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A TRAVELLER'S NARRATIVE
WRITTEN TO ILLUSTRATE
THE EPISODE OF THE BÁB



[Appendices, Cont'd]

NOTE N.

THE BÁB'S CLAIM TO BE THE IMÁM MAHDÍ.


        The Báb's original claim was, as has been already explained in Note D, that he was the 'Gate' whereby men could communicate with the Ká'im, Imám-Mahdí, or Twelfth Imám. At a later period of his mission, however, he declared himself to be none other than the Imám himself, and, as has been set forth in the previous Note (p. 288 supra), it was this claim which he boldly advanced before his inquisitors at Tabríz. The advancement of this claim certainly marks a very important point in the development of the Báb's doctrine, but as Gobineau (p. 159) very acutely


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observes in speaking of Mullá Huseyn's announcement thereof to Minúchihr Khán, "il faut dire ici, pour prévenir toute erreur, qu'en assimilant le Bâb au douzième Imam, le missionnaire cherchait à se faire comprendre de la foule et à gagner ses sympathies, absolument comme saint Paul lorsqu'il révélait aux Athéniens que le Dieu qu'il leur annon\'e7ait était ce Dieu inconnu auquel ils avaient déjà élevé un autel. C'était des deux parts une fa\'e7on de parler, et on verra plus tard qu'il n'y a aucun rapport entre l'idée que les Bâbys se font du Point, et ce que les musulmans pensent au sujet de l'Imam Mehdy."

        From the present history (pp. 20 and 24) it would appear that this new claim was publicly advanced by the Báb for the first time during his examination before the 'Ulamá of Tabríz at the end of A.D. 1847 or the beginning of A.D. 1848. The following passage in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd affords corroborative evidence of this:-

[nine lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "After His Highness [the Báb] had removed to the


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Castle of Chihrík, his companions and friends, notwithstanding the rigorous prohibition of the late Hájí [Mírzá Ákásí], still continued to hold intercourse with him in a cautious manner, and a number of persons in that neighbourhood attained the dignity of belief and were converted. And so long as Yahyá Khán held the office of governor he used to observe the utmost respect towards His Highness [the Báb]. And His Highness [the Báb], having regard to the exigencies of the time, the requirements of expediency and caution, and the capacity of men, [first] made himself known as the Ká'im in Chihrík; though some believe that [he did so] during the latter part of the period of his sojourn at Mákú."

        In the Persian Beyán (of which the greater part, if not the whole, was composed at Mákú) I have found two passages wherein the Báb identifies himself more or less clearly with the Imám Mahdí. The first of these passages occurs in hid viii, ch. 17, and runs as follows:-

[seven lines of Persian/Arabic text, with seven footnotes]


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[ten lines of Persian/Arabic text, with fifteen footnotes]

        "As thou hast heard, at the manifestation of the Nukta-i-Furkán [i.e. Muhammad, who was in his time the 'Point of Revelation'] all those who were believers in the Gospel were expecting the promised Ahmad,1and thou hast

        16 In Muhammadan tradition Christ is said to have foretold the coming of Muhammad in the words ~~~ "One shall come after me whose name is Ahmad". This tra-[footnote goes onto page 294a]dition is based on the prophecies relating to the coming of the Paracletos [in Greek text], for which word the Muhammadans would substitute Periclutos [in Greek text], whereof the signification is nearly the same as Ahmad or Muhammad. (See Ibn Hishám's Life of Muhammad, ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 149-150.)
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heard what befel that Sun of Truth during the twenty-three years of his mission, so that he said, 'No prophet hath been afflicted as I have been afflicted.' Yet all were entreating and craving his appearance, and, in the words of Jesus, working for him. Praise be to God that in that day thou wast not! But thou wast in the manifestation of the Nukta-i-Beyán [i.e. the Báb, the 'Point of Revelation'] when all believers in the Apostle of God were expecting the appearance of the promised Mahdí; for this tradition is from the Apostle of God, and all, simple and gentle, are agreed therein. Now there is no doubt that the substance of Faith was confined to the Shi'ites, and that the sect of Islám is this same outward sect whereof the adherents call themselves Shi'ites; while men avowedly call Fárs the 'Abode of Knowledge':1 Yet, although the Tree of Truth arose, not one of the people recognized it [even] after perceiving it. The degree of their remoteness is evident, for this sufficeth unto their abasement; yet night and day they exclaim 'speed! speed!'2

        The second passage occurs in hid ix ch. 3, and runs as follows:-

[three lines of Persian/Arabic text, with three footnotes]

        1 The official title of Shíráz is ~~~ "The Abode of Knowledge".
        2 The Shi'ites, whenever they mention the Imám Mahdí, add the formula ~~~ "May God hasten his joy!"

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[eight lines of Persian/Arabic text, with nine footnotes]

        "Consider with due attention, for the matter is very strait, even while it is more spacious than the heavens and the earth and what is between them. For instance, if all those who were expecting [the fulfilment] of the saying of Jesus had been assured of the manifestation of Ahmad [i.e. Muhammad], not one would have turned aside from the saying of Jesus. So likewise in the manifestation of the Nukta-i-Beyán [i.e. the Báb] if all should be assured that this is that same Mahdí [whose coming was] promised, whom the Apostle of God foretold, not one of the believers in the Kur'án would have turned aside from the saying of the Apostle of God. So likewise in the manifestation of Him whom God shall manifest behold the same thing, for should all be assured that he is that same 'He whom God shall manifest' whom the Nukta-i-Beyán foretold, not one would turn aside."


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NOTE O.

ON CERTAIN POINTS OF SHI'ITE DOCTRINE REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT.


        1. The Occultation of the Twelfth Imám. The cardinal point wherein the Shi'ites (as well as the other sects included under the more general term of Imámites) differ from the Sunnites is the doctrine of the Imámate. According to the belief of the latter, the vicegerency (~~~) of the Prophet is a matter to be determined by the choice and election of his followers, and the visible head of the Musulmán world is qualified for the lofty position which he holds less by any special divine grace than by a combination of orthodoxy and administrative capacity. According to the Imámite view, on the other hand, the vicegerency is a matter altogether spiritual; an office conferred by God alone, first by His Prophet, and afterwards by those who so succeeded him, and having nothing to do with the popular choice or approval. In a word, the Caliph (~~~) of the Sunnís is merely the outward and visible Defender of the Faith: the Imám of the Shi'ites is the divinely-ordained successor of the Prophet, one endowed with all perfections and spiritual gifts, one whom all the faithful must obey, whose decision is absolute and final, whose wisdom is superhuman, and whose words are authoritative. The general term Imámite is applicable to all who hold this latter view without reference to the way in which they trace the succession, and therefore includes such sects as the kirís and Isma'ílís as well as the Shi'ites or "Church of the Twelve" (~~~), as they are more specifically termed, with whom alone we are here concerned. According to these, twelve persons successively held the office of Imám. These twelve are as follows:-

        1. 'Alí ibn Abí Tálib, the cousin and first disciple of the Prophet, assassinated by Ibn Muljam at Kúfa, A.H. 40 (A.D. 661).


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        2. Hasan, son of 'Alí and Fátima, born A.H. 2, poisoned by order of Mu'áwiya I. A.H. 50 (A.D. 670).

        3. Huseyn, son of 'Alí and Fátima, born A.H. 4, killed at Kerbelá on Muharram 10th, A.H. 61 (Oct. 10th, A.D. 680).

        4. 'Alí, son of Huseyn and Shahrbánú (daughter of Yezdigird the last Sásánian king), generally called Imám Zeynu'l-'Ábidín, poisoned by Walíd. [See also note 3 on p. 139.]

        5. Muhammad Bákir, son of the above-mentioned Zeynu'l-'Ábidín and his cousin Umm 'Abdi 'lláh the daughter of Imám Hasan, poisoned by Ibrahím ibn Walíd.

        6. Ja'far-i-Sádik, son of Imám Muhammad Bákir, poisoned by order of Mansúr the 'Abbáside Caliph. [See note 3 at foot of p. 24.]

        7. Músá Kázim, son of Imám Ja'far-i-Sádik, born A.H. 129, poisoned by order of Hárúnu 'r-Rashíd A.H. 183.

        8. 'Alí ibn Músá er-Rizá, generally called Imám Rizá, born A.H. 153, poisoned near Tús in Khurásán by order of the Caliph Ma'mún, A.H. 203, and buried at Mesh-hed, which derives its name and its sanctity from him.

        9. Muhammad Takí, son of Imám Rizá, born A.H. 195, poisoned by the Caliph Mu'tasim at Baghdad A.H. 220.

        10. 'Alí Nakí, son of Imám Muhammad Takí, born A.H. 213, poisoned at Surra-man-Ra'a A.H. 254.

        11. Hasan 'Askarí, son of Imám 'Alí Nakí, born A.H. 232, poisoned A.H. 260.

        12. Muhammad, son of Imám Hasan 'Askarí and Narjis Khátún, called by the Shi'ites "Imám Mahdí", "Hujjatu 'lláh" ("the Proof of God"), "Bakiyyatu 'llah" ("the Remnant of God"), and "Ká'im-i-ál-i-Muhammad") ("He who shall arise of the family of Muhammad"). He bore not only the same name but the same kunya - Abu'l-Kásim - as the Prophet, and according to the Shi'ites it is not lawful for any other to bear this name and this kunya together. He was born at Surra-man-Ra'a, A.H. 255, and succeeded his father in the Imámate A.H. 2601. The Shi'ites hold that he did not die, but disappeared in

        1 It is worthy of note that the 'Manifestation' of Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad the Báb took place exactly one thousand years after this date.


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an underground passage in Surra-man-Ra'a, A.H. 329; that he still lives, surrounded by a chosen band of his followers, in one of those mysterious cities Jábulká and Jábulsá; and that when the fulness of time is come, when the earth is filled with injustice, and the faithful are plunged into despair, he will come forth, heralded by Jesus Christ, overthrow the infidels, establish universal peace and justice, and inaugurate a millennium of blessedness. During the whole period of his Imámate, i.e. from A.H. 260 till the present day, the Imám Mahdí has been invisible and inaccessible to the mass of his followers, and this is what is signified by the term "Occultation" (~~~). After assuming the functions of Imám and presiding at the burial of his father and predecessor, the Imám Hasan 'Askarí, he disappeared from the sight of all save a chosen few, who, one after the other, continued to act as channels of communication between him and his followers. These persons were known as "Gates" ([~~~] See Note D, pp. 229 and 233 supra). The first of them was Abú 'Umar 'Othmán ibn Sa'íd 'Umarí; the second Abú Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Othmán, son of the above; the third Huseyn ibn Rúh. Naw-bakhtí (concerning whom somewhat will be said directly); the fourth Abú 'l-Hasan 'Alí ibn Muhammad Símarí. Of these "Gates" the first was appointed by the Imám Hasan 'Askarí, the others by the then-acting "Gate" with the sanction and approval of the Imám Mahdí. This period - extending over sixty-nine years - during which the Imám was still accessible by means of the "Gates" is known as the "Lesser" or "Minor Occultation" (~~~). This was succeeded by the "Greater" or "Major Occultation" (~~~). When Abú 'l-Hasan 'Alí, the last of the "Gates", drew near to his latter end, he was urged by the faithful (who contemplated with despair the prospect of complete severance from the Imám) to nominate a successor. This, however, he refused to do, saying (~~~) "God hath a purpose which He will accomplish" So on his death all communication between the


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Imám and his Church ce ased, and the "Major Occultation" began and shall continue until the Return of the Imám take place in the fulness of time. Besides these two Occultations mentioned in the text, another, called the "Least Occultation" (~~~) is recognized by Shi'ite theologians. This last, however, refers to the future, and indicates a period extending from noon on Friday to the morning of Saturday the 10th of Muharram, during which the Imám will temporarily disappear after his Return.

        2. The mystical cities of Jábulká and Jábulsá. Concerning these I will confine myself to citing two passages illustrating the light in which they are regarded by Muhammadan cosmographers. The first passage is from M. Reinaud's introduction to his translation of Abu'l-fedá's Geography (Paris, 1848), and occurs at p. cclvii of that work. It runs as follows:- "Thabary, se pla\'e7ant sous un autre point de vue, reproduit la légende sur la montagne de Caf, qui entoure la disque de la terre, et il place deux villes aux points est et ouest: Djaboulka à l'orient, et Djaboulsa à l'occident." The second passage which I wish to quote occurs in al-Kazvíní's celebrated work on cosmography. The text thereof will be found on pp. 17-18 of Wüstenfeld's edition. The translation is as follows:-

        "JÁBARSÁ. A city in the remotest regions of the East. On the authority of Ibn 'Abbás (may God be satisfied with him):- he says, 'In the remotest East is a city whereof the name is Jábars, and its inhabitants are of the children of Thamúd. And in the remotest West is a city whereof the name is Jábalk, and its inhabitants are of the children of 'Ád. And in each one are remnants of these two peoples.' The Jews say that the children of Moses (upon him be peace) fled in the fight with Bukht-Nassar [Nebuchadnezzar], and God (Exalted is He) caused them to journey towards Jábars and to alight therein. And in that place they dwell; none can come unto them nor reckon their number. Again [it is related] on the authority of Ibn 'Abbás (may God be satisfied with him) that the Prophet (may God look favourably upon him and grant him peace)


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on the night wherein he made the night-journey said to Gabriel (upon him be peace), 'I wish to see the people concerning whom God (exalted is He) hath said, "Of the people of Moses there is a party who are guided in truth, and act justly according to the same."' [Kur'án vii, 159]. 'Between thee and them,' said Gabriel (upon him be peace), 'is a journey of six years to go and six years to return; and between thee and them is a river of sand which runs swiftly as the flight of an arrow and ceaseth not save on the Sabbath day; but ask of thy Lord.' So the Prophet prayed, and Gabriel said 'Amen'2; and God revealed unto Gabriel, 'Grant him what he hath asked.' So he mounted Burák, who took a few steps, and behold he was in the midst of the people. Then he saluted them, and they asked him 'Who art thou?' He said, 'I am the unlettered Prophet.' They said, 'Yea, thou art he concerning whom Moses was given good tidings, and verily the angels would take thy people by the hand, were it not for their faults.' 'I saw their tombs,' saith the Apostle of God, 'at the doors of their abodes, and I said unto them, "Wherefore this?" They answered, "That we may remember death morning and evening; for did we not do thus, we should only remember it from time to time,"' Then he said, 'How is it that I see your buildings equal [in height]?' They answered, 'That none of us may overlook another, and that none may shut out the air from another.' Then he said, 'How is it that I see no King or judge amongst you?' They said, 'We are just one to another and give what is due of ourselves, wherefore we need not any to deal out justice in our midst.' Then he said, 'Wherefore are your streets empty?' They answered, 'We all sow and all reap, and every man amongst us taketh what sufficeth him and leaveth what remaineth for his brother.' Then he said, 'Wherefore do I see these people laughing?' They replied, 'One amongst them hath died.' He said, 'Why then do they laugh?' They answered, 'For joy, because he hath been taken away in

        2 At the suggestion of my friend Mr A. A. Bevan of Trinity College I have ventured to read [~~~] for [~~~].

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the belief of the Unity.' He said, 'What aileth these that they weep?' They answered, 'A child hath been born unto them, and they know not in what faith he will be taken away.' He said, 'When a male child is born unto you, tell me what you do?' They said, 'We fast for a month in thankfulness to God.' He said, 'And if a girl be born unto you?' They answered, 'We fast two months in thankfulness to God, because Moses hath told us that resignation on account of a female child hath a greater reward than resignation on account of a male child.' He said, 'Do ye commit adultery?' They said, 'Doth any one do this thing whom the heaven stoneth not with pebbles from above, and whom the earth swalloweth not from beneath?' He said, 'Do ye take usury?' They answered, 'He alone taketh usury who believeth not in the provision of God.' He said, 'Do ye sicken?' They said, 'We sin not, neither do we sicken; thy people are afflicted with sickness only as an atonement for their sins.' He said, 'Have ye wild beasts and reptiles?' They answered, 'Yes; they pass us by and we pass them by, and they hurt us not.' Then the Prophet proposed unto them his Law; and they asked, 'How shall we do as regards the Pilgrimage, for between us and it is a great distance?' Then the Prophet prayed, 'and,' saith Ibn 'Abbás, 'the earth was rolled up for them so that those of them who would perform the Pilgrimage might do so with [the rest of] mankind. And when' (saith he) 'it was morning, the Prophet told this [to] such as were present of his people, amongst whom was Abú Bekr (may God be satisfied with him). And he said, "Verily it is well with the people of Moses, and God (Exalted is He) knew what was in their hearts, and revealed 'Of those whom We have created is a nation who are guided in truth and thereby act with equity.'" [Kur'án vii, 180.] And Abú Bekr fasted for a month and set at liberty a slave, because God had not preferred the Church of Moses to the Church of Muhammad (may God look favourably upon him and grant him peace).'" Such are the cities of Jábulká and Jábulsá - the Muslim 'Land of Cocagne' - wherein, according to the Shi'ite belief, the Imám Mahdí dwells.

        3. Huseyn ibn Rúh. has been already mentioned in


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this note as one of the vicars or 'Gates' of the Imám Mahdí. The following note concerning him occurs on p. 439 of Baron Mac Guckin de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikán's Biographical Dictionary (London, 1842):- "Abû'l-Kâsim al-Husain Ibn Ruth was a holy shaikh and one of the doors leading to the Sâhib az Zamân (the lord of the time, or last grand Imâm, according to the Shiîte doctrine; see Druzes, introd. p. 65). He was chosen by Abû Jaafar Muhammad Ibn Othmân al-Omari as his lieutenant, and when the latter classed the Shiîtes according to their degrees (of initiation), Abû'l-Kâsim was authorized to enter into his presence the first of them all. - He then went to see Ibn as-Shalmaghâni" [see supra, Note D, p. 229], "and gained over so many proselytes, that the vizirs, ex-vizirs, and other persons of high rank rode (publicly) to visit him. He continued to be treated with the greatest deference till Hâmid Ibn Abbâs became vizir (to al-Muktadir) and ordered him to be arrested. He remained in prison for five years, but was liberated immediately after the deposition of al-Muktadir, A.H. 317 (A.D. 929). From that time till his death, which took place A.H. 326 (A.D. 937-8), he never ceased to be highly respected, but at the moment in which his influence had attained its utmost pitch, and his plans were ripe for execution, God preserved (the Khalifat) from his evil designs. He had been accused of inviting the Karmats by letter to lay siege to Baghdad, but he defended himself with great ability, presence of mind, and learning. He was a benefactor to the Shîites, and held a very high rank among them. - (Ad-Dahabi's Târîkh-al-Islâm, No. 646, in anno.)"

        4. Ibn Mihriyár. Of this person, I can find mention only in two works of Shi'ite theology, viz. the 'Tenets of the Shi'ites' (~~~), and the 'Garden of the Shi'ites' (~~~), in each of which his name is written differently. In the first he is called [~~~], and in the second [~~~]. In both works


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he is mentioned amongst those who, during the period of the "Minor Occultation," obtained access to, or corresponded with, the Imám; and in both he is described as a native of Ahwáz. What "tradition" of his is specially referred to in the text, I am unable to say.

        5. The Guardians and the Helpers. These constitute two grades of a spiritual hierarchy whereof the members are called generically "Men of the Unseen World" (~~~), and at the head of which is the "Pole" (~~~). Al-Jorjání in his Definitiones (ed. Flügel, p. 266) describes the "Guardians" or "Overseers" (~~~) as follows:- "They are those who have discovered the Inward Name so that they look into the hearts of men and discern secret thoughts, because for them veils are withdrawn from the faces of mysteries. And they are of three kinds:- Superior Souls, which are embodiments of [Divine] commands; Inferior Souls, which are mundane; and Intermediate Souls, which are human essences. And in each one of them God (Exalted is He) hath a trust deposited which compriseth mysteries divine and mundane. And they are [in number] three hundred." Concerning the "Helpers" (~~~) he says (p. 259):- "They are forty, and they are engaged in bearing the burdens of creatures, generally such accidents as human strength cannot cope with. And this [they do] by reason of their abundant natural pity and mercy, neither do they desist [therefrom] save for the sake of another, for no increase of advancement is [possible] to them save by this channel." What is meant by the "flight" of these is, as I suppose, described in a passage of the 'Aká'idu'sh-Shí'a of which this is a translation:- "And amongst them" [i.e. the signs of the Return of the Imám] "are the Men of the Unseen, who are thirty or forty persons who in a week traverse the whole surface of the earth, spending each day in a different region. Every Friday they appear before His Holiness [the Imám Mahdí] for the Friday prayers......Then, when it is morning,


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they traverse the earth in the twinkling of any eye and appear before His Holiness, or else come riding upon a cloud and stand in attendance on Him."

        6. The Conquest of the East and West which will be effected by the Imám Mahdí on his appearance, of which it is one of the signs, needs no detailed notice.

        7. The Ass of Antichrist. Concerning Antichrist (Dajjál), and the ass on which he is mounted, the 'Aká'idu'sh-Shí'a has the following passage:- "The forty-sixth of the signs of the appearance [of the Imám Mahdí] is the coming forth of Antichrist. And the name of that accursed one is Sá'id ibn Sayd. The traditions concerning him are various. Some imply that he has existed from the time of Adam until now, as it is related in a tradition that the Apostle of God went to one of the houses in Medína wherein was a babbling madman with his mother. The Prophet pointed him out to his companions and said, 'O people, God hath not sent any prophet without filling his church with the fear of Antichrist, whom he has respited and left until your time. And this man shall come forth with a mountain of bread and a river of water; and he will appear in a time of famine. Most of his followers will be Jews, women, Arabs, and nomads. He will enter into all quarters and regions of the earth save Mecca and its two mountains, and Medína and its two mountains. And whenever be comes forth he will claim to be God, although he is one-eyed and God is not one-eyed.' And in some traditions it hath come down that he was born in the time of His Holiness [the Prophet]; that he had a beard and spoke when he was born; that the Prophet went to his house; that he claimed the rank of a prophet and said 'I am one sent of God'; that then His Holiness [the Prophet] commanded an angel which was in the form of a great bird to carry him away and cast him into a well situated in one of the Jewish villages near Sajistán or Isfahán; and that he is chained [there] till such time as he shall receive permission to come forth. And he has an ass whereof each step covers a mile (three miles being equal to one parasang), and on the body of his ass are white spots


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like a leopard. Now the characteristics of Antichrist are these:- his right eye is crushed; his left eye is in his forehead, and glitters as though it were the morning star, and in it is a piece of blood, so that it seems to be pervaded with blood; between his two eyes it is written that he is a misbeliever, so that everyone, whether learned or unlearned, can read it; he is a skilled magician, who, by his magic, descends into the oceans; with him travels the sun; before his face is a mountain of smoke, and behind his back is a white mountain, and through [his] magic it seemeth in men's eyes that they are two mountains of water and bread, though in truth it is not so, but a mere juggle; he traverseth all oceans, and over whatsoever ocean or water he passeth it sinketh down and cometh forth no more till the Day of Judgement; before him Satan dances, and the devils cause him and his ass to appear pleasing in men's eyes, and this is a mischief for the proving of mankind. And he crieth out so that the dwellers in the East and in the West, whether of jinn or of mankind, hear his voice, and he saith, 'O my friends, I am that God who created and fashioned the members and parts of the world; I am that God who predestined the affairs of [His] servants and guided and directed mankind; I am your Supreme Lord.' And most of his followers are women, Jews, bastards, and musicians. But when he cometh to 'Akaba-i-Afík, which is a mountain in Syria, His Highness the Ká'im shall slay him at the third hour on Friday, and shall cleanse the world of the filth and foulness of that Accursed One." Many other wonderful qualities are attributed to the ass of Antichrist, as, for instance, that the distance between its ears is a full mile, that each of its hairs gives forth ravishing strains of music, and the like, of which things the further enumeration appears to be unprofitable and unnecessary.

        8. The appearance of Sofyán. In enumerating the signs which shall usher in the return of the Imám Mahdí, the 'Aká'idu'sh-Shí'a first mentions the appearance of Sofyán in these words:- "His name is 'Othmán the son of 'Ataba of the children of Yazíd ibn Mu'áwiya ibn Abí Sofyán. He is a thick-set man with an ill countenance, a face


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pitted with small-pox, a large head, and blue eyes. He has never rendered service to God, nor seen Mecca or Medína, and his eyes seem to squint. He will appear during the month of Rajab from the direction of Mecca in a desert devoid of water and grass, and will send his army, which will cause much ruin and act right foully, westward and towards Baghdad. He will destroy the region of Najaf the Most Noble, and will plunder Medína for three days. He will sojourn in Kúfa, and will proclaim, 'Whosoever shall bring the head of one of 'Alí's sectaries, to him will I give a thousand gold pieces.' Then men will yield one another into the hand of that Accursed One, for all the chiefs of that time are base-born. And the time of his empire shall be eight months, and in his hands are five cities:- Damascus, Homs, Falastín, Ardín, and Falzín. The decline of his dominion corresponds with the appearance of the triumph of the Truth, and a great number of his army shall sink down in Beydá, which is the name of a place near Medína." A few pages further on in the same work the following passage occurs:- "At that time [i.e. at the time when the bearded woman Sa'ída and the crusader Mazíd shall appear] a man shall come forth from the direction of Mecca whose name is Sofyán ibn Harb. Perhaps he may be that same Sofyán who has been previously mentioned, whose dominion endureth eight months and continueth until the empire of the Ká'im of the race of Muhammad doth appear. And perhaps Harb may be his father and 'Ataba his grandfather."

NOTE P.

THE EXECUTION OF MULLÁ MUHAMMAD 'ALÍ OF BÁRFURÚSH.


        When, in the summer of A.D. 1849, the remnant of the brave defenders of Sheykh Tabarsí, beguiled by the treacherous promises of Prince Mahdi-Kulí Mirzá, evacuated the fortress which they had held so long and so gallantly, and yeilded themselves up to the besiegers, they were at first received with an apparent friendliness and


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even respect which served to lull them into a false security and to render easy the perfidious massacre wherein all but a few of them perished on the morrow of their surrender.

        From this massacre some of the Bábí chiefs were reserved to grace the Prince's triumphal entry in Bárfurúsh. Amongst these the Táríkh-i-Jadíd mentions the following:- Mullá Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh, called by the Bábís "His Excellency the Most Holy" (Jenáb-i-Kuddús); Áká Mírzá Muhammad Hasan, the brother of Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh; Mullá Muhammad Sádik. of Khurásán; Hájí Mírzá Muhammad Hasan of Khurásán; Sheykh Ni'matu 'llah of Ámul; Hájí Nasír of Kazvín; Mullá Yúsuf of Ardabíl; and Áká Seyyid 'Abdu'l-'Azím of Khúy.

        Jenáb-i-Kuddús (for the sake of brevity I shall make use of the title in preference of the name of him who is the subject of this note) requested the Prince to send him to Teherán there to undergo judgement before the Sháh. The Prince was at first disposed to grant this request, thinking, perhaps, that to bring so notable a captive into the Royal Presence might serve to obliterate in some measure the record of those repeated failures to which his unparalleled incapacity had given rise. But when the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá heard of this plan, and saw a possibility of his hated foe escaping from his clutches, he went at once to the Prince, and strongly represented to him the danger of allowing one so eloquent and so plausible to plead his cause before the King. These arguments were, according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd (from which these particulars are taken), backed up by an offer to pay the Prince a sum of 400 (or, as others say, of 1000) túmáns on condition that Jenáb-i-Kuddús should be surrendered unconditionally into his hands. To this arrangement the Prince, whether moved by the arguments or the túmáns of the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá, eventually consented, and Jenáb-i-Kuddús was delivered over to his inveterate enemy.

        The execution took place in the meydán, or public square, of Bárfurúsh. The Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá first cut off the ears of Jenáb-i-Kuddús and tortured him in other ways, and then killed him with the blow of an axe. One of the


[page 308]

Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá's disciples then severed the head from the lifeless body, and others poured naphtha over the corpse and set fire to it. The fire, however, as the Bábís relate (for Subh-i-Ezel corroborates the Tárikh-i-Jadíd in this particular), refused to burn the holy remains; and so the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá gave orders that the body should be cut in pieces, and these pieces case far and wide. This was done, but, as Hájí Mírzá Jání relates, certain Bábís not known as such to their fellow-townsmen came at night, collected the scattered fragments, and buried them in an old ruined madrasa or college hard by. By this madrasa, as the Bábí historian relates, had Jenáb-i-Kuddús once passed in the company of a friend with whom he was conversing on the transitoriness of this world, and to it he had pointed to illustrate his words, saying, "This college, for instance, was once frequented, and is now deserted and neglected; a little while hence they will bury here some great man, and many will come to visit his grave, and again it will be frequented and thronged with people."

        Jenáb-i-Kuddús is said to have foretold his death and the manner thereof to several other persons, including his wife and her mother; and Subh-i-Ezel told me that he had seen at Teherán a letter in his handwriting, taken from his pocket when he was buried, wherein the date and manner of his death were clearly set forth; also that he had previously to the siege of Sheykh Tabarsí written a letter to Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh wherein the following sentence occurred:-

[one line of Persian/Arabic text]

        "It is as though I had buried myself in the earth with seventy righteous men." This letter Subh-i-Ezel had copied at Baghdad.

        As for the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá, he did not escape the Divine vengeance; for, as the Tárikh-i-Jadíd relates, all the vital heat seemed to be withdrawn from his body, and even in the midst of summer he used to suffer so severely from cold that when he went to the mosque two chafing-dishes full of burning charcoal were carried with him and


[page 309]

placed on either side of him. Yet, in spite of these and the thick skin cloak which he wore, he could hardly remain long enough to perform his prayers, and used to hasten back as soon as he was able to his house, where, enveloped in wraps and covered with quilts, he would sit shivering over his kursí1.

        Concerning the writings of Jenáb-i-Kuddús, see note 1 at the foot of p. 30 supra.

       1 The kursí - much used by the Persians during winter - is, roughly speaking, like a large table with very short legs. A chafing-dish containing ignited charcoal is placed beneath it, as are also the legs of those who sit around it. With a good supply of quilts, pillows, and amusing books, it affords the means of passing a cold winter's day very comfortably.
NOTE Q.

KURRATU'L-'AYN.


        The appearance of such a woman as Kurratu'l-'Ayn is in any country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy - nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvellous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal amidst her countrywomen. Had the Bábí religion no other claim to greatness, this were sufficient - that it produced a heroine like Kurratu'l-'Ayn.

        In this note I do not propose to repeat facts with which everyone who has studied the subject is acquainted, neither shall I attempt to re-tell a tale which has been already set forth by Gobineau in language far more eloquent than I can command. My purpose is merely to add such new particulars as I have been able to glean from the Tárikh-i-Jadíd and from oral tradition. Before proceeding to do this, I wish once more to call attention to the graceful poem by Marie von Najmájer whereof Kurratu'l-'Ayn is the heroine (see supra p. 207).


[page 310]

        The following table, taken in conjunction with the remarks on pp. 197-198, supra, will sufficiently serve to indicate Kurratu'l-'Ayn's family relationships:-

 
                     Muhammad el-Burghani el-Kazvini.
                                     |
              ____________________________________________
              |                      |                   |
      Haji Mulla Muham-       Haji Mulla Muham-     Haji Mulla 'Ali,
      mad Taki, called by        mad Salih.         who embraced
      the Shi'ites Shahid-i          |              the Babi doc
      -Thalith ('The Third           |              trines.
      Martyr').                      |
              |                      |
      Mulla Muhmmad.     =     Kurratu'l-'Ayn.
 
 

        The following particulars are derived from the Táríkh-i-Jadíd. During the life of Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht Kurratu'l-'Ayn visited Kerbelá, where she became acquainted not only with Seyyid Kázim himself, but with many of his chief followers, including Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh. When, on the death of Seyyid Kázim, Mullá Huseyn set out for Shíráz, Kurratu'l-'Ayn wrote a letter to him begging that should he succeed in finding the spiritual guide whom they were expecting (see pp. 239-240 supra) he would at once inform her. This letter Mullá Huseyn on his conversion placed in the hands of the Báb, who, recognizing the rare qualities and attainments of which it gave evidence, included its writer amongst the eighteen "Letters of the Living" (~~~) who composed the "First Unity" of the Bábí hierarchy.

        Kurratu'l-'Ayn continued for some time at Kerbelá, where, seated behind a curtain, she used to lecture and preach to the disciples of the late Seyyid Kázim. The governor, becoming aware of this, wished to arrest her, but she hastily quitted Kerbelá without a passport and went to Baghdad, where she proceeded directly to the house of the chief Muftí, before whom she defended her creed and her conduct with great ability. The question whether she should be allowed to continue her teaching was submitted first to the Páshá of Baghdad and then to the central government, the result being that she was ordered to leave


[page 311]

Turkish territory. During her journey from Baghdad to Kirmánsháh and Hamadán she continued to preach, and made several converts to the Bábí faith, amongst these being Sheykh Sálih. the Arab, Sheykh Táhir, Mullá Ibrahím of Mahallát, and Sheykh Sultán the Arab. Certain of the Bábís, however, were at first disposed to regard her efforts with disapproval, and some of these even wrote to the Báb asking whether it was seemly for a woman to preach publicly to men. In reply the Báb not only sanctioned her preaching and applauded her zeal, but bestowed on her the title of Jenáb-i-Táhira ("Her Excellency the Pure"), whereupon those who had been disposed to censure her expressed contrition and penitence, and her high position in the Bábí church became uncontested.

        From Hamadán Kurratu'l-'Ayn intended to go to Teherán, hoping, it is said, to be able to convert Muhammad Sháh himself; but her father Hájí Mullá Muhammad Sálih, being apprized of this plan, sent servants to intercept her and bring her home to Kazvín. Perhaps it was on her return thither that she was married to her cousin Mullá Muhammad the son of Hájí Mullá Muhammad Takí, but of the date when this marriage was contracted I can find no indication. At all events the marriage must have been a most unhappy one, for Mullá Muhammad seems fully to have shared his father's hatred of the Sheykhís and Bábís, and finally Kurratu'l-'Ayn refused to live with him any longer.

        The position of Kurratu'l-'Ayn, sufficiently irksome and even precarious already, was rendered perilous in the highest degree by the death of her uncle at the hands of certain Bábís (see p. 198 supra). Some have hinted that Kurratu'l-'Ayn was privy to this assassination, but of this there is absolutely no proof, and we may be sure that, had there been any evidence of her complicity, the Musulmáns would not have failed to make use of it to rid themselves of one who was well known to be amongst the most zealous supporters of the Báb. As it was, she was brought before the governor of Kazvín, charged by her husband with complicity in the murder of his father, and acquitted. Several of the Bábís were arrested and tortured, until finally one - Mírzá Sálih. of Shíráz, according to the


[page 312]

Táríkh-i-Jadíd, Sálih. Táhir according to Subh-i-Ezel - confessed that he, alone and unabetted, had compassed the death of the murdered mujtahid, in proof of which he described in detail how the murder had been committed, and where the blood-stained knife with which the deed was done might be found. This Sálih. was sent to Teherán with several others suspected of complicity, but he succeeded in making his escape, fettered as he was, to Mázandarán, where he was subsequently killed at Sheykh Tabarsí. As to the others arrested, Táríkh-i-Jadíd and Subh-i-Ezel are not completely in accord. Both agree, however, that Sheykh Sálih. the Arab and Mullá Ibrahím of Mahallát (who, as we have already seen were amongst the first proselytes gained by Kurratu'l-'Ayn) were of their number. The first of these was killed at Teherán; the second was taken back to Kazvín, where, in company with another (Sheykh Táhir according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, Hájí Muhammad 'Alí according to Subh-i-Ezel), he was cruelly done to death by the populace. These were the first Bábís who were put todeath in Persia. The Táríkh-i-Jadíd adds the name of another - an old man called Hájí Asadu'lláh - who died of cold and fatigue during his conveyance to Teherán.

        Although Kurratu'l-'Ayn had been acquitted of all share in her uncle's death, it was clearly impossible for her to remain in Kazvín any longer, even had she desired to do so, which scarcely seems probable. She accordingly set out by way of Teherán for Khurásán, and was present at the celebrated meeting of the Bábí chiefs at Badasht (see Gobineau, pp. 180-184). From Badasht she turned back with Mullá Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh and his party towards Mázandarán. At this point the narrative of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd breaks off, neither is it, in spite of the author's promise, again renewed; while all other written histories are equally silent as to what befel Kurratu'l-'Ayn from the time that she separated from Mullá Muhammad 'Alí and his followers to the time when she was brought captive to Teherán and placed in the custody of Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar. From Subh-i-Ezel, however, I learned the following particulars. After separating from the Bábís who went to form the garrison of Sheykh Tabarsí, Kurratu'l-


[page 313]

'Ayn went to Núr, where she remained unmolested till the final suppression of the Mázandarán insurrection. She was then delivered up to the government authorities by the people of Núr and sent to Teherán. On her arrival there she was brought before Násiru'd-Din Sháh, who, on seeing her, said:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic text]
"I like her looks: leave her, and let her be."


        She was accordingly placed under the custody of Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar, and in his house she remained till her execution in August A.D. 1852. Her imprisonment was not very rigorous, and she was occasionally seen by different Bábís under various pretexts. Her life, indeed, was in no jeopardy till the disastrous attempt on the Sháh's life by certain Bábís (see Note T infra and pp. 49-50 supra) made the mere profession of the Bábí faith a crime deserving not death only, but the most horrible tortures, and gave rise to that reign of terror which has been so vividly described by Gobineau (pp. 301-303), Lady Sheil (pp. 273-282), Polak (pp. 352-353), and Ussher (pp. 627-629). Even then Kurratu'l-'Ayn might, by abjuring her faith, have escaped death, and exchanged glorious martyrdom and immortal fame for a few brief years of life; but this her noble spirit scorned to do. That she met the cruel fate reserved for her with "superhuman fortitude" is a fact to which Dr Polak, who actually witnessed her execution, testifies in the following words:- "Ich war Zeuge von der Hinrichtung der Kurret el ayn, die vom Kriegsminister und seinen Adjutanten vollzogen wurde; die sch\'f6ne Frau erduldete den langsamen Tod mit übermenschlicher St\'e4rke." In what manner death was inflicted I have not been able to learn. Gobineau says that she was burned, but that the executioner first strangled her; Subh-i-Ezel says that the accounts of her death are various, one being that she was strangled with the bowstring in the Bágh-i-Íl-Khání; some with whom I conversed in Persia stated that she was killed in the Bágh-i-Lálé-zár; others that she was cast into a dry well in the garden of the palace called Nigáristán,


[page 314]

which well was then filled up with stones. However this may be, we have it on Polak's authority that her death was painful and lingering, and that she met it as a heroine should do.

        I was anxious to discover from Subh-i-Ezel whether it was true, as has often been alleged, that Kurratu'l-'Ayn discarded the veil. His reply, so far as I can remember, was as follows:- "It is not true that she laid aside the veil. Sometimes, when carried away by her eloquence, she would allow it to slip down off her face, but she would always replace it after a few moments."

        Kurratu'l-'Ayn's fame as a poetess is great, but during my sojourn in Persia I only succeeded in obtaining three of the poems attributed to her, viz. two short but very beautiful ghazals and a long masnaví. Of one of these ghazals I published the Persian text with a translation into English verse in my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889 (pp. 936-937 and 991). I now give the second, which, though its authorship is more disputed, certainly savours strongly of Bábí doctrines and modes of expression.

[half a page of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 315]

[half a page of Persian/Arabic text]

(TRANSLATION.)


    "The effulgence of thy face flashed forth and the rays of thy visage arose on high;
    Why lags the word 'Am I not your Lord?' 'Yea, that thou art' let us make reply1
    'Am I not's' appeal from thy drum to greet what 'Yeas' do the drums of devotion beat;
    At the gate of my heart I behold the feet and the tents of the host of calamity2.
       1 i.e. "Why do you hesitate to lay claim to a divine nature? Were you to do so, all of us would admit your claim." See Kur'án vii. 171, and B. ii., pp. 917-918 and note.
       2 The following lines from a poem attributed to Nabíl express a similar idea:-
    [two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "If one should choose my path to go I will cry to him that he well may know
    That none shall escape from grief and woe who is once afflicted with love for me."

[page 316]

    That fair moon's love for me, I trow, is enough, for he laughed at the hail of woe,
    And exulting cried as he sank below, 'The Martyr of Kerbelá am I.'1
    When he heard my death-wail drear, for me he prepared, and arranged my gear for me,
    He advanced to lament at my bier for me, and o'er me wept right bitterly.
    What harm if thou with the fire of amaze should'st set my Sinai-heart ablaze.
    Which thou first mad'st fast in a hundred ways but to shake and shatter so ruthlessly?2
    To convene the guests to his feast of love all night from the angel-host above
    Peals forth this summons ineffable 'Hail, sorrow-stricken community!'
    Can a scale of the fish of amaze like thee aspire to sing of Being's Sea?
    Sit still like Táhira, hearkening to what the monster of 'No' doth cry3."
       1 i.e. Imám Huseyn, with whom the Báb repeatedly declares himself to be identical in essence.
       2 i.e. "You first strengthened my heart with knowledge, and inspired it with zeal and enthusiasm; then you crushed and subdued it with love. Were it not well if you would now kindle on it, as on Mount Sinai, that fire whence comes the cry ~~~ 'Verily I am God'?" Cf. Kur'án xxviii. 30, and vii. 139.
       3 i.e. "How can you, who are but as a scale on some little fish which swims wonderingly in the vast expanses of the sea, speak fittingly of the Ocean of Being? Sit still then, as I, Kurratu'l-'Ayn (Jenáb-i-Táhira), do, and listen to the roar of the monster, whale, crocodile, or Leviathan which continually cries ~~~ 'There is no God but me'." Some versions of this poem have ~~~ "Sit still like a parrot" &c. at the beginning of the second hemistich of this couplet.


[page 317]

NOTE R.

ON THE BÁBÍ SYSTEM OF FORMING DERIVATIVES.


        One of the peculiarities of style especially affected by the Báb is the employment of all theoretically possible derivatives of roots, whether sanctioned by usage or not. The number of these derivative forms in Arabic is great, but of course no single root is susceptible to all the modifications which they represent. Custom and authority, as well as the intrinsic meaning of each root, limit the number of actual derivatives employed in any given case to a fractional part of those theoretically possible. It would appear that the Báb believed some special talismanic virtue to reside in each possible form of every Attribute of God. Thus in the Persian Beyán (hid, viii., ch. 2), he says:

[six lines of Persian/Arabic text, with seven footnotes]


[page 318]

        "The quintessence of this chapter is this, that inasmuch as the degrees of Unity are fulfilled in seven letters, which are the Letters of Affirmation, therefore it hath been ordained that, according to the Mystery of the Truth, none shall inherit from the dead save seven persons, even as one can invoke God by every Attribute in seven degrees of that Attribute, as Unissimus, Unator, Unicus, Unus, Unatus, Unificiens, Unificatus1."

        The 'Book of Names' (~~~), of which, according to Subh-i-Ezel's assertion, the extracts from a Bábí MS. published by Dorn in the Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale de St Pétersbourg for December 22nd, 1864, form part, appears to consist in great measure of these permutations2.

        With regard to the derivatives formed as described in the text from the root Behá (~~~), the following passage, occurring in a MS. presented to me by Subh-i-Ezel and called by him ~~~ "the Five States" or "Grades" (because it contains specimens of each of the five styles into which the Báb divides his writings, concerning which see infra, Note U) may serve to give us some idea of what the letter in question must have been like. No attempt has been made to translate what is hardly capable of translation.

[four lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        1 I trust that I may be pardoned the use of such words. Only in this way can one convey some idea of the original to the European reader unacquainted with Arabic.
        2 See p. 202 supra.

[page 319]

[seven lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        This short extract, containing over a dozen derivatives of the root in question, not more than half of which, if so many, could be supported by previous authority, will suffice to give an idea of this style of composition.

NOTE S.

THE BÁB'S LAST NIGHT ON EARTH.


        The account of the Báb's condemnation and execution contained in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd agrees in the main with the narratives of Gobineau and Kazem-Beg, but adds some curious particulars concerning what passed in the prison on the eve of the martyrdom. Of this passage I here give a translation.

        "They imprisoned him who was athirst for the draught of martyrdom [i.e. the Báb] for three days [after sentence of death was passed], along with Áká Seyyid Huseyn [of Yezd] the amanuensis, and Áká Seyyid Hasan, which twain


[page 320]

were brothers wont to pass their time for the most part in the Báb's presence.

        "Now before this event the Báb had, for the completion of the proof, graciously sent by means of Áká Seyyid Ahmad of Tabríz known as 'the scribe'1 Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí of Tabríz, and two other persons, sundry epistles containing exhortations, admonitions, and declarations of his truth to the doctors of Tabríz. At the time when these epistles were delivered one of the doctors had desired to show contempt and disrespect towards the blessed epistle. These forerunners of the field of courage put forward the foot of bravery to prevent this, and, their dispute ending in strife, were incarcerated in the prison of His Highness Prince Hamzé Mírzá; where, as is currently reported, two of them would seem to have been poisoned, though, according to one account, the Prince released them unknown to the doctors. But Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí was incarcerated till such time as the Báb was brought to the prison, and there obtained the honour of meeting him.

        "On the very eve of the day whereon they martyred that gem of created essences [i.e. the Báb] he said to his companions, 'Tomorrow they will martyr me with boundless shame and dishonour. Let one of you now arise and slay me, so that I may not have to suffer all this dishonour and humiliation from the adversaries; for it is far pleasanter for me to be slain by the hand of friends than by the hands of enemies.' His companions, with expressions of sorrow and grief, sought to excuse themselves, save Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, who at once made as though he would obey the command. His comrades, however, anxiously seized his hand, crying, 'Such boldness and rashness is not the characteristic of true service.' 'This act of mine,' replied

        1 The author appears to have confounded this Áká Seyyid Ahmad of Tabríz (who, according to Subh-i-Ezel's statement, disappeared altogether and broke off all communications with the Bábís after his escape from Tabríz) with Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím of Kazvín, who was commonly known amongst the Bábís by the name of Mírzá Ahmad-i-Kátib ('the Scribe'). There seems to be no doubt that they were quite distinct persons, and that the title Kátib is wrongly applied to the Ahmad here spoken of. Cf. note 2 on p. 41 supra.

[page 321]

he, 'is not due to boldness, but rather to an excessive obedience, being [undertaken] in conformity with his command. After carrying out the order of His Highness [the Báb], I will assuredly pour out my own life also at his feet.' His Highness [the Báb] smiled, and, applauding his faithful devotion and sincere belief, said, 'Tomorrow, when they ask of you, renounce [me] and conceal your belief, for thus is the command of God now laid upon you, especially on Áká Seyyid Huseyn, with whom are the gems of knowledge1, which he must convey to the people of God and the seekers after the way of true guidance.' The [Báb's other] companions agreed, but Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí fell at the feet of His Highness [the Báb] and began to entreat and implore, thus praying with utmost self-abasement:- 'Deprive not this thy faithful servant of the blessing of thy presence, and graciously grant to this worthless dust and mote permission to lay down his life.' How much soever His Highness [the Báb] would have prevented him, he continued to pray, crave, and entreat, until [the Báb], through the exceeding kindness of his disposition, consented.

        "Now when a little while had elapsed after the rising of the sun, they brought them without cloak ['abá] or coat [kabá], and having [only] their vests on their breasts and their nightcaps on their heads, to the governor's palace, where it was decreed that they should be shot. Áká Seyyid Huseyn the amanuensis and Áká Seyyid Hasan his brother renounced [the Báb] as they had been commanded, and were released, and Áká Seyyid Huseyn bestowed the gems of knowledge treasured in his bosom upon such as sought for them and were worthy of them, and, according to his instructions, conveyed and carried certain secrets of the religion to those who were entitled to receive them. He [subsequently] attained to the rank of martyrdom in Teherán." (Here follows the account of the execution of the Báb and Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, which, as it agrees substantially with that given in the present work and in other published accounts, I omit.)

        1 i.e. the Báb's last words, behests, and directions.
[page 322]

        According to Subh-i-Ezel, the Báb signified his acceptance of Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí's request that he might share in the glorious martyrdom of his Master in these words:-

[one line of Persian/Arabic text]
"Verily Muhammad 'Alí [shall be] with us in Paradise."


        If these words be authentic (and there is no reason for doubting that they are) they offer a most striking analogy to one of the last utterances of Jesus Christ (Luke xxiii. 43).

        Whether the narrative of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd be altogether worthy of credence or not, there seems no reason to doubt that Seyyid Huseyn recanted, not, as Kazem-Beg asserts (i. pp. 375-377), from a craven dread of death, but in accordance with the command of his master, the object of this command being the preservation of the last words and writings of the Báb. When we consider how rare was the fear of death and torture amongst the Bábís, and how readily Seyyid Huseyn himself met his fate two years later (cf. Gobineau, pp. 300-301), it seems most improbable that he of all the Bábís, he, the chosen companion, amanuensis, and intimate friend of the Báb, should exhibit so craven a fear. Amongst the Bábís, at least, no stigma of even a temporary and bitterly repented failure of courage, such as is supposed by Gobineau, lies on the memory of Seyyid Huseyn. It is at least certain that he continued to correspond with Suleymán Khán and the other Bábí chiefs after the Báb's execution. Some of these letters, wherein he alludes to Tabríz as ~~~ ('the Place of the Blow') and ~~~ ('the Place of Martyrdom'), were shewn to me by Subh-i-Ezel. From these letters and Subh-i-Ezel's statements it would appear that Seyyid Huseyn was kept in custody for at any rate some considerable portion of the two years by which he survived his master.

        Of the touching and beautiful letter written by Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí from his prison to his elder brother the text will be found at p. 992 and the translation at p. 938 of my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A.S.for 1889.



[page 323]

NOTE T.

THE ATTEMPT ON THE SHÁH'S LIFE AND THE MASSACRE OF TEHERÁN.


        The attempted assassination of Násiru'd-Din Sháh on Sunday August 15th, 1852, though very lightly touched on in the present work, is so fully described by the two Musulmán historians, Lady Sheil, Gobineau, Polak, Kazem-Beg and others, that I shall confine myself here to reproducing the substance of what was told me about this event by the nephew of one of the three Bábís actually engaged in the plot. This account naturally exhibits the Sháh's behaviour in a less heroic light than do the Musulmán chroniclers Sipihr and Rizá-Kulí Khán. I give it only for what it is worth, thinking that here, as elsewhere, the truth my lie between the two extremes.

        According to this account, then, the Bábí conspirators were originally seven in number, but four of them drew back at the last moment from the projected enterprise. The three who actually made the attempt were Mullá Fathu'lláh of Kum, Sádik. of Zanján, and Mírzá Muhammad of Níríz1. These three approached the Sháh as he was riding out to the chase somewhat in advance of his retinue from the Palace of Niyávarán. The Sháh, supposing that they had some petition to prefer, allowed them to draw near without suspicion. When within a short distance of him one of the three Bábís (apparently the Nírízí) drew a pistol from his pocket and fired at the Sháh. Mullá

        1 According to Násikhu't-Tawáríkh the conspirators were originally twelve in number. Of these, the names of four only - Sádik of Zanján, Mírzá 'Abdu'l-Wahháb of Shíráz, Mullá Fathu'-lláh of Kum, and Muhammad Bákir of Najafábád - are given. It is subsequently stated that all save three drew back at the last, and that of these three one was "a man of Níríz" (presumably the same Mírzá Muhammad mentioned above). Lady Sheil (op. cit., p. 274) says that four Bábís took part in the attack.


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Fathu'-lláh of Kum then threw himself upon the King and dragged him from his horse on to the ground, meaning to cut his throat1. The Sháh, having almost fainted with terror, was already incapable of offering any further resistance, when a farrásh (still living, and, thanks to the service rendered by him on that day, in the enjoyment of a good pension) came up, struck the would-be assassin in the mouth, and cut down one of the other two conspirators. A moment after, one of the mustawfís arrived on the spot and threw himself as a shield on the Shah's body. The Sháh, imagining that it was another assassin, cried out, "Why do you wish to kill me? What harm have I done?" "It is I," answered the mustawfí, "all danger is past. Fear not." All danger was in fact over. As soon as it was evident that the attempt had failed and that the Sháh still lived, other retainers, who had at first hung back2, hastened forward to bear a part in the seizure of the two surviving assassins (for Sádik. of Zanján had already been killed). The two captives, on being interrogated, declared that they were Bábís, and that they had made the attempt with a view to avenging the blood of their Master. In spite of their frank confession, it was at first believed that the object of the attempt was political, and that it had been instigated by some rival claimant to the throne. Sádik. of Zanján, who was killed on the spot, was described by Subh-i-Ezel as a youth of short stature with very small eyes. He was the servant of Mullá Sheykh 'Alí ('Jenáb-i-'Azím') from whom he is said to have received the pistol with which he was armed. According to Subh-i-Ezel he alone fired at and wounded the Sháh, but the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh states that each of the three assassins discharged his pistol.

        With regard to the Sháh's behaviour, it may not be altogether uninstructive to compare with the above account the following passage from the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh:- "The dust of perturbation settled not on the skirt of the

        1 According to Gobineau (p. 282) the conspirators did not succeed in unhorsing the King. See also p. 289 of the same work. Lady Sheil, however, (op. cit., p. 274) says that the Sháh was dragged to the ground.
        2 Cf. Polak's Persien, vol. i. p. 352.



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patience and self-control of the King, whose elemental material God the Creator had leavened with the liver of the lion, the heart of Ardashír, the ardour of Shápúr, and the majesty of Tímúr; nor did the pellucid stream of his mind become troubled by the foulness and filth of these events. Neither did he urge his horse to leap aside, nor did he utter a word indicative of alarm or consternation. He kept his place on his poplar-wood saddle like some mountain of massive rocks, and, notwithstanding that wound, turned not aside in any direction, and carried not his hand to his hurt, so that those present in his escort knew not that any hurt had befallen the king or that he had suffered any wound."

        Ká'ání of Shíráz, the most famous and the most talented of modern Persian poets, has two kasídas in celebration of the Sháh's escape from this danger. These will be found respectively at p. 26 and p. 254 of the edition of his works published at Teherán in A. H. 1302 (A.D. 1884). Although they add no new facts to the sum of our knowledge, they agree with the authorities already cited in stating that the attempt took place at the end of the month of Shawwál, and that those actually concerned therein were three in number. Thus in the first kasída Ká'ání says:-
    [four lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "At the end of Shawwál the King rode forth to hunt,
    Heaven by his reins and the sun beside his stirrup,
    When suddenly three persons sprang forth from ambush, and swiftly hurled
    Fiery darts towards the King, the Lord of [men's] necks."

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        So in the second kasída he says:-
    [six lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "Henceforth keep the end of Shawwál as a festival every year;
    Invite the servants of the King from every quarter.
    Ho, say, 'Come, O beloved! Go, O anchorite! Give, O treasurer!'
    Ho, say, 'Give, O cup-bearer! Play, O harper! Sing, O minstrel!'
    Name it 'the Feast of Sacrifice of the King,' and, like sheep1
    Cut off the heads of enemies in the path of the victorious King."
        Between the attempt on the Sháh's life and the fearful vengeance wherewith it was visited on the Bábís a whole month appears to have elapsed, for the executions are stated by the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh to have taken place on Wednesday the salkh (i.e. the last day) of Zi'l-Ka'da A.H. 1268 (September 15th, A.D. 1852). It must not be supposed, however, that this month was idly spent by the government officials. Messengers were at once despatched

        1 The custom of shewing honour to a great man returning home from a journey by decapitating a sheep and throwing the bleeding head across his path is still maintained in Persia.


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to all parts of the kingdom to publish the failure of the plot and the safety of the Sháh. The police of Teherán, instructed to make a diligent search for members of the obnoxious sect1, succeeded in surprising a gathering of a dozen Bábís in the house of Hájí Suleymán Khán2 the son of Yahyá Khán of Tabríz, and other arrests soon raised the total number of captives to nearly forty. Some few of these were able to prove their innocence in a manner which satisfied even their judges, little disposed as they were towards acquittals. Amongst these the Násikhu't-Tawáríkhmentions five, to wit:- Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí of Núr [Behá'u'lláh]; Mírzá Suleymán-Kulí; Mírzá Mahmúd, nephew of the above; Áká 'Abdu'lláh, the son of Áká Muhammad Ja'far; and Mírzá Jawád of Khurásán; all of whom were committed to prison pending further investigations.

        The majority of those arrested, however, were condemned to death; and, according to the list given in the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh, twenty-eight of them expiated their faith with their lives. I say 'their faith' advisedly, for some of those doomed to death, such as Kurratu'l-'Ayn and Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd, had long been in strict confinement, and could not by any possibility have been concerned in the conspiracy. Others, such as Mullá Huseyn of Khurásán, were convicted solely on the evidence of Bábí writings found on their persons or in their houses. When a verdict of 'Not Guilty' bids fair to jeopardize the judge's reputation for loyalty, if not to place him in actual peril, acquittals in such a country as Persia are hard to win.

        Weak as the evidence of criminality was in many cases, there could be little hope of averting the impending butchery; for so audacious an attempt demanded a commensurate revenge calculated to strike terror into the hearts of all. Efforts were nevertheless made by some of the European representatives at the Persian court to induce the Sháh to content himself with the execution of the condemned without subjecting them to the tortures which there was but too much reason to apprehend would be

        1 Cf. Gobineau, p. 284 et seq.
        2 Násikhu't-Tawáríkh



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superadded to the death-penalty1. These efforts were fruitless. The Sháh's alarm and anger, far from diminishing, were constantly stimulated by the representations of his ministers, who succeeded in convincing him of the existence of a wide-spread disaffection which could only be checked by the most stringent measures2. Nor was this sense of dread confined to the King: it reacted on those who had inspired it, until, in Gobineau's words, "On ne savait plus sur quel terrain on se trouvait, et, faute de réalités qu'on ne saisissait pas, qui fuyaient devant toutes les recherches, on voyait errer autour de soi une multitude de fantômes. L'épouvante devint générale au camp du roi....En face, on avait une quarantaine de captifs muets; mais par derrière, savait-on ce qui s'agitait?"3

        Then, because of this great fear, was devised that devilish scheme whereby all classes of society should be made to share in the bloodshed of that fatal day. It was suggested that if the responsibility for the doom of the captives rested solely on the Sháh, the Prime Minister, or the ordinary administrators of the law, these would become thereafter targets for the vengeance of the Bábís. If, on the other hand, a partition of the prisoners were made amongst the different classes; if a representative body of each of these classes were made responsible for the execution of one or more Bábís; and if it were further signified to the persons thus forced to act the part of executioners that the Sháh would be able to estimate their loyalty to himself by the manner in which they disposed of their victims4, then all classes, being equally partakers in the blood of the slain, would be equally exposed to the retaliation of the survivors, from whom they would be therefore effectually and permanently alienated, while at the same time the Sháh himself would avoid incurring the odium of the massacre. Such were the "Machiavellian means"5 adopted for the extirpation of the supposed conspirators.

        Of the victims of that day the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh

        1 Lady Sheil's Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, p. 276.
        2 Polak's Persien, vol. I. p. 352.
        3 Gobineau, p. 290.
        4 Gobineau, p. 292
        5 Polak's Persien, vol. I. p. 352.



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gives a complete list, which I here append. This list I read over to Subh-i-Ezel. The comments thereon made by him are added in square brackets.

        (1) Mullá Sheykh 'Alí ("Jenáb-i-'Azím") was killed by the 'Ulamá.

        (2) Seyyid Hasan Khurásání was hacked in pieces by the Princes.

        (3) Mullá Zeynu'l-'Ábidín of Yezd was killed by the Mustawfís. [The Mustawfí'ul-memálik (Secretary of State), unwilling to shed blood, shut his eyes and fired his gun in the air, while another Mustawfí named Ibrahím of Núr only touched the prisoner with his penknife, leaving the bloody work to others less scrupulous. Mullá Zeynu'l-'Ábidín had succeeded once in escaping from his pursuers at Kum by throwing a handful of dust in their eyes]

        (4) Mullá Huseyn of Khurásán was killed by the Nizámu'l-Mulk, Mírzá Sa'íd Khán, and the employés of the Foreign Office. [He had held no communication with Hájí Suleymán Khán or the other chief Bábís at Teherán, where he had but recently rented a house. A fragment of Bábí writing found in his house was the sole ground whereon he was convicted.]

        (5) Mírzá 'Abdu 'l-Wahháb of Shíráz ['a youth of good understanding'] was killed by Ja'far-Kuli Khán the Prime Minister's brother, and his sons Mírzá 'Alí Khán, Músá Khán, and Zú'l-Fikár Khán.

        (6) Mullá Fathu'lláh of Kum, the son of Mullá 'Alí Sahháf, who had fired the shot which wounded the King, was killed by Hájí 'Alí Khán the Hájibu'd-Dawla and his farráshes. Several incisions were made in his body, and in these lighted candles were inserted. After he had been tortured in this fashion for some time, the Hájibu'd-Dawla shot him in the back, and he was then hacked in pieces by the farráshes with knives. His execution took place at Niyávarán. [Subh-i-Ezel confirmed the fact that he suffered torture by lighted candles inserted in wounds inflicted on his body, but asserted that he, together with Hájí Suleymán Khán, was sawn in two.]

        (7) Sheykh 'Abbás of Teherán was killed by the Kháns and nobles. [According to Subh-i-Ezel, however, he was suffered to escape privily.]


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        (8) Muhammad Bákir of Najafábád (near Isfahán), who had, on his own confession, taken an active part in the insurrections of Mázandarán and Zanján, was killed by the písh-khidmats (pages in waiting).

        (9) Muhammad Takí of Shíráz was delivered over to the Mír-ákhúr (Master of the Horse) and the attendants of the Royal Stables. These first nailed iron horse-shoes on his feet, and then, in the words of the Musulmán historian, "broke up his head and body with clubs and nails."

        (10) Muhammad of Najafábád was killed by the Eshik-ákásí-báshí, the Járchí-báshí, the Nasakchí-báshí, and their attendants.

        (11) Mírzá Muhammad of Níríz, who had fought for the Bábí cause at Níríz, Sheykh Tabarsí, and Zanján1, was killed by Mírzá Muhammad Khán the Sar-kishík (captain of the guard) and the Yúz-báshís (centurions).

        (12) Muhammad 'Alí of Najafábád was delivered over to the artillerymen. They first plucked out his eyes, and then blew him from the mouth of a gun.

        (13) Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd (see preceding note, pp. 319-322) was killed by 'Azíz Khán Ajúdán-báshí, and the brigadier-generals, colonels, captains, and other officers.

        (14) Áká Mahdí of Káshán (see note 1 on p. 46 supra) was slain by the farráshes.

        (15) Mírzá Nabí of Damávand [a youth about twenty-one years of age] was sent to the College (Dáru'l-funún) of Teherán, by the professors and students of which he was torn to pieces.

        (16) Mírzá Rafí' of Núr [a relation of Subh-i-Ezel's, aged about fifty years, and noted for his skill in calligraphy] was killed by the cavalry.

        (17) Mírzá Mahmúd of Kazvín was hewn in pieces with daggers and knives by the men of the camel-artillery (zambúrakchíyán).

        (18) Huseyn of Mílán, called by the Bábís "Abú 'Abdi'lláh," was slain by the soldiers with spears. [According

        1 As the risings at Zanján and Níríz were almost simultaneous, though the former was not suppressed for two months after the termination of the latter, it would appear very improbable that any one person could have taken an active part in both.


[page 331]

to Subh-i-Ezel, Huseyn of Mílán acted most discreditably, being at once the most turbulent and eager for mischief and the most pusillanimous of those who professed to follow the Báb. When he came to Teherán from Tabríz, he took up his abode in the house of Hájí Suleymán Khán. While resident there, he began to advance various claims to spiritual authority, first declaring himself to be a reincarnation of the Imám Huseyn, and then "He Whom God shall manifest," whose coming the Báb had foretold. A considerable number of persons became his disciples, and, encouraged by this success, he seems to have meditated some act of violence, which was, however, discovered and frustrated by Subh-i-Ezel. He had a brother named Ja'far, who gave himself out as "King of Baghdad." Huseyn of Mílán, when arrested, would have saved himself by recanting and disclaiming all fellowship with the Bábís, but, while he was under examination, a child came in, and mockingly greeted him with the words "Es-selámu 'aleykum, yá Imám Huseyn" ("Peace be upon you, O Imám Huseyn!"). This sufficed to secure his conviction. It is worth noting that three other persons1 besides Huseyn of Mílán advanced vain claims to supreme authority in the Bábí church, to wit, Mírzá Asadu'llah of Tabríz surnamed Deyyan (see Gobineau, pp. 277-278); Seyyid Huseyn of Hindiyán near Muhammara, who gathered round him about forty disciples, and who, though not recognised or accredited by the Bábí chiefs, continued to send greetings to them while they were in exile at Baghdad; and Sheykh Isma'íl, believed to be still alive, who subsequently withdrew the claim which he had advanced.]

        (19) Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím of Kazvín (called by the Bábís "Mírzá Ahmad-i-Kátib"; see note 2 on p. 41 supra) was killed by the artillerymen.

        (20) Lutf-'Alí of Shíráz was put to death by the royal footmen.

        (21) Najaf of Khamsa was delivered over to the people of the city, who "with sticks and stones crimsoned the earth with his blood."

        1 But see Note W infra, where, on the authority of the Ezelí controversial work called Hasht Bihisht, other pretenders are mentioned.


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        (22) Hájí Mírzá Jání of Káshán, the merchant, was delivered over to Áká Mahdí the chief of the merchants (Maliku't-tujjár), and the other merchants and shop-keepers of the city, "each of whom inflicted a wound on him until he perished." [According to Subh-i-Ezel, Hájí Mírzá Jání took refuge in the sanctuary of Sháh 'Abdu'l-'Azím, which is situated about four miles south of Teherán. The sanctuary was, however, not respected in his case, and he was dragged forth. In compensation for this violation of the holy place the Sháh plated or replated the roof of the shrine with gold. Of Hájí Mírzá Jání's death Subh-i-Ezel gave a different version, according to which he was strangled with the bowstring. After he was let down, being supposed to be dead, he half raised himself, opened his eyes, gazed at his executioners, and then fell back dead. He had three brothers, two of whom were also Bábís. Of these two, one, Hájí Mírzá Ismá'íl, died in Teherán. The other, Hájí Mírzá Ahmad, was killed in Baghdad by certain Behá'ís1, he being one of those who refused to transfer their allegiance from Subh-i-Ezel to Behá. The Táríkh-i-Jadíd makes frequent mention of Hájí Mírzá Jání, and repeatedly quotes from a history of the Bábí movement which he wrote.]

        (23) Hasan of Khamsa was slain by Nasru'lláh Khán the superintendent of the royal kitchen and his myrmidons.

        (24) Muhammad Bákir of Kuhpáyé was slain by the Kájár chiefs with their swords.

        (25) The body of Sádik. of Zanján, who was slain, as above narrated, while attacking the Sháh, was cut into several pieces, which were suspended from the different gates of Teherán.

        (26) Hájí Suleymán Khán, the son of Yahyá Khán of Tabríz, and -

        (27) Kásim of Níríz, who regarded himself as the successor of Seyyid Yahyá of Dáráb, were, by command of Áká Hasan the deputy-chief of the farráshes, wounded in many parts of their bodies, and in these wounds lighted candles were inserted. The two unfortunate men were thus paraded through the streets and bazaars of the city to

        1 See Note W infra.


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the sound of minstrelsy, while dust and ashes were hurled upon them by the spectators. After being made to traverse a great distance in this fashion, they were led out of the city, and sawn asunder into four quarters outside the Sháh 'Abdu'l-'Azím gate by the farráshes of the gaol. Their mangled remains were then attached to the city gates. [Vámbéry (Wanderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien, Pest, 1867, p. 299) gives a quite different account of Suleymán Khán's martyrdom, which runs as follows:- "Suleiman Chan, ein wohl-beleibter Mann, hatte zuerst vier Schnitte in die Brust bekommen, in welche brennende Kerzen gesteckt wurden und man führte ihn so lange im Bazar herum, bis das Wachs der Kerzen von den Flammen verzehrt war und der Docht sich später am herausfliessenden Fett des Delinquenten nähren musste. Darauf wurde ihm glühende schwere Hufeisen auf die nackten Fusssohlen angeschlagen und aufs Neue wurde er herum geführt, bis man ihm endlich alle Zähne vom Munde herausriss und in der Form eines Halbmondes auf den Schädel einschlug. Da starb er erst." The extraordinary heroism with which Suleymán Khán bore these frightful tortures is notorious, and I have repeatedly heard it related how he ceased not during the long agony which he endured to testify his joy that he should be accounted worthy to suffer martyrdom for his Master's cause. He even sang and recited verses of poetry, amongst them the following:-
    [two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "I have returned! I have returned! I have come by the way of Shíráz!
    I have come with winsome airs and graces! Such is the lover's madness!"
            "Why do you not dance," asked the executioners mockingly, "since you find death so pleasant?" "Dance!" cried Suleymán Khán-


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    [two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "'In one hand the wine-cup, in one hand the tresses of the Friend -
    Such a dance in the midst of the market-place is my desire!'"]

        (28) Last by not least amongst the victims of that fatal day was the beautiful and accomplished Kurratu'l-'Ayn, who had been imprisoned for two or three years previously in the house of Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar. Concerning her life and death, see Note Q, supra.

        Gobineau (pp. 301-302) and Vámbéry (op cit., pp. 299-300) both assert that amongst the martyrs of that day were women and children, who rivalled the men in the fortitude wherewith they met death; but of this assertion (except as regards Kurratu'l-'Ayn) I have been unable to obtain any corroborative evidence from Musulmán or Bábí tradition. The crimes and cruelties which that day beheld are black enough without going beyond even the Muhammadan chronicles, and one would be reluctant to add to them, unless compelled to do so by convincing evidence. The wife of Hájí Suleymán Khán would appear from Subh-i-Ezel's account to have been in imminent peril, but by eating flies she induced so violent an attack of vomiting that her gaolers, believing her to be stricken with a mortal sickness, released her. Two women related to Subh-i-Ezel were arrested and imprisoned for a while in the house of Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar, but were subsequently sent back to their homes at Núr. A large reward was offered for the apprehension of Subh-i-Ezel (then residing at Núr), who actually conversed for some time with one of those sent out to arrest him without being recognized.


[page 335]

NOTE U.

WRITINGS OF THE BÁB AND SUBH-I-EZEL.


        On October 11th, 1889, I received a letter from Captain Young (dated September 30th) enclosing a letter and sundry other documents from Subh-i-Ezel. Amongst these documents was a list of some of the writings of the Báb and Subh-i-Ezel written out by the latter. Although this list does not profess to be complete, comprising only such works as were carried by the Bábí exiles to Baghdad, and although, in the absence of detailed information about the works enumerated therein, it is incapable of affording much help in the identification of Bábí MSS., I here append a translation of it, in the hope that it may serve in some measure to throw light on the very imperfectly explored bibliography of the sect. Explanatory notes of my own are added in square brackets.

[WRITINGS OF THE BÁB.]


        "What was collected of the books of the Beyán of the remnant left from Persia, which was taken away in Baghdad, carried off by the relations of this humble one [i.e. Subh-i-Ezel].

        [1] Commentary on the Kur'án in the style of the Kur'án, complete, 1 vol.

        [2] Answers and Commentaries ~~~, 1 vol.

        [3] Commentary on the Kur'án in the fashion of the verses of the Kur'án, complete, 1 vol.

        [4] The Five Grades ~~~, 1 vol. [A MS. of this work was forwarded to me by Subh-i-Ezel with the letter above referred to. It comprises 395 pages of 14 lines each, and contains selections of pieces in each of the "five


[page 336]

grades" or "styles" employed by the Báb, the nature of which will be briefly discussed at the end of this note.]


        [5] Verses ~~~, 2 vols.

        [6] The Book of Recompense ~~~, 2 vols. [A small fragment of this work, transcribed by Subh-i-Ezel, is in my possession. One peculiarity thereof is the occurrence of groups of verses differing from one another only in one or two words. By combining the first letters of the divergent words or clauses proper names are formed, so that the book would appear to be in part a cabbalistic register of the names of believers. In the following specimen, which will render the nature of this procedure more clear, the catch-words are indicated by a line drawn over them:-

[ten lines of Persian/Arabic text]


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[nine lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        By combining the first letters of the catch-words in the above extract (after discarding the definite article, in cases where this is prefixed) we get the name ~~~ Hájí 'Abdu'l-Muttalib. Similarly the verses immediately succeeding these give the name ~~~ Hájí Muhammad Mahdí.]


        [7] Supplications and Visitations~~~, 1 vol. [In my second article on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889, I described one of these "Visitations" under the name Ziyárat-námé (pp. 894-902, 1000), and attempted to prove its identity with Gobineau's "Journal du P\'e8lerinage" and with a Bábí MS. described by Mirza Kazem-Beg (ii, pp. 498-502). At that time I was not aware that the Báb had composed more than one work


[page 338]

of this character. I subsequently enquired of Subh-i-Ezel as to the authenticity of this work. In reply he wrote as follows:- "The 'Book of Visitation' (Kitáb-i-ziyárat) which you alluded to is from His Highness the Point (i.e. the Báb), and was after the 'Manifestation,' as its contents testify. He wrote many 'Visitations': it is not limited to one. But there is also a 'Book of Visitations' by myself. That is in another style, but there is in this land but a small portion thereof." Some of these 'Visitations' are included in the MS. of the 'Five Grades' mentioned above, amongst them being one designed for the use of pilgrims visiting the graves of the martyrs who fell at Sheykh Tabarsí. This, according to Subh-i-Ezel, was also composed by the Báb.]


        [8] Prayers (~~~), 1 vol.

        [9] Various Grades (~~~), unbound, 1 [vol.].

        [10] Writings of the Scribe [probably Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd or Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím of Kazvín] comprising what was revealed at Shíráz and Isfahán and during the journey of the Pilgrimage [to Mecca], 3 vols.

        [11] The Best of Stories (~~~), 1 vol. [This work, better known as the 'Commentary of the Súra of Joseph,' is so called in allusion to Kur'án xii, 3, where the history of Joseph is thus characterized. Specimens of it have been published by Baron Rosen in vol. i of the Collections Scientifiques de l'Institut des Langues Orientales (St Petersburg, 1877), pp. 179-191. Some description of it, based on the extracts published by Baron Rosen, is given at pp. 904-909 of my second article on the Bábís. See also p. 3 supra, and note 3 thereon.]

        [12] The Book of Names (~~~), comprising 361 Names, amongst which is the Name 'Musakkin' ('the Calmer'), incomplete, 2 vols. [The extracts from a Bábí MS. in the St Petersburg collection published by Dorn in the Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale de St Pétersbourg of Dec. 22nd, 1864, were pronounced by Subh-i-Ezel, to whose inspection I submitted them, to belong to this work.]


[page 339]

        [13] Writings of the deceased Áká Seyyid Huseyn [of Yezd], original copy, 2 vols.

        [14] Various Grades (~~~), 1 vol.

        [15] The Book of Figures (~~~), 1 vol. [See note 1 on p. 42 supra, Mirza Kazem-Beg, ii, p. 498, and Gobineau, p. 498, note 1.]

        [16] Sundry (~~~), 1 vol.

        [17] Things appertaining to Jenáb-i-Sheykh-i-'Azím [Mullá Sheykh 'Alí, see Note T, p. 329 supra], 3 vols., together with his effects.

        [18] Copies and originals of writings (~~~), tied up together in four bundles.

        [19] Beyán, 1 vol. [Concerning the application of this name see below.]

        [20] Prayers (~~~), 1 vol.

        [21] Prayers and Visitations (~~~), 1 vol.

        [22] The Best of Stories [see No. 11 supra], and another Beyán which is missing (~~~), 2 [vols.].

        [23] The Five Grades [see No. 4 supra], 1 vol.

        [24] Sundry (~~~).

        [25] Another Book, 1 vol.

        "Besides what was destroyed in Persia, some of which never reached [my] hand, and what went to foreign lands and was therefore ignored in [making out the catalogue of] the trust. What was promulgated [by the Báb] at first in Shíráz and other places [included] the Book of seven hundred Súras (~~~); the Book of the Proof (~~~, sic); the Book of the two Sanctu-


[page 340]

uaries (~~~); the [Book of] Justice (~~~); the Prayer of the two alifs (or, of the two thousand, ~~~); Epistles of the earlier period of the dispensation (~~~), each of which was sent to a different destination; the Commentary on the 'Bismi'lláh' (~~~); and the Commentary on [Súra ciii of the Kur'án beginning] 'Wa'l-'asr' (see supra, p. 11).

        "As to what appertained to [i.e. was composed by] the 'Name of the Last' (~~~) [by which title, as Subh-i-Ezel explained elsewhere, Mullá Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh, called by the Bábís Jenáb-i-Kuddús, is intended], but little remained in [my] hands. All the rest passed into the hands of strangers. Amongst other things the Commentary on [the opening chapter of the Kur'án entitled 'Al-]Hamd,' [the eloquence of] which was beyond the power of man, was entirely destroyed, and no copy remained in [my] possession."

[WRITINGS OF SUBH-I-EZEL.]


        "What appertaineth to this humble one [i.e. Subh-i-Ezel], apart from that whereof the existence in Persia is unknown [i.e. besides what may exist in Persia unknown to me].

        [1] The Book of Light (~~~), 1 vol. [See Gobineau, pp. 312-313; B. ii. pp. 939-942; and M. C. Huart's Note sur trois ouvrages Bâbis in the Journal Asiatique for 1887 (série viii, tome x, pp. 133-144). M. Huart identified the first of the three works which he described with the Book of Light mentioned by Gobineau, but did not fail to observe the discrepancy in size between the "assez gros in-folio" of the latter writer and the small volume which was the subject of his own description. The solution of the difficulty appears to be that there are two separate works bearing the same name, both composed by


[page 341]

Subh-i-Ezel. I forwarded an abstract of M. Huart's description of the supposed Book of Light to Subh-i-Ezel, who replied as follows:- "The Book of Light is by this humble one [i.e. by myself], but there are two Lights, a first and a second. If it be the second, it will be worthy of attentive perusal, and will be a voluminous work. Some of the names of the súras which you wrote are from the Book of Light, provided that there be not therein interpolations of enemies, such as my relatives have effected in some cases, inserting their own calumnies in certain epistles; though to him who hath knowledge of God this will be apparent." The Book of Light mentioned in this list is, as I ascertained during my sojourn at Famagusta, the larger of the two works bearing this name.]


        [2] The Highest Heaven (~~~), 1 vol. [Of this work Subh-i-Ezel mentioned two copies, one in Persia, and one (the same here mentioned) in the hands of the Behá'ís at Acre.]

        [3] Miscellaneous (~~~), 1 vol.

        [4] The Wakeful, &c (~~~), 1 vol. [A copy extant in Persia.]

        [5] Writings of the Scribe (~~~), 2 vols. [By "the Scribe," as subsequently explained by Subh-i-Ezel, Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím of Kazvín is intended. See note 2 on p. 41 supra.]

        [6] Tracts, &c., of [the nature of] Visitations (~~~), 1 large vol.

        [7] Another book, miscellaneous, 1 vol.

        [8] Commentary on the Kasída, and other miscellaneous writings (~~~), unbound, 1 vol.

        [9] [Book of] Light, unbound, 1 vol. [The same as No. 1 supra.]

        [10] Verses (~~~), 1 vol.

        "Besides what may exist unknown [to me] in other


[page 342]

lands, and entirely apart from [what exists in] the prison of this land. All these books and epistles have disappeared, save what have remained in other countries and the few which remain in this land."

        In the letter accompanying this list Subh-i-Ezel wrote as follows concerning the fate of the Báb's works generally and of those above enumerated in particular:-

        "As to what you asked concerning the existence of certain epistles, it is even as you have heard, leaving out of account that which from first to last passed into the hands of strangers, whereof no copy was preserved. At the time of the martyrdom [of the Báb] at Tabríz, as they wrote from thence, many of the original writings passed into the hands of persons belonging to the country of your Excellency or to Russia, amongst these being even autograph writings of His Highness the Point [i.e. the Báb]. Search is necessary, for to read the originals is difficult. If this humble one be applied to, copies thereof will be sent. What I myself arranged and copied out while at Baghdad, and what was commanded to be collected of previous and subsequent [writings] until the Day of Martyrdom [of the Báb], was nigh upon thirty volumes of bound books. I myself wrote them with my own hand, and up to the present time I have written many. The originals and copies of these, together with what was in the writing of others, sundry other [books] written in proof of this religion by certain learned friends1, and what I myself wrote and compiled, amounted to numerous volumes, as [recorded in] the list thereof [which] I have sent. For some years all of these were in a certain place in the hands of a friend as a trust. Afterwards they were deposited in another place2.

       1 In answer to a question as to the nature and authorship of the works here alluded to, Subh-i-Ezel informed me that the Báb declared it to be a meritorious action for each of his followers who was competent thereunto to compose a treatise in defence of the Faith. Many such treatises were accordingly composed by the more learned Bábís, amongst them being one by Jenáb-i-'Azím (Mullá Sheykh 'Alí), and one called ~~~ ('The seven hundred') by Jenáb-i-Táhira (Kurratu'l-'Ayn)
       2 One of these depositaries, as I subsequently learned from [footnote goes onto page 343] Subh-i-Ezel, was Áká Seyyid Jawád, who died lately at Kirmán. The other was a certain merchant of great wealth whom I cannot more particularly designate.



[page 343]

Eventually I entrusted them to my own relatives1, [in whose keeping] they were preserved for a while; for, inasmuch as the friends of this recluse [i.e. myself] had attained unto martyrdom through the equity and justice of the oppressors of the age, who consider themselves as seekers after truth and just men, there was no resource but that this humble one [i.e. myself] should make his relatives his trustees. So did this humble one; and whatever [was mine] of books and epistles was [deposited] in their house. The vicissitudes of the world so fell out that these also unsheathed the sword of hatred and wrought what they would. They cruelly put to the sword the remnant of [my] friends who stood firm2, and, making strenuous efforts, got into their hands such of the books of His Highness the Point as were obtainable, with the idea of destroying them, and [thereby] rendering their own works more attractive. They also carried off my trust [i.e. the books above referred to committed to their care], and fell not short in anything which can be effected by foes."

        As to the meaning of the word Beyán, Subh-i-Ezel writes in another passage of the same letter as follows:- "But in the Beyán different grades (~~~) are observed. The first grade is like [i.e. in the style of] previous [sacred] books; the second [is] of the nature of supplications and prayers (~~~); the third [is] the grade of homilies (~~~), wherein he had regard to clearness and eloquence; the fourth [comprises] scientific treatises (~~~), commentaries, and answers to en-

       1 By his 'relatives' Subh-i-Ezel means his half-brother Behá'u'llah and those of his kindred who followed him. I never heard Subh-i-Ezel allude to Behá'u'llah and his followers by name. When he spoke of them at all (which he did but rarely) it was as his 'relatives,' the 'people at Acre,' or the 'Mírzá'ís'
       2 See Note W infra.



[page 344]

quirers; the fifth [comprises what is written] in the Persian language, which is [in substance] identical with the aforementioned grades, 'for that all this is watered with one water'."

        This statement of what is meant by the term Beyán is (with the exception of some slight differences in the arrangement of the 'grades') fully corroborated by the Persian Beyán, which, at the beginning of Váhid iii, ch17, has the following passage:-

[six lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "The substance of this chapter is this, that all the writings of the Point [i.e. the Báb] are named Beyán. But this name is, in its primary nature, peculiar to verses [i.e. verses written in Arabic in the style of the Kur'án]; then it is uttered in its secondary nature in regard to supplications; then in its tertiary nature in regard to commentaries; then in its quaternary nature in regard to scientific treatises; then in its quinary nature it is used in regard to Persian words [i.e. writings and discourses]. But properly speaking this name [of Beyán] is peculiar to verses, and [is applicable] to nought else."

        Again in Váhid vi, ch. 1, the following passage occurs:-

[one line of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 345]

[seven lines of Persian/Arabic text, with one footnote]

        "The name Beyán is, in its primary nature, applied to verses alone, for they are the chiefest proof and greatest argument, which point not save unto God alone. But in its secondary nature it is applied to supplications; in its tertiary [nature] to commentaries; in its quaternary [nature] to scientific treatises; and in its quinary [nature] to Persian words. But all [these] are mentioned in the shadow of [i.e. as subsidiary or subordinate to] verses, for, although that mysterious eloquence which is apparent in the first [grade] is also observable [or, if we adopt B's reading, latent] in the last, yet, since all cannot understand, they [i.e. the lower grades] are not mentioned [as a proof]."

        From all this it follows that, although the book generally known as the Persian Beyán is a definite work of limited extent, we can no longer employ the term Arabic Beyán in an equally definite sense. As Subh-i-Ezel states in another letter, as a rule only those books which were composed by the Báb during the earlier part of his mission received special names, while at a later date all that he 'uttered' or 'revealed' was named collectively Beyán ('Utterance' or 'Revelation'). Some of these 'utterances' (such as the


[page 346]

'verses' recited by the Báb before his judges at Tabríz, concerning which see Gobineau, pp. 261-262) can hardly have been preserved at all, much less were all ever collected into a single work, though, according to Subh-i-Ezel, a selection in nineteen volumes was compiled, or ordered to be compiled, during the Báb's lifetime. Gobineau, with his usual acumen, appears to have clearly apprehended this peculiar and elastic use of the term Beyán, for he says (p. 311):- "Le mot Biyyan, une fois employé par le Bâb, lui parut convenir tr\'e8s-bien pour désigner la sph\'e8re d'idées dans laquelle sa pensée se mouvait, et il le donna d\'e8s lors pour titre \'e0 tout ce qu'il composa." When, therefore, he speaks of "a Beyán written in Persian, which is not the commentary on the first Beyán written in Arabic," and of "a third Beyán, likewise composed by the first Báb," he apparently intends merely to signalize certain specially noteworthy parts of that almost limitless mass of religious literature emanating from the Báb which is known collectively as the Beyán.

        From what has been said it is evident that the short list of the Báb's works which I gave at the end of my second article on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889 (pp. 1000-1002) requires much alteration both in the way of correction and extension. The sum total of the Báb's writings would appear, both from the Persian Beyán and from the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, to have been enormous; and, though much of this mass of literature perished, much is still preserved in Persia and elsewhere in the East. Quite recently I received from Subh-i-Ezel MSS. of the Commentary on the Súratu'l-'asr (see supra, p. 11, and B. ii. p. 912) and the Commentary on the Súratu'l-Bakara (see B. ii, pp. 902-903, 912), which had been brought from Persia to Cyprus during the present year (1890). Of the genuineness of these MSS. I entertain no doubt. Four other MSS. of different works composed by the Báb (amongst which are included the Commentaries on the Súras called Kawthar and Yúsuf) were brought to Cyprus at the same time, but of these I have not yet obtained copies1. Of the Súra-i-

       1 Since writing the above I have received two of these four MSS. One of them is the commentary on the Súratu'l- Kawthar [footnote goes onto page 347] above mentioned. It contains 227 pages, and is dated Zi'l-Hijjé 4th, A.H. 1296 (Nov. 19, A.D. 1879). The other, a much larger work, is named by Subh-i-Ezel "Commentary on the Names" (~~~).


[page 347]

Yúsuf at least two copies are preserved in Europe, one (numbered Or. 3539) in the British Museum, and one (fully described by Baron Rosen at pp. 179-191 of vol. i of the Collections Scientifiques &c.) at St. Petersburg.

NOTE V.

TEXTS FROM THE PERSIAN BEYÁN ILLUSTRATING THE BÁB'S VIEW OF HIS RELATION TO 'HIM WHOM GOD SHALL MANIFEST.'


(1)  The whole Beyán revolves round the saying of
'Him whom God shall manifest.'
[hid iii, ch. 3.]


[six lines of Persian/Arabic text, with five footnotes]


[page 348]

[two lines of Persian/Arabic text, with two footnotes]

        "The third chapter of the third Váhid. Concerning this, that the Beyán and whosoever is therein revolve round the saying of Him whom God shall manifest, even as the Alif [i.e. the Gospel, Injíl] and whosoever was therein revolved round the saying of Muhammad the Apostle of God, and as that which God revealed unto him at first and whosoever was therein revolved round that which he said at the period of his later manifestation. The quintessence of this chapter is this, that the gaze of the Beyán is not extended save towards Him whom God shall manifest, for none but He hath raised or doth raise it up, even as none but He hath sent or doth send it down. And the Beyán and such as are believers therein yearn more after Him than the yearning of any lover after his beloved."

(ii)   A thousand perusals of the Beyán are not equal
to the perusal of one verse of what shall
be revealed by 'Him whom God
shall manifest.'
[hid v, ch. 8.]


[four lines of Persian/Arabic text, with two footnotes]


[page 349]

        "I swear by the Most Holy Essence of God (Glorious and Splendid is He!) that in the day of the manifestation of Him whom God shall manifest if one should hear a single verse from Him and recite it, it is better than that he should recite the Beyán a thousand times."

        [The same assertion is repeated in slightly different words in hid vi, ch. 6.]

(iii)   The Beyán is to day in the stage of seed, but in the
day of 'Him whom God shall manifest' it will
arrive at the degree of fruition.


        [hid ii, ch. 7. The passage referred to will be found in Note C at pp. 224-225].

(iv)   All the splendour of the Beyán is 'He whom
God shall manifest.'
[hid iii, ch. 14.]


[three lines of Persian/Arabic text, with one footnote]

        "All the splendour [Behá] of the Beyán is He whom God shall manifest. All mercy be on him who believeth, and all chastisement on him who believeth not in Him."

NOTE W.

MÍRZÁ YAHYÁ "SUBH-I-EZEL."


        After the Báb himself, Behá'u'lláh and Subh-i-Ezel are without doubt the most important figures in the history of Bábísm. To the words and deeds of the former a large


[page 350]

portion of the present work is devoted, while the latter, when mentioned, is spoken of slightingly as a mere "man of straw." One whose knowledge of Bábí history should be limited to the account given in this Traveller's Narrative would, therefore, by no means properly apprehend the importance of the part actually played by Subh-i-Ezel. In my opinion it is proved beyond all doubt that the Báb ere his death chose him as his successor, duly appointing him as such by the form of words which I published at pp. 996-997 of my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889, and that during the period which elapsed from the Báb's death till the advancement of Behá'u'lláh's claim to be "Him whom God shall manifest" (i.e. from 1850 to 1864 at any rate) he was recognized by all the Bábís as their spiritual chief. Even now the number of his followers, though small in comparison to that of the Behá'ís, is considerable; and since, in addition to all this, the old Bábí doctrines and traditions, which have undergone considerable modification at the hands of Behá'u'lláh, are preserved intact by Subh-i-Ezel, I have considered it incumbent on me to embody in a separate note all the more important facts relating to him which I have been able to ascertain, together with a complete account of the Bábís exiled to Cyprus based on the most authentic documents.

        The sources from which my information is derived are, broadly speaking, four in number, as follows:-

        (1) Letters received from Subh-i-Ezel himself between August 1889 and the present time, the correspondence still continuing. In only one or two of these letters, however, does he speak of his own adventures and circumstances with any approach to freedom.

        (2) Conversations between Captain Young or myself on the one hand and Subh-i-Ezel or his sons on the other. In the numerous and protracted interviews which I had with Subh-i-Ezel between March 22nd and April 4th, 1890, I was able to recur for my own satisfaction to almost every point which the preliminary enquiries kindly undertaken by Captain Young had first elicited.

        (3) Offical documents relative to the exiles preserved in the archives of the Cyprus government. Sir Henry Bulwer, with a kindness and courtesy for which I cannot


[page 351]

sufficiently express my gratitude, permitted me freely to inspect and copy all the more important of these documents, and, with one exception, to make use of the information therein contained, as has been set forth in detail in the Introduction.

        (4) A bulky MS. of a hitherto unknown Ezelí controversial work entitled Hasht Bihisht ("The Eight Paradises"), which I was fortunate enough to obtain a few days ago (February 2nd, 1891) from a learned Ezelí resident in Constantinople. The whole of this work is not at present in my possession, 10 fasciculi (160 pp.) out of the middle having unfortunately fallen into the hands of the Philistines after they had been written out by the scribe. The original MS. is, however, in safe keeping, and in the course of a month or two I hope to receive a fresh transcript of the missing portion, which extends from p. 128 to p. 329 inclusive1. The whole work contains nearly 450 pp., and deals chiefly with the philosophical basis of Bábíism, its superiority to other religions, and the proofs of its divine origin; but a great deal of information is also given about the history, especially the later history, of the movement. The account given of the schism which separated the Behá'ís from the Ezelís is, especially when taken in conjunction with the version given in this present work, extremely instructive; and the polemical portion, wherein the claims of Behá are attacked, and those of Subh-i-Ezel defended, is full of interest. At some future date I hope to give a fuller notice of this valuable work, but for the present I must needs content myself with extracting from it the chief facts recorded concerning the life of Subh-i-Ezel.

        How best to deal with the information scattered through these numerous documents, notes, and letters in manner which shall combine reasonable brevity with sufficient fullness is a matter which has cost me considerable thought. The plan which I have finally decided to follow is to give firstly, a full and literal translation of a short section of the Hasht Bihisht entitled Sharh-i-hál-i-Hazrat-i-Thamara-i-
< br>        1 The fresh transcript of the missing portion reached me on March 23rd, 1891.


[page 352]

Beyán ("Elucidation of the circumstances of His Highness the Fruit of the Beyán"); secondly, a brief abstract of the account given in the same work of the origin and progress of the schism; thirdly, an epitome of the information derived directly from Subh-i-Ezel, either by letter or in conversation; and lastly, a resumé of the official documents preserved in the archives of the Cyprus government.

I.         Translation from Hasht Bihisht.


        "Now during the two last years [of the Báb's mission], when the five years' cycle1 of the 'Minor Resurrection' had come to an end, the manifestation of His Highness the Eternal (Hazrat-i-Ezel) took place. And he, being then nineteen years of age, appeared in the hamlet of Takúr in [the district of] Núr of Mázandarán, and began with untaught tongue (lisán-i-ummí) to utter the Innate Word (kalima-i-zátí) and spontaneous verses (áyát-i-fit). When the first letter from him was conveyed by means of Mírzá 'Alí Sayyáh. to His Highness the Point [i.e. the Báb], the latter instantly prostrated himself to the earth in thankfulness, saying, 'Blessed be God for this mighty Luminary which hath dawned and this noble Spathe which hath arisen in the night2,' testifying of him that he spoke spontaneously and by the Self-Shining Light, which is the Innate Word, the Natural Reason ('akl-i-fit), the Holy Spirit, the Immediate Knowledge ('ilm-i-laduní), the Suffi

       1 A passage in the Dalá'il-i-sab'a ("Seven Proofs"), to which I referred at p. 913 of my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889, affords confirmatory evidence of what is here alleged concerning the date of Subh-i-Ezel's first appearance. This passage runs as follows: [six lines of Persian/Arabic text].
       2 [one line of Persian/Arabic text]



[page 353]

d \widctlpar cing Light (núr-i-mustakfí), or, after another manner of speech, by Inspiration (wahy), Revelation (tanzíl d \widctlpar ), and Illumination (fardáb ú fartáb).

        "At this time His Highness the Point was imprisoned on the mountain of Makú, and he therefore sent the writings of His Highness the Eternal for each of the Letters of the Living and the chief believers, testifying to his [i.e. Hazrat or Subh-i-Ezel's] innate capacity (fitrat), and calling him by the names of 'Fruit of the Beyán' (Thamara-i-Beyán), 'Morning of Eternity' (Subh-i-Ezel), 'Countenance' (Wajh), 'Splendour of God' (Behá'u'lláh), 'Mirror' (Mir'at), 'Crystal' (Bellúr), 'Essence of Sweet Perfume' (Jawhar-i-Káfúr)1, 'Sun of Eternity' (Shams-i-Ezel), 'Second Point' (Nukta-i-thání), 'One' (Wahíd)2, 'the Living, the Speaking' (Hayy3, see Gobineau, p. 320. Subh-i-Ezel's name Yah not only contains the root hayy (indeed by merely altering the vowel-points it becomes Yuh, "he quickens," or "gives life"), but is also, as has just been pointed out, numerically equivalent to Wahíd "One," another word of singular virtue.]
-i-Nátik), and sundry other titles. Having designated Hazrat-i-Ezel as his successor, he made over to him generally and particularly all the affairs of the Beyán, even transferring to him the [right of] disclosing the eight 'paths' (manhaj) of the Beyánic ordinances4 which had [hitherto] remained con-

       1 Cf. Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Book i, part vii, p. 2622, col. 3, s. v. ~~~, and Kur'án, lxxvi, 5. For an instance of the employment of this expression (which occurs repeatedly in the Báb's writings), see Mirza Kazem-Beg's last article in the Bábís in the Journal Asiatique for 1866 (sixième série, vol. viii) p. 501, last line.
       2 The numerical equivalent of Wahíd (28) is the same as that of Yah. [See my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S for 1889, pp. 996-997.]
       3 Concerning the sacred nature of the word ~~~.
       4 By these 'eight paths' of the Beyán are evidently intended the unrevealed hids. Gobineau, whose penetration suffered nothing to escape him, has not failed to notice that the Beyán - or rather Beyáns, for, as has been pointed out, there are several - are purposely left incomplete. I cannot do better than quote his own words (p. 332):- "Le Biyyan étant le livre divin par excellence, doit nécessairement être constitué sur le nombre divin, [footnote goes onto page 354] c'est-à-dire sur le nombre 19. Il est donc composé, en principe, de 19 unités ou divisions principales, qui, à leur tour, se subdivisent chacune en 19 paragraphes. Mais le Bâb n'a écrit que onze de ces unités, et il a laissé les huit autres au véritable et grand Révélateur, à celui qui complétera la doctrine, et à l'égard duquel le Bâb n'est autre chose que ce qu'était saint Jean-Baptiste devant Notre-Seigneur."



[page 354]

cealed within the Divine Volition (whereon their disclosure depended), in case the time should demand this.

        "In short, during the two last years [of the Báb's life and mission] all that emanated from the Supreme Pen bore reference to His Highness the Fruit [of the Beyán], whom he [i.e. the Báb] recommended to all the people of the Beyán, saying that should they bring sorrow, even to the extent of the mention of aught, on his holy heart, all their good works and devotions would become as scattered dust. Of the words of His Highness the Point [i.e. the Báb] still extant at the present day, what bears reference to the Fruit [of the Beyán, i.e. Subh-i-Ezel] exceeds 20,000 verses, not counting what has disappeared. And for ten years after [the death of] His Highness the Point all the people of the Beyán were unanimous and agreed as to the bestowal of the successorship on His Highness the Eternal [i.e. Subh-i-Ezel]. And he abode for more than two years in Teherán and Shimírán, whence he departed into Mázandarán, whence again (because men had been stirred up on behalf of the government to seek him out) he set out disguised in the garb of a dervish for Hamadán and Kirmánsháhán1. Thence he proceeded to the Abode of Peace of Baghdad2, and in reference to this the 'Tongue of the Unseen' [i.e. the poet Háfiz] says:-

       1 Cf. pp. 51-52 supra.
       2 Dáru's-salám ("the Abode of Peace") is the official title of Baghdad, just as Teherán is called Dáru'l-khiláfat ("the Abode of the Caliphate"), Isfahán Dáru 's-saltanat ("the Abode of the Sovereignty"), Shíráz Dáru 'l-'ilm ("the Abode of Knowledge"), Yezd Dáru 'l-'ibádat ("the Abode of Worship"), Kirmán Dáru 'l-amán ("the Abode of Security"), and the like. The Bábís, so prone to regard such coincidences, attach great importance to this title of Baghdad (which for eleven or twelve years was their head-quarters and rallying-point and the home of their chiefs), and quote as prophetic Kur'án vi, 127:- ~~~ [footnote goes onto page 355] ~~~ ("Theirs is an Abode of Peace beside their Lord, and He is their Protector by reason of that which they have done").



[page 355]

(Couplet)

    'Baghdad shall be filled with tumult; one with lips like sugar shall appear;
    I fear lest the disturbance of his lips may cast Shíráz into confusion1.'
        "At this juncture Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí [i.e. Behá'u'lláh], the elder brother of His Highness [Subh-i-Ezel], came to Baghdad with two other brothers and several of the believers, and these gathered round that Most Mighty Light, who, in accordance with instructions which His Highness the Point of Revelation [i.e. the Báb] had given him, passed his nights and days behind the curtains of seclusion apart from believers and others-

(Couplet)

    'Behind a veil sits that moon-browed beauty;
    He has rent asunder the veils of the world, yet sits behind a veil'-
and none approached him save his brothers and certain favoured followers. But from behind that veil issued forth letters, epistles (alwáh), and books [written] in reply to men's questions and petitions."

        Here ends that section of the Hasht Bihisht which I deemed it desirable to translate in full. It is followed by a section entitled Sharh-i-hál-i-'ijl ú Sámirí ("Elucidation of the circumstances of the Calf and Sámirí")2, which in

       1 This verse I have generally heard somewhat differently quoted; see B. ii, pp. 993-994 and note 2 at foot of former page. My MS. of the Hasht Bihisht puts "Ahwáz" in the margin as an alternative reading for "Shíráz." The couplet is not to be found in the Díván of Háfiz. - at least in any of the copies which I have seen.
       2 Allusion is made to the Golden Calf which the Children of Israel were misled by Sámirí into worshipping. (See Kur'án, vii, 146; xx, 87, et seq.; and numerous other passages.) By 'the Calf' the Ezelí controversialist, of course, means Behá'u'lláh (or, [footnote goes onto page 356] as he calls him throughout, Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí), and by 'Sámirí,' Áká Mírzá Áká Jan (abusively designated as the "scald-headed soap-seller of Káshán"), to whom he attributes a rôle similar to that wherewith Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán is credited by the Behá'ís at pp. 93-98 of the present work. Concerning Áká Mírzá Áká Ján (called by the Behá'ís Jenáb-i-Khádimu 'lláh, "His Excellency the Servant of God") see Introduction, and also B. i, p. 519.



[page 356]

turn is succeeded by another entitled Sharh-i-hál-i-fitné-i-saylam ("Elucidation of the Direful Mischief"), by which is meant the succession (according to the Ezelí view) of Behá and his followers. These sections occupy many pages, are of a violently polemical character, and contain grave charges against the Behá'ís and vehement attacks on their position and doctrines. The gist of their contents is given in the following abstract.

II.         Abstract from Hasht Bihisht.


        Subh-i-Ezel having retired into a seclusion inviolable save to a chosen few, his elder brother Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí [Behá'u'lláh] found the practical direction of affairs in his own hands. Now he was a man who from his youth upwards had associated and mixed with men of every class, whereby he had acquired a certain "breadth of disposition" (was'at-i-mashrab) and "religious pliability" (rakháwat-i-maz-hab) which attracted round him men of like mind, to whom some slackening of the severer code of the Beyán was not unwelcome. Certain of the old school of Bábís, such as Mullá Muhammad Ja'far of Nirák, Mullá Rajab 'Alí "Kahír," Hájí Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán1, Hájí Seyyid Jawád of Kerbelá, Hájí Mírzá Ahmad-i-Kátib2, the Mutawallí-báshí (Chief Custodian of the Shrine) of Kum, Hájí Mírzá Muhammad Rizá, and others, perceiving this tendency to innovation and relaxation, remonstrated so vigorously with Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí that he left Baghdad in

       1 See pp. 93-98 supra. d \widctlpar
       2 Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím of Kazvín is generally designated by this title d \widctlpar (see supra, pp. 41-42, and footnote to former), but, as he was killed at Teherán in 1852, either this must be a mistake, or some other person bearing the same name must be intended.



[page 357]

wrath and went towards Suleymániyyé, in the neighbourhood of which he abode amongst the Kurds for nearly two years1 During all this period his whereabouts was unknown to the Bábís at Baghdad. When at length it became known, Subh-i-Ezel wrote a letter to him inviting him to return.

        About this time Mírzá Asadu'lláh entitled "Deyyán2" (one of the second group of "Letters of the Living" or "Second Unity"), called by the author of the Hasht Bihisht "the Judas Iscariot of this people," who had been appointed by the Báb amanuensis to Subh-i-Ezel, and who was learned in the Hebrew and Syriac languages, declared himself to be "He whom God shall manifest"; and one Mírzá Ibráhím forthwith believed in him. Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí [Behá'u'lláh], after a protracted discussion with him, instructed his servant Mírzá Muhammad of Mázandarán to slay him, which was accordingly done. Shortly after this, Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh called Ghawghá ["Conflict"] advanced the very same claim; and he in turn was followed by Huseyn of Mílán, commonly known as "Huseyn Ján," who made the same pretension in Teherán4 The matter did not end even here, for these pretenders were followed by Seyyid Huseyn of Isfahán4, and Mírzá Muhammad "Nabíl" of Zarand, called "the tongue-tied" (akhras)5;

       1 Cf. pp. 64-65 supra, and verse 6 of Nabíl's chronological poem at pp. 983 and 987 of my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889. Subh-i-Ezel also mentioned that Behá'u'lláh withdrew for some while from Baghdad because he "got angry" (kahr kard).
       2 See Gobineau, pp. 277-278. The passage is quoted in full on p. 365 infra.
       3 See supra, pp. 330-331. If Huseyn of Mílán was killed at Teherán in 1852, it is evident that whatever claim he advanced was long anterior to this period, for, according to Nabíl's chronological poem (B. ii, pp. 983-984 and 987, verses 6 and 7), Behá'u'lláh was 40 years old when he returned from Kurdistán to Baghdad, which, as he was born in A.H. 1233, must have been in A.H. 1273 (= A.D. 1856-7).
       4 Or of Hindiyán. See p. 331 supra, and cf. Gobineau, p. 278.
       5 The same Nabíl who is now at Acre, and who wrote the chronological poem referred to in the last footnote but one. Some poems attributed to him and written apparently during the [footnote goes onto page 358] period of his claim are in my possession. In one of them the following verse occurs:-
    [two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
    "I am the uplifted Tree of Life; I am the hidden and apparent Fruit;
    I am the King of Kings of the Beyán, and by me is the Beyán exalted."



[page 358]

until, to quote verbatim from the Hasht Bihisht, "the matter came to such a pass that everyone on awakening from his first sleep in the morning adorned his body with this pretension."

        Now when Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí beheld matters in this disordered state, he bethought himself of advancing the same claim himself (considering that from the prominent position which he had long held as practical director of affairs, he stood a better chance of success than any previous claimant), and in this idea he was greatly encouraged by Áká Mírzá Áká Ján of Káshán. Little by little his resolution took more definite shape, and he fell to thinking how he might compass the destruction of such of the Bábís as were likely to oppose his contemplated action.

        About this time the Muhammadan clergy of Baghdad, Kerbelá, and Nejef began to complain loudly because of the large number of Bábís who continued to flock thither from Persia, and the Persian Government accordingly instructed Mírzá Huseyn Khán Mushíru'd-dawla, its representative at the court of the Ottoman Sultan, to petition the Turkish authorities for the removal of the Bábís to some part of their dominions remote from the Persian frontier1. To this request the Turkish authorities, anxious to put a stop to the quarrels which were continually arising between the Bábís and Muhammadans, acceded. The Bábís were summoned to Constantinople; whence, four months after their arrival, they were sent to Adrianople. On their arrival in that city, Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, still instigated and

       1 Cf. pp. 82-89 supra.


[page 359]

encouraged by Áká Mírzá Áká Ján, gradually made public his claim to be, not only "He whom God shall manifest," but an Incarnation of the Deity Himself, and began to send letters and epistles in all directions. And now, according to the Ezelí historian, began a series of assassinations on the part of the Behá'ís. All prominent supporters of Subh-i-Ezel who withstood Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí's claim were marked out for death, and in Baghdad Mullá Rajab 'Alí "Kahír" and his brother, Hájí Mírzá Ahmad, Hájí Mírzá Muhammad Rizá, and several others fell one by one by the knife or bullet of the assassin1. But the author of the Hasht Bihisht brings a yet graver charge against Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, and asserts that he caused poison to be placed in one side of a dish of food which was to be set before himself and Subh-i-Ezel, giving instructions that the poisoned side was to be turned towards his brother. As it happened, however, the food had been flavoured with onions, and Subh-i-Ezel, disliking this flavour, refused to partake of the dish. Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, fancying that his brother suspected his design, ate some of the food from his side of the plate; but, the poison having diffused itself to some extent through the whole mass, he was presently attacked with vomiting and other symptoms of poisoning. Thereupon he assembled his own followers and intimates, and declared that Subh-i-Ezel had attempted to poison him2.

        Shortly after this, according to the Ezelí writer, another plot was laid against Subh-i-Ezel's life, and it was arranged that Muhammad 'Alí the barber should cut his throat while shaving him in the bath. On the approach of the barber, however, Subh-i-Ezel divined his design, refused to allow him to come near, and, on leaving the bath, instantly

       1 Cf. B. i, p. 517, and B. ii, pp. 995-6.
       2 The Behá'ís reverse this story as well as the following in every particular, declaring the Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezelattempted to poison Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí Behá'u'lláh, and after his failure spread abroad the report that the attempt had been made on himself. Behá'u'lláh's version will be found in the Súra-i-Heykalat pp. 154-155 of Baron V. Rosen's forthcoming work. The text and translation of this passage, which Baron Rosen has most kindly permitted me to copy from the proof-sheets of his still unpublished work, will be found a few pages further on.



[page 360]

took another lodging in Adrianople and separated himself entirely from Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí and his followers.

        Some while after this, says the author of the Hasht Bihisht, Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí devised a new stratagem. A number of letters were written in different handwritings by Áká Mírzá Áká Ján, Mushkín Kalam, 'Abbás Efendí, and other partisans of Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí to sundry Turkish statesmen and officials to the following effect:- "About thirty thousand of us Bábís are concealed in disguise in and around Constantinople, and in a short while we shall rise. We shall first capture Constantinople, and, if Sultán 'Abdu'l-'Azíz and his ministers do not believe [in our religion], we shall depose and dismiss them from their rule and administration. And our King is Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezel." These letters were left by night at the Sultán's palace and the houses of the different ministers by Mushkín Kalam and other partisans of Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí resident in Constantinople. When next day these letters were discovered, the Turkish Government, which had treated the Bábís with kindness, and afforded them shelter and hospitality, was naturally greatly incensed. The letters were forthwith laid before the Persian Ambassador, and, at a joint assembly of Turkish and Persian officials, it was decided to exile the Bábí chiefs to some remote island or fortress on the coast1.

        Meanwhile Hájí Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán, a philosopher of note, and Áká Ján Bey, nicknamed Kaj-kuláh ("Skew-cap")2, who held the rank of lieutenant-colonel (ká'im-makám) in the Turkish army, discovered how matters stood, and made known to the Ottoman authorities the hostility which existed between the two brothers at Adrianople. The only good result which followed from their intervention was that it was decided by the Turkish government to exile Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezel and Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí Behá'u'lláh not to the same but to two different places; the former was ordered to be sent with his

       1 Cf. the Behá'í account of the events which led to the removal of the Bábí chiefs from Adrianople at pp. 98-99 supra, and Subh-i-Ezel's account in note 1 at the foot of the latter page.
       2 See B. i, p. 517, and note 1 at foot of p. 99 supra.



[page 361]

family and four of Behá'u'lláh's followers, to wit Mushkín-Kalam1, Mírzá 'Alí Sayyah, [Muhammad]kir, and 'Abdu'l-Ghaffár, to Famagusta [Mághúsá] in Cyprus; the latter, with his family, about 80 of his adherents, and four of Subh-i-Ezel's followers, to wit Hájí Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán, Áká Ján Bey, Mírzá Rizá-Kulí of Tafrísh, and his brother Áká Mírzá Nasru'lláh, to Acre ['Akká] in Syria. Before the transfer was actually effected, however, Mírzá Nasru'lláh was poisoned by Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí at Adrianople. The other three Ezelís were assassinated shortly after their arrival at Acre in a house which they occupied near the barracks, the assassins being 'Abdu'l-Karím, Muhammad 'Alí the barber, Huseyn the water-carrier, and Muhammad Jawád of Kazvín.

        After remarking that Adrianople is called "the Land of the Mystery" (~~~)2 because therein took place the separation between the Light and the Fire, the People of the Right Hand and the People of the Left Hand, the Good and the Evil, the True and the False, the Ezelí historian proceeds to describe, with much censure and animadversion, the propaganda by letters and missionaries set on foot throughout Persia by Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, the extravagant claims advanced by him, and the high-sounding titles conferred on his wives, sons, and chief followers. Amongst the titles so conferred are enumerated the following:- (on his wives) Mahd-i-'Ulyá("the Supreme Cradle" - a title reserved for the Queen-mother in Persia); Waraka-i-'Ulyá ("the Supreme Leaf"); (on his sons) Ghusn-i-A'zam ("the Most Mighty Branch"); Ghusn-i-Akbar3 ("the Most Great Branch"); Ghusn-i-At-har ("the Most Pure Branch"); (on Áká Mírzá Áká Ján of Káshán) Avvalu man ámana ("the First to believe") and Jenáb-

       1 See B. i, p. 516, and B. ii, p. 994. Fuller particulars concerning all of these will be found at the end of this Note.
       2 Moreover the sum of the letters in the word (~~~) (Mystery) is the same as in the word (~~~) (Adrianople), viz. 260.
       3 See B. i, p. 518.



[page 362]

i-Khádimu'lláh ("His Excellency the Servant of God")1; (on others of his followers) Mushkín-i-Iláhí("Divinely Fragrant"); Zeynu'l-Mukarrabín2 ("the Ornament of the Favoured"); Ghulámu'l-Khuld ("the Servant of Paradise"); Jabrá'íl-i-Amín ("Gabriel the Trusty"); Kannádu's-Samadániyyat ("the Confectioner of the Divine Eternity"); Khabbázu'l-Wáhidiyyat ("the Baker of the Divine Unity"); Dalláku'l-Hakíkat ("the Barber of the Truth"); Malláhu'l-Kuds ("the Sailor of Sanctity"); and the like.

        The author of the Hasht Bihisht, after indulging in a good deal of strong invective, garnished with many allusions to Pharaoh, the Golden Calf, and Sámirí, brings forward further charges against the Behá'ís. Certain persons, he d \widctlpar says, who had at first been inclined to follow Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, subsequently withdrew and separated themselves from h d \widctlpar im. Some of these, such as Áká 'Abdu'l-Ahad, Áká Muhammad 'Alí of Isfahán, Hájí Áká of Tabríz, and the son of Hájí Fattáh, fled from Acre; but the Khayyát-báshí (chief tailor) and Hájí Ibrahím were assassinated in the Caravansaray of the corn-sellers (Khán-i-gandum-firúshán) and buried in quick-lime under the platform, which was duly mortared up over their bodies. After a while, however, the smell of the decomposing corpses became so offensive that the other inhabitants of the caravansaray complained to the local authorities, who instituted a search and discovered the bodies. Without mentioning what further action was taken by the Turkish government in the matter (a point certainly demanding elucidation, for we cannot suppose that, if what the Ezelí historian relates be true, they took no action at all to punish the murderers) the author proceeds with his indictment. Hájí Ja'far, says he, had a claim of 1200 pounds against Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí, and demanded the payment of this debt with some violence and importunity. Mírzá Áká Ján of Káshán thereupon instructed one 'Alí of Kazvín to slay the old man and throw his body out of the window of the upper room which

       1 See Introduction, and B. i, p. 519.
       2 The writer of the MS. from which the fac-simile forming vol. i of the present work is taken. See Note Z, infra.



[page 363]

he occupied into the courtyard of the caravansaray. It was then put about that he had "cast himself out and died, yielding up his life to the Beloved." Another disappointed creditor, a native of Khurásán, is said to have gone mad in Acre from chagrin and deferred hope. Other assassinations in other places are alleged, the following being specially notified:- Áká Seyyid 'Alí the Arab, one of the original "Letters of the Living," was killed in Tabríz by Mírzá Mustafá of Nirák. and Sheykh [name omitted] of Khurásán; Mullá Rajab 'Alí Kahír, also one of the "Letters," was killed at Kerbelá by Násir the Arab; his brother Áká 'Alí Muhammad was killed in Baghdad by 'Abdu'l-Karím; and, in short, if we are to believe the Ezelí writer, most of the more prominent Bábís who withstood Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí's pretensions were sought out and slain wherever they chanced to be, amongst these being Hájí Áká of Tabríz.

        The indictment does not stop here. Amongst those who had at first inclined to follow Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí was, according to the Hasht Bihisht, a merchant named Áká Muhammad 'Alí of Isfahán, who at this time resided in Constantinople. Owing to certain discoveries which he had made, however, his faith had undergone considerable abatement, and signs of coolness had been observed in him. Mírzá Abú'l-Kásim the Bakhtiyárí robber was consequently despatched from Acre with instructions to "bleed that block of heedlessness whose blood is in excess." On his arrival in Constantinople he took up his lodging with the unsuspecting merchant in the Khán-i-Sharkí. Here he remained till one day he found opportunity to break open his host's private safe and abstract therefrom \'a3350. A part of this sum he retained for himself; with the remainder he bought clothes, stuffs, and other goods which he sent to Acre. In return for this service he received the following epistle:- "O phlebotomist of the Divine Unity! Throb like the artery in the body of the Contingent World, and drink of the blood of the 'Block of Heedlessness' for that he turned aside from the aspect of thy Lord the Merciful1!" Here

       1 The original text of this epistle stands as follows in the Hasht Bihisht:- [footnote goes onto page 364] ~~~


[page 364]

ends the list of charges alleged against the Behá'ís by the Ezelís, and what follows is of a purely controversial nature, consisting of refutations of the claims advanced by Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí Behá'u'lláh, and arguments to prove the rights of Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezel. This controversial portion, interesting as it is, I am forced to omit here for lack of space.

        It is with great reluctance that I have set down the grave accusations brought by the author of the Hash Bihisht against the Behá'ís. It seemed to me a kind of ingratitude even to repeat such charges against those from whom I myself have experienced nothing but kindness, and in most of whom the outward signs of virtue and disinterested benevolence were apparent in a high degree. Yet no feeling of personal gratitude or friendship can justify the historian (whose sole desire should be to sift and assort all statements with a view to eliciting the truth) in the suppression of any important document which may throw light on the object of his study. Such an action would be worse than ingratitude; it would be treason to Truth. These charges are either true or false. If they be true (which I ardently hope is not the case) our whole view of the tendencies and probable influences of Behá's teaching must necessarily be greatly modified, for of what use are the noblest and most humane utterances if they be associated with deeds such as are here alleged? If, on the other hand, they be false, further investigation will without doubt conclusively prove their falsity, and make it impossible that their shadow should hereafter darken the page of Bábí history. In either case it is of the utmost importance that they should be confronted, and, to this end, that they should be fully stated. Inasmuch as the Hasht Bihisht only fell into my hands as I was beginning to write this note, and as several of the charges alleged in it against the Behá'ís are new to me, I regret that I cannot at present offer any important evidence either for their support or


[page 365]

their refutation. Certain points, however, which are connected with the narrative of the Ezelí controversialist and can be checked by other testimony are as follows:-

        (1) For the claim advanced by Mírzá Asadu'lláh "Deyyán" of Tabríz, and the fate which it brought down upon him, we have Gobineau's testimony, given (at pp. 277-278 of his work) in the following words:- "L'élection [c-à-d. de Hezret-è-Ezel] avait été toute spontanée et elle fut reconnue immédiatement par les bâbys. Cependant, un des membres de l'Unité, qui n'était pas à Téhéran au moment où elle eut lieu, et qui se nommait Mirza-Asad-Oullah, de Tebriz, surnommé Deyyân, ou 'le Juge suprème,' personnage très-important et membre de l'Unité prophétique, entreprit de se faire reconnaître lui-même pour le nouveau Bâb. Il courut dans l'Arabistan et cheracha à yréunir un parti. Mais les religionnaires se mettant sur ses traces, l'atteignirent près de la frontière turke, et lui attachant des pierres au cou, le noyèrent dans le Shât-el-Arâb. Cette tentative malheureuse n'encouragea pas les dissidents." From Gobineau's account we are led to infer that this episode occurred very soon after the death of the Báb and the election of Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezel, that is to say some time before the Baghdad period.

        (2) For the claim advanced by Huseyn of Mílán we have Subh-i-Ezel's evidence (see Note T, p. 331 supra), but since, as has been already pointed out, this Huseyn was amongst the Bábís killed at Teherán in 1852, this event has no more connection than the last with the Baghdad period.

        (3) That Nabíl advanced a similar claim which he subsequently withdrew is a statement which I have heard made once if not oftener by Bábís (of the Behá'í sect) in Persia. Some of the poems attributed to him, if really his, afford confirmatory evidence, as has been already observed (p. 357, note 5, supra).

        (4) The assertion that Behá'u'lláh alleges against Subh-i-Ezel an attempted fratricide, of which, according to the Ezelí writer, he was in reality himself the author, is fully borne out by the following passage in the earlier part of the Súra-i-Heykal, which Baron Rosen has most kindly permitted me to quote from his still unpublished work:-


[page 366]

[one page of Persian/Arabic text]




[page 367]

[one page of Persian/Arabic text]




[page 368]

[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "Then tell them that we chose out one from amongst our brethren, and sprinkled upon him drops from the depths of the Ocean of Knowledge; then we arrayed him in the raiment of one of the [Divine] Names1, and upraised him unto [such] a station that all arose to praise him; and we preserved him from the hurt of every hurtful thing in such wise as [even] the powerful cannot do. We were alone against the dwellers in the heavens and the earth in the days when all men arose to slay me, and we were in their midst, speaking in commemoration of God and His praise, and steadfast in His affair, until the Word of God was realized amongst His creatures, and its tokens became public, and its power waxed high, and its dominion shone forth; whereunto testify favoured servants. Verily my brother, when he saw that the matter had waxed high, discovered in himself pride and error; then he came forth [from] behind the veils, and warred with me, and contended with my signs, and denied my proof, and repudiated my tokens; neither was the belly of the glutton sated till that he desired to eat my flesh and drink my blood, whereunto bear witness those servants who fled into exile with God, and beyond them those brought nigh. And herein he took counsel with one of my attendants, tempting him unto this. Then God helped me with the hosts of the Invisible and the Visible, and preserved me by the truth, and revealed unto me that which withheld him from what he purposed, and brought to naught the device of those who denied the signs of the Merciful [God]: are they not a people unbelieving? And when that whereunto his passion [had] seduced him was divulged, and those who [had] fled into exile became aware thereof, outcry arose from these,

       1 Cf. pp. 95-96 supra, and footnotes thereon.


[page 369]

and attained such a pitch that it was within a little of being published throughout the city. Then we restrained them, and revealed unto them the word of patience, that they might be of those who are patient; and by God, than whom there is none other god, we were assuredly patient in this, and enjoined patience and self-restraint on [God's] servants, and went out from amongst these, and dwelt in another house, that the fire of hatred might be quenched in his bosom and he might become of those rightly directed. Neither did we interfere with him nor see him afterwards; we sat alone in the house watching for the Grace of God, the Protector, the Self-subsistent. But he, when he became aware that the matter had become publicly known, took the pen of falsehood, and wrote unto the people, and attributed all that he had done to my peerless and wronged Beauty, seeking mischief in himself, and the introduction of hatred into the breasts of those who [had] believed in God the Mighty, the Loving. By Him in whose hand is my soul, we are amazed at his device, nay rather all being, invisible and visible, is amazed! Yet withal he rested not in himself till be committed that which the pen cannot set down, that whereby he dishonoured me, and God, the Potent, the Mighty, the Praised. Should I describe that which he did unto me, the seas of the earth would not complete it were God to make them ink, neither would all things exhaust it were God to turn them into pens. Thus do we reveal that which hath befallen us, if ye [will] know it."

        I never heard Subh-i-Ezel himself allude to the events in question, for he is little addicted to complaints, and reticent as to all that concerns his brother Behá'u'lláh, but his son 'Abdu'l-'Alí gave me the same account as is set forth in the Hasht Bihisht.

        (5) The account of the forged letters circulated by the Behá'ís is improbable in itself (for the catastrophe which they were intended to produce was bound to involve all the Bábís at Adrianople), and is at variance with the versions given by Behá'u'lláh (supra, pp. 98-99) and Subh-i-Ezel (supra, pp. 99, note 1).

        (6) The names of the Behá'ís exiled with Subh-i-Ezel to Famagusta are stated correctly, as proved by the documents of the Cyprus Government shortly to be cited.


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        (7) As to the assassination of the three Ezelís, Áká Ján Bey, Hájí Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán, and Mírzá Rizá-Kulí of Tafrísh, by some of Behá's followers at Acre, there can, I fear, be but little doubt; for the account of this event which I published at p. 517 of my first paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889 was given to me by a Behá'í who had during his visit to Acre seen, and, I think, conversed with some of the perpetrators of this deed. It is curious that he, so far from attempting to minimize the matter, raised the number of the victims and assassins from three and four to seven and twelve respectively. Subh-i-Ezel's account (B. ii, pp. 995-6) agrees with that contained in the Hasht Bihisht. There is, however, no evidence to prove that the assassins acted under orders, though the passage in the Kitáb-i-Akdas alluding (apparently) to Hájí Seyyid Muhammad's death, which is quoted at the foot of p. 93 supra, proves that Behá'u'lláh regarded this event with some complaisance. His son 'Abbás Efendí d \widctlpar would also seem to have interceded for the murderers (B. i, p. 517). Mr Oliphant in his work entitled Haifa (see supra, pp. 209-210), afte d \widctlpar r speaking of the mystery which surrounds Behá'u'lláh and the difficulty of seeing him, says, in a passage which appears to bear reference to these assassinations (op. cit., p. 107):-

        "Not long ago, however, public curiosity was gratified, for one of his [i.e. Behá'u'lláh's] Persian followers stabbed another for having been unworthy of some religious trust, and the great man himself was summoned as a witness.

        "'Will you tell the court who and what you are?' was the first question put.

        "'I will begin,' he replied, 'by telling you who I am not. I am not a camel-driver' - this was an allusion to the Prophet Mohammad - 'nor am I the son of a carpenter' - this in allusion to Christ. 'This is as much as I can tell you to-day. If you will now let me retire, I will tell you tomorrow who I am.'

        "Upon this promise he was let go; but the morrow never came. With an enormous bribe he had in the interval purchased an exemption from all further attendance at court."

        Since these assassinations took place within the last


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23 years, it is not too much to hope that further investigation may serve to throw fuller light on the matter. The examination of Turkish official records (should this be possible) would probably do more than anything else to elicit the truth.

        Of the other assassinations alleged by the author of the Hasht Bihisht, those of the following persons were independently mentioned by Subh-i-Ezel:- Mullá Rajab 'Alí Kahír; Áká 'Alí Muhammad of Isfahán, brother of the above; Mírzá Nasru'lláh; Hájí Mírzá Ahmad, brother of Mírzá Jání (see Note T, p. 332 supra); Hájí Ibrahím. The last was stated to have been at first a fanatical Behá'í, and to have cruelly beaten Hájí Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán the Ezelí on board the ship which bore the exiles to Acre, of which action he subsequently repented sincerely. The following three persons, not mentioned in the Hasht Bihisht, were also stated by Subh-i-Ezel to have been assassinated:- Huseyn 'Alí and Áká 'Abdu'l-Kásim of Káshán; Mírzá Buzurg of Kirmánsháh. This raises the total number of alleged assassinations of Ezelís to sixteen (unless, as appears probable, one of the last three be identical with the "Khayyát-báshí" mentioned in the Hasht Bihisht), which agrees pretty well with Subh-i-Ezel's statement to Captain Young (B. ii, p. 996) that about twenty of his followers were killed by the Behá'ís1.

        It should be borne in mind, however, that the removal of persons inimical to a religious movement by violent means, or in other words religious assassination, is a thing far less repugnant to the Eastern than to the Western mind. Since the first beginning of Islám (not to go further back) it has been freely practised; and the Prophet Muhammad gave to it the sanction of his example on numerous occasions. Nothing can illustrate in a more striking manner the difference between the Oriental and the Occidental attitude of mind than a narrative given by

       1 The words "at Acre" added to this statement are clearly due to a misapprehension of the interpreter, d \widctlpar and should read "of Acre," for Subh-i-Ezel distinctly and repeatedly alluded to the majority of these assassinations as having taken place d \widctlpar at Baghdad and elsewhere.


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Ibn Hishám in his Life of Muhammad (ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 553-555) to which my attention was first called by my friend Mr A. A. Bevan. This narrative is briefly as follows. There were in the time of Muhammad two brothers, of whom the younger, named Muhayyisa, had embraced Islám, while Huwayyisa, the elder, still remained a pagan. Muhayyisa, at the command of the Prophet, assassinated a Jewish merchant named Suneyna (or Subeyna) with whom Huwayyisa was on terms of friendship. Huwayyísa, on hearing of this, fell upon his younger brother with blows and reproaches, saying, "O enemy of God, hast thou slain him? By God, many a fat morsel of his wealth has gone into thy maw!" To this the other replied, "By God, I was ordered to kill him by one at whose command I would smite off thy head were he so to direct me!" "Would'st thou indeed slay me if Muhammad should order it?" asked Huwayyisa. "Yes," answered the other, "by Alláh, were he to command me to cut off thy head I would assuredly do so." "By Alláh," said the elder brother, "a religion which hath brought thee to this is assuredly a marvellous thing!" and he thereupon adopted the Muhammadan faith. The legend of Khizr and Moses in the Kur'án (súra xviii, v. 64-81), and the first story in the Masnaví of Jalálu'd-Dín Rúmí (well styled by Jámí "the Kur'án in the Persian language"), which describes with the utmost nonchalance how a poor goldsmith is slowly poisoned by a saintly personage to gratify the ignoble passions of a king, afford further illustration of this attitude of mind, which also revealed itself to me very clearly in a conversation which I had with a Bábí Seyyid of Shíráz with whom I was disputing about the divine origin of Islám. In the course of the discussion I animadverted on the bloodshed and violence resorted to by Muhammad and his followers for the propagation of their religion. "Surely," replied the Seyyid, with a look of extreme surprise, "you cannot pretend to deny that a prophet, who is an incarnation of the Universal Intelligence, has as much right to remove anyone whom he perceives to be an enemy to religion and a danger to the welfare of mankind as a surgeon has to amputate a gangrened limb?"

        I have insisted thus strongly on this point because we


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cannot properly estimate the probability or improbability of an action alleged but not proved to have been committed by a given body of men unless we are in a position to form a just judgement on their opinions as well as their character. The idea of secret assassination is so repugnant to us, and so incompatible with our notions of virtue and moral rectitude, that we naturally shrink from imputing it without the clearest evidence to a man or body of men of whose character and qualities we have otherwise formed a high opinion. But in Asia, where human life is held cheap, and religious fervour runs high, a different standard of morality prevails in this matter; and we must beware of being unduly influenced in our judgement by our own sentiments.

III.                 Additional information derived directly from Subh-i-Ezel.


        Mírzá YahSubh-i-Ezel is the son of Mírzá 'Abbás (better known as Mírzá Buzurg) of the district of Núr in Mázandarán, and the half-brother of d \widctlpar Mírzá Huseyn 'Alí Behá'u'lláh (see note 2 on p. 56 supra), to whom he is junior by 13 years d \widctlpar 1. He was born in Teherán about the year A.D. 18302. His father died when he was 7 years old.

       1 This is according to the first statement made to Captain Young, but on another occasion the difference was stated as 11 or 12 years. Since, however, Behá'u'lláh was, according to Nabíl (see B. i, p. 521, and B. ii, pp. 983 and 986), born in the year A.D. 1817, and since Subh-i-Ezel would seem to have been born in A.D. 1830 or 1831, thirteen years is the probable difference between their ages.
       2 The Persians are, as a rule, very careless about dates, and even well-educated men are often unable to state their exact age. To this rule Subh-i-Ezel is no exception. Thus in November 1884 (according to official documents) he gave his age as 56, while in October 1889 he informed Captain Young that he was 58 or 59 years old. Perhaps, however, the former figure may be due to a misunderstanding on the part of the official engaged in drawing up the report on the exiles, for several remarks which Subh-i-Ezel made to me point to the correctness of the latter. Thus on one occasion he said, pointing to his son 'Abdu'l-Wahíd (a youth of apparently about 17 years of age), "I was quite young [footnote goes onto page 374] like him when I left Persia" (in A.D. 1852). "About seventeen?" I enquired. "No," he answered, "more than that; about 20 or 21." A Turkish dervish who, impelled by curiosity to see so celebrated a heresiarch, visited him soon after his arrival in Cyprus, remarked with surprise ~~~ "He is still but a child!" Gobineau (p. 277) makes his age only 16 at the time of the Báb's death (A.D. 1850), but it is more probable that this was his age when he was designated by the Báb as his successor, in which case he would be about 19 when he actually succeeded. Bearing in mind the extraordinary virtue attributed by the Bábís to this mystical number, we may well believe that such a coincidence would strongly influence the choice of the faithful in his favour.



[page 374]

When and how he was brought to embrace the Bábí doctrines I have not been able to ascertain, but he was appointed by the Báb as his successor after the deaths of Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh and Mullá Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh (who was killed in the summer of A.D. 1849), the appointment (for text and translation of which see B. ii, pp. 996-997) being written from Chihrík. From that time until A.D. 1852 he generally resided during the summer at Teherán or Shimrán, and during the winter in the district of Núr in Mázandarán, being continually occupied in teaching and diffusing the Bábí doctrines. At the time of the Báb's martyrdom (July 1850) he was residing at the village of Zargandé near Teherán. Mírzá Áká Khán of Núr, who succeeded Mírzá Takí Khán as Prime Minister at the end of A.D. 1851 under the title of Sadr-i-A'zím, was related to Subh-i-Ezel. Although formerly, when living in retirement at Káshán, he had pretended to be favourably disposed towards the Bábís, and had even had several interviews with Mullá Sheykh 'Alí Jenáb-i-'Azím, he now shewed the utmost hostility towards them especially towards Subh-i-Ezel. Indeed his brother, Ja'far-Kulí Khán, who was on extremely had terms with him, strongly advised Subh-i-Ezel to keep out of his power, and, if possible, to avoid both Teherán and Núr.

        When the attempt on the Sháh's life was made in August 1852, Subh-i-Ezel was at Núr, and so escaped arrest, though the Sháh offered a reward of 1000 túmáns


[page 375]

for his capture, and though on one occasion he actually met and conversed with an Arab who had been sent to apprehend him but failed to recognize him. It was probably immediately after this that he set out, disguised as a dervish (pp. 51-52 and p. 354 supra), for Baghdad, where he arrived, according to his own statement, "in the year A.H. 1268, a few days after the arrival of Behá'u'lláh" Since, however, Behá'u'lláh was imprisoned in Teherán for four months after the attempt on the Sháh's life, i.e. till December 1852, and since the year A.H. 1268 ended on October 14th, 1852, this date would appear to be erroneous.

        Forty days after the attack on the Sháh, after Subh-i-Ezel had fled in disguise as above described, a raid was made on Núr by two regiments of soldiers under the command of Mírzá Abú Tálib Khán. It appears that the Sháh was induced to sanction this raid by representations made by Mírzá Áká Khán the Sadr-i-A'zam to the effect that Subh-i-Ezel had "arrived there, declared himself to be the Imám-Mahdí, and collected about a thousand followers." Mírzá Abú Tálib Khán, though related to Subh-i-Ezel by marriage (his sister being wedded to Subh-i-Ezel's eldest brother), shewed no compunction in carrying out the designs of his uncle the Sadr-i-A'zam with the utmost rigour, and, indeed, totally disregarded the remonstrances and pleas for mercy which some of his subordinate officers ventured to advance on its appearing that, so far from there being any rising, such of the inhabitants of the doomed village as had not fled into the mountains were unarmed and entirely unprepared for resistance. The village (containing some sixty houses) was sacked and plundered; two of its inhabitants, who were Bábís, were killed; Subh-i-Ezel's house was occupied by the principal officers; and his female relatives were confined to the upper rooms. A day or two after this a pursuit of the fugitives was organized; a shepherd betrayed their retreat; and the soldiers, falling upon them unawares, killed some (including Mírzá Muhammad Taki Khán), wounded others (including Mullá Fattáh, who subsequently died in prison), and carried off 26 or 27 (amongst whom were two women) to Teherán as captives. These captives, except the two women, were compelled to perform the journey on foot and in chains. On their


[page 376]

arrival at Teherán they happened to meet the Russian Ambassador, who was moved with compassion at the sight of their misfortunes, and addressed a remonstrance to the Sháh. He, finding on enquiry that there had been no insurrection at all, ordered them to be set at liberty; but the Sadr-i-A'zam contrived to detain them in prison on various pretexts, and there most of them died of erysipelas, gaol-fever, and other diseases which rage in Persian prisons, or were secretly made away with. The ravaged district of Núr was made over to the Sadr-i-A'zam, and one of the two houses possessed by Subh-i-Ezel in Teherán was confiscated by the Sháh, the other being sold by Behá'u'lláh.

        As I have embodied in previous footnotes all the more important particulars which I learned from Subh-i-Ezel relative to the expulsion of the Bábís from Baghdad (p. 84, note 2 supra), the journey from Baghdad to Constantinople (p. 90, note 1 supra), and the expulsion of the Bábís from Adrianople (p. 99, note 1 supra); and as the Ezelí version of the state of things which prevailed in the Bábí community at Baghdad and Adrianople is sufficiently set forth in the earlier portion of this note, I may now pass on to consider the evidence afforded by the state archives preserved in Cyprus.

IV.         State papers preserved by the Cyprus Government.


        These documents, to which, as explained in the Introduction, the kindness and courtesy of Sir Henry Bulwer allowed me so free an access during my stay in Cyprus, are very numerous, and range from August 1878 (the year of the English occupation) to June 1889. The majority of them are written in English, and to those written in Turkish English translations are always appended. All the papers of importance bearing on the subject, with the exception of certain despatches, were placed at my disposal, and during the four days for which they remained in my hands I was able to make a complete transcript of them. This transcript occupies 32 pages of foolscap.

        With these documents a desire to avoid undue prolixity compels me to deal as briefly as may be. Many of them,


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indeed, would not be worth reproducing in full in any case, while others are abrogated by fuller and later reports, and there are naturally a good many repetitions, besides discussions of the basis whereon the pensions of the exiles are to be calculated, which may well be omitted or abbreviated; but, were space of no object, there are several which I would fain have inserted in full. As it is, I can only give the substance and not the form of the papers; while, to save explanations and prevent confusion, I have normalized the spelling of names in accordance with the system adopted throughout this work, besides correcting obvious errors. With these preliminary observations I proceed to the examination of the documents in question.

        When the Turks evacuated Cyprus in 1878 they left behind them certain prisoners who had been interned in the fortress of Famagusta. In August of that year the Chief Secretary requested the Commissioner of that town to report on the number of these prisoners, their terms of imprisonment, their offences, and the like. The Commissioner of Famagusta stated in a brief reply (dated August 8th, 1878) that the prisoners in question were five in number, to wit (1) a Greek named Kátirjí Yání, sentenced for life for robberies committed in Syria; (2) a Bosnian named Mustafá, (3) a Turk named Yúsuf, sentenced for life for "speaking against the Turkish religion," and two Persians, (4) Subh-i-Ezel, and (5) Mushkín Kalam, whose crime and punishment are described as follows:- "They wished to invent some new religion, and, when pressed, fled from Persia and settled in Turkey. After a time they again tried to carry out their madness, and were consequently condemned by the Turkish authorities to imprisonment for life."

        Nearly three months after this date further information concerning the prisoners was demanded by the Chief Secretary, with the especial object of determining the amounts of the pensions or allowances which they were drawing. In his reply (dated November 5th, 1878) the Commissioner of Famagusta states that he "cannot get any official information about them. The Kází says if there were any papers about them the late Ká'im-makám destroyed them, or his secretary lost them, for there are none forthcoming


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now." He then proceeds to speak of the two Persian prisoners as follows, premising that all the information which he has been able to obtain was "gathered from the men themselves":-

        "1st, Subh-i-Ezel. Handsome, well-bred looking man, apparently about 50. In receipt of pias. 1193 per month (the Kází only gets pias. 1020). States that he was for a long time at the Persian Court, where his brother1 was next officer in rank to the vizier. He afterwards went to Stamboul and then to Adrianople, where he was accused of plotting against the Porte and the religion of Islám. Sentence - for life. Been here for 11 years.

        "2nd, Mushkín Kalam. >From Khurásán. Allowed pias. 660 per month. Sentence - for life. Been here 11 years. Came here at same time as Subh-i-Ezel. Sentenced for religious offence against Porte. Is 53 years old. Has two families, one here, and one in Persia. In appearance is a dried-up, shrivelled old man, with long hair almost to the waist." Similar accounts of the other prisoners follow, and the report concludes with the statement that the late Ká'im-makám had left some old books, which, being alleged to contain only accounts for past years, were used in the office as Account and Military Police books, but that some old books still left would be searched for further particulars.

        The next document of interest is a petition from Mushkín-Kalam addressed to "His Excellency the High Commissioner of Cyprus" and dated August 15th, 1879. The original of this petition (apparently written by Mushkín Kalam himself) is in Turkish, but an English translation is appended. In it Mushkín Kalam states that he is a native of Khurásán; that, having proceeded to Mecca by way of Diyár Bekr, he had extended his journey to Adrianople to see his "Sheykh" Mírzá Huesyn 'Alí [Behá'u'lláh]; that, after accomplishing this object, he was arrested in A.H. 1284 ("A.D. 1867")2 and exiled to Famagusta, where he had now

       1 Probably this is a mistake for "father," as Subh-i-Ezel repeatedly described the position of his father Mírzá Buzurg in these very words.
       2 A report from the Muhásébéjí's (Accountant's) Office dated December 10th, 1884, states that, although the original fermán of [footnote goes onto page 379] banishment cannot be found, an unofficial copy of it, received at the time, gives the date of their banishment as Rabí'ul-Ákhir 5th A.H. 1285 (July 26th, A.D. 1868), and there is no doubt that this is the correct date. The reckoning called Rúmí (Turkish), which is more than a year behind the hijra, was probably used by Mushkín Kalam, and misapprehended by the translator.



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resided for 12 years; and that he has suffered much grief by reason of his long banishment and separation from his family. In conclusion, he begs the High Commissioner "to pity his position, deprived so long of his family, and to deliver him from such a hard punishment." The immediate effect of this petition was to call forth another demand for fuller information from the Chief Secretary, who desired especially to be informed on what authority Mushkín Kalam had been permitted to reside outside Famagusta (his petition having been sent in from Nicosia). The Commissioner of Famagusta replied that the permission in question had been granted by a letter from the Chief Secretary dated June 20th, 1879, and that, in the absence of any official Turkish register, a report based on the statements of the prisoners themselves and information supplied by the Turkish Ká'im-makám had been compiled by the Local Commandant of Military Police. This report discusses the cases of seven "prisoners," to wit those five previously mentioned, a woman named Khadíja charged with incendiarism, and an old blind man named Khudáverdí, formerly in the Turkish artillery, who proved not to be a prisoner at all but a pensioner! That portion of the report which deals with the cases of Subh-i-Ezel and Mushkín Kalam is as follows:-

        "No. 3. Subh-i-Ezel of Írán. Trade? Nil. Crime? Falsely accused of preaching against the Turkish religion. Where? Adrianople. Who was charge made by? A man of Írán. By whom tried? Came from Baghdad and went to Adrianople where charge was made. Válí of Adrianople ordered him to Constantinople, where he was examined by Kámil Páshá (Prime Minister). When? Twelve years ago. Previous imprisonment before coming here? Five months in Constantinople, before coming here under arrest, five years at Adrianople. Undergone here? Twelve years.


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Pension? 38½ piastres a day current. Do. before? 38½ piastres a day Government exchange. Has a family of 17. His father was Chief Secretary of State to the present Sháh of Persia (Násiru'd-Dín Sháh).

        "No. 4. Mushkín Kalam Efendí. Trade? Writer. Crime? Being in company with a preacher against Mahometanism who came from Persia and Acre in Syria. Where? Constantinople. Punishment? Transported for life, and to be imprisoned in Famagusta fortress. By whom? Authority of Sultán 'Azíz. Date? November A.H. 1284 (A.D. 1868)1 [In the original document the corresponding Christian year is erroneously given as "A.D. 1876"]. Previous Imprisonment? Six months in Constantinople. Has undergone? Twelve years. Any lodging? The fermán ordering banishment stated that he was to get free lodging, but he has not had any [sc.free] lodging. This man has sent a petition to government about a week ago. 23/6/'79."

        A document based on records of the Temyíz Court and dated March 8th, 1880, first mentions Bábíism ("i.e." it explains, "communism") as the crime with which Subh-i-Ezel and Mushkín Kalam were charged. It is further stated that they were deported under Imperial Fermán, and not sentenced by a judicial tribunal. The next document (undated), embodying the results of further enquiries at Famagusta, gives the date of their arrival in the Island as August 24th, A.H. 1284. [As the month and year are seemingly given according to the Turkish style, this would correspond to September 5th, A.D. 1868.] In this document mention is first made of Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh, who arrived as an exile at Famagusta, accompanied by his wife and five children, in A.H. 1285 (A.D. 1869-70)[footnote 1 repeated]. He died2 on July

       1 See preceding footnote.
       2 According to a statement made to me by Subh-i-Ezel, Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh. (who was only about 35 years old) died very suddenly as though from poison, scarcely having time to summon his wife to his side ere he expired. He was arrested in company with 'Abdu'l-Ghaffár and Muhammad Bákir (immediately to be mentioned), and banished with them to Famagusta. He continued till his death to profess friendship towards Subh-i-Ezel, declaring that his only object in keeping on good terms with the [footnote goes onto page 381] Behá'ís was to endeavour to bring about a reconciliation and heal the schism. Subh-i-Ezel, however, held aloof from him, and disregarded his overtures. From the Hasht Bihisht (see p. 352, supra) it would appear that the first communications between the Báb and Subh-i-Ezel passed through him.

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22nd, A.H. 1287 ("August 4th, A.D. 18711"), and an allowance of 2½ piastres a day to his widow and each of his children was made by the government. Mushkín Kalam subsequently married the widow, and drew her pension in addition to his own. At the end of this document it is mentioned that "a note in the Register of Orders in the Muhásebéjís[Accountant's] office states that an allowance of 4 piastres a day for 14 persons in all, and 2 servants at 5 piastres the two" was granted to Subh-i-Ezel, Sheykh 'Alí Sayyah. Mushkín Kalam, and their respective families.

        The next document of importance is a report in Turkish, dated March 11th, 1880, from the Muhásebéjí's office, to which an English translation is appended. From this it appears that the original number of Bábí exiles sent to Famagusta was 14; that these were accompanied by 2 servants; that to each of the former 4 piastres a day and to each of the latter 2½ piastres a day (making a total of 61 piastres a day) were allowed; that 'Abdu'l-Ghaffár succeeded in effecting his escape from the Island on September 17th, A.H. 1286[footnote 1 repeated] ("Sept. 29th, A.D. 1870"); that [Sheykh] 'Alí Sayyáh of Kára-Bágh died on July 22nd, A.H. 1287 (see preceding paragraph); that Fátima, one of Subh-i-Ezel's daughters, died on August 17th, A.H. 1287 ("Aug. 29th, A.D. 1871"); and that Muhammad Bákir died on November 10th, A.H. 1288 ("Nov. 22nd, A.D. 1872"); that in consequence of this diminution in the number of the exiles a deduction of 16 piastres a day was made, thus reducing the daily allowance to 45 piastres; but that subsequently, by an order dated September 25th, A.H. 1289 (?Oct. 7th, A.D. 1873), 2½ piastres a day were allowed to

       1 In this and the succeeding dates wherein Christian months are combined with Muhammadan years the Turkish reckoning (which, as already noted, is more than a year behind the normal Muhammadan reckoning) seems to be employed. The Christian dates here given in inverted commas are derived from another document dated October 13th, 1884.


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the widow and each of the five children of Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh, thus raising the daily allowance of the exiles again to 60 piastres1.

        The following document in Mr Cobham's handwriting, dated March 11th, 1880, gives some additional statements made by Mushkín Kalam about himself:-

        "It appears that in 1867 Mushkín Kalam Efendí came from Mesh-hed in Khurásán to Constantinople. His fame as a scribe had preceded him, and Fu'ád and 'Alí Páshás asked him to remain in Constantinople. He refused both pension and presents offered him by [Sultán] 'Abdu'l-'Azíz, for whom he executed some illuminations.

        "Presently he was accused by one Subh-i-Ezel, a Persian then at Adrianople, himself a member of some schismatic sect, of heresy. He had lived six months at Constantinople, where he was imprisoned, without question or trial, for another six months, and then sent to Famagusta.

        "Subh-i-Ezel was exiled at the same time on a similar charge of heresy."

        The next document of importance is a petition in Turkish addressed by Subh-i-Ezel to the Commissioner of Famagusta, bearing the date April 27th, A.D. 1881. From this it appears that on the 24th of the preceding month Subh-i-Ezel had been informed that he might consider himself free to go where he pleased. For this permission he expresses the warmest gratitude, and further prays that, if it be possible, he may become an English subject, or be taken under English protection, so that he may with safety return to his own country or to Turkey. To this request, however, the Government did not see fit to accede.

        The next group of documents belong to the latter part of the year 1884, when a fresh attempt was made to

       1 It appears that Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh's wife and five children (or such of them as were then born) joined him in Cyprus some time subsequently to his banishment, and hence were not included in the enumeration of the original exiles, and were not entitled to a pension. But in any case the rule appears to be that, unless specially continued by the Government, pensions to the families of exiles cease on the death of their head.


[page 383]

establish the amount of the pension paid to the exiles on a definite basis. To this end it became important to discover (1) who were the original exiles; (2) which of them had died or quitted the island, and when; (3) which of their children had been born previously to and which subsequently to their banishment. For the elucidation of these points several lengthy reports were compiled in the Muhasebéjí's (Accountant's) office. As it was also decided that any one of the exiles entitled to a pension lost that pension on quitting the island, but might recover it on returning thither, their subsequent movements were carefully recorded. The details of apportionment of these pensions are of little historic interest, and I therefore omit them; but it is a most fortunate circumstance that they were apportioned in this way, inasmuch as the full record of facts embodied in these documents is entirely due to this circumstance. These various reports and tables I have striven to combine in the following tabular form, wherein is incorporated also information derived from Captain Young and Mr Houston independently of the reports. The names of the original exiles (described as 14 "masters" and 2 servants) are printed in italics, and after each of these is placed in heavier type the number which they bear on the pension-roll. The names of those who subsequently settled or were born in the island are printed in ordinary type. To the names of all alike ordinal numbers are prefixed.


[page 384]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
1. Subh-i-Ezel 1. Head. 56  
2. tima. 9. Wife. -- Died, apparently soon after arrival.
3. Rukayya. 10. " 48 Appears also to bear the name of Badr-i-Jihán, since a petition written in Greek to the Commissioner of Famagusta on September 13th, 1886, is signed "[Greek text]." In this petition the writer asks leave for herself and her two daughters Tal'at and Safiyya to go to Constantinople. In reply she is informed that only her husband [Subh-i-Ezel] is a State prisoner, and that she is free to go where she pleases.
4. Núru'lláh -- Son. -- Was residing in Persia in 1889, and seems never to have been included amongst the exiles (probably because he parted from Subh-i-Ezel previously to 1868), as his name nowhere appears. It is only from information given to Captain Young by Subh-i-Ezel that his existence is known to me. He has thrice visited his father in Cyprus, once before, and twice since the English occupation. The last time is said to have been in 1878.



[page 385]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
5. Hádí. -- Son. -- Also lives in Persia. The first portion of the preceding remarks applies to him also.
6. Ahmad. 2. Son. 31 Left for Constantinople on May 3rd 1884. Seems to have visited his father since then.
7. 'Abdu'l-'Alí. 3. " 27 Resident in Famagusta. See Introduction.
8. Safiyya. 5. Daughter. 23 Named in some of the documents "Rekié" (~~~) and "Refié" (~~~), but, as it would seem, incorrectly. She went to Constantinople on September 21st 1886, married a man named Hasan 'Abdu'r-Rahmán Efendí, and returned without her husband to Cyprus on December 12th 1888.
9. Behjat Raf'at 6. " 22 Also called in some documents "Bákir," on which the following comment is made by the Local Commandant of Police:- "Bákir" means in Turkish a virgin or girl. Subh-i-Ezel has no daughter called Bákir."
10. Rizván 'Alí. 4. Son. 21 Resident in Famagusta. See Introduction.
11. Tal'at 7. Daughter. 20 Accompanied her sister Safiyya to Constantinople, and returned thence with her (see above). Described as "either a widow, or left by her husband."



[page 386]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
12. tima. 8. Daughter. -- Died on August 29th 1871.
13. Muhammad. -- Son. 17 Though the names of these occur on nearly all the lists, I could discover no
14. Fu'ád. -- " 15 other trace of their existence.
15. 'Abdu'l-Wahíd -- " 13 Called in some of the documents 'Abdu'r-Rashíd.
16. Maryam. -- Daughter. 11
17. Takiyyu'd-Dín -- Son. 8 Called in some of the documents Ziyá'u'd-Dín. >From an undated Turkish document preserved at Famagusta it appears that the last three are the children of Badr-i-Jihán (see No. 3 supra). From this document the following particulars are also derived.
18. tima. -- Daughter-in-law. 21 Wife of Ahmad (see No. 6 supra).
19. 'Ádila. -- Grand-daughter 4 Daughter of Ahmad and Fátima.
20. Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh, of Kára-Bágh 11. Head. See p. 380 supra. Died August 4th 1871. See pp. 380-381 supra, and note 2 on former.



[page 387]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
21. tima. -- Wife. 47 After the death of Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh. married Mushkín Kalam, and was with him at Nicosia in 1884. It does not appear that she accompanied him to Acre in 1886.
22. Jalálu'd-Dín. -- Son. 25 Was employed as Land Registry clerk at Kyrenia in 1889.
23. Jamálu'd-Dín.   " 23 Was employed as a trooper in the Cyprus Military Police in 1889.
24. Kamálu'd-Dín.   " 21 Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh's family are described as having arrived "from Babylon" in a
25. Jamáliyya. -- Daughter. 16 state of destitution. No allowance seems
26. Rukayya. -- Servant. 47 to have been made to them till two years after his death, i.e. in October 1873. This allowance was stopped in the case of the sons on April 1st 1884, but the allowance to the widow and daughter was continued, and thus went to increase Mushkín Kalam's pension, which, in 1884-5, amounted to £58.17.0. As the estimates for 1889-90 still shew a sum of £20.13.0 payable to Mushkín Kalam's family, and as he lost his pension on leaving Cyprus for Acre in September 1886, while his sons' pensions ceased in 1884, it would appear certain that Fátima, Jamáliyya, and the servant Rukayya. remained in Cyprus.



[page 388]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
27. Mushkín-Kalam, of Khurásán. 12. Head. -- From the colophon of a MS. transcribed by Mushkín Kalam and presented by him to Mr Cobham on his departure for Acre, it appears that in the year [A.H. 12]91 (=A.D. 1874) he was still, to use his own phrase, "imprisoned for the love of God" (~~~) at Famagusta. He subsequently went to Nicosia, and thence to Larnaca, where he was in 1884. His final departure from Cyprus is notified by Mr Cobham in a letter dated September 18th 1886:- "The Persian heresiarch and calligraphist Mushkín Kalam left Cyprus for St. Jean d'Acre on the night of Tuesday September 14-15, renouncing his pittances and the protection of the Island Government. He found an unwonted opportunity in a Syrian vessel going direct to Acre, the head quarters of the Báb [sc Behá'u'lláh]... I am extremely sorry to lose him as a Persian munshí." He was still in April 1890 at Acre, where I met him (see Introduction).
28. (Name not given). -- Servant.   After his marriage with Sheykh 'Alí Sayyáh's widow, Mushkín Kalam obtained



[page 389]

Order. Name. Original number. Relation to head of family. Age in 1884. Remarks.
possession of both the servants allotted to the exiles. "It is not clear," observes the Receiver General, "why Mushkín Kalam should have both the servants, but Government need not, I think, object to the arrangement if Subh-i-Ezel consents, which I doubt his doing."
29. 'Abdu'l-Ghaffár. 13. Head. -- Escaped from Cyprus on September 29th 1870, during the fair held at Famagusta, in company with two other prisoners. According to Subh-i-Ezel he went to Acre, but, though a Behá'í, was somewhat coldly received. He subsequently settled in Beyrout and changed his name.
30. Muhammad Bákir, of Isfahán. 14. Head. -- Died at an advanced age on November 22nd 1872.

[page 390]

NOTE X.

TRANSLATION OF THE SUPERSCRIPTION AND EXORDIUM OF

THE EPISTLE TO THE KING OF PERSIA.


        My original purpose was to give in this note nothing more than a translation of that portion of the "Epistle to the King of Persia" which is omitted in the text, but the permission so generously accorded to me by Baron Rosen to make full and free use of the proof-sheets of his still unpublished work enables me to add the text and translation of the instructions given to the bearer of the missive. [See p. 102 supra, and footnote.] The text of these instructions is as follows:-

[ten lines of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 391]

[ten lines of Persian/Arabic text]

TRANSLATION.

"This is a copy of what was written on the back of the
Epistle to the King.
'He is God, exalted is He.


        'We ask God to send one of His servants, and to detach him from Contingent Being, and to adorn his heart with the decoration of strength and composure, that he may help his Lord amidst the concourse of creatures, and, when he becometh aware of what hath been revealed for His Majesty the King, that he may arise and take the Letter, by the permission of his Lord, the Mighty, the Bounteous, and go with speed to the abode of the King. And when he shall arrive at the place of his throne, let him alight in the inn,


[page 392]

and let him hold converse with none till he goeth forth one day and standeth where he [i.e. the King] shall pass by. And when the Royal harbingers shall appear, let him raise up the Letter with the utmost humility and courtesy, and say, "It hath been sent on the part of the Prisoner1." And it is incumbent upon him to be in such a mood that, should the King decree his death, he shall not be troubled within himself, and shall hasten to the place of sacrifice saying, "O Lord, praise be to Thee because that Thou hast made me a helper to Thy religion, and hast decreed unto me martyrdom in Thy way! By Thy Glory, I would not exchange this cup for [all] the cups in the worlds, for Thou hast not ordained any equivalent to this, neither do Kawthar and Salsabíl2 letteth him [i.e. the messenger] go, and interfereth not with him, let him say, "To Thee be praise, O Lord of the worlds! Verily I am content with Thy good pleasure and what Thou hast predestined unto me in Thy way, even though I did desire that the earth might be dyed with my blood for Thy love. But what Thou willest is best for me: verily Thou knowest what is in my soul, while I know not what is in Thy soul; and Thou art the All-knowing, the Informed."'"

        Baron Rosen, after quoting the version of Mírzá Badí''s mission and martyrdom which I published at pp. 956-957 of my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889, observes that, considering the text of the above instructions, and the minute obedience yielded by Behá'u'lláh's followers to his slightest wish, this version is extremely improbable. He says:- "S'adresser au souverain de la Perse, en lui disant 'j'ai un fermân pour vous' etc., - cela n'est certes pas l'humilité parfaite dont parle l'hérésiarque." The opinion thus expressed by Baron Rosen is entirely borne out by the present work (see pp. 102-105 supra), and I am now quite convinced that it is correct. He further adds, "Quant à la date de l'événement, j'ai toutes raisons de croire qu'il s'est passé au mois de Juillet de l'année 1869, indiquée par M. Browne."

       1 Cf. p. 104 supra.
       2 The names of two rivers in Paradise.]
rival it!" But if he [i.e. the King


[page 393]

TRANSLATION OF THE EXORDIUM OF THE EPISTLE.

[Persian numbers]1, Behá.]


"This is what was revealed in the 'Heykal2." The original from which the Kirmán text and the glosses appended to it (which agree almost exactly with those given by Baron Rosen) were derived would therefore appear to have been communicated to the Bábís in Persia by Áká Mírzá Áká Ján ("Jenáb-i-Khádimu'lláh") at the command of Behá'u'lláh's eldest son 'Abbás Efendí. [See Introduction; Note W, p. 361 supra; and b. i, pp. 518-519.]' for His Majesty the King. 'He is God, exalted is His state [in] Might and Power.

        'O King of the earth, hear the voice of this servant. Verily I am a man who hath believed in God and His signs, and I have sacrificed myself in His way; to this do the afflictions wherein I am (the like of which none amongst mankind hath borne) testify, and my Lord the All-knowing is the witness to what I say. I have not summoned men unto aught save unto thy Lord and the Lord of the worlds. In love for Him there hath come upon me that whereof the eye of creation hath not beheld the like: in this will those servants whom the veils of humanity have not withheld from confronting the Chiefest Outlook bear me out, and beside them He with whom is the knowledge of all things in a Preserved Tablet. Whenever the clouds of fate rain down the darts of affliction in the way of God the Lord of the Names, I advance to meet them; to this testifieth

       1 These numerals, as remarked by Baron Rosen (pp. 146-147), clearly stand for the equivalent letters ~~~.
       2 Concerning the Súra-i-Heykal (of which the Epistles to the Kings collectively form only a portion) see note 1 at the foot of p. 108 supra; B. ii, p. 954; and p. 149 of Baron Rosen's forthcoming work. My Kirmán MS. lacks this heading, for which the following is substituted:- "This Epistle was revealed in Adrianople specially for His Majesty the King. This servant, the confidential attendant of their Excellencies [apparently Behá-'u'lláh and his sons], sends it for you to peruse. The meanings of sundry Arabic phrases which were in my mind have been written down agreeably to the command of God's Most Mighty Branch [Ghusnu'lláhi'l-a'zam].



[page 394]

every fair and rightly-informed person. How many are the nights wherein the wild beasts rested in their lairs, and the birds in their nests, while this servant was in chains and fetters, and found for himself none to succour, nor any helper! Remember the grace of God towards thee when thou wast in prison with sundry others, and He brought thee out thence, and succoured thee with the hosts of the Invisible and the Visible, until the King sent thee to 'Irák[i.e. Baghdad] after that We had disclosed to him that thou wast not of [the number of] the seditious. Verily such as follow [their] lusts and turn aside from virtue, these are in evident error. And as for those who work sedition in the earth, and shed blood, and falsely consume men's wealth, we are quit of them, and we ask God not to associate us with them either in this world or in the world to come, unless they repent unto Him; verily He is the Most Merciful of the merciful. Verily it behoveth him who turneth towards God to be distinguished in all actions from what is apart from Him, and to conform to that which is enjoined upon him in the Book: thus is the matter decreed in a Perspicuous Book. As for such as cast the command of God behind their backs and follow after their lusts, they are in grievous error.

        'O King, I conjure thee by thy Lord the Merciful to regard [His] servants with the gaze of pitiful eyes1, and to rule with justice in their midst, that God may award His favour unto thee: verily thy Lord judgeth as He pleaseth. The world shall perish with whatsoever of glory and abasement is therein, while dominion remaineth unto God, the Supreme and All-knowing King. Say, Verily He hath kindled the Lamp of the Beyán2, and He will continue it with the oil of ideas and expression: exalted is thy Lord the Merciful beyond this, that created beings should withstand His command. Verily He will shew forth what He pleaseth by His authority, and will guard it with a cohort of the Proximate Angels. He controlleth His handiwork and compelleth His creation: verily He is the All-knowing, the Wise.

       1 Literally, "with the glances of the eyes of thy clemency."
       2 Or "of Utterance" or "Revelation."



[page 395]

        'O King, verily I was as [any] one amongst mankind, slumbering upon my couch. The gales of the All-Glorious passed by me and taught me the knowledge of what hath been. This thing is not from me, but from One [who is] Mighty and All-knowing. And He bade me proclaim betwixt the earth and the heaven, and for this hath there befallen me that whereat the eyes of those who know overflow with tears. I have not studied those sciences which men possess, nor have I entered the colleges: enquire of the city wherein I was, that thou mayest be assured that I am not of those who speak falsely. This is a leaf which the breezes of the Will of thy Lord the Mighty, the Extolled, have stirred. Can it be still when the rushing winds blow? No, by the Lord of the Names and Attributes! Rather do they move it as they list, [for] Being belongeth not to Nonentity in presence of the Eternal. His decisive command did come, causing me to speak for His celebration amidst the worlds. Verily I was not save as one dead in presence of His command, the hand of thy Lord the Merciful, the Clement, turning me. Can any one speak on his own part that for which all men, whether low or high, will persecute him? No, by Him who taught the Pen eternal mysteries, save him who is strengthened by One Mighty and Strong.

        'The Supreme Pen addresseth me, saying, "Fear not; [but] relate unto His Majesty the King what hath come upon thee. Verily his heart is between the fingers of thy Lord the Merciful: perchance He will cause the sun of justice and kindness to dawn from the horizons of his heart." Thus was the command revealed from the All-Wise.

        'Say, "O King, look with the gaze of justice upon thy servant; then decide according to the right concerning what hath befallen him. Verily God hath appointed thee His shadow amongst [His] servants1, and the sign of His Power to the dwellers in the land: judge between us and those who have oppressed us without proof or clear warrant. Verily those who surround thee love thee for their own sakes, while [thy] servant loveth thee for thine own sake;

       1 See footnote on p. 156 supra.


[page 396]

nor doth he desire aught save that he may bring thee nigh unto the station of Grace and turn thee unto the right hand of Justice: thy Lord is witness unto that which I say."

d \widctlpar         'O King, of thou wouldest hear the cry of the Supreme Pen, and the murmur of the Dove of Eternity on the branches of the Lote-t d \widctlpar ree beyond which there is no passing1 in praise of God, the Maker of the Names, the Creator of the earth and the heaven, verily this would cause thee to attain unto a station whence thou wouldest behold in existence naught save the effulgence of [God] the Adored, and [whence] thou wouldst regard dominion2 as a thing of least account in thine eyes, leaving it to him who desireth it, and turning toward a horizon illumined with the lights of [God's] countenance; neither wouldst thou ever endure the burden of dominion, unless [it were] to help thy Lord, the High, the Supreme. Then would the people of the Supreme Concourse magnify thee [saying], "How good is this most glorious state," if thou wouldest [but] ascend thereunto by authority accorded unto thee in the Name of God.

        'Amongst mankind are some who say that this servant desireth naught save the perpetuation of his name, and others who say that he desireth the world for himself, notwithstanding that I have not found during the days of my life a place of safety such that I might set my feet therein, but was ever [overwhelmed] in floods of affliction, whereof none wots save God: verily He knoweth what I say. How many were the days wherein my friends were disquieted for my distress, and how many the nights wherein the sound of wailing arose from my family in fear for my life! None will deny this save him who is devoid of truthfulness. Doth he who regardeth not [his] life [as assured] for less than a moment desire the world? [I] marvel at those who speak after their lusts, and wander madly in the desert of passion and desire. They shall be questioned as to that which they have said; on that day they shall not find for themselves any protector nor any

       1 See Kur'án, liii, 14.
       2 Or, "the world," for the word ~~~ bears this meaning also.



[page 397]

helper. And amongst them are those who say, "Verily he denieth God," notwithstanding that all my limbs testify that there is no God but Him, and that those whom He quickened with the truth and sent for [men's] guidance are the manifestations of His Most Comely Names, the day-springs of His Supreme Attributes, and the recipients of His revelation in the realm of creation; by whom the Proof of God unto all beside Himself is made perfect, the standard of the [faith of the] Unity is set up, and the sign of renunciation becomes apparent; and by whom every soul taketh a course towards the Lord of the Throne. We bear witness that there is no God but Him; everlastingly He was, and there was nothing beside Him; everlastingly He will be, even as He hath been. Exalted is the Merciful One above this, that the hearts of the people of wisdom should ascend unto the comprehension of His Nature, or that the understanding of such as inhabit the worlds should rise to the knowledge of His Essence. Holy is He above the knowledge of all save Himself, and exempt is He from the comprehension of what is beside Him: verily in Eternity of Eternities was He independent of the worlds.

        'Remember the days wherein the Sun of Bat-há1 shone forth from the horizon of the Will of thy Lord, the High, the Supreme, [how] the doctors turned aside from him, and the cultured found fault with him; that thou mayst understand what is now hidden within the Veil of Light. Matters waxed so grievous for him on all sides, until those who were [gathered] round him were dispersed by his [own] command2: thus was the matter decreed from theHeaven of Glory. Then remember when one of them came in before the Nejáshí3 and recited unto him a súra of the Kur'án. He said to those around him, "Verily it hath been revealed on the part of One All-knowing and Wise. Whosoever accepteth what is best, and believeth in that which Jesus brought, for him it is impossible to turn aside from what

       1 i.e. Muhammad. Bet-há is here synonymous with Mecca.
       2 Allusion is made to the flight of the persecuted and unprotected Muslims from Mecca in the fifth year of Muhammad's mission.
       3 Nejáshí is a generic name for the Kings of Abyssinia, as Kisra is for the Persian, and Kaysar for the Roman emperors.

[page 398]

hath been read: verily we testify unto [the truth of] it, even as we testify unto [the truth of] what is with us of the books of God2 the Protecting, the Self-Subsistent."

        'By God, O King, if thou wouldest hear the strains of the dove which cooeth in the branches with varied notes by the command of thy Lord the Merciful, thou wouldest assuredly put away dominion behind thee and turn unto the Chiefest Outlook, the station from the horizon of which the Book of the Dawn is seen, and wouldest spend what thou hast, seeking after that which is with God. Then wouldest thou find thyself in the height of glory and exaltation, and the zenith of greatness and independence: thus hath the matter been written in the primaeval revelation1 by the Pen of the Merciful One. There is no good in what thou dost possess to-day, for another shall possess it to-morrow in thy stead. Choose for thyself that which God hath chosen for His elect: verily He will bestow upon thee a mighty dominion in His Kingdom. We ask God that He may help thy Majesty to hearken unto the Word whereby the world is illumined, and preserve thee from those who are remote from the region of nearness.

        'Glory be to Thee, O God! O God, how many heads have been set up on spears in Thy way! How many breasts have advanced to meet arrows for Thy good pleasure! How many hearts have been riddled for the exaltation of Thy Word and the diffusion of Thy Religion! How many eyes have overflowed [with tears] for Thy love! I ask Thee, O King of kings, Pitier of thralls, by Thy Most Great Name, which Thou hast made the day-spring of Thy Most Comely Names and the manifestation of Thy Supreme Attributes, to lift up the veils which intervene between Thee and Thy creatures, withholding them from turning towards the horizon of Thy revelation; then draw them, O God, by Thy Supreme Word from the left hand of fancy and forgetfulness to the right hand of certainty and know-

       1 i.e. the Sacred books which we now possess, the Gospel.
       2 Literally "the Mother of Revelation" or "of the Beyán," a phrase evidently copied from the expression ~~~, which occurs in several places in the Kur'án (súras iii, 5; xiii, 39; xliii, 3, &c.).



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ledge, that they may know what Thou, in Thy bounty and grace, desirest for them, and may turn towards the Manifestation of Thy religion and the Day-spring of Thy signs. O God, Thou art the Gracious, the Lord of great bounty; withhold not Thy servants from the Most Mighty Ocean, which Thou hast made to produce the pearls of Thy Knowledge and Wisdom, neither repel them from Thy Gate, which Thou hast opened unto all who are in Thy heaven and Thy earth. O Lord, leave them not to themselves, for they know not, and flee from what is better for them than whatsoever hath been created in Thine earth. Look upon them, O Lord, with the glances of the eyes of Thy favours and bounties, and free them from passion and lust, that they may draw nigh unto Thy Supreme Horizon, and may discover the delight of remembering Thee, and the sweetness of the table1 which hath been sent down from the heaven of Thy Will and the air of Thy Bounty. Everlastingly hath Thy Grace encompassed [all] contingent beings, and Thy Mercy preceded2 [all] creatures: there is no God but Thee, the Forgiving, the Merciful.

        'Glory be to Thee, O God! Thou knowest that my heart is melted about Thy business, that my blood boils in my veins with the fire of Thy love, and that every drop thereof crieth unto Thee with dumb eloquence3), which, as contrasted with "the tongue of utterance" (~~~), signifies the words wherewith the state of an inarticulate thing may appropriately be described.] [saying], "O Lord Most High, shed me on the earth in Thy way," that there may grow from it what Thou desirest in Thy books, but hast concealed from the sight of Thy servants, save such as have drunk of the Kawthar4 of knowledge from the hands of Thy grace, and the Salsabíl of wisdom from the cup of Thy bounty. Thou knowest, O God, that in every action I desire nothing save Thy business, and that in every utterance I seek naught but Thy celebration, neither doth my pen move except I desire therein Thy

       1 Cf. Kur'án v, 112, 114.
       2 See note 1 on p. 113 supra.
       3 Literally, "the tongue of [its] state" (~~~).
       4 Kawthar and Salsabíl, the names of two rivers in Paradise.



[page 400]

good pleasure and the setting forth of what Thou hast enjoined upon me by Thy authority. Thou seest me, O God, confounded in Thine earth: if I tell what Thou hast enjoined on me, Thy creatures turn against me; and if I forsake what Thou hast enjoined on me on Thy part, I should be deserving of the scourges of Thy wrath, and far removed from the gardens of nearness to Thee. No, by Thy Glory, I advance toward Thy good pleasure, turning aside from what the souls of Thy servants desire: and accept what is with Thee, forsaking what will remove me afar off from the retreats of nearness to Thee and the heights of Thy Glory. By Thy Glory, for Thy love I flinch not from aught, and for Thy good pleasure I fear not all the afflictions in the world: this is but through Thy Strength and Thy Might and Thy Grace and Thy Favour, and not because I am deserving thereof.'"

        The Epistle then continues as in the text (pp. 108-151 supra).

NOTE Y.

THE MARTYRS OF ISFAHÁN, THE MARTYRDOM OF MÍRZÁ

ASHRAF OF ÁBÁDÉ, AND THE PERSECUTIONS OF SI-DIh.


(1)                 The Martyrs of Isfahán.


        Of the martyrdom of Seyyid Hasan and Seyyid Huseyn (called by the Behá'ís Mahbúbu'sh-shuhadá "the Darling of Martyrs" and Sultánu'sh-shuhadá "the King of Martyrs"), with which the present history concludes, I gave the substance of what I had heard at Isfahán and Shíráz at pp. 489-592 of my first paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889. That account will be found to agree in all material details with the version contained in this work, and, as regards the actual facts of the case, I have but little to add, except that, according to Subh-i-Ezel, one of his followers named Mullá Kázim (of whose martyrdom the Behá'ís make no mention) was put to death in Isfahán at or about the same time (see B. ii, p. 995, note on p. 490).


[page 401]

During my stay in Kirmán, however, I became intimate with a certain Sheykh S----- (not the Bábí courier whom, in Note Z, I have designated by the same abbreviation), a dervish endowed with considerable intellectual gifts not yet wholly destroyed by excessive indulgence in narcotics and stimulants, who had spent the greater part of his life in that eager and restless search after religious novelties called by such as pursue it seyr-i-kulúb (an expression which I can render but clumsily as "spiritual sight-seeing"), and who, so far as the prevailing antinomianism of his character can permit one to describe him as holding any definite religion at all, was an adherent of the Bábí faith, for which in his youth be but narrowly escaped martyrdom. One evening this Sheykh S-----, being in a communicative mood, gave me an account of a conversation alleged to have taken place between himself and the Sháh's eldest son, the Prince Zillu's-Sultán, relating in part to the martyrdom of these two Seyyids. That Sheykh S-----'s story is substantially true I see no reason to doubt, inasmuch as many other things which he related to me have subsequently been confirmed by other testimony, and, so far as I could judge, untruthfulness was not one of his faults. At all events his narrative is too characteristic to be consigned to oblivion, and I therefore give it for what it is worth as nearly as I can remember in his own words.

        "When I was at Isfahán," said Sheykh S-----, "I was for some time living on the bounty and in the house of one of the Zillu's-Sultán's attendants, just as I am now living at the expense of Mírzá -----. This man was himself one of the 'Friends' (i.e. the Bábís). Through him, as I suppose, the Zillu's-Sultán learned that I had visited Acre. At any rate, one evening he summoned me into his presence. On entering the room where he was sitting, I halted near the door and made my obeisance. 'Come nearer,' said he. I advanced a few paces, and again halted. 'Nearer,' said he again. In short he continued to bid me approach until I was close to him, when he commanded me to be seated. 'Now,' said he, 'I hear that you have been to Acre. I do not ask whether you are a Bábí or not. A man may go amongst the Jews or the Christians or the Guebres out of curiosity without becoming one of them, and I will suppose


[page 402]

that you went amongst the Bábís for the same reason. I ask you, then, being myself curious, what you saw and heard from the time that you entered Acre to the time when you left it two stages behind you?' Seeing his humour, I perceived no better course than to relate to him all that I saw and heard, even as I have related it to you1. When I had finished, the Prince said, 'Stand up.' I did so, and he cast over my shoulders a costly shawl, exclaiming as he did so, 'Bravo! You have told me the truth without exaggeration or suppression.' Then he asked me to let him see the epistle (~~~) with which I had been honoured. I gave it to him, and he read it attentively. When he had finished it he laid it down and remained silent for a while wrapped in thought. Then he said, 'Let me keep this by me to-night: I will return it to you to-morrow.' I accordingly withdrew, leaving the epistle in his hands. On the morrow, when I went to receive it back, the Prince said, 'You have heard, of course, how I killed those two Seyyids here because they were Bábís?' 'I was not in Isfahán at the time,' I answered, 'but of course I heard about it.' 'Well,' said the Prince, 'I will tell you how it happened. The Imám-Jum'a and Sheykh Bákir owed those two Seyyids money, and coveted their wealth and possessions, wherefore they fell to compassing their death, so that they might plunder their houses and recover the bonds which they had given to them. On their information and complaint I arrested the two Seyyids and cast them into prison, for I feared these doctors of religion, and they had said to me, "Either you will slay these two Seyyids, or you will cease to be governor of Isfahán." On the second or third day after this, in the evening, I, being alone with the Binánu'l-Mulk and my secretary, caused the two Seyyids to be brought before me, and thus addressed them:- "I do not wish to kill you. I would not willingly shed the blood of a Seyyid. But I fear Sheykh Bákir and the Imám-Jum'a. If you will but curse that Seyyid of Shíráz1, I will at

       1 The substance of Sheykh S----'s narrative, which I heard him repeat several times, will be found at p. 519 of my first paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889.]
       2 i.e. Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad the Báb.



[page 403]

once release you, and thenceforth neither I nor the clergy will have any right to interfere with you further." "We cannot," they replied, "do this thing which you ask of us." I then said, "Look at the matter in another way; either you regard this Seyyid as God, or you do not. If you do not, then curse him. If you do, then he is a boundless sea of light, and your cursing him will no more harm him than casting a dog into the ocean would render it impure." When I had said this, the younger of the two brothers, Seyyid Huseyn, raised his head and answered, "You are a prince and the King's son; such words beseem you not." On hearing these words I was overcome with anger, and, standing up, smote the speaker on the face. Directly I had done so I was sorry, and ordered them to be taken back to prison. As they still refused to recant, they were executed in the Maydán-i-Sháh. Afterwards their bodies were dragged by the feet through the streets and bazaars, and cast out of the gate beyond the city walls.' When the Prince Zillu's-Sultán had concluded his narrative he swore thrice 'by the death of Jalálu'd-Dawla' ('bi-marg-i- Jalálu'd-Dawla')1 saying, 'for three days after this I could neither sleep nor eat for thinking of those Seyyids.' There was a third brother, younger than the two who were killed, who cursed the Báb, abjured the Bábí faith, and was released."

       1 To swear by the death of any one presumably dear to one's self is a very common form of asseveration amongst the Persians. The oath implies "may So-and-so die if I speak falsely." Hence the dearer the friend whose death is sworn by, the more binding and solemn the oath. This is why a Persian always swears "bi-marg-i-khudat" ("by thy death"), never "bi-marg-i-khudam" ("by my own death"), for, since one is bound to regard one's own life as of little value, the latter oath would be considered far less solemn. Jalálu'd-Dawla is the title of Prince Zillu's-Sultán's eldest son, who was, till March 1888, governor of Shíráz and the province of Fárs.


[page 404]

(2)                 The Martyrdom of Mírzá Ashraf of Ábádé in October 1888.


        Concerning this event, which occurred very shortly after I left Persia, but of which I heard for the first time from General Houtum-Schindler at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society on April 15th, 1889, before which I read my first paper on the Bábís, I received on August 3rd a letter from one of my Persian friends at Shíráz dated July 3rd, 1889. Of this letter I published a translation at pp. 998-999 of my second paper. As the matter is of considerable interest and is not likely to be chronicled elsewhere, I think it will not be out of place to reproduce here the original text of the letter, which runs as follows:-

[half page of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 405]

[one page of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 406]

[six lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        On August 4th, the day after I received the above letter, I wrote to a friend at Isfahán, on whose kindness I felt sure I might rely, for information which no one was better qualified than himself to give. On October 8th, just a year after Mírzá Ashraf's martyrdom, I received his answer, which bore the date September 6th, 1889. "Yes," he wrote, "it is quite true that Aga Mirza Ashraf of Ábâdé was put to death for his religion in the most barbarous manner in Ispahan about October last. The hatred of the Mullas was not satisfied with his murder, but they mutilated the poor body publicly in the maidan in the most savage manner, and then burnt what was left of it."

(3)                 The persecutions of Si-dih and Najafábád.


        The same letter from which the above extract is quoted continues immediately as follows:- "Since then we have had two other persecutions of Bábís, one in Sihdih and the other in Nejifabad. In Sihdih, where the Bábí community is small, their houses were burned and their wives and children ill-treated. The men saved themselves by flight to Tehran, and I am told that about 25 of them have just returned to Ispahan and are in the Prince's Stables in bast1. In Nejifabad there are about 2000 Bábís. They

       1 Sanctuary.


[page 407]

tried the same game with them, but some hundreds of them took refuge in the English Telegraph Office in Julfa, and the Prince [Zillu's-Sultán] took their part and banished from Nejifabad to Kerbela the Mujtahid who persecuted them. So the result is that they are freer now than they have ever been. I take very great interest in the poor people, not only for their own sakes but for the sake of Persia also, as if liberty is gained for them it will be a great step towards shaking the power of the Mullâs and getting liberty for all. Just before the lastpersecution of the Bábís the Mujtahids in Ispahan, especially Hájí Nejifi, tried a persecution of Jews also, and threatened Christians with the same. The 13 rules of Omar (I believe, at least, most of them may be traced to him) were enforced for a short time:- (1) That no Jew should wear an `abá1. (2) That they should wear a mark on their dress. (3) Not to ride any beast of burden in the city. (4) Not to leave their houses on a wet day2. (5) Not to purchase merchandize from a Moslem. (6) That when a Jew meets a Moslem he is to salute him and walk behind him. (7) Not to return abuse. (8) Not to build a house higher than a Muslim neighbour. (9) Not to eat in presence of a Muslim during the Ramazán, &c."

        On May 16th, 1890, I received from one of my friends in Teherán a letter dated April 13th. Knowing the interest which I took in the Bábís, he was kind enough to include in this letter a brief account of these persecutions, which runs as follows:-

        "You have doubtless heard of the late Bábí massacre at Isfahan, and I will only therefore tell you, in case you have not, the principal points. They are inhabitants of a district called Seh-deh, and last summer a number of

       1 A kind of cloak worn over the kabá.
       2 All non-Muhammadans are regarded by the Persian Shi'ites as unclean (najis), but, as is the case with other impurities, the true believer is only defiled by touching them or their garments when they are moist, for what is dry does not pollute. Hence this enactment, which is generally enforced against Zoroastrians at Yezd. I have heard of a Zoroastrian being punished with the bastinado for venturing into the bazaars with wet clothes on a rainy day.



[page 408]

them, owing to constant persecution, left their villages and came to Isfahan, whence after a time they returned home, with the exception of a certain number who came to Tehran. On the return of these men to their homes about six weeks ago they were attacked by a mob headed by a man called Agha Nedjefy, and seven or eight of them were killed and their bodies burnt with oil. They then took refuge at the Telegraph Office, and finally, after persistent representations from this [i.e. the British] Legation, have been received by the Deputy Governor. It is hoped that on the Zil's1 return in a few days they will be able to go home. Agha Nedjefy has been summoned to Tehran and well received. Of course they are said to be Bábis, though there seems to be no real proof that they are of that persuasion. When the murders took place they were under the care of an escort which was intimidated by the mob and left them."

        From a comparison of the above extracts it would appear that the Bábís of Si-dih and Najafábád were subjected to two separate persecutions. The first of these, which took place previously to September 1889, seems to have been limited to the destruction of property, and not to have resulted in actual bloodshed. The second, which, according to the last extract cited, must have taken place about March 1st, 1890, was brought about by the return of the fugitive Bábís to their homes, and resulted in the death of seven or eight persons.

        Almost at the very time when the second letter from which I have quoted was being written, I heard at Acre some account of the latest phase of this episode. On the last day of my sojourn there (April 20th, 1890) Áká Mírzá Áká Ján "Khádimu'lláh" d \widctlpar came into the room where we were sitting, bearing in his hand a letter which had just arrived from Persia. From this letter he read out what purported to d \widctlpar be an exact copy of a telegram sent from Teherán by the Prince Zillu's-Sultán to his deputy at Isfahán. The message was a long one and I had no

       1 i.e. the Zillu's-Sultán, the Sháh's eldest son, till February 1888 Prince-Governor of the greater part of Southern Persia, and still Governor of Isfahán and the surrounding districts.


[page 409]

opportunity of copying it, but its general tenour I remember perfectly well, while some of the expressions contained in it were too remarkable to be forgotten. It contained the most positive orders couched in the most emphatic language to put an effectual stop to these unprovoked molestations of the Bábís. "If you do not instantly restore order and quiet, silence these mischief-makers who disturb the peace of my government, and give efficient protection to quiet law-abiding folks, I will come myself, post, and give you a lesson." Then followed a string of threats and reproaches, ending in these most significant words - "After all you know me. It is not necessary for me to introduce myself1." That the contents of a telegram sent from the Prince-Governor of Isfahán to his deputy should be known at Acre may appear astonishing, but I have more than once been amazed at the rapidity and completeness with which the Bábís become informed of all that concerns their interests.

        The intercession of the British Minister with the Persian Government on behalf of the persecuted Bábís called forth a violent protest from the Teherán correspondent of the Akhtar2. Of a portion of this article, which was dated Sha'bán 9th, A.H. 1307 (= March 31st, 1890) from Teherán, and appeared in the issue of Shawwál 8th (= May 26th) of the same year, I append a translation.

        "Some little time ago troubles arose in Isfahán by reason of an assault made by a party of Jews on a [Musulmán] student [of theology], and the towns-folk attacked the Jews, with whom it went ill. After that again a disturbance occurred in Si-dih of Isfahán, and several of the innovators3, who were wont to disparage the conduct of the Musulmáns, suffered injury and loss.

       1 ~~~
       2 The Akhtar (Star) is the chief Persian newspaper, and almost the only one which contains any news as we understand the word. It is published weekly at Constantinople, and has a large circulation throughout the East. Lately, however, it has for some reason been suppressed.
       3 A euphuism for the Bábís, whom other Persians are as a rule very loath to mention by name.



[page 410]

The Imperial Government made strenuous efforts to put a stop to the mischief, and did not allow the flame of that disturbance to spread; but the most astonishing thing is the interference of the English Embassy in such matters, and the submission of the ministers of the Persian Government to such conduct, which oversteps the rights of states and nations, on the part of the afore-mentioned Embassy. What has come to the English Embassy that, in face of the autonomy of the Persian Empire of eternal duration, it should send a special representative to Isfahán for the investigation of this matter, take down the names of these mischievous and seditious innovators, and thus embolden these misleaders of men, who are hostile alike to Church and State, and are, indeed, enemies to the whole human race, in their sedition?

        "All these things are the result of the heedlessness of that day when the ministers of state first admitted the interference of foreigners under the guise of benevolent intercession in such contingencies, until now they have changed intercession into arrogance, and benevolence into hostility, and have carried intervention to such a pitch that within the Persian dominions they meddle in a quarrel between two subjects of the Sháh between whom and themselves no sort of connection or relation subsists, and send thither the second secretary of the Embassy to conduct investigations. Yet no one asks of them, 'Sir Ambassador, what concern of thine is it? Should such an event happen in your country, would you allow another to meddle with it? Show us then by what right you have been led to interfere in this matter?'"

        On the whole, however, the Bábís are much less liable to suffer molestation now than they were formerly, and not uncommonly the malicious attempts of their inveterate foes the Mullás to inaugurate a persecution prove abortive, as is shewn by the following translation from a letter written to me from Shíráz on October 19th, 1888, by the correspondent whose account of Mírzá Ashraf's martyrdom I have already quoted.

        "You have asked me concerning the trouble about the Bábís in Shíráz. It was not of such consequence as to be worth writing about. A black maid-servant had stolen sundry


[page 411]

articles from the house of K----- Khán, and, out of mere enmity towards her master, had got possession of a copy of the Íkán which was amongst his books. This she laid before Seyyid 'Alí Akbar, one of the 'Ulamá of Shíráz notorious for boundless fanaticism. He attempted to induce the authorities of Shíráz to put K----- Khán and several other persons to death, but the Government paid no heed to his representations, and, indeed, censured and upbraided him. A telegram also came from Teherán sternly forbidding him. When he perceived that he was not supported or countenanced by the Government authorities, he was discomfited and reduced to silence.

        "In Bushire also one of the Mullás wished to act ill towards several persons of this sect. Sa'du'l-Mulk, the Governor of Bushire, promptly issued an order for the expulsion of the Mullá himself; though at length, by much intercession, it was decreed that he might remain on condition of never [again] meddling in such matters."

        An event which took place still more recently in the Russian dominions may perhaps have a salutary effect in checking the ferocious intolerance of the Mullás, at any rate outside Persia. Baron Rosen has described this occurrence, from notes made on the spot by M. Toumansky, in connection with two epistles from Behá to the "revelation" of which it gave rise. This account, together with the text of these epistles, will be found at pp. 247-250 of the forthcoming sixth volume of the Collections Scientifiques &c. Availing myself of Baron Rosen's generous permission to make full use of his still unpublished work, I conclude this note with a translation of his narrative.

        "At 7 a.m. on September 8th (August 27th, old style) 1889, two fanatical Persian Shi'ites, Mash-hadi 'Alí Akbar and Mash-hadí Huseyn, threw themselves, dagger in hand, on a certain Hájí Muhammad Rizá of Isfahán, who was peaceably traversing one of the most frequented streets of 'Ishkábád, and inflicted on him 72 wounds, to which he succumbed. Hájí Muhammad d \widctlpar Rizá was one of the most respected of the Bábís of 'Ishkábád. The crime was perpetrated with such audacity d \widctlpar that neither the numerous witnesses of the occurrence, nor the constable who was on the spot could save the victim of this odious attack. The


[page 412]

assassins yielded themselves up to the police without any resistance; they were placed in a cab and conveyed to the prison. During the transit they fell to licking up the blood which was dripping from their daggers. The examination, conducted with much energy by the military tribunal, gave as its result that Muhammad Rizá had fallen victim to the religious bigotry of the Shi'ites. Fearful of Muhummad Rizá's influence, the Shi'ites of 'Ishkábád, acting in accordance with the orders of Mullás who had come expressly for this purpose from Khurásán, resolved to cut short the Bábí propaganda by killing Hájí Muhammad Rizá. Knowing well, however, that the crime would not remain unpunished, they left it to chance to determine what persons should sacrifice themselves for the Shi'ite cause. Thus it was that the individuals named above became the assassins of Muhammad Rizá, who had never injured them in any way. The sentence of the tribunal was severe: 'Alí Akbar and Huseyn, as well as two of their confederates, were condemned to be hanged, but the penalty of death was commuted by His Majesty the Emperor to hard labour for life.

        "This sentence was hailed by the Bábís with an enthusiasm easy to understand. It was the first time since the existence of the sect, i.e. for nearly fifty years, that a crime committed on the person of an adherent of the new religion had been punished with all the rigour of the law. The impression produced on the chief of the sect, Behá, appears to have been equally profound. The two revelations which we shall submit to the reader sufficiently prove this. They are also interesting from another point of view: they are almost the only Bábí documents of which we can understand all the meanings, all the allusions."

NOTE Z.

ZEYNU'L-MUKARRABÍN, HIS COLOPHONS, AND THE LIGHT THROWN BY THESE ON THE BÁBÍ METHOD OF RECKONING TIME.


        The information which I possess about Zeynu'l-Mukarrabín the Behá'í scribe (or, as he prefers to call himself,


[page 413]

Harfu'z-Zá "the Letter Z") is, unfortunately, very scanty. Before I visited Acre, I had heard his fame in Kirmán, but all that I learned definitely about him was that his real name was Zeynu'l-'Ábidín; that he had resided for many years at Mosul; that all the best and most correct manuscripts of the sacred books were written or revised by him; and that Sheykh S*****, the Bábí courier mentioned at pp. 496-498 of my first paper in the J. R. A. S. for 1889, visited him yearly on his return journey from Acre to Southern Persia.

        During my stay at Acre in April 1890 I learned that he had resided there for some years, but I did not see him, at any rate to my knowledge. Many manuscripts were, however, lent to me to read while I was there, and all of these, so far as I remember, were written by his hand. From some of these I transcribed the colophons of which I shall speak directly. Two manuscripts written by him were given to me on my departure from Acre, viz. the present history, whereof the text is now offered to the public in fac-simile, and a copy of the Íkán. His industry must be prodigious, the aforesaid MS. of Íkán, for instance, being, as stated in the colophon, the 67th copy which he had transcribed! The present history, being written to some extent for general circulation, is dated only in the Muhammadan fashion; but all MSS. of the sacred books proper are also dated according to the Bábí method. Though I have not ascertained exactly when Zeynu'l-Mukarrabín came from Mosul to Acre, it appears from the colophons directly to be quoted that in A.H. 1296 (A.D. 1879) he was still at the former place, and that in A.H. 1305 (A.D. 1887-8) he was already at the latter.

        Of the Bábí system of reckoning time, and of the names applied to the days and months, I gave an account at pp. 921-922 of my second paper in the J. R. A. S. for 1889. Being uncertain as to whether these names had been fixed by the Báb himself or by the Behá'ís, I was careful to enquire about them from Subh-i-Ezel, not telling him, of course, what I had heard previously. He wrote down their names for me, and this list which he gave me I here reproduce. It will be found to correspond with the


[page 414]

information obtained from the Behá'ís, save that the 8th and 9th months are transposed; and from this I assume that these names were fixed previously to the schism, probably by the Báb himself. Gobineau also, in his translation of the Kitáb-i-Ahkám, mentions the month "Alâ" as the last of the 19 months of the year.

List of the 19 Bábí months in order, as given by Subh-i-Ezel.


[seven lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        As the year contains 19 months, so does the month contain 19 days, and the same names therefore serve for both1. Provisionally, however, the following new nomenclature has been applied to the old week of seven days:-

Sunday, [~~~]                Wednesday, [~~~]
Monday, [~~~]                Thursday, [~~~]
Tuesday, [~~~]                Friday, [~~~]
Saturday, [~~~]
       1 The analogy between this and the system of nomenclature in the Zoroastrian calendar is very remarkable.
[page 415]

        Of this arrangement Subh-i-Ezel said nothing, so that it may possibly have originated with the Behá'ís. I now proceed with the transcription and translation of three colophons copied by myself at Acre from manuscripts written by Zeynu'l-Mukarrabín, concluding with a fourth appended to the MS. of the Íkán above mentioned.

1.         Colophon from a MS. written at Mosul in A.H. 1296 (= A.D. 1879).

[eight lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "There ceased from the transcription of this its poor writer the Letter Zá on the day of Istijlál [Thursday], the day of Kudrat [the 13th day] of the month of 'Azimat [the 4th month] of the 36th year, [that is the year] Bahí [the seventeenth] of the second hid after the manifestation of the Point of Revelation [i.e. the Báb] (may the life of all beside him be his sacrifice), corresponding to the 7th of the month Jemádí II of the months of the year 1296, six and ninety and two hundred after the Millennium of the Flight of the Prophet (upon its fugitive be a thousand


[page 416]

salutations and greetings). And I was [at this time resident] in [Mosul] al-Hadbá1. And this is the seventh copy which God hath helped me to write according to this arrangement. Praise be to God first and last, inwardly and outwardly."

2.         Colophon from a MS. written at Acre in A.H. 1305 (= A.D. 1887).

[four lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "There ceased from the transcription of this perspicuous book its poor writer the Letter Zá on the day of Kemál [Monday] the day of 'Ilm [the 12th day] of the month of 'Izzat [the 10th month] of the 44th year [that is the year] Váv [the sixth] of the third hid, corresponding to the Mustahall2 [first] of the month of Muharram the sacred [A.H.] 1305 in the city of 'Ayn ['Akká or Acre]. Praise be to God as beseems Him."

3.         Colophon from a MS. written at Acre in A.H. 1306 (= A.D. 1889).

[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]

       1 See note 2 on p. 139 supra.
       2 This word I misread and transcribed as [~~~] which gives no appropriate meaning. To the kindness of Baron Rosen I am indebted for the correction here made, which is evidently needed.

[page 417]

[four lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "There ceased from the transcription of this perspicuous book its poor writer the Letter Zá on the day of Jemál [Sunday] the day of 'Alá [the 19th day] of the month of Mulk [the 18th month] of the 45th year [that is the year] Abad [the seventh] of the third hid, corresponding to the twenty-third of the month of Jemádí II in the year 1306 after the Flight of the Prophet (upon its fugitive be a thousand salutations and greetings). Praise be to God who hath helped me to complete it, such praise as is worthy of the court of His sanctity.

In the city of 'Ayn ['Akká]. Number 10."


4.         Colophon from my MS. of the Íkán written at Acre in A.H. 1306 (= A.D. 1889).

[six lines of Persian/Arabic text]


[page 418]

        "There ceased from the transcription of this its poor writer the Letter Zá on the night of Jemál [Sunday] the night of Masá'il [the 15th day] of the month of Sharaf [the 16th month] of the 45th year [that is the year] Abad [the seventh] of the third hid, corresponding to the eleventh of the month of Jemádí I of the months of the year 1306 after the Flight of the Prophet (upon its fugitive be a thousand salutations and greetings). Praise be to God who hath helped me to complete it, such praise as is worthy of the Court of His sanctity.
Number 67."                


        For the further elucidation of the matter I here reproduce the single Bábí colophon which I was able to cite in my second paper in the J. R. A. S. for 1889 (p. 922).

5.         Colophon from a Commentary on the Kitáb-i-Akdas seen at Shíráz in April 1888.

[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]12

        "He wrote it on the day of Kemál [Monday] the day of 'Alá [the 19th day] of the month of Núr [the 5th month] of the year Badí [which would be the 16th year, but, for the reason given in the footnote, there can be no doubt that this is a mistake for Bahí, the seventeenth year] of the second hid, A.H. 1296."        

        From the above colophons we perceive that, besides the division of the year into 19 months of 19 days each, the years elapsed since the 'Manifestation' are also arranged

       1 sic in copy, but from analogy the word [~~~] appears redundant
       2 This is evidently a mistake for [~~~], for, as we see from the first colophon quoted in this note (supra, p. 415), the 13th day of the 4th month of the year Bahí (i.e. the 36th year of the 'Manifestation,' or the 17th year of the second hid of nineteen years) fell in A.H. 1296, the same year in which this colophon was written; and in all that relates to the Bábí method of reckoning time Zeynu'l-Mukarrabín's authority is incontrovertible.

[page 419]

in hids or cycles of 19, and that to each year is given a name1 which, by the sum of its component letters, indicates the position of the year in its own hid, e.g.-

        The 36th year after the Manifestation is called "the year Bahí [[~~~] = 10 + 5 + 2 = 17] of the second hid" [19 + 17 = 36].

        The 44th year after the Manifestation is called "the year Váv [ = 6] of the third hid" [(2 x 19) + 6 = 44].

        The 45th year after the Manifestation is called "the year Abad [[~~~] = 4 + 2 + 1 = 7] of the third hid" [(2 x 19) + 7 = 45].

        The general arrangement of the Bábí calendar is now sufficiently clear, and, inasmuch as all Bábí colophons would appear to give the Muhammadan date as well as the Bábí date, this is perhaps all that we need know. Nevertheless, since MSS> may subsequently be discovered in which the date is given according to the Bábí method only, and since the matter is one calculated to arouse our curiosity, I feel impelled to discuss two questions which must be solved ere we can feel that we have fully mastered the problem before us.

        These questions are:-

                (1) From what fixed point does the reckoning begin?

                (2) Does the year consist of 361 (i.e. 19 x 19) days only, or is any system of intercalation adopted to keep it in correspondence with the solar year?

       1 That some special method of enumerating years was employed by the Bábís I conjectured in my second paper in the J.R.A.S. for 1889 (p. 922, note 1), but, having only one colophon before me, I altogether failed to understand its application, or to perceive that the numerical value, not the meaning, of the name of each year was the true guide to its position in the hid or cycle of years. Hence I failed to see that Badí (~~~) was a mere numerical expression of chronogram, and, imagining that it meant "first," vainly perplexed myself over the chronological difficulties involved in this supposition. However, as I have already pointed out, Badí in this colophon is clearly a mistake for Bahí (~~~), so that I might have failed to deduce the truth even if I had guessed it.
[page 420]

        Before discussing these questions further, let us see what is said on the matter (1) by the Báb in the Persian Beyán, and (2) by Behá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Akdas.

(1)                 Ordinances of the Báb concerning the arrangement of the calendar.

[From the Persian Beyán.]


[thirteen lines of ~~~]


[page 421]

[eight lines of Persian/Arabic text]

        "The third chapter of the fifth Váhid. In explanation of the knowledge of the years and the months. The quintessence of this chapter is this, that the Lord of the Universe hath created all the years by His command, and by the manifestation of the Beyán hath appointed 'the Number of All Things' [361 = 19 x 19] as the number of every year, and hath appointed it [to consist of] nineteen months, and hath appointed each month nineteen days; that all may advance through the nineteen degrees of the 'Letters of the Unity' from the point of entrance into [the sign of] the Ram to the limit of its course which terminates in [the sign of the] Fish. And He hath called the first month Behá and the last 'Alá. . . . . .

        "And the first month is the month of the 'Point,' and around it revolve the months of 'the Living' [~~~ = 18]; and it is like unto the sun amidst the months, the other months being like mirrors wherein shineth forth the light of that month, and wherein naught is seen save that month. And it hath been named by the Lord 'the month of Behá'


[page 422]

[i.e. splendour or brightness] in this sense, that the brightness of all the months is in that month. And [God] hath set it apart for 'Him whom God shall manifest,' and hath assigned every day of it to one of the 'Letters of the Living.' And the first day [thereof], which is the Nawrúz, is the day of 'there is no god but God'; the like of that day is as the 'Point' in the Beyán, from which all are created, and unto which all return. And He hath made the manifestation thereof in the 'Point of the Beyán,' the 'Person of the Seven Letters,'1 and hath made it the throne of 'Him whom God shall manifest' in this manifestation."

        The fourteenth chapter of the sixth hid is entirely devoted to the glorification of the Nawrúz and the description of the ceremonies and rejoicings with which it should be observed. This ancient festival, here called 'the day which the Lord of the Universe hath set apart for himself amidst the days, and hath named 'the Day of God'" (Yawmu'lláh), is defined as "the day when the sun passes from the sign of the Fish into the Ram," and it is ordained that the actual moment of this passage "whether it occur during the night or during the day" shall be the signal for the inauguration of these ceremonies.

(2)                 Ordinances of Behá'u'lláh concerning the arrangement of the calendar.

[From the Kitáb-i-Akdas.]


[four lines of Persian/Arabic text]

       1 See p. 230 supra.
[page 423]

[fourteen lines of ~~~]

        "O Supreme Pen! Say, 'O concourse of creation, We have ordained unto you the fast during [a] limited [number of] days, and We have appointed the Nawrúz as a festival unto you after the completion thereof; thus doth the Sun of Revelation shine forth from the horizons of the Book on the part of the Lord of origin and return. Place the days


[page 424]

which are in excess over the months1 before the month of fasting; verily We have made them types of the [letter] [= 5] amongst the nights and the days, therefore were they not included within the limits of the year and the months. In them it is incumbent on those who are in Behá to feed themselves and [their] relatives, then the poor and the needy, and to confess and magnify and glorify and praise their Lord with joy and gladness. And when the days of giving before [the days of] abstinence are ended, let them enter upon the fast. Thus ordaineth the Lord of men: there is no obligation [to fast] on the traveller, on him who is sick, on the pregnant woman, or on her who giveth suck; these hath God excused as a favour on His part; verily He is the Mighty, the Bountiful. These are the ordinances of God which have been written by the Supreme Pen in the books and the epistles: hold firmly to the commands of God and His ordinances, and be not of those who adopt their own principles and fling God's principles behind them for that they follow imaginations and fancies. Abstain from eating and drinking from dawn till sundown; beware lest lust withhold you from this favour which hath been decreed in the Book.'"

        From all this it would seem that the restoration of the old Persian solar year in place of the Arabian lunar year; the solemn sanctioning of the great national festival of the Nawrúz, which corresponds with the beginning of this solar year, the quickening of the earth after its winter's torpor, and the entry of the Sun into the sign of Aries; the division of the year into 19 months of 19 days each; and the nomenclature certainly of some and probably of all of these months were integral portions of the system devised by the Báb; while the provision of the five intercalary days (corresponding to what the Muhammadans call [~~~] "the stolen five") and the enactments relating to their observance were supplementary details introduced by Behá. The fast of one month of 19 days (or, in the case of those who have not reached maturity, 11 days,

       1 i.e. the days required to bring the Bábí year of 361 (19 x 19) days into correspondence with the solar year.
[page 425]

"according to the number of [~~~]" is also enjoined in the Persian Beyán (hid viii, ch. 18), but the month does not appear to be there specified, though in the Kitáb-i-Ahkám (Gobineau, p. 525) the month of 'Alá, the last in the Bábí year, is appointed for it. The only part of the Bábí calendar as it at present exists with which Behá can be credited (and that not certainly) is the introduction of the intercalary days needed to bring the Bábí year into correspondence with the solar year. It is evident, moreover, that only so many of these five intercalary days are to be used as may be necessary to bridge over the interval between the last day of the month 'Alá and the Nawrúz

        Lastly it is clear that the Bábí era commences not, as we might primâ facie have expected, on May 23rd A.D. 1844 (see p. 3 and note, and pp. 221-226 supra), but on the Nawrúz of that year (A.H. 1260), which, according to the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh, fell on Wednesday the last day (salkh) of Safar (Wednesday, March 20th, A.D. 1844). We can easily verify this by working out the dates in the above colophons. Let us take one only, the first, as an example. In it the Bábí date is the 13th day of the 4th month of the 36th year, i.e. (3 x 19) + 13 = 70 days after the Nawrúz, which always falls on or about March 20th. Seventy days from this brings us to May 29th (11 days in March + 30 in April + 29 in May = 70 days). Looking out the Muhammadan date in the colophon (7th of Jemádí II, A.H. 1296) in Wüstenfeld's tables we find that it does actually correspond with May 29th, 1879. The Bábí year being, like our own, solar, is easily calculated by counting the number of complete years which have elapsed since March 20th A.D. 1844, the commencement of the era. In this case, for instance, the 35th year terminated on March 19th, A.D. 1879 (1844 + 35), and the 36th year therefore extends from March 20th, 1879 to March 19th, 1880.



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