza Aqasi, redoutant les conséquences éventuelles d'une telle entrevue. Il craignait que le Bab ne puisse prendre une certaine influence sur le souverain et la population de la ville. Il parvint à convaincre le Shah qu'un sujet aussi dangereux devait être incarcéré à Mahku, une forteresse prison située dans les montagnes de l'Adhirbayjan.En route vers Mahku, le Bab approcha des portes de Tabriz.
La nouvelle de son arrivée remua le coeur des gens qui se portèrent à sa rencontre, impatients de souhaiter la bienvenue à un guide tellement aimé. Mais les autorités gouvernementales défendirent au peuple de l'approcher et de recevoir sa bénédiction.Lorsque le Bab traversa les rues de Tabriz, les clameurs de bienvenue de la multitude résonnaient de tous côtés. Le tumulte fut tel qu'un crieur reçut l'ordre de prévenir la population du danger auquel elle s'exposait. L'avertissement fut donné : "Quiconque essaiera d 'approcher le Bab, ou cherchera à le rencontrer, verra ses biens confisqués et sera immédiatement emprisonne."Une sourde agitation fut perceptible dans la ville tout au long du séjour du Bab Le coeur lourd, gonflé de sentiments mêlés de confusion et d'impuissance, le peuple regarda le prophète bien-aimé quitter Tabriz pour se rendre à la forteresse de Mahku. Les gens chuchotèrent entre eux comme l'avaient fait les disciples de Jésus quand ils le virent livré successivement a Caïphe et à Pilate: "S'il est le Promis, pourquoi est-il soumis aux caprices des hommes de la terre?"Le Bab fut confié à la garde d'Ali Khan, gardien de la forteresse aux quatre tours de pierre, couronnant le sommet d'une montagne située aux confins de la Russie, de la Turquie et de la Perse. Le Premier ministre était assuré que peu de personnes, si même il s'en trouvait une seule, oseraient s'aventurer à pénétrer dans ce pays sauvage. Les habitants de ces régions étant déjà hostiles au Bab, le Premier ministre escomptait que son internement forcé parmi des ennemis étoufferait la foi dès sa naissance et conduirait à son extinction. Il réalisa bientôt combien gravement il avait sous-estimé la force de l'influence du Bab L'hostilité des autochtones fut réduite par les manières affables du Bab Leurs coeurs furent adoucis par son amour pour eux. Leur vanité fut domptée par sa modestie. Leur opposition à son enseignement fondit par la sagesse de ses paroles. En dépit des mises en garde répétées du Premier ministre d'éviter de tomber sous le charme de Bab, même son gardien, Ali-Khan, commença à adoucir la sévérité de son emprisonnement.Bientôt des foules arrivèrent de partout pour rendre visite au Bab C'est pendant cette période qu'il composa son "Bayan" persan, le plus compréhensible de ses écrits. Dans ce livre, le Bab définit sa double mission : appeler les hommes à Dieu et annoncer la venue du Promis de tous les âges et de toutes les religions - un grand éducateur mondial dont la position était à ce point exaltée que selon les mots même du Bab: "mille lectures de Bayan ne pourront égaler la lecture d'un seul verset révélé par Lui, que Dieu fera se manifester". Le Premier ministre fut informé de l'affection que le peuple de Mahku, d'abord hostile envers le Bab, lui témoignait à présent. On lui rapporta l'affluence des pèlerins à la forteresse. Ceux qui avaient reçu l'ordre de surveiller la suite des événements rapportèrent au Premier ministre que le gardien, Ali-khan, avait été envoûté par le Bab qu'il traitait en hôte plutôt qu'en prisonnier. La crainte autant que la colère incitèrent le Premier ministre à ordonner le transfert immédiat du Bab à la forteresse de Chiriq, appelle "le mont de la douleur".Le Bab fit ses adieux au peuple de Mahku qui, au cours de sa captivité de neuf mois parmi eux, avait reconnu à un degré remarquable le pouvoir de sa personnalité et la grandeur de son caractère.Le Bab fut soumis à une réclusion plus rigoureuse et plus sévère à Chiriq. Le Premier ministre laissa des instructions strictes et explicites au gardien, Yahya Khan, selon lesquelles personne ne pouvait être admis en la présence du Bab Le gardien fut averti de tirer la leçon de l'échec d'Ali Khan à Mahku. Cependant, malgré cette claire menace contre sa propre sécurité, Yahya Khan se trouva dans l'incapacité d'obéir. Il ressentit bientôt la fascination de son prisonnier et oublia le devoir qu'il était supposé remplir, car l'appel du Bab avait subjugué son être tout entier.Même les Kurdes, qui habitaient à Chiriq, et dont le fanatisme et la haine excédaient ceux des habitants de Mahku, tombèrent sous l'influence transformante du Bab L'amour qui émanait de sa personne était une chose vivante. Comme Paul de Tarse avait été séduit par la chaleur captivante de Jésus, de la même façon quiconque approchait le Bab pénétrait dans un monde nouveau de joie et d'allégresse. Comme jadis les foules s'étaient groupées autour de Jésus sur le Mont des Oliviers, maintenant le peuple de la Perse, assoiffé et affamé, accourut vers la montagne de Chiriq.A peine ces nouvelles furent-elles connues dans la capitale, que le Premier ministre, furieux, exigea que le Bab soit immédiatement transféré à Tabriz. Il réunit en une conférence tous les dignitaires ecclésiastiques de cette ville afin de trouver un moyen adéquat pour mettre fin rapidement au pouvoir que le Bab exerçait sur le peuple.La nouvelle de l'arrivée imminente du Bab éveilla un tel enthousiasme parmi le peuple, que les autorités décidèrent de le garder dans un endroit situé hors des murs de la ville. Dès le lendemain, la foule assiégea l'entrée conduisant au lieu de la réunion, attendant impatiemment le moment où le visage du Bab pourrait être entrevu. Il y eut une telle cohue qu'un passage dû être frayé par la force, pour permettre au Bab d'avancer.Lorsque le Bab entra dans la salle, un grand silence descendit sur le peuple. Ce silence fut finalement rompu par le président de la réunion. "Qui prétendez-vous être", demanda-t-il au Bab, "et quel est le message que vous avez apporté?". Ponce Pilate avait demandé à Jésus: "Tu es donc roi?". Et Jésus répondit: "Tu le dis, je suis roi. Je suis né et je suis venu dans le monde pour rendre témoignage à la vérité. Quiconque est de la vérité, écoute ma voix."Le Bab répondit à l'assemblée: "Je suis… je suis… je suis le Promis. Je suis celui dont vous invoquez le nom depuis un millier d'années et à la mention de qui vous vous êtes levés, celui à l'avènement de qui vous avez aspiré, celui pour lequel vous avez prié Dieu de hâter l'heure de la révélation. En vérité je le dis, il incombe aux peuples de l'Est et de l'Ouest d'obéir à mes paroles et de rendre hommage à ma personne."Immédiatement après qu'il eut prononcé ces paroles, un silence profond tomba sur l'assistance. Un sentiment de crainte envahit tous ceux qui étaient présents. La pâleur de leur visage trahissait l'agitation de leur coeur.L'interrogatoire du Bab se poursuivit jusqu'à la fin pré arrangée. Cependant, une fois de plus, le but poursuivi par les autorités n'avait pas été atteint. Cette réunion avait encore davantage grandi le Bab aux yeux du peuple.Le Bab fut finalement livré au chef du tribunal religieux de Tabriz afin de subir la bastonnade.
Tel Jésus sous les verges, de même le Bab fut également soumis à la même humiliation pour sa revendication d'être un rédempteur des hommes. Onze fois, le chef du tribunal religieux le frappa aux pieds. Un de ces coups l'atteignit au visage. Le Dr Mc Cormick, un médecin anglais qui le soigna, relata leur rencontre de la manière suivante: "Il était un homme très doux et d'apparence délicate, assez petit de taille et très courtois. Il avait une voix douce et mélodieuse qui m'impressionna fortement. En réalité, toute son apparence et son comportement contribuaient à disposer chacun en sa faveur."Ses persécuteurs, en l'appelant à Tabriz, avaient cru fermement réussir à lui faire abandonner sa mission, par leurs menaces et meurs intimidations. Ils avaient échoue. Comme Jésus disant: "Mon enseignement n'est pas de moi, mais de celui qui m'a envoyé", de même le Bab fit comprendre que son message dépassait sa personne.La réunion de Tabriz avait finalement donné au Bab l'occasion d'exposer solennellement et en présence des autorités, les points essentiels de sa révélation. Il lui avait également été permis de réfuter, d'une façon claire et convaincante, les arguments de ses ennemis.La nouvelle de cette réunion se répandit rapidement à travers la Perse. Elle éveilla un zèle nouveau dans le coeur de ses adeptes. Ils redoublèrent d'efforts pour répandre ses enseignements. Une réaction de la part de ses adversaires s'ensuivit aussitôt: des persécutions d'une violence sans précédent sévirent dans tout le pays.A cette époque, me Shah succomba à la maladie et le Premier ministre fut démis de ses fonctions. Le successeur au trône fut le jeune Nasiri-Din-Mirza, âgé de 17 ans, et un nouveau Premier ministre assuma la charge de gouverner le pays. Son règne fut de fer, et sa haine pour le Bab, plus implacable que celle de son prédécesseur. Il déchaîna une attaque combinée des forces civiles et religieuses contre le Bab et sa foi.La nouvelle des souffrances endurées par ses adeptes parvint au Bab qui était retourné à la forteresse de Chiriq et le désola profondément. Une autre épreuve ne devait pas tarder à l'atteindre: son oncle bien-aimé, qui l'avait élevé, fut arrête à Téhéran et emprisonné en attendant son exécution.C'était ce même oncle qui l'avait servi avec dévotion durant toute sa vie et qui était devenu un de ses premiers et plus fervents disciples. Moins d'un an avant son arrestation, il avait rendu visite au Bab dans sa cellule de Chiriq et s'était ensuite rendu à Téhéran pour y enseigner la foi. Il y résida jusqu'au jour de son arrestation qui eut lieu en même temps que celle de treize autres disciples. Les quatorze prisonniers furent détenus dans la maison d'un notable influent de la ville. Ils subirent de nombreux sévices afin de les inciter à révéler les nom et adresse d'autres croyants. Le Premier ministre signa un décret édictant la peine de mort pour tous ceux qui, parmi eux, refuseraient de renier leur foi.Sept d'entre eux cédèrent et furent immédiatement libérés. Les sept autres sont connus maintenant comme "les sept martyrs de Téhéran". L'oncle du Bab, un des plus grands négociants de Shiraz, se trouvait parmi eux. Ses amis le pressèrent de renier sa foi et de sauver sa vie. Plusieurs négociants parmi les plus influents offrirent de payer une rançon. L'oncle du Bab refusa leur offre et fut finalement conduit devant le Premier ministre. "Certaines personnes ont plaidé en votre faveur", dit le Premier ministre, "d'éminents commerçants de Shiraz et de Téhéran m'offrent une rançon pour vous libérer. Un mot de rétractation vous permettra de retourner avec honneur dans votre ville natale."L'oncle du Bab, courageusement, répondit: "Votre Excellence, si je devais répudier les vérités contenues dans cette révélation, cela équivaudrait au rejet de toutes les révélations qui l'ont précédée. Le refus de reconnaître la mission du Bab constitue un reniement du caractère divin du message révélé par Muhammad, Jésus, Moïse, et tous les prophètes du passé."Le Premier ministre ne pouvait cacher son impatience devant l'attitude de l'oncle du Bab qui prononçait ainsi sa propre sentence de mort. Ce dernier continua: "Dieu sait que tout ce que j'ai appris et lu concernant ces messages divins, j'ai eu le privilège de le discerner dans ce jeune homme, mon parent bien-aimé, depuis sa première enfance jusqu'à ce jour, la trentième année de sa vie. Je vous demande seulement de me permettre d'être le premier à donner ma vie dans son sentier."Le Premier ministre fut stupéfait par une telle réponse. Sans dire un mot, il fit signe d'emmener l'oncle du Bab et de faire décapiter.Le deuxième martyr qui fut décapite s'appelait Mirza Qurban Ali. Il était l'ami de plusieurs seigneurs. La mère de Shah, en raison de son amitié pour Qurban Ali, dit au roi: "Cet homme n'est pas un adepte du Bab, il a été accusé à tort."Il fut convoque. "Vous êtes un érudit, un homme instruit. Vous n'appartenez pas a cette secte mal guidée. Une accusation fausse à été portée contre vous", lui dit-on. Qurban Ali répondit: "Je me considère comme un des adeptes et un des serviteurs du Bab, bien que j'ignore s'il m'ait ou non accepté comme tel." On essaya de le convaincre, lui laissant même entrevoir une récompense pécuniaire s'il acceptait. "Ma vie et mon sang ne comptent guère. Si le monde entier m'appartenait, et si je possédais mille vies, de mon plein gré, je les déposerais aux pieds de ses amis", déclara-t-il.Il fut ensuite conduit auprès du Premier ministre qui lui dit: "Depuis hier soir, j'ai reçu les plus puissantes autorités de l'Etat. Tous parlent en votre faveur. De ce que j'apprends concernant votre situation et l'influence que vos paroles exercent, vous n'êtes que de peu inférieur au Bab lui-même. Si vous aviez pris vous-même la direction de cette cause, cela eut été préférable à votre soumission envers quelqu'un qui vous est certainement inférieur en savoir."Qurban Ali répondit: "Tout le savoir que j'ai acquis m'a simplement conduit à m'incliner devant lui. Depuis que je suis devenue adulte, j'ai toujours considéré la justice et l'équité comme les principes dominant de ma vie. J'ai jugé le Bab équitablement avec mon esprit et mon coeur. Je suis arrivé à la conclusion que si ce jeune homme, dont le pouvoir transcendant est reconnu par ses ennemis comme par ses amis, était un imposteur, tous les prophètes de Dieu depuis les temps immémoriaux jusqu'à ce jour seraient la personnification même de la mauvaise foi."Ni les tentations d'aucune sorte, ni les menaces de mort n'eurent d'effet sur lui. Il déclara encore au Premier ministre: "Je suis assuré de la loyauté inconditionnelle de plus d'un millier d'admirateurs et il n'est pourtant pas en mon pouvoir de changer le coeur d'un seul d'entre eux. Le Bab cependant a prouvé son pouvoir de transformer les âmes les plus dégradées parmi ses compatriotes. Sur un millier de personnes comme moi, il a, seul et sans aide, exercé une telle influence que, même sans arriver en sa présence, ils ont rejeté leurs propres désirs et n'ont plus d'autre volonté que la sienne. Pleinement conscients de l'insuffisance du sacrifice consenti, ils aspirent à donner leur vie pour lui."Le Premier ministre hésita. "Que vos paroles soient inspirées par Dieu ou non, il me répugne de prononcer la sentence de mort contre quelqu'un de votre rang et de votre position.""Pourquoi hésiter", déclara Qurban Ali, "pour cela, je suis né. Voici venu le jour où je scellerai ma foi, en sa cause, par mon sang." Remarquant l'hésitation du Premier ministre, il ajouta très vite: "N'hésitez pas. Soyez assuré que je ne vous blâmerai jamais pour votre acte; plus tôt vous me décapiterez, plus grande sera ma gratitude envers vous."Le Premier ministre pâlit. "Emmenez-le d'ici", cria-t-il, "emmenez-le, car dans un instant, il m'aura envoûté à mon tour."Qurban Ali sourit doucement. "Non", dit-il, "vous êtes à l'abri de cette magie, elle ne peut captiver que ceux qui ont le coeur pur."Furieux, le Premier ministre se leva. Tout tremblant de colère, il hurla: "Rien si ce n'est le tranchant d'une épée ne pourra réduire au silence ces gens égarés." Se tournant vers les exécuteurs, il dit: "Cela suffit, il est inutile de m'amener d'autres membres de cette secte détestable. Les mots sont impuissants pour briser leur inébranlable obstination. Quiconque accepte de renier sa foi, relâchez-le; quant aux autres, décapitez-les. Je ne veux plus en voir un seul devant moi".La tragique nouvelle du sort des sept martyrs de Téhéran apporta une tristesse incommensurable au coeur du Bab. A ses compagnons, il confia que cet événement marquait le prélude de sa propre mort qui allait survenir dans un avenir proche.Le Premier ministre décida de frapper la tête même de la foi. Il pensa que la disparition du Bab pourrait restaurer l'ordre ancien. Il dévoila ses plans à ses conseillers. "Rien d'autre, excepté l'exécution publique de Bab, ne pourra aider ce pays égaré à retrouver la paix et la tranquillité." Il ordonna que le Bab soit amené à Tabriz une seconde fois.Quarante jours avant l'arrivée de cette ordonnance, le Bab réunit tous les documents et les écrits en sa possession. Il les plaça dans une cassette avec son écritoire et sa bague et prit les dispositions en vue de leur conservation. Abdu'l-Karim, à qui ils furent finalement confiés, informa ses co-disciples que tout ce qu'il pouvait révéler de la lettre du Bab concernant le contenue de la cassette, était l'ordre de la remettre entre les mains de Baha'u'llah, un des defenders les plus capables du Bab à Téhéran Finalement, le Bab fut escorte vers la ville de Tabriz qui devait devenir la scène de son martyre. Jamais la ville n'avait connu de troubles aussi violents. Comme le Bab était conduit à travers la cour des casernes vers sa cellule, un jeune homme de dix-huit ans qui s'était frayé un passage à travers la foule, se précipita vers lui, insouciant du danger auquel il s'exposait. Il avait le visage hagard, les pieds nus et la chevelure en désordre. Il se jeta aux pieds du Bab, l'implorant: "Ne m'écarte pas de toi, ô maître, où que tu ailles, fais que je puisse te suivre". Rappelant les paroles de Jésus au voleur sur la croix, le Bab lui répondit: "Muhammed Ali, lève-toi et sois assuré que tu seras près de moi. Demain, tu seras le témoin de ce que Dieu a ordonné."Cette nuit-là, le visage du Bab rayonnait de joie, une joie telle que n'en avait jamais témoigné sa personne. Indifférent au tumulte autour de lui, il s'entretenait gaiement avec ses compagnons. Les soucis qui l'avaient accablé si lourdement, semblaient s'être dissipés complètement. Pour la dernière fois, le Bab vit le soleil se lever sur les sables de sa Perse natale. Il était engagé dans une conversation confidentielle avec un de ses adeptes qui lui servait de secrétaire, lorsqu'il fut interrompu par un officier du gouvernement. Le fonctionnaire, frère du Premier ministre, venait le chercher pour le conduire devant les principaux docteurs de la loi à Tabriz afin d'obtenir d'eux l'autorisation de l'exécuter.Le Bab réprimanda le fonctionnaire pour son interruption et tint fermement la main de son secrétaire dans la sienne: "Pas avant que je lui aie dit toutes les choses que j'ai à lui dire. Aucune puissance terrestre ne pourra me faire taire. Quand bien même le monde entier serait armé contre moi, il serait impuissant à m'empêcher de faire connaître mes intentions jusqu'à la dernière parole."Le fonctionnaire fut stupéfait de cette témérité de la part d'un prisonnier. Il insista pour que le Bab l'accompagnât. Les portes de la caserne s'ouvrirent et le Bab fut introduit dans la cour sans avoir terminé sa conversation.Aux yeux du peuple de Tabriz, le Bab ne triomphait plus. La double campagne d'opposition menée par l'Etat et l'Eglise produisait ses effets. La foule remplissait les rues. Les hommes grimpaient sur les épaules les uns des autres pour voir celui qui faisait l'objet de toutes les conversations. Ainsi Jésus était entré dans Jérusalem sous les acclamations, sa route couverte de palmes, pour être raillé et dénigré avant la fin de la semaine. De même, la gloire qui avait entouré le Bab, lors de sa première visite à Tabriz, était oubliée. Cette fois-ci, la foule, remuante et excitée, lui lançait des insultes... Il fut poursuivi à travers les rues et frappé au visage. Quand un projectile lancé par la foule le touchait, les gardes et l'assistance éclataient de rire.Dès que le fonctionnaire eut obtenu la sentence de mort, il livra le Bab entre les mains de Sam Khan, commandant du régiment arménien chargé de son exécution.L'attitude de son prisonnier affecta profondément Sam Khan. Il fut saisi par la crainte que son acte ne lui attire la colère de Dieu. Il s'approcha du Bab et lui dit: "Je pratique la foi chrétienne et je ne vous veux aucun mal. Si votre cause est celle de la vérité, dégagez-moi de l'obligation de verser votre sang.""Suivez vos instructions", répondit le Bab, "et si vos intentions sont sincères, le Tout-puissant vous délivrera de votre angoisse."Sam Khan donna l'ordre à ses hommes d'enfoncer un clou dans le pilier qui séparait les portes de la caserne. Ils y attachèrent les cordes auxquelles le Bab et son compagnon Muhammad Ali devaient être suspendus séparémentLe Bab restait silencieux. Son beau et pâle visage encadré d'une barbe noire et d'une petit moustache, son apparence et ses manières raffinées, ses mains blanches et délicates, ses vêtements simples mais propres, tout semblait déplacé au milieu de cette scène d'horreur et de violence.Muhammad Ali implora Sam Khan de le placer de telle manière que son corps pût protéger celui de Bab On l'attacha de telle sorte que sa tête reposa sur la poitrine de son maître.Environ dix mille personnes se pressaient sur les toits de maisons environnantes, toutes avides de voir le spectacle, et cependant prêtes à changer d'attitude au premier signe de Bab. Comme la foule qui se pressait au Golgotha, le dénigrant, secouant la tête, disant: "Sauve-toi, si tu es le Fils de Dieu, descends de la croix", de même le peuple de Tabriz raillait le Bab et se moquait de son impuissance.Dès que le Bab et son compagnon furent attachés au poteau, le régiment s'aligna sur trois rangs. Il fut impossible à Sam Khan de retarder plus longtemps l'exécution. Il donna l'ordre de tirer. Chaque rang, à tour de rôle, ouvrit le feu jusqu'à ce que tout le régiment ait tiré sa rafale de balles.La fumée de la salve des sept cent cinquante fusils fut telle que le ciel ensoleillé de midi s'obscurcit. Dès que le nuage de fumée fut dissipé, la foule contempla une scène que la raison pouvait difficilement accepter. Devant elle, vivant et indemne, se tenait le compagnon du Bab, Muhammad Ali. Le Bab lui-même avait disparu. Les cordes auxquelles ils avaient été suspendus étaient déchiquetées par les balles, mais leurs corps avaient échappé aux charges des fusils.Les soldats tentèrent de calmer la foule. Le fonctionnaire en chef entreprit une recherche effrénée du Bab Il le trouva assis dans la même chambre qu'il avait occupée la nuit précédente. Il terminait la conversation qui avait été interrompue le matin par le fonctionnaire. "J'ai terminé mon entretien avec mon secrétaire", lui dit le Bab, "vous pouvez maintenant remplir votre tâche."Le fonctionnaire était trop bouleversé pour répliquer. Il se rappela les paroles que le Bab lui avait dites le matin: "Même si le monde entier s'armait contre moi, il serait impuissant à m'empêcher de faire connaître mes intentions jusqu'à la dernière parole." Le fonctionnaire refusa de remplir sa tâche. Il quitta les lieux et démissionna de son poste.Pendant ce temps, dans la cour, afin de calmer la foule, les soldats montraient les cordes rompues par les balles . Les sept cent cinquante décharges avaient réduit les cordes en fragments et avaient libéré les deux prisonniers.A.L.M. Nicolas, un savant européen, écrivit à propos de cet épisode: "C'était une chose unique dans les annales de l'histoire de l'humanité. Les balles rompirent leurs liens et les délivrèrent sans une égratignure." M.C. Huart, un écrivain français déclara: "C'était un véritable miracle … Ils furent délivrés sans un écorchure."Sam Khan se rappela également les mots que le Bab lui avait dits: "Si vos intentions sont sincères, le Tout-puissant vous délivrera de votre angoisse." Il ordonna à son régiment de quitter immédiatement la cour de la caserne. Il informa les autorités qu'il refusait désormais d'associer sa personne ou son régiment à tout acte pouvant causer le moindre mal au Bab, même si ce refus devait se traduire par la perte de sa vie. Apres le départ de Sam Khan, le colonel des gardes du corps se porta volontaire pour exécuter l'ordre. Une deuxième fois, le Bab et son compagnon furent liés au poteau fatal tandis que le peloton d'exécution se reformait. Au moment où il se préparait pour la décharge finale, le Bab prononça ses dernières paroles à l'intention de la foule qui le regardait: "Si vous aviez cru en moi, ô génération rebelle, chacun de vous aurait suivi l'exemple de ce jeune homme, qui prend rang au-dessus de la plupart d'entre vous, et vous auriez accepté de donner votre vie dans mon sentier. Le jour viendra où vous me reconnaîtrez; ce jour-la, je ne serai plus parme vous." Le régiment fit feu. Le Bab et son compagnon donnèrent leur vie alors que les balles frappaient leur corps. Comme Jésus expirant sur la croix pour que les hommes puissent revenir à Dieu, le Bab exhala son dernier souffle, attaché contre le mur d'une caserne dans la ville de Tabriz.Le martyre du Bab eut lieu à midi, le dimanche 9 juillet 1850, trente années après sa naissance à Shiraz. Dans toute l'histoire connue, seule la passion de Jésus-Christ peut être mise en parallèle avec le bref et tragique ministère du Bab Il existe une similitude frappante dans les traits distinctifs de leur existence. La jeunesse et l'humilité ; l'inexorable et dramatique progression selon laquelle leur ministère atteignit son apogée ; la hardiesse avec laquelle ils défièrent les conventions établies par le temps, les lois et les rites des religions au sein desquelles ils naquirent; le rôle que la hiérarchie religieuses joua comme instigateur principal des outrages qu'ils durent subir; les interrogatoires auxquels ils furent soumis; la flagellation qui leur fut infligée; les humiliations amoncelées sur eux; la soudaineté de leur arrestation; et finalement l'ignominie du pilori sous les regards d'une foule hostile.Dans son livre "The Gleam" (Le Rayon), Sir Francis Younghusband écrit: "Sa vie doit être un de ces événements parmi ceux survenus dans les cent dernières années, qui mérite vraiment que nous l'étudiions." Et Edouard Granville Browne, le fameux érudit de Cambridge , de son côté, relate: "Qui pourrait s'empêcher d'être attire par la noblesse du Bab Sa vie marquée de souffrances et de persécutions; la pureté de sa conduite et de sa jeunesse; son courage et sa patience à supporter la mauvaise fortune sans se plaindre et, avant tout, sa mort tragique, tout concourt à éveiller notre sympathie en faveur du jeune prophète de Shiraz".Finalement le clergé et les fonctionnaires s'imaginèrent avoir étouffé la vie de la cause qu'ils avaient si longtemps combattue. Le Bab n'était plus. Ses principaux disciples avaient disparu. L'ensemble de ses adeptes à travers le pays fut progressivement dispersé. En moins de trois années, la cause pour laquelle le Bab avait donné sa vie semblait bien près de disparaître. Pourtant, l'abîme d'obscurité et de désespoir dans lequel la cause du Bab semblait sombrer, en réalité était la situation même pour laquelle il avait longuement préparé ses successeurs. Constamment, il leur avait répété qu'il n'était que l'humble précurseur d'un messager d'une grandeur incomparable. Dans son livre, le Bayan, le Bab avait écrit: "De tous les hommages que j'ai rendus à Celui qui doit venir après moi, le plus grand est celui de ma confession écrite, qu'aucune de mes paroles ne peut le décrire d'une façon adéquate ni aucune référence à son sujet se trouvant dans mon livre, le Bayan, ne peut rendre justice à sa cause."Du sein de l'obscurité qui submergeait la foi du Bab, la figure de Baha'u'llah restait le seul espoir d'une communauté sans berger, Baha'u'llah à qui le Bab avait envoyé la cassette contenant ses affaires personnelles et ses écrits.La clarté de vues, les traits de courage et de sagacité que Baha'u'llah avait montrés à plus d'une occasion depuis qu'il s'était levé en champion de la cause du Bab le désignaient naturellement pour prendre en main les destinées d'une foi en voie de disparition.Pourtant, même cet espoir sembla être enlève aux croyants, car bientôt Baha'u'llah fut emprisonné, dépouillé de ses possessions et envoyé en exil à Bagdad en Irak.Le Shah et le Premier ministre pouvaient dès lors se réjouir. Selon les dires de leurs conseillers, ils n'entendraient plus parler du Bab ou de sa foi. Elle tomberait facilement dans l'oubli.Mais, une fois de plus, ils avaient sous-estimé le caractère de cette foi et la source de son pouvoir. Le Bab, dans son livre, le Bayan, avait promis à ses successeurs que Celui que Dieu ferait se manifester apparaîtrait dix-neuf années après la date de sa propre déclaration. En 1863, dans un jardin situé aux environs de la ville de Bagdad, dix-neuf années après cette soirée à Shiraz au cours de laquelle le Bab avait parlé à Mulla Husayn, Baha'u'llah déclara au monde qu'il était la manifestation de Dieu annoncée par le BabLa cause pour laquelle le Bab avait donné sa vie ne semblait plus se trouver au bord de l'effacement. A l'aube venait dès lors de succéder la lumière du jour. L'ère promise à la terre depuis le début des temps, le jour de l'unité et de la fraternité de tous les êtres humains, avait été inaugurée par son sacrifice.
William B. SearsTraduit par F. Daenen - Editeur : Maison d'Edition Baha'ies, Bruxelles
A MIRACLE
A young man was being led captive through the crowded streets.
His neck was encased in a huge iron collar.
Long ropes were fastened to the collar by means of which he was
pulled through the rows of people lining the streets. When he faltered in his steps, the
guards savagely jerked him on his way, or delivered a brutal well-aimed kick.
Occasionally someone would dart out of the crowd, break through the guards, and
strike the young man with a fist or a stick. Cheers of delight from the crowd
accompanied each successful attack. When a stone or a piece of refuse, hurled from the
mob, struck the young captive in the face, the guards and the crowd would burst into
laughter. 'Rescue yourself, O great hero!' one of the pursuers called mockingly. 'Break
asunder your bonds! produce for us a miracle!' Then he spat in derision at the silent
figure. The young man was led at last to his place of execution. It was twelve o'clock
noon. In the barracks' square of a sun-baked city, the firing-squad was assembled. The
blazing summer sun flashed from the barrels of the raised muskets, pointed at the young
man's breast. The soldiers awaited the command to fire and to take his life. The crowd
leaned forward expectantly, hoping to witness, even at this last moment, a miracle.
Late comers were still pouring into the public square. Thousands swarmed along the
adjoining rooftops looking down upon the scene of death, all eager for one last look at
this strange young man who, in six short years, had so troubled their country. He was
either good or evil, they were not sure which it was. Yet he seemed so young to die,
barely thirty. Now that the end had come, this victim of their hatred and persecution did
not seem dangerous at all. The crowd was disappointed. They had come, hungering for
drama, and he was failing them. The young man was a strange paradox: helpless yet
confident. There was a look of contentment, even of eagerness, on his handsome face as
he gazed into the menacing barrels of the seven hundred and fifty cocked rifles.
The guns were raised. The command was given. 'Fire!'
In turn, each of the three columns of two hundred and fifty men opened fire upon the
young man, until the entire regiment had discharged its volley of bullets. There were
over ten thousand eye-witnesses to the spectacle that followed. Several historical
accounts have been preserved. One of these states:
'The smoke of the firing of the seven hundred and fifty rifles was such as to turn the light
of the noonday sun into darkness. ...As soon as the cloud of smoke had cleared away, an
astounded multitude (looked) upon a scene which their eyes could scarcely believe. ...The
cords with which (the young man had been) suspended had been rent in pieces by the
bullets, yet (his) body had miraculously escaped the volleys.' [The Dawnbreakers, Nabil,
pp. 512-513.]
M. C. Huart, a French author, and a Christian, also wrote an account of this episode, 'The
soldiers in order to quiet the excitement of the crowd...showed the cords broken by the
bullets, implying that no miracle had really taken place.' [La religion de Bab, Clement
Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
The soldiers picked up the fragments of rope. They held them up to the milling crowd.
The mob was becoming dangerous, and the soldiers wished to pacify them.
'The musket-balls have shattered the ropes into pieces,' their actions explained. 'This is
what freed him. It is nothing more than this. It is no miracle.'
M. C. Huart, in further describing that remarkable event, states: 'Amazing to believe, the
bullets had not struck the condemned but, on the contrary, had broken the bonds and he
was delivered. It was a real miracle.' [La religion de Bab, Clement Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
A.-L.-M. Nicholas, the famous European scholar, also recorded this spectacle.
'An extraordinary thing happened,' he said, 'unique in the annals of the history of
humanity...the bullets cut the cords that held (him) and he fell on his feet without a
scratch.' [Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab, A.L.M. Nicolas, 1905, p. 375.]
VIDEO :THE MIRACLE
A young man was being led captive through the crowded streets.
His neck was encased in a huge iron collar.
Long ropes were fastened to the collar by means of which he was
pulled through the rows of people lining the streets. When he faltered in his steps, the
guards savagely jerked him on his way, or delivered a brutal well-aimed kick.
Occasionally someone would dart out of the crowd, break through the guards, and
strike the young man with a fist or a stick. Cheers of delight from the crowd
accompanied each successful attack. When a stone or a piece of refuse, hurled from the
mob, struck the young captive in the face, the guards and the crowd would burst into
laughter. 'Rescue yourself, O great hero!' one of the pursuers called mockingly. 'Break
asunder your bonds! produce for us a miracle!' Then he spat in derision at the silent
figure. The young man was led at last to his place of execution. It was twelve o'clock
noon. In the barracks' square of a sun-baked city, the firing-squad was assembled. The
blazing summer sun flashed from the barrels of the raised muskets, pointed at the young
man's breast. The soldiers awaited the command to fire and to take his life. The crowd
leaned forward expectantly, hoping to witness, even at this last moment, a miracle.
Late comers were still pouring into the public square. Thousands swarmed along the
adjoining rooftops looking down upon the scene of death, all eager for one last look at
this strange young man who, in six short years, had so troubled their country. He was
either good or evil, they were not sure which it was. Yet he seemed so young to die,
barely thirty. Now that the end had come, this victim of their hatred and persecution did
not seem dangerous at all. The crowd was disappointed. They had come, hungering for
drama, and he was failing them. The young man was a strange paradox: helpless yet
confident. There was a look of contentment, even of eagerness, on his handsome face as
he gazed into the menacing barrels of the seven hundred and fifty cocked rifles.
The guns were raised. The command was given. 'Fire!'
In turn, each of the three columns of two hundred and fifty men opened fire upon the
young man, until the entire regiment had discharged its volley of bullets. There were
over ten thousand eye-witnesses to the spectacle that followed. Several historical
accounts have been preserved. One of these states:
'The smoke of the firing of the seven hundred and fifty rifles was such as to turn the light
of the noonday sun into darkness. ...As soon as the cloud of smoke had cleared away, an
astounded multitude (looked) upon a scene which their eyes could scarcely believe. ...The
cords with which (the young man had been) suspended had been rent in pieces by the
bullets, yet (his) body had miraculously escaped the volleys.' [The Dawnbreakers, Nabil,
pp. 512-513.]
M. C. Huart, a French author, and a Christian, also wrote an account of this episode, 'The
soldiers in order to quiet the excitement of the crowd...showed the cords broken by the
bullets, implying that no miracle had really taken place.' [La religion de Bab, Clement
Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
The soldiers picked up the fragments of rope. They held them up to the milling crowd.
The mob was becoming dangerous, and the soldiers wished to pacify them.
'The musket-balls have shattered the ropes into pieces,' their actions explained. 'This is
what freed him. It is nothing more than this. It is no miracle.'
M. C. Huart, in further describing that remarkable event, states: 'Amazing to believe, the
bullets had not struck the condemned but, on the contrary, had broken the bonds and he
was delivered. It was a real miracle.' [La religion de Bab, Clement Huart, 1889, pp. 3-4.]
A.-L.-M. Nicholas, the famous European scholar, also recorded this spectacle.
'An extraordinary thing happened,' he said, 'unique in the annals of the history of
humanity...the bullets cut the cords that held (him) and he fell on his feet without a
scratch.' [Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab, A.L.M. Nicolas, 1905, p. 375.]
VIDEO :THE MIRACLE
The Mission of The Báb: Retrospective,
The Mission
of The Báb: Retrospective, 1844-1994
Douglas Martin considers the Revelation of the Báb in the context of its impact on Western writers of the period and its subsequent influence. This article first appeared in the 1994-95 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 193-225.
The year 1994 marked the 150th anniversary of the declaration of His mission by the Báb (Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad, 1819-1850), one of the two Founders of the Bahá'í Faith. The moment invites an attempt to gain an overview of the extraordinary historical consequences that have flowed from an event little noticed at the time outside the confines of the remote and decadent society within which it occurred.
The Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
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The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of messianic expectation in the Islamic world, as was the case in many parts of Christendom. In Persia a wave of millenialist enthusiasm had swept many in the religiously educated class of Shí`ih Muslim society, focused on belief that the fulfillment of prophecies in the Qur'án and the Islamic traditions was at hand. It was to one such ardent seeker1 that, on the night of 22-23 May 1844, the Báb (a title meaning "Gate") announced that He was the Bearer of a Divine Revelation destined not only to transform Islam but to set a new direction for the spiritual life of humankind.
During the decade that followed, mounting opposition from both clergy and state brought about the martyrdom of the Báb, the massacre of His leading disciples and of several thousands of His followers, and the virtual extinction of the religious system that He had founded. Out of these harrowing years, however, emerged a successor movement, the Bahá'í Faith, that has since spread throughout the planet and established its claim to represent a new and independent world religion.
It is to Bahá'u'lláh (Mírzá Husayn-`Alí, 1817-1892), that the worldwide Bahá'í community looks as the source of its spiritual and social teachings, the authority for the laws and institutions that shape its life, and the vision of unity that has today made it one of the most geographically widespread and ethnically diverse of organized bodies of people on the planet. It is from Bahá'u'lláh that the Faith derives its name and toward Whose resting place in the Holy Land that the millions of Bahá'ís around the world daily direct their thoughts when they turn to God in prayer.
These circumstances in no way diminish, however, the fact that the new Faith was born amid the bloody and terrible magnificence surrounding the Báb's brief mission, nor that the inspiration for its worldwide spread has been the spirit of self-sacrifice that Bahá'ís find in His life and the lives of the heroic band that followed Him. Prayers revealed by the Báb and passages from His voluminous writings are part of the devotional life of Bahá'ís everywhere. The events of His mission are commemorated as annual holy days in tens of thousands of local Bahá'í communities.2 On the slopes of Mount Carmel, the golden-domed Shrine where His mortal remains are buried dominates the great complex of monumental buildings and gardens constituting the administrative center of the Faith's international activities.
In contemporary public awareness of the Bahá'í community and its activities, however, the life and person of Bahá'u'lláh have largely overshadowed those of the Báb. In a sense, it is natural that this should be the case, given the primary role of Bahá'u'lláh as the fulfillment of the Báb's promises and the Architect of the Faith's achievements. To some extent, however, this circumstance also reflects the painfully slow emergence of the new religion from obscurity onto the stage of history. In a perceptive comment on the subject, the British historian Arnold Toynbee compared the level of appreciation of the Bahá'í Faith in most Western lands with the similarly limited impression that the mission of Jesus Christ had succeeded in making on the educated class in the Roman Empire some 300 years after His death.3 Since most of the public activity of the Bahá'í community over the past several decades has focused on the demanding task of presenting Bahá'u'lláh's message, and elaborating the implications of its social teachings for the life of society, the Faith's nineteenth-century Persian origins have tended to become temporarily eclipsed in the public mind.
Pilgrims approaching the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel where the remains of the Báb, secretly carried out of Persia following His execution in 1850, were interred by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1909.
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Indeed, Bahá'ís, too, are challenged by the implications of the extraordinary idea that our age has witnessed the appearance of two almost contemporaneous Messengers of God. Bahá'u'lláh describes the phenomenon as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the new religion and as a mystery central to the plan of God for the unification of humankind and the establishment of a global civilization.4
Fundamental to the Bahá'í conception of the evolution of civilization is an analogy to be found in the writings of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. It draws a parallel between the process by which the human race has gradually been civilized and that whereby each one of its individual members passes through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence to adulthood. The idea throws a measure of light on the relationship which Bahá'ís see between the missions of the two Founders of their religion.
Both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh--the former implicitly and the latter explicitly--describe the human race as standing now on the brink of its collective maturity. Apart from the Báb's role as a Messenger of God, His advent marks the fruition of the process of the refining of human nature which thousands of years of Divine revelation have cultivated. It can be viewed, in that sense, as the gateway through which humankind must pass as it takes up the responsibilities of maturity. Its brevity itself seems symbolic of the relative suddenness of the transition.5
At the individual level, no sooner does one cross the critical threshold of maturity in his or her development than the challenges and opportunities of adulthood beckon. The emerging potentialities of human life must now find expression through the long years of responsibility and achievement: they must become actualized through marriage, a profession and family, and service to society. In the collective life of humanity, it is the mission of Bahá'u'lláh, the universal Messenger of God anticipated in the scriptures of all the world's religions, to seize up our age's emerging consciousness of universal brotherhood and to generate the unity of thought and of collective action that will be the distinguishing characteristic of the maturity of the race. This alone can lay the foundations of global civilization.
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Even as late as the end of the nineteenth century, however, it was the Báb who figured as the central Personality of the new religion among most of those Westerners who had become aware of its existence. Writing in the American periodical Forum in 1925, the French literary critic Jules Bois remembered the extraordinary impact which the story of the Báb continued to have on educated opinion in Europe as the nineteenth century closed:
All Europe was stirred to pity and indignation.... Among the littérateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of His death [in 1850]. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendès for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy.6
Writers as diverse as Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Edward Granville Browne, Ernest Renan, Aleksandr Tumanskiy, A.L.M. Nicolas, Viktor Rosen, Clément Huart, George Curzon, Matthew Arnold, and Leo Tolstoy were affected by the spiritual drama that had unfolded in Persia during the middle years of the nineteenth century. Not until the early part of our own century did the name the "Bahá'í Cause," which the new religion had already adopted for itself as early as the 1860s, replace the designation of "Bábí movement" in general usage in the West.7
That this should have been the case was no doubt a reflection of the degree to which the brief but incandescent life of the Báb seemed to catch up and embody cultural ideals that had dominated European thought during the first half of the nineteenth century, and which exercised a powerful influence on the Western imagination for many decades thereafter. The concept commonly used to describe the course of Europe's cultural and intellectual development during the first five or six decades of the nineteenth century is Romanticism. By the century's beginning, European thought had begun to look beyond its preoccupation with the arid rationalism and mechanistic certainties of the Enlightenment toward an exploration of other dimensions of existence: the aesthetic, the emotional, the intuitive, the mystical, the "natural," the "irrational." Literature, philosophy, history, music, and art all responded strongly and gradually exerted a sympathetic influence on the popular mind.
French scholar A.L.M. Nicolas, authority on the Bábi movement.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >
In England, where the tendency was already gathering force as the century opened, one effect was to produce perhaps the most spectacular outpouring of lyrical poetry that the language has ever known. Over the next two to three decades these early insights were to find powerful echoes throughout Western Europe. A new order of things, a whole new world, lay within reach, if man would only dare what was needed. Liberated by the intellectual upheaval of the preceding decades, poets, artists and musicians conceived of themselves as the voice of immense creative capacities latent in human consciousness and seeking expression; as "prophets" shaping a new conception of human nature and human society. With the validity of traditional religion now shrouded in doubt, mythical figures and events from the classical past were summoned up to serve as vehicles for this heroic Ideal:
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;
To defy Power which seems Omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates...
This alone is Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.8
The same longings had awakened in America in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War and were to leave an indelible imprint on public consciousness. All of the transcendentalists became deeply attracted by the mystical literature of the Orient: the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Upanishads, as well as the works of the major Islamic poets, Rumí, Hafez, and Sa'adí. The effect can be appreciated in such influential writings of Emerson as the Divinity School Address:
I look for the hour when that supreme Beauty which ravished the souls of those eastern Men, and chiefly those of the Hebrews, and through their lips spoke oracles to all time, shall speak in the West also... I look for the new Teacher that shall follow so far those shining laws that He shall see them come full circle;... shall see the world to be the mirror of the soul; shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart; and shall show... that Duty is one thing with Science, with Beauty, and with Joy.9
As the century advanced, the early Romantic optimism found itself increasingly mired in the successive disappointments and defeats of the revolutionary fervor it had helped arouse. Under the pressure of scientific and technological change, the culture of philosophical materialism to which enlightenment speculation had originally given rise gradually consolidated itself. The wars and revolutionary upheavals of the middle years of the century contributed further to a mood of "realism," a recognition that great ideals must somehow be reconciled with the obdurate circumstances of human nature.
Even in the relatively sober atmosphere of Victorian public discourse, however, Romantic yearnings retained a potent influence in Western consciousness. They produced a susceptibility to spiritual impulses which, while different from that which had characterized the opening decades of the century, now affected a broad public. If the revolutionary figure of Prometheus no longer spoke to English perceptions of the age, the Arthurian legend caught up the popular hope, blending youthful idealism with the insights of maturity, and capturing the imagination of millions precisely on that account:
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.10
It is hardly surprising that, on minds formed in this cultural milieu, the figure of the Báb should exert a compelling fascination, as Westerners became acquainted with His story in the latter years of the century. Particularly appealing was the purity of His life, an unshadowed nobility of character that had won the hearts of many among His fellow countrymen who had come as doubters or even enemies and stayed to lay down their lives in His cause. Words which the Báb addressed to the first group of His disciples suggest the nature of the moral standards He held up as goals for those who responded to His call:
Purge your hearts of worldly desires, and let angelic virtues be your adorning.... The days when idle worship was deemed sufficient are ended. The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him.... Beseech the Lord your God to grant that no earthly entanglements, no worldly affections, no ephemeral pursuits, may tarnish the purity, or embitter the sweetness, of that grace which flows through you.11
Purity of heart was coupled with a courage and willingness for self-sacrifice that Western observers found deeply inspiring. The commentaries of Ernest Renan and others drew the inescapable parallel with the life of Jesus Christ. As the extraordinary drama of His final moments convincingly demonstrated,12 the Báb could have at any moment saved Himself and achieved mastery over those who persecuted Him by taking advantage of the folly of His adversaries and the superstition of the general populace. He scorned to do so, and accepted death at the hands of His enemies only when satisfied that His mission had been completed in its entirety and in conformity with the Will of God. His followers, who had divested themselves of all earthly attachments and advantages, were barbarously massacred by adversaries who had sworn on the Qur'án to spare their lives and their honor, and who shamefully abused their wives and children after their deaths. Renan writes:
Des milliers de martyrs sont accourus pour lui avec l'allé-gresse au devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-être dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Bábís, à Téhéran. "On vit ce jour-là dans les rues et les bazars de Téhéran," dit un narrateur qui a tout su d'original, "un spectacle que la population semble devoir n'oublier jamais.... Enfants et femmes s'avançaient en chantant un verset qui dit: En vérité nous venons de Dieu et nous retournons à Lui."13
Purity of heart and moral courage were matched by an idealism with which most Western observers could also readily identify. By the nineteenth century, the Persia to which the Báb addressed Himself and which had once been one of the world's great civilizations, had sunk to an object of despair and contempt among foreign visitors. A population ignorant, apathetic, and superstitious in the extreme was the prey of a profoundly corrupt Muslim clergy and the brutal regime of the Qájár shahs. Shí`ih Islam had, for the most part, degenerated into a mass of superstitions and mindless legalisms. Security of life and property depended entirely on the whims of those in authority.
Cambridge scholar E.G. Browne, attired in Persian dress.
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Such was the society that the Báb summoned to reflection and self-discipline. A new age had dawned; God demanded purity of heart rather than religious formulae, an inner condition that must be matched by cleanliness in all aspects of daily life; truth was a goal to be won not by blind imitation but by personal effort, prayer, meditation, and detachment from the appetites. The nature of the accounts which Western writers like Gobineau, Browne, and Nicolas were later to hear from surviving followers of the Báb can be appreciated from the words in which Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb:
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."14
European observers, visiting the country long after the Báb's martyrdom, were struck by the moral distinction achieved by Persia's Bahá'í community. Explaining to Western readers the success of Bahá'í teaching activities among the Persian population, in contrast to the ineffectual efforts of Christian missionaries, E.G. Browne said:
To the Western observer, however, it is the complete sincerity of the Bábís [sic], their fearless disregard of death and torture undergone for the sake of their religion, their certain conviction as to the truth of their faith, their generally admirable conduct towards mankind and especially towards their fellow-believers, which constitutes their strongest claim on his attention.15
The figure of the Báb appealed strongly also to aesthetic sensibilities which Romanticism had awakened. Apart from those of His countrymen whose positions were threatened by His mission, surviving accounts by all who met Him agree in their description of the extraordinary beauty of His person and of His physical movements. His voice, particularly when chanting the tablets and prayers He revealed, possessed a sweetness that captivated the heart. Even His clothing and the furnishings of His simple house were marked by a degree of refinement that seemed to reflect the inner spiritual beauty that so powerfully attracted His visitors.
Particular reference must be made to the originality of the Báb's thought and the manner in which He chose to express it. Throughout all the vicissitudes of the nineteenth century, the European mind had continued to cling to the ideal of the `man of destiny' who, through the sheer creative force of his untrammeled genius, could set a new course in human affairs. At the beginning of the century, Napoleon Bonaparte had seemed to represent such a phenomenon, and not even the disillusionment that had followed his betrayal of the ideal had discouraged the powerful current of individualism that was one of the Romantic movement's principal legacies to the century and, indeed, to our own.
Out of the Báb's writings emerges a sweeping new approach to religious truth. Its sheer boldness was one of the principal reasons for the violence of the opposition that His work aroused among the obscurantist Muslim clergy who dominated all serious discourse in nineteenth-century Persia. These challenging concepts were matched by the highly innovative character of the language in which they were communicated.
In its literary form, Arabic possesses an almost hypnotic beauty--a beauty which, in the language of the Qur'án, attains levels of the sublime which Muslims of all ages have regarded as beyond imitation by mortal man. For all Muslims, regardless of their sect, culture, or nation, Arabic is the language of Revelation par excellence. The proof of the Divine origin of the Qur'án lay not chiefly in its character as literature, but in the power its verses possessed to change human behavior and atti-tudes. Although, like Jesus and Muhammad before Him, the Báb had little formal schooling, He used both Arabic and His native Persian, alternately, as the themes of His discourse required.
To His hearers, the most dramatic sign of the Báb's spiritual authority was that, for the first time in more than twelve centuries, human ears were privileged to hear again the inimitable accents of Revelation. Indeed, in one important respect, the Qur'án was far surpassed. Tablets, meditations, and prayers of thrilling power flowed effortlessly from the lips of the Báb. In one extraordinary period of two days, His writings exceeded in quantity the entire text of the Qur'án, which represented the fruit of 23 years of Muhammad's prophetic output. No one among His ecclesiastical opponents ventured to take up His public challenge: "Verily We have made the revelation of verses to be a testimony for Our message to you." [i.e., In the Qur'án God had explicitly established the "miracle" of the Book's power as His sole proof.] "Can ye produce a single letter to match these verses? Bring forth, then, your proofs...."16
Moreover, despite His ability to use traditional Arabic forms when He chose to do so, the Báb showed no hesitancy in abandoning these conventions as the requirements of His message dictated. He resorted freely to neologisms, new grammatical constructions, and other variants on accepted speech whenever He found existing terms inadequate vehicles for the revolutionary new conception of spiritual reality He vigorously advanced. Rebuked by learned Shí`ih mujtahids at His trial in Tabríz (1848) for violations of the rules of grammar, the Báb reminded those who followed Him that the Word of God is the Creator of language as of all other things, shaping it according to His purpose.17 Through the power of His Word, God says "BE," and it is.
The principle is as old as prophetic religion;--is indeed, central to it:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made....
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.18
The implications for humanity's response to the Messenger of God at His advent is touched on in a passage of one of Bahá'u'lláh's major works, The Four Valleys. Quoting the Persian poet Rumí, He says:
The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are written on water. The knower called out to him, "Why dost thou not follow?" The grammarian answered, "O Brother, I dare not advance. I must needs go back again." Then the knower cried, "Forget what thou didst read in the books of [rhetoric and grammar], and cross the water."
The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric: Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves.19
For the young seminarians who most eagerly responded to Him, the originality of the Báb's language, far from creating an obstacle to their appreciation of His message, itself represented another compelling sign of the Divine mission He claimed. It challenged them to break out of familiar patterns of perception, to stretch their intellectual faculties, to discover in this new Revelation a true freedom of the spirit.
However baffling some of the Báb's writings were to prove for His later European admirers, the latter also perceived Him to be a unique figure, one who had found within His own soul the vision of a transcendent new reality and who had acted unhesitatingly on the imperative it represented. Most of their commentaries tended to reflect the Victorian era's dualistic frame of mind and were presented as scientifically motivated observations of what their authors considered to be an important religious and cultural phenomenon. In the introduction to his translation of A Traveller's Narrative, for example, the Cambridge scholar Edward Granville Browne took pains to justify the unusual degree of attention he had devoted to the Bábí movement in his research work:
...here he [the student of religion] may contemplate such personalities as by lapse of time pass into heroes and demi-gods still unobscured by myth and fable; he may examine by the light of concurrent and independent testimony one of those strange outbursts of enthusiasm, faith, fervent devotion, and indomitable heroism--or fanaticism, if you will--which we are accustomed to associate with the earlier history of the human race; he may witness, in a word, the birth of a faith which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world.20
The electrifying effect that the phenomenon exerted, however--even on a cautious and scientifically trained European intellect and after the passage of several decades--can be appreciated from Browne's concluding remarks in a major article in Religious Systems of the World, published in 1892, the year of Bahá'u'lláh's passing:
I trust that I have told you enough to make it clear that the objects at which this religion aims are neither trivial nor unworthy of the noble self-devotion and heroism of the Founder and his followers. It is the lives and deaths of these, their hope which knows no despair, their love which knows no cooling, their steadfastness which knows no wavering, which stamp this wonderful movement with a character entirely its own....
It is not a small or easy thing to endure what these have endured, and surely what they deemed worth life itself is worth trying to understand. I say nothing of the mighty influence which, as I believe, the Bábí faith will exert in the future, nor of the new life it may perchance may breathe into a dead people; for, whether it succeed or fail, the splendid heroism of the Bábí martyrs is a thing eternal and indestructible. 21
So powerful was this impression that most Western observers tended to lose sight of the Báb's purpose through fascination with His life and person. Browne himself, whose research made him pre-eminent among the second generation of European authorities on the Bábí movement, largely failed to grasp the role the Báb's mission played in preparing the way for the work of Bahá'u'lláh or, indeed, the way in which the achievements of the latter represented the Báb's eventual triumph and vindication.22 The French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was much more fortunate, in part simply because he lived long enough to benefit from a greater historical perspective. Initially antagonistic toward what he saw as Bahá'u'lláh's "supplanting" of the Báb, he came finally to appreciate the Bahá'í view that the Báb was one of two successive Manifestations of God whose joint mission is the unification and pacification of the planet.23
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This brief historical framework will be of assistance in understanding the thrust of the Báb's teachings. In one sense, His message is abundantly clear. As He repeatedly emphasized, the purpose of His mission and the object of all His endeavors was the proclamation of the imminent advent of "Him Whom God will make manifest," that universal Manifestation of God anticipated in religious scriptures throughout the ages of human history. Indeed, all of the laws revealed by the Báb were intended simply to prepare His followers to recognize and serve the Promised One at His advent:
We have planted the Garden of the Bayán [i.e., His Revelation] in the name of Him Whom God will make manifest, and have granted you permission to live therein until the time of His manifestation;...24
The Báb's mission was to prepare humanity for the coming of an age of transformation beyond anything the generation that heard Him would be able to understand. Their duty was to purify their hearts so that they could recognize the One for Whom the whole world was waiting and serve the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The Báb was thus the "Door" through which this long-awaited universal theophany would appear.
At the time of the appearance of Him Whom God will make manifest the most distinguished among the learned and the lowliest of men shall both be judged alike. How often the most insignificant of men have acknowledged the truth, while the most learned have remained wrapt in veils.25
Significantly, the initial references to the Promised Deliverer appear in the Báb's first major work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', passages of which were revealed by Him on the night of the declaration of His mission. The entire work is ostensibly a collection of commentaries on the Súrih of Joseph in the Qur'án, which the Báb interprets as foreshadowing the coming of the Divine "Joseph," that "Remnant of God" Who will fulfill the promises of the Qur'án and of all the other scriptures of the past. More than any other work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' vindicated for Bábís the prophetic claims of its Author and served, throughout the early part of the Báb's ministry, as the Qur'án or the Bible of His community.
O peoples of the East and the West! Be ye fearful of God concerning the Cause of the true Joseph and barter Him not for a paltry price established by yourselves, or for a trifle of your earthly possessions, that ye may, in very truth, be praised by Him as those who are reckoned among the pious who stand nigh unto this Gate.26
In 1848, only two years before His martyrdom, the Báb revealed the Bayán, the book which was to serve as the principal repository of his laws and the fullest expression of His theological doctrines. Essentially the book is an extended tribute to the coming Promised One, now invariably termed "Him Whom God will make manifest." The latter designation occurs some 300 times in the book, appearing in virtually every one of its chapters, regardless of their ostensible subject. The Bayán and all it contains depend upon His Will; the whole of the Bayán contains in fact "nought but His mention"; the Bayán is "a humble gift" from its Author to Him Whom God will make manifest; to attain His Presence is to attain the Presence of God. He is "the Sun of Truth," "the Advent of Truth," "the Point of Truth," "the Tree of Truth"27 :
I swear by the most holy Essence of God--exalted and glorified be He--that in the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest a thousand perusals of the Bayán cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by Him Whom God shall make manifest.28
Some of the most powerful references to the subject are contained in tablets which the Báb addressed directly to Him Whom God would soon make manifest:
Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent Master, Thou hast, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised me up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have clung to no will but Thy Will. Thou art, in truth, the All-Sufficing and behind Thee standeth the true God, He Who overshadoweth all things.29
Apart from this central theme, the Báb's writings present a daunting problem for even those Western scholars familiar with Persian and Arabic. To a considerable degree, this is due to the fact that the works often address minute matters of Shí`ih Islamic theology which were of consuming importance to His listeners, whose minds had been entirely formed in this narrow intellectual world and who could conceive of no other. The study of the organizing spiritual principles within these writings will doubtless occupy generations of doctoral candidates as the Bahá'í community continues to expand and its influence in the life of society consolidates. For the Bábís, who received the writings at first hand, a great deal of their significance lay in their demonstration of the Báb's effortless mastery of the most abstruse theological issues, issues to which His ecclesiastical opponents had devoted years of painstaking study and dispute. The effect was to dissolve for the Báb's followers the intellectual foundations on which the prevailing Islamic theological system rested.
A feature of the Báb's writings which is relatively accessible is the laws they contain. The Báb revealed what is, at first sight, the essential elements of a complete system of laws dealing with issues of both daily life and social organization. The question that comes immediately to the mind of any Western reader with even a cursory familiarity with Bábí history is the difficulty of reconciling this body of law which, however diffuse, might well have prevailed for several centuries, with the Báb's reiterated anticipation that "He Whom God will make manifest" would shortly appear and lay the foundations of the Kingdom of God. While no one knew the hour of His coming, the Báb assured several of His followers that they would live to see and serve Him. Cryptic allusions to "the year nine" and "the year nineteen" heightened the anticipation within the Bábí community. No one could falsely claim to be "He Whom God will make manifest," the Báb asserted, and succeed in such a claim.
It is elsewhere that we must look for the immediate significance of the laws of the Bayán. The practice of Islam, particularly in its Shí`ih form, had become a matter of adherence to minutely detailed ordinances and prescriptions, endlessly elaborated by generations of mujtahids, and rigidly enforced. The sharí`a, or system of canon law, was, in effect, the embodiment of the clergy's authority over not only the mass of the population but even the monarchy itself. It contained all that mankind needed or could use. The mouth of God was closed until the Day of Judgment when the heavens would be cleft asunder, the mountains would dissolve, the seas would boil, trumpet blasts would rouse the dead from their graves, and God would "come down" surrounded by angels "rank on rank."
For those who recognized the Báb, the legal provisions of the Bayán shattered the clergy's institutional authority at one blow by making the entire sharí`a structure irrelevant.30 God had spoken anew. Challenged by a superannuated religious establishment which claimed to act in the name of the Prophet, the Báb vindicated His claim by exercising, in their fullness, the authority and powers that Islam reserved to the Prophets. More than any other act of His mission, it was this boldness that cost Him His life, but the effect was to liberate the minds and hearts of His followers as no other influence could have done. That so many laws of the Bayán should shortly be superseded or significantly altered by those laid down by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas31 was, in the perspective of history and in the eyes of the mass of the Bábís who were to accept the new Revelation, of little significance once the Báb's purpose had been accomplished.
In this connection, it is interesting to note the way in which the Báb dealt with issues that had no part in His mission, but which, if not addressed, could have become serious obstacles to His work because they were so deeply and firmly imbedded in Muslim religious consciousness. The concept of jihád or "holy war," for example, is a commandment laid down in the Qur'án as obligatory for all able-bodied male Muslims and one whose practice has figured prominently in Islamic societies throughout the ages. In the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the Báb is at pains to include a form of jihád as one of the prerogatives of the station which He claims for Himself. He made any engagement in jihád, however, entirely dependent on His own approval, an approval which He declined to give. Subsequently, the Bayán, although representing the formal promulgation of the laws of the new Dispensation, makes only passing reference to a subject which had so long seemed fundamental to the exercise of God's Will. In ranging across Persia to proclaim the new Revelation, therefore, the Báb's followers felt free to defend themselves when attacked, but their new beliefs did not include the old Islamic mandate to wage war on others for purposes of conversion. 32
In the perspective of history, it is obvious that the intent of these rigid and exacting laws was to produce a spiritual mobilization, and in this they brilliantly succeeded. Foreseeing clearly where the course on which he was embarked would lead, the Báb prepared His followers, through a severe regimen of prayer, meditation, self-discipline, and solidarity of community life, to meet the inevitable consequences of their commitment to His mission.
The prescriptions in the Bayán extend, however, far beyond those immediate purposes. Consequently, when Bahá'u'lláh took up the task of establishing the moral and spiritual foundations of the new Dispensation, He built directly on the work of the Báb. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the "Mother Book" of the Bahá'í era, while not presented in the form of a systematic code, brings together for Bahá'ís the principal laws of their Faith. Guidance that relates to individual conduct or social practice is set in the framework of passages which summon the reader to a challenging new conception of human nature and purpose. A nineteenth-century Russian scholar who made one of the early attempts to translate the book compared Bahá'u'lláh's pen writing the Aqdas to a bird, now soaring on the summits of heaven, now descending to touch the homeliest questions of everyday need.
The connection with the writings of the Báb is readily apparent to anyone who examines the provisions of the Aqdas. Those laws of the Bayán which have no relevance to the coming age are abrogated. Other prescriptions are reformulated, usually through liberalizing their requirements and broadening their applications. Still other provisions of the Bayán are retained virtually in their original form. An obvious example of the latter is Bahá'u'lláh's adoption of the Báb's calendar, which consists of nineteen months of nineteen days each, with provision for an "intercalary" period of four or five days devoted to social gatherings, acts of charity, and the exchange of gifts with friends and family.
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Apart from the specific laws of the Bayán, the Báb's writings also contain the seeds of new spiritual perspectives and concepts which were to animate the worldwide Bahá'í enterprise. Beginning from the belief universally accepted by Muslims that God is one and transcendent, the Báb cuts sharply through the welter of conflicting doctrines and mystical speculations that had accumulated over more than twelve centuries of Islamic history. God is not only One and Single; He is utterly unknowable to humankind and will forever remain so. There is no direct connection between the Creator of all things and His creation.
The only avenue of approach to the Divine Reality behind existence is through the succession of Messengers Whom He sends. God "manifests" Himself to humanity in this fashion, and it is in the Person of His Manifestation that human consciousness can become aware of both the Divine Will and the Divine attributes. What the scriptures have described as "meeting God," "knowing God," "worshiping God," "serving God," refers to the response of the soul when it recognizes the new Revelation. The advent of the Messenger of God is itself "the Day of Judgment." The Báb thus denies the validity of Súfí belief in the possibility of the individual's mys-tical merging with the Divine Being through meditation and esoteric practices:
Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name.... Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation.33
Going far beyond the orthodox Islamic conception of a "succession" of the Prophets that terminates with the mission of Muhammad, the Báb also declares the Revelation of God to be a recurring and never-ending phenomenon whose purpose is the gradual training and development of humankind. As human consciousness recognizes and responds to each Divine Messenger, the spiritual, moral, and intellectual capacities latent in it steadily develop, thus preparing the way for recognition of God's next Manifestation.
The Manifestations of God--including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad--are one in essence, although their physical persons differ, as do those aspects of their teachings that relate to an ever evolving human society. Each can be said to have two "stations": the human and the Divine. Each brings two proofs of His mission: His own Person and the truths He teaches. Either of these testimonies is sufficient for any sincerely inquiring soul; the issue is purity of intention, and this human quality is particularly valued in the Báb's writings. Through unity of faith, reason and behavior, each person can, with the confirmations of God, reach that stage of development where one seeks for others the same things that one seeks for oneself.
Those who sincerely believe in the Messenger whose faith they follow are prepared by it to recognize the next Revelation from the one Divine Source. They thus become instruments through which the Word of God continues to realize its purpose in the life of humankind. This is the real meaning of the references in past religions to "resurrection." "Heaven" and "hell," similarly, are not places but conditions of the soul. An individual "enters" paradise in this world when he recognizes God's Revelation and begins the process of perfecting his nature, a process that has no end, since the soul itself is immortal. In the same way, the punishments of God are inherent in a denial of His Revelation and disobedience to laws whose operation no one can escape.
Many of these concepts in the Báb's writing can appeal to various references or at least intimations in the scriptures of earlier religions. It will be obvious from what has been said, however, that the Báb places them in an entirely new context and draws from them implications very different from those which they bore in any previous religious system.
The Báb described His teachings as opening the "sealed wine" referred to in both the Qur'án and New Testament. The "Day of God" does not envision the end of the world, but its perennial renewal. The earth will continue to exist, as will the human race, whose potentialities will progressively unfold in response to the successive impulses of the Divine. All people are equal in the sight of God, and the race has now advanced to the point where, with the imminent advent of Him Whom God will manifest, there is neither need nor place for a privileged class of clergy. Believers are encouraged to see the allegorical intent in passages of scriptures which were once viewed as references to supernatural or magical events. As God is one, so phenomenal reality is one, an organic whole animated by the Divine Will.
The contrast between this evolutionary and supremely rational conception of the nature of religious truth and that embodied by nineteenth-century Shí`ih Islam could not have been more dramatic. Fundamental to orthodox Shí`ism--whose full implications are today exposed in the regime of the Islamic Republic in Iran--was a literalistic understanding of the Qur'án, a preoccupation with meticulous adherence to the sharí`a, a belief that personal salvation comes through the "imitation" (taqlíd) of clerical mentors, and an unbending conviction that Islam is God's final and all-sufficient revelation of truth to the world. For so static and rigid a mindset, any serious consideration of the teachings of the Báb would have unthinkable consequences.
The Báb's teachings, like the laws of the Bayán, are enunciated not in the form of an organized exposition, but lie rather embedded in the wide range of theological and mystical issues addressed in the pages of His voluminous writings. It is in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh that, as with the laws of the Bayán, these scattered truths and precepts are taken up, reshaped, and integrated into a unified, coherent system of belief. The subject lies far beyond the scope of this brief paper, but the reader will find in Bahá'u'lláh's major doctrinal work, the Kitáb-i-íqán ("Book of Certitude"), not only echoes of the Báb's teachings, but a coherent exposition of their central concepts.
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Finally, a striking feature of the Báb's writings, which has emerged as an important element of Bahá'í belief and history, is the mission envisioned for "the peoples of the West" and admiration of the qualities that fit them for it. This, too, was in dramatic contrast to the professed contempt for farangi and "infidel" thought that prevailed in the Islamic world of His time. Western scientific advancement is particularly praised, for example, as are the fairness of mind and concern for cleanliness that the Báb saw Westerners on the whole as tending to display. His appreciation is not merely generalized but touches on even such mundane matters as postal systems and printing facilities.
At the outset of the Báb's mission, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' called on "the peoples of the West" to arise and leave their homes in promotion of the Day of God:
Become as true brethren in the one and indivisible religion of God, free from distinction, for verily God desireth that your hearts should become mirrors unto your brethren in the Faith, so that ye find yourselves reflected in them, and they in you. This is the true Path of God, the Almighty....34
To a British physician who treated Him for injuries inflicted during his interrogation in Tabríz, the Báb expressed His confidence that, in time, Westerners, too, would embrace the truth of His mission.
This theme is powerfully taken up in the work of Bahá'u'lláh. A series of "tablets" called on such European rulers as Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and Tsar Alexander II to examine dispassionately "the Cause of God." The British monarch is warmly commended for the actions of her government in abolishing slavery throughout the empire and for the establishment of constitutional government. Perhaps the most extraordinary theme the letters contain is a summons, a virtual mandate to "the Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein." They are called on to "bind...the broken with the hands of justice" and to "crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of [their] Lord."35
Anticipating the decisive contribution which Western lands and peoples are destined to make in founding the institutions of world order, Bahá'u'lláh wrote:
In the East the Light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O people....36
It was on `Abdu'l-Bahá that responsibility devolved to lay the foundations for this distinctive feature of the missions of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Visiting both Western Europe and North America in the years 1911-1913, He coupled high praise for the material accomplishments of the West with an urgent appeal that they be balanced with the essentials of "spiritual civilization."
During the years of World War I, after returning to the Holy Land, `Abdu'l-Bahá drafted a series of letters addressed to the small body of Bahá'u'lláh's followers in the United States and Canada, summoning them to arise and carry the Bahá'í message to the remotest corners of the globe. As soon as international conditions permitted, these Bahá'ís began to respond. Their example has since been followed by members of the many other Bahá'í communities around the world which have proliferated during subsequent decades.
To the North American believers, too, ` Abdu'l-Bahá confided the task of laying the foundations of the democratically elected institutions conceived by Bahá'u'lláh for the administration of the affairs of the Bahá'í community. The entire decision-making structure of the present-day administrative system of the Faith at local, national, and international levels, had its origins in these simple consultative assemblies formed by the American and Canadian believers.
Bahá'ís see a parallel pattern of response to the Divine mandate, however unrecognized, in the growing leadership Western nations have assumed throughout the present century in the efforts to bring about global peace. This is particularly true of the endeavor to inaugurate a system of international order. For his own vision in this respect, as well as for the lonely courage that the effort to realize it required, "the immortal Woodrow Wilson" won an enduring place of honor in the writings of the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith .
Bahá'ís are likewise aware that it has been such governments as those of Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia which have taken the lead in the field of human rights. The Bahá'í community has experienced at first hand the benefits of this concern in the successful interventions undertaken on behalf of its members in Iran during the recurrent persecutions under the regimes of the Pahlavi shahs and the Islamic Republic.
Nothing of what has been said should suggest an uncritical admiration of European or North American cultures on the part of either the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh nor an endorsement of the ideological foundations on which they rest. Far otherwise. Bahá'u'lláh warns in ominous tones of the suffering and ruin that will be visited upon the entire human race if Western civilization continues on its course of excess. During His visits to Europe and America, `Abdu'l-Bahá called on His hearers in poignant language to free themselves, while time still remained, from racial and national prejudices, as well as materialistic preoccupations, whose unappreciated dangers, He said, threatened the future of their nations and of all humankind.
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Today, a century and a half after the Báb's mission was inaugurated, the influence of His life and words has found expression in a global community drawn from every background on earth. The first act of most Bahá'í pilgrims on their arrival at the World Centre of their Faith is to walk up the flower-bordered avenue leading to the exquisite Shrine housing the Báb's mortal remains, and to lay their foreheads on the threshold of His resting place. They confidently believe that, in future years, "pilgrim kings" will reverently ascend the magnificent terraced staircase rising from the foot of the "Mountain of God" to the Shrine's entrance, and place the emblems of their authority at this same threshold. In the countries from which the pilgrims come, countless children from every background and every language today bear the names of the Báb's martyred companions--Táhirih, Quddús, Husayn, Zaynab, Vahíd, Anís-- much as children throughout the lands of the Roman empire began 2,000 years ago to carry the unfamiliar Hebrew names of the disciples of Jesus Christ.
Bahá'u'lláh's choice of a resting place for the body of His Forerunner--brought with infinite difficulty from Persia--itself holds great significance for the Bahá'í world. Throughout history the blood of martyrs has been "the seed of faith." In the age that is witnessing the gradual unification of humankind, the blood of the Bábí martyrs has become the seed not merely of personal faith, but of the administrative institutions which are, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, "the nucleus [and] the very pattern" of the World Order conceived by Bahá'u'lláh.37 The relationship is symbolized by the supreme position that the Shrine of the Báb occupies in the progressive development of the administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith on Mount Carmel.
Few there must be among the stream of Bahá'í pilgrims entering these majestic surroundings today whose minds do not turn to the familiar words in which the Báb said farewell 150 years ago to the handful of His first followers, all of them bereft of influence or wealth and most of them destined, as He was, soon to lose their lives:
The secret of the Day that is to come is now concealed. It can neither be divulged nor estimated. The newly born babe of that Day excels the wisest and most venerable men of this time, and the lowliest and most unlearned of that period shall surpass in understanding the most erudite and accomplished divines of this age. Scatter throughout the length and breadth of this land, and, with steadfast feet and sanctified hearts, prepare the way for His coming. Heed not your weaknesses and frailty; fix your gaze upon the invincible power of the Lord, your God, the Almighty.... Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory.38
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Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í.
The anniversary of the birth of the Báb is commemorated 20 October; His declaration, 23 May; and His martyrdom, 9 July.
Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, vol. 8 (London: Oxford, 1954), p. 117.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 123-124.
I owe this interesting suggestion to Dr. Hossain Danesh.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (1944; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 56 and The Bahá'í World, vol. 9, 1940-1944 (1945; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 588.
Persistent use of the term "Bábí" in Iranian Muslim attacks on the Bahá'í Faith over the years has tended to be a reflection of the spirit of animosity incited by its original nineteenth-century clerical opponents.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, bk. 4, ll. 569-578.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address," Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson, S.E. Wricher, ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), pp. 115-116.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur, ll. 408-410.
Muhammad-i-Zarandí (Nabíl-i-A`zam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The Báb, together with a young follower, was suspended by ropes from a courtyard wall in the citadel in Tabríz, and an Armenian Christian regiment, whose commander had expressed great uneasiness about the assignment, was ordered to open fire on the prisoners. When the smoke from the 750 rifles had cleared, near pandemonium broke out among the crowd of spectators thronging roofs and walls. The Báb's companion was standing uninjured at the foot of the wall, and the Báb Himself had disappeared from view. The entire volley had done no more than sever the ropes. The Báb had returned to the room in which He had been held, in order to complete instructions to His amanuensis, which had been interrupted by His jailers.
The Armenian regiment immediately left the citadel, refusing any further participation. It would have taken only a gesture of encouragement from the Báb for the crowd, now in a state of intense excitement aroused by what they regarded as "a miracle," to have delivered Him from His captors. When He did not take advantage of this opening, the authorities eventually recovered their composure and summoned a regiment of Muslim soldiers who carried out the planned execution.
Though dramatic, the incident was not an isolated event in the Báb's ministry. Four years earlier, the wealthy and powerful Governor of Isfáhán, Manúchir Khán, who was the Báb's host and warm admirer, had offered to march on the capital with his army and induce Persia's feeble ruler, Muhammad Sháh, to meet the Báb and listen to His message. The offer was courteously declined, and Manúchir Khán's subsequent death led directly to the Báb's arrest, imprisonment, and execution.
Ernest Renan, Les Apôtres, translated from the French by William G. Hutchison (London: Watts & Co., 1905), p. 134. "For his sake, thousands of martyrs flocked to their death. A day unparalleled perhaps in the world's history was that of the great massacre of the Bábís at Teheran. `
The Mission
of The Báb: Retrospective, 1844-1994
Douglas Martin considers the Revelation of the Báb in the context of its impact on Western writers of the period and its subsequent influence. This article first appeared in the 1994-95 edition of The Bahá'í World, pp. 193-225.
The year 1994 marked the 150th anniversary of the declaration of His mission by the Báb (Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad, 1819-1850), one of the two Founders of the Bahá'í Faith. The moment invites an attempt to gain an overview of the extraordinary historical consequences that have flowed from an event little noticed at the time outside the confines of the remote and decadent society within which it occurred.
The Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
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The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of messianic expectation in the Islamic world, as was the case in many parts of Christendom. In Persia a wave of millenialist enthusiasm had swept many in the religiously educated class of Shí`ih Muslim society, focused on belief that the fulfillment of prophecies in the Qur'án and the Islamic traditions was at hand. It was to one such ardent seeker1 that, on the night of 22-23 May 1844, the Báb (a title meaning "Gate") announced that He was the Bearer of a Divine Revelation destined not only to transform Islam but to set a new direction for the spiritual life of humankind.
During the decade that followed, mounting opposition from both clergy and state brought about the martyrdom of the Báb, the massacre of His leading disciples and of several thousands of His followers, and the virtual extinction of the religious system that He had founded. Out of these harrowing years, however, emerged a successor movement, the Bahá'í Faith, that has since spread throughout the planet and established its claim to represent a new and independent world religion.
It is to Bahá'u'lláh (Mírzá Husayn-`Alí, 1817-1892), that the worldwide Bahá'í community looks as the source of its spiritual and social teachings, the authority for the laws and institutions that shape its life, and the vision of unity that has today made it one of the most geographically widespread and ethnically diverse of organized bodies of people on the planet. It is from Bahá'u'lláh that the Faith derives its name and toward Whose resting place in the Holy Land that the millions of Bahá'ís around the world daily direct their thoughts when they turn to God in prayer.
These circumstances in no way diminish, however, the fact that the new Faith was born amid the bloody and terrible magnificence surrounding the Báb's brief mission, nor that the inspiration for its worldwide spread has been the spirit of self-sacrifice that Bahá'ís find in His life and the lives of the heroic band that followed Him. Prayers revealed by the Báb and passages from His voluminous writings are part of the devotional life of Bahá'ís everywhere. The events of His mission are commemorated as annual holy days in tens of thousands of local Bahá'í communities.2 On the slopes of Mount Carmel, the golden-domed Shrine where His mortal remains are buried dominates the great complex of monumental buildings and gardens constituting the administrative center of the Faith's international activities.
In contemporary public awareness of the Bahá'í community and its activities, however, the life and person of Bahá'u'lláh have largely overshadowed those of the Báb. In a sense, it is natural that this should be the case, given the primary role of Bahá'u'lláh as the fulfillment of the Báb's promises and the Architect of the Faith's achievements. To some extent, however, this circumstance also reflects the painfully slow emergence of the new religion from obscurity onto the stage of history. In a perceptive comment on the subject, the British historian Arnold Toynbee compared the level of appreciation of the Bahá'í Faith in most Western lands with the similarly limited impression that the mission of Jesus Christ had succeeded in making on the educated class in the Roman Empire some 300 years after His death.3 Since most of the public activity of the Bahá'í community over the past several decades has focused on the demanding task of presenting Bahá'u'lláh's message, and elaborating the implications of its social teachings for the life of society, the Faith's nineteenth-century Persian origins have tended to become temporarily eclipsed in the public mind.
Pilgrims approaching the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel where the remains of the Báb, secretly carried out of Persia following His execution in 1850, were interred by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1909.
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Indeed, Bahá'ís, too, are challenged by the implications of the extraordinary idea that our age has witnessed the appearance of two almost contemporaneous Messengers of God. Bahá'u'lláh describes the phenomenon as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the new religion and as a mystery central to the plan of God for the unification of humankind and the establishment of a global civilization.4
Fundamental to the Bahá'í conception of the evolution of civilization is an analogy to be found in the writings of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. It draws a parallel between the process by which the human race has gradually been civilized and that whereby each one of its individual members passes through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence to adulthood. The idea throws a measure of light on the relationship which Bahá'ís see between the missions of the two Founders of their religion.
Both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh--the former implicitly and the latter explicitly--describe the human race as standing now on the brink of its collective maturity. Apart from the Báb's role as a Messenger of God, His advent marks the fruition of the process of the refining of human nature which thousands of years of Divine revelation have cultivated. It can be viewed, in that sense, as the gateway through which humankind must pass as it takes up the responsibilities of maturity. Its brevity itself seems symbolic of the relative suddenness of the transition.5
At the individual level, no sooner does one cross the critical threshold of maturity in his or her development than the challenges and opportunities of adulthood beckon. The emerging potentialities of human life must now find expression through the long years of responsibility and achievement: they must become actualized through marriage, a profession and family, and service to society. In the collective life of humanity, it is the mission of Bahá'u'lláh, the universal Messenger of God anticipated in the scriptures of all the world's religions, to seize up our age's emerging consciousness of universal brotherhood and to generate the unity of thought and of collective action that will be the distinguishing characteristic of the maturity of the race. This alone can lay the foundations of global civilization.
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Even as late as the end of the nineteenth century, however, it was the Báb who figured as the central Personality of the new religion among most of those Westerners who had become aware of its existence. Writing in the American periodical Forum in 1925, the French literary critic Jules Bois remembered the extraordinary impact which the story of the Báb continued to have on educated opinion in Europe as the nineteenth century closed:
All Europe was stirred to pity and indignation.... Among the littérateurs of my generation, in the Paris of 1890, the martyrdom of the Báb was still as fresh a topic as had been the first news of His death [in 1850]. We wrote poems about Him. Sarah Bernhardt entreated Catulle Mendès for a play on the theme of this historic tragedy.6
Writers as diverse as Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Edward Granville Browne, Ernest Renan, Aleksandr Tumanskiy, A.L.M. Nicolas, Viktor Rosen, Clément Huart, George Curzon, Matthew Arnold, and Leo Tolstoy were affected by the spiritual drama that had unfolded in Persia during the middle years of the nineteenth century. Not until the early part of our own century did the name the "Bahá'í Cause," which the new religion had already adopted for itself as early as the 1860s, replace the designation of "Bábí movement" in general usage in the West.7
That this should have been the case was no doubt a reflection of the degree to which the brief but incandescent life of the Báb seemed to catch up and embody cultural ideals that had dominated European thought during the first half of the nineteenth century, and which exercised a powerful influence on the Western imagination for many decades thereafter. The concept commonly used to describe the course of Europe's cultural and intellectual development during the first five or six decades of the nineteenth century is Romanticism. By the century's beginning, European thought had begun to look beyond its preoccupation with the arid rationalism and mechanistic certainties of the Enlightenment toward an exploration of other dimensions of existence: the aesthetic, the emotional, the intuitive, the mystical, the "natural," the "irrational." Literature, philosophy, history, music, and art all responded strongly and gradually exerted a sympathetic influence on the popular mind.
French scholar A.L.M. Nicolas, authority on the Bábi movement.
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In England, where the tendency was already gathering force as the century opened, one effect was to produce perhaps the most spectacular outpouring of lyrical poetry that the language has ever known. Over the next two to three decades these early insights were to find powerful echoes throughout Western Europe. A new order of things, a whole new world, lay within reach, if man would only dare what was needed. Liberated by the intellectual upheaval of the preceding decades, poets, artists and musicians conceived of themselves as the voice of immense creative capacities latent in human consciousness and seeking expression; as "prophets" shaping a new conception of human nature and human society. With the validity of traditional religion now shrouded in doubt, mythical figures and events from the classical past were summoned up to serve as vehicles for this heroic Ideal:
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;
To defy Power which seems Omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates...
This alone is Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.8
The same longings had awakened in America in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War and were to leave an indelible imprint on public consciousness. All of the transcendentalists became deeply attracted by the mystical literature of the Orient: the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, and the Upanishads, as well as the works of the major Islamic poets, Rumí, Hafez, and Sa'adí. The effect can be appreciated in such influential writings of Emerson as the Divinity School Address:
I look for the hour when that supreme Beauty which ravished the souls of those eastern Men, and chiefly those of the Hebrews, and through their lips spoke oracles to all time, shall speak in the West also... I look for the new Teacher that shall follow so far those shining laws that He shall see them come full circle;... shall see the world to be the mirror of the soul; shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart; and shall show... that Duty is one thing with Science, with Beauty, and with Joy.9
As the century advanced, the early Romantic optimism found itself increasingly mired in the successive disappointments and defeats of the revolutionary fervor it had helped arouse. Under the pressure of scientific and technological change, the culture of philosophical materialism to which enlightenment speculation had originally given rise gradually consolidated itself. The wars and revolutionary upheavals of the middle years of the century contributed further to a mood of "realism," a recognition that great ideals must somehow be reconciled with the obdurate circumstances of human nature.
Even in the relatively sober atmosphere of Victorian public discourse, however, Romantic yearnings retained a potent influence in Western consciousness. They produced a susceptibility to spiritual impulses which, while different from that which had characterized the opening decades of the century, now affected a broad public. If the revolutionary figure of Prometheus no longer spoke to English perceptions of the age, the Arthurian legend caught up the popular hope, blending youthful idealism with the insights of maturity, and capturing the imagination of millions precisely on that account:
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.10
It is hardly surprising that, on minds formed in this cultural milieu, the figure of the Báb should exert a compelling fascination, as Westerners became acquainted with His story in the latter years of the century. Particularly appealing was the purity of His life, an unshadowed nobility of character that had won the hearts of many among His fellow countrymen who had come as doubters or even enemies and stayed to lay down their lives in His cause. Words which the Báb addressed to the first group of His disciples suggest the nature of the moral standards He held up as goals for those who responded to His call:
Purge your hearts of worldly desires, and let angelic virtues be your adorning.... The days when idle worship was deemed sufficient are ended. The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him.... Beseech the Lord your God to grant that no earthly entanglements, no worldly affections, no ephemeral pursuits, may tarnish the purity, or embitter the sweetness, of that grace which flows through you.11
Purity of heart was coupled with a courage and willingness for self-sacrifice that Western observers found deeply inspiring. The commentaries of Ernest Renan and others drew the inescapable parallel with the life of Jesus Christ. As the extraordinary drama of His final moments convincingly demonstrated,12 the Báb could have at any moment saved Himself and achieved mastery over those who persecuted Him by taking advantage of the folly of His adversaries and the superstition of the general populace. He scorned to do so, and accepted death at the hands of His enemies only when satisfied that His mission had been completed in its entirety and in conformity with the Will of God. His followers, who had divested themselves of all earthly attachments and advantages, were barbarously massacred by adversaries who had sworn on the Qur'án to spare their lives and their honor, and who shamefully abused their wives and children after their deaths. Renan writes:
Des milliers de martyrs sont accourus pour lui avec l'allé-gresse au devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-être dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Bábís, à Téhéran. "On vit ce jour-là dans les rues et les bazars de Téhéran," dit un narrateur qui a tout su d'original, "un spectacle que la population semble devoir n'oublier jamais.... Enfants et femmes s'avançaient en chantant un verset qui dit: En vérité nous venons de Dieu et nous retournons à Lui."13
Purity of heart and moral courage were matched by an idealism with which most Western observers could also readily identify. By the nineteenth century, the Persia to which the Báb addressed Himself and which had once been one of the world's great civilizations, had sunk to an object of despair and contempt among foreign visitors. A population ignorant, apathetic, and superstitious in the extreme was the prey of a profoundly corrupt Muslim clergy and the brutal regime of the Qájár shahs. Shí`ih Islam had, for the most part, degenerated into a mass of superstitions and mindless legalisms. Security of life and property depended entirely on the whims of those in authority.
Cambridge scholar E.G. Browne, attired in Persian dress.
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Such was the society that the Báb summoned to reflection and self-discipline. A new age had dawned; God demanded purity of heart rather than religious formulae, an inner condition that must be matched by cleanliness in all aspects of daily life; truth was a goal to be won not by blind imitation but by personal effort, prayer, meditation, and detachment from the appetites. The nature of the accounts which Western writers like Gobineau, Browne, and Nicolas were later to hear from surviving followers of the Báb can be appreciated from the words in which Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í described the effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb:
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."14
European observers, visiting the country long after the Báb's martyrdom, were struck by the moral distinction achieved by Persia's Bahá'í community. Explaining to Western readers the success of Bahá'í teaching activities among the Persian population, in contrast to the ineffectual efforts of Christian missionaries, E.G. Browne said:
To the Western observer, however, it is the complete sincerity of the Bábís [sic], their fearless disregard of death and torture undergone for the sake of their religion, their certain conviction as to the truth of their faith, their generally admirable conduct towards mankind and especially towards their fellow-believers, which constitutes their strongest claim on his attention.15
The figure of the Báb appealed strongly also to aesthetic sensibilities which Romanticism had awakened. Apart from those of His countrymen whose positions were threatened by His mission, surviving accounts by all who met Him agree in their description of the extraordinary beauty of His person and of His physical movements. His voice, particularly when chanting the tablets and prayers He revealed, possessed a sweetness that captivated the heart. Even His clothing and the furnishings of His simple house were marked by a degree of refinement that seemed to reflect the inner spiritual beauty that so powerfully attracted His visitors.
Particular reference must be made to the originality of the Báb's thought and the manner in which He chose to express it. Throughout all the vicissitudes of the nineteenth century, the European mind had continued to cling to the ideal of the `man of destiny' who, through the sheer creative force of his untrammeled genius, could set a new course in human affairs. At the beginning of the century, Napoleon Bonaparte had seemed to represent such a phenomenon, and not even the disillusionment that had followed his betrayal of the ideal had discouraged the powerful current of individualism that was one of the Romantic movement's principal legacies to the century and, indeed, to our own.
Out of the Báb's writings emerges a sweeping new approach to religious truth. Its sheer boldness was one of the principal reasons for the violence of the opposition that His work aroused among the obscurantist Muslim clergy who dominated all serious discourse in nineteenth-century Persia. These challenging concepts were matched by the highly innovative character of the language in which they were communicated.
In its literary form, Arabic possesses an almost hypnotic beauty--a beauty which, in the language of the Qur'án, attains levels of the sublime which Muslims of all ages have regarded as beyond imitation by mortal man. For all Muslims, regardless of their sect, culture, or nation, Arabic is the language of Revelation par excellence. The proof of the Divine origin of the Qur'án lay not chiefly in its character as literature, but in the power its verses possessed to change human behavior and atti-tudes. Although, like Jesus and Muhammad before Him, the Báb had little formal schooling, He used both Arabic and His native Persian, alternately, as the themes of His discourse required.
To His hearers, the most dramatic sign of the Báb's spiritual authority was that, for the first time in more than twelve centuries, human ears were privileged to hear again the inimitable accents of Revelation. Indeed, in one important respect, the Qur'án was far surpassed. Tablets, meditations, and prayers of thrilling power flowed effortlessly from the lips of the Báb. In one extraordinary period of two days, His writings exceeded in quantity the entire text of the Qur'án, which represented the fruit of 23 years of Muhammad's prophetic output. No one among His ecclesiastical opponents ventured to take up His public challenge: "Verily We have made the revelation of verses to be a testimony for Our message to you." [i.e., In the Qur'án God had explicitly established the "miracle" of the Book's power as His sole proof.] "Can ye produce a single letter to match these verses? Bring forth, then, your proofs...."16
Moreover, despite His ability to use traditional Arabic forms when He chose to do so, the Báb showed no hesitancy in abandoning these conventions as the requirements of His message dictated. He resorted freely to neologisms, new grammatical constructions, and other variants on accepted speech whenever He found existing terms inadequate vehicles for the revolutionary new conception of spiritual reality He vigorously advanced. Rebuked by learned Shí`ih mujtahids at His trial in Tabríz (1848) for violations of the rules of grammar, the Báb reminded those who followed Him that the Word of God is the Creator of language as of all other things, shaping it according to His purpose.17 Through the power of His Word, God says "BE," and it is.
The principle is as old as prophetic religion;--is indeed, central to it:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made....
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.18
The implications for humanity's response to the Messenger of God at His advent is touched on in a passage of one of Bahá'u'lláh's major works, The Four Valleys. Quoting the Persian poet Rumí, He says:
The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are written on water. The knower called out to him, "Why dost thou not follow?" The grammarian answered, "O Brother, I dare not advance. I must needs go back again." Then the knower cried, "Forget what thou didst read in the books of [rhetoric and grammar], and cross the water."
The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric: Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves.19
For the young seminarians who most eagerly responded to Him, the originality of the Báb's language, far from creating an obstacle to their appreciation of His message, itself represented another compelling sign of the Divine mission He claimed. It challenged them to break out of familiar patterns of perception, to stretch their intellectual faculties, to discover in this new Revelation a true freedom of the spirit.
However baffling some of the Báb's writings were to prove for His later European admirers, the latter also perceived Him to be a unique figure, one who had found within His own soul the vision of a transcendent new reality and who had acted unhesitatingly on the imperative it represented. Most of their commentaries tended to reflect the Victorian era's dualistic frame of mind and were presented as scientifically motivated observations of what their authors considered to be an important religious and cultural phenomenon. In the introduction to his translation of A Traveller's Narrative, for example, the Cambridge scholar Edward Granville Browne took pains to justify the unusual degree of attention he had devoted to the Bábí movement in his research work:
...here he [the student of religion] may contemplate such personalities as by lapse of time pass into heroes and demi-gods still unobscured by myth and fable; he may examine by the light of concurrent and independent testimony one of those strange outbursts of enthusiasm, faith, fervent devotion, and indomitable heroism--or fanaticism, if you will--which we are accustomed to associate with the earlier history of the human race; he may witness, in a word, the birth of a faith which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world.20
The electrifying effect that the phenomenon exerted, however--even on a cautious and scientifically trained European intellect and after the passage of several decades--can be appreciated from Browne's concluding remarks in a major article in Religious Systems of the World, published in 1892, the year of Bahá'u'lláh's passing:
I trust that I have told you enough to make it clear that the objects at which this religion aims are neither trivial nor unworthy of the noble self-devotion and heroism of the Founder and his followers. It is the lives and deaths of these, their hope which knows no despair, their love which knows no cooling, their steadfastness which knows no wavering, which stamp this wonderful movement with a character entirely its own....
It is not a small or easy thing to endure what these have endured, and surely what they deemed worth life itself is worth trying to understand. I say nothing of the mighty influence which, as I believe, the Bábí faith will exert in the future, nor of the new life it may perchance may breathe into a dead people; for, whether it succeed or fail, the splendid heroism of the Bábí martyrs is a thing eternal and indestructible. 21
So powerful was this impression that most Western observers tended to lose sight of the Báb's purpose through fascination with His life and person. Browne himself, whose research made him pre-eminent among the second generation of European authorities on the Bábí movement, largely failed to grasp the role the Báb's mission played in preparing the way for the work of Bahá'u'lláh or, indeed, the way in which the achievements of the latter represented the Báb's eventual triumph and vindication.22 The French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was much more fortunate, in part simply because he lived long enough to benefit from a greater historical perspective. Initially antagonistic toward what he saw as Bahá'u'lláh's "supplanting" of the Báb, he came finally to appreciate the Bahá'í view that the Báb was one of two successive Manifestations of God whose joint mission is the unification and pacification of the planet.23
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This brief historical framework will be of assistance in understanding the thrust of the Báb's teachings. In one sense, His message is abundantly clear. As He repeatedly emphasized, the purpose of His mission and the object of all His endeavors was the proclamation of the imminent advent of "Him Whom God will make manifest," that universal Manifestation of God anticipated in religious scriptures throughout the ages of human history. Indeed, all of the laws revealed by the Báb were intended simply to prepare His followers to recognize and serve the Promised One at His advent:
We have planted the Garden of the Bayán [i.e., His Revelation] in the name of Him Whom God will make manifest, and have granted you permission to live therein until the time of His manifestation;...24
The Báb's mission was to prepare humanity for the coming of an age of transformation beyond anything the generation that heard Him would be able to understand. Their duty was to purify their hearts so that they could recognize the One for Whom the whole world was waiting and serve the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The Báb was thus the "Door" through which this long-awaited universal theophany would appear.
At the time of the appearance of Him Whom God will make manifest the most distinguished among the learned and the lowliest of men shall both be judged alike. How often the most insignificant of men have acknowledged the truth, while the most learned have remained wrapt in veils.25
Significantly, the initial references to the Promised Deliverer appear in the Báb's first major work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', passages of which were revealed by Him on the night of the declaration of His mission. The entire work is ostensibly a collection of commentaries on the Súrih of Joseph in the Qur'án, which the Báb interprets as foreshadowing the coming of the Divine "Joseph," that "Remnant of God" Who will fulfill the promises of the Qur'án and of all the other scriptures of the past. More than any other work, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' vindicated for Bábís the prophetic claims of its Author and served, throughout the early part of the Báb's ministry, as the Qur'án or the Bible of His community.
O peoples of the East and the West! Be ye fearful of God concerning the Cause of the true Joseph and barter Him not for a paltry price established by yourselves, or for a trifle of your earthly possessions, that ye may, in very truth, be praised by Him as those who are reckoned among the pious who stand nigh unto this Gate.26
In 1848, only two years before His martyrdom, the Báb revealed the Bayán, the book which was to serve as the principal repository of his laws and the fullest expression of His theological doctrines. Essentially the book is an extended tribute to the coming Promised One, now invariably termed "Him Whom God will make manifest." The latter designation occurs some 300 times in the book, appearing in virtually every one of its chapters, regardless of their ostensible subject. The Bayán and all it contains depend upon His Will; the whole of the Bayán contains in fact "nought but His mention"; the Bayán is "a humble gift" from its Author to Him Whom God will make manifest; to attain His Presence is to attain the Presence of God. He is "the Sun of Truth," "the Advent of Truth," "the Point of Truth," "the Tree of Truth"27 :
I swear by the most holy Essence of God--exalted and glorified be He--that in the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest a thousand perusals of the Bayán cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by Him Whom God shall make manifest.28
Some of the most powerful references to the subject are contained in tablets which the Báb addressed directly to Him Whom God would soon make manifest:
Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent Master, Thou hast, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised me up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have clung to no will but Thy Will. Thou art, in truth, the All-Sufficing and behind Thee standeth the true God, He Who overshadoweth all things.29
Apart from this central theme, the Báb's writings present a daunting problem for even those Western scholars familiar with Persian and Arabic. To a considerable degree, this is due to the fact that the works often address minute matters of Shí`ih Islamic theology which were of consuming importance to His listeners, whose minds had been entirely formed in this narrow intellectual world and who could conceive of no other. The study of the organizing spiritual principles within these writings will doubtless occupy generations of doctoral candidates as the Bahá'í community continues to expand and its influence in the life of society consolidates. For the Bábís, who received the writings at first hand, a great deal of their significance lay in their demonstration of the Báb's effortless mastery of the most abstruse theological issues, issues to which His ecclesiastical opponents had devoted years of painstaking study and dispute. The effect was to dissolve for the Báb's followers the intellectual foundations on which the prevailing Islamic theological system rested.
A feature of the Báb's writings which is relatively accessible is the laws they contain. The Báb revealed what is, at first sight, the essential elements of a complete system of laws dealing with issues of both daily life and social organization. The question that comes immediately to the mind of any Western reader with even a cursory familiarity with Bábí history is the difficulty of reconciling this body of law which, however diffuse, might well have prevailed for several centuries, with the Báb's reiterated anticipation that "He Whom God will make manifest" would shortly appear and lay the foundations of the Kingdom of God. While no one knew the hour of His coming, the Báb assured several of His followers that they would live to see and serve Him. Cryptic allusions to "the year nine" and "the year nineteen" heightened the anticipation within the Bábí community. No one could falsely claim to be "He Whom God will make manifest," the Báb asserted, and succeed in such a claim.
It is elsewhere that we must look for the immediate significance of the laws of the Bayán. The practice of Islam, particularly in its Shí`ih form, had become a matter of adherence to minutely detailed ordinances and prescriptions, endlessly elaborated by generations of mujtahids, and rigidly enforced. The sharí`a, or system of canon law, was, in effect, the embodiment of the clergy's authority over not only the mass of the population but even the monarchy itself. It contained all that mankind needed or could use. The mouth of God was closed until the Day of Judgment when the heavens would be cleft asunder, the mountains would dissolve, the seas would boil, trumpet blasts would rouse the dead from their graves, and God would "come down" surrounded by angels "rank on rank."
For those who recognized the Báb, the legal provisions of the Bayán shattered the clergy's institutional authority at one blow by making the entire sharí`a structure irrelevant.30 God had spoken anew. Challenged by a superannuated religious establishment which claimed to act in the name of the Prophet, the Báb vindicated His claim by exercising, in their fullness, the authority and powers that Islam reserved to the Prophets. More than any other act of His mission, it was this boldness that cost Him His life, but the effect was to liberate the minds and hearts of His followers as no other influence could have done. That so many laws of the Bayán should shortly be superseded or significantly altered by those laid down by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas31 was, in the perspective of history and in the eyes of the mass of the Bábís who were to accept the new Revelation, of little significance once the Báb's purpose had been accomplished.
In this connection, it is interesting to note the way in which the Báb dealt with issues that had no part in His mission, but which, if not addressed, could have become serious obstacles to His work because they were so deeply and firmly imbedded in Muslim religious consciousness. The concept of jihád or "holy war," for example, is a commandment laid down in the Qur'án as obligatory for all able-bodied male Muslims and one whose practice has figured prominently in Islamic societies throughout the ages. In the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the Báb is at pains to include a form of jihád as one of the prerogatives of the station which He claims for Himself. He made any engagement in jihád, however, entirely dependent on His own approval, an approval which He declined to give. Subsequently, the Bayán, although representing the formal promulgation of the laws of the new Dispensation, makes only passing reference to a subject which had so long seemed fundamental to the exercise of God's Will. In ranging across Persia to proclaim the new Revelation, therefore, the Báb's followers felt free to defend themselves when attacked, but their new beliefs did not include the old Islamic mandate to wage war on others for purposes of conversion. 32
In the perspective of history, it is obvious that the intent of these rigid and exacting laws was to produce a spiritual mobilization, and in this they brilliantly succeeded. Foreseeing clearly where the course on which he was embarked would lead, the Báb prepared His followers, through a severe regimen of prayer, meditation, self-discipline, and solidarity of community life, to meet the inevitable consequences of their commitment to His mission.
The prescriptions in the Bayán extend, however, far beyond those immediate purposes. Consequently, when Bahá'u'lláh took up the task of establishing the moral and spiritual foundations of the new Dispensation, He built directly on the work of the Báb. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the "Mother Book" of the Bahá'í era, while not presented in the form of a systematic code, brings together for Bahá'ís the principal laws of their Faith. Guidance that relates to individual conduct or social practice is set in the framework of passages which summon the reader to a challenging new conception of human nature and purpose. A nineteenth-century Russian scholar who made one of the early attempts to translate the book compared Bahá'u'lláh's pen writing the Aqdas to a bird, now soaring on the summits of heaven, now descending to touch the homeliest questions of everyday need.
The connection with the writings of the Báb is readily apparent to anyone who examines the provisions of the Aqdas. Those laws of the Bayán which have no relevance to the coming age are abrogated. Other prescriptions are reformulated, usually through liberalizing their requirements and broadening their applications. Still other provisions of the Bayán are retained virtually in their original form. An obvious example of the latter is Bahá'u'lláh's adoption of the Báb's calendar, which consists of nineteen months of nineteen days each, with provision for an "intercalary" period of four or five days devoted to social gatherings, acts of charity, and the exchange of gifts with friends and family.
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Apart from the specific laws of the Bayán, the Báb's writings also contain the seeds of new spiritual perspectives and concepts which were to animate the worldwide Bahá'í enterprise. Beginning from the belief universally accepted by Muslims that God is one and transcendent, the Báb cuts sharply through the welter of conflicting doctrines and mystical speculations that had accumulated over more than twelve centuries of Islamic history. God is not only One and Single; He is utterly unknowable to humankind and will forever remain so. There is no direct connection between the Creator of all things and His creation.
The only avenue of approach to the Divine Reality behind existence is through the succession of Messengers Whom He sends. God "manifests" Himself to humanity in this fashion, and it is in the Person of His Manifestation that human consciousness can become aware of both the Divine Will and the Divine attributes. What the scriptures have described as "meeting God," "knowing God," "worshiping God," "serving God," refers to the response of the soul when it recognizes the new Revelation. The advent of the Messenger of God is itself "the Day of Judgment." The Báb thus denies the validity of Súfí belief in the possibility of the individual's mys-tical merging with the Divine Being through meditation and esoteric practices:
Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name.... Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation.33
Going far beyond the orthodox Islamic conception of a "succession" of the Prophets that terminates with the mission of Muhammad, the Báb also declares the Revelation of God to be a recurring and never-ending phenomenon whose purpose is the gradual training and development of humankind. As human consciousness recognizes and responds to each Divine Messenger, the spiritual, moral, and intellectual capacities latent in it steadily develop, thus preparing the way for recognition of God's next Manifestation.
The Manifestations of God--including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad--are one in essence, although their physical persons differ, as do those aspects of their teachings that relate to an ever evolving human society. Each can be said to have two "stations": the human and the Divine. Each brings two proofs of His mission: His own Person and the truths He teaches. Either of these testimonies is sufficient for any sincerely inquiring soul; the issue is purity of intention, and this human quality is particularly valued in the Báb's writings. Through unity of faith, reason and behavior, each person can, with the confirmations of God, reach that stage of development where one seeks for others the same things that one seeks for oneself.
Those who sincerely believe in the Messenger whose faith they follow are prepared by it to recognize the next Revelation from the one Divine Source. They thus become instruments through which the Word of God continues to realize its purpose in the life of humankind. This is the real meaning of the references in past religions to "resurrection." "Heaven" and "hell," similarly, are not places but conditions of the soul. An individual "enters" paradise in this world when he recognizes God's Revelation and begins the process of perfecting his nature, a process that has no end, since the soul itself is immortal. In the same way, the punishments of God are inherent in a denial of His Revelation and disobedience to laws whose operation no one can escape.
Many of these concepts in the Báb's writing can appeal to various references or at least intimations in the scriptures of earlier religions. It will be obvious from what has been said, however, that the Báb places them in an entirely new context and draws from them implications very different from those which they bore in any previous religious system.
The Báb described His teachings as opening the "sealed wine" referred to in both the Qur'án and New Testament. The "Day of God" does not envision the end of the world, but its perennial renewal. The earth will continue to exist, as will the human race, whose potentialities will progressively unfold in response to the successive impulses of the Divine. All people are equal in the sight of God, and the race has now advanced to the point where, with the imminent advent of Him Whom God will manifest, there is neither need nor place for a privileged class of clergy. Believers are encouraged to see the allegorical intent in passages of scriptures which were once viewed as references to supernatural or magical events. As God is one, so phenomenal reality is one, an organic whole animated by the Divine Will.
The contrast between this evolutionary and supremely rational conception of the nature of religious truth and that embodied by nineteenth-century Shí`ih Islam could not have been more dramatic. Fundamental to orthodox Shí`ism--whose full implications are today exposed in the regime of the Islamic Republic in Iran--was a literalistic understanding of the Qur'án, a preoccupation with meticulous adherence to the sharí`a, a belief that personal salvation comes through the "imitation" (taqlíd) of clerical mentors, and an unbending conviction that Islam is God's final and all-sufficient revelation of truth to the world. For so static and rigid a mindset, any serious consideration of the teachings of the Báb would have unthinkable consequences.
The Báb's teachings, like the laws of the Bayán, are enunciated not in the form of an organized exposition, but lie rather embedded in the wide range of theological and mystical issues addressed in the pages of His voluminous writings. It is in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh that, as with the laws of the Bayán, these scattered truths and precepts are taken up, reshaped, and integrated into a unified, coherent system of belief. The subject lies far beyond the scope of this brief paper, but the reader will find in Bahá'u'lláh's major doctrinal work, the Kitáb-i-íqán ("Book of Certitude"), not only echoes of the Báb's teachings, but a coherent exposition of their central concepts.
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Finally, a striking feature of the Báb's writings, which has emerged as an important element of Bahá'í belief and history, is the mission envisioned for "the peoples of the West" and admiration of the qualities that fit them for it. This, too, was in dramatic contrast to the professed contempt for farangi and "infidel" thought that prevailed in the Islamic world of His time. Western scientific advancement is particularly praised, for example, as are the fairness of mind and concern for cleanliness that the Báb saw Westerners on the whole as tending to display. His appreciation is not merely generalized but touches on even such mundane matters as postal systems and printing facilities.
At the outset of the Báb's mission, the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá' called on "the peoples of the West" to arise and leave their homes in promotion of the Day of God:
Become as true brethren in the one and indivisible religion of God, free from distinction, for verily God desireth that your hearts should become mirrors unto your brethren in the Faith, so that ye find yourselves reflected in them, and they in you. This is the true Path of God, the Almighty....34
To a British physician who treated Him for injuries inflicted during his interrogation in Tabríz, the Báb expressed His confidence that, in time, Westerners, too, would embrace the truth of His mission.
This theme is powerfully taken up in the work of Bahá'u'lláh. A series of "tablets" called on such European rulers as Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and Tsar Alexander II to examine dispassionately "the Cause of God." The British monarch is warmly commended for the actions of her government in abolishing slavery throughout the empire and for the establishment of constitutional government. Perhaps the most extraordinary theme the letters contain is a summons, a virtual mandate to "the Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein." They are called on to "bind...the broken with the hands of justice" and to "crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of [their] Lord."35
Anticipating the decisive contribution which Western lands and peoples are destined to make in founding the institutions of world order, Bahá'u'lláh wrote:
In the East the Light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O people....36
It was on `Abdu'l-Bahá that responsibility devolved to lay the foundations for this distinctive feature of the missions of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Visiting both Western Europe and North America in the years 1911-1913, He coupled high praise for the material accomplishments of the West with an urgent appeal that they be balanced with the essentials of "spiritual civilization."
During the years of World War I, after returning to the Holy Land, `Abdu'l-Bahá drafted a series of letters addressed to the small body of Bahá'u'lláh's followers in the United States and Canada, summoning them to arise and carry the Bahá'í message to the remotest corners of the globe. As soon as international conditions permitted, these Bahá'ís began to respond. Their example has since been followed by members of the many other Bahá'í communities around the world which have proliferated during subsequent decades.
To the North American believers, too, ` Abdu'l-Bahá confided the task of laying the foundations of the democratically elected institutions conceived by Bahá'u'lláh for the administration of the affairs of the Bahá'í community. The entire decision-making structure of the present-day administrative system of the Faith at local, national, and international levels, had its origins in these simple consultative assemblies formed by the American and Canadian believers.
Bahá'ís see a parallel pattern of response to the Divine mandate, however unrecognized, in the growing leadership Western nations have assumed throughout the present century in the efforts to bring about global peace. This is particularly true of the endeavor to inaugurate a system of international order. For his own vision in this respect, as well as for the lonely courage that the effort to realize it required, "the immortal Woodrow Wilson" won an enduring place of honor in the writings of the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith .
Bahá'ís are likewise aware that it has been such governments as those of Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia which have taken the lead in the field of human rights. The Bahá'í community has experienced at first hand the benefits of this concern in the successful interventions undertaken on behalf of its members in Iran during the recurrent persecutions under the regimes of the Pahlavi shahs and the Islamic Republic.
Nothing of what has been said should suggest an uncritical admiration of European or North American cultures on the part of either the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh nor an endorsement of the ideological foundations on which they rest. Far otherwise. Bahá'u'lláh warns in ominous tones of the suffering and ruin that will be visited upon the entire human race if Western civilization continues on its course of excess. During His visits to Europe and America, `Abdu'l-Bahá called on His hearers in poignant language to free themselves, while time still remained, from racial and national prejudices, as well as materialistic preoccupations, whose unappreciated dangers, He said, threatened the future of their nations and of all humankind.
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Today, a century and a half after the Báb's mission was inaugurated, the influence of His life and words has found expression in a global community drawn from every background on earth. The first act of most Bahá'í pilgrims on their arrival at the World Centre of their Faith is to walk up the flower-bordered avenue leading to the exquisite Shrine housing the Báb's mortal remains, and to lay their foreheads on the threshold of His resting place. They confidently believe that, in future years, "pilgrim kings" will reverently ascend the magnificent terraced staircase rising from the foot of the "Mountain of God" to the Shrine's entrance, and place the emblems of their authority at this same threshold. In the countries from which the pilgrims come, countless children from every background and every language today bear the names of the Báb's martyred companions--Táhirih, Quddús, Husayn, Zaynab, Vahíd, Anís-- much as children throughout the lands of the Roman empire began 2,000 years ago to carry the unfamiliar Hebrew names of the disciples of Jesus Christ.
Bahá'u'lláh's choice of a resting place for the body of His Forerunner--brought with infinite difficulty from Persia--itself holds great significance for the Bahá'í world. Throughout history the blood of martyrs has been "the seed of faith." In the age that is witnessing the gradual unification of humankind, the blood of the Bábí martyrs has become the seed not merely of personal faith, but of the administrative institutions which are, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, "the nucleus [and] the very pattern" of the World Order conceived by Bahá'u'lláh.37 The relationship is symbolized by the supreme position that the Shrine of the Báb occupies in the progressive development of the administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith on Mount Carmel.
Few there must be among the stream of Bahá'í pilgrims entering these majestic surroundings today whose minds do not turn to the familiar words in which the Báb said farewell 150 years ago to the handful of His first followers, all of them bereft of influence or wealth and most of them destined, as He was, soon to lose their lives:
The secret of the Day that is to come is now concealed. It can neither be divulged nor estimated. The newly born babe of that Day excels the wisest and most venerable men of this time, and the lowliest and most unlearned of that period shall surpass in understanding the most erudite and accomplished divines of this age. Scatter throughout the length and breadth of this land, and, with steadfast feet and sanctified hearts, prepare the way for His coming. Heed not your weaknesses and frailty; fix your gaze upon the invincible power of the Lord, your God, the Almighty.... Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory.38
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Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'í.
The anniversary of the birth of the Báb is commemorated 20 October; His declaration, 23 May; and His martyrdom, 9 July.
Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, vol. 8 (London: Oxford, 1954), p. 117.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 123-124.
I owe this interesting suggestion to Dr. Hossain Danesh.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (1944; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 56 and The Bahá'í World, vol. 9, 1940-1944 (1945; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 588.
Persistent use of the term "Bábí" in Iranian Muslim attacks on the Bahá'í Faith over the years has tended to be a reflection of the spirit of animosity incited by its original nineteenth-century clerical opponents.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, bk. 4, ll. 569-578.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address," Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson, S.E. Wricher, ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), pp. 115-116.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur, ll. 408-410.
Muhammad-i-Zarandí (Nabíl-i-A`zam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 93.
The Báb, together with a young follower, was suspended by ropes from a courtyard wall in the citadel in Tabríz, and an Armenian Christian regiment, whose commander had expressed great uneasiness about the assignment, was ordered to open fire on the prisoners. When the smoke from the 750 rifles had cleared, near pandemonium broke out among the crowd of spectators thronging roofs and walls. The Báb's companion was standing uninjured at the foot of the wall, and the Báb Himself had disappeared from view. The entire volley had done no more than sever the ropes. The Báb had returned to the room in which He had been held, in order to complete instructions to His amanuensis, which had been interrupted by His jailers.
The Armenian regiment immediately left the citadel, refusing any further participation. It would have taken only a gesture of encouragement from the Báb for the crowd, now in a state of intense excitement aroused by what they regarded as "a miracle," to have delivered Him from His captors. When He did not take advantage of this opening, the authorities eventually recovered their composure and summoned a regiment of Muslim soldiers who carried out the planned execution.
Though dramatic, the incident was not an isolated event in the Báb's ministry. Four years earlier, the wealthy and powerful Governor of Isfáhán, Manúchir Khán, who was the Báb's host and warm admirer, had offered to march on the capital with his army and induce Persia's feeble ruler, Muhammad Sháh, to meet the Báb and listen to His message. The offer was courteously declined, and Manúchir Khán's subsequent death led directly to the Báb's arrest, imprisonment, and execution.
Ernest Renan, Les Apôtres, translated from the French by William G. Hutchison (London: Watts & Co., 1905), p. 134. "For his sake, thousands of martyrs flocked to their death. A day unparalleled perhaps in the world's history was that of the great massacre of the Bábís at Teheran. `
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Efforts to Preserve the Remains of the Bab:
Four Historical Accounts
Ahang Rabbani
Abstract
The execution of the Bab and his companion, Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Zunuzi (Anis), took place at noon on Tuesday, 9 July 1850, but it was not until 21 March 1909 that their mangled bodies were entombed in their permanent shrine on Mount Carmel, Haifa.
During this interval of 59 years, fearing destruction by entrenched enemies, these remains were concealed in a number of places, often unknown to the generality of Baha’is. The object of this article is to outline the background of this episode of Baha’i history based on early documents. Even though these accounts occasionally overlap in their description of the events, yet each contains an important perspective that has warranted their inclusion. Four accounts are here translated for the first time into English.
Introduction
Immediately after the execution of the Bab and his companion Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Zunuzi (Anis), on Tuesday, 9 July 1850, their remains were cast by the edge of a moat outside the city of Tabriz. ‘Four companies, each consisting of ten sentinels, were ordered to keep watch in turn over them. On the morning following the day of martyrdom, the Russian consul in Tabriz, accompanied by an artist, went to that spot and ordered that a sketch be made of the remains as they lay beside the moat.’ One of the early Baha’is, Haji ‘Ali ‘Askar Tabrizi (d. 1874) reported the following to Nabil Zarandi:
An official of the Russian consulate, to whom I was related, showed me that same sketch on the very day it was drawn. It was such a faithful portrait of the Báb that I looked upon! No bullet had struck His forehead, His cheeks, or His lips. I gazed upon a smile which seemed to be still lingering upon His countenance. His body, however, had been severely mutilated. I could recognize the arms and head of His companion, who seemed to be holding Him in his embrace. As I gazed horror-struck upon that haunting picture, and saw how those noble traits had been disfigured, my heart sank within me. I turned away my face in anguish and, regaining my house, locked myself within my room. For three days and three nights, I could neither sleep nor eat, so overwhelmed was I with emotion. That short and tumultuous life, with all its sorrows, its turmoil, its banishments, and eventually the awe-inspiring martyrdom with which it had been crowned, seemed again to be re-enacted before my eyes. I tossed upon my bed, writhing in agony and pain.
Nabil gives a useful outline of the events after the martyrdom of the Bab, which is summarized here to provide a frame of reference for the later discussion.According to Nabil, it was some days earlier that through his contacts in the government circles, Haji Sulayman Khan Tabrizi (son of Yahya Khan) – an ardent believer in the Bab – learned that the Prime Minister had issued orders for the execution of the Bab. Together with some close friends, he immediately left Tehran for the purpose of the Bab’s deliverance, arriving in Tabriz a day too late. He went directly to Bagh-Mishih, a suburb of Tabriz, the home of Haji Mirza Mihdi, the kalantar of Tabriz, one of his friends and confidants, who was a dervish belonging to a Sufi mystical community. Haji Sulayman Khan was ready to take immediate action but the kalantar, being a seasoned and wise officer, advised against a rash decision and suggested to him to wait in another house for the arrival that evening of Haji Allah-Yar, a well-known gang leader in Tabriz and feared by the generality of the people.
At the appointed hour, Haji Sulayman Khan met Haji Allah-Yar and several of his armed men. That very night, they set out for the location where the remains of the Bab were left and when the guards saw the approaching men, recognizing their determination and fearing for their own lives, they quickly withdrew and allowed Haji Allah-Yar and his men to take the precious remains. Later, apprehensive that their superiors would accuse them of dereliction of duty, the sentinels announced that wild beasts had consumed the remains, a view that found currency in majority of the Qajar court histories and some European reports, but was effectively refuted by Nicolas.
The remains were taken to the silk factory owned by one of the Babis of Milan. Next day, it was laid in a specially constructed wooden case, and transferred then, according to Haji Sulayman Khan’s directions, to a place of safety. The latter immediately reported the matter to Baha’u’llah, who was in Tehran and who instructed Aqa Kalim to dispatch a special messenger to Tabriz for the purpose of transferring the bodies to the capital.
Nabil leaves the rest of the story untold, only suggesting that the sacred remains were taken to Tehran, first to Imamzadih Hasan, and from there to a secret location, which he strongly hints to be Imamzadih Shah ‘Abdu’l-‘Azim, just south of the city (Imamzadihs are shrines where a descendant of one of the Shi’i Imams is buried). He concludes his account by noting that through Baha’u’llah’s instructions, Aqa Jamal, a well-known believer of the period, searched and located that spot, but Nabil says: ‘That spot is, until now, unknown to the believers, nor can anyone conjecture where the remains will eventually be transferred.’
Therefore on this important question of what befell the remains of the Bab and at what locations they were kept until their safe transference to the Holy Land, the Dawn-Breakers – generally very informative and reliable – provides little or no help. However, fortunately there are other accounts that provide a substantial insight into the sequence of events and they are the object of our study.
Four Historical Accounts:
In this article we will consult four accounts that fill the gaps in Nabil’s comprehensive history:
(1) The first account is by Mirza Hasan Adib Taliqani, who was appointed by Baha’u’llah to the high office of the Hand of the Cause of God and who provides an outline of the events from the period of the martyrdom of the Bab until 1867 when two prominent believers, at the behest of Baha’u’llah, delivered the casket to Tehran. This account is significant by virtue of the fact that Mirza Hasan Adib, as a Hand of the Cause resident in Tehran, was well positioned to learn of the details.
(2) The second account is by the renowned historian of the Baha’i Faith, the Hand of the Cause of God Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani, which appears in his Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq.
As it will be noted, this outline is congruent with Nabil Zarandi’s narrative of the same events.
(3) The third account is by ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih, who in his history of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths, al-Kawakib al-Durriyyah, records a detailed outline based on the recollections of the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, whom Baha’u’llah had appointed and charged with the safekeeping of the remains of the Bab.
(4) The fourth and final account is based on memories of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur. It was in his house in Tehran that the remains of the Bab were kept for nearly five years.
To be sure, there are similarities and divergences among these four narratives, in comparison with one another and with Nabil’s narrative. Where they diverge, however, is only in minor details and otherwise they seem complementary. All four accounts appear to be extremely reliable giving a great insight in the sequence of events. It is most helpful to read all four together in order to fully comprehend the sequence of occurrences.
Taliqani’s account provides a perspective about the days immediately after the martyrdom of the Bab that are somewhat at variance with Nabil’s. For instance, Taliqani suggests that the remains were left in the middle of the city square, whereas Nabil insists they were taken outside the city and left by the moat. Taliqani’s information is consistent with the practice of public execution during the Qajar period when the remains of the offenders were often kept on public display as a lesson to others. Another divergence of Taliqani’s account from Nabil’s is that the former reports that upon the arrival of the remains in Tehran they were kept in Imamzadih Ma’sum, whereas Nabil suggests Imamzadih Hasan. It was kept there for some years, before being taken briefly to Masjid Masha’u’llah, then to the residence of Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir in Tehran, and then to the home of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur.
The second narrative by Fadil Mazandarani covers the same contour as Nabil’s, but provides richer details, such as the exact names, dates and locations. Given that Fadil’s history had benefited from a close consultation of Nabil’s narrative, it can be surmised that he was using the latter’s information to construct his outline, but filled in the details to make his account more accessible to the reader.
The third account by Avarih is particularly useful in understanding events surrounding the transference of the remains from Imamzadih Ma’sum to the Tehran residence of the aforementioned Vazir.
The final account is focused very much on the period from 1890 to 1895 when the remains of the Bab were kept in the Nur’s house in Tehran and should be considered as a stand-alone document.
To sum up, if one were to construct a time line for the journey of the remains of the Bab, it would be as follows:
July 1850 Martyrdom and rescue of the remains
Summer 1850–67 Imamzadih Ma’sum (south of Tehran, also known as the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih)
1867 (a few days) Masjid Masha’u’llah (south of Tehran)
1867–8 (14 months) Residence of Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir (in Tehran)
1868–90 Imamzadih Zayd (near Tehran)
1890–5 Residence of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur (in Tehran)
1895–9 House of Muhammad Karim ‘Attar (in Tehran)
1899 Transported by way of Tehran, Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut, and then by sea to ‘Akka
31 Jan. 1899–March 1909 House of ‘Abdu’llah Pasha (in ‘Akka)
21 March 1909 Shrine of the Bab (in Haifa)
1. Taliqani’s Account
Mirza Hasan Adib Taliqani’s account covers the period of the martyrdom of the Bab until the time when Jamal Burujirdi and the Hand of the Cause Haji ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, known as Haji Akhund, delivered the casket to Tehran. We are fortunate that his fellow Hand, Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarandi, preserved this narrative in his monumental history of the Baha’i Movement, Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq (The History of the Manifestation of Truth).[11] The date of composition of this account is given by Taliqani as Muharram 1326[12] AH (February 1908):
The investigations carried out by this ephemeral servant about the sacred remains of His Holiness the Primal Point [the Bab] – may my spirit be a sacrifice unto his sanctified resting place – has revealed that after his martyrdom, the holy remains of the Bab and Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali were left abandoned in the same city square [where the execution had taken place]. This afforded the citizens the opportunity to insult and heap abuse on the remains and the hoodlums were instructed to prevent its burial.
At that time, Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim Khalil and Dhabih, who numbered among the Bab’s close companions and secretaries, together with a number of other believers, had taken refuge in a textile factory owned by Haji Ahmad Milani. They were engaged in planning various ways to rescue the sacred remains, or in the event of failure to do so, at least to learn of their whereabouts.
They decided to dispatch to the city square two Milani believers disguised as beggars and lunatics to watch over the situation. Since people tend to avoid such madmen, they were able to spend the night at the same location and in fact another believer, under the disguise of charity, was appointed to occasionally bring them food and water. They remained in the square for the first and the second days, during which time rank upon rank of the public came to see the remains. Some shed tears of remorse while others heaped all manner of abuse.
On the third day, orders were issued for the remains to be unceremoniously thrown by the city’s moat. That day the Russian consul had remarked to the local authorities: ‘In our country it is customary that when a captive survives an execution attempt, he is then pardoned and freed. Therefore, the second attempt at executing this personage [the Bab] was illegitimate. I wish to visit his remains.’
That afternoon the consul, accompanied by an artist, went by the moat where the artist made a pen-portrait of the Bab. The consul then offered a gratuity to the soldiers to bury the two corpses. The officers had moved some of the earth by the moat, buried the two bodies, and had departed.
That night Haji Sulayman Khan led a group of men, including the kalantar [and] Haji Allah-Yar, to that location. Allah-Yar stood watch to respond to opposition, while Haji Sulayman Khan, assisted by others, recovered the remains and placed them in a bag. Thereupon they left post-haste and were not followed.
After journeying for a while, Haji Allah-Yar was sent home and the rest set out towards the textile factory of Haji Ahmad Milani where Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim was awaiting their arrival. Sayyid said to them, ‘The dawn is well nigh here and I am too impatient to observe caution. We must conceal the remains immediately.’ A casket that was about a metre long was ready. With his own hands, Haji Sulayman Khan wrapped the sack containing the remains in a cloth and placed it inside the casket. From what has been learned, apparently one of the hands of Mirza Muhammad-’Ali [Anis] was separated from his body. Haji Sulayman Khan placed a bouquet of flowers commonly found in the homes of Tabrizis next to the sanctified countenance of the Bab. They quickly sealed the casket and placed it in the wall cavity, covering it with mortar.
After a few days, a tablet was received from the Ancient Beauty [Baha’u’llah] addressed to Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim, the text of which is presently extant. This tablet instructed the transfer of the remains to Tehran. The believers removed the casket from its hiding place, wrapped it in cotton and disguised it as merchandise ready for dispatch to Tehran. Haji Sulayman Khan accompanied the remains to the capital pretending to be an importer of goods from Europe.
When they arrived in Tehran, the Ancient Beauty [Baha’u’llah] was in Shimran. The believers attained his presence and reported what had transpired. Baha’u’llah dispatched Mirza Husayn Isfahani with specific instructions to take delivery of the casket. Obedient to his mandate, Mirza [Husayn] took the casket to Imamzadih Ma’sum which was located in middle of the desert [south of Tehran]. He placed the casket in an abandoned building, raised a wall in front of it, and undertook minor repairs of the surrounding walls.
No believer, man or woman, was aware of this secret, except that Baha’u’llah had informed the honoured Maryam.
A few years passed in this fashion during which the honoured Maryam had disclosed the matter to her nurse-maid. Later, others learned of this secret and soon the number of pilgrims arriving at the Imamzadih Ma’sum grew notably, providing it with considerable income. In no time it became the meeting place for the friends and strangers. Gradually much talk was taking place about this matter, which allowed many to learn of this well-guarded secret.
About then, another tablet was received from the Ancient Beauty instructing the immediate and secret removal of the holy casket to another location. After consultation, the believers decided to take the sacred trust to the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim and hide it in one of the abandoned buildings in that region. In the middle of night, Hasan Aqa and his brother went to Imamzadih Ma’sum, opened up the wall, removed the casket and made their way towards the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l‑‘Azim, to a house to which they had previously sent their wives on the pretext of a pilgrimage. Aqa Jamal [Burujirdi] and the honoured ‘Ali-Akbar [Hand of the Cause Haji Akhund] came in the morning to pay homage to the sacred trust. Everyone was proposing different thoughts and suggestions. Eventually unanimity was attained by deciding to hide the sanctified consignment in one of the rooms of the Masjid Masha’u’llah, on the edge of the desert. They opened the casket, wrapped the bag in a silk cloth and since the original box was fragile, built another box of the same size from plane-tree timber, and placed the first box inside the new one.
At night, they transferred the casket to the Masjid Masha’u’llah and placed it in one of the smaller rooms and, using the discarded bricks, raised a new wall in front of the precious trust. They returned to the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim and that afternoon departed for Tehran. On the way, once more they came by the Masjid and one of the men went inside to pay his respect when he noticed that some of the bricks on the newly erected wall had been tampered with. Greatly perplexed by the turn of events, they decided to remove the casket and take it with them to Tehran.
When they reached the capital, they became anxious thinking that the officers could discover the true identity of their cargo through inspection at the city-gate. They thought of leaving the wooden box temporarily by a moat while they devised a plan, when suddenly and unexpectedly a severe thunderstorm begun. Immediately everyone in the vicinity rushed towards the and the honoured ‘Ali-Akbar, who had the casket in front of him on his mount, was caught in their midst and was hurried through the gates without anyone inquiring of his load.
They proceeded to the home of the late Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir, which they considered safe, and on the pretence of depositing a trust, hid the casket in the basement [with Haji ‘Ali-Akbar Akhund remaining in the house for the next 14 months].
After some time, once more the news of the event became widely known among the believers. No matter how they tried to dissuade the friends from visiting that location, it had no effect. Finally, the late Haji Amin wrote to Baha’u’llah about the situation and in response a tablet was revealed instructing him that without the least hesitation and with great urgency he should undertake the care and protection of the sacred casket and to keep the matter strictly confidential.
This matter was kept secret until the passing of Haji Amin.
At that time, the honoured Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani was appointed to receive the casket and he moved it to the home of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Isfahani at Sar Qabr Aqa district. In the year 1314 AH [1896 AD], he returned and retrieved the sacred trust which eventually he transferred to Haifa at ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s behest.
The Master is presently raising an edifice for this purpose, which soon will be completed and will be the point of adoration of the entire world.
(2) Mazandarani’s Account
The Hand of the Cause of God Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani provides the following account, which appears in his Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq.
As the reader will note
this outline is congruent with Nabil Zarandi’s narrative of the same events:
Before the instructions of Mirza Taqi Khan, [the prime minister], for the martyrdom of the Primal Point reached Tabriz, [Haji] Sulayman Khan, son of Yahya Khan Tabrizi, who ranked among the noblemen of the nation and was a devotee of the Bab, learned of this decision. In utmost haste and accompanied by several other Babis, he left Tehran for Adharbayjan with the object of achieving the deliverance of the Bab from the clutches of the authorities and the guardsmen. However, when he arrived in Tabriz, two days had already passed from the martyrdom of the Wronged One [the Bab] and overwhelmed with grief and consternation, Sulayman Khan inquired of the circumstances from a number of the prominent Babis of that province. In the course of their consultation, they resolved that unmindful of the consequences, they would rescue the remains of the Bab from the edge of the moat where they were left with a band of soldiers who stood guard over them.
Subsequently, Sulayman Khan apprized Haji Mirza Mihdi, the kalantar of Tabriz, who was a righteous man belonging to a Sufi mystical order, of this secret decision and sought his assistance. The kalantar spoke with great sympathy and compassion, and summoned a certain Haji Allah-Yar, who was one of the gang-leaders and fearless rogues of Tabriz, and instructed him to accompany the Babis that night on this mission.
In the middle of night, which corresponded to the second evening since the martyrdom – and for a complete day and night the remains, unclad and unprotected, had been left exposed to the elements – the aforementioned group, which included Haji Allah-Yar, Sulayman Khan, Haji Muhammad-Taqi Milani, Husayn Milani and some others, went by the moat. There were all properly armed. They retrieved the abandoned remains, wrapped them in an ‘abá [cloak], placed it over their shoulders and quickly left the site.
With great haste, they proceeded to the silk factory of the above-mentioned Haji Muhammad Taqi [one of the Babis of Milan] and concealed their treasured trust in that location. Sulayman Khan and Haji Muhammad Taqi gifted a sum of money to Haji Allah-Yar for his services and rested that night with ease. Next day, they prepared a casket in the fashion of a wooden case used by merchants, wrapped their precious cargo in white silk and placed it in that container and, in accordance with Sulayman Khan’s direction, transferred it to a place of safety. Sulayman Khan also informed Baha’u’llah of what had transpired and awaited his instructions.
That night after the remains were taken to the silk factory, the aforementioned Husayn Milani proceeded post-haste to Milan and washed the blood-soaked ‘abá in the pool of Haji Muhammad-Taqi’s home and for some time the Babis were grief-stricken and bitterly sobbed over the martyrdom. When the letter of Sulayman Khan reached the presence of Baha’u’llah in Tehran, he instructed the honoured Aqa Mirza Musa Kalim to select an able, trustworthy and brave messenger and to dispatch him forthwith to Tabriz.
At the time when the Primal Point was being conducted under guard to Adharbayjan and had reached the vicinity of the village of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim, out of his love for Tehran, he had revealed a visitation tablet for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim in the course of which he had unambiguously expressed his wish to be entombed in that location.
In light of this, it was decided to transfer the casket to Tehran. Hasan Aqa Tafrishi, who was among the devoted believers and served as the second-in-command in the custom office of Adharbayjan, was enlisted for this important task. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles in conducting shipments of merchandise across the borders and within the country, and the strict regulations of the authorities trying to prevent thievery and larceny at the custom offices, and mindless of all the dangers in conducting such a mission, Hasan Aqa succeeded in safely transferring the casket to the Shrine of Imamzadih Hasan in the vicinity of Tehran. He then informed Baha’u’llah who immediately dispatched Aqa Mirza Musa Kalim and Aqa Mulla ‘Abdu’l-Karim [Qazvini], known as Mirza Ahmad Katib, to receive the casket and with utmost caution and vigilance securely deposit it at the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih, near the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim. Secretly they completed this important charge and no one was aware of its details.
During the time of Baha’u’llah’s stay in Edirne [Adrianople], about the year 1283 AH [1866 AD], Aqa Mirza Munir Kashani, was informed of the location of the burial site by the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih, but despite his best efforts was unable to find the exact location. However, shortly thereafter, in accordance with the instructions of Baha’u’llah, Aqa Jamal Burujirdi proceeded to the same location and found the burial spot.
For their necessary protection, the remains were transferred from one place to another in Tehran and during this long period, their location was kept a well-guarded secret. At last, in the year 1317 AH [1899 AD], they were moved from Iran to Palestine and the Holy Land and eventually were laid to rest on Mount Carmel, in a magnificent and splendid shrine, which is the focus of attention of the friends and others.
(3) Avarih’s Account
‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih in his history of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths, al-Kawakib al-Durriyyah,records
the following outline based on the recollections of the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, whom Baha’u’llah had appointed and charged with the safekeeping of the remains of the Bab. Avarih states that after Haji Sulayman Khan rescued the remains of the twin martyrs from Tabriz, he safeguarded them in his own house in the Sar-Chashmih district of Tehran. After some time, the casket was taken to the Shrine of Imamzadih Ma’sum, where it remained concealed until 1867. Avarih further indicates that the reason for keeping the location of the Bab’s remains a secret were two-fold: (a) the authorities were intent on the discovery and destruction of the remains, therefore their whereabouts had to be kept from the authorities’ spies; and (b) the believers were intent on a pilgrimage to these remains and were not very discreet in their actions.
In the year [12]84 AH [1867], Baha’u’llah revealed a tablet addressed jointly to the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi and Aqa Jamal Burujirdi, the renowned teacher of the time. Therein instructions were given for them to remove the remains of the Bab from Imamzadih Ma’sum to another location. Those two believers immediately set out to the said location and without any assistance dismantled the wall, which housed the precious casket. They quickly carried the casket and left for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim. Apparently, at the time there was no custodian present at the Imamzadih Ma’sum, or perhaps there was a custodian and he was not very strict. Another possibility is that usually such custodians can be approached with a little bribe. At any rate, they placed the holy casket on a mule and travelled to the vicinity of the Shrine of Abdu’l-’Azim. At first their search did not identify a safe location. Consequently, they continued with their journey towards Chishmih-’Ali.
On their way they came across an abandoned building known as Masjid Masha’u’llah. They concluded that this location was suitable for their purpose and entered the mosque at night-time and deposited the holy casket. Prior to hiding the casket, they opened its cover and noticed that the treasured remains of the Bab were wrapped in cotton cloth used for shrouding the dead. They also discovered that a flower bouquet had been placed on the Bab’s chest, which had been sprayed with bullets. The flowers were now dry and appeared to have been there for years. The assumption of this author [Avarih] is that it was Haji Sulayman Khan who had placed the flowers [in the casket] years earlier.
They removed the flowers and wrapped the sacred remains in silk, which earlier had been prepared for this purpose. Once again they placed the sanctified bodies in the casket and placed the casket under an arch-wall standing next to a near-collapsed wall. They quickly repaired the vicinity of the arch with similar bricks. During this construction activity one of the Babis resident in the Shrine of Abdu’l-’Azim assisted in supplying them with mortar.
Afterwards the two left for the village of Quch-Athar, where they remained until the afternoon of the following day. On the way back to Tehran, upon reaching the junction at Chishmih-’Ali, they became worried and concerned about the safety of the casket and returned to the mosque to ensure that their trust had remained undisturbed. This concern was well-founded as a number of farmers had seen the two men during the evening hours and following their departure had dismantled the wall and broken into the casket. However the holy remains had not been touched. The present author [Avarih] believes that the farmers had not recognized the identity of the bodies because if they had, they could have disturbed or abused the sanctified remains which may in turn have stirred up trouble in that precinct. The farmers must have thought the casket contained treasures stolen from another location and when they found that it contained just bones and flesh, they left it alone.
Haji Akhund [Shahmirzadi] has explained, ‘Once we decided to return to the mosque, Aqa Jamal accelerated at once because he had a faster mule. I reached our destination an hour later. When I came upon the mosque, I found him in a state of bewilderment. I asked what had caused him such anguish, and he replied that the wall had been damaged and the casket broken into. I was similarly distressed and rushed towards the wall. As I moved the casket, I noticed that its weight had not changed. I informed Aqa Jamal that the remains were still intact. He was elated and we lifted the broken casket onto his mule and accompanied it towards Tehran. Prior to arrival at the city-gate, we were apprehensive as the gatekeepers could inspect our load. If the true identity of the contents were discovered, not only the holy remains, but also our lives would be at peril.
At this time an astonishing incident occurred. A short time before our arrival at the city-gate, a rainstorm had begun and it quickly developed into a thunderstorm. Severe gusts of wind and rain forced all travellers from the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim to rush forward towards the gate. This enabled us to use the crowd as a cover and take the casket safely through the gate and into the city to the house of Aqa Mirza Hasan Vazir.’
Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar rented that house and stayed there for 14 months solely to protect that casket. In a short time, however, unfortunately the believers learned of this secret and arrived from far and wide to pay their respects. As hard as he tried, Haji Akhund was unable to keep this matter concealed. Some Baha’is even offered to purchase the house and turn it into a permanent Shrine of the Bab! As this was not possible and could provoke the authorities, the Hands [of the Cause of God] wrote a supplication to Baha’u’llah, seeking his guidance. Soon a response was received and they followed the instructions therein.
(4) Memoirs of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur
Aqa Husayn ‘Ali’s father was Aqa ‘Ali, a deeply religious Muslim who would observe his religious obligations to the point of fanaticism. When Aqa ‘Ali first heard of the Baha’i Faith, he decided to investigate its veracity, promising himself that should he find it to be the truth, he would walk to the presence of its author. Some time passed and one night he dreamt of Baha’u’llah and the Bab. Through this vision, he was confirmed in his belief and ecstatically began his journey to ‘Akka. With utmost difficulty, he reached his destination, only to be told, after a prolonged search, that Baha’u’llah was incarcerated in the city’s prison and all were barred from meeting with him. Desperate to see Baha’u’llah, Aqa ‘Ali ascended a nearby hill and from its top was able to briefly gaze on the face of Baha’u’llah who waved at him from the window of his prison cell. Thrilled with this blessing, Aqa ‘Ali wrote to Baha’u’llah and was honoured with a response in which the surname ‘Nur’ (light) was bestowed upon him. Aqa ‘Ali Nur returned to his native town of Isfahan and commenced teaching the Baha’i Faith.
Aqa Husayn ‘Ali was born in 1861 in Isfahan. When he was 18 years old, two prominent and wealthy Baha’i merchants of the city, Mirza Hasan and Mirza Husayn, surnamed the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, were wrongfully accused, seized and after considerable tortures, put to death. This event took place at the instigation of the leading ‘ulama and with the knowledge and collusion of the governor, Zillu’s-Sultan.
During the evening following these martyrdoms, Husayn ‘Ali and his older brother, Hasan ‘Ali, together with three other believers who served the King of Martyrs, secretly left the city and through unfrequented routes and after enduring great hardships eventually reached Tehran.
Gradually, they were able to re-establish themselves in the capital where Husayn ‘Ali became a successful merchant, his seed-money having been granted by Baha’u’llah. He bought a parcel of land on the south side of Bagh Firdaws (presently a women’s hospital), next to the Bazar Madar-Aqa, where he built a nine-room house. It was in this house that for four years the remains of the Bab were kept.
Some time later, Aqa Husayn ‘Ali committed to paper his fascinating memories of the King and the Beloved of Martyrs and the events leading to their slaying, and he included a chapter on the concealment of the remains of the Bab in his house in Tehran:
About the year 1269 Sh [1890], Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani and his wife arrived in Tehran from Isfahan and came to the residence of this servant, which was located south of the present Bagh Firdaws. After a few days, he mentioned, ‘We intend to continue our journey to the Holy Land, but certain objects have been left in our trust which we have placed in a box and we now wish to leave them in your care. After our return, we will come and retrieve our trust, but you must exert your utmost to ensure the protection and safekeeping of these items.’
I accepted this charge and the following day, he and his wife returned to our house carrying a wooden box. With utmost reverence, they placed the box in the room near the courtyard and asked that the room be locked and no one be permitted inside until their return the subsequent day. They took the key with them.
The next day Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah and his wife returned and this time they brought with them an iron container (known as Hishtar-khun Sanduq), which was lined with iron sheets from both outside and inside. They opened the room and the two of them entered and closed the curtains so carefully that nothing could be seen from outside and we had no idea what they were doing within the room.
They stayed inside for four hours. Finally, they emerged from the room and, summoning me forward, stated, ‘This is the trust that we would like to leave in your charge.’ I looked inside and noticed that the new iron container was locked and sealed, and placed in the centre of the room. A strong aroma of attar and musk was emanating from the container and perfuming the air. We left the container in the large, built-in pantry of the room and later, one of the Baha’i youth, who was a builder, came and brick-walled the front of the pantry.
Of course, caring for an entrusted object is a very difficult task, particularly when one believes it to be a box of the writings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. As such, after Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah’s departure, I was protecting that trust with my own life. Even at nights, I would stand guard in the room till morning and be watchful. In fact, early on, for many nights I would sleep in that room, but after a while refrained from doing so.
It went thus for two years, until once more the people of rancour and enmity in Tehran raised the standard of sedition and some of the believers, including Ibn-i Abhar, Haji Amin and Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar were arrested. News was spreading throughout the city that the homes of Baha’is were being targeted for pillage and plunder. This rumour greatly disturbed me and I worried that the enemies may rush our home and steal the trust. Therefore, we convened a family consultation and it was decided to hide the entrusted container more securely.
Quickly we moved the container from the pantry on the western side of the house to a location on the eastern side, where we removed a portion of one of the thick walls and vertically inserted the container in the cavity. That night, we raised a wall in front of the cavity and covered it with plaster, which was heated all night by a fire so by the morning it was completely dry and looked identical to the other portions of the room.
That very day, I wrote to Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani, stating, ‘Great uproar reigns throughout Tehran and rogues and ruffians are determined to harm and persecute this innocent community [i.e. Baha’is], and may even succeed in pillaging the homes of believers. Since safekeeping a trust is one of the important ordinances enjoined upon the people of Baha, until now I have protected your trust with my life. However, now there is the possibility that hoodlums may rush our house and, God forbid, harm your trust. Therefore, at your earliest, kindly arrange for your return to Tehran to retrieve this trust.’
I sent the above letter and some time later received a reply from Mirza Asadu’llah which stated that, at an opportune time, he would acquaint the Master [‘Abdu’l-Baha] with the situation and after receiving his permission, would come to Tehran to regain the entrusted container.
A year later, Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah came to Tehran, arrived at our house and asked for the container. We removed it from its hiding place inside the walls and returned it to him. After carefully inspecting it, he moved it to another location, which apparently was the home of Aqa Muhammad Karim ‘Attar.
Six months had passed when one day the postman brought a letter from Kirmanshah. Upon examining it, I noticed that it was from Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah. I quickly opened it and read that he had expressed much appreciation and gratitude for the safekeeping of the trust that had been left in my charge for nearly four years. He had further written, ‘However, your efforts in protecting this trust are not without their due reward. Indeed, they have won a prize such that even your progeny, generation after generation, will pride themselves upon your service. Your house will forever be honoured that at one time it was the repository of such a sacred trust.’ At last, he revealed, ‘Know that this trust was none other than the sanctified remains of the Wronged of the World, the Primal Point, may my soul be a ransom for his martyrdom. Know the worth of this charge as your house will one day be the site of pilgrimage of millions of people and indeed it will be regarded as one of the Faith’s holy sites.’
. . . On reading this letter, immediately the friends were invited to our house and the above letter was read for them. It was a majestic feast that rarely one similar to it had been seen before. All the friends and lovers of that Manifestation of Divinity perfumed their nostrils with the musk of the spot where the sacred remains had been deposited and prostrating themselves on that threshold, used its dust as the kohl of their eyes. It was a feast conducted in the utmost magnificence and splendour. The lovers of that Beloved of the World composed enchanting odes and sang enthralling songs. From that day, that spot was designated as one of the Faith’s holy sites. In accordance with ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s wish, a picture of the house and that room was taken and sent to the Holy Land.
Some time later, when I was privileged to be in the presence of the Master on pilgrimage, one afternoon, along with a group of believers I was invited to the home of Mirza Asadu’llah. Once more, Mirza Asadu’llah reiterated, ‘Protect that house since it is one of the Baha’i holy sites!’
This article is dedicated to the loving memory of Colonel ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr. I am grateful to Sepehr Manuchehri for suggesting inclusion of the passage from al-Kawákib al-Durríya.
Nabíl [Zarandi], The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha’i Revelation (trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi), Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1970, p. 517, indicates that the day of martyrdom was a Sunday. However, more accurate calendars as well as several Qajar histories, such as Muhammad Taqi Sipihr, Násikh at-Tavárikh, Tehran: Kitáb-furúshí Islámiyyih, 1353 AHS, vol. 3, p. 305; and Mírza Muhammad Ja’far Haqayiq-Nigar, Haqáyiq al-Akhbár Násirí, vol 1, section on 1266 AHQ events, Tehran: Dar at-Tab’ih Dawlati, 1284 AH, clearly indicate that 9 July was a Tuesday.
[3] There is consistent disagreement between the Baha’i and other histories on the day of martyrdom of the Bab. The Baha’i histories maintain that it took place on 9 July, while the Qajar histories place this event a day earlier. For example, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in many tablets, including A Traveller’s Narrative (trans. E. G. Browne), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891, vol. 2, pp. 44–45, and Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By, rev. edn., Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974, p. 52; and Nabíl in Dawn-breakers 517, mark 9 July 1850 as the day of martyrdom. However, Násikh at-Taváríkh 3: 304–5, Haqáyiq al-Akhbár Násirí (1266 AH events), Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab (Persian translation of A. L. M. Nicolas’ history by ‘Ali-Muhammad Farih-vashi), Tehran, n.d. pp. 403, 407; Mirza Yahya Azal, Mujmal Badí’ dar Vaqáyi’ Zuhúr-i Maní’ (supplement to Mirza Huseyn of Hamadan, Taríkh Jadíd or New History of Mírzá ‘Alí-Muhammad the Bab, (trans. E. G. Browne), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1893, have indicated that it took place a day earlier. Perhaps more significantly, the British diplomat in Tabriz, Richard Stevens, who discusses the execution of the Bab in his 24 July 1850 report to Justin Sheil, the British ambassador in Tehran, marks the day of martyrdom of the Bab as 8 July 1850 (see Moojan Momen, The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions 1844–1944: Some Contemporary Western accounts, Oxford: George Ronald, 1981, p. 78).
[4] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518.
[5] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518.
[6] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518–21.
[7] The majority of Qajar court histories indicate that the remains of the Bab were left unguarded to be destroyed. However, the French diplomat/historian, Nicolas, cogently argues the inaccuracy of this statement (A. L. M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Bab 378.): ‘M. de Gobineau, in agreement with the authors of the Nasikh at-Tavarikh, of Rawdat as-Safa, of Mir’at al-Buldan, in a word with all the official historians, relates that after the execution the body of the Bab was thrown in a moat of the city and devoured by dogs. In reality it was not so, and we shall see why this news had been spread by the authorities of Tabriz (little eager to draw upon themselves a rebuke of the government for a favour dearly sold) and by the Babis, desirous to prevent any further investigation by the police. The most reliable testimony of the actual witnesses of the drama or of its actors do not leave me any doubt that the body of Sayyid Ali Muhammad was carried away by pious hands and, at last, after various incidents which I shall narrate, received a burial worthy of him.’
[8] Nabíl Dawn-Breakers 522
[9] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol4/2tzh/2tzh.htm) 2: 501–3.
[10] 2 vols. Cairo: Saadah, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 368–71.
[11] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol3/tzh6/tzh6.htm) 6: 490–92.
[12] The actual date is hard to read and may be Muharram 1316.
[13] A devoted cousin of Baha’u’llah, who was also a sister of Mahd-’Uliya, Baha’u’llah’s second wife. Maryam lived in Tehran.
[14] Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 274) writes: ‘Assisted by another believer, Hájí Sháh Muhammad [i-Manshádí] buried the casket beneath the floor of the inner sanctuary of the Shrine of Imám-Zádih Zayd, where it lay undetected until Mírzá Asadu’lláh-i-Isfahání was informed of its exact location through a chart forwarded to him by Bahá’u’lláh.’
[15] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol4/2tzh/2tzh.htm) 2: 501–3
[16] According to Nabíl, ‘This decision was prompted by the wish the Báb Himself had expressed in the "Zíyárat-i-Sháh-’Abdu’l-’Azím," a Tablet He had revealed while in the neighbourhood of that shrine and which He delivered to a certain Mírzá Sulaymán-i-Khatíb, who was instructed by Him to proceed together with a number of believers to that spot and to chant it within its precincts. "Well is it with you," the Báb addressed the buried saint in words such as these, in the concluding passages of that Tablet, "to have found your resting-place in Rayy, under the shadow of My Beloved. Would that I might be entombed within the precincts of that holy ground!"‘ Dawn-Breakers 520–1.
[17] 2 vols. Cairo: Saadah, 1923, 1: 368–71
[18] ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr, Khatirát-i Muhájarí az Isfahán dar Zamán-i Sultánu’l-Shuhadá va Mahbúbu’sh-Shuhadá, Tehran, 128 BE/1971, pp. 79–80.
[19] For details see H. M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, Oxford: George Ronald, 1985, pp. 33–51.
[20] ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih, al-Kawákib al-Durriyah, 2: 49, states, ‘Aqa Husayn ‘Ali was among the devoted Baha’is who because of persecutions in Isfahan had taken refuge in Tehran and was dwelling in a neighbourhood known as Sar Qabr Aqa. It was in this house that for some six months the remains of the Primal Point were kept. Presently the aforementioned believer, in old age and with various infirmities, including blindness, lives in the same house.’
[21] This book considerably supplements A. H. Ishraq-Khavari’s Núrayn-i Nayyiran about the two martyrs of Isfahan and contains many tablets of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha. It was published through the efforts of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali’s son, Colonel ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr, Khatirát-i Muhájarí. This excerpt is from pages 68–75 of this book.
[22] According to Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 274): Mirza Asadu’llah first ‘removed the remains to his own house in Tihrán, after which they were deposited in several other localities such as the house of Husayn-i-’Alíy-i-Isfahání and that of Muhammad-Karím-i-’Attár, where they remained hidden until the year 1316 AH (1899), when, in pursuance of directions issued by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this same Mírzá Asadu’lláh, together with a number of other believers, transported them by way of Isfahán, Kirmánsháh, Baghdád and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to ‘Akká, arriving at their destination on the 19th of the month of Ramadán 1316 A.H. (January 31, 1899), fifty lunar years after the Báb’s execution in Tabríz.’ Al-Kawákib al-Durríya 2: 49 states that while in Tehran, the remains had been kept in the home of Aqa Muhammad-Karim ‘Attar, Imamzadih Hamzih and for six months in the residence of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Isfahani.
[23] In listing the Baha’i properties acquired in Iran, Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 338) recorded, ‘Other acquisitions that have greatly extended the range of Bahá’í endowments in that country include . . . the house owned by Mírzá Husayn-’Alíy-i-Núr, where the Báb’s remains had been concealed.’
Four Historical Accounts
Ahang Rabbani
Abstract
The execution of the Bab and his companion, Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Zunuzi (Anis), took place at noon on Tuesday, 9 July 1850, but it was not until 21 March 1909 that their mangled bodies were entombed in their permanent shrine on Mount Carmel, Haifa.
During this interval of 59 years, fearing destruction by entrenched enemies, these remains were concealed in a number of places, often unknown to the generality of Baha’is. The object of this article is to outline the background of this episode of Baha’i history based on early documents. Even though these accounts occasionally overlap in their description of the events, yet each contains an important perspective that has warranted their inclusion. Four accounts are here translated for the first time into English.
Introduction
Immediately after the execution of the Bab and his companion Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali Zunuzi (Anis), on Tuesday, 9 July 1850, their remains were cast by the edge of a moat outside the city of Tabriz. ‘Four companies, each consisting of ten sentinels, were ordered to keep watch in turn over them. On the morning following the day of martyrdom, the Russian consul in Tabriz, accompanied by an artist, went to that spot and ordered that a sketch be made of the remains as they lay beside the moat.’ One of the early Baha’is, Haji ‘Ali ‘Askar Tabrizi (d. 1874) reported the following to Nabil Zarandi:
An official of the Russian consulate, to whom I was related, showed me that same sketch on the very day it was drawn. It was such a faithful portrait of the Báb that I looked upon! No bullet had struck His forehead, His cheeks, or His lips. I gazed upon a smile which seemed to be still lingering upon His countenance. His body, however, had been severely mutilated. I could recognize the arms and head of His companion, who seemed to be holding Him in his embrace. As I gazed horror-struck upon that haunting picture, and saw how those noble traits had been disfigured, my heart sank within me. I turned away my face in anguish and, regaining my house, locked myself within my room. For three days and three nights, I could neither sleep nor eat, so overwhelmed was I with emotion. That short and tumultuous life, with all its sorrows, its turmoil, its banishments, and eventually the awe-inspiring martyrdom with which it had been crowned, seemed again to be re-enacted before my eyes. I tossed upon my bed, writhing in agony and pain.
Nabil gives a useful outline of the events after the martyrdom of the Bab, which is summarized here to provide a frame of reference for the later discussion.According to Nabil, it was some days earlier that through his contacts in the government circles, Haji Sulayman Khan Tabrizi (son of Yahya Khan) – an ardent believer in the Bab – learned that the Prime Minister had issued orders for the execution of the Bab. Together with some close friends, he immediately left Tehran for the purpose of the Bab’s deliverance, arriving in Tabriz a day too late. He went directly to Bagh-Mishih, a suburb of Tabriz, the home of Haji Mirza Mihdi, the kalantar of Tabriz, one of his friends and confidants, who was a dervish belonging to a Sufi mystical community. Haji Sulayman Khan was ready to take immediate action but the kalantar, being a seasoned and wise officer, advised against a rash decision and suggested to him to wait in another house for the arrival that evening of Haji Allah-Yar, a well-known gang leader in Tabriz and feared by the generality of the people.
At the appointed hour, Haji Sulayman Khan met Haji Allah-Yar and several of his armed men. That very night, they set out for the location where the remains of the Bab were left and when the guards saw the approaching men, recognizing their determination and fearing for their own lives, they quickly withdrew and allowed Haji Allah-Yar and his men to take the precious remains. Later, apprehensive that their superiors would accuse them of dereliction of duty, the sentinels announced that wild beasts had consumed the remains, a view that found currency in majority of the Qajar court histories and some European reports, but was effectively refuted by Nicolas.
The remains were taken to the silk factory owned by one of the Babis of Milan. Next day, it was laid in a specially constructed wooden case, and transferred then, according to Haji Sulayman Khan’s directions, to a place of safety. The latter immediately reported the matter to Baha’u’llah, who was in Tehran and who instructed Aqa Kalim to dispatch a special messenger to Tabriz for the purpose of transferring the bodies to the capital.
Nabil leaves the rest of the story untold, only suggesting that the sacred remains were taken to Tehran, first to Imamzadih Hasan, and from there to a secret location, which he strongly hints to be Imamzadih Shah ‘Abdu’l-‘Azim, just south of the city (Imamzadihs are shrines where a descendant of one of the Shi’i Imams is buried). He concludes his account by noting that through Baha’u’llah’s instructions, Aqa Jamal, a well-known believer of the period, searched and located that spot, but Nabil says: ‘That spot is, until now, unknown to the believers, nor can anyone conjecture where the remains will eventually be transferred.’
Therefore on this important question of what befell the remains of the Bab and at what locations they were kept until their safe transference to the Holy Land, the Dawn-Breakers – generally very informative and reliable – provides little or no help. However, fortunately there are other accounts that provide a substantial insight into the sequence of events and they are the object of our study.
Four Historical Accounts:
In this article we will consult four accounts that fill the gaps in Nabil’s comprehensive history:
(1) The first account is by Mirza Hasan Adib Taliqani, who was appointed by Baha’u’llah to the high office of the Hand of the Cause of God and who provides an outline of the events from the period of the martyrdom of the Bab until 1867 when two prominent believers, at the behest of Baha’u’llah, delivered the casket to Tehran. This account is significant by virtue of the fact that Mirza Hasan Adib, as a Hand of the Cause resident in Tehran, was well positioned to learn of the details.
(2) The second account is by the renowned historian of the Baha’i Faith, the Hand of the Cause of God Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani, which appears in his Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq.
As it will be noted, this outline is congruent with Nabil Zarandi’s narrative of the same events.
(3) The third account is by ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih, who in his history of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths, al-Kawakib al-Durriyyah, records a detailed outline based on the recollections of the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, whom Baha’u’llah had appointed and charged with the safekeeping of the remains of the Bab.
(4) The fourth and final account is based on memories of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur. It was in his house in Tehran that the remains of the Bab were kept for nearly five years.
To be sure, there are similarities and divergences among these four narratives, in comparison with one another and with Nabil’s narrative. Where they diverge, however, is only in minor details and otherwise they seem complementary. All four accounts appear to be extremely reliable giving a great insight in the sequence of events. It is most helpful to read all four together in order to fully comprehend the sequence of occurrences.
Taliqani’s account provides a perspective about the days immediately after the martyrdom of the Bab that are somewhat at variance with Nabil’s. For instance, Taliqani suggests that the remains were left in the middle of the city square, whereas Nabil insists they were taken outside the city and left by the moat. Taliqani’s information is consistent with the practice of public execution during the Qajar period when the remains of the offenders were often kept on public display as a lesson to others. Another divergence of Taliqani’s account from Nabil’s is that the former reports that upon the arrival of the remains in Tehran they were kept in Imamzadih Ma’sum, whereas Nabil suggests Imamzadih Hasan. It was kept there for some years, before being taken briefly to Masjid Masha’u’llah, then to the residence of Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir in Tehran, and then to the home of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur.
The second narrative by Fadil Mazandarani covers the same contour as Nabil’s, but provides richer details, such as the exact names, dates and locations. Given that Fadil’s history had benefited from a close consultation of Nabil’s narrative, it can be surmised that he was using the latter’s information to construct his outline, but filled in the details to make his account more accessible to the reader.
The third account by Avarih is particularly useful in understanding events surrounding the transference of the remains from Imamzadih Ma’sum to the Tehran residence of the aforementioned Vazir.
The final account is focused very much on the period from 1890 to 1895 when the remains of the Bab were kept in the Nur’s house in Tehran and should be considered as a stand-alone document.
To sum up, if one were to construct a time line for the journey of the remains of the Bab, it would be as follows:
July 1850 Martyrdom and rescue of the remains
Summer 1850–67 Imamzadih Ma’sum (south of Tehran, also known as the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih)
1867 (a few days) Masjid Masha’u’llah (south of Tehran)
1867–8 (14 months) Residence of Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir (in Tehran)
1868–90 Imamzadih Zayd (near Tehran)
1890–5 Residence of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur (in Tehran)
1895–9 House of Muhammad Karim ‘Attar (in Tehran)
1899 Transported by way of Tehran, Isfahan, Kirmanshah, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut, and then by sea to ‘Akka
31 Jan. 1899–March 1909 House of ‘Abdu’llah Pasha (in ‘Akka)
21 March 1909 Shrine of the Bab (in Haifa)
1. Taliqani’s Account
Mirza Hasan Adib Taliqani’s account covers the period of the martyrdom of the Bab until the time when Jamal Burujirdi and the Hand of the Cause Haji ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, known as Haji Akhund, delivered the casket to Tehran. We are fortunate that his fellow Hand, Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarandi, preserved this narrative in his monumental history of the Baha’i Movement, Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq (The History of the Manifestation of Truth).[11] The date of composition of this account is given by Taliqani as Muharram 1326[12] AH (February 1908):
The investigations carried out by this ephemeral servant about the sacred remains of His Holiness the Primal Point [the Bab] – may my spirit be a sacrifice unto his sanctified resting place – has revealed that after his martyrdom, the holy remains of the Bab and Mirza Muhammad ‘Ali were left abandoned in the same city square [where the execution had taken place]. This afforded the citizens the opportunity to insult and heap abuse on the remains and the hoodlums were instructed to prevent its burial.
At that time, Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim Khalil and Dhabih, who numbered among the Bab’s close companions and secretaries, together with a number of other believers, had taken refuge in a textile factory owned by Haji Ahmad Milani. They were engaged in planning various ways to rescue the sacred remains, or in the event of failure to do so, at least to learn of their whereabouts.
They decided to dispatch to the city square two Milani believers disguised as beggars and lunatics to watch over the situation. Since people tend to avoid such madmen, they were able to spend the night at the same location and in fact another believer, under the disguise of charity, was appointed to occasionally bring them food and water. They remained in the square for the first and the second days, during which time rank upon rank of the public came to see the remains. Some shed tears of remorse while others heaped all manner of abuse.
On the third day, orders were issued for the remains to be unceremoniously thrown by the city’s moat. That day the Russian consul had remarked to the local authorities: ‘In our country it is customary that when a captive survives an execution attempt, he is then pardoned and freed. Therefore, the second attempt at executing this personage [the Bab] was illegitimate. I wish to visit his remains.’
That afternoon the consul, accompanied by an artist, went by the moat where the artist made a pen-portrait of the Bab. The consul then offered a gratuity to the soldiers to bury the two corpses. The officers had moved some of the earth by the moat, buried the two bodies, and had departed.
That night Haji Sulayman Khan led a group of men, including the kalantar [and] Haji Allah-Yar, to that location. Allah-Yar stood watch to respond to opposition, while Haji Sulayman Khan, assisted by others, recovered the remains and placed them in a bag. Thereupon they left post-haste and were not followed.
After journeying for a while, Haji Allah-Yar was sent home and the rest set out towards the textile factory of Haji Ahmad Milani where Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim was awaiting their arrival. Sayyid said to them, ‘The dawn is well nigh here and I am too impatient to observe caution. We must conceal the remains immediately.’ A casket that was about a metre long was ready. With his own hands, Haji Sulayman Khan wrapped the sack containing the remains in a cloth and placed it inside the casket. From what has been learned, apparently one of the hands of Mirza Muhammad-’Ali [Anis] was separated from his body. Haji Sulayman Khan placed a bouquet of flowers commonly found in the homes of Tabrizis next to the sanctified countenance of the Bab. They quickly sealed the casket and placed it in the wall cavity, covering it with mortar.
After a few days, a tablet was received from the Ancient Beauty [Baha’u’llah] addressed to Aqa Sayyid Ibrahim, the text of which is presently extant. This tablet instructed the transfer of the remains to Tehran. The believers removed the casket from its hiding place, wrapped it in cotton and disguised it as merchandise ready for dispatch to Tehran. Haji Sulayman Khan accompanied the remains to the capital pretending to be an importer of goods from Europe.
When they arrived in Tehran, the Ancient Beauty [Baha’u’llah] was in Shimran. The believers attained his presence and reported what had transpired. Baha’u’llah dispatched Mirza Husayn Isfahani with specific instructions to take delivery of the casket. Obedient to his mandate, Mirza [Husayn] took the casket to Imamzadih Ma’sum which was located in middle of the desert [south of Tehran]. He placed the casket in an abandoned building, raised a wall in front of it, and undertook minor repairs of the surrounding walls.
No believer, man or woman, was aware of this secret, except that Baha’u’llah had informed the honoured Maryam.
A few years passed in this fashion during which the honoured Maryam had disclosed the matter to her nurse-maid. Later, others learned of this secret and soon the number of pilgrims arriving at the Imamzadih Ma’sum grew notably, providing it with considerable income. In no time it became the meeting place for the friends and strangers. Gradually much talk was taking place about this matter, which allowed many to learn of this well-guarded secret.
About then, another tablet was received from the Ancient Beauty instructing the immediate and secret removal of the holy casket to another location. After consultation, the believers decided to take the sacred trust to the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim and hide it in one of the abandoned buildings in that region. In the middle of night, Hasan Aqa and his brother went to Imamzadih Ma’sum, opened up the wall, removed the casket and made their way towards the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l‑‘Azim, to a house to which they had previously sent their wives on the pretext of a pilgrimage. Aqa Jamal [Burujirdi] and the honoured ‘Ali-Akbar [Hand of the Cause Haji Akhund] came in the morning to pay homage to the sacred trust. Everyone was proposing different thoughts and suggestions. Eventually unanimity was attained by deciding to hide the sanctified consignment in one of the rooms of the Masjid Masha’u’llah, on the edge of the desert. They opened the casket, wrapped the bag in a silk cloth and since the original box was fragile, built another box of the same size from plane-tree timber, and placed the first box inside the new one.
At night, they transferred the casket to the Masjid Masha’u’llah and placed it in one of the smaller rooms and, using the discarded bricks, raised a new wall in front of the precious trust. They returned to the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim and that afternoon departed for Tehran. On the way, once more they came by the Masjid and one of the men went inside to pay his respect when he noticed that some of the bricks on the newly erected wall had been tampered with. Greatly perplexed by the turn of events, they decided to remove the casket and take it with them to Tehran.
When they reached the capital, they became anxious thinking that the officers could discover the true identity of their cargo through inspection at the city-gate. They thought of leaving the wooden box temporarily by a moat while they devised a plan, when suddenly and unexpectedly a severe thunderstorm begun. Immediately everyone in the vicinity rushed towards the and the honoured ‘Ali-Akbar, who had the casket in front of him on his mount, was caught in their midst and was hurried through the gates without anyone inquiring of his load.
They proceeded to the home of the late Aqa Mirza Sayyid Hasan Vazir, which they considered safe, and on the pretence of depositing a trust, hid the casket in the basement [with Haji ‘Ali-Akbar Akhund remaining in the house for the next 14 months].
After some time, once more the news of the event became widely known among the believers. No matter how they tried to dissuade the friends from visiting that location, it had no effect. Finally, the late Haji Amin wrote to Baha’u’llah about the situation and in response a tablet was revealed instructing him that without the least hesitation and with great urgency he should undertake the care and protection of the sacred casket and to keep the matter strictly confidential.
This matter was kept secret until the passing of Haji Amin.
At that time, the honoured Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani was appointed to receive the casket and he moved it to the home of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Isfahani at Sar Qabr Aqa district. In the year 1314 AH [1896 AD], he returned and retrieved the sacred trust which eventually he transferred to Haifa at ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s behest.
The Master is presently raising an edifice for this purpose, which soon will be completed and will be the point of adoration of the entire world.
(2) Mazandarani’s Account
The Hand of the Cause of God Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani provides the following account, which appears in his Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq.
As the reader will note
this outline is congruent with Nabil Zarandi’s narrative of the same events:
Before the instructions of Mirza Taqi Khan, [the prime minister], for the martyrdom of the Primal Point reached Tabriz, [Haji] Sulayman Khan, son of Yahya Khan Tabrizi, who ranked among the noblemen of the nation and was a devotee of the Bab, learned of this decision. In utmost haste and accompanied by several other Babis, he left Tehran for Adharbayjan with the object of achieving the deliverance of the Bab from the clutches of the authorities and the guardsmen. However, when he arrived in Tabriz, two days had already passed from the martyrdom of the Wronged One [the Bab] and overwhelmed with grief and consternation, Sulayman Khan inquired of the circumstances from a number of the prominent Babis of that province. In the course of their consultation, they resolved that unmindful of the consequences, they would rescue the remains of the Bab from the edge of the moat where they were left with a band of soldiers who stood guard over them.
Subsequently, Sulayman Khan apprized Haji Mirza Mihdi, the kalantar of Tabriz, who was a righteous man belonging to a Sufi mystical order, of this secret decision and sought his assistance. The kalantar spoke with great sympathy and compassion, and summoned a certain Haji Allah-Yar, who was one of the gang-leaders and fearless rogues of Tabriz, and instructed him to accompany the Babis that night on this mission.
In the middle of night, which corresponded to the second evening since the martyrdom – and for a complete day and night the remains, unclad and unprotected, had been left exposed to the elements – the aforementioned group, which included Haji Allah-Yar, Sulayman Khan, Haji Muhammad-Taqi Milani, Husayn Milani and some others, went by the moat. There were all properly armed. They retrieved the abandoned remains, wrapped them in an ‘abá [cloak], placed it over their shoulders and quickly left the site.
With great haste, they proceeded to the silk factory of the above-mentioned Haji Muhammad Taqi [one of the Babis of Milan] and concealed their treasured trust in that location. Sulayman Khan and Haji Muhammad Taqi gifted a sum of money to Haji Allah-Yar for his services and rested that night with ease. Next day, they prepared a casket in the fashion of a wooden case used by merchants, wrapped their precious cargo in white silk and placed it in that container and, in accordance with Sulayman Khan’s direction, transferred it to a place of safety. Sulayman Khan also informed Baha’u’llah of what had transpired and awaited his instructions.
That night after the remains were taken to the silk factory, the aforementioned Husayn Milani proceeded post-haste to Milan and washed the blood-soaked ‘abá in the pool of Haji Muhammad-Taqi’s home and for some time the Babis were grief-stricken and bitterly sobbed over the martyrdom. When the letter of Sulayman Khan reached the presence of Baha’u’llah in Tehran, he instructed the honoured Aqa Mirza Musa Kalim to select an able, trustworthy and brave messenger and to dispatch him forthwith to Tabriz.
At the time when the Primal Point was being conducted under guard to Adharbayjan and had reached the vicinity of the village of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim, out of his love for Tehran, he had revealed a visitation tablet for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim in the course of which he had unambiguously expressed his wish to be entombed in that location.
In light of this, it was decided to transfer the casket to Tehran. Hasan Aqa Tafrishi, who was among the devoted believers and served as the second-in-command in the custom office of Adharbayjan, was enlisted for this important task. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles in conducting shipments of merchandise across the borders and within the country, and the strict regulations of the authorities trying to prevent thievery and larceny at the custom offices, and mindless of all the dangers in conducting such a mission, Hasan Aqa succeeded in safely transferring the casket to the Shrine of Imamzadih Hasan in the vicinity of Tehran. He then informed Baha’u’llah who immediately dispatched Aqa Mirza Musa Kalim and Aqa Mulla ‘Abdu’l-Karim [Qazvini], known as Mirza Ahmad Katib, to receive the casket and with utmost caution and vigilance securely deposit it at the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih, near the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim. Secretly they completed this important charge and no one was aware of its details.
During the time of Baha’u’llah’s stay in Edirne [Adrianople], about the year 1283 AH [1866 AD], Aqa Mirza Munir Kashani, was informed of the location of the burial site by the Shrine of Ibn Babuyyih, but despite his best efforts was unable to find the exact location. However, shortly thereafter, in accordance with the instructions of Baha’u’llah, Aqa Jamal Burujirdi proceeded to the same location and found the burial spot.
For their necessary protection, the remains were transferred from one place to another in Tehran and during this long period, their location was kept a well-guarded secret. At last, in the year 1317 AH [1899 AD], they were moved from Iran to Palestine and the Holy Land and eventually were laid to rest on Mount Carmel, in a magnificent and splendid shrine, which is the focus of attention of the friends and others.
(3) Avarih’s Account
‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih in his history of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths, al-Kawakib al-Durriyyah,records
the following outline based on the recollections of the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, whom Baha’u’llah had appointed and charged with the safekeeping of the remains of the Bab. Avarih states that after Haji Sulayman Khan rescued the remains of the twin martyrs from Tabriz, he safeguarded them in his own house in the Sar-Chashmih district of Tehran. After some time, the casket was taken to the Shrine of Imamzadih Ma’sum, where it remained concealed until 1867. Avarih further indicates that the reason for keeping the location of the Bab’s remains a secret were two-fold: (a) the authorities were intent on the discovery and destruction of the remains, therefore their whereabouts had to be kept from the authorities’ spies; and (b) the believers were intent on a pilgrimage to these remains and were not very discreet in their actions.
In the year [12]84 AH [1867], Baha’u’llah revealed a tablet addressed jointly to the Hand of the Cause of God Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi and Aqa Jamal Burujirdi, the renowned teacher of the time. Therein instructions were given for them to remove the remains of the Bab from Imamzadih Ma’sum to another location. Those two believers immediately set out to the said location and without any assistance dismantled the wall, which housed the precious casket. They quickly carried the casket and left for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim. Apparently, at the time there was no custodian present at the Imamzadih Ma’sum, or perhaps there was a custodian and he was not very strict. Another possibility is that usually such custodians can be approached with a little bribe. At any rate, they placed the holy casket on a mule and travelled to the vicinity of the Shrine of Abdu’l-’Azim. At first their search did not identify a safe location. Consequently, they continued with their journey towards Chishmih-’Ali.
On their way they came across an abandoned building known as Masjid Masha’u’llah. They concluded that this location was suitable for their purpose and entered the mosque at night-time and deposited the holy casket. Prior to hiding the casket, they opened its cover and noticed that the treasured remains of the Bab were wrapped in cotton cloth used for shrouding the dead. They also discovered that a flower bouquet had been placed on the Bab’s chest, which had been sprayed with bullets. The flowers were now dry and appeared to have been there for years. The assumption of this author [Avarih] is that it was Haji Sulayman Khan who had placed the flowers [in the casket] years earlier.
They removed the flowers and wrapped the sacred remains in silk, which earlier had been prepared for this purpose. Once again they placed the sanctified bodies in the casket and placed the casket under an arch-wall standing next to a near-collapsed wall. They quickly repaired the vicinity of the arch with similar bricks. During this construction activity one of the Babis resident in the Shrine of Abdu’l-’Azim assisted in supplying them with mortar.
Afterwards the two left for the village of Quch-Athar, where they remained until the afternoon of the following day. On the way back to Tehran, upon reaching the junction at Chishmih-’Ali, they became worried and concerned about the safety of the casket and returned to the mosque to ensure that their trust had remained undisturbed. This concern was well-founded as a number of farmers had seen the two men during the evening hours and following their departure had dismantled the wall and broken into the casket. However the holy remains had not been touched. The present author [Avarih] believes that the farmers had not recognized the identity of the bodies because if they had, they could have disturbed or abused the sanctified remains which may in turn have stirred up trouble in that precinct. The farmers must have thought the casket contained treasures stolen from another location and when they found that it contained just bones and flesh, they left it alone.
Haji Akhund [Shahmirzadi] has explained, ‘Once we decided to return to the mosque, Aqa Jamal accelerated at once because he had a faster mule. I reached our destination an hour later. When I came upon the mosque, I found him in a state of bewilderment. I asked what had caused him such anguish, and he replied that the wall had been damaged and the casket broken into. I was similarly distressed and rushed towards the wall. As I moved the casket, I noticed that its weight had not changed. I informed Aqa Jamal that the remains were still intact. He was elated and we lifted the broken casket onto his mule and accompanied it towards Tehran. Prior to arrival at the city-gate, we were apprehensive as the gatekeepers could inspect our load. If the true identity of the contents were discovered, not only the holy remains, but also our lives would be at peril.
At this time an astonishing incident occurred. A short time before our arrival at the city-gate, a rainstorm had begun and it quickly developed into a thunderstorm. Severe gusts of wind and rain forced all travellers from the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-’Azim to rush forward towards the gate. This enabled us to use the crowd as a cover and take the casket safely through the gate and into the city to the house of Aqa Mirza Hasan Vazir.’
Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar rented that house and stayed there for 14 months solely to protect that casket. In a short time, however, unfortunately the believers learned of this secret and arrived from far and wide to pay their respects. As hard as he tried, Haji Akhund was unable to keep this matter concealed. Some Baha’is even offered to purchase the house and turn it into a permanent Shrine of the Bab! As this was not possible and could provoke the authorities, the Hands [of the Cause of God] wrote a supplication to Baha’u’llah, seeking his guidance. Soon a response was received and they followed the instructions therein.
(4) Memoirs of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Nur
Aqa Husayn ‘Ali’s father was Aqa ‘Ali, a deeply religious Muslim who would observe his religious obligations to the point of fanaticism. When Aqa ‘Ali first heard of the Baha’i Faith, he decided to investigate its veracity, promising himself that should he find it to be the truth, he would walk to the presence of its author. Some time passed and one night he dreamt of Baha’u’llah and the Bab. Through this vision, he was confirmed in his belief and ecstatically began his journey to ‘Akka. With utmost difficulty, he reached his destination, only to be told, after a prolonged search, that Baha’u’llah was incarcerated in the city’s prison and all were barred from meeting with him. Desperate to see Baha’u’llah, Aqa ‘Ali ascended a nearby hill and from its top was able to briefly gaze on the face of Baha’u’llah who waved at him from the window of his prison cell. Thrilled with this blessing, Aqa ‘Ali wrote to Baha’u’llah and was honoured with a response in which the surname ‘Nur’ (light) was bestowed upon him. Aqa ‘Ali Nur returned to his native town of Isfahan and commenced teaching the Baha’i Faith.
Aqa Husayn ‘Ali was born in 1861 in Isfahan. When he was 18 years old, two prominent and wealthy Baha’i merchants of the city, Mirza Hasan and Mirza Husayn, surnamed the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, were wrongfully accused, seized and after considerable tortures, put to death. This event took place at the instigation of the leading ‘ulama and with the knowledge and collusion of the governor, Zillu’s-Sultan.
During the evening following these martyrdoms, Husayn ‘Ali and his older brother, Hasan ‘Ali, together with three other believers who served the King of Martyrs, secretly left the city and through unfrequented routes and after enduring great hardships eventually reached Tehran.
Gradually, they were able to re-establish themselves in the capital where Husayn ‘Ali became a successful merchant, his seed-money having been granted by Baha’u’llah. He bought a parcel of land on the south side of Bagh Firdaws (presently a women’s hospital), next to the Bazar Madar-Aqa, where he built a nine-room house. It was in this house that for four years the remains of the Bab were kept.
Some time later, Aqa Husayn ‘Ali committed to paper his fascinating memories of the King and the Beloved of Martyrs and the events leading to their slaying, and he included a chapter on the concealment of the remains of the Bab in his house in Tehran:
About the year 1269 Sh [1890], Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani and his wife arrived in Tehran from Isfahan and came to the residence of this servant, which was located south of the present Bagh Firdaws. After a few days, he mentioned, ‘We intend to continue our journey to the Holy Land, but certain objects have been left in our trust which we have placed in a box and we now wish to leave them in your care. After our return, we will come and retrieve our trust, but you must exert your utmost to ensure the protection and safekeeping of these items.’
I accepted this charge and the following day, he and his wife returned to our house carrying a wooden box. With utmost reverence, they placed the box in the room near the courtyard and asked that the room be locked and no one be permitted inside until their return the subsequent day. They took the key with them.
The next day Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah and his wife returned and this time they brought with them an iron container (known as Hishtar-khun Sanduq), which was lined with iron sheets from both outside and inside. They opened the room and the two of them entered and closed the curtains so carefully that nothing could be seen from outside and we had no idea what they were doing within the room.
They stayed inside for four hours. Finally, they emerged from the room and, summoning me forward, stated, ‘This is the trust that we would like to leave in your charge.’ I looked inside and noticed that the new iron container was locked and sealed, and placed in the centre of the room. A strong aroma of attar and musk was emanating from the container and perfuming the air. We left the container in the large, built-in pantry of the room and later, one of the Baha’i youth, who was a builder, came and brick-walled the front of the pantry.
Of course, caring for an entrusted object is a very difficult task, particularly when one believes it to be a box of the writings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. As such, after Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah’s departure, I was protecting that trust with my own life. Even at nights, I would stand guard in the room till morning and be watchful. In fact, early on, for many nights I would sleep in that room, but after a while refrained from doing so.
It went thus for two years, until once more the people of rancour and enmity in Tehran raised the standard of sedition and some of the believers, including Ibn-i Abhar, Haji Amin and Haji Mulla ‘Ali-Akbar were arrested. News was spreading throughout the city that the homes of Baha’is were being targeted for pillage and plunder. This rumour greatly disturbed me and I worried that the enemies may rush our home and steal the trust. Therefore, we convened a family consultation and it was decided to hide the entrusted container more securely.
Quickly we moved the container from the pantry on the western side of the house to a location on the eastern side, where we removed a portion of one of the thick walls and vertically inserted the container in the cavity. That night, we raised a wall in front of the cavity and covered it with plaster, which was heated all night by a fire so by the morning it was completely dry and looked identical to the other portions of the room.
That very day, I wrote to Mirza Asadu’llah Isfahani, stating, ‘Great uproar reigns throughout Tehran and rogues and ruffians are determined to harm and persecute this innocent community [i.e. Baha’is], and may even succeed in pillaging the homes of believers. Since safekeeping a trust is one of the important ordinances enjoined upon the people of Baha, until now I have protected your trust with my life. However, now there is the possibility that hoodlums may rush our house and, God forbid, harm your trust. Therefore, at your earliest, kindly arrange for your return to Tehran to retrieve this trust.’
I sent the above letter and some time later received a reply from Mirza Asadu’llah which stated that, at an opportune time, he would acquaint the Master [‘Abdu’l-Baha] with the situation and after receiving his permission, would come to Tehran to regain the entrusted container.
A year later, Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah came to Tehran, arrived at our house and asked for the container. We removed it from its hiding place inside the walls and returned it to him. After carefully inspecting it, he moved it to another location, which apparently was the home of Aqa Muhammad Karim ‘Attar.
Six months had passed when one day the postman brought a letter from Kirmanshah. Upon examining it, I noticed that it was from Aqa Mirza Asadu’llah. I quickly opened it and read that he had expressed much appreciation and gratitude for the safekeeping of the trust that had been left in my charge for nearly four years. He had further written, ‘However, your efforts in protecting this trust are not without their due reward. Indeed, they have won a prize such that even your progeny, generation after generation, will pride themselves upon your service. Your house will forever be honoured that at one time it was the repository of such a sacred trust.’ At last, he revealed, ‘Know that this trust was none other than the sanctified remains of the Wronged of the World, the Primal Point, may my soul be a ransom for his martyrdom. Know the worth of this charge as your house will one day be the site of pilgrimage of millions of people and indeed it will be regarded as one of the Faith’s holy sites.’
. . . On reading this letter, immediately the friends were invited to our house and the above letter was read for them. It was a majestic feast that rarely one similar to it had been seen before. All the friends and lovers of that Manifestation of Divinity perfumed their nostrils with the musk of the spot where the sacred remains had been deposited and prostrating themselves on that threshold, used its dust as the kohl of their eyes. It was a feast conducted in the utmost magnificence and splendour. The lovers of that Beloved of the World composed enchanting odes and sang enthralling songs. From that day, that spot was designated as one of the Faith’s holy sites. In accordance with ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s wish, a picture of the house and that room was taken and sent to the Holy Land.
Some time later, when I was privileged to be in the presence of the Master on pilgrimage, one afternoon, along with a group of believers I was invited to the home of Mirza Asadu’llah. Once more, Mirza Asadu’llah reiterated, ‘Protect that house since it is one of the Baha’i holy sites!’
This article is dedicated to the loving memory of Colonel ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr. I am grateful to Sepehr Manuchehri for suggesting inclusion of the passage from al-Kawákib al-Durríya.
Nabíl [Zarandi], The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha’i Revelation (trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi), Wilmette, IL: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1970, p. 517, indicates that the day of martyrdom was a Sunday. However, more accurate calendars as well as several Qajar histories, such as Muhammad Taqi Sipihr, Násikh at-Tavárikh, Tehran: Kitáb-furúshí Islámiyyih, 1353 AHS, vol. 3, p. 305; and Mírza Muhammad Ja’far Haqayiq-Nigar, Haqáyiq al-Akhbár Násirí, vol 1, section on 1266 AHQ events, Tehran: Dar at-Tab’ih Dawlati, 1284 AH, clearly indicate that 9 July was a Tuesday.
[3] There is consistent disagreement between the Baha’i and other histories on the day of martyrdom of the Bab. The Baha’i histories maintain that it took place on 9 July, while the Qajar histories place this event a day earlier. For example, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in many tablets, including A Traveller’s Narrative (trans. E. G. Browne), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891, vol. 2, pp. 44–45, and Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By, rev. edn., Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974, p. 52; and Nabíl in Dawn-breakers 517, mark 9 July 1850 as the day of martyrdom. However, Násikh at-Taváríkh 3: 304–5, Haqáyiq al-Akhbár Násirí (1266 AH events), Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit le Bab (Persian translation of A. L. M. Nicolas’ history by ‘Ali-Muhammad Farih-vashi), Tehran, n.d. pp. 403, 407; Mirza Yahya Azal, Mujmal Badí’ dar Vaqáyi’ Zuhúr-i Maní’ (supplement to Mirza Huseyn of Hamadan, Taríkh Jadíd or New History of Mírzá ‘Alí-Muhammad the Bab, (trans. E. G. Browne), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1893, have indicated that it took place a day earlier. Perhaps more significantly, the British diplomat in Tabriz, Richard Stevens, who discusses the execution of the Bab in his 24 July 1850 report to Justin Sheil, the British ambassador in Tehran, marks the day of martyrdom of the Bab as 8 July 1850 (see Moojan Momen, The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions 1844–1944: Some Contemporary Western accounts, Oxford: George Ronald, 1981, p. 78).
[4] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518.
[5] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518.
[6] Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers 518–21.
[7] The majority of Qajar court histories indicate that the remains of the Bab were left unguarded to be destroyed. However, the French diplomat/historian, Nicolas, cogently argues the inaccuracy of this statement (A. L. M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Bab 378.): ‘M. de Gobineau, in agreement with the authors of the Nasikh at-Tavarikh, of Rawdat as-Safa, of Mir’at al-Buldan, in a word with all the official historians, relates that after the execution the body of the Bab was thrown in a moat of the city and devoured by dogs. In reality it was not so, and we shall see why this news had been spread by the authorities of Tabriz (little eager to draw upon themselves a rebuke of the government for a favour dearly sold) and by the Babis, desirous to prevent any further investigation by the police. The most reliable testimony of the actual witnesses of the drama or of its actors do not leave me any doubt that the body of Sayyid Ali Muhammad was carried away by pious hands and, at last, after various incidents which I shall narrate, received a burial worthy of him.’
[8] Nabíl Dawn-Breakers 522
[9] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol4/2tzh/2tzh.htm) 2: 501–3.
[10] 2 vols. Cairo: Saadah, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 368–71.
[11] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol3/tzh6/tzh6.htm) 6: 490–92.
[12] The actual date is hard to read and may be Muharram 1316.
[13] A devoted cousin of Baha’u’llah, who was also a sister of Mahd-’Uliya, Baha’u’llah’s second wife. Maryam lived in Tehran.
[14] Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 274) writes: ‘Assisted by another believer, Hájí Sháh Muhammad [i-Manshádí] buried the casket beneath the floor of the inner sanctuary of the Shrine of Imám-Zádih Zayd, where it lay undetected until Mírzá Asadu’lláh-i-Isfahání was informed of its exact location through a chart forwarded to him by Bahá’u’lláh.’
[15] Taríkh Zuhúr al-Haqq (for the purpose of this translation a manuscript copy in the possession of the translator was employed; this history is also published electronically by H-Bahai at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~bahai/arabic/vol4/2tzh/2tzh.htm) 2: 501–3
[16] According to Nabíl, ‘This decision was prompted by the wish the Báb Himself had expressed in the "Zíyárat-i-Sháh-’Abdu’l-’Azím," a Tablet He had revealed while in the neighbourhood of that shrine and which He delivered to a certain Mírzá Sulaymán-i-Khatíb, who was instructed by Him to proceed together with a number of believers to that spot and to chant it within its precincts. "Well is it with you," the Báb addressed the buried saint in words such as these, in the concluding passages of that Tablet, "to have found your resting-place in Rayy, under the shadow of My Beloved. Would that I might be entombed within the precincts of that holy ground!"‘ Dawn-Breakers 520–1.
[17] 2 vols. Cairo: Saadah, 1923, 1: 368–71
[18] ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr, Khatirát-i Muhájarí az Isfahán dar Zamán-i Sultánu’l-Shuhadá va Mahbúbu’sh-Shuhadá, Tehran, 128 BE/1971, pp. 79–80.
[19] For details see H. M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, Oxford: George Ronald, 1985, pp. 33–51.
[20] ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Avarih, al-Kawákib al-Durriyah, 2: 49, states, ‘Aqa Husayn ‘Ali was among the devoted Baha’is who because of persecutions in Isfahan had taken refuge in Tehran and was dwelling in a neighbourhood known as Sar Qabr Aqa. It was in this house that for some six months the remains of the Primal Point were kept. Presently the aforementioned believer, in old age and with various infirmities, including blindness, lives in the same house.’
[21] This book considerably supplements A. H. Ishraq-Khavari’s Núrayn-i Nayyiran about the two martyrs of Isfahan and contains many tablets of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha. It was published through the efforts of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali’s son, Colonel ‘Izzatu’lláh Núr, Khatirát-i Muhájarí. This excerpt is from pages 68–75 of this book.
[22] According to Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 274): Mirza Asadu’llah first ‘removed the remains to his own house in Tihrán, after which they were deposited in several other localities such as the house of Husayn-i-’Alíy-i-Isfahání and that of Muhammad-Karím-i-’Attár, where they remained hidden until the year 1316 AH (1899), when, in pursuance of directions issued by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this same Mírzá Asadu’lláh, together with a number of other believers, transported them by way of Isfahán, Kirmánsháh, Baghdád and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to ‘Akká, arriving at their destination on the 19th of the month of Ramadán 1316 A.H. (January 31, 1899), fifty lunar years after the Báb’s execution in Tabríz.’ Al-Kawákib al-Durríya 2: 49 states that while in Tehran, the remains had been kept in the home of Aqa Muhammad-Karim ‘Attar, Imamzadih Hamzih and for six months in the residence of Aqa Husayn ‘Ali Isfahani.
[23] In listing the Baha’i properties acquired in Iran, Shoghi Effendi (God Passes By 338) recorded, ‘Other acquisitions that have greatly extended the range of Bahá’í endowments in that country include . . . the house owned by Mírzá Husayn-’Alíy-i-Núr, where the Báb’s remains had been concealed.’
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Selections from the Writings of the Báb
In the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Holy. All praise and glory befitteth the sacred and glorious court of the sovereign Lord, Who from everlasting hath dwelt, and unto everlasting will continue to dwell within the mystery of His Own divine Essence, Who from time immemorial hath abided and will forever continue to abide within His transcendent eternity, exalted above the reach and ken of all created beings. The sign of His matchless Revelation as created by Him and imprinted upon the realities of all beings, is none other but their powerlessness to know Him. The light He hath shed upon all things is none but the splendour of His Own Self. He Himself hath at all times been immeasurably exalted above any association with His creatures. He hath fashioned the entire creation in such wise that all beings may, by virtue of their innate powers, bear witness before God on the Day of Resurrection that He hath no peer or equal and is sanctified from any likeness, similitude or comparison. He hath been and will ever be one and incomparable in the transcendent glory of His divine being and He hath ever been indescribably mighty in the sublimity of His sovereign Lordship. No one hath ever been able befittingly to recognize Him nor will any man succeed at any time in comprehending Him as is truly meet and seemly, for any reality to which the term 'being' is applicable hath been created by the sovereign Will of the Almighty, Who hath shed upon it the radiance of His Own Self, shining forth from His most august station. He hath moreover deposited within the realities of all created things the emblem of His recognition, that everyone may know of a certainty that He is the Beginning and the End, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Maker and the Sustainer, the Omnipotent and the All-Knowing, the One Who heareth and perceiveth all things, He Who is invincible in His power and standeth supreme in His Own identity, He Who quickeneth and causeth to die, the All-Powerful, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the Most High. Every revelation of His divine Essence betokens the sublimity of His glory, the loftiness of His sanctity, the inaccessible height of His oneness and the exaltation of His majesty and power. His beginning hath had no beginning other than His Own firstness and His end knoweth no end save His Own lastness.1
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THE substance wherewith God hath created Me is not the clay out of which others have been formed. He hath conferred upon Me that which the worldly-wise can never comprehend, nor the faithful discover ... I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained all that is good and seemly; and whosoever hath failed to recognize Me, hath turned away from all that is true and right and hath succumbed to everything evil and unseemly.
I swear by the righteousness of Thy Lord, the Lord of all created things, the Lord of all the worlds! Were a man to rear in this world as many edifices as possible and worship God through every virtuous deed which God's knowledge embraceth, and attain the presence of the Lord, and were he, even to a measure less than that which is accountable before God, to bear in his heart a trace of malice towards Me, all his deeds would be reduced to naught and he would be deprived of the glances of God's favour, become the object of His wrath and assuredly perish. For God hath ordained that all the good things which lie in the treasury of His knowledge shall be attained through obedience unto Me, and every fire recorded in His Book, through disobedience unto Me. Methinks in this day and from this station I behold all those who cherish My love and follow My behest abiding within the mansions of Paradise, and the entire company of Mine adversaries consigned to the lowest depths of hell-fire.
By My life! But for the obligation to acknowledge the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God ... I would not have announced this unto thee... All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left...
I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things. I am the Countenance of God Whose splendour can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can never fade. Whoso recognizeth Me, assurance and all good are in store for him, and whoso faileth to recognize Me, infernal fire and all evil await him...
I swear by God, the Peerless, the Incomparable, the True One: for no other reason hath He--the supreme Testimony of God--invested Me with clear signs and tokens than that all men may be enabled to submit to His Cause.
By the righteousness of Him Who is the Absolute Truth, were the veil to be lifted, thou wouldst witness on this earthly plane all men sorely afflicted with the fire of the wrath of God, a fire fiercer and greater than the fire of hell, with the exception of those who have sought shelter beneath the shade of the tree of My love. For they in very truth are the blissful...
God beareth Me witness, I was not a man of learning, for I was trained as a merchant. In the year sixty [1260 A.H. (1844 A.D.)] God graciously infused my soul with the conclusive evidences and weighty knowledge which characterize Him Who is the Testimony of God--may peace be upon Him--until finally in that year I proclaimed God's hidden Cause and unveiled its well-guarded Pillar, in such wise that no one could refute it. 'That he who should perish might perish with a clear proof before him and he who should live might live by clear proof.' [Qur'an 8:44]
In that same year [year 60] I despatched a messenger and a book unto thee, that thou mightest act towards the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God as befitteth the station of thy sovereignty. But inasmuch as dark, dreadful and dire calamity had been irrevocably ordained by the Will of God, the book was not submitted to thy presence, through the intervention of such as regard themselves the well-wishers of the government. Up to the present, when nearly four years have passed, they have not duly presented it to Your Majesty. However, now that the fateful hour is drawing nigh, and because it is a matter of faith, not a worldly concern, therefore I have given thee a glimpse of what hath transpired.
I swear by God! Shouldst thou know the things which in the space of these four years have befallen Me at the hands of thy people and thine army, thou wouldst hold thy breath from fear of God, unless thou wouldst rise to obey the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God and make amends for thy shortcomings and failure.
While I was in Shiraz the indignities which be fell Me at the hands of its wicked and depraved Governor waxed so grievous that if thou wert acquainted with but a tithe thereof, thou wouldst deal him retributive justice. For as a result of his unmitigated oppression, thy royal court hath become, until the Day of Resurrection, the object of the wrath of God. Moreover, his indulgence in alcohol had grown so excessive that he was never sober enough to make a sound judgement. Therefore, disquieted, I was obliged to set out from Shiraz with the aim of attaining the enlightened and exalted court of Your Majesty. The Mu'tamidu'd-Dawlih then became aware of the truth of the Cause and manifested exemplary servitude and devotion to His chosen ones. When some of the ignorant people in his city arose to stir up sedition, he defended the divine Truth by affording Me protection for a while in the privacy of the Governor's residence. At length, having attained the good-pleasure of God, he repaired to his habitation in the all-highest Paradise. May God reward him graciously...
Following his ascension to the eternal Kingdom, the vicious Gurgin, resorting to all manner of treachery, false oaths and coercion, sent Me away from Isfahan with an escort of five guards on a journey which lasted seven days, without providing the barest necessities for My travel (Alas! Alas! for the things which have touched Me!), until eventually Your Majesty's order came, instructing Me to proceed to Makú...
I swear by the Most Great Lord! Wert thou to be told in what place I dwell, the first person to have mercy on Me would be thyself. In the heart of a mountain is a fortress [Makú] ... the inmates of which are confined to two guards and four dogs. Picture, then, My plight... I swear by the truth of God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know Who it is Whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy. Nay-- I, verily, acquaint thee with the truth of the matter--it is as if he hath imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth and all the chosen ones...
When this decree was made known unto Me, I wrote to him who administereth the affairs of the kingdom, saying: 'Put Me to death, I adjure thee by God, and send My head wherever thou pleasest. For surely an innocent person such as I, cannot reconcile himself to being consigned to a place reserved for criminals and let his life continue.' My plea remained unanswered. Evidently His Excellency the Haji, is not fully aware of the truth of our Cause. It would be far more heinous a deed to sadden the hearts of the faithful, whether men or women, than to lay waste the sacred House of God.
Verily, the One True God beareth Me witness that in this Day I am the true mystic Fane of God, and the Essence of all good. He who doeth good unto Me, it is as if he doeth good unto God, His angels and the entire company of His loved ones. He who doeth evil unto Me, it is as if he doeth evil unto God and His chosen ones. Nay, too exalted is the station of God and of His loved ones for any person's good or evil deed to reach their holy threshold. Whatever reacheth Me is ordained to reach Me; and that which hath come unto Me, to him who giveth will it revert. By the One in Whose hand is My soul, he hath cast no one but himself into prison. For assuredly whatsoever God hath decreed for Me shall come to pass and naught else save that which God hath ordained for us shall ever touch us. Woe betide him from whose hands floweth evil, and blessed the man from whose hands floweth good. Unto no one do I take My plaint save to God; for He is the best of judges. Every state of adversity or bliss is from Him alone, and He is the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
In brief, I hold within My grasp whatsoever any man might wish of the good of this world and of the next. Were I to remove the veil, all would recognize Me as their Best Beloved, and no one would deny Me. Let not this assertion astound Your Majesty; inasmuch as a true believer in the unity of God who keepeth his eyes directed towards Him alone, will regard aught else but Him as utter nothingness. I swear by God! I seek no earthly goods from thee, be it as much as a mustard seed. Indeed, to possess anything of this world or of the next would, in My estimation, be tantamount to open blasphemy. For it ill beseemeth the believer in the unity of God to turn his gaze to aught else, much less to hold it in his possession. I know of a certainty that since I have God, the Ever-Living, the Adored One, I am the possessor of all things, visible and invisible...
In this mountain I have remained alone, and have come to such a pass that none of those gone before Me have suffered what I have suffered, nor any transgressor endured what I have endured! I render praise unto God and yet again praise Him. I find Myself free from sorrow, inasmuch as I abide within the good-pleasure of My Lord and Master. Methinks I am in the all-highest Paradise, rejoicing at My communion with God, the Most Great. Verily this is a bounty which God hath conferred upon Me; and He is the Lord of unbounded blessings.
I swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I know, thou wouldst forgo the sovereignty of this world and of the next, that thou mightest attain My good-pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True One... Wert thou to refuse, the Lord of the world would raise up one who would exalt His Cause, and the Command of God would, verily, be carried into effect.
Through the grace of God nothing can frustrate My purpose, and I am fully conscious of that which God hath bestowed upon Me as a token of His favour. If it were My will, I would disclose to Your Majesty all things; but I have not done this, nor will I do it, that the Truth may be distinguished from aught else beside it, and this prophecy uttered by the Imam Baqir--may peace rest upon Him --be fully realized: 'What must needs befall us in dhirbay jan is inevitable and without parallel. When this happeneth, rest ye in your homes and remain patient as we have remained patient. As soon as the Mover moveth make ye haste to attain unto Him, even though ye have to crawl over the snow.'
I implore pardon of God for Myself and for all things related to Me and affirm, 'Praise be to God, the Lord of all the worlds'.2
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O SHERIF!... All thy life thou hast accorded worship unto Us, but when We manifested Ourself unto thee, thou didst desist from bearing witness unto Our Remembrance, and from affirming that He is indeed the Most Exalted, the Sovereign Truth, the All-Glorious. Thus hath Thy Lord put thee to proof in the Day of Resurrection. Verily He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
For hadst thou uttered 'Here am I' at the time We sent thee the Book, We would have admitted thee to the company of such of Our servants as truly believe, and would have graciously praised thee in Our Book, until the Day when all men shall appear before Us for judgement. This is in truth far more advantageous unto thee than all the acts of worship thou hast performed for thy Lord during all thy life, nay, from the beginning that hath no beginning. Assuredly this is what would have served and will ever serve thy best interests. Verily We are cognizant of all things. Yet notwithstanding that We had called thee into being for the purpose of attaining Our presence in the Day of Resurrection, thou didst shut thyself out from Us without any reason or explicit Writ; whereas hadst thou been among such as are endowed with the knowledge of the Bayan, thou wouldst have, at the sight of the Book, testified forthwith that there is no God but Him, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, and wouldst have affirmed that He Who hath revealed the Qur'an, hath likewise revealed this Book, that every word of it is from God, and unto it we all bear allegiance.
However, that which was preordained hath come to pass. Shouldst thou return unto Us while revelation still continueth through Us, We shall transform thy fire into light. Truly We are powerful over all things. But if thou failest in this task, thou shalt find no way open to thee other than to embrace the Cause of God and to implore that the matter of thine allegiance be brought to the attention of Him Whom God shall make manifest, that He may graciously enable thee to prosper and cause thy fire to be transformed into light. This is that which hath been sent down unto Us. Should this not come to pass, whatever We have set down shall remain binding and irrevocably decreed by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, and We shall therefore banish thee from Our presence as a token of justice on Our part. Verily we are equitable in Our judgement.3
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ALL praise be to God Who hath, through the power of Truth, sent down this Book unto His servant, that it may serve as a shining light for all mankind... Verily this is none other than the sovereign Truth; it is the Path which God hath laid out for all that are in heaven and on earth. Let him then who will, take for himself the right path unto his Lord. Verily this is the true Faith of God, and sufficient witness are God and such as are endowed with the knowledge of the Book. This is indeed the eternal Truth which God, the Ancient of Days, hath revealed unto His omnipotent Word--He Who hath been raised up from the midst of the Burning Bush. This is the Mystery which hath been hidden from all that are in heaven and on earth, and in this wondrous Revelation it hath, in very truth, been set forth in the Mother Book by the hand of God, the Exalted...
O concourse of kings and of the sons of kings! Lay aside, one and all, your dominion which belongeth unto God...
Let not thy sovereignty deceive thee, O Shah, for 'every soul shall taste of death,' [Qur'an 3:182] and this, in very truth, hath been written down as a decree of God.4
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DO not say, 'How can He speak of God while in truth His age is no more than twenty-five?' Give ye ear unto Me. I swear by the Lord of the heavens and of the earth: I am verily a servant of God. I have been made the Bearer of irrefutable proofs from the presence of Him Who is the long-expected Remnant of God. Here is My Book before your eyes, as indeed inscribed in the presence of God in the Mother Book. God hath indeed made Me blessed, wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon Me to observe prayer and fortitude so long as I shall live on earth amongst you.5
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O PEOPLE of the earth! By the righteousness of the One true God, I am the Maid of Heaven begotten by the Spirit of Baha, abiding within the Mansion hewn out of a mass of ruby, tender and vibrant; and in this mighty Paradise naught have I ever witnessed save that which proclaimeth the Remembrance of God by extolling the virtues of this Arabian Youth. Verily there is none other God but your Lord, the All-Merciful. Magnify ye, then, His station, for behold, He is poised in the midmost heart of the All-Highest Paradise as the embodiment of the praise of God in the Tabernacle wherein His glorification is intoned.
At one time I hear His Voice as He acclaimeth Him Who is the Ever-Living, the Ancient of Days, and at another time as He speaketh of the mystery of His most august Name. And when He intoneth the anthems of the greatness of God all Paradise waileth in its longing to gaze on His Beauty, and when He chanteth words of praise and glorification of God all Paradise becomes motionless like unto ice locked in the heart of a frost-bound mountain. Methinks I visioned Him moving along a straight middle path wherein every paradise was His Own paradise, every heaven His Own heaven, while the whole earth and all that is therein appeared but as a ring upon the finger of His servants. Glorified be God, His Creator, the Lord of everlasting sovereignty. Verily He is none other but the servant of God, the Gate of the Remnant of God your Lord, the Sovereign Truth.6
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O THOU the Supreme Word of God! Fear not, nor be Thou grieved, for indeed unto such as have responded to Thy Call, whether men or women, We have assured forgiveness of sins, as known in the presence of the Best Beloved and in conformity with what Thou desirest. Verily His knowledge embraceth all things. I adjure Thee by My life, set Thy face towards Me and be not apprehensive. Verily Thou art the Exalted One among the Celestial Concourse, and Thy hidden Mystery hath, of a truth, been recorded upon the Tablet of creation in the midst of the Burning Bush. Ere long God will bestow upon Thee rulership over all men, inasmuch as His rule transcendeth the whole of creation.7
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ISSUE forth from your cities, O peoples of the West and aid God ere the Day when the Lord of mercy shall come down unto you in the shadow of the clouds with the angels circling around Him [cf. Qur'an 2:206], exalting His praise and seeking forgiveness for such as have truly believed in Our signs. Verily His decree hath been issued, and the command of God, as given in the Mother Book, hath indeed been revealed...
Become as true brethren in the one and indivisible religion of God, free from distinction, for verily God desireth that your hearts should become mirrors unto your brethren in the Faith, so that ye find yourselves reflected in them, and they in you. This is the true Path of God, the Almighty, and He is indeed watchful over your actions.8
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WHENEVER the faithful hear the verses of this Book being recited, their eyes will overflow with tears and their hearts will be deeply touched by Him Who is the Most Great Remembrance for the love they cherish for God, the All-Praised. He is God, the All-Knowing, the Eternal. They are indeed the inmates of the all-highest Paradise wherein they will abide for ever. Verily they will see naught therein save that which hath proceeded from God, nothing that will lie beyond the compass of their understanding. There they will meet the believers in Paradise, who will address them with the words 'Peace, Peace' lingering on their lips...
O concourse of the faithful! Incline your ears to My Voice, proclaimed by this Remembrance of God. Verily God hath revealed unto Me that the Path of the Remembrance which is set forth by Me is, in very truth, the straight Path of God, and that whoever professeth any religion other than this upright Faith, will, when called to account on the Day of Judgement, discover that as recorded in the Book no benefit hath he reaped out of God's Religion...
Fear ye God, O concourse of kings, lest ye remain afar from Him Who is His Remembrance [the Báb], after the Truth hath come unto you with a Book and signs from God, as spoken through the wondrous tongue of Him Who is His Remembrance. Seek ye grace from God, for God hath ordained for you, after ye have believed in Him, a Garden the vastness of which is as the vastness of the whole of Paradise. Therein ye shall find naught save the gifts and favours which the Almighty hath graciously bestowed by virtue of this momentous Cause, as decreed in the Mother Book.9
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SHOULD it be Our wish, it is in Our power to compel, through the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our Cause....
Truly other apostles have been laughed to scorn before Thee [cf. Qur'an 6:10], and Thou art none other but the Servant of God, sustained by the power of Truth. Ere long We shall prolong the days of such as have rejected the Truth by reason of that which their hands have wrought [cf. ibid. 3:172], and verily God will not deal unjustly with anyone, even to the extent of a speck on a date-stone.10
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O YE peoples of the earth! By the righteousness of God, the True One, the testimony shown forth by His Remembrance is like unto a sun which the hand of the merciful Lord hath raised high in the midmost heart of the heaven, wherefrom it shineth in the plenitude of its meridian splendour...
With each and every Prophet Whom We have sent down in the past, We have established a separate Covenant concerning the Remembrance of God and His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the power of truth, are the Remembrance of God and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His mercy-seat.11
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THIS Religion is indeed, in the sight of God, the essence of the Faith of Muhammad; haste ye then to attain the celestial Paradise and the all-highest Garden of His good-pleasure in the presence of the One True God, could ye but be patient and thankful before the evidences of the signs of God.12
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AS a token of pure justice, We have indeed sent tidings unto every Prophet concerning the Cause of Our Remembrance, and verily God is supreme over all the peoples of the world.13
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IT is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God's tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God's method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future! He causeth him whom He pleaseth to enter the shadow of His Mercy. Verily, He is the Supreme Protector, the All-Generous.
There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God's Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence, which is naught but the presence of God, to sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.14
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WORSHIP thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being. Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God's creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men.
Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.
Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God's good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God's favour and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom.
The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.15
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THERE is no paradise, in the estimation of the believers in the Divine Unity, more exalted than to obey God's commandments, and there is no fire in the eyes of those who have known God and His signs, fiercer than to transgress His laws and to oppress another soul, even to the extent of a mustard seed. On the Day of Resurrection God will, in truth, judge all men, and we all verily plead for His grace.16
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GOD loveth those who are pure. Naught in the Bayan and in the sight of God is more loved than purity and immaculate cleanliness....
God desireth not to see, in the Dispensation of the Bayan, any soul deprived of joy and radiance. He indeed desireth that under all conditions, all may be adorned with such purity, both inwardly and outwardly, that no repugnance may be caused even to themselves, how much less unto others.17
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YE perform your works for God from the beginning of your lives till the end thereof, yet not a single act is for the sake of Him Who is the Manifestation of God, to Whom every good deed reverteth. Had ye acted in such manner, ye would not have suffered so grievously on the Day of Resurrection.
Behold how great is the Cause, and yet how the people are wrapt in veils. I swear by the sanctified Essence of God that every true praise and deed offered unto God is naught but praise and deed offered unto Him Whom God shall make manifest.
Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name. The dwellers of this mountain who are bereft of true understanding unceasingly utter the words, 'No God is there but God'; but what benefit doth it yield them? Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation.18
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GOD hath, at all times and under all conditions, been wholly independent of His creatures. He hath cherished and will ever cherish the desire that all men may attain His gardens of Paradise with utmost love, that no one should sadden another, not even for a moment, and that all should dwell within His cradle of protection and security until the Day of Resurrection which marketh the dayspring of the Revelation of Him Whom God will make manifest.
The Lord of the universe hath never raised up a prophet nor hath He sent down a Book unless He hath established His covenant with all men, calling for their acceptance of the next Revelation and of the next Book; inasmuch as the outpourings of His bounty are ceaseless and without limit.19
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HOW vast the number of people who are well versed in every science, yet it is their adherence to the holy Word of God which will determine their faith, inasmuch as the fruit of every science is none other than the knowledge of divine precepts and submission unto His good-pleasure.20
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O PEOPLE of the Bayan! Be on your guard; for on the Day of Resurrection no one shall find a place to flee to. He will shine forth suddenly, and will pronounce judgement as He pleaseth. If it be His wish He will cause the abased to be exalted, and the exalted to be abased, even as He did in the Bayan, couldst thou but understand. And no one but Him is equal unto this. Whatever He ordaineth will be fulfilled, and nothing will remain unfulfilled.21
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SINCE all men have issued forth from the shadow of the signs of His Divinity and Lordship, they always tend to take a path, lofty and high. And because they are bereft of a discerning eye to recognize their Beloved, they fall short of their duty to manifest meekness and humility towards Him. Nevertheless, from the beginning of their lives till the end thereof, in conformity with the laws established in the previous religion, they worship God, piously adore Him, bow themselves before His divine Reality and show submissiveness toward His exalted Essence. At the hour of His manifestation, however, they all turn their gaze toward their own selves and are thus shut out from Him, inasmuch as they fancifully regard Him as one like unto themselves. Far from the glory of God is such a comparison. Indeed that august Being resembleth the physical sun, His verses are like its rays, and all believers, should they truly believe in Him, are as mirrors wherein the sun is reflected. Their light is thus a mere reflection.22
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THE reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion is this, that thou mayest give thy best attention to the remembrance of God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved. Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted Summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion. Thus if haply thou dost live in the Day of Resurrection, the mirror of thy heart will be set towards Him Who is the Day-Star of Truth; and no sooner will His light shine forth than the splendour thereof shall forthwith be reflected in thy heart. For He is the Source of all goodness, and unto Him revert all things. But if He appeareth while thou hast turned unto thyself in meditation, this shall not profit thee, unless thou shalt mention His Name by words He hath revealed. For in the forthcoming Revelation it is He Who is the Remembrance of God, whereas the devotions which thou art offering at present have been prescribed by the Point of the Bayan, while He Who will shine resplendent in the Day of Resurrection is the Revelation of the inner reality enshrined in the Point of the Bayan --a Revelation more potent, immeasurably more potent, than the one which hath preceded it.23
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IT is seemly that the servant should, after each prayer, supplicate God to bestow mercy and forgiveness upon his parents. Thereupon God's call will be raised: 'Thousand upon thousand of what thou hast asked for thy parents shall be thy recompense!' Blessed is he who remembereth his parents when communing with God. There is, verily, no God but Him, the Mighty, the Well-Beloved.24
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AS this physical frame is the throne of the inner temple, whatever occurs to the former is felt by the latter. In reality that which takes delight in joy or is saddened by pain is the inner temple of the body, not the body itself. Since this physical body is the throne whereon the inner temple is established, God hath ordained that the body be preserved to the extent possible, so that nothing that causeth repugnance may be experienced. The inner temple beholdeth its physical frame, which is its throne. Thus, if the latter is accorded respect, it is as if the former is the recipient. The converse is likewise true.
Therefore, it hath been ordained that the dead body should be treated with the utmost honour and respect.25
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THE One true God may be compared unto the sun and the believer unto a mirror. No sooner is the mirror placed before the sun than it reflects its light. The unbeliever may be likened unto a stone. No matter how long it is exposed to the sunshine, it cannot reflect the sun. Thus the former layeth down his life as a sacrifice, while the latter doeth against God what he committeth. Indeed, if God willeth, He is potent to turn the stone into a mirror, but the person himself remaineth reconciled to his state. Had he wished to become a crystal, God would have made him to assume crystal form. For on that Day whatever cause prompteth the believer to believe in Him, the same will also be available to the unbeliever. But when the latter suffereth himself to be wrapt in veils, the same cause shutteth him out as by a veil. Thus, as is clearly evident today, those who have set their faces toward God, the True One, have believed in Him because of the Bayan, while such as are veiled have been deprived because of it.26
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PRAISE be to God that He hath enabled us to become cognizant of Him Whom God shall make manifest in the Day of Resurrection, so that we may derive benefit from the fruit of our existence and be not deprived of attaining the presence of God. For indeed this is the object of our creation and the sole purpose underlying every virtuous deed we may perform. Such is the bounty which God hath conferred upon us; verily He is the All-Bountiful, the Gracious. Know thou, that thou wilt succeed in doing so if thou believest with undoubting faith. However, since thou canst not attain the state of undoubting faith, due to the intervening veils of thy selfish desires, therefore thou wilt tarry in the fire, though realizing it not. On the Day of His manifestation, unless thou truly believest in Him, naught can save thee from the fire, even if thou dost perform every righteous deed. If thou embracest the Truth, everything good and seemly shall be set down for thee in the Book of God, and by virtue of this thou wilt rejoice in the all-highest Paradise until the following Resurrection.
Consider with due attention, for the path is very strait, even while it is more spacious than the heavens and the earth and what is between them. For instance, if all those who were expecting the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus had been assured of the manifestation of Muhammad, the Apostle of God, not one would have turned aside from the sayings of Jesus. So likewise in the Revelation of the Point of the Bayan, if all should be assured that this is that same Promised Mihdi [One Who is guided] whom the Apostle of God foretold, not one of the believers in the Qur'an would turn aside from the sayings of the Apostle of God. So likewise in the Revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest, behold the same thing; for should all be assured that He is that same 'He Whom God shall make manifest' whom the Point of the Bayan hath foretold, not one would turn aside.27
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THOU hast asked concerning the fundamentals of religion and its ordinances: Know thou that first and foremost in religion is the knowledge of God. This attaineth its consummation in the recognition of His divine unity, which in turn reacheth its fulfilment in acclaiming that His hallowed and exalted Sanctuary, the Seat of His transcendent majesty, is sanctified from all attributes. And know thou that in this world of being the knowledge of God can never be attained save through the knowledge of Him Who is the Dayspring of divine Reality.28
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GRACIOUS God! Within the domains of Islam there are at present seven powerful sovereigns ruling the world. None of them hath been informed of His [the Báb's] Manifestation, and if informed, none hath believed in Him. Who knoweth, they may leave this world below full of desire, and without having realized that the thing for which they were waiting had come to pass. This is what happened to the monarchs that held fast unto the Gospel. They awaited the coming of the Prophet of God [Muhammad], and when He did appear, they failed to recognize Him. Behold how great are the sums which these sovereigns expend without even the slightest thought of appointing an official charged with the task of acquainting them in their own realms with the Manifestation of God! They would thereby have fulfilled the purpose for which they have been created. All their desires have been and are still fixed upon leaving behind them traces of their names.29
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LET Me set forth some rational arguments for thee. If someone desireth to embrace the Faith of Islam today, would the testimony of God prove conclusive for him? If thou dost contend that it would not, then how is it that God will chastise him after death, and that, while he lives, the verdict of 'non-believer' is passed upon him? If thou affirmest that the testimony is conclusive, how wouldst thou prove this? If thy assertion is based on hearsay, then mere words are unacceptable as a binding testimony; but if thou deemest the Qur'an as the testimony, this would be a weighty and evident proof.
Now consider the Revelation of the Bayan. If the followers of the Qur'an had applied to themselves proofs similar to those which they advance for the non-believers in Islam, not a single soul would have remained deprived of the Truth, and on the Day of Resurrection everyone would have attained salvation.
Should a Christian contend, 'How can I deem the Qur'an a testimony while I am unable to understand it?' such a contention would not be acceptable. Likewise the people of the Qur'an disdainfully observe, 'We are unable to comprehend the eloquence of the verses in the Bayan, how can we regard it as a testimony?' Whoever uttereth such words, say unto him, 'O thou untutored one! By what proof hast thou embraced the Religion of Islam? Is it the Prophet on whom thou hast never set eyes? Is it the miracles which thou hast never witnessed? If thou hast accepted Islam unwittingly, wherefore hast thou done so? But if thou hast embraced the Faith by recognizing the Qur'an as the testimony, because thou hast heard the learned and the faithful express their powerlessness before it, or if thou hast, upon hearing the divine verses and by virtue of thy spontaneous love for the True Word of God, responded in a spirit of utter humility and lowliness--a spirit which is one of the mightiest signs of true love and understanding--then such proofs have been and will ever be regarded as sound.'30
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RID thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this prayer:
Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.
Regard not the all-sufficing power of God as an idle fancy. It is that genuine faith which thou cherishest for the Manifestation of God in every Dispensation. It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would suffice thee. If thou art not a believer, the Tree of divine Truth would condemn thee to extinction. If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou possess nothing.31
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SHOULD a person lay claim to a cause and produce his proofs, then those who seek to repudiate him are required to produce proofs like unto his. If they succeed in doing so, his words will prove vain and they will prevail; otherwise neither his words will cease nor the proofs he hath set forth will become void. I admonish you, O ye who are invested with the Bayan, if ye would fain assert your ascendancy, confront not any soul unless ye give proofs similar to that which he hath adduced; for Truth shall be firmly established, while aught else besides it is sure to perish.
How numerous the people who engaged in contests with Muhammad, the Apostle of God, and were eventually reduced to naught, inasmuch as they were powerless to bring forth proofs similar to that which God had sent down unto Him. Had they been abashed and modest, and had they realized the nature of the proofs wherewith He was invested, they would never have challenged Him. But they regarded themselves as champions of their own religion. Therefore God laid hold on them according to their deserts and vindicated the Truth through the power of Truth. This is what ye clearly perceive today in the Muhammadan Revelation.
Who is the man amongst you who can challenge the exalted Thrones of Reality in every Dispensation, while all existence is wholly dependent upon Them? Indeed, God hath wiped out all those who have opposed Them from the beginning that hath no beginning until the present day and hath conclusively demonstrated the Truth through the power of Truth. Verily, He is the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.32
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CONSIDER how at the time of the appearance of every Revelation, those who open their hearts to the Author of that Revelation recognize the Truth, while the hearts of those who fail to apprehend the Truth are straitened by reason of their shutting themselves out from Him. However, openness of heart is bestowed by God upon both parties alike. God desireth not to straiten the heart of anyone, be it even an ant, how much less the heart of a superior creature, except when he suffereth himself to be wrapt in veils, for God is the Creator of all things.
Wert thou to open the heart of a single soul by helping him to embrace the Cause of Him Whom God shall make manifest, thine inmost being would be filled with the inspirations of that august Name. It devolveth upon you, therefore, to perform this task in the Days of Resurrection, inasmuch as most people are helpless, and wert thou to open their hearts and dispel their doubts, they would gain admittance into the Faith of God. Therefore, manifest thou this attribute to the utmost of thine ability in the days of Him Whom God shall make manifest. For indeed if thou dost open the heart of a person for His sake, better will it be for thee than every virtuous deed; since deeds are secondary to faith in Him and certitude in His Reality.33
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HOW great the number of people who deck themselves with robes of silk all their lives, while clad in the garb of fire, inasmuch as they have divested themselves of the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness; and how numerous are those who wear clothes made of cotton or coarse wool throughout their lives, and yet by reason of their being endowed with the vesture of divine guidance and righteousness, are truly attired with the raiment of Paradise and take delight in the good-pleasure of God. Indeed it would be better in the sight of God were ye to combine the two, adorning yourselves with the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness and wearing exquisite silk, if ye can afford to do so. If not, at least act ye not unrighteously, but rather observe piety and virtue...
But for the sole reason of His being present amongst this people, We would have neither prescribed any law nor laid down any prohibition. It is only for the glorification of His Name and the exaltation of His Cause that We have enunciated certain laws at Our behest, or forbidden the acts to which We are averse, so that at the hour of His manifestation ye may attain through Him the good-pleasure of God and abstain from the things that are abhorrent unto Him.
Say, verily, the good-pleasure of Him Whom God shall make manifest is the good-pleasure of God, while the displeasure of Him Whom God shall make manifest is none other than the displeasure of God. Avoid ye His displeasure, and flee for refuge unto His good-pleasure. Say, the living guides to His good-pleasure are such as truly believe in Him and are well-assured in their faith, while the living testimonies of His displeasure are those who, when they hear the verses of God sent forth from His presence, or read the divine words revealed by Him, do not instantly embrace the Faith and attain unto certitude.34
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SAY, God is the Lord and all are worshippers unto Him.
Say, God is the True One and all pay homage unto Him.
This is God, your Lord, and unto Him shall ye return.
Is there any doubt concerning God? He hath created you and all things. The Lord of all worlds is He.35
Selections from the Writings of the Báb: Part II
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Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976), pp. 111-12.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 11-17.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 29-30.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 41.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 47.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 54-55.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 55.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 56.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 62-3.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 68.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 68.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 71.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 77.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 77-8.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 79.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 80.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 86.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 86-7.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 88.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 93-4.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 94.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 95.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 103.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 110-111.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 117.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 117.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 119-20.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 123.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 131-32.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 133.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 149.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 153.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 156-57.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 157-58.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 158-59.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 160-61.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 163-64.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 174-75.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 176.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 177.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 178.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 178-79.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 179-80.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 182.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 182-83.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 186.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 186-87.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 187-88.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 188-89.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 189-91.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 191.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 191-92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 192-93.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 193.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 193.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 194.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 194-95.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 196-98.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 204-05.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 205-06.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 209.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 210.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 210.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 210-11.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 212-13.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 213-14.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 214.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 214-15.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 215-16.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 216.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 217.
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In the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Holy. All praise and glory befitteth the sacred and glorious court of the sovereign Lord, Who from everlasting hath dwelt, and unto everlasting will continue to dwell within the mystery of His Own divine Essence, Who from time immemorial hath abided and will forever continue to abide within His transcendent eternity, exalted above the reach and ken of all created beings. The sign of His matchless Revelation as created by Him and imprinted upon the realities of all beings, is none other but their powerlessness to know Him. The light He hath shed upon all things is none but the splendour of His Own Self. He Himself hath at all times been immeasurably exalted above any association with His creatures. He hath fashioned the entire creation in such wise that all beings may, by virtue of their innate powers, bear witness before God on the Day of Resurrection that He hath no peer or equal and is sanctified from any likeness, similitude or comparison. He hath been and will ever be one and incomparable in the transcendent glory of His divine being and He hath ever been indescribably mighty in the sublimity of His sovereign Lordship. No one hath ever been able befittingly to recognize Him nor will any man succeed at any time in comprehending Him as is truly meet and seemly, for any reality to which the term 'being' is applicable hath been created by the sovereign Will of the Almighty, Who hath shed upon it the radiance of His Own Self, shining forth from His most august station. He hath moreover deposited within the realities of all created things the emblem of His recognition, that everyone may know of a certainty that He is the Beginning and the End, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Maker and the Sustainer, the Omnipotent and the All-Knowing, the One Who heareth and perceiveth all things, He Who is invincible in His power and standeth supreme in His Own identity, He Who quickeneth and causeth to die, the All-Powerful, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the Most High. Every revelation of His divine Essence betokens the sublimity of His glory, the loftiness of His sanctity, the inaccessible height of His oneness and the exaltation of His majesty and power. His beginning hath had no beginning other than His Own firstness and His end knoweth no end save His Own lastness.1
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THE substance wherewith God hath created Me is not the clay out of which others have been formed. He hath conferred upon Me that which the worldly-wise can never comprehend, nor the faithful discover ... I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained all that is good and seemly; and whosoever hath failed to recognize Me, hath turned away from all that is true and right and hath succumbed to everything evil and unseemly.
I swear by the righteousness of Thy Lord, the Lord of all created things, the Lord of all the worlds! Were a man to rear in this world as many edifices as possible and worship God through every virtuous deed which God's knowledge embraceth, and attain the presence of the Lord, and were he, even to a measure less than that which is accountable before God, to bear in his heart a trace of malice towards Me, all his deeds would be reduced to naught and he would be deprived of the glances of God's favour, become the object of His wrath and assuredly perish. For God hath ordained that all the good things which lie in the treasury of His knowledge shall be attained through obedience unto Me, and every fire recorded in His Book, through disobedience unto Me. Methinks in this day and from this station I behold all those who cherish My love and follow My behest abiding within the mansions of Paradise, and the entire company of Mine adversaries consigned to the lowest depths of hell-fire.
By My life! But for the obligation to acknowledge the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God ... I would not have announced this unto thee... All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left...
I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things. I am the Countenance of God Whose splendour can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can never fade. Whoso recognizeth Me, assurance and all good are in store for him, and whoso faileth to recognize Me, infernal fire and all evil await him...
I swear by God, the Peerless, the Incomparable, the True One: for no other reason hath He--the supreme Testimony of God--invested Me with clear signs and tokens than that all men may be enabled to submit to His Cause.
By the righteousness of Him Who is the Absolute Truth, were the veil to be lifted, thou wouldst witness on this earthly plane all men sorely afflicted with the fire of the wrath of God, a fire fiercer and greater than the fire of hell, with the exception of those who have sought shelter beneath the shade of the tree of My love. For they in very truth are the blissful...
God beareth Me witness, I was not a man of learning, for I was trained as a merchant. In the year sixty [1260 A.H. (1844 A.D.)] God graciously infused my soul with the conclusive evidences and weighty knowledge which characterize Him Who is the Testimony of God--may peace be upon Him--until finally in that year I proclaimed God's hidden Cause and unveiled its well-guarded Pillar, in such wise that no one could refute it. 'That he who should perish might perish with a clear proof before him and he who should live might live by clear proof.' [Qur'an 8:44]
In that same year [year 60] I despatched a messenger and a book unto thee, that thou mightest act towards the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God as befitteth the station of thy sovereignty. But inasmuch as dark, dreadful and dire calamity had been irrevocably ordained by the Will of God, the book was not submitted to thy presence, through the intervention of such as regard themselves the well-wishers of the government. Up to the present, when nearly four years have passed, they have not duly presented it to Your Majesty. However, now that the fateful hour is drawing nigh, and because it is a matter of faith, not a worldly concern, therefore I have given thee a glimpse of what hath transpired.
I swear by God! Shouldst thou know the things which in the space of these four years have befallen Me at the hands of thy people and thine army, thou wouldst hold thy breath from fear of God, unless thou wouldst rise to obey the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God and make amends for thy shortcomings and failure.
While I was in Shiraz the indignities which be fell Me at the hands of its wicked and depraved Governor waxed so grievous that if thou wert acquainted with but a tithe thereof, thou wouldst deal him retributive justice. For as a result of his unmitigated oppression, thy royal court hath become, until the Day of Resurrection, the object of the wrath of God. Moreover, his indulgence in alcohol had grown so excessive that he was never sober enough to make a sound judgement. Therefore, disquieted, I was obliged to set out from Shiraz with the aim of attaining the enlightened and exalted court of Your Majesty. The Mu'tamidu'd-Dawlih then became aware of the truth of the Cause and manifested exemplary servitude and devotion to His chosen ones. When some of the ignorant people in his city arose to stir up sedition, he defended the divine Truth by affording Me protection for a while in the privacy of the Governor's residence. At length, having attained the good-pleasure of God, he repaired to his habitation in the all-highest Paradise. May God reward him graciously...
Following his ascension to the eternal Kingdom, the vicious Gurgin, resorting to all manner of treachery, false oaths and coercion, sent Me away from Isfahan with an escort of five guards on a journey which lasted seven days, without providing the barest necessities for My travel (Alas! Alas! for the things which have touched Me!), until eventually Your Majesty's order came, instructing Me to proceed to Makú...
I swear by the Most Great Lord! Wert thou to be told in what place I dwell, the first person to have mercy on Me would be thyself. In the heart of a mountain is a fortress [Makú] ... the inmates of which are confined to two guards and four dogs. Picture, then, My plight... I swear by the truth of God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know Who it is Whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy. Nay-- I, verily, acquaint thee with the truth of the matter--it is as if he hath imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth and all the chosen ones...
When this decree was made known unto Me, I wrote to him who administereth the affairs of the kingdom, saying: 'Put Me to death, I adjure thee by God, and send My head wherever thou pleasest. For surely an innocent person such as I, cannot reconcile himself to being consigned to a place reserved for criminals and let his life continue.' My plea remained unanswered. Evidently His Excellency the Haji, is not fully aware of the truth of our Cause. It would be far more heinous a deed to sadden the hearts of the faithful, whether men or women, than to lay waste the sacred House of God.
Verily, the One True God beareth Me witness that in this Day I am the true mystic Fane of God, and the Essence of all good. He who doeth good unto Me, it is as if he doeth good unto God, His angels and the entire company of His loved ones. He who doeth evil unto Me, it is as if he doeth evil unto God and His chosen ones. Nay, too exalted is the station of God and of His loved ones for any person's good or evil deed to reach their holy threshold. Whatever reacheth Me is ordained to reach Me; and that which hath come unto Me, to him who giveth will it revert. By the One in Whose hand is My soul, he hath cast no one but himself into prison. For assuredly whatsoever God hath decreed for Me shall come to pass and naught else save that which God hath ordained for us shall ever touch us. Woe betide him from whose hands floweth evil, and blessed the man from whose hands floweth good. Unto no one do I take My plaint save to God; for He is the best of judges. Every state of adversity or bliss is from Him alone, and He is the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
In brief, I hold within My grasp whatsoever any man might wish of the good of this world and of the next. Were I to remove the veil, all would recognize Me as their Best Beloved, and no one would deny Me. Let not this assertion astound Your Majesty; inasmuch as a true believer in the unity of God who keepeth his eyes directed towards Him alone, will regard aught else but Him as utter nothingness. I swear by God! I seek no earthly goods from thee, be it as much as a mustard seed. Indeed, to possess anything of this world or of the next would, in My estimation, be tantamount to open blasphemy. For it ill beseemeth the believer in the unity of God to turn his gaze to aught else, much less to hold it in his possession. I know of a certainty that since I have God, the Ever-Living, the Adored One, I am the possessor of all things, visible and invisible...
In this mountain I have remained alone, and have come to such a pass that none of those gone before Me have suffered what I have suffered, nor any transgressor endured what I have endured! I render praise unto God and yet again praise Him. I find Myself free from sorrow, inasmuch as I abide within the good-pleasure of My Lord and Master. Methinks I am in the all-highest Paradise, rejoicing at My communion with God, the Most Great. Verily this is a bounty which God hath conferred upon Me; and He is the Lord of unbounded blessings.
I swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I know, thou wouldst forgo the sovereignty of this world and of the next, that thou mightest attain My good-pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True One... Wert thou to refuse, the Lord of the world would raise up one who would exalt His Cause, and the Command of God would, verily, be carried into effect.
Through the grace of God nothing can frustrate My purpose, and I am fully conscious of that which God hath bestowed upon Me as a token of His favour. If it were My will, I would disclose to Your Majesty all things; but I have not done this, nor will I do it, that the Truth may be distinguished from aught else beside it, and this prophecy uttered by the Imam Baqir--may peace rest upon Him --be fully realized: 'What must needs befall us in dhirbay jan is inevitable and without parallel. When this happeneth, rest ye in your homes and remain patient as we have remained patient. As soon as the Mover moveth make ye haste to attain unto Him, even though ye have to crawl over the snow.'
I implore pardon of God for Myself and for all things related to Me and affirm, 'Praise be to God, the Lord of all the worlds'.2
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O SHERIF!... All thy life thou hast accorded worship unto Us, but when We manifested Ourself unto thee, thou didst desist from bearing witness unto Our Remembrance, and from affirming that He is indeed the Most Exalted, the Sovereign Truth, the All-Glorious. Thus hath Thy Lord put thee to proof in the Day of Resurrection. Verily He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
For hadst thou uttered 'Here am I' at the time We sent thee the Book, We would have admitted thee to the company of such of Our servants as truly believe, and would have graciously praised thee in Our Book, until the Day when all men shall appear before Us for judgement. This is in truth far more advantageous unto thee than all the acts of worship thou hast performed for thy Lord during all thy life, nay, from the beginning that hath no beginning. Assuredly this is what would have served and will ever serve thy best interests. Verily We are cognizant of all things. Yet notwithstanding that We had called thee into being for the purpose of attaining Our presence in the Day of Resurrection, thou didst shut thyself out from Us without any reason or explicit Writ; whereas hadst thou been among such as are endowed with the knowledge of the Bayan, thou wouldst have, at the sight of the Book, testified forthwith that there is no God but Him, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, and wouldst have affirmed that He Who hath revealed the Qur'an, hath likewise revealed this Book, that every word of it is from God, and unto it we all bear allegiance.
However, that which was preordained hath come to pass. Shouldst thou return unto Us while revelation still continueth through Us, We shall transform thy fire into light. Truly We are powerful over all things. But if thou failest in this task, thou shalt find no way open to thee other than to embrace the Cause of God and to implore that the matter of thine allegiance be brought to the attention of Him Whom God shall make manifest, that He may graciously enable thee to prosper and cause thy fire to be transformed into light. This is that which hath been sent down unto Us. Should this not come to pass, whatever We have set down shall remain binding and irrevocably decreed by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, and We shall therefore banish thee from Our presence as a token of justice on Our part. Verily we are equitable in Our judgement.3
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ALL praise be to God Who hath, through the power of Truth, sent down this Book unto His servant, that it may serve as a shining light for all mankind... Verily this is none other than the sovereign Truth; it is the Path which God hath laid out for all that are in heaven and on earth. Let him then who will, take for himself the right path unto his Lord. Verily this is the true Faith of God, and sufficient witness are God and such as are endowed with the knowledge of the Book. This is indeed the eternal Truth which God, the Ancient of Days, hath revealed unto His omnipotent Word--He Who hath been raised up from the midst of the Burning Bush. This is the Mystery which hath been hidden from all that are in heaven and on earth, and in this wondrous Revelation it hath, in very truth, been set forth in the Mother Book by the hand of God, the Exalted...
O concourse of kings and of the sons of kings! Lay aside, one and all, your dominion which belongeth unto God...
Let not thy sovereignty deceive thee, O Shah, for 'every soul shall taste of death,' [Qur'an 3:182] and this, in very truth, hath been written down as a decree of God.4
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DO not say, 'How can He speak of God while in truth His age is no more than twenty-five?' Give ye ear unto Me. I swear by the Lord of the heavens and of the earth: I am verily a servant of God. I have been made the Bearer of irrefutable proofs from the presence of Him Who is the long-expected Remnant of God. Here is My Book before your eyes, as indeed inscribed in the presence of God in the Mother Book. God hath indeed made Me blessed, wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon Me to observe prayer and fortitude so long as I shall live on earth amongst you.5
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O PEOPLE of the earth! By the righteousness of the One true God, I am the Maid of Heaven begotten by the Spirit of Baha, abiding within the Mansion hewn out of a mass of ruby, tender and vibrant; and in this mighty Paradise naught have I ever witnessed save that which proclaimeth the Remembrance of God by extolling the virtues of this Arabian Youth. Verily there is none other God but your Lord, the All-Merciful. Magnify ye, then, His station, for behold, He is poised in the midmost heart of the All-Highest Paradise as the embodiment of the praise of God in the Tabernacle wherein His glorification is intoned.
At one time I hear His Voice as He acclaimeth Him Who is the Ever-Living, the Ancient of Days, and at another time as He speaketh of the mystery of His most august Name. And when He intoneth the anthems of the greatness of God all Paradise waileth in its longing to gaze on His Beauty, and when He chanteth words of praise and glorification of God all Paradise becomes motionless like unto ice locked in the heart of a frost-bound mountain. Methinks I visioned Him moving along a straight middle path wherein every paradise was His Own paradise, every heaven His Own heaven, while the whole earth and all that is therein appeared but as a ring upon the finger of His servants. Glorified be God, His Creator, the Lord of everlasting sovereignty. Verily He is none other but the servant of God, the Gate of the Remnant of God your Lord, the Sovereign Truth.6
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O THOU the Supreme Word of God! Fear not, nor be Thou grieved, for indeed unto such as have responded to Thy Call, whether men or women, We have assured forgiveness of sins, as known in the presence of the Best Beloved and in conformity with what Thou desirest. Verily His knowledge embraceth all things. I adjure Thee by My life, set Thy face towards Me and be not apprehensive. Verily Thou art the Exalted One among the Celestial Concourse, and Thy hidden Mystery hath, of a truth, been recorded upon the Tablet of creation in the midst of the Burning Bush. Ere long God will bestow upon Thee rulership over all men, inasmuch as His rule transcendeth the whole of creation.7
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ISSUE forth from your cities, O peoples of the West and aid God ere the Day when the Lord of mercy shall come down unto you in the shadow of the clouds with the angels circling around Him [cf. Qur'an 2:206], exalting His praise and seeking forgiveness for such as have truly believed in Our signs. Verily His decree hath been issued, and the command of God, as given in the Mother Book, hath indeed been revealed...
Become as true brethren in the one and indivisible religion of God, free from distinction, for verily God desireth that your hearts should become mirrors unto your brethren in the Faith, so that ye find yourselves reflected in them, and they in you. This is the true Path of God, the Almighty, and He is indeed watchful over your actions.8
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WHENEVER the faithful hear the verses of this Book being recited, their eyes will overflow with tears and their hearts will be deeply touched by Him Who is the Most Great Remembrance for the love they cherish for God, the All-Praised. He is God, the All-Knowing, the Eternal. They are indeed the inmates of the all-highest Paradise wherein they will abide for ever. Verily they will see naught therein save that which hath proceeded from God, nothing that will lie beyond the compass of their understanding. There they will meet the believers in Paradise, who will address them with the words 'Peace, Peace' lingering on their lips...
O concourse of the faithful! Incline your ears to My Voice, proclaimed by this Remembrance of God. Verily God hath revealed unto Me that the Path of the Remembrance which is set forth by Me is, in very truth, the straight Path of God, and that whoever professeth any religion other than this upright Faith, will, when called to account on the Day of Judgement, discover that as recorded in the Book no benefit hath he reaped out of God's Religion...
Fear ye God, O concourse of kings, lest ye remain afar from Him Who is His Remembrance [the Báb], after the Truth hath come unto you with a Book and signs from God, as spoken through the wondrous tongue of Him Who is His Remembrance. Seek ye grace from God, for God hath ordained for you, after ye have believed in Him, a Garden the vastness of which is as the vastness of the whole of Paradise. Therein ye shall find naught save the gifts and favours which the Almighty hath graciously bestowed by virtue of this momentous Cause, as decreed in the Mother Book.9
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SHOULD it be Our wish, it is in Our power to compel, through the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our Cause....
Truly other apostles have been laughed to scorn before Thee [cf. Qur'an 6:10], and Thou art none other but the Servant of God, sustained by the power of Truth. Ere long We shall prolong the days of such as have rejected the Truth by reason of that which their hands have wrought [cf. ibid. 3:172], and verily God will not deal unjustly with anyone, even to the extent of a speck on a date-stone.10
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O YE peoples of the earth! By the righteousness of God, the True One, the testimony shown forth by His Remembrance is like unto a sun which the hand of the merciful Lord hath raised high in the midmost heart of the heaven, wherefrom it shineth in the plenitude of its meridian splendour...
With each and every Prophet Whom We have sent down in the past, We have established a separate Covenant concerning the Remembrance of God and His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the power of truth, are the Remembrance of God and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His mercy-seat.11
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THIS Religion is indeed, in the sight of God, the essence of the Faith of Muhammad; haste ye then to attain the celestial Paradise and the all-highest Garden of His good-pleasure in the presence of the One True God, could ye but be patient and thankful before the evidences of the signs of God.12
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AS a token of pure justice, We have indeed sent tidings unto every Prophet concerning the Cause of Our Remembrance, and verily God is supreme over all the peoples of the world.13
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IT is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God's tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God's method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future! He causeth him whom He pleaseth to enter the shadow of His Mercy. Verily, He is the Supreme Protector, the All-Generous.
There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God's Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence, which is naught but the presence of God, to sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.14
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WORSHIP thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being. Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God's creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men.
Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.
Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God's good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God's favour and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom.
The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.15
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THERE is no paradise, in the estimation of the believers in the Divine Unity, more exalted than to obey God's commandments, and there is no fire in the eyes of those who have known God and His signs, fiercer than to transgress His laws and to oppress another soul, even to the extent of a mustard seed. On the Day of Resurrection God will, in truth, judge all men, and we all verily plead for His grace.16
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GOD loveth those who are pure. Naught in the Bayan and in the sight of God is more loved than purity and immaculate cleanliness....
God desireth not to see, in the Dispensation of the Bayan, any soul deprived of joy and radiance. He indeed desireth that under all conditions, all may be adorned with such purity, both inwardly and outwardly, that no repugnance may be caused even to themselves, how much less unto others.17
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YE perform your works for God from the beginning of your lives till the end thereof, yet not a single act is for the sake of Him Who is the Manifestation of God, to Whom every good deed reverteth. Had ye acted in such manner, ye would not have suffered so grievously on the Day of Resurrection.
Behold how great is the Cause, and yet how the people are wrapt in veils. I swear by the sanctified Essence of God that every true praise and deed offered unto God is naught but praise and deed offered unto Him Whom God shall make manifest.
Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name. The dwellers of this mountain who are bereft of true understanding unceasingly utter the words, 'No God is there but God'; but what benefit doth it yield them? Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation.18
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GOD hath, at all times and under all conditions, been wholly independent of His creatures. He hath cherished and will ever cherish the desire that all men may attain His gardens of Paradise with utmost love, that no one should sadden another, not even for a moment, and that all should dwell within His cradle of protection and security until the Day of Resurrection which marketh the dayspring of the Revelation of Him Whom God will make manifest.
The Lord of the universe hath never raised up a prophet nor hath He sent down a Book unless He hath established His covenant with all men, calling for their acceptance of the next Revelation and of the next Book; inasmuch as the outpourings of His bounty are ceaseless and without limit.19
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HOW vast the number of people who are well versed in every science, yet it is their adherence to the holy Word of God which will determine their faith, inasmuch as the fruit of every science is none other than the knowledge of divine precepts and submission unto His good-pleasure.20
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O PEOPLE of the Bayan! Be on your guard; for on the Day of Resurrection no one shall find a place to flee to. He will shine forth suddenly, and will pronounce judgement as He pleaseth. If it be His wish He will cause the abased to be exalted, and the exalted to be abased, even as He did in the Bayan, couldst thou but understand. And no one but Him is equal unto this. Whatever He ordaineth will be fulfilled, and nothing will remain unfulfilled.21
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SINCE all men have issued forth from the shadow of the signs of His Divinity and Lordship, they always tend to take a path, lofty and high. And because they are bereft of a discerning eye to recognize their Beloved, they fall short of their duty to manifest meekness and humility towards Him. Nevertheless, from the beginning of their lives till the end thereof, in conformity with the laws established in the previous religion, they worship God, piously adore Him, bow themselves before His divine Reality and show submissiveness toward His exalted Essence. At the hour of His manifestation, however, they all turn their gaze toward their own selves and are thus shut out from Him, inasmuch as they fancifully regard Him as one like unto themselves. Far from the glory of God is such a comparison. Indeed that august Being resembleth the physical sun, His verses are like its rays, and all believers, should they truly believe in Him, are as mirrors wherein the sun is reflected. Their light is thus a mere reflection.22
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THE reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion is this, that thou mayest give thy best attention to the remembrance of God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved. Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted Summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion. Thus if haply thou dost live in the Day of Resurrection, the mirror of thy heart will be set towards Him Who is the Day-Star of Truth; and no sooner will His light shine forth than the splendour thereof shall forthwith be reflected in thy heart. For He is the Source of all goodness, and unto Him revert all things. But if He appeareth while thou hast turned unto thyself in meditation, this shall not profit thee, unless thou shalt mention His Name by words He hath revealed. For in the forthcoming Revelation it is He Who is the Remembrance of God, whereas the devotions which thou art offering at present have been prescribed by the Point of the Bayan, while He Who will shine resplendent in the Day of Resurrection is the Revelation of the inner reality enshrined in the Point of the Bayan --a Revelation more potent, immeasurably more potent, than the one which hath preceded it.23
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IT is seemly that the servant should, after each prayer, supplicate God to bestow mercy and forgiveness upon his parents. Thereupon God's call will be raised: 'Thousand upon thousand of what thou hast asked for thy parents shall be thy recompense!' Blessed is he who remembereth his parents when communing with God. There is, verily, no God but Him, the Mighty, the Well-Beloved.24
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AS this physical frame is the throne of the inner temple, whatever occurs to the former is felt by the latter. In reality that which takes delight in joy or is saddened by pain is the inner temple of the body, not the body itself. Since this physical body is the throne whereon the inner temple is established, God hath ordained that the body be preserved to the extent possible, so that nothing that causeth repugnance may be experienced. The inner temple beholdeth its physical frame, which is its throne. Thus, if the latter is accorded respect, it is as if the former is the recipient. The converse is likewise true.
Therefore, it hath been ordained that the dead body should be treated with the utmost honour and respect.25
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THE One true God may be compared unto the sun and the believer unto a mirror. No sooner is the mirror placed before the sun than it reflects its light. The unbeliever may be likened unto a stone. No matter how long it is exposed to the sunshine, it cannot reflect the sun. Thus the former layeth down his life as a sacrifice, while the latter doeth against God what he committeth. Indeed, if God willeth, He is potent to turn the stone into a mirror, but the person himself remaineth reconciled to his state. Had he wished to become a crystal, God would have made him to assume crystal form. For on that Day whatever cause prompteth the believer to believe in Him, the same will also be available to the unbeliever. But when the latter suffereth himself to be wrapt in veils, the same cause shutteth him out as by a veil. Thus, as is clearly evident today, those who have set their faces toward God, the True One, have believed in Him because of the Bayan, while such as are veiled have been deprived because of it.26
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PRAISE be to God that He hath enabled us to become cognizant of Him Whom God shall make manifest in the Day of Resurrection, so that we may derive benefit from the fruit of our existence and be not deprived of attaining the presence of God. For indeed this is the object of our creation and the sole purpose underlying every virtuous deed we may perform. Such is the bounty which God hath conferred upon us; verily He is the All-Bountiful, the Gracious. Know thou, that thou wilt succeed in doing so if thou believest with undoubting faith. However, since thou canst not attain the state of undoubting faith, due to the intervening veils of thy selfish desires, therefore thou wilt tarry in the fire, though realizing it not. On the Day of His manifestation, unless thou truly believest in Him, naught can save thee from the fire, even if thou dost perform every righteous deed. If thou embracest the Truth, everything good and seemly shall be set down for thee in the Book of God, and by virtue of this thou wilt rejoice in the all-highest Paradise until the following Resurrection.
Consider with due attention, for the path is very strait, even while it is more spacious than the heavens and the earth and what is between them. For instance, if all those who were expecting the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus had been assured of the manifestation of Muhammad, the Apostle of God, not one would have turned aside from the sayings of Jesus. So likewise in the Revelation of the Point of the Bayan, if all should be assured that this is that same Promised Mihdi [One Who is guided] whom the Apostle of God foretold, not one of the believers in the Qur'an would turn aside from the sayings of the Apostle of God. So likewise in the Revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest, behold the same thing; for should all be assured that He is that same 'He Whom God shall make manifest' whom the Point of the Bayan hath foretold, not one would turn aside.27
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THOU hast asked concerning the fundamentals of religion and its ordinances: Know thou that first and foremost in religion is the knowledge of God. This attaineth its consummation in the recognition of His divine unity, which in turn reacheth its fulfilment in acclaiming that His hallowed and exalted Sanctuary, the Seat of His transcendent majesty, is sanctified from all attributes. And know thou that in this world of being the knowledge of God can never be attained save through the knowledge of Him Who is the Dayspring of divine Reality.28
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GRACIOUS God! Within the domains of Islam there are at present seven powerful sovereigns ruling the world. None of them hath been informed of His [the Báb's] Manifestation, and if informed, none hath believed in Him. Who knoweth, they may leave this world below full of desire, and without having realized that the thing for which they were waiting had come to pass. This is what happened to the monarchs that held fast unto the Gospel. They awaited the coming of the Prophet of God [Muhammad], and when He did appear, they failed to recognize Him. Behold how great are the sums which these sovereigns expend without even the slightest thought of appointing an official charged with the task of acquainting them in their own realms with the Manifestation of God! They would thereby have fulfilled the purpose for which they have been created. All their desires have been and are still fixed upon leaving behind them traces of their names.29
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LET Me set forth some rational arguments for thee. If someone desireth to embrace the Faith of Islam today, would the testimony of God prove conclusive for him? If thou dost contend that it would not, then how is it that God will chastise him after death, and that, while he lives, the verdict of 'non-believer' is passed upon him? If thou affirmest that the testimony is conclusive, how wouldst thou prove this? If thy assertion is based on hearsay, then mere words are unacceptable as a binding testimony; but if thou deemest the Qur'an as the testimony, this would be a weighty and evident proof.
Now consider the Revelation of the Bayan. If the followers of the Qur'an had applied to themselves proofs similar to those which they advance for the non-believers in Islam, not a single soul would have remained deprived of the Truth, and on the Day of Resurrection everyone would have attained salvation.
Should a Christian contend, 'How can I deem the Qur'an a testimony while I am unable to understand it?' such a contention would not be acceptable. Likewise the people of the Qur'an disdainfully observe, 'We are unable to comprehend the eloquence of the verses in the Bayan, how can we regard it as a testimony?' Whoever uttereth such words, say unto him, 'O thou untutored one! By what proof hast thou embraced the Religion of Islam? Is it the Prophet on whom thou hast never set eyes? Is it the miracles which thou hast never witnessed? If thou hast accepted Islam unwittingly, wherefore hast thou done so? But if thou hast embraced the Faith by recognizing the Qur'an as the testimony, because thou hast heard the learned and the faithful express their powerlessness before it, or if thou hast, upon hearing the divine verses and by virtue of thy spontaneous love for the True Word of God, responded in a spirit of utter humility and lowliness--a spirit which is one of the mightiest signs of true love and understanding--then such proofs have been and will ever be regarded as sound.'30
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RID thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this prayer:
Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.
Regard not the all-sufficing power of God as an idle fancy. It is that genuine faith which thou cherishest for the Manifestation of God in every Dispensation. It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would suffice thee. If thou art not a believer, the Tree of divine Truth would condemn thee to extinction. If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou possess nothing.31
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SHOULD a person lay claim to a cause and produce his proofs, then those who seek to repudiate him are required to produce proofs like unto his. If they succeed in doing so, his words will prove vain and they will prevail; otherwise neither his words will cease nor the proofs he hath set forth will become void. I admonish you, O ye who are invested with the Bayan, if ye would fain assert your ascendancy, confront not any soul unless ye give proofs similar to that which he hath adduced; for Truth shall be firmly established, while aught else besides it is sure to perish.
How numerous the people who engaged in contests with Muhammad, the Apostle of God, and were eventually reduced to naught, inasmuch as they were powerless to bring forth proofs similar to that which God had sent down unto Him. Had they been abashed and modest, and had they realized the nature of the proofs wherewith He was invested, they would never have challenged Him. But they regarded themselves as champions of their own religion. Therefore God laid hold on them according to their deserts and vindicated the Truth through the power of Truth. This is what ye clearly perceive today in the Muhammadan Revelation.
Who is the man amongst you who can challenge the exalted Thrones of Reality in every Dispensation, while all existence is wholly dependent upon Them? Indeed, God hath wiped out all those who have opposed Them from the beginning that hath no beginning until the present day and hath conclusively demonstrated the Truth through the power of Truth. Verily, He is the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.32
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CONSIDER how at the time of the appearance of every Revelation, those who open their hearts to the Author of that Revelation recognize the Truth, while the hearts of those who fail to apprehend the Truth are straitened by reason of their shutting themselves out from Him. However, openness of heart is bestowed by God upon both parties alike. God desireth not to straiten the heart of anyone, be it even an ant, how much less the heart of a superior creature, except when he suffereth himself to be wrapt in veils, for God is the Creator of all things.
Wert thou to open the heart of a single soul by helping him to embrace the Cause of Him Whom God shall make manifest, thine inmost being would be filled with the inspirations of that august Name. It devolveth upon you, therefore, to perform this task in the Days of Resurrection, inasmuch as most people are helpless, and wert thou to open their hearts and dispel their doubts, they would gain admittance into the Faith of God. Therefore, manifest thou this attribute to the utmost of thine ability in the days of Him Whom God shall make manifest. For indeed if thou dost open the heart of a person for His sake, better will it be for thee than every virtuous deed; since deeds are secondary to faith in Him and certitude in His Reality.33
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HOW great the number of people who deck themselves with robes of silk all their lives, while clad in the garb of fire, inasmuch as they have divested themselves of the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness; and how numerous are those who wear clothes made of cotton or coarse wool throughout their lives, and yet by reason of their being endowed with the vesture of divine guidance and righteousness, are truly attired with the raiment of Paradise and take delight in the good-pleasure of God. Indeed it would be better in the sight of God were ye to combine the two, adorning yourselves with the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness and wearing exquisite silk, if ye can afford to do so. If not, at least act ye not unrighteously, but rather observe piety and virtue...
But for the sole reason of His being present amongst this people, We would have neither prescribed any law nor laid down any prohibition. It is only for the glorification of His Name and the exaltation of His Cause that We have enunciated certain laws at Our behest, or forbidden the acts to which We are averse, so that at the hour of His manifestation ye may attain through Him the good-pleasure of God and abstain from the things that are abhorrent unto Him.
Say, verily, the good-pleasure of Him Whom God shall make manifest is the good-pleasure of God, while the displeasure of Him Whom God shall make manifest is none other than the displeasure of God. Avoid ye His displeasure, and flee for refuge unto His good-pleasure. Say, the living guides to His good-pleasure are such as truly believe in Him and are well-assured in their faith, while the living testimonies of His displeasure are those who, when they hear the verses of God sent forth from His presence, or read the divine words revealed by Him, do not instantly embrace the Faith and attain unto certitude.34
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SAY, God is the Lord and all are worshippers unto Him.
Say, God is the True One and all pay homage unto Him.
This is God, your Lord, and unto Him shall ye return.
Is there any doubt concerning God? He hath created you and all things. The Lord of all worlds is He.35
Selections from the Writings of the Báb: Part II
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Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976), pp. 111-12.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 11-17.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 29-30.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 41.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 47.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 54-55.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 55.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 56.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 62-3.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 68.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 68.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 71.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 77.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 77-8.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 79.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 80.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 86.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 86-7.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 88.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 93-4.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 94.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 95.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 103.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 110-111.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 117.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 117.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 119-20.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 123.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 131-32.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 133.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 149.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 153.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 156-57.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 157-58.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 158-59.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 160-61.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 163-64.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 174-75.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 176.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 177.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 178.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 178-79.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 179-80.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 182.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 182-83.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 186.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 186-87.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 187-88.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 188-89.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 189-91.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 191.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 191-92.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 192-93.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 193.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 193.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 194.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 194-95.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 196-98.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 204-05.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 205-06.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 209.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 210.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 210.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 210-11.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 212-13.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 213-14.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 214.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 214-15.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 215-16.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 216.
Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 217.
=======================
...Remember the saying:
'Of all pilgrimages the greatest is
to relieve the sorrow-laden heart.'
Abdu'l-Baha
Selections from the
Writings of Abdu'l-Baha
p. 92
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
the power of prayer
........not everyone achieves easily and rapidly the victory over self. What every believer, new or old, should realizeis that the Cause has the spiritual power to re-create us ifwe make the effort to let that power influence us, and the greatest help in this respect is prayer. We must supplicateBahá'u'lláh to assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our own will power in mastering ourselves.
From letters written on behalf
of Shoghi Effendi
To an individual believer dated
27 January 1945 Lights of Guidance, p. 115
I Am Sore Sick, O my Lord
I am but a poor creature, O my Lord; I have clung to the hem ofThy riches. I am sore sick; I have held fast the cord of Thy healing.Deliver me from the ills that have encircled me, and wash methoroughly with the waters of Thy graciousness and mercy, and attireme with the raiment of wholesomeness, through Thy forgiveness andbounty. Fix, then, mine eyes upon Thee, and rid me of all attachmentto aught else except Thyself. Aid me to do what Thou desirest, and to fulfill what Thou pleasest.
Baha'u'llah
Prayers and Meditations
by Baha'u'llah
p. 22
To-day
If we are not happy and joyous at this season,for what other season shall we wait and for whatother time shall we look?
Abdu'l-Baha,
Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha
v3 p. 641
Baha'i Writings -- When calamity strikes
O army of God! When calamity striketh, be ye patient
and composed. However afflictive your sufferings may
be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect confidence
in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest
of tribulations and fiery ordeals.
~ 'Abdu'l-Baha,
Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá,
pg 74
and composed. However afflictive your sufferings may
be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect confidence
in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest
of tribulations and fiery ordeals.
~ 'Abdu'l-Baha,
Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá,
pg 74
Baha'i Writings -- On the Shore of the Ocean
.....O My servants! The one true God is My witness! This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein! Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.
Baha'u'llah
Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah
p. 326
EXCEPTS FROM
The Herald of the Day of Days
by H.M. Balyuzi
FORCES OF OPPOSITION ARRAYED
But man, proud man,Drest in a little brief authority,Most ignorant of what he's most assured,His glassy essence, like an angry ape,Plays such fantastic tricks before high heavenAs makes the angels weep . . . -- Shakespeare
The London Times of Wednesday, November 19th 1845, carried this item of news on its third page, taken from the Literary Gazette of the preceding Saturday:
MAHOMETAN SCHISM. -- A new sect has lately set itself
up in Persia, at the head of which is a merchant who had returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, and proclaimedhimself a successor of the Prophet. The way they treatsuch matters at Shiraz appears in the following account(June 23): -- Four persons being heard repeating theirprofession of faith according to the form prescribed bythe impostor, were apprehended, tried, and found guiltyof unpardonable blasphemy. They were sentenced to losetheir beards by fire being set to them. The sentence was put into execution with all the zeal and fanaticism becoming a true believer in Mahomet. Not deeming the loss of beards a sufficient punishment, they were further sentenced the next day, to have their faces blacked and exposed through the city. Each of them was led by amirgazah[1] (executioner), who had made a hole in his nose and passed through it a string, which he sometimes 77 pulled with such violence that the unfortunate fellows cried out alternately for mercy from the executioner and for vengeance from Heaven. It is the custom in Persia on such occasions for the executioners to collect money from the spectators, and particularly from the shopkeepers in the bazaar. In the evening when the pockets of the executioners were well filled with money, they led the unfortunate fellows to the city gate, and there turned them adrift. After which the mollahs at Shiraz sent men to Bushire, with power to seize the impostor, and take him to Shiraz, where, on being tried, he very wisely denied the charge of apostacy laid against him, and thus escaped from punishment.[1 Mir-Ghadab.]
An American quarterly, the Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art,(1) in its issue of January-April 1846, reproduced the same item of news which was again in full from the Literary Gazette of London. As far is known, these were the earliest references to the Faith the Báb in any Western publication. British merchants, of who then happened to be in Shiraz, were responsible for that report, which, as we shall see, although correct in its essentials, was not devoid of error.
The Báb, returning from His pilgrimage to Mecca, arrived at Bushihr sometime in the month of Safar 1261 A.H. (February-March 1845). There He parted from Quddus, saying:
The days of your companionship with Me are drawing to a close. The hour of separation has struck, a separation which no reunion will follow except in the Kingdom ofGod, in the presence of the King of Glory.(2)
Quddus left for Shiraz and took with him a letter from the Báb addressed to His uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali. Meeting Quddus and hearing all he had to impart convinced Haji 78 Mirza Siyyid 'Ali of the truth of the Cause of his Nephew, and he immediately pledged Him his unqualified allegiance.
Mulla Sadiq-i-Muqaddas now reached Shiraz, accompanied by Mulla 'Ali-Akbar-i-Ardistani, who had once been his pupil in Isfahan. Mulla Sadiq established himself in a mosque known as Baqir-Abad, where he led the congregation in prayer. But as soon as he received a Tablet from the Báb, sent from Bushihr, he moved to the mosque adjoining His house. There he carried out the specific instruction of the Báb to include in the traditional Islamic Call to Prayer-the Adhan -- these additional words: 'I bear witness that He whose name is 'Ali Qabl-i-Muhammad ['Ali preceding Muhammad, the Bab] is the servant of Baqiyyatu'llah [the Remnant of God, Bahá'u'lláh].'(3)
Then the storm broke. Shaykh Abu-Hashim, notorious for his behaviour on the pilgrim boat, had already written to his compatriots in Shiraz to arouse their fury. Now the divines of that city, led by Shaykh Husayn-i-'Arab,[1] Haji Shaykh Mihdiy-i-Kujuri and Mulla Muhammad-'Aliy-i-Mahallati, were demanding blood. Quddus, Muqaddas and Mulla 'Ali-Akbar were arrested, hauled before the Governor-General, and mercilessly beaten, after which they suffered the punishments and indignities described in the London report already quoted (see p. 76). But there were three of them, not four.[2][1 The Nazimu'sh-Shari'ih, who universally earned the epithet of 'Zalim', the Tyrant.][2 Tarikh-i-Jadid (p. 202) names a fourth person, a certain Mulla Abu-Talib, a friend of Mulla Sadiq-i-Muqaddas. His identity is unknown. A letter exists, written by Mulla 'Ali-Akbar Ardistani to the Báb, when he was seeking permission to visit Him. Since their chastisement, he says, he had been living in ruins outside Shiraz. The letter makes it absolutely certain that he was the only one who had remained and that both Quddus and Muqaddas had gone.]
The Governor-General of the province of Fars was 79 Husayn Khan, who was called Ajudan-Bashi (the adjutant major), and had also the titles of Sahib-Ikhtiyar and Nizamu'd-Dawlih. Husayn Khan was a native of Maraghih in Adharbayjan, and had served as Persian envoy both to London and Paris. In London, in June 1839, Lord Palmerston was at first inclined not to meet him, but then decided to receive him unofficially. At that time relations between Britain and Iran had reached a low point. Captain Hennell, the British Political Agent, had been forced to withdraw from Bushihr, and at the same time a British naval force had occupied the island of Kharg (Karrack). Palmerston thundered at Husayn Khan: 'Had the Admiral on arriving on board turned his guns upon the town [Bushihr] and knocked it about their ears, in my opinion he would have been justified in so doing'.(4) When the envoy returned home, Muhammad Shah was so displeased that he had him severely bastinadoed. Nor had Husayn Khan's mission to France, it would seem, been any more successful, although some obscurity surrounds his dealings with the French. In Paris he engaged a number of officers to train the Persian army, and there were irregularities in the matter of their travelling expenses. But more serious issues were involved, which are described by Sir Henry Layard[1] in the following passage:[1 See note 9, Prologue.]
M. Bore,[1] with all his learning and enlightenment,was a religious fanatic and profoundly intolerant ofheretics. After residing with him for a fortnight, andhaving been treated by him with great kindness and hospitality,I found myself compelled, to my great sorrow, to 80 leave his house [in 1840] under the following circumstances.The Embassy which the King of the French[2] hadsent to the Shah had not succeeded in obtaining the objectof its mission, and had left Persia much irritated at itsfailure, which was mainly attributed by it and the FrenchGovernment to English intrigues. The truth was, Ibelieve, that they had been duped by Hussein Khan, whohad been sent as ambassador to Paris. The subject was anunpleasant one for me to discuss, and I avoided it inconversation with my host. One day, however, at dinner,it was raised by M. Flandin,(5) the French artist, whodenounced my country and countrymen in very offensiveterms, M. Bore himself joining in the abuse. Theyaccused the English Government and English agents ofhaving had recourse to poison to prevent Frenchmen fromestablishing themselves and gaining influence in Persia,and of having actually engaged assassins to murderM. Outray, when on his way on a diplomatic mission toTehran. I denied, with indignation, these ridiculous andcalumnious charges, and high words having ensued, Imoved from M. Bore's house to a ruined building occupiedby Mr. Burgess.[3](6)[1 M. Bore resided in Julfa, Isfahan. He was a layman sent by the French Government to obtain a foothold for the French in Iran. Later he became a Jesuit priest, and was the head of a Jesuit establishment in Galata when Layard met him in Constantinople. It is likely he sent copious notes to his superiors about the Báb and the Bábís.][2 Louis-Philippe.][3 An English merchant in Tabriz.]
The Herald of the Day of Days
by H.M. Balyuzi
FORCES OF OPPOSITION ARRAYED
But man, proud man,Drest in a little brief authority,Most ignorant of what he's most assured,His glassy essence, like an angry ape,Plays such fantastic tricks before high heavenAs makes the angels weep . . . -- Shakespeare
The London Times of Wednesday, November 19th 1845, carried this item of news on its third page, taken from the Literary Gazette of the preceding Saturday:
MAHOMETAN SCHISM. -- A new sect has lately set itself
up in Persia, at the head of which is a merchant who had returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, and proclaimedhimself a successor of the Prophet. The way they treatsuch matters at Shiraz appears in the following account(June 23): -- Four persons being heard repeating theirprofession of faith according to the form prescribed bythe impostor, were apprehended, tried, and found guiltyof unpardonable blasphemy. They were sentenced to losetheir beards by fire being set to them. The sentence was put into execution with all the zeal and fanaticism becoming a true believer in Mahomet. Not deeming the loss of beards a sufficient punishment, they were further sentenced the next day, to have their faces blacked and exposed through the city. Each of them was led by amirgazah[1] (executioner), who had made a hole in his nose and passed through it a string, which he sometimes 77 pulled with such violence that the unfortunate fellows cried out alternately for mercy from the executioner and for vengeance from Heaven. It is the custom in Persia on such occasions for the executioners to collect money from the spectators, and particularly from the shopkeepers in the bazaar. In the evening when the pockets of the executioners were well filled with money, they led the unfortunate fellows to the city gate, and there turned them adrift. After which the mollahs at Shiraz sent men to Bushire, with power to seize the impostor, and take him to Shiraz, where, on being tried, he very wisely denied the charge of apostacy laid against him, and thus escaped from punishment.[1 Mir-Ghadab.]
An American quarterly, the Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art,(1) in its issue of January-April 1846, reproduced the same item of news which was again in full from the Literary Gazette of London. As far is known, these were the earliest references to the Faith the Báb in any Western publication. British merchants, of who then happened to be in Shiraz, were responsible for that report, which, as we shall see, although correct in its essentials, was not devoid of error.
The Báb, returning from His pilgrimage to Mecca, arrived at Bushihr sometime in the month of Safar 1261 A.H. (February-March 1845). There He parted from Quddus, saying:
The days of your companionship with Me are drawing to a close. The hour of separation has struck, a separation which no reunion will follow except in the Kingdom ofGod, in the presence of the King of Glory.(2)
Quddus left for Shiraz and took with him a letter from the Báb addressed to His uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali. Meeting Quddus and hearing all he had to impart convinced Haji 78 Mirza Siyyid 'Ali of the truth of the Cause of his Nephew, and he immediately pledged Him his unqualified allegiance.
Mulla Sadiq-i-Muqaddas now reached Shiraz, accompanied by Mulla 'Ali-Akbar-i-Ardistani, who had once been his pupil in Isfahan. Mulla Sadiq established himself in a mosque known as Baqir-Abad, where he led the congregation in prayer. But as soon as he received a Tablet from the Báb, sent from Bushihr, he moved to the mosque adjoining His house. There he carried out the specific instruction of the Báb to include in the traditional Islamic Call to Prayer-the Adhan -- these additional words: 'I bear witness that He whose name is 'Ali Qabl-i-Muhammad ['Ali preceding Muhammad, the Bab] is the servant of Baqiyyatu'llah [the Remnant of God, Bahá'u'lláh].'(3)
Then the storm broke. Shaykh Abu-Hashim, notorious for his behaviour on the pilgrim boat, had already written to his compatriots in Shiraz to arouse their fury. Now the divines of that city, led by Shaykh Husayn-i-'Arab,[1] Haji Shaykh Mihdiy-i-Kujuri and Mulla Muhammad-'Aliy-i-Mahallati, were demanding blood. Quddus, Muqaddas and Mulla 'Ali-Akbar were arrested, hauled before the Governor-General, and mercilessly beaten, after which they suffered the punishments and indignities described in the London report already quoted (see p. 76). But there were three of them, not four.[2][1 The Nazimu'sh-Shari'ih, who universally earned the epithet of 'Zalim', the Tyrant.][2 Tarikh-i-Jadid (p. 202) names a fourth person, a certain Mulla Abu-Talib, a friend of Mulla Sadiq-i-Muqaddas. His identity is unknown. A letter exists, written by Mulla 'Ali-Akbar Ardistani to the Báb, when he was seeking permission to visit Him. Since their chastisement, he says, he had been living in ruins outside Shiraz. The letter makes it absolutely certain that he was the only one who had remained and that both Quddus and Muqaddas had gone.]
The Governor-General of the province of Fars was 79 Husayn Khan, who was called Ajudan-Bashi (the adjutant major), and had also the titles of Sahib-Ikhtiyar and Nizamu'd-Dawlih. Husayn Khan was a native of Maraghih in Adharbayjan, and had served as Persian envoy both to London and Paris. In London, in June 1839, Lord Palmerston was at first inclined not to meet him, but then decided to receive him unofficially. At that time relations between Britain and Iran had reached a low point. Captain Hennell, the British Political Agent, had been forced to withdraw from Bushihr, and at the same time a British naval force had occupied the island of Kharg (Karrack). Palmerston thundered at Husayn Khan: 'Had the Admiral on arriving on board turned his guns upon the town [Bushihr] and knocked it about their ears, in my opinion he would have been justified in so doing'.(4) When the envoy returned home, Muhammad Shah was so displeased that he had him severely bastinadoed. Nor had Husayn Khan's mission to France, it would seem, been any more successful, although some obscurity surrounds his dealings with the French. In Paris he engaged a number of officers to train the Persian army, and there were irregularities in the matter of their travelling expenses. But more serious issues were involved, which are described by Sir Henry Layard[1] in the following passage:[1 See note 9, Prologue.]
M. Bore,[1] with all his learning and enlightenment,was a religious fanatic and profoundly intolerant ofheretics. After residing with him for a fortnight, andhaving been treated by him with great kindness and hospitality,I found myself compelled, to my great sorrow, to 80 leave his house [in 1840] under the following circumstances.The Embassy which the King of the French[2] hadsent to the Shah had not succeeded in obtaining the objectof its mission, and had left Persia much irritated at itsfailure, which was mainly attributed by it and the FrenchGovernment to English intrigues. The truth was, Ibelieve, that they had been duped by Hussein Khan, whohad been sent as ambassador to Paris. The subject was anunpleasant one for me to discuss, and I avoided it inconversation with my host. One day, however, at dinner,it was raised by M. Flandin,(5) the French artist, whodenounced my country and countrymen in very offensiveterms, M. Bore himself joining in the abuse. Theyaccused the English Government and English agents ofhaving had recourse to poison to prevent Frenchmen fromestablishing themselves and gaining influence in Persia,and of having actually engaged assassins to murderM. Outray, when on his way on a diplomatic mission toTehran. I denied, with indignation, these ridiculous andcalumnious charges, and high words having ensued, Imoved from M. Bore's house to a ruined building occupiedby Mr. Burgess.[3](6)[1 M. Bore resided in Julfa, Isfahan. He was a layman sent by the French Government to obtain a foothold for the French in Iran. Later he became a Jesuit priest, and was the head of a Jesuit establishment in Galata when Layard met him in Constantinople. It is likely he sent copious notes to his superiors about the Báb and the Bábís.][2 Louis-Philippe.][3 An English merchant in Tabriz.]
The Tyrant, the Deceiver, the Thief, and the Liar
O ye beloved of the Lord! The Kingdom of God is founded
upon equity and justice, and also upon mercy, compassion,
and kindness to every living soul. Strive ye then with all your
heart to treat compassionately all humankind -- except for those
who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the
soul. Kindness cannot be shown the tyrant, the deceiver, or the
thief, because, far from awakening them to the error of their
ways, it maketh them to continue in their perversity as before.
No matter how much kindliness ye may expend upon the liar,
he will but lie the more, for he believeth you to be deceived, while
ye understand him but too well, and only remain silent out of
your extreme compassion.
Abdu'l-Baha
Selections from the
Writings of Abdu'l-Baha
p. 158
upon equity and justice, and also upon mercy, compassion,
and kindness to every living soul. Strive ye then with all your
heart to treat compassionately all humankind -- except for those
who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the
soul. Kindness cannot be shown the tyrant, the deceiver, or the
thief, because, far from awakening them to the error of their
ways, it maketh them to continue in their perversity as before.
No matter how much kindliness ye may expend upon the liar,
he will but lie the more, for he believeth you to be deceived, while
ye understand him but too well, and only remain silent out of
your extreme compassion.
Abdu'l-Baha
Selections from the
Writings of Abdu'l-Baha
p. 158
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