IN the winter of His life Bahá'u'lláh addressed an epistle to Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl in which He lauded the great Bahá'í scholar as one who gazes upon the horizons and promulgates the standard of His aid with wisdom and eloquence. Every phrase, every syllable of this divine encomium proved to be prophetic and heavily laden with significance. Bahá'u'lláh further attested to the desire of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl for reform under all conditions and to his constant counseling of God's servants to righteousness and salvation. Moreover, He enunciated a beatitude for the mirza, saying that he is blessed, as are all who love him for Bahá'u'lláh's sake and listen to his words concerning the Cause of God.
The year was 1892. Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl had but recently arrived in Ashkhabad, the "City of Love;' where Iranian Bahá'ís emigrated in great numbers to escape persecution in Iran and seek refuge in the territory of the czars. Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl had embraced the Bahá'í Cause in Tehran in 1876 and had by this time already served it sixteen years. He suffered imprisonment almost immediately after his conversion, at the hands of a fanatical Qajar prince, but was released through the intervention of the reform-minded Mírzá Husayn Khan. He was jailed in Tehran again in the early 1880s because of his religion. Through years of persecution he, a former cleric of Shi'ite Islam, never wavered in his newfound, universal Faith. His humility was so great that he did not think to put his extraordinary scholarly abilities to use in penning treatises as long as Bahá'u'lláh walked the earth. Such human endeavors, he felt, were superfluous while the Manifestation of God was addressing mankind directly. Only because he heard that the Blessed Beauty Himself desired Bahá'í scholars to employ their literary talents in expounding the Bahá'í Faith did he dare begin writing his well-known letters of exhortation and treatises of scintillating brilliance. In the late 1880s he served as a traveling teacher for the Faith, for the most part in southwestern Iran, and after a brief imprisonment in Hamadan he endeavored to teach the Faith in the largely Muslim Central Asian dominions of Czarist Russia.
As he perused Bahá'u'lláh's loving missive in Ashkhabad, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl could have had no inkling of the possible implications borne by the phrase "gazes upon the horizons?' Up to that moment his horizons were limited to Iran and Central Asia, which were culturally and geographically contiguous. Within two years a train of events would be set in motion that would offer him far more distant and startlingly different horizons upon which to gaze. On 29 May 1892 Bahá'u'lláh ascended to the One Who had manifested Him. Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl heard the news with shock and grief that overwhelmed him. Only the gentle, persistent solicitude of 'Abdu'l-Bahá coaxed him out of his profound bereavement for his Beloved. As he haunted the dusty book bazaars of once-golden Samarkand and Bukhara, he could not know that his future lay, not in the ancient realms of Tamerlane, but in the bustling cities of other continents - of North Mrica, Europe, and North America. There his concern with "reform;' "righteousness," and "salvation" was to bear fruit.
In 1894 'Abdu'l-Bahá called Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl to Haifa, Ottoman Syria. He suggested that he take up residence in Egypt - the intellectual center of the Arab world - to spread the news of Bahá'u'lláh's Faith. Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl's labors there in bringing the Bahá'í Faith to the attention of intellectuals, whether clergy or modern journalists and lawyers, are legend. In Cairo and Alexandria he penned his major works: Fara'id (Matchless Gems - 1898) and ad-Durar al-Bahiyyah (Miracles and Metaphors - 1900). He also helped consolidate the fledgling Bahá'í community that, in spite of intolerance, had finally been established in the shadow of the pyramids.
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl's new setting in the geographical nexus of Beirut, Cairo, and Alexandria proved significant in another way. For from these cities the first major movement of Middle Eastern migration to the United States began on the part of Levantine Christians. In the 1890s quarters sprang up in Boston and New York wherein one could hear Maronite Catholics speaking Arabic. This very phenomenon gave Arabic and American literature the Exile movement in which Kahlil Gibran was to play so central a role. With this stream of migration the Bahá'í Faith arrived on the shores of North America, carried by Bahá'ís of Arab Christian background such as Ibra him Khayru'llah and Antun Haddad. Yet such Lebanese teachers, for all their enthusiasm, had too recently entered the Faith to comprehend fully its essentials or to understand its principles. Their virtue in the early years was their allegiance to Bahá'u'lláh and to 'Abdu'l-Bahá and their ability to read such of the Bahá'í writings as were available to them in Arabic. With their minuscule knowledge of the teachings they mixed enormous doses not only of Maronite ideas but of cultic, metaphysical, and New Thought concepts as were likely to appeal to Americans interested in Eastern religions at that time. The mixture proved enormously successful, but it often deviated from the text or spirit of the Bahá'í scriptures.
Khayru'llah began to be corrupted by his success. He increasingly wished to see his teachings canonized for the West and was disturbed to find that 'Abdu'l-Bahá did not fully agree with the doctrines he had elaborated while in the United States. Such knowledge did not chasten him; it drove him to rebel. Miraculously, most of his following in America refused to join his revolt. He had too successfully nurtured their love of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Still, that following needed new teachers, needed persons of character and brilliance who could expound to them the truths of the Bahá'í Faith in their pure form and clear away the obscuring cobwebs of syncretism, occultism, and metempsychosis woven by Khayru'llah and some early American believers.
On the fourth of November 1900 Mírzá Asadu'llah and Haji Hasan Khurasani arrived in New York as teachers, with the half-Egyptian Husayn Ruhi and Mírzá Buzurg as English interpreters. After meetings in New York, they traveled to Chicago, where they made their headquarters. In their wake Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl disembarked; Ali-Kuli Khan and Mírzá Aminu'llah served as his translators. Thornton Chase, one of the first American Bahá'ís, later wrote: "With these teachers came the first opportunity for a correct and intimate knowledge of the true Bahá'í teachings:' They and their translators were important carriers of genuine Bahá'í culture, and they engaged themselves in rendering into English "a wonderful treasury of wisdom and knowledge" from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh.
Thornton Chase evaluated the impact of these teachers thusly: "The instructions given by Mírzá Assad'u'llah and Mírzá Abdul Fazl [sic] were thoroughly sane and practical, and so insisted on righteousness, right living - as the essential of religion, rather than psychic and occult experiments, that many persons, who had conceived views imbued with imaginations and superstitions, fell away from the Cause - but those who remained discovered such spiritual light, guidance, richness, and power in the teachings, that they were deeply confirmed in their belief, and clung to it as the most valuable instruction for man to obtain. The classes and assemblies which had diminished in number, again began to grow...."
Cairo thus proved a stepping-stone for Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl to New York, Washington, D.C., and Green Acre, Eliot, Maine. He lectured feverishly to the Americans on Bahá'íi history. He often went to the Bible for prophecies and passages that would help the American Bahá'ís better appreciate and comprehend their religion. This role of cross-cultural communicator, incongruous as it might have seemed, was nothing new for him. In the late 1880s he had written a book of proofs of the Faith for the Jews of Hamadan, which was later translated into Hebrew and circulated with great effect among the Iranian Jews. In the same period he had addressed numerous letters to Zoroastrians in their own dialect of Persian, which he had gone to the trouble to learn. In Cairo he authored articles for the new journals of the Arab intelligentsia, demonstrating the relevance of the Bahá'í Faith to their work of reform. The world-encompassing spirit of the Cause of God, like an irresistible deluge, picked up the young Muslim divine from Gulpaigan and carried him forever out of the narrow confines of his Shi'ite scholasticism. He not only ate and drank with persons he would once have considered ritually impure, but he communicated across huge barriers of culture, religion, and geography the powerful new truths of universal love he had so courageously imbibed.
'Abdu'l-Bahá later said of him: "He did not think of worldly comfort and tranquillity. He never tried to protect his life. He was not at all attached to the ephemeral objects of this contingent world.... All his books contain incontrovertible proofs and evidences concerning this impregnable, blessed Cause:' So impressed was the Master with Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl's acumen that He thought it essential for him to write a treatise expounding the Cause to the American believers. He directed that Ali-Kuli Khan translate it. But the immense scope of such a work apparently daunted the humble scholar, who always remained distant from "I-ness" and "egoism." Marzieh Gail, the daughter of Ali-Kuli Khan, reports, "Father told me, 'I pulled the Bahá'í Proofs out of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl. It's all "introductions" because he never felt he got it started."' In essence, the book can only be considered a prolegomenon to a much greater opus that was never completed. It might fairly be argued, however, that with such a dawn one need not long for the day. Even as an introduction The Bahá'í Proofs remains an irreplaceable classic of Bahá'í literature. In the distant, brash new cities of America, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl once again gazed upon the horizons and promulgated the standard of His aid with wisdom and eloquence. Amidst a new-born Bahá'í community, confused by occult notions and wounded by the schism forced by their former mentor's overweaning ambition, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl once again arose for reform under all conditions and counseled God's servants to righteousness and salvation.
Readers of Abu'l-Fadl's previous classics, Fara'id and Miracles and Metaphors, will find many of the same themes restated in The Bahá'í Proofs. Yet each of these works had a different purpose, a separate audience. Fard'id, written in Persian, addressed an Iranian, Shi'ite Muslim readership, while Miracles and Metaphors (in Arabic) found its context in the Arab modernism of turn-of-the-century Cairo. The Bahá'í Proofs, also composed in Arabic, directed itself to American Christians in the opening years of the twentieth century. In simple yet penetrating prose the author elucidates the timeless truths of the Bahá'í Faith. He describes the coming of a new age, signaled by the advent of a Universal Manifestation of God. He acclaims the end of mankind's spiritual dark ages, wherein such theories as transmigration of souls and spirit possession flourished (a message no doubt unwelcome to the American occultists in his audience). He affirms the unity of the great world religions and adds historicity to this Bahá'í doctrine by actually identifying the religions and briefly discussing their doctrines. To Americans at Green Acre, with their transcendentalist leanings, this particular message and its method of exposition no doubt possessed particular appeal. So too must have his characterization of God as pure and absolute Unity, beyond all attributes and material actions, and his depiction of the Manifestations of God as bearers of a peculiar knowledge and power.
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl brought his own rationalist bent to bear on the problems of religion. He emphasized his logical proof for the religions, which held that ability to endure and spread demonstrated their truth more effectively than did miracle stories. For him reason did not conflict with revelation. Reason was the framework within which revelation had to be understood. His final chapter on the doubts of the various nations and religions concerning the advent of new Messengers from God can be read both as analysis and as biting satire.
The translation, made by Ali-Kuli Khan with the help of Howard MacNutt, is remarkable for its fluency and erudition, considering the limitations under which it was produced. In 1902 the vast corpus of reference tools relating to Arabic and Islam that now exists was barely dreamt of. No tradition of translating Bahá'í literature into English, such as that created much later by Shoghi Effendi, had yet come into being. Certainly, a new translation is desirable. It may now be legitimately hoped that, building on Ali-Kuli Khan's work, an even more accurate and flowing rendering could be produced. But until this important task is undertaken, the republication in facsimile of the 1929 (third) edition of The Bahá'í Proofs (first published in 1902) is welcome. For too long Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl has been a revered memory rather than a living influence on our thought and spirituality. The facsimile edition is completely authentic, and even retains the unscientific transliteration of Arabic and Persian words and names. No attempt has been made to correct the few errors in the text. (For example, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl, in his effort to embrace a more universal range of religious phenomena, suffered from a lack of reliable sources in Arabic and Persian. One mistake into which this paucity of secondary literature led him was his identification of Zoroaster with Abraham.)
After three years of tireless labor in bestowing upon his American co-religionists the rare wisdom his unremitting studies of the Bahá'í writings had gained for him, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl prepared to depart for Egypt in November 1904. He was not a charismatic figure. He had nothing of the politician about him and was more fitted to the life of a reclusive scholar than to that of a public speaker addressing large audiences of inquisitive foreigners. Only his driving devotion to the Cause he had embraced, only his obedience to every slightest wish of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, could have lifted him from his cloistered study into America's auditoriums. He spent his remaining ten years leading the quiet life he loved in Alexandria, the life of books and ideas. When some American ladies on pilgrimage to see the Master insisted on stopping off to visit him frequently - to the entire disruption of his research schedule - he dealt with their inconsiderateness mirthfully. "O, Abu'l-Fadl!" they would call from the portico. "Abu'l-Fadl is not here!" replied an elderly voice from within.
When he suddenly passed away on 21 January 1914, the household of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was thrown into sorrow and confusion. The Master eulogized him as "peerless;' "perfect" in every way, "erudite and learned;' and "a standard-bearer of the oneness of the world of humanity." "There was not;' He remarked, "a breath of self-desire in this person." Blessed, indeed, is he, as are all who love him for Bahá'u'lláh's sake and listen to his words concerning the Cause of God.
Juan Ricardo Cole
Bahá'i Publishing Committee P.O. Box 348. Grand Central Station New York. N.Y. 1929
THIRD EDITION 1929 Bahá'í Publishing Committee New York, N.Y.
The editor regrets exceedingly that this work was set up in type before the system of transliteration advocated by Shoghi Effendi for all Bahá'í texts had been adopted by American followers of the Cause.
Contents Translator's Preface Brief Account of the Life of the Author Brief Account of the Death of the Author Tribute and Eulogies by 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas A Short Sketch of the Lives of the Leaders of this Religion: Introduction His Hoilness the Great Báb His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh His Holiness 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas The Bahá'í Proofs: Exordium The First Introduction The Second Introduction The Third Introduction The Fourth Introduction The Fifth Introduction
In the name of our LORD the El-Bahá! Praise be unto Thee, O Thou God of the world and Creator of nations! Exalted is Thy praise and sanctified is Thy name! O Lord! Enable as to accomplish our work through Thy mercy, and facilitate unto as our affairs! Verily, Thou art the Bestower! There is no God but Thee, the First and the Last!
AS MANY thoughtful people of the United States of America have expressed their desire to obtain information concerning the Bahá'í Religion, and since there is no book to be found in Europe or America, free from religious prejudice and fanaticism, furnishing full particulars upon this subject; I have therefore determined to translate two of the writings of the Honorable Mírzá Abul-Fadl of Gulpaygan, Persia, which contain the required information. By this means, I hope to be of service to humanity; for an exact statement of historical facts, free from religious and racial bias, is bound to be of great service to the world, inasmuch as it concerns the greatest religious movement of the age.
Although the art of translation is one of the difficult branches of literature and composition, yet, trusting in the Divine Confirmation and strengthening of my weak efforts, I hope to bring the substance of these two works to the notice of the reader, in as close conformity with the original sense as my knowledge of English and the difficulty of the text permit.
The first work of the author {following the "Tributes and Eulogies"} is a translation of a short sketch in Persian, of the history and lives of the Leaders of this Religion. The second is a translation from the Arabic, of an introductory work to a forthcoming book, which he is writing in compliance with the Command of The Center of The Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas. The subject of this later work will be interpretation of the Holy Books of former religions, in order that the principal doctrines, proofs and arguments of the Bahá'ís may be known to the world. These writings, I have translated in compliance with the especial Command of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. One night, about fourteen months ago, while I was in Haifa, and the author at Port Said, 'Abdu'l-Bahá Inquired from Ahmed-Yazdi (who had arrived from Port Said), concerning the welfare of Mírzá Abul-Fazl; to which he replied that Mírzá was well and engaged in writing his book. A number of American and Paris visitors, who had also arrived from Port Said, were present. Then our beloved Master turned to me, saying: "You must translate this book into Engush. God will confirm you therein." I bowed to Him and said it would be the greatest honor for me to comply with His Command.
* * *
Mírzá Abul-Fazl has especially asked me to translate the following from his own words, in which he expresses his gratitude for the assistance and help he has received from noble souls: - "Although this book has been written in compliance with the command of our Lord 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who is the Center of the Circle of Names, the Light shining from the Horizon of Glory and Grandeur, and whose Advent has been announced in the Books of Prophets and Chosen Ones - Upon Him Is Glory, Might and Praise! - yet, were it not for the untiring efforts of the brilliant pearl, the verdant leaf, the revered Miss B. - May God increase her honor and excellence - not one of the pages of my compositions would have been written during this arduous journey. For it is an evident fact to the learned, and notably to those wbo are writers, that a man of advanced age, and weak constitution, who, in less than one year has traveled from Egypt to Syria, thence to Europe and America, hurrying from city to city, moving from place to place, addressing meetings two or three times a week continually speaking to people of different tastes, both ignorant and learned, prejudiced and unprejudiced, would not be able to produce over two thousand pages upon philosophical subjects, containing explanations of the most intricate and abstruse points, proofs, arguments, and interpretations of Scriptural verses, were it not for the kind efforts and thoughtfulness of such an excellent soul. She has taken much trouble and labor for the writer, in order that his works may be published.
"Likewise I express my thanks and praise to the revered lady Miss R. - Upon her be Bahá'u'lláh. She also has exercised the utmost effort in helping the translation of this book and has rendered every possible help to the translator."
Verily, God is Powerful in All Things! The servant of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Ish'te'a'l Ebn-Kalanter. April, 1902.
Brief Account Of The Life Of The Author
MIRZA ABUL-FAZL was born in 1844, In Gulpaygan, a small Persian town, founded by Humay, the daughter of Darius I. The family to which his parents belonged was one of the most distinguished of that city, and, even to the present time, is well-known for learning and knowledge. His father, Mírzá-Reza, was one of the most noted Shi'ite doctors of religion in Persia; who died in 1871, at the age of seventy.
In the prime of youth, Mírzá Abul-Fazl traveled to Isfahan and Irak; with the object of perfecting his studies. Even In his boyhood he was noted for intelligence, sound memory, and diligence in discovering subtle scientific points, to such an extent, that these qualities seemed to the people supernatural.[*]
* In 1901, in Paris, one of the Persian students, named Nassr Ullah-Khan, spoke of
Haji-Mollah-Hassan,
a great scientific lecturer of Isfahan, who had been one of the pupils of Mírzá Abul-Fazl.
In the course of conversation, he said that when, in 1866, the first edition of the Arabic
Dictionary, entitled Firooz-Abadi, one of the most authoritative and well-known works, was
published In Tabrlz, Persia, the students of the College of Sadr of Isfahan brought a copy of
it to Mírzá Abul-Fazl for criticism. He, in one evening, examined the whole contents of the
book, about 1,400 pages, and asserted that it contained but two words with wrong accentuation.
After a long and careful examination by the learned scholars of Isfahan, it was found that
this statement, made by the author after a few hours investigation, was correct.
Before he was twenty-two years of age, Mírzá Abul-Fazl had perfected himself in the branches of Arabic learning, such as grammar, rhetoric, etymology and composition; although Arabic is a foreign language to Persians. In accordance with the wishes of his father, he also acquired a perfect knowledge of Mohammedan theology and laws. At the same time, he studied mathematics, algebra, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy according to the Ptolemaic system. He also mastered the Aristotelian as well as the rational Mohammedan philosophy.
In October, 1873, he left the town of Gulpaygan and went to Teheran, the capital of Persia, where he took up his residence. A short time after his arrival, he was appointed the superintendent and professor of one of the oldest first class Arabic Universities of Teheran, named the "School of Hakim-Hashem." There, students of different sciences gathered around him and attended his lectures.
In 1875, he became acquainted with a merchant named Aga Abdul-Kerim of Isfahan, an adherent of the Bahá'í Religion. As this merchant found Mírzá Abul-Fazl sagacious and free from prejudice, he invited him to investigate his religion. Although Aga-Abdul-Kerim had no schooling, yet he possessed a shrewd, acute mind, and an excellent character. He arranged interviews for Mírzá Abul-Fazl with learned Bahá'í teachers, such as his holiness the great Nabil, entitled "The Learned One of Ka-'een," the late Haji Mohammed-Ismail of Kashan, entitled "Zabih" (sacrificed) Aga Mírzá-Heydar-Ali of Ardistan, and others. They continued the controversy and religious and scientific debate during eight months. Finally, in September, 1876, after this ample discussion and tedious argument, Mírzá Abul-Fazl, finding himself unable to refute and resist the proofs and demonstrations of the Bahá'ís, and esteeming the evidences[*] of this Movement stronger than the proofs of other religions, acknowledged and embraced the truth of the Religion of Bahá'u'lláh, and became a convert to it.
* Among the proofs and evidences which Mírzá Abul-Fazl frequently related, are the following
from his own words "The oppression, deposition and murder of Sultan Abdul-Aziz of Turkey, which
happened approximately in May, 1876; as well as the full particulars and details of the
Turko-Russian war, were explained to us in the early days of October, 1875, by Haji Mohammed
Ismail Zabih, from the prophecies of Bahá'u'lláh. In that meeting, Aga-Abdul-Kerim of Isfahan,
Aga-Mohammed Hadi, the bookbinder, of Isfahan, and Aga-Mírzá-Ahmad, the braider, of Isfahan,
were present. Haji Zabih read to us some Tablets, including the Tablet of Samandar (the title
of Aga Sheikh-Kazem, an old and prominent Bahá'í teacher of Kazwin, still living in that city),
which contained a clear and explicit statement of these events. Then I said to Aga-Abdul-Kerim
of Isfahan :- "If the deposition of the Sultan and the Turko-Russian war take place and come
to pass, this will be considered a great proof of the truth of Bahá'u'lláh, greater than the
miracles performed by former prophets.'"
Most of the students of Teheran heard the same subject spoken of by Mírzá Abul-Fazl. For, in those days, the spread of the Religion of Bahá'u'lláh had just begun, and the persecutions bloodshed and pillage inflicted upon the Bahá'ís were so great and violent, that no one dared mention their names in Persia, much less to praise them. But, as Mírzá Abul-Fazl was considered a prominent man of learning, and had a great following of students, he spoke of these events in his lecture rooms with astonishment. Moreover, at this time, he had not yet become a Bahá'í, nor could he or anyone imagine that the Bahá'ís would overcome him in controversy, and thus change his religion.
When Mírzá Abul-Fazl acknowledged the truth of this religion, and, on account of the straightforwardness for which he was noted, could not conceal his belief, he openly propounded proofs and arguments of the truth of Bahá'ísm, in his lectures to the students. Consequently, enemies who were jealous of him, always waiting to accomplish his downfall, availed themselves of this opportunity to speak of him in the presence of the clergy and prominent states - men of Teheran. The clergy denounced him, and, in December of the same year, he was arrested and put in chains by the command of Prince Kamran-Mírzá, entitled 'Nayeb-Essultana" (Prince Regent), the third son of the late Nasser-Ed-Din Shah, who was then the governor of Teheran, Guilan and Mazanderan. This Imprisonment lasted about five months. As a result of this imprisonment, he lost all the property which he had inherited from his father. At the end of five months, he and other Bahá'ís imprisoned with him on account of their faith, were released, owing to the efforts of the late Haji-Mírzá-Hussien-Khan, entitled Mushire-Dawla, who was then Minister of War. Upon his release, the clergy of Teheran tried their utmost to persuade him to verbally acknowledge Mohammedanism, and not to openly uphold the truth of the Bahá'í Religion. To this he would not agree, but patiently endured the most violent persecutions and afflictions rather than accede to the clergy and statesmen. Afterward he gained his living by means of his pen, and diligently labored in spreading the Bahá'í Religion.
In 1300 A.H. (1882 A.D.), came a great historical calamity. Large numbers of Bahá'ís were arrested in various Persian cities, for now this religion had become very prevalent throughout Persia and the Caucasus. A considerable number of the nobility, comprising Mohammedans, Jews, Zoroastrians, Nusseyrites, et. al., had embraced it with the utmost sincerity, and even did not recant when in danger of their lives. Consequently the fire of envy and hatred flamed anew in the clergy and statesmen of Teheran, who considered themselves defenders of the first-named religion. They agreed with the Prince Kamran-Mírzá to persecute the Bahá'ís. So they falsely accused and calumniated them before the Shah. Also in Resht, Isfahan and Mazanderan, most of the clergy and statesmen determined to eradicate the Bahá'ís, and arrested a great number. Among these was Mírzá Abul-Fazl, who was arrested in Teheran, along with a multitude of the Bahá'ís of prominence, merchants, traders, et. al. He was confined for about one month in the house of the Prince, and several contraversial meetings and debates were held in the presence of the Prince, concerning this Religion.
The opponents of the Bahá'ís, consisting principally of members of the royal family, religious doctors and statesmen, constantly accused them of sedition and plots. Great efforts were made to alienate the mind of the Shah from them and to persuade him to decree their suppression and slaughter. But as they could not be charged with any violation of the laws of the Government, the Shah became convinced of their innocence, and would not consent to sentence them to death, but commanded them to be put in chains in the royal prison. Thus Mírzá Abul-Fazl and a number of the stanch Bahá'ís were imprisoned in chains and fetters for twenty-two months, subject to rigorous distress and hardship. During most of this time, nobody was allowed to see them. Twenty-Four of them were, for fourteen days, chained to two long, heavy chains in a dark underground dungeon. Mírzá Abul-Fazl relates that for about six months they received daily news of the plots and intrigues of their enemies, and expected death at any moment, having entirely resigned themselves to the will of God. After the lapse of twenty-two months, the falseness of the accusations of the enemy was proven to the Shah, and he commanded that the prisoners should be set free.
Released from this rigorous imprisonment, Mírzá Abul-Fazl took up his residence in the village of Gholo-hak, one of the well-known and delightful summer resorts of Teheran, where he remained about seven months, engaged in lecturing and writing. Again the Prince found excuse for his arrest, a third time. He was imprisoned for six months in the royal building named Otake-Nezam (the military department), whence he was released February 5th, 1886.[*]
* The purnose of this brief account of Mírzá Abul-Fazl's life and sufferings, is to inform
the thoughtful people concerning the strength of the faith of the adherents of this religion.
The full details and circumstances of his experiences are far beyond the limits of this
short article. 'Some of the learned men of Syria and Egypt have written his biography.
For about thirty years, Mírzá Abul-Fazl traveled in remote countries. He journeyed northward through Persia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Tartary and Russia, as far as Moscow; eastward as far as the confines of China and Kash-Kar; to Syria and Egypt; and in 1901-1902 made a trip through Western Europe and America. During his arduous travels, he everywhere secured a good name for himself and his countrymen, consorted with the men of learning of different religions, nationalities and schools and acquired a vast range of knowledge which it would have been impossible to attain without undertaking extensive and toilsome journeys.
In 1303 A. H, (1886 A.D.), he received a Tablet written by Bahá'u'lláh in 1300 A.H., in which he was commanded to travel for the purpose of teaching the Word of God; and during his distant journeys, undertaken in compliance with this Command, many holy Tablets were revealed in praise of his strength and fidelity to the Cause.
While traveling, he has written numerous books, being considered a standard writer in ancient and modern Persian, as well as in Arabic.
In 1892, Mírzá Abul-Fazl wrote, in Samarkand, the book entitled Fassl-ul-Khitab (Conclusive Proof), in answer to questions asked by Mírzá-Heydar-Ali of Tabriz, one of the learned men of Azerbeyjan. This book he wrote in the style of the doctors of theology, and in the introduction is given an account of the controversy in Samarkand between himself and Dr. Marcard Assadorian, a Protestant teacher, in a meeting held by men of learning.
In 1898, he wrote the book of El-Farayed in Persian, In compliance with the command of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. In this work, he answers the objections of Sheikh-Abdus-Salam, entitled Sheikh El-Islam (a Mohammedan pontiff of Tiflis). The same year, he wrote the book of Dorar-Ul-Baheyeh (The Brilliant Pearls), in Arabic, in answer to Dr. Noor-Edin of India.
During the years 1901 and 1902, while sojourning in America, Mírzá Abul-Fazl wrote the Hujaj'ul Baheyyeh (The Bahá'í Proofs), which constitutes the major portion of this volume.
As late as December, 1911, he wrote a scholarly answer to an opponent of the Bahá'í Cause, known as Burhane Lame (The Brilliant Proof), which was published by The Center of The Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, while in America.
His other epistles and pamphlets, which are scattered in all parts, are too numerous for mention in this article.
Mírzá Abul-Fazl had a wonderful genius in explaining subtle philosophical points, which skill is his specialty. He himself thought that he received this gift as a fulfillment of the prayer which the Blessed Perfection (Bahá'u'lláh) made for him in a Tablet written to Haji-Mohammed-Kazen of Isfahan. It is as follows:- "I beg of God to enable Fazl (Mírzá Abul-Fazl) to teach, His Truth, and to unveil that which is hidden and treasured in His Knowledge, with wisdom and explanation. Verily He is the Mighty, the Bestower!"
One of the theories originated by Mírzá Abul-Fazl, was the "Proof of Stability," In demonstrating the Essence of the Self-existent One. This is one of the greatest and clearest logical arguments for proving the Divine validity of the religions and demonstrating the Essence of the Almighty. By a single rational proof, it demonstrates both the existence of God and the truth of the true Prophets. He first propounded this argument in the book of Fassl-ul-Khetab, in 1892, and for the second time, in the book of El-Farayed, in 1897.
He was the first one of the Bahá'ís who demonstrated by rational and logical arguments, that miracles are not sufficient to prove the truth of the Manifestations of God. He was the first one who clearly explained the purpose of what was spoken by the Prophets, in the Holy Scriptures, as to the "words being sealed," to be opened in the "last days."[*] He was also the first to explain that the great religions of the world which have changed and governed the conditions of society, are seven in number; and that the "seven heavens" is a term by which the Prophets have symbolized the Divine religions. Before Mírzá Abul-Fazl propounded his theory, the point was not understood, for this number[+] was not spoken of in the Divine Books and Tablets, nor in historical works.
* Bahá'u'lláh declared: "Verily, we have opened the seal of the 'sealed Wine.'"
+ Historians had different views upon the subject. Dr C. Vandyke of America, professor
in the University of Beyrout, who has compiled well-known works, has stated in his
Geography, that the principal religions are four in number. Nufel George of Tripoli
(Syria), who is one of the noted men of learning, has counted six in his historical
work entitled Soussane-Suleyman (the Lily of Solomon). Likewise the European writers
have each stated a certain number which is not sustained by any argument.
He was the first one who demonstrated by rational proofs, why the Pagan religions are considered as polytheism, although they owe their origin to the Almighty, and acknowledge one God. For if by worshipping images, people are to be considered as polytheists, the Greek Church and Roman Catholics must also be considered such, while they are in reality, the "people of the Book," and believers in Divine Unity and true religion.
* * *
In regard to Mírzá-Abul-Fazl's writings the following statement was made by him: - "In the early years of my conversion, I refused to write books, suppositig that in the days in which the Supreme Pen was moving, Its sound would be heard in all regions. Therefore, I reasoned, it would be a great presumption for a man to attempt writing and composition. Finally in 1887, when in Azerbeyjan, I was favored with the privilege of meeting Wargha the Martyr,[*] and he encouraged me to write and compose. He said: "During the days when I was at the brilliant city of Akka, and attained the honor of meeting the Blessed Perfection, the Blessed Tongue repeated the Command of the 'First Point,' which was that the believers should each one write books demonstrating the truth of 'He whom God shall manifest.' I inquired if He deemed it advisable to employ Mírzá Abul-Fazl in this service. Then He said, 'As the "First Point" has commanded it, such persons should employ themselves in writing and propounding arguments.'
* The account of the Martyrdom of Mírzá-Ali-Mohammad the poet, one of the stanch
Bahá'ís, with Rouh-Allah his son, is given in the history of this Movement which
follows. "Wargha" is the title of this martyr, meaning "nightingale" or "dove."
"When I heard this statement from his holiness Wargha the Martyr, I ventured to undertake writing. Other believers from all parts were urging me both verbally and by letters to write books of explanation and proofs. Therefore in 1888, when I went to the city of Hamadan, one of the great princes there asked me to work out the date of the Manifestation of the Command of God, from the Koran. As In those days, the Cause of God had penetrated among the Hebrews, and the Jewish Bahá'ís were widely renowned, one of the learned Jews of Teheran, by name Dr. Mírzá-Ayoob, had asked many questions from the Jewish Bahá'ís of Hamadan, and they requested me to write answers to them. Consequently I wrote a brief treatise in reply to the request of the prince and the Jewish Bahá'ís, which book was entitled Shar'he-Ayate-Mowarrakhe (an account of the texts, giving dates). I furnished therein, an interpretation of those verses of the Heavenly Books, of the Old and New Testament, the Koran, the Zend Avesta of the Parsees, which contain indications of the date of the Appearance of the Cause of God. This treatise was written in Persian, and many unrevised copies of it are circulated in Hamadan and elsewhere. The learned Jews have translated into Hebrew that part of it which concerns the Jewish religion, and have spread it throughout Persia."
"A revolt was stirred up against me in Hamadan, through the instigation of the clergy. I was arrested, confined for five days, and then compelled to leave the city; which prevented me from revising the book. However, in the year 1890, when in Samarkand (Turkestan), I revised it, and manuscript copies were sent to different parts."
"In those years, Ostad-Jawan-Mard, the lecturer of the Zoroastrian College of Yezd, wrote a petition to the Holy Presence of Bahá'u'lláh, asking various questions. Among other things, he asked concerning the genealogy of Bahá'u'lláh; for the Parsees, according to the text of their Heavenly Book, expect the Greatest Manifestation, the Promised LORD, to appear from Persia and to be of Zoroastrian descent. In answer to this question, Bahá'u'lláh wrote in a Tablet to him, the following passage: -"'Abul-Fazl of Gulpaygan - upon him be My Bahá!- hath written upon this subject, from the Heavenly Scriptures, things which are effective in guiding capable, prepared souls.'
"In 1892, this book was sent by Aga-Mírzá-Abdul-Kerim of Ardebeel, from Askabad to the Holy Presence of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in compliance with His own command, it was approved in the following Tablet written by His own Blessed Hand:-
"'The treatise containing proofs, wntten by the pen of that pure soul, was read and noted. We opened our mouth to give thanks for the Favors of the Threshold of Oneness, Who, through the Confirmation of His Kingdom the EL-ABHA, hath caused such souls to arise for the guidance of all the religions of the world, so that no one among the nations of the world can equal or resist their speech, utter that He hath caused thee to speak His praise, raised thee to explain His argument, demonstrate His proofs and evidences, and to declare His Cause in the Kingdom of His Creations! Were people to possess attentive ears, sound minds, tranquil souls, and pure hearts, this (thy) treatise would be sufficient for them. Verily, I beseech God to make thee a sign of Guidance, a standard of Righteousness, a lamp of Knowledge, a dawning-place of Assurance, a preparer of the Path, a guide to enable people to make straight the road throughout the concourse of existence, and a leader of the hosts of Life, in the Kingdom of the visible world. Verily, He is the confirmer of whomsoever He willeth! Verily, He is powerful In all things! Upon thee be El-Bahá!' - 'ABDUL-BAHA-ABBAS."'
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR
[From the Star of the West, No. 19, Vol. IV.]
"Verily the eyes have shed tears and the hearts have burned because of this great affliction. Be ye possessed with the beauty of patience in this mighty calamity." - Telegram from 'Abdu'l-Bahá referring to the death of Mírzá Abul-Fadl.
A FEW days before 'Abdu'l-Bahá's departure from Egypt to the Holy Land, Mírzá Abul-Fazl went to Cairo. During the month of January, which is the coldest in Cairo, his strength failed rapidly and when finally confined to his bed, he was transferred to the house of one of the friends, Aga Mohammed Taki of Esphahan, where he was attended by the best physicians and nurses procurable. But he never rallied, and died on Wednesday, January 21, at four o'clock in the afternoon. The attending nurse said that as he expired she heard him say, "Khoda! Khoda!" (God! God!) With these words of greeting he joined Him in whose service he had so long labored.
The doctor pronounced death due to endocarditis - i. e., inflammation of the lining membrane of the heart.
Although he had passed the allotted years of three score and ten, it was hard for us to believe this busy life ended. As no one had ever met him without hearing him utter a few words of wisdom, it was difficult to realize that the spirit had indeed departed from the body that lay before us, silent and irresponsive, yet smiling and beautiful.
A telegram was sent to 'Abdu'l-Bahá notifying him of the death of Mírzá Abul-Fazl, and the answer, quoted above, came immediately.
The body of our beloved teacher was carried on the shoulders of the Bahá'ís of Egypt, from the house of Aga Mohammed Taki to the cemetery on the hfll and laid in the tomb owned by Mírzá Haji Hassan Khorassani. The tomb is a large room, in the center of which the remains were laid, and fragrant narcissus blossoms were scattered on his resting place. The friends chanted Tablets and many eyes were wet with tears.
And thus, on January 22nd, while the Egyptian people were celebrating the inauguration of the Legislative Council in one end of the city of Cairo, at the other end, on a hill, a group of old and young men, Persians and Egyptians, were mourning the departure of a soul well loved throughout the East...
HUSSEIN A. AFNAN. Egypt, February 2, 1914.
Tributes And Eulogies By 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas [Extracts from the Diary of Mírzá Ahmad Sohrab.] Haifa, Syria, January 22, 1914:
THIS was a day of affliction and grief to the Bahá'í world, for our great and noble teacher, Mírzá Abul-Fazl, departed from this earth, and the sweet-singing nightingale of his pure spirit soared toward the Rose-Garden of the Kingdom of Abha. The telegram arrived last night; it was delivered this morning, and the heart-breaking news conveyed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá just as he sat down to partake of his lunch. The news saddened and grieved him. He did not say a word, but arose from his seat without eating. He remained alone in his room till late in the afternoon. Then he went with Mírzá Hadi to the telegraph office to send a message of consolation to the friends in Cairo. The Pilgrims' House was a house of mourning; many eyes were weeping and many hearts burdened with sorrow.
* * *
In the evening all the believers gathered in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's house. Under breath everyone was discussing the death of our venerable teacher, when Mírzá Hadi brought us the word that 'Abdu'l-Bahá would receive us. We all ascended to the upper floor, and after a few minutes he came in. At first he was silent, then while his eyes were shut he started to speak. He would speak a few phrases, then a flood of emotions sweeping over him, he would stop a few seconds and continu~ He said in part:
"Today a most painful news was received; Its effect was agonizing and its anguish very harrowing. Truly I say, Mírzá Abul-Fazl was a glorious personage. From every standpoint he was peerless. It is a rare thing to find a person perfect from every direction, but he was such a person. His honor Aga Mírzá Heydar All must write the biography of his (Mírzá Abul-Fazl's) life. Truly I say he was in a state of the utmost severance, and adorned with the highest virtues of firmness and steadfastness. He was absolutely detached from everything. From the day that he became a believer up to the last moment of his life, he was occupied in the service of the Cause of God; either he conveyed the Message or wrote books proving the validity of this Cause. He had not the slightest attachment to this mortal world.
"How erudite and learned he was! He had a marvelous knowledge of the contents of books. He was well-informed as to the tenets of every religion and had mastered the intricate laws and complicated customs of every nation - modern and ancient. He knew in detail the doctrines of every sect or party, and was a standard-bearer of the oneness of the world of humanity. In the servitude of the Holy Threshold of Bahá'u'lláh he was my partner and associate. During the hours of grief he was the source of my consolation. From every standpoint I trusted him, and had in him the greatest amount of confidence. Whenever anyone wrote books and articles against this Cause, I referred them to him for irrefutable answer.
"How humble and meek he was! We tried our best to persuade him to keep a servant, but he would always gently decline. He desired to serve the believers personally. Whenever the believers and the non-believers called on him, although he was sick, weak and in fever, yet he would get up and prepare tea and serve his callers with his own hand. All his anxieties revolved around this one supreme object - to make people satisfied and happy at any cost.
"During all the days of his life I never heard from him the use of the word 'I' - 'I said so,' or 'I wrote so and so.' He would say: 'This servant requested them,' or 'This servant begged the believers.' He never made a display of his knowledge, nor wished to impress upon the mind of any person that he knew such and such a subject, or had locked in his mind such and such information. He was evanescent and lived in the station of nothingness. He was self-sacrificing at the Holy Threshold. No one inhaled from him the odor of superiority.
"Now the consummate wisdom of God hath deemed it wise to take hiin away from amongst us. The only way left to us is patience. How often one man has been equal to one thousand. In short, you who are the believers of God, ascend the Mountain with contrite hearts, and gather together and chant in his behalf communes and prayers, so that God may exalt more than ever his station in the spiritual world. I will likewise engage tonight in supplication at the Divine Threshold in his behalf."
Then he asked Foroughi to chant a prayer, which he did with great emotion, In the midst of great silence, 'Abdu'l-Bahá left the room.
* * *
January 23d.
Early next morning a meeting of prayer was held In the Tomb of the Báb in memory of Mírzá Abul-Fasl, and everyone offered supplication at the Threshold of the Almighty.
* * *
January 24th.
In the afternoon there was a very large meeting In the house of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The central hall, which is very large, was used for this purpose. While Mírzá Moneer was chanting Tablets, suddenly a door was opened and 'Abdu'l-Bahá entered the hall. Every one arose. When he sat, he gave them permission to take their seats. After a few minutes of silence, he began to speak:
"The calamitous death of his holiness, Abul-Fazl is of such vast proportion that no matter how I strive to console myself, I do not succeed. How good it is that man during his existence may conduct himself in such a manner, that when he passes away, the hearts of the believers will be attracted toward him so as to cherish his memory forever and ever. While I was living in Ramleh, whenever I felt depressed or sad, I called on him, and soon afterward I was in a happier frame of mind. He was most sincere, most straightforward. He had not the least hypocrisy or deceit in his nature. He has left behind wonderful literary traces, which are unequalled and peerless. All his works and writings go to prove the validity of this Blessed Cause. His tongue and his pen, his thought and ideals, were all engaged in establishing the authenticity of this glorious Movement. He had so arranged the program of his daily work that from morning till noon he was occupied with his writing, and did not receive any person, but in the afternoons he welcomed anyone who cared to call on him.
"He was a serious, earnest man; he was cordial and affectionate. There was nothing trifling or trivial about him. He Impressed everyone who came In contact with him by his simple nobility and true kingship. His presence and words were invigorating. If he expressed publicly his love for some particular person, In his heart he loved him more; if he eulogized him, in his heart he praised him more; if he was attached to him, in his heart he was more deeply attached to him. He was fervent and zealous. If he was displeased with a person, he could not hold conversation with him."
* * *
February 8th.
To those who were going to Egypt, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said: "On my behalf you will go and visit the tomb of our beloved Mírzá Abul-Fazl. All the days of his life were spent in the service of the Cause of God. His will and desire were devoted to the promotion of the Message of the Kingdom. He did not think of worldly comfort and tranquillity. He never tried to protect his life. He was not at all attached to the ephemeral objects of this contingent world. All his thoughts, ideals, conceptions and aims were centered around the service of the world of the Merciful. Praise be to God! that his intellectual and spiritual life was very fruitful. All his books contain incontrovertible proofs and evidences concerning this impregnable, blessed Cause. Sanctified and holy, divine and spiritual, he ascended from this mortal world to the realm of light.
"The disinterested actions and free-hearted deeds of a person proclaim with the sound of a trumpet his loyalty and sincerity in the Cause. He is In no need of self-justification. He lives above and beyond the criticism of petty and dwarfed assailers of his integrity and purity of motives. Their censures do not touch him. The Innate nobility of his soul is not tarnished, the glories of his work are not beclouded. The river of his spiritual ideality, creative power and imaginative faculty is not dried up. The sea of his sympathy and increasing hopefulness and direct activity in the Cause is not calmed down. With a deep insight, holy vision, and fresh inspiration, he will cause the complete retreat of all his old enemies and with new zest, unfailing courage and undisturbed spirit he will apply himself to new victories, new channels of service, broader fields of labor, higher plans of triumphs and the solution of vaster and more intricate problems by the magic wand of his determination. Thus he changes every stumbling block placed in his path to dishearten him from further progress into a stepping stone, advances with confident steps, ever rising higher and higher, never looking backward but always forward, setting aside imperturbably all the seeming difficulties and finally planting his feet on the summit of the mountain of success, beatitude and undiminished glory.
"Such a man was Mírzá Abul-Fazl. On such an unshakable rock every person must lay the foundation of the palace of his life, so that the howling of the winds, the fury of the storms and the onslaught of the wild elements may not in the least shake it. The life of Mírzá Abul-Fazl was God-controlled and God-propelled. Not for one second did he set his own will above the Will of God. He effaced self and lived eternally in God."
* * *
February 13th.
A Memorial Service for our beloved teacher, Mírzá Abul-Fazl, at the Tomb of the Báb, was the order of the day. There were many present, but a profound quietness reigned. In the midst of the great silence, the gentle, mellow voice of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was raised, now in a low and anon in a higher tone, chanting the Visiting Tablet. Returning to the reception room, 'Abdu'l-Bahá then delivered the following address:
"Truly I say the departure of Mírzá Abul-Fazl is an irretrievable loss for the people of Bahá. In all the countries of the world, wherever the believers are found, they are deeply affected by the death of this glorious personage. For all of them loved him most cordially and admired him from the bottom of their hearts and souls. He attracted to himself the spirit of everyone. Truly he was a worthy man. Strange, passing strange, that there was not a breath of self-desire in this person. Wholly divested from all other thoughts and mentions, he had consecrated all his time to the service of the Holy Threshold. He lived in order to dig out of the rich mine of his heart and intellect nuggets of brilliant proofs, conclusive arguments and glorious expositions of the ideals of the Kingdom and establish the validity of the Cause of God. Were one to read all his writings and works, he does not find 'I-ness' and 'egoism' stalking between the lines, nor does he observe any pedantic expressions or circumlocution - in order to bear upon the mind of the reader the whole weight of his learning and scholarship. From the moment that he was ushered under the shade of the Blessed Tree, he forewent every pleasure and cut his heart from every worldly station. He asked for no comfort, he sought no rest, he longed for no fame and he wished no notoriety or name. He lived afar off, above the thoughts of conflict and supremacy which are waging war on the battlefield of the minds and the hearts of many people. Until his very last breath, he served at the Holy Threshold.
"How learned was he! How wise was he! How well informed was he! His understanding was marvellous and his wisdom beyond comparison. He was acquainted with the master thoughts of the authors of every nation, he was equipped with the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures of all the religions. He knew the contents of the Zend-Avesta and the Zoroastrian literature. He had a most comprehensive knowledge of the Bible and the Gospel. He was apprised of their inner meanings. He had mastered the opinions and theories of the philosophers of the past and the ideals of the spiritual scholars were known to him. He was deeply versed in the universal history of mankind. All the learned men and scholars of the Islamic world, especially those who reside In Egypt, and had conversed with Mírzá Abul-Fazl, have testified that he was a genius, a truly wise man. Notwithstanding this, his character was never tinged with any vanity or self-conceit.
"In the path of the Blessed Perfection he suffered persecutions, hardships and afflictions. While being pursued by the enemies, he was serene and composed. The sword of Damocles often hung over his head. Finally he was thrown into the prison at Teheran. In those days Nassari'd-Din-Shah was borne on the crest of the raging waves of wrath against the Bahá'ís, and Navebos-Saltaneh was no less exasperated and indignant. Notwithstanding those two mighty forces of opposition, yet he withstood them with the utmost firmness, with infinite steadfastness and in his examination in the presence of the latter dignitary he proved conclusively the validity and truthfulness of this Revelation. With other teachers of the Cause, he spent two years in prison, till the Hand of Might and Majesty saved him from the claws of the wolves.
"I never heard him mention the details of his ordeals and trials in the Path of ABHA. One day we were discussing together certain matters relative to the Cause, and one thing brought another and the stirring events of those early days were reviewed. In answer he said: 'The courageous and dauntless stand taken by Sheikh Reza Yazdi during our imprisonment was so unparalleled and heroic that in comparison with him none of us really served the Cause. What he said restored tranquillity and peace of mind to the authorities. When we were cross-examined, we not always answered in wisdom and did not explain the Teachings plainly. Nayebos-Saltaneh realizing this, could not trust our statements. Then he sent for Sheikh Reza and inquired from him the tenets of this Movement. With an eloquent tongue and lucid explanation he went over all the teachings of the Blessed Perfection, and then got up from his seat and prayed before him and others to show him the form of our prayer. Then he said: "I have now told you all our doctrines and beliefs, the sources of which are the writings of Bahá'u'lláh. It is very easy to verify them by reading some of the epistles revealed by Him. What I told you corresponds with reality. There is, however, another Command of Bahá'u'lláh, which is explicitly obeyed by all the Bahá'ís, and it is - they must not at all interfere with the political affairs of the country in which they live." As none of us dared to speak so plainly, and as Sheikh Reza spoke without the least veil, Nayebos-Saltaneh felt confident that we were harboring no intrigues or revolution against the established order of government.' This was all that I heard from Mírzá Abul-Fazl about the time of his imprisonment This was also of course in the praise of the courage of one of his fellow prisoners. He did not say: 'I said so and so; I suffered so and so.'
"In short, the hearts of all the believers of the world were attached to him. He was the brilliant lamp of the Cause, the shining light of guidance, the sparkling star of knowledge, the luminous orb of understanding and a sea tumultuous with the waves of wisdom."
TABLET TO THE WASHINGTON, D. C.' ASSEMBLY
O Ye believers of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful!
The letter of condolence and sympathy expressing grief and affliction at the death of his holiness Abul-Fazl was perused. It conferred consolation upon the heart. Praise be to God! that the believers of Washington are informed of the majesty of the station of that noble personage. With weeping eyes and burning hearts they moaned and lamented at the Memorial meetings commemorating his departure. This glorious personage was a brilliant orb, a luminous lamp, a blessed, fruitful tree, a waving sea of knowledge, a fountain of the Water of Life and was established in the Ark of Salvation. From the beginning of his childhood he had the utmost faith and was imbued with a religious spirit. All his life was either spent in the acquisition of knowledge, engaged in the worship of the True One, or occupied in the pursuit of sciences and philosophies;- until he heard the Call of God, hastened toward the Kingdom of God, listened to the Melody of the Supreme Concourse, turned his face toward the Beauty of ABHA and became so attracted and enkindled that the believers and acquaintances became astonished, exclaiming: "What a dazzling light which is ignited in this transparent lamp! What a glorious bestowal which has become refulgent in this Cycle!"
In short, he severed his heart entirely from the ephemoral world and turned his gaze completely toward the Realm on High. He closed his eyes wholly to the rest, comfort and honor of this material earth, and attached himself to the spiritual glad-tidings, merciful fragrances and divine outpourings. Whosoever found himself in his presence and propounded to him the most abstruse questions of divine Philosophy, listened to most rational and satisfactory answers. His blessed heart was the spring of realities and significances, allaying the thirst of every thirsty one. In the demonstration of the Cause of the Beauty of ABHA, he wrote books and innumerable pamphlets, a number of which are published and circulated. In the Path of God he forsook his native land and traveled In many parts of the world. In every city he summoned the inhabitants to the Kingdom of God and imparted to mankind the glad-tiding of the dawn of the Sun of Reality. In his lectures he brought forth the most irrefutable evidences and incontrovertible proofs-intellectual and scriptural. He was endowed with an eloquent tongue and a fluent utterance. He had a luminous heart and an extraordinary intelligence; a marvelous memory and a miraculous capacity. Having visited many countries and blessed with a last pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he domiciled in Alexandria. For a few months, day and night, he was associating with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and was busy writing his last work. Then for a change of air he went to Cairo from Alexandria. While living in the former city he ascended to the Supreme Concourse. Like unto the yearning nightingale, he winged his way to the rose-garden of the Luminary of the regions, and similar to a thirsty fish he hastened toward the fathomless sea. Although the hearts were scorched with the fire of separation, the souls of the Bahá'ís were burned like unto the candles, and from all the cities the cries of lamentations and moanings were heard, the eyes wept and the spirits were consumed,- yet that leader of the lordly ones was released from the narrowness of this world and soared toward the infinite apex. The drop was joined to the ocean and the ray returned to the Sun. He was liberated from the wilderness of separation and ascended to the Court of the Transfiguration of the Lord of the Covenant. Now he is submerged in the Sea of Lights and enthroned in the Kingdom of ABHA!
Upon ye be BAHA-EL-ABHA! (Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
A Short Sketch Of The History And Lives Of The Leaders Of This Religion
By Mírzá-Abul-Fazl
Translated From The Persian
by Ishtael Ebn-i-Kalenter
INTRODUCTION.
In the Name of of our Lord, the El-Bahá!
IT IS known to men of learning, that down to the present year, this new Movement, the light of which has penetrated most of the eastern and western countries; - this religious belief up on which depends the reformation of the world and the unification of nations; - according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, has been founded and upheld by three holy persons. As those who have attempted to write of this Movement, particularly the writers of newspapers and magazines, have mixed up true and false statements, and have colored historical facts with personal prejudices, it is therefore impossible for readers and students to rely upon and profit by their accounts. Even the very sources of their records and the obvious contrast between them, bear testimony of their unreliability. It has therefore been deemed necessary to depict in these pages, a true, substantial and succinct account concerning the birth, fountain-source and circumstances of these "Three Lights," which cannot be disputed or doubted. With regard to misrepresentations made by prejudiced people concerning certain facts, we leave the exposure of these to the natural and inevitable laws of development and progression; for time and circumstances do not permit the writer to enter into details of proofs and arguments upon all these points. God the Exalted will enable us to accomplish our undertaking.
We preface the subject by saying that religions are distinguished and differentiated from each other by three points:
First, by the difference of founders and institutors. For instance, the religions of Zoroaster, Moses, and Mohammed are distinguished and named by three different names, on account of their being founded by these three different personages.
Second, by the difference of the inspired Books of the religions. Thus, the Divine Book of the Zoroastrians is the Zend-Avesta, that of the Jews is the Old Testament, and that of the Moslems is the Koran.
Third, by the difference of laws, ordinances, rites and customs. For instance, as the laws and ordinances of the above religions are different from each other, therefore they are accounted as three religions. In other words, as the devotional acts, rites and beliefs of Christianity are different from those of the Confucianists; and as those of the latter are different from those of the Brahamans, therefore these are considered different religions and peoples; otherwise they would all be regarded as one religion and one people.
According to this theory, the writer, in his former works, has shown that the number of the principal religions of the world, which have effected the organization and origin of independent nations, and changed human society, are seven. He has likewise interpreted the "seven heavens" spoken of in Heavenly Books, to be these religions; even though they have all emanated from one Divine Source, all worship one God, and all seek the same attainment of eternal life and salvation.
This introductory statement will show men of learning and sagacity the difference between the Bahá'ís and Bábís, and will enable them to distinguish one from the other. For the founder of the Bábís was the Great Báb, the "First Point"; while the founder of the Bahá'ís was the Blessed Perfection, the Greatest Name, Bahá'u'lláh. The book of the Bábís is the Beyan; which was revealed by the Great Báb in the mountain of Maku; while the principal book of the Bahá'ís is the Kitab-El-Akdas and Tablets belonging to it, all of which were revealed by Bahá'u'lláh after declaring His Mission, in Adrianople and Akka. Likewise, some of the Ordinances of the Báb are rigid and rigorous, in contrast with the benign ordinances of Bahá'u'lláh, all of which are in conformity with the praiseworthy civilization of the present day, suitable for the preservation of human society, and adapted to the rights and interests of all the eastern and western nations of the world. But, as His Holiness the Great Báb announced in His Books and Epistles, the good tidings of the Manifestation of Bahá'u'lláh, by the name "He-whom-God-shall-manifest"; as He revealed that the appearance of Bahá'u'lláh would be nine years after His own advent; as He fixed the date of Bahá's declaration and the removal of His own religion to be nineteen years subsequent to (the Báb's) Advent; as He made His own ordinances and laws dependent upon the will of Bahá'u'lláh - Who had the right to change or reform them; and as He used His best efforts and endeavors upon all occasions, to deliver the Message of Bahá'u'lláh; - therefore we people of Bahá recognize that Brilliant Flame to be the true Precursor of the Blessed Perfection; know Him to be the Forerunner who prepared the road before the Divine Manifestation, and the first one to establish this Law of God.
After this introduction, we now begin to treat of the lives of each one of these three above-mentioned Lights; while begging God the Exalted for His Confirmation and Assistance.
THE BÁB'S name was Mírzá-Ali-Mohammed. He was born from a distinguished family of the descendants of Mohammed, on the first day of the Arabic month Mohar'ram 1235 A.H. (Oct. 1819, A.D.), in the city of Shiraz, the principal city of Fars, situated in the south of Persia. His father's name was Seyd-Mohammed-Riza, a merchant of woolen goods, in Fars. He died before his son Mírzá-Ali-Mohammed was weaned. Therefore his only child was placed in care of a maternal uncle, Haji-Mírzá-Seyd-Ali of Shiraz, a man noted for his excellent sanctity, virtue and great piety, and who exercised utmost care in His development and training.
When the Báb reached the age of seven and eight, He was engaged in reading Persian books, under a tutor known as Sheikhi-Moallem, a learned man. This instruction followed the ordinary routine of education which the Persian merchants receive. When He reached maturity, he went into trade, in partnership with his maternal uncle; and afterward, for business purposes, resided at Bushire, situated upon the coast of the Persian Gulf, with another uncle, Haji-Mírzá-Seyd Mohammed.
From his earliest childhood, the Báb was characterized with piety and virtue. He was exceedingly handsome in appearance and of a grave and venerable deportment. Furthermore, it is the unanimous testimony of both friends and enemies, that He was unequalled in beauty, gravity and politeness, and that He never failed to observe the exact time of prayer, devotion and other religious requirements. He was, in the excellence of His attributes and good qualities, a complete model of human perfection, a standard of refinement and elegance. To prove this fact, it is sufficient to observe that the Shi'ite historians, who, in fabricating falsehood and calumnies, especially when being supported by the Government and people, wrote the most shameless and scurrilous statements, were not able to find any flaw in the history of His life. Lacking other material for criticism and abuse, these historians have asserted that His extravagance and persistence in devotions and discipline finally led to the confusion of His mind, and ended in melancholy and hallucination.
When He reached the age of twenty-four, the Báb declared before some of the principal men of learning, who were distinguished for virtue, and devotion, that God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Babhood (doorship). He claimed that He had been sent to warn people of the approach of the "time of the end" and of the coming of the Great Hour; to announce to them the descent of the Spirit of God (Christ), spoken of in the Heavenly Books. He read unto them a book which God had revealed from His mouth. Being cognizant of the fact that He had not had any further preparation than the study of the elementary books taught to children in preliminary schools, these men of learning were amazed to find such an extraordinary knowledge proceeding from Him, and the majority of them believed in the truth of His claim, on account of His great piety and integrity. These were His first believers and became known later as "the Letters of the Living." Each one of these "Letters of the Living," in compliance with the Báb's command, went to different parts of Persia and Turkey, spreading the news of His advent, without mentioning who He was or where He had appeared. In the meantime, the Báb set out for a journey to Mecca and Arabia. In Mecca, He put forward His claim to more than a hundred thousand Mussulmans assembled there at the time of the annual pilgrimage. Therefore the news of His appearance was universally announced, causing a great commotion and disturbance in Persia and in Irak-Arabi. By the title Báb, the Mussulmans understood Him to be a representative of their promised Mahdi, whose coming had been foretold by Mohammed; because the Báb gave people to understand in His discourses and other epistles, that He was the precursor of another who would appear after Him. After performing the rites of pilgrimage, completing the visit to Mecca and Medina, and fulfilling religious acts of worship, He returned to His native land, and arrived at Bushire.
As the news of the Báb's appearance became widely spread in Shiraz, through the letters forwarded by the pilgrims of that city from Mecca and Medina, and as the number of His converts increased daily through the fervent endeavors of "the Letters of the Living," the Shi'ite doctors, who then exercised great influence, arose against Him, and persuaded Hussein-Kahn, entitled Nizam'Ud-Dawla, the Governor of Fars, a fanatical, tyrannical ruler, exceedingly loyal and obedient to them, to undertake the Báb's suppression and subjugation. He first sent ten horsemen to Bushire to conduct the Báb to Shiraz. They met Him midway between Bushire and Shiraz and escorted Him thither. When He arrived at Shiraz, the Governor called a meeting, to which he invited the prominent clergy of the city, and also summoned the Báb to be present. 'The Báb declared His mission openly before all the members of the assembly. He claimed that the LORD of the Universe had sent His Door (Báb), and had confirmed Him by causing verses to be revealed from His pen and tongue; that by this manifest proof and weighty miracle, His truth might be proven to the people of the world, and they might be directed to their destination. No sooner had the Mohammedan clergy heard Him mention the word "verses," than they could hardly control their feelings; inasmuch as the founder of their religion had said in the Koran, that were all the men and genii to unite together, or all the people of the world co-operate, they would not be able to produce even one chapter like the Koran. Although the Báb had not studied the Arabic language and knew only Persian; and although He was neither a scholar nor scientist, yet He wrote passages in Arabic, similar to the Koran, in answer to their scientific and abstruse questions. Most of them He wrote in their presence, without pause or reflection, not even writing a rough copy first, as is customary with men of learning and literature. Naturally they were astonished at the appearance of such wonders and were unable to answer Him.
Finally they were reduced to say that whosoever, after Mohammed, lays claim to any revelation of verses, is an infidel. Consequently the chief among the Shiraz clergy gave verdict that the Báb should be put to death, and the Governor of Fars did not refrain from insulting and striking Him and persecuting His followers. Surety having been furnished by His maternal uncle, Haji-Mírzá-Seyd-Ali, the Báb was sent to his house, under strict injunction to hold intercourse with no one. In obedience to this command of the Governor, the Báb secluded Himself and did not admit visitors for some time. Notwithstanding this, His followers continually increased in number, and the news of His virtue and dignity was disseminated throughout all parts of Persia. Meanwhile some of the prominent clergy and men of dignity in Persia, acknowledged His truth, and endeavored to promulgate His cause. Among these were Seyd-Yahya of Darab, the eldest sou of Seyd Jawad of Kerbela; and a great number in Teheran, including Bahá'u'lláh.
Consequently, the clergy of Shiraz again arose in uproar and hostility, accusing the followers of the Báb of having made political claims, and instigating the Governor of Shiraz to murder Him. Then the Governor ordered Abdul-Hamid-Khan, the High Constable, to surround the house of the Báb at midnight, with a number of men, and break into the place. The Constable discovered nothing indicating conspiracy in the Báb's house; in fact found nobody in it except the Báb and one of His followers named Seyd-Kazim of Zenjan. However, he took the Báb to his own house and imprisoned Him there. But at this time, cholera was epidemic in Shiraz, which compelled the Governor and the majority of the chief citizens to flee from the city. Not having discovered anything to fear in the Báb, they released Him upon condition that He should leave Shiraz, lest His presence might stir up the clergy of Fars to make further trouble.
Consequently, the Báb left the city for Isfahan, accompanied by His above-mentioned disciple. In Isfahan He resided in the house of the Imam-Jom'a (a leading clergy), according to the order of Menu-Che'hr-Khan of Georgia, a venerable Christian, who was then the Governor of Isfahan. Having arrived in the house of Imam-Jom'a, He had remained there but thirty to forty days, when the whole city was in a clamor. Multitudes of the prominent students and traders, as well as the general public, visited Him every day, and most of them were astonished at His piety, gravity and excellence. They were led to confess the fullness of His knowledge and His spiritual power, by the prompt way in which He answered the questions importunately put to Him by men of learning. Therefore the number of His adherents grew in the city of Isfahan, which is the residence of the prominent clergy and the center of learning in Persia.
One thing which greatly astonished the people, was that Menu-Che'hr-Kahn, the Christian Governor, who was one of the greatest statesmen of Persia and renowned for his discernment and intelligence, openly acknowledged the truth of the Báb's mission. Also Mírzá-Seyd-Mohammed the Imam-Jom'a, entitled "Sultan' Ul-Ulema" (the Sultan of the Ulema), became devoted to Him. Therefore the other divines and doctors of Isfahan, who were the most distinguished in Persia on account of their power and influence, made a great uproar against the Báb. The Governor, with the object of exposing the weakness of the clergy and demonstrating the power and virtue of the Báb, gave orders that all should hold a debate and discussion with the Báb, in the presence of himself and the Imam-Jom'a. He commanded that the discussion should be faithfully reported by secretaries and the report sent to the Shah at Teheran, in order that the decision might be left in his hands. As two of their erudite sages, Aka-Mohammed-Mahdi of Calbass, and the eminent Platonist, Mírzá-Hassan of Noor, had once conferred with the Báb, in the presence of the Governor, without being able to discomfit Him, the Divines refused this discussion and conference, giving as a pretext that it would bring the Mohammedan Law into contempt. At the same time, they unanimously determined to put Him to death. The Governor, seeing the unanimity of the clergy, and fearing that their influence and authority would cause the Báb's murder, concealed Him in his own quarters and gave currency to a report that He had been sent to Teheran in compliance with the Shah's order; thus for a time, allaying the trouble stirred up by the clergy.
Meanwhile, Manu-Chehr-Khan died, and Gurguin-Khan, his nephew, who was the Vice-Governor of Isfahan, forwarded a petition to Haji-Mírzá-Akassi, the Prime Minister, informing him of the death of the Governor, and of the Báb's concealment in the quarters of the government; and asking for instructions regarding the latter. Mohammed Shah, who was personally of a mystic tendency and who entertained no real regard for the clergy, had also heard from unbiased people, the report of the Báb's fame, and of His purity and spiritual attraction, and was willing to see Him. But the Prime Minister, who had been a tutor and teacher of the Shah in his childhood, and for whom the Shah entertained a devoted respect, fearing lest the interview with the Báb might lessen the Shah's respect and esteem for himself, issued a strict command to Gurguin-Khan to disguise the Báb and send Him in charge of Nusseyri horsemen to Teheran.
Accordingly Gurguin-Khan sent the Báb to Teheran. As the city of Kashan is situated between Isfahan and Teheran, the Báb was detained three days there, during which many of the clergy and merchants of the city believed in Him.
When He arrived at the last halting-place before Teheran, the Prime Minister gave a fresh order that He should not be brought to Teheran, but held in the village of Kahn, until the matter had been brought before the Shah's notice. The Báb was detained there about twenty days, during which He forwarded a letter to the Shah, asking for an interview. The Prime Minister prevented this, pointing out that the Shah was upon the eve of departure to Herat, to wage war with the Afghans and that should the Báb arrive at Teheran, the clergy there would stir up a revolt in the same manner as the clergy of Isfahan had done. He reasoned that it therefore would be advisable to place Him in the fortress of Maku, at the borders of Azerbeyjan, until the Shah should return from the con quest of Herat, and look into the matter at his leisure. As Mohammed-Shah was not informed of the real motive of the Prime Minister, he approved this view and wrote a respectful letter with his own hand, to the following effect: "Since we are at the point of setting off for a journey, you will now abide for a while in Maku. On our return, we will meet you and the matter will be decided."
In this letter, he also requested the Báb to pray in his behalf. The Báb was consequently sent to Azerbeyjan, escorted by Mohammed-Bey the courier, who was a Nusseyrite. Some maintain that the reason why the Prime Minister always placed the Báb in the charge of Nusseyrite mounted guards, was that the latter, not being Mussulmans, and knowing nothing of the Koran, the Traditions, or of the belief in the appearance of the Mahdi and his signs, would not become His converts. Notwithstanding all these precautions, before they had reached the town of Gazwin, which is about 54 miles from Teheran, Mohammed-Bey had become one of the Báb's followers. At the same time, He (the Báb) made many converts in the cities of Gazwin, Abhar and Zinjan, through which He passed on His way to Azerbeyjan. Thus the fame of His appearance was spread in all the provinces of Persia, and every meeting was fired with argument and discussion upon this topic. When the Báb reached Azerbeyjan, He stayed for forty days in the city of Tabriz, but not one of the clergy there conferred with Him. He was then sent to Maku and put in the charge of Ali-Khan, who was the Governor of those districts. Ali-Khan showed Him respect on account of His being a descendant of the Prophet and because of the piety, devotion and gravity which were manifest in Him; but in compliance with the order of the Government, he rarely permitted people to converse with Him. Meanwhile the Báb's religion spread day by day through all parts of Persia, and in every city the numbers of His converts were augmented. Therefore the clergy of Azerbeyjan, like those of other cities, made a disturbance, and seriously requested the local Government to punish and restrain the Báb and His followers, and remove Him from Maku to a more remote place. The Government in compliance, ordered Him to be removed from Maku to Chih-rik, which is one of the distant fortresses of Azerbeyjan, where He was in charge of Yahya-Khan the Kurd, who exercised the greatest care in guarding Him.
The Crown Prince of Persia, who was afterwards entitled Nassir 'Ud-Din Shah, was, at that time, the Governor of Azerbeyjan. In order to enquire into the matter and silence the clergy, he summoned the Báb back to Tabriz. When He reached Tabriz for the second time, the Crown Prince called some of the prominent clergy to meet the Báb in his presence. A compulsory and unjust discussion and dispute took place. This discussion is recorded by the historians of each side, in a different way; but from the account given by the Báb's opponents, although it is a very inaccurate record, it may be easily discovered that the purpose of the prominent clergy and learned religious doctors of Persia has not been to make a thorough inquiry, but only to dispute in a contemptuous manner, and to deride and threaten Him.
After much clamor and outcry, it was decided to beat and chastise Him. But the Farrashes of the Government refused to carry out this sentence. Therefore Mírzá-Ali-Askar the Sheikh 'Ul-Islam of Tabriz, who was one of the prominent Seyds and doctors, determined to execute this sentence; so he brought Him into his own house, and applied the rods with his own hands. After this, they sent Him for the second time to the fortress of Chih-rik; subjected Him to a rigorous incarceration and strictly prohibited people from converse with Him.
In those days, the appearance of the Báb was the chief topic discussed throughout Persia and Irak-Arabi. Consequently, commotion and clamor were continual, and fierce discussions would take place between the Moslems and the Báb's followers. For the Moslem clergy do not deal gently with one whom they consider to be alien to their own religion, no matter who he may be; nor do they converse with him in the spirit of courtesy, respect and humanity. Even in the course of controversy, their words very often are full of contempt and derision, and are reinforced by curses and execrations.
Finally the Persian clergy unanimously decided to eradicate and suppress the Báb and His people. Some of the governors in Persia, being tyrants, ready to plunder and pillage the inhabitants, availed them selves of this decision, and in some parts of Persia, they began immediately to murder and rob the Bábís. They even did not refrain from murdering children and women. The local governors and even some of the ministers of the State assisted the enemies of the Bábís with regular soldiers, and the political heads joined with the civil chiefs in destroying and suppressing these people. When the late Mohammed Shah died in 1848 A.D., the Crown Prince Nassir 'Ud-Din Shah ascended the Throne, September 10th of the same year. Mírzá Taki-Khan of Farahan, entitled Itabaki-A'zm (the greatest tutor), who was a blood-thirsty and selfish man, attained the position of Prime Minister; a function and title which embodied the greatest dignity of the Government.
Meanwhile, war broke out in three different districts of Persia, between the Mussulmans and Bábís. As the clergy had given the sentence to murder and eradicate the Bábís, and as some of the local governors were seeking to confiscate their lives and property, the Bábís decided to defend themselves, and waged a war of defense against their oppressors in Neiriz (a district in Fars), Zenjan (in Persian Irak), and in the Fortress Sheikh-Tabarsi in the county of Mazanderan. Although the Bábí defenders were very few in number, yet the fighting[*] continued a long time, and the extraordinary valour of the Bábís caused their name to be a subject of great awe to the Mohammedans. Therefore, Mírzá-Taki-Khan, owing to his lack of administrative capacity, concluded that this revolt would be stopped by murdering the Báb; so without seeking permission from Nassir 'Ud-Din Shiah or taking counsel with ministers, he issued the order for His death, to Hamza-Mírzá, entitled Hismat 'Ud-Dawla, the Shah's uncle, who was at that time the ruler of Azerbeyjan. The latter, however, refused to execute the order, and excused himself by speaking of the great virtue and real devotion which he had witnessed in the Báb. He openly stated in a council meeting, that he would prefer to resign his post rather than take part in the Báb's murder. He also ironically said that he expected that the Persian Government would commission him to make war on one of the great empires, but he never expected to be commanded to execute one of the descendants of the Prophet, who had not departed from any of the legal obligatory ordinances of the religion.
* In those days, the Bábís fought in defending their lives, according to the
Laws of Mohammed, in which extremity, He has allowed religious war. At that
time, Bahá'u'lláh had not declared Himself, and the Book of Akdas, in which
He has strictly prohibited warfare, conflict, strife, etc., was not revealed.
After this refusal on the part of the Governor, the Prime minister issued a second order to his own brother, Mírzá-Hassan-Khan, Commander-in-Chief of the army of Azerbeyjan, directing him to execute the Báb. The Báb was again conducted to Tabriz, and on the 28th Sha'aban 1266 A.H. (July, 1850 A.D.), they suspended Him with one of His youthful followers, Aga-Mohammed-Ali, who belonged to one of the noble families of Tabriz, against the wall of the old Barrack Square, which is now occupied by traders and artisans. At first, Sam-Khan the Armenian and an Armenian regiment were in charge of this service. When they fired their volleys, the bullets severed the ropes, without injury to the Báb or to the youth. After the smoke cleared away, they saw the young man standing, and the Báb talking with his amanuensis, Aga-Seyd-Hussein, in a cell, close to the same wall. They again suspended the Báb and His companion from the same wall, and gave orders to fire. Sam Khan the Armenian, this time refused to fire, from fright. Another regiment of Azerheyjan undertook the execution, and made the Báb and Aga-Mohammed-Ali a target for their bullets. This time their bodies were riddled, and both of them died instantly. Then they removed their bodies from the square to the edge of the moat outside the city, and engaged a party of sentinels to watch them.
It is a custom of the oriental nations, especially in Persia, that when a person is executed by order of the Government, his body is exposed for a certain time in sight of the public, so that the people may be in timidated by the sight, and may avoid wrong-doing.
On the second night, the Bábís carried away the Báb's body, through the help of the Kalantar (Mayor) of Tabriz. They bore it to a silk-tissue factory belonging to one of the people of Azerbeyjan, where they packed it in a case like a bale of goods, and forwarded it to His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh in Teheran.
Undoubtedly Mírzá-Taki-Khan hoped that the disturbance would be put down, and that this community would be utterly extinguished through the execution of the Báb, whom he considered to be the source of the power of this religion. He had also quenched the fire of battle in a treacherous and disgraceful way. For instance, in Mazanderan, although the number of the Bábís did not exceed three or four hundred, this small number defended themselves over eleven months against twenty-five thousand trained soldiers who were furnished with artillery and perfect weapons. They even made sorties against their enemies, many times overturning their camps and defeating them. Finally, when the Persian Commander was unable to subdue the Bábís, he made a treaty with them, stipulating that if they would surrender and cease fighting, he would guarantee their protection and send each one of them to his respective city. For this little Bábí army had collected from all parts of the country; brought together by faith in the Báb. Accordingly, the Commander and the Governor took an oath to this effect, confirming it by vows plighted upon the Koran. When the starving Bábís yielded (none of them having eaten any food for several days.), they were brought into a place where food was prepared. Suddenly, by order of the Governor and General, notwithstanding their oath, the army surrounded and slew all of them with bullets and swords. The affairs of Zenjan and Neyriz terminated in a similar manner, and so the flames of war were extinguished. But the Bábí cause did not die away, nor was the fire ignited by the penetration of the Báb's Word, quenched; and each day the number of the Báb's adherents increased. Mírzá-Taki-Khau was unable to check the movement, and shortly afterward his tyrannical life came to an end. For the statesmen ceased to support him because he sought to entirely monopolize and dictate the affairs of the Government. The young King having become cognizant of his secret aims, and offended at the failure of his administrative policy, finally dismissed him from his state positions, and exiled him to the village of Feen, situated within three miles distance from the city of Kashan. About the third or fourth year of the Shah's accession, he was put to death in the bath at Feen, by the royal order.
The Báb wrote many books after He had declared His mission, including a commentary upon the Surat of Joseph in the Koran. This book He entitled Ah'san-Ul-Kassas (the best of the stories). At the request of the famous learned Aga-Seyd-Yahya of Darab. He also wrote, with the most amazing rapidity, a commentary upon the Surat of the Koran, called Kawthar. Likewise, without meditation, He wrote, in Isfahan, a commentary upon the Surat of Wal 'Assr, at the request of the Sultan 'Ul Ulema; and in answer to the wish of Manu-Cheh'r-Khan, the Governor of Isfahan. He produced a book proving "The Especial Mission." In addition to these, He wrote a great many treatises, discourses, prayers, and answers to scientific problems, both in Arabic and Persian, which He named The Five Styles and Divine Revelation. He silenced and discomfited the Persian Divines by the swift manner in which He wrote and spoke these words. They flowed from Him without any reflection, and He challenged His antagonists either to produce their like or to acknowledge their truth. The greatest book of the Báb is the Persian Beyan written by Him in the mountain of Maku. In it He recorded His new laws and ordinances. This book treats of the qualifications of a Promised One who should appear, of whom the Báb considered himself the Door, and whose name He has given as "He-whom-God-shall-manifest," stating that He himself had arisen to announce His Appearance. Following the custom of the Prophets and Divine Messengers, the Báb alluded to the time of His Manifestation by allegories and symbols. In arranging the books revealed from His blessed pen, the Báb has stated in a special chapter concerning the subject:- "Blessed is he who will gaze upon the arrangement of Bahá'u'lláh, for, verily, He shall inevitably appear."
In the Beyan, He has changed all the laws and rites, and instituted special ordinances for devotional acts, ceremonies and usages. He changed the lunar system formerly held by the Persians, into the solar reckoning of the year, which lie divided into nineteen months of nineteen days, and has named each one of the days of the year after the names and attributes of God. He also gave new names to the days of the week. In writing the name of any of His prominent adherents, in His Epistles, He would make it conform with the numerical value of one of the names of God and would write it at the head of the letter. This he did without meditation and in an astonishing manner. For instance, the numerical equivalent of the name Rabb (Lord) is 202, which corresponds with Ali-Mohammed; the name Dayyan (65) with Assad (the name of Mírzá-Assadullah of Khoy); the name Wallid, with Yahya (Aga-Seyd-Yahya of Darab), etc. Therefore He called each one of them Ism'Ullah (the Name of God), and even till the present day, this word has remained a title of the companions of the Báb.
-- End --
End of The Bahá'í Proofs by Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl for Arthur's Bookshelf