A TRAVELLER'S NARRATIVE
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THE EPISODE OF THE BÁB
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[page 171]
NOTES.
[page 172]
[blank]
[page 173]
NOTE A.
PERSIAN AND EUROPEAN ACCOUNTS OF THE BÁB AND HIS RELIGION.
I. PERSIAN ACCOUNTS
Four works, besides the present, written in
the Persian
language treat more or less fully of the history of the Bábí
movement.
Two of these, the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh and the
Rawzatu's-Safá, are general histories
compiled by
Musulmán historians; one, the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, is
a monograph on the said movement, whereof the author, if not actually a
Bábí, at least sympathised warmly with the reformers; one, the
Kisasu'l-'Ulamá, is a biography of Shi'ite
divines, which
deals incidentally at some length with the Bábí doctrines and
the history
of their originator and his precursors. Each of these works I shall now
consider in
detail.
1. The Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh.
This is a general history of the world,
intended, as its
name implies, to supersede all preceding works of a similar character. Its
author is
Mírzá Takí Mustawfí, better known
by his
poetical nom-de-guerre of Sipihr and his official title of
Lisánu'l-Mulk ('The Tongue of the Kingdom'). Gobineau, at p.
454 of his
interesting work Trois Ans en Asie (Paris, 1859), gives a
description of the
social aspects of this historian (to whom he is indebted for the greater
part of the facts
relating to the Bábí movement so graphically pourtrayed in his
Religions et Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale), and of
Rizá-
Kulí Khán, the author of the work to be next
mentioned. The
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh consists of a series of
large volumes,
each of which deals
[page 174]
with a particular period of history. The last volume is entirely devoted to
the
Kájár dynasty, and with it alone are we here
concerned. It is
divided into three parts, of which the first treats of the origin
and rise of the
Kájárs and the reigns of Áká
Muhammad and Fath-'Alí Sháh; the second
of the
reign of Muhammad Sháh; and the third of the reign of
Násiru'd-Dín, the present Sháh, down to the
year A.H.
1267 (A.D. 1850-1851). A further supplement published separately carries the
history down to the year A.H. 1273 (A.D. 1856-1857). All that relates to the
Bábís is contained in the second and third
parts of the main
volume and in the supplement, of the contents of which I shall immediately
give a brief
abstract. My intention was to have made this abstract a complete index of
contents, but,
having already written more than half of it, I perceived that it would
occupy more space
than could conveniently be spared, and I was therefore compelled to confine
myself to a
mere summary of the chief heads of the narrative, deferring a fuller
presentation
thereof till some future occasion. This is the less to be regretted,
inasmuch as almost
everything relating to the subject before us which is contained in this
history has been
embodied in the works of Gobineau and Kazem-Beg. The whole of the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh has been lithographed at
Teherán, but unfortunately the pages are unnumbered and there is no
index save
occasional marginal references to the chief events narrated in the text.
The numeration
of the pages here given is supplied by myself. It is re-commenced for each
part and for
the supplement, but, inasmuch as my copy of the latter has no title-page
and appears to
be incomplete, it cannot in this case be regarded as having more than a
relative value.
Contents of Part ii of the Kájáriyya
volume
in
so far as they relate to the Bábís.
P. 130. Events of the year A.H. 1260 (A.D.
1844).
Appearance of the Báb - His parentage, education, and character -
Development
of his claims - Peculiarities of his doctrines and ordinances - Reception
accorded to him
by different classes.
[page 175]
P. 131. Proofs advanced by the Báb - His
innovations in matters of religion - Accusations against the chastity and
temperance of
his followers - The Báb's pilgrimage to Mecca and return to Bushire
- Action
taken against him and his missionaries by Huseyn Khán
Ajudán-báshí the governor of Fárs - The
Báb confined to his house.
P. 132. The Báb is entrapped by a
stratagem of
Huseyn Khán's into a too free enunciation of his doctrines -
He is
punished, and imprisoned with greater rigour for six months - Minúchihr
Khán Mu'tamadu'd-Dawla, the governor of Isfahán,
succeeds in
effecting the Báb's release and bringing him to Isfahán,
where he treats
him with consideration and kindness.
P. 133. Huseyn Khán expels Seyyid
Yahyá and other prominent Bábís from
Shíráz - Minúchihr Khán, anxious to test the
Báb's knowledge, summons a number of learned men to confer and
dispute with
him. [See Note J, infra.]
P. 134. [first 7 lines].
Conclusion of
this conference - Minúchihr Khán conceals the Báb in
his house
and sets afloat a rumour that he has sent him to Teherán.
* *
* *
*
P. 175 [last 3 lines]. Account
of the
Báb's first examination before the clergy of Tabríz in A.H.
1263 (A.D.
1847).
P. 176. Continuation of the same. [See
note M,
infra.]
P. 177. Continuation of the same.
"
P. 178 [first 9 lines].
Conclusion of
the same - The Báb is bastinadoed until he recants.
Contents of Part iii of the Kájáriyya
volume
in
so far as they relate to the Bábís.
P. 45. Events of the year A.H. 1264 (A.D. 1848).
Kurratu'l-'Ayn, her parentage, education, beauty, learning and
eloquence - She
embraces the Bábí doctrines.
P. 46 [first 12 lines]. The
devotion
inspired by Kurratu'l-'Ayn in her followers - She discards the veil,
and openly
preaches the new doctrines - Anger of her uncle, Mullá Muhammad
Takí - He drives her from his house - He is assassinated by
Bábís - Kurratu'l-'Ayn flies from
[page 176]
Kazvín, but continues her propaganda elsewhere. [See
Note Q,
infra.]
* *
* *
*
P. 53 [last line]. Mullá
Huseyn of Bushraweyh and the Bábí insurrection in
Mázandarán.
P. 54. Mullá Huseyn is
converted to
Bábíism - His missionary journey - His reception and
adventures in
Isfahán, Káshán, and Teherán.
P. 55. Mullá Huseyn attempts to
attach
Muhammad Sháh and Hájí Mírzá
Ákásí to the Báb's cause - He is
compelled by
threats to leave Teherán - He proceeds to Khurásán -
Conversions
to Bábíism - Measures adopted against the Bábís -
Hamzé Mírzá imprisons Mullá
Huseyn in
his camp at Rádagán - Escape of Mullá Huseyn from
custody - His journey westward, successes, and rebuffs.
P. 56. Continuation of Mullá
Huseyn's
journey towards Mázandarán - Encounter with the populace at
Miyámí and defeat of the Bábís - Altercation with
Mullá Muhammad Kázim, the mujtahid of
Sháhrúd - Death of Muhammad Sháh - Account of
Hájí Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh - He
falls in with the Báb on the pilgrimage to Mecca and embraces his
doctrines - He
returns to Bárfurúsh - He joins Mullá Huseyn at
Mash-
had - Returns thence on the arrest of his colleague - At Badasht near
Bistám meets Kurratu'l-'Ayn and her followers who have
arrived
from Kazvín.
P. 57. Kurratu'l-'Ayn's address - Its
effect on
the audience - She returns with Hájí Muhammad 'Alí
towards Mázandarán - Imputations on the conduct of
Kurratu'l-
'Ayn and Hájí Muhammad 'Alí - They are attacked
by the
people of Hazár-Jaríb - They separate, he returning to
Bárfurúsh, and she continuing to wander through
Mázandarán preaching - Mullá Huseyn joins his
colleague
at Bárfurúsh - Success of the Bábí propaganda -
Enmity
of the Sa'ídu'l-'Ulamá - Preparations for battle -
Khánlar
Mírzá's aid invoked by the orthodox party to put down the
innovators.
P. 58. The Bábís retreat from, but
return to, Bárfurúsh - 'Abbás-Kulí
Khán
of Láriján interferes - Collision between the two parties in
the city -
Terms offered by the
[page 177]
Bábís and accepted by 'Abbás-Kulí
Khán -
The Bábís retire accompanied by an escort sent by 'Abbás-
Kulí Khán - After the escort leaves them they are
attacked at
Khusraw of Kádí-Kalá at the head of a band of
plunderers
- Khusraw is killed and his followers routed - The Bábís take
up their
quarters at the Tomb of Sheykh Tabarsí.
P. 59. The Bábís fortify their
position
strongly without let or hindrance, most of the nobles and chiefs of the
province having
gone to assist at the Sháh's coronation at Teherán -
Description of these
fortifications - Garrison and commissariat of the Bábís -
Mullá
Huseyn continues his propaganda - Extreme veneration paid to
Hájí Muhammad 'Alí by the Bábís -
Mullá Huseyn's encouragements and exhortations to his
followers.
P. 60. A letter arrives from the Báb
containing
this passage: -
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
'They [the Bábís]
shall descend
from the Green Isle [Mázandarán] unto the foot of the
mountain of
Zawrá [Teherán], and shall slay about twelve thousand
of the
Turks' - The Government, informed of the Bábís' proceedings,
instructs the Mázandarání chiefs to take action
against them -
Áká 'Abdu'lláh marches against Sheykh
Tabarsí with some Afghan, Kurdish, and Turkish tribesmen and
volunteers from Kádí-Kalá - Mullá
Huseyn makes a night-attack on the besiegers.
P. 61. Áká
'Abdu'lláh is
slain and his force routed with a loss of thirty killed - The fugitives
flee to the village of
Farrá, which is sacked, burned, and razed to the ground by the
Bábís, and its inhabitants put to the sword - Rage of
Násiru'd-Dín Sháh on hearing this news - Prince
Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá is ordered to proceed
against
the Bábís with all speed and exterminate them - He quits
Teherán
at the end of Muharram [A.H. 1265 = Christmas, A.D.
1848]
for Mázandarán - 'Abbás-Kulí Khán
marches by another route to join him - The Prince takes up his quarters at
Vásaks
[page 178]
near 'Alí-ábád - His negligence - Stormy weather and
snow come
on.
P. 62. Mullá Huseyn makes a
sortie with
300 resolute men before dawn on Safar 15th [A.H. 1265 =
January 10th
A.D. 1849] - By means of a stratagem he enters Vásaks,
surrounds and
fires the Prince's quarters, and defeats and disperses the enemy, of whom
many are
killed, including two princes, Sultán Huseyn
Mírzá and Dá'úd Mírzá - Prince
Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá escapes with difficulty -
Hájí Muhammad 'Alí is wounded in the mouth
P. 63. Courageous stand made by the men of
Ashraf
against the Bábís - Cowardice of the other troops -
Triumphant return of
the Bábís to their fortress - The Prince is discovered and
harboured by a
peasant, and his troops gradually re-assembled - He declines to risk
another encounter
- Arrival of 'Abbás-Kulí Khán with his troops
before
Sheykh Tabarsí - His foolhardiness and negligence - Mullá
Huseyn at the head of 400 Bábís makes a sortie before
dawn on
Rabí'u'l-Avval 10th [A.H. 1265 = February 3rd A.D.
1849].
P. 64. Description of the engagement - Rout
of the
besiegers - Mullá Huseyn is mortally wounded - The
Bábís retire in good order to their stronghold - After their
departure and
the dawn of day some of the scattered besiegers return, bury their own
dead, decapitate
the Bábí corpses, and retire.
P. 65. How the news of the defeat is
communicated to
Prince Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá - Death of
Mullá
Huseyn after re-entering Sheykh Tabarsí - His dying
injunctions - His burial in the shrine - Thirty other Bábís
die of their
wounds - The Bábís go out to bury their dead, find them
decapitated, and
in retaliation exhume and decapitate the Musulmán corpses and fix
their heads on
posts round the gate of the fortress - How the news of the defeat is
received by the
Prince - After much hesitation he advances against the Bábís and
encamps at Kiyá-Kalá.
P. 66. On reaching Sheykh
Tabarsí the
Prince's courage fails him - He retires to Kásht, and there meets
'Abbás-
Kulí Khán - Preparations for the siege of Sheykh
Tabarsí
- Arrival of artillery - Discontent and insubordination amongst the
besieging troops
caused by the wilfulness and incapacity of Mahdí-Kulí
Mírzá.
[page 179]
P. 67. Sortie of 200 Bábís - They
capture one of the towers erected by the besiegers - Cruelty of Mahdí-
Kulí Mírzá to one of his wounded officers -
Renewed anger
of the Sháh because the siege has lasted for four months without any
decisive
advantage have been gained - Threats and reproaches addressed by the
Sháh to the
besiegers.
P. 68. Suleymán Khán
Afshár is
sent from Teherán to superintend the siege - Revival of the courage
of the
besiegers - A breach is effected in the Bábí fortifications
by means of a
mine sprung under the western tower of the fortress - A vigorous attempt to
storm the
breach fails, once again through the incapacity of
Mahdí-Kulí
Mírzá - Desertions from the Bábí camp - Fate of
Aká Rasúl and thirty other deserters.
P. 69. Desertion of Rizá
Khán
and some others from the Bábís - They receive promises of
pardon from
the Prince - They are placed in the custody of Hádí
Khán of
Núr - The Bábís, having consumed all their provisions,
are
reduced to eating grass, leaves, boiled leather, and broth made from the
bones of dead
horses - They make another desperate sortie, and attempt, but fail, to
capture the tower
erected by the besiegers against the western gate - The Bábís
capitulate
on receiving a written promise, signed and sealed by the Prince, that their
lives shall be
spared.
P. 70. Evacuation of Sheykh
Tabarsí and
entry of the surviving Bábís (216 in number) into the
royalist camp -
They are reassured by the manner in which they are at first received, but
on the
following day are perfidiously massacred, except Hájí
Muhammad
'Alí and some of the other chiefs, who are reserved to grace the
Prince's
triumphal entry into Bárfurúsh - The Prince visits the deserted
fortress, marvels at the skill displayed in its construction, and carries
off the spoils
accumulated by the Bábís - Execution of Hájí
Muhammad 'Alí and the other Bábí chiefs by
command of
the Musulmán clergy - During the whole war in Mázandarán
1500 Bábís and 500 soldiers perished.
* *
* *
*
P. 83 [last 12 lines].
Troubles at
Zanján - Mullá Muhammad 'Alí
Zanjání -
His character and previous career - His innovations, and disagreements with
the other
clergy.
[page 180]
P. 84. He is summoned to Teherán by
Muhummad Sháh and forbidden to return to Zanján - On
the death
of that king he escapes in disguise and returns home - He is received with
acclamation
by his admirers - He begins to preach the Bábí doctrines, and
soon gains
15,000 adherents - Action is taken against him by the government -
Collision between
him and Aslán-Khán the governor of Zanján.
P. 85. The Bábís assume the
offensive -
Their organization and preparations - Fighting begins on Rajab 5th [A.H. 1266
= May 17th, A.D. 1850. In the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh these
events are described under the year A.H. 1265, but this is an error, as
proved by the
accounts of Watson and Lady Sheil] - Names of some of the killed and wounded,
who number about forty in all - Execution of a Bábí prisoner
named
Sheykhí remarkable for his valour - Attack on Aslán
Khán's residence by a party of Bábís led by one
Mír
Sálih. - Repulse of the Bábís and death of
their leader -
Names of some of the killed and wounded.
P. 86. Arrival of Sadru'd-Dawla on
Rajab 20th
[June 3rd], and of Seyyid 'Alí Khán of
Fírúzkúh, Shahbáz Khán of Marágha,
Muhammad 'Alí Khán Shahsívan, Kázim
Khán Afshár, and Mahmúd Khán of Khúy
with large reinforcements of cavalry and artilllery [sic] on
Sha'bán 2nd-5th [June 13th-16th] - Capture of a
Bábí position held by Mashhadí Pírí on
Sha'bán 20th [July 1st] - Impatience of the Government -
Mustafá Khán Kájár,
colonel of the
16th (Shakákí) regiment, is sent to join the
besiegers -
Capture of a Bábí position held by Mírzá
Faraju'lláh after a desperate struggle on Ramazán 15th
[July 25th] - Besiegers further reinforced by
Násiriyya regiment and a corps of picked marksmen, and
threatened with
severe punishment unless they quickly bring the siege to a close - General
attack on the
Bábís on Ramazán 25th [August
4th].
P. 87. The day goes against the
Bábís till
Mullá Muhummad 'Alí creates a diversion by setting
fire to the
bazaar - On Shawwál 8th [August 17th] the besiegers are
further reinforced by Muhammad Khán Begler-begí
with
3000 troops, 6 cannons, and 2 mortars - On the same day the
Násiriyya
and Shakákí regiments are ordered to attack
[page 181]
the Bábís - The stratagem whereby Mullá Muhammad
'Alí throws the Násiriyya regiment into confusion -
Description
of the Bábí defences - The Begler-begí tries
conciliatory
measures, wherein he is seconded by 'Azíz Khán
Ajúdán-báshí and Mírzá
Hasan Khán the Amír-Nizám's brother,
both of whom happen to pass through Zanján at this time -
Conciliation failing, a
fresh attack is made.
P. 88. Failure of this attack - Punishment
inflicted on
certain officers - The Sadru'd-Dawla is replaced by Farrukh
Khán (the son of Yahyá Khán of Tabríz
and the
brother of Suleymán Khán the Bábí), who reaches
Zanján on Zi'l-Ka'da 4th [September 11th] -
Arrival of
fresh reinforcements - A way of escape is intentionally left open for the
Bábís - The Bábís again turn to account the
covetousness
of the troops of inflict on them fresh losses - Extraordinary courage of the
Bábí women - Letter from the
Amír-Nizám
to Farrukh Khán - The stratagem whereby the Bábís decoy
Farrukh Khán to his destruction.
P. 89. Capture of Farrukh Khán by the
Bábís - He and two renegades are tortured to death and their
heads cast
into the camp of the besiegers - Anger of the King at this news - More
artillery is sent
against Zanján - Renewed attack on the Bábís - Capture
of the
Castle of 'Alí-Mardán Khán and other Bábí
positions - Twenty Bábís taken prisoners.
P. 90. Execution of these prisoners - Desertion and capture of
twenty-five
Bábís - Their ultimate fate - Mullá Muhammad
'Alí is wounded - He survives his wound for one week - His dying
instructions -
His death and burial - His followers capitulate on receiving promise of
pardon - Entry
of the royal troops into Zanján - Mullá Muhammad
'Alí's
body is exhumed and dishonoured - Bad faith of the royalist leaders -
Plunder of the
Bábí quarter - Massacre of the Bábí prisoners
on the
third day after the surrender.
P. 91 [first 7 lines]. Hájí
Kázim
Kaltúkí and Mashhadí Suleymán the
cloth-
maker are blown from the mouths of mortars - Approval of the Sháh -
Some of
the Bábí chiefs are brought to Teherán -
Mírzá
Rizá, Hájí Muhammad 'Alí, and
Hájí Muhsin are put to death at the command of the
Amír-Nizám, while the rest are cast into
prison. *
*
[Fourth and third lines from the bottom.]
Suleymán
[page 182]
Khán Afshár arrives at Tabríz with the death-warrant
of the
Báb.
* *
* *
*
P. 93. Mírzá Taki Khán the Amír-
Nizám advises Násiru'd-Dín
Sháh to
order the Báb to be put to death - Discussion between the King and
the Minister -
The Báb's execution is finally decided on - Suleymán Khán
Afshár is sent to Tabríz with the Báb's death-warrant and
instructions to Hamzé Mírzá, the
Prince-Governor of
Ázarbaiján, as to the method of procedure - The Báb
and his
amanuensis, Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd, are brought
from Chihrík. to Tabríz - Áká [here
called Mullá] Muhammad 'Alí of Tabríz
is also
arrested - His brother, Áká 'Abdu'lláh,
unsuccessfully
attempts to induce him to recant - Hamzé Mírzá
desires
the clergy of Tabríz to dispute with and confute the Báb - They
decline.
P. 94. The Báb is brought before Hamzé
Mírzá,
Mírzá Hasan, Hájí Mírzá
'Alí, and Suleymán Khán Afshár by night -
Hamzé Mírzá asks him to recite verses concerning a
crystal candlestick - The Báb complies, and these verses are written
down -
Hamzé Mírzá requests the Báb to repeat
these
verses - They are repeated differently - It is decided to kill the
Báb with the
utmost publicity - He is taken to the houses of three prominent members of
the clergy,
Hájí Mírzá Bákir, Mullá
Muhammad Mámakání, and
Áká Seyyid Zanvazí, who ratify the sentence of
death -
Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd recants - The
steadfastness of
Áká Muhammad 'Alí - The execution takes
place
on Sha'bán 27th [A.H. 1266, not 1265 as stated by
Sipihr and
Kazem-Beg. See pp. 45 and 186 - 187] - The firing-party is formed of
Christian soldiers - At the first volley Áká
Muhammad
'Alí is killed, but the Báb, released from his bonds by the
bullets, falls
uninjured to the ground - He takes refuge in the rooms of one of the
soldiers.
P. 95 [first 9 lines]. Reflections on his strange
occurrence - The
Báb is dragged forth from his retreat by Kúch 'Alí
Sultán, again bound, and once more fired on by the
[page 183]
soldiers - This time he is killed - Indignities offered to his body.
* *
* *
*
P. 112 [last half]. The insurrection at
Níríz -
Áká Seyyid Yahyá of Dáráb
- His
character, and that of his father Áká Seyyid
Ja'far-i-
Kashfí - Seyyid Yahyá is converted to the
Bábí doctrines - He goes to Teherán to preach the new
faith - He
goes to Yezd - The Yezd insurrection and its failure - Seyyid
Yahyá goes
to Fasá in Fárs - Bahrám Mírzá having been
dismissed from the government of Fárs, and Fírúz
Mírzá not having yet arrived to take his place,
Mírzá
Fazlu'lláh Nasíru'l-Mulk is the supreme
authority
in the province - The nobles of Fasá request him to put a stop to
Seyyid
Yahyá's propaganda.
P. 113. The Nasíru'l-Mulk writes a letter to Seyyid
Yahyá - He receives a reassuring reply - Fresh complaints are
made -
Another message to Seyyid Yahyá proves equally ineffectual -
Seyyid
Yahyá goes to Níríz with the force which he has
collected
- Disaffection of Níríz, and unpopularity of its governor,
Zeynu'l-
'Ábidín Khán - Seyyid Yahyá, with 300
followers, occupies an old castle near Níríz - The
Nasíru'l-Mulk sends him a third message - His answer - He
makes a night attack on Níríz, sacks the town, and puts Zeynu'l-
'Ábidín Khán to flight - Hereupon many recruits join the
Bábís, so that their forces amount to more than 2000 men.
P. 114. Fírúz Mírzá the new governor, when
distant
four stages from Shíráz, receives news of the success of the
Níríz insurgents - He sends a messenger to Shíráz
instructing Mihr 'Ali Khán Núrí
Shujá'ul-Mulk
and Mustafá-Kulí Khán to proceed against
Seyyid
Yahyá with two Káragúzlú
regiments - The
Nasíru'l-Mulk writes to Zeynu'l'Ábidin
Khán the
fugitive governor of Níríz ordering him to collect what
forces he can and
join the attacking force - The royalist forces combine and proceed to
Níríz - Preliminary skirmish - Siege operations commenced -
Failure
of Mustafá-Kulí Khán's attempts
to bring
about a peaceable settlement - Seyyid Yahyá supplies his
followers with
amulets - Sortie of 300 Bábís - Failure of the sortie
[page 184]
after prolonged fighting, during which 150 Bábís and four
soldiers are
slain - Desertions amongst the Bábís - Second sortie of the
Bábís.
P. 115 [first half]. Repulse of Bábí
sortie -
Valí Khán is sent with reinforcements from
Shíráz -
Seyyid Yahyá is induced to quit his fortress, and,
accompanied by one
attendant, to return to his house in Níríz - On his way
thither he is met
by the sons of 'Alí 'Askar Khán who kill him in revenge for
their father's
death - Seyyid Yahyá's two sons and thirty of his followers
are brought to
Shíráz - The former are spared in consideration of their
being seyyids,
but the latter are put to death by order of Fírúz
Mírzá.
Contents of the Supplement to the Kájáriyya
volume
in so far as they relate to the Bábís.
P. 22. Events of the year A.H. 1268 [A.D. 1852].
Imám-
Kuli Mírzá is appointed governor of
Kirmánsháh -
His energy in restoring order to his province - He arrests Mullá
'Alí
Asghar, a Bábí missionary, and sends him in chains to
Teherán - One Teymúr1 of Kal'a-
Zanjírí claims to be the vicegerent of the Absent Imám
and draws
to himself a great number of people - He is seized and put to death by
Imám-
Kulí Mírzá - Account of the attempt on the
Sháh's life -
Digression on the character and doctrines of Sheykh Ahmad
Ahsá'í.
P. 23. Hájí Seyyid
Kázim
of Resht succeeds Sheykh Ahmad - Dissensions amongst his followers
after his
death - Mullá Huseyn persuades many of the Sheykhís to
follow
Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad the Báb - His
journey to
Khurásán - Mullá Sheykh 'Alí [whom the
Bábís entitle Jenáb-i-'Azím]
becomes a Bábí and engages in active propaganda - He goes from
Kerbelá to Káshán, where he sees and attempts to
1 Subh-i-Ezel
informed me that this
Teymúr was not a Bábí but advanced a claim on his own
account.
After his death, however, a youth calling himself Seyfúr, who
was a
Bábí, appeared, and used to declare that he was Teymúr
returned
again from the dead.
[page 185]
convert Mírzá Áká Khán of
Núr,
afterwards Sadr-i-A'zam (Prime Minister) - He goes to
Teherán, where, under various names and in diverse disguises, he
continues his
attempts at proselytizing - During the ministry of the Amír-
Nizám he mediates a rising to be inaugurated by the
slaughter of
Mírzá Abú'l Kásim the Imám
Jum'a
- This plot is discovered by government spies and reported to the
Amír-
Nizám - Mírzá 'Abdu'r-Rahím, the
brother of Mullá Muhammad Takí of Herát,
one of
the disciples of Mullá Sheykh 'Alí, is arrested.
P. 24. Mírzá 'Abdu'r-
Rahím refuses to betray his confederates - Mírzá
Táhir, fellow-lodger of the above, is questioned -
Hájí
Seyyid Muhammad of Isfahán is beguiled by a forged letter
into revealing
Mullá Sheykh 'Alí's abode - A servant of Mullá Sheykh
'Alí's is arrested and tortured, but discloses nothing - He is put
to death, but
Mírzá 'Abdu'r-Rahím's life is spared -
Mullá
Sheykh 'Alí escapes and takes refuge in Sháh 'Abdu'l-
'Azím, whence he presently flies to Ázarbaiján
- On the
fall of the Amír-Nizám, Mullá Sheykh
'Alí
returns to Teherán and begins to organize the conspiracy against the
Sháh's life - The house of Hájí Suleymán
Khán of
Tabríz becomes the meeting-place of the conspirators, and there
Mullá
Sheykh 'Alí takes up his quarters - Seventy persons are involved in the
conspiracy - Nature of the plot - Twelve Bábís volunteer for the
attempt, amongst them being Muhammad Sádik. [of
Zanján], Mírzá 'Abdu'l-Wahháb of
Shíráz, Mullá Fathu'lláh of Kum, and
Muhammad Bákir of Najafábád.
P. 25. The attempt on the Sháh's life
is made on
Sunday, Shawwál 28th [A.H. 1268 = August 15th, 1852] -
Account of the attempt and its failure. [See infra, Note
T.]
P. 26. Fate of the assassins - Consternation
of the
ministers - Conjectures as to the originators of the plot - Firmness of the
Prime
Minister (Sadr-i-A'zam).
P. 27. Messengers despatched to all parts of
the kingdom
to announce the Sháh's safety - The search for the
Bábís begins -
Arrest of Hájí Suleymán Khán and twelve of his
confederates - On information obtained from some of these prisoners 36
Bábís are captured, amongst whom is Mullá Sheykh
'Alí.
P. 28. The Hájibu'd
Dawla cuts
off Mullá Sheykh
[page 186]
'Alí's ear - Examination of the prisoners - Mírzá
Huseyn
'Alí Núrí [apparently Behá'u'lláh
himself], Mírzá Suleymán-Kulí,
Mírzá Mahmúd, Áká
'Abdu'lláh, Mírzá Jawád of
Khurásán, and
Mírzá Huseyn of Kum are imprisoned, there not
being
sufficient evidence to incriminate them in the plot: the other
Bábí
prisoners are apportioned amongst the different departments and classes
each to be slain
in such fashion as shall please those to whom he has been assigned - The
slaughter takes
place on the last day of Zi'l-Ka'da [A.H. 1268 =
September 15th,
A.D 1852] - Account of the executions [see infra, Note
T].
P. 29. Account of the executions continued,
including
that of Kurratu'l-'Ayn [see infra, Notes Q and
T] -
Public rejoicings.
Whoever carefully examines the arrangement of
matter
in the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh as indicated in the
above table
of contents will perceive that this arrangement is not strictly
chronological, although
ostensibly intended to be so. A desire not to interrupt the continuity of
the narrative in
relating an episode often induces the historian to include under the year
in which the
episode which he is describing first began, events properly belonging to
subsequent
d \widctlpar years. Thus the first public appearance of the Báb was in the year A.H. 1260, but the narrative is carried on without interruption not only to the tim
d \widctlpar e of his return
from Mecca to Bushire, which certainly did not occur till A.H. 1261, but to
the period of
his concealment by the Mu'tamadu'd-Dawla in Isfahán, which
belongs to
the year A.H. 1262. So likewise the beginning of the insurrection in
Mázandarán was in A.H. 1264, while its final suppression did
not take
place till A.H. 1265; yet the whole insurrection from its earliest
beginning to its
ultimate conclusion is described under the year A.H. 1264, the only
indication of a
change of year being afforded by the rotation of the months. Other
instances might be
adduced, but these are sufficient to prove a fact which it is most
important to bear in
mind. The erroneous dates given for the siege of Zanján and the
Báb's
martyrdom (of which events, according to all testimony, the latter took
place during
the
[page 187]
former) cannot, however, be satisfactorily accounted for in this way; and I
am forced to
suppose that in this case the Lisánu'l Mulk has committed a
positive
error, which, as it has been copied and reproduced by Kazem-Beg and a
number of
writers who have followed him, it is necessary to expose in the clearest
manner
possible. This I strove to do in my first paper on the Bábis in the
Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society for 1889 (pp. 511-513), where I attempted to
prove that
both of the events in question were to be assigned, not, as stated
in the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh and repeated by those who have
unreservedly followed it, to the year A.H. 1265 (A.D. 1849), but to the
year A.H. 1266
(A.D. 1850). It is unnecessary for me to repeat in this place the arguments
there
adduced to support an opinion in which further study of the matter serves
but to confirm
me; I will only observe that further corroboration of that opinion is
afforded not only by
the present work (supra, pp. 44-45) and the Rawzatu's-
Safá, but also by Dr A. H. Wright's memoir contributed to
the
Z. D. M. G. in 1851, wherein the Báb's execution is
described (p. 385) as having occurred "last year," and by Binning
(Journal of
Two Years' Travel in Persia &c., London, 1857, vol. i, p. 407), who, in
a passage
written in 1850 or early in 1851, remarks, after describing the Báb's
execution, that "a large number of them [i.e. the
Bábís]
are now up in arms in Zenjân."
Complete impartiality is a quality we could not
reasonably expect to find in the court historian of a despot whose ears
must hear what is
pleasant rather than what is true, and whose actions must be not only
justified but
extolled as models of wisdom and virtue. When we consider that, apart from
this, the
Lisánu'l-Mulk, as a presumably orthodox Shi'ite Muhammadan, was
bound to disparage and traduce in every way possible those whose object was
nothing less
than the complete overthrow of Islám and the abrogation of its
ordinances, we
cannot but admire the candour which he displays; for if, on the one hand,
he brings
against the Bábís many unfounded and absurd accusations, on
the other
hand he pourtrays with a fidelity scarcely surpassed by the witty and
sarcastic Comte de
Gobineau the cowardice, incapacity, and treachery of
Mahdí-Kulí
Mírzá, the courage of Mullá Huseyn of Bush-
[page 188]
reweyh, the constancy of Áká Muhammad
'Alí of
Tabríz, and the heroism of the Bábí women of
Zanján.
Each page of the Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh consists of 29 lines containing on an average 21
words
each, so that a page is equivalent to about 600 words. That portion of the
narrative
which refers to the Bábís occupies in all not less than 46
pages, and
cannot contain fewer than 27,000 words.
2. The
Rawzatu's-Safá.
The Teherán lithographed edition of
this work,
whereof the publication was completed in Rabí'u'l-Avval A.H. 1274
(Oct-Nov., A.D. 1857), consists of ten volumes bound in two. Of
these ten
volumes the first six composed by Mírkhwánd (d. A.D. 1498)
and the
seventh composed by his grandson Khwándamír (d. A.D. 1534)
constitute
the whole of what is generally understood by European writers when they
speak of the
Rawzatu's-Safá. The three last (eighth,
ninth, and
tenth) volumes, which supplement the older work and bring the narrative
down to our
own days, were written by that most talented and learned scholar
Rizá-
Kulí Khán 'Lelé-Báshí,' of
whose
life and works a most valuable account from the pen of Mr Sidney Churchill
will be
found in vol. xviii (New Series) of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society, pp.
196-206. All that relates to the Bábís is contained in the
last (tenth)
volume, with which alone, therefore, we are here concerned. The numeration
of the
pages in this volume is supplied by my hand, the pages in the original being
unnumbered. As the narrative of the Bábí movement here given
agrees
very closely for the most part with that contained in the Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh, I shall in the summary of its contents about to
be given
indicate very briefly that portion of it dealt with in each page, except in
cases where
some fact is added or differently stated.
Contents of vol. x of the Rawzatu's-
Safá
in so far as they relate to the
Bábís.
P. 69 [last 17 lines]. From
the first
appearance of the
[page 189]
Báb to the stratagem whereby Huseyn Khán
Ajúdán-Báshí induces him to expose his
ideas
without reserve.
P. 70 [first 18 lines]. From the
Báb's disputation with the clergy of Shíráz to the
death of
Minúchihr Khán in Rabí'u'l-Avval A.H. 1263 and the
Báb's removal to Chihrík. Reflections on the causes
which led to
the rapid spread of his doctrines. He is accused of holding and teaching
the doctrine of
metempsychosis.
* *
* *
*
P. 118 [first 26 lines]. From the
beginning of Mullá Huseyn's propaganda to his escape from
Mash-had and
advance on Mázandarán with 300 or 400 followers. It is stated
that his
original intention was to proceed to Chihrík. and liberate the
Báb. The
last three lines of this page begin the account of the Báb's first
examination (A.H.
1263=A.D. 1847) by the clergy of Tabríz presided over by the present
Sháh, at that time Crown-Prince. The account of the proceedings of
this assembly
is professedly copied "without favour or enmity" from the report written by
Hájí Mullá Mahmúd the
Nizámu'l-'Ulamá. Concerning this conference see
supra, pp. 18-21, and infra, Note M.
P. 119. Account of the conference
continued.
P. 120. Account of the conference
continued.
P. 121. Conclusion of the conference, and
punishment of
the Báb, who is afterwards sent back to Chihrík. -
Exasperation of the
Bábís on hearing what indignities have been offered to their
master -
Mullá Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh -
Kurratu'l-'Ayn - The meeting of Badasht - The attack on the
Bábís at Hazár-Jaríb - The death of
Muhammad
Sháh (Shawwál, A.H. 1264=August 31st - September 28th, A.D.
18481) - Beginning of the Mázandarán
insurrection.
P. 122. Recapitulation of Mullá
Huseyn's earlier adventures and behaviour - Narrative of events from
the
collision between Mullá Huseyn's 700 or 800 white-robed, white-
turbaned followers and the Musulmáns of Bárfurúsh to the
occupation of Sheykh Tabarsí by the former - Description of the
Bábí fortress.
1 According to Watson
(History of Persia, p. 354), the
death of Muhammad Sháh took place on September 4th,
1848.]
[page 190]
P. 123. Continuation of narrative of the
Mázandarán insurrection to the surprise and discomfiture of
Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá by the
Bábís at
Vásaks.
P. 124. Continuation of narrative to the
night attack of
the Bábís led by Mullá Huseyn on 'Abbás-
Kulí Khán's army. The date of this event is here
stated as
Rabí'u'l-Avval 10th A.H. 1266 (January 24th, A.D. 1850), which is a
mistake.
The correct date, Rabí'u'l-Avval (10th) A.H. 1265 (February 3rd,
A.D. 1849)
is given in the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh.
P. 125. From the death of Mullá
Huseyn
to the second advance of Mahdí-Kulí
Mírzá against
Sheykh Tabarsí.
P. 126. Continuation of the narrative to the
arrival of
Ja'far-Kulí Khán and Tahmásp
Kulí Khán with reinforcements for the besiegers.
P. 127. Continuation of the narrative to the
Bábí sortie, which results directly in the death of
Tahmásp-Kulí Khán, and indirectly in
that of his
uncle Ja'far-Kulí Khán through the wanton and
inconsiderate
cruelty of Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá.
P. 128. Conclusion of the narrative of the
Mázandarán insurrection. Beginning of the narrative of the
Zanján insurrection.
P. 129. Continuation of the narrative to Seyyid
'Alí Khán's unsuccessful attempt at pacification.
P. 130. Continuation of the narrative to Farrukh
Khán's capture and terrible fate.
P. 131. Continuation of the narrative to
Hasan
Khán's unsuccessful attempt at pacification. (According to the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh this event preceded the
last, and this
version is on the face of it more probable.)
P. 132. Conclusion of the narrative of the
Zanján insurrection - Brief account of the execution of the
Báb at
Tabríz. (The date of this event is here correctly stated as A.H.
1266. The account
itself is most meagre, amounting in substance merely to this: that the
Báb was
brought from Chihrík. to Tabríz, condemned to death by the
clergy of that
city, and suspended and shot, together with two of his disciples, by
the Christian
regiment, his body being afterwards cast outside the city as food for
wolves and
dogs.
[page 191]
No mention is made of his miraculous escape from the first volley by the
soldiers) - Beginning of the narrative of the Níríz
insurrection.
P. 133. Conclusion of the narrative of the
Níríz insurrection. (According to this account,
Aká Seyyid
Yahyá of Dáráb the insurgent leader was brought to
Shíráz and there put to death. Allusion is also made to the
second
Bábí rising at Níríz and the assassination of
the governor
Zeynu'l-'Ábidín Khán, which events occurred about two
years
later. See Note H, infra.)
* *
* *
*
P. 167 [last 21 lines]. The
attempt on
the Sháh's life (see Note T, infra). Preliminary
recapitulation of similar
attempts on the lives of kings and ministers made by members of heretical
sects -
Eulogies of Násiru'd-Dín Sháh.
P. 168. After the death of the Báb a
new leader
(whom the author of this history apparently believes to have been
Mullá Sheykh
'Alí 'Jenáb-i-'Azím') is chosen by his
followers -
The Bábí conspiracy - The assassination is planned by twelve
Bábís, who arrange that the attempt shall take place on the
morning of
Sunday the 28th of Shawwál A.H. 1268 (August 15th, A.D. 1852) as the
Sháh is riding out on a hunting expedition from his summer residence at
Niyávarán - Description of the Royal Cavalcade and the
approach of the
conspirators in the guise of suppliants.
P. 169. Of the twelve assassins, six fail to
arrive in
time, while three lag behind - The three who are ready approach the
Sháh as
petitioners, surround him, and fire two shots at him - The Sháh's
retainers
come up and kill one of the conspirators - Another shot is fired wounding the
Sháh in the shoulder - The two surviving conspirators are seized and
retained
for examination - The Sháh wishes to continue his expedition, but is
dissuaded by
the Prime Minister - Panic in Teherán - The Sháh holds a public
reception on the following day.
P. 170. Messengers are despatched in all
directions to
announce the Sháh's safety - Certain malicious persons strive
unsuccessfully to
cast suspicion on the Prime Minister and Muhammad Hasan
Khán
of Erivan - It is
[page 192]
discovered that 70 Bábís are in the habit of resorting to the
house of
Hájí Suleymán Khán, on which accordingly a raid
is made,
resulting in the capture of Suleymán Khán and twelve others -
Mullá Sheykh 'Alí and thirty-six other Bábís
are also
arrested - Account of the execution of these - The Sháh returns to
Teherán from Niyávarán amidst general rejoicings on
Friday,
Zi'l-Ka'da 17th, A.H. 1268 (September 2nd, A.D. 1852).
Rizá-Kulí
Khán's
narrative substantially agrees with that of the
Lisánu'l-Mulk, but is on
the whole less full, more bombastic, and more vituperative, execrations and
curses on
the Bábís severally and generally being freely introduced
throughout.
Some new dates are added, and some, such as that of the Zanján
troubles, which
are erroneously stated in the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh, are
here correctly given; but, on the other hand, some fresh chronological
errors, notably
in the case of Mullá Huseyn's last sortie and death, are
introduced. The
account given of the Báb's death is extremely meagre; and in other
parts of the
narrative we miss that abundance of detail and fulness of description which
render the
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh so readable and so
graphic.
Each page of the Rawzatu's-
Safá contains 33 lines, and each line an average of 26
words, making
about 858 words to the page. The number of pages devoted to the
Bábís is
in all twenty and a half, so that the whole narrative above summarized
contains not
fewer than 17,500 words, and is about two-thirds of the length of the
account given in
the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh.
3. The Táríkh-i-
Jadíd.
Of this work, which exists only in
manuscript, two
copies only, so far as I know, have reached Europe1.
One,
1 Quite recently, as I have
learned from Baron Rosen, another
MS. of this work, obtained by M. Tumanski at Ishkábád,
has been added to the library of the Institut des Langues Orientales of St
Petersburg.
[page 193]
obtained by Mr Sidney Churchill, is in the library of the British Museum,
and is
numbered Or. 2942. The other is in my own possession, and is briefly
described at p.
496 of my first paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for
1889, and at pp. 1002-1003 of my second paper in the same volume. Of the
manner in
which I first became acquainted with this work, of the means whereby I
obtained the
MS. now in my possession, of my intention of publishing it, and of the causes
which led me to lay aside (I trust but for a season) the text and
translation on which I
was engaged in favour of the present work, I have already spoken in the
Introduction. As
the Táríkh-i-Jadíd is not at present generally
available to
scholars, I shall confine myself to giving a brief statement of its
contents based on my
own MS. Before doing so, however, a few words must be said concerning the
British Museum codex, which is superior alike in accuracy, neatness, and
calligraphy to
my own.
In the MS. catalogue of recent acquisitions the
MS. in question is described thus:-
"Or. 2942.
Táríkh-i-Jadíd. A
history of the Bábís. A.H. 1298 (1881). Persian."
On its cover it bears the following inscription:-
BRIT. MUS.
OR.
2942 | TARIKH
JADID
PERSIAN |
Inside the cover is written:-
~~~ (sic)
The blank leaf at the beginning bears the
name of the
work (~~~) both in Arabic and English
characters, the date July 1882, and Mr Sidney Churchill's signature,
substituted for
that of Hr Henry Churchill through which a pen has been drawn.
At the end of the text is the following
colophon:-
~~~
(Rajab A.H. 1298 = May 30th - June 28th A.D.
1881).
[page 194]
A final note states that the MS. was bought of
[sic] Mr S. Churchill on October 10th, 1885. It consists of 177
fol. (354 pp.). Quotations, headings, and the initial words of sentences
are sometimes
written in red. The paper is of a bluish colour. The text, so far as I have
collated it,
offers a good many variants from, and some additions to, my MS., and its
readings
are generally preferable.
My MS. consists of 374 pp., each of which
contains 19 lines numbering on an average 10 words apiece. The whole
history may be
estimated to contain over 70,000 words.
As regards the authorship of the work, it is
concealed
for obvious reasons; and indeed the author goes out of his way to describe
himself as a
traveller who, having visited all parts of Europe and India, undertook a
journey to
Persia for scientific purposes and especially geographical research. He
expresses
thankfulness to God that he does not belong to the Persian nation, whose
faults he exposes
unsparingly. He pourtrays himself as a non-Muhammadan open to conviction on
matters
of religion and associating freely with all sects. And at the conclusion of
his work he
apologizes for his lack of literary style, advances as an excuse the
statement that
Persian is not his native tongue, and alludes to a "treatise written in his
own language in
French writing" wherein the matter in hand is more eloquently set forth.
Now that any
European should have been capable or desirous of composing such a work is
on the face of
it extremely improbable, and there can be little doubt that the author
advanced the
statements above alluded to merely as a blind. Of the Bábís
whom I have
questioned on the subject some attribute the authorship of the work to a
certain well-
known and widely-travelled resident in the Persian capital, whom, as he is
still living,
I do not feel myself justified in indicating more particularly; others to his
mírzá or secretary, now dead. It appears not
improbable that it
was the joint product of these two. Whoever the author or authors may have
been, the
information set forth is so detailed and so minute that it must have been
derived for the
most part from persons who had conversed with actual eye-witnesses of the
events
described, if not from eye-witnesses themselves. The author, whether
[page 195]
he had really embraced the Bábí faith or not, was, on his
showing, a
warm admirer of the Báb and his apostles and disciples, and was
during the
composition of his work in continual communication with certain prominent
members of
the sect. Yet the work when completed - perhaps because of the violence
wherewith it
denounces the Musulmán clergy and reproaches the Persian nation,
perhaps
because of the slight mention which it makes of Behá'u'lláh (of
Subh-i-Ezel it makes no mention at all) and the exaggerated
veneration
paid to the Báb - did not meet with the approval of the
Bábí chiefs
in Acre, and as early as the spring of 1888 I learned in
Shíráz that
instructions had been issued for the compilation of a new history more in
accordance
with the views entertained by those chiefs. Of these instructions the
history now offered
to the public is the outcome.
Summary of the contents of the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd.
Pp. 1-381.
Introduction.
" 39-40.
Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht foretells the
approaching
'manifestation' and dies.
Pp. 41-47. Conversion of Mullá
Huseyn
of Bushraweyh.
Pp. 48-50. Conversions of Hájí
Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh ('Jenáb-i-
Kuddús'), Mullá Muhammad
Sádik. of
Khurásán ('Mukaddas'), and others.
Pp. 51-55. From Mullá Huseyn's
journey to Khurásán to his entry into Bárfurúsh
with
Hájí Muhammad 'Alí and their combined
followers.
Pp. 56-114. From the first collision between the
Bábís and the Musulmáns in Bárfurúsh to
the fall
of the Castle of Sheykh Tabarsí.
Pp. 115-132. Biographies of certain eminent
Bábís who suffered martyrdom in Mázandarán,
with some
reflections on the heroism displayed by the besieged.
Pp. 133-155. The struggle at
Níríz, and
reflections thereon. (See Note H, infra.)
1: The pagination refers to
my own MS., not to the British
Museum Codex.
[page 196]
Pp. 156-163. The siege of Zanján.
Pp. 164-166. Reflections thereon.
" 167-176.
Account
of a disputation between a learned Bábí and an assembly of
Musulmán divines.
Pp. 177-201. The decadence of the Persian
empire and
the deterioration of its people traced to the complete ascendancy obtained
by the clergy,
whose ignorance, wickedness, and arrogance are unsparingly exposed.
Pp. 202-222. Personal history of the
Báb from
the beginning of his mission until his exile to Mákú.
Pp. 223-236. Sufficiency of the testimony
given by a
host of martyrs of every class to the truth of Bábíism.
Objections
answered.
Pp. 237-240. Personal history of the Báb
continued until his removal from Mákú to
Chihrík.
Pp. 241-243. History of the 'Indian believer'
(~~~)
Pp. 244-246. History of Seyyid
Basír
the Indian.
" 247-249.
Eulogy on
the devotion and self-sacrifice of the Bábís.
Pp. 250-261. History of the 'Seven
Martyrs'
(See Note B, infra.)
Pp. 262-264. Reflections thereon.
" 265-277.
History of
Kurratu'l-'Ayn. (See Note Q, infra.)
Pp. 278-280. First examination of the
Báb at
Tabríz. (See Note M, infra.)
Pp. 281-286. Reflections on the unfairness of
the
proceedings.
Pp. 287-300. Personal history of the
Báb until
his martyrdom.
Pp. 301-305. Review of former prophetic
dispensations and comparison of these with the present 'manifestation.'
Pp. 306-322. Discussion of the kind of proof
necessary
to establish the truth of a new revelation, and reflections on the
hard-heartedness,
obstinacy, and stiff-neckedness of the Musulmáns in general and
their clergy in
particular, together with further proofs of their want of
[page 197]
fairness illustrated by additional details concerning the conference at
Isfahán.
(See Note J, infra.)
Pp. 323-331. The irrational beliefs, absurd
traditions, and gross ignorance of the generality of Shi'ite divines.
Pp. 332-369. Account of a discussion which
took place
in the author's presence between a Bábí and a
mujtahid, and
discomfiture of the latter.
Pp. 370-372. Refutation of certain charges
falsely
alleged against the Bábís.
Pp. 373-374. Conclusion.
4. The Kisasu'l-
'Ulamá.
This is a work of 350 pages containing
biographical
notices of 153 eminent Shi'ite divines, amongst whom the author,
Mírzá
Muhammad ibn Suleymán-i-Tanakábuní, includes
himself. It was published for the second time at Teherán in A.H.
1304 (A.D.
1886-7), together with two treatises composed by Seyyid Murtazá
''Ilmu'l-Hudá,' which are included in the same volume. The
second
biography in this volume, extending from p. 12 to p. 43, is devoted to
Hájí Mullá Muhammad Takí ibn
Muhammad al-Burghání al-Kazvíní,
called by the Shi'ites Shahíd-i-Thálith ('the Third
Martyr'), and
treats incidentally at some length of the Bábís, with whom
the subject of
the memoir in question came into such fatal collision. Of the book under
consideration we
are here concerned with this section alone, and indeed only with a part of
that.
Hájí Mullá Muhammad
Takí was the eldest of three brothers, of whom the second,
Hájí Mullá Muhammad Sálih, was
also a
divine and jurisconsult, while the third, Hájí Mullá
'Alí,
was first a disciple of Sheykh Ahmad Ahsá'í and
afterwards a partisan of the Báb. Now Hájí Mullá
Muhammad Takí detested Sheykh Ahmad and his
doctrines,
and was indeed the first amongst the Shi'ite clergy to denounce him as a
dangerous
heretic; but if his detestation of the Sheykhís was great, much
bitterer and more
violent was his hatred of the Bábís. The fact that not only
his youngest
brother Hájí Mullá 'Alí, but also his niece and
daughter-
in-law Zarrín-Táj (or, to give her the title whereby she has
become for
ever famous, Kurratu'l-
[page 198]
'Ayn), had embraced the doctrines which he so abhorred, must have greatly
conduced to
an intensification of this hatred, which rose to such a pitch that, as we
learn from the
present work, he was during the last year of his life chiefly engaged in
violent public
denunciation of the Báb and his religion. This cost him his life;
for at length
certain Bábís, stung by his words into uncontrollable anger,
fell upon
him early one morning as he was praying in the mosque, and with knives and
daggers
inflicted on him eight wounds, from the effects of which he expired two
days later. He
was buried at Kazvín in the precincts of
Sháhzádé
Huseyn.
Contents of the Kisasu'l-'Ulamá in so
far as
they
relate to the Bábís.
P. 20. Hájí Mullá
Muhammad Takí first denounces Sheykh Ahmad
Ahsá'í as a heretic - Account of Sheykh
Ahmad.
Pp. 21-30. Account of Sheykh Ahmad and
Hájí Seyyid Kázim - Exposition and refutation
of their
doctrines. (See Note E, infra, and B. ii, pp. 890-892.)
Pp. 30-35. Account of Hájí
Muhammad Karím Khán of Kírmán - Further
remarks on the Sheykhí doctrines.
P. 36. Account of the assassination of
Hájí Mullá Muhammad Takí by certain
Bábís in A.H. 1264 (A.D. 1848).
P. 37. Account of Mírzá
'Alí
Muhammad the Báb - His diligent attendance at Hájí
Seyyid Kázim's lectures. (See B. ii, p. 894.)
P. 38. How the attention of the author was
first drawn
to the Báb (see B. ii, pp. 894, 895) - The Báb returned to
Bushire and
begins to practise austerities - He composes a 'Kur'án' - The
heresy of
his doctrines exposed.
P. 39. Imprisonment of the Báb at
Chihrík. - His first examination before the clergy of Tabríz.
(See Note
M, infra.)
Pp. 40, 41. Account of the Báb's
examination
continued and concluded - He is bastinadoed - Further particulars concerning
Hájí Muhammad Karím Khán.
Pp. 42, 43. Disparagement of Hájí
Muhammad Karím Khán, and proofs of his lack of
scholarship.
[page 199]
II. OTHER WRITINGS IN ORIENTAL
LANGUAGES WHEREIN
INCIDENTAL REFERENCE TO THE BÁBÍS IS
MADE.
Besides the Persian works above noticed which
bear
directly on the history of the Bábí movement, we may observe
that the
Persian poet Ká'ání has two
kasídas written to celebrate the Sháh's
escape
from the attempt on his life1. These, however, as
one would
naturally expect, throw very little new light on the facts of the case. It
is said that
Ká'ání was at first disposed to regard the
Báb with
favour, and that the kasída beginning:-
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"The ensample of men and jinn hath appeared,
The leader of these and those hath appeared,"
was written in his honour. If this be so, it is by no means the only
instance of
inconsistency wherewith this talented but fickle poet can be taxed.
In Arabic there is an article on
Bábíism in the Encyclopaedia (~~~) of
Butrusu'l-Bustání (Beyrout, 1881)
which contributes some important facts not previously published, but also
contains one
or two grave errors. It comprises about 1600 words, and is based on
information
communicated by Seyyid Jemálu'd-Din al-Afghán. Of a portion
of this I
published a translation in my second paper on the Bábís
(J. R. A. S. for 1889, pp. 942-943).
In Turkish a short article of about
240 words in
vol. ii of Sámí Bey's Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire et de
Géographie (~~~, Constantinople,
A.H. 1307) contains no new facts, but several new errors.
1: See infra, Note
T
[page 200]
III. EUROPEAN
ACCOUNTS.
Numerous accounts of the Báb and his
religion
have been published in Europe, and these, so far as they are known to me, I
shall now
enumerate in the order of their publication, noting as far as possible
whence each work
derives the information which it embodies. A mere casual remark of some
traveller
often sheds a fresh ray of light on the matter, or helps to decide some
doubtful date, and
therefore I shall include in my list several works wherein only a few
paragraphs are
devoted to the Bábís; while on the other hand I do not
consider it
necessary to refer to all of the numerous articles on the subject which
have appeared in
various encyclopaedias and magazines, since these for the most part merely
repeat more
or less fully and eloquently the facts recorded by other writers.
[A.D. 1851.]
Bâb und
seine Secte in Persien, by A. H. Wright of the American Mission at
Urúmiyya, Persia, contributed by J. Perkins, also of the aforesaid
Mission, to
the German Oriental Society, and published in Vol. v of the Z. D. M.
G. (Leipzig, 1851, pp. 384-385). From a note appended by the Editor we
learn that
the MS. of this article, dated March 31, 1851, was forwarded with a letter
from
Mr Perkins dated March 29, and that another copy of the same article was
sent to the
American Oriental Society. From the Journal of the last-named society it
appears that
this paper was read at one of their meetings, but, so far as I can
discover, it was not
published, so that we have it only in its German dress. This document is of
capital
importance, and I have more than once had occasion to refer to it in my
notes.
[A.D. 1856.]
Glimpses of
Life and Manners in Persia, by Lady Sheil (London, 1856). The authoress
of this
work also was resident in Persia during the Bábí troubles,
and much
valuable information is supplied by her. That this information was derived
for the most
part, if not entirely, from bitter enemies of the new faith, or in other
words from
persons attached to the Persian Court, is sufficiently
[page 201]
evident. Some of the statements advanced seem to be traceable to one or
other of the Court
historians whose works have already been noticed. Others - especially one
to the effect
that the Báb, while resident at Baghdad or Kerbelá, was
arrested by the
Turkish authorities, and only saved from execution at their hands by the
intervention of
the Persian consul (p. 177) - stand alone, and are unsupported by other
testimony.
What relates to the Bábís in this work is as follows:
P. 176. Origin of the sect.
P. 177. Personal history of the Báb
until his
death.
P. 178. Confessions of ex-
Bábís.
P. 179. Bábí doctrines
exposed.
P. 180. Bábís compared to
Assassins and
Mazdakites - Mázandarán and Yezd insurrections - Execution of
the
'Seven Martyrs'
P. 181. Rising at Zanján - Probability
that the
Bábí faith is spreading.
* *
* *
*
Pp. 273-282. Accounts of the attempt on the
Sháh's life and of the Bábí executions which followed
it, the latter
translated from the 'Teherán Gazette' in which it appeared.
[A.D. 1857.] Journal
of Two
Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc., by Robert B. M. Binning, Esq.,
of the Madras
Civil Service (London, 1857, 2 vols). Some few pages of the
twentieth chapter
of this work (vol. i, pp. 403-408) are devoted to the Bábís.
Of all
accounts which I have read, not excluding those given by the Musulmán
historians, this is the most hostile, the most unfair - I had almost said
the most
libellous. The writer, not content with likening the Bábís to
Mormons and
Sadducees and describing their Founder as a kind of oriental Joe Smith,
casts aspersions
on the Báb's honesty, and almost accuses him of theft in so many
words. This
should not, perhaps, cause us much surprise in one who considers that the
Gospelof
Christ would be best commended to the people of Persia by the annexation of
their
country by some "Christian State," and who thinks that King
Núshírván acted "very properly" in ordering the
massacre of
Mazdak and his adherents. In
[page 202]
point of accuracy, too, this account leaves much to be desired. Thus the
author, writing
in 1850-1851, describes the Níríz insurrection and the death
of Seyyid
Yahyá as having occurred "about five years ago," and states
that the
Báb himself travelled into Mázandarán, evidently
confusing him
with Muhammad 'Alí of Bárfurúsh. Yet, open to
criticism
as it is, Mr Binning's narrative has its value, and, as I have shown above
(p. 187),
helps to determine some doubtful points of chronology. Mr Binning appears
to have left
Persia by way of Bushire on February 7, 1852, having learned, almost at the
moment of
his departure, the tragic fate of Mírzá Takí
Khán
Amír-Nizám, which befel in January of that
year.
[A.D. 1864,65.] In the
Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale de St
Pétersbourg, dated
December 22, 1864 (vol. viii, pp. 247-248), is a most valuable article by
Dorn on
certain Bábí MSS. belonging to the St Petersburg collection.
One of
these - described as "the Koran of the Bábís" - derives
special value
from the fact that it was written by the Báb's own secretary, and by
him placed
in European hands. A portion of this text given by Dorn as a specimen was
pronounced by
Subh-i-Ezel (to whom I submitted it) an extract from the
Book of
Names (~~~). The other MS.
described is a history of the Mázandarán insurrection
composed in the
Mázandarání dialect, and was obtained by Dorn during
his sojourn
in that province in 1860. From the abstract given of its contents it would
appear to be of
the highest interest, even though it be not in all respects worthy of
credence. A short
postscript referring to the authenticity of these two MSS. is added in the
Bulletin for February 8, 1865. Concerning the occurrences in
Mázandarán, Dorn also refers to a previous article of his at
p. 353 of vol.
iv of the Bulletin (Mélanges Asiatiques, vol. iv, p.
442), but this I
have not seen.
[A.D. 1865.] Les
Religions
et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale, by M. le Comte de Gobineau
(Paris, 1865
and 1866). This most brilliant, most graphic, and most charming work is too
well
known to need any detailed description.
[page 203]
Though largely based on the Lisánu'l-Mulk's account of the
Bábí movement, it embodies also many statements derived from
Bábí sources; and not only are the facts thus obtained sifted
with rare
judgment and arranged with consummate skill, but the characters and scenes
of this
stirring drama are depicted in a manner so fresh, so vivid, and so lifelike
that the work
in question must ever remain a classic unsurpassed and indeed unapproached
in the
subject whereof it treats. The account of the Bábí books and
doctrines
(occupying 50 pages) is of the utmost value, being based on Bábí
MSS. (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris) obtained by the
author; and the
translation of the Book of Precepts (~~~), which forms an Appendix
of 82 pages, is still the only complete
translation into any European language of a Bábí sacred book.
Of the 543
pages composing this volume, 299 are devoted to the
Bábís.
[A.D. 1865.]
Persien. Das
Land und seine Bewohner, by Dr Jakob Eduard Polak, formerly Physician
to the
Sháh of Persia and Professor at the Medical College of
Teherán (Leipzig,
1865, 2 vols). This work, embodying as it does researches into every
phase of
Persian life made by one whose position gave him rare opportunities of
observing facts
which his scientific training enabled him to describe with precision and
accuracy, is
also of the highest value. What relates to the Bábís occupies
only four
pages (pp. 350-353) of the first volume. Of these four pages the contents
are briefly as
follows:-
P. 350. The Báb and his teaching - Its
rapid
spread, especially amongst Seyyids, men of learning, and women of the most
cultured
class - Kurratu'l-'Ayn - Alleged use of narcotics such as
hashísh by the Bábís - Determination of the
Amír-Nizám to put the Báb to death.
P. 351. Execution of the Báb -
Insurrections in
Mázandarán and Zanján. [Both of these risings
are here
described as having taken place subsequently to the Báb's
death, whereas
in fact the former had terminated and the latter was in progress when this
event
occurred.] - Attempt on the Sháh's life in 1852.
[page 204]
P. 352. Attempt on the Sháh's life -
Persons
suspected - "Macchiavellian means" adopted for the extirpation of the
Bábís - Hájí 'Alí Khán the
Farrásh-Báshí - His cruel disposition -
Partition of the
Bábí prisoners.
P. 353. Horrible cruelties perpetrated on the
Bábís - Their extraordinary fortitude - The tortures
inflicted on the
beautiful Kurratu'l-'Ayn, and the "superhuman courage" wherewith she
endured
her lingering death. [Of this execution Dr Polak was himself a
witness] - Persecutions in the provinces - Activity of the
Bábís continued, though concealed.
[A.D. 1865.] Journey
from
London to Persepolis, by John Ussher, F.R.G.S. (London, 1865). This work
contains (pp. 627-629) some mention of the Bábís, and depicts
in vivid
colours the reign of terror which succeeded the attempt on the
Sháh's life. A
portion of this description is quoted in a footnote on p. 120,
supra.
[A.D. 1866.] Bab et les
Babis, an article - or rather a series of five articles - communicated
to the
Journal Asiatique for 1866 by Mirza Kazem-Beg. The Journal
Asiatique
for each year being divided into two volumes in the second of which the
pagination is
recommended, I have, for the sake of brevity, denoted all that portion of
Mirza Kazem-
Beg's article which occurs in vol. vii (6th series) by the abbreviation
'Kazem-Beg i,'
and that which occurs in vol. viii by 'Kazem-Beg ii,' whenever I have had
occasion to
refer to them. The whole article amounts to 251 pages distributed in the
two volumes as
follows:-
Vol. vii (sixième série), pp.
329-384.
Preface, and biography of the Báb in 16 sections.
Pp. 457-522. The Sheykhí doctrines.
History of
the Bábís, until the final suppression of the
Mázandarán
insurrection.
Vol. viii (sixième série), pp.
196-252.
History of the Bábís concluded. (Insurrections of
Zanján and
Níríz, attempt on the Sháh, persecution of A.D.
1852.)
Pp. 357-400. The doctrine of the
Bábís,
and its antecedents.
Pp. 473-507. Two letters from a
Bábí
Seyyid -
[page 205]
Changes in the original doctrine of the Báb wrought by his followers -
Translations from a Bábí work of a devotional character.
[This
work, as I have attempted to show on pp. 897-899 of my second paper on the
Bábís in the J. R. A. S., is none other than the
Ziyárat-náma - the so-called "Récit du
Pèlerinage" -
composed by the Báb.] - Conclusion.
The sources from which Mirza Kazem-Beg drew his
information are, as stated by himself in a note on p. 332 (vol. vii), the
following:-
(() The Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh.
(() The MS. History in the
Mázandarání dialect described by Dorn (see p. 202,
supra). Its author calls himself Sheykhu'l-'Ajam. Kazem-Beg
describes
the work in question as "full of inexactitudes," "of no historic value,"
and "curious only
because composed in the dialect of Mázandarán."
(() A memoir on the Bábís by M.
Sévruguin, who resided for twenty years in Persia.
(() Another memoir by M. Mochenin, who was in
Persia at the time of the Bábí troubles, and who (vol. vii,
p. 371) was so
fortunate as to be at Chihrík. in June 1850, and even, as it would
appear, to see
the Báb addressing the multitudes who flocked thither.
Some of Kazem-Beg's dates and facts I have
already had
occasion to criticize (though in almost all such cases it is the
Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh which is ultimately responsible); neither can I
concur in
several of the views which he advances (especially his estimate of the
characters of
Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd and
Áká
Seyyid Yahyá of Dáráb and his theory of the
passive part
taken by the Báb in the formation of the new doctrines); but,
whatever new light
further research may throw on the subject treated of by Mirza Kazem-Beg,
there is no
doubt that his work will always remain one of the chief authorities
thereon.
[A.D. 1866.] History of
Persia from the beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Year 1858,
by Robert
Grant Watson, formerly attached to Her Majesty's Legation at the Court of
Persia
(London, 1866). This work is also of the utmost value, since the author,
from the
position which
[page 206]
he occupied, had at his disposal the best means for arriving at the truth
of matters of
historical fact (especially of chronology), and was, moreover, by no means
disposed
unreservedly to follow the Musulmán historians, of whose
unreliability he was
well aware. What refers to the Bábís in this work is as follows:-
Pp. 347-352. Origin of the movement - Early
life of
the Báb - The treatment experienced by him at the hands of
Huseyn
Khán - Edicts against the Bábís.
* *
* *
*
Pp. 360-362. Rising at Yezd (not described in
this
passage as Bábí).
P. 385. Yezd rising described as a
Bábí
movement.
P. 386. Account of the 'Seven
Martyrs'
P. 387. Siege of Zanján.
Pp. 388-392. Execution of the Báb -
Fall of
Zanján.
* *
* *
*
Pp. 407-410. Attempt on Sháh's life -
Executions of Bábís.
[A.D. 1867.] Meine
Wanderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien, by Hermann Vámbéry
(Pest, 1867). This well-known traveller, à propos of a
conversation which he
had during his passage through Mázandarán with some of the
inhabitants
of 'Alí-ábád, in whose minds the recollection of the
siege of
Sheykh Tabarsí was still fresh, gives a dissertation on the
Bábís which extends from p. 286 to p. 303 of this work. This
account
seems to be based almost entirely on what be [sic] was able
to learn
from the Persians, though Gobineau's work is occasionally quoted. The
details here given
concerning Suleymán Khán's martyrdom (which differ somewhat from
those embodied in other traditions) will be referred to in Note T,
infra.
[A.D. 1868.]
Geschichte der
herrschenden Ideen des Islams, by Baron Alfred von Kremer (Leipzig, 1868).
Twenty pages of this work (pp. 202-222) are devoted to Bâb und seine
Lehre, which article constitutes sect. vii of Book ii. One of the
Bábí
MSS. in the British Museum (Or. 3114) was, as appears from a note on the first
page, bought from
[page 207]
Baron von Kremer, and contains a short note in pencil in his handwriting,
but it does not
seem that he made use of this in the compilation of the article in
question.
[A.D. 1869.]
L'Année
Philosophique for this year contains an article by F. Pillon referred
to with
approbation in the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
(vol. iii, s. v.
Bâbi).
[A.D. 1872.] Essays und
Studien, by Dr Hermann Ethé (Berlin, 1872). Of this work 61
pages (pp.
301-362) are occupied by an essay on the Báb and his doctrine
entitled Ein
moderner Prophet des Morgenlandes and based on the works of Gobineau,
Kazem-
Beg, Vámbéry, and Perkins. This essay is written in a
sympathetic
spirit, and the Bábí doctrines are expounded in a very lucid
and logical
manner.
[A.D. 1873.] The
Journal
Asiatique for this year (7th series, vol. ii, pp. 393-395) contains an
article "Sur
les sectes dans le Kurdistan" by M. t. Gilbert wherein is included a short
notice
of the Bábís. After briefly describing the beliefs attributed
to them by
their neighbours, M. Gilbert estimates the number of those settled in
Kurdistán
at about five thousand.
[A.D. 1874.] Persia -
Ancient and Modern, by John Piggot, F.SA., F.G.S, F.R.G.S.
(London, 1874). The account of the Bábí movement given in
this work is
full of inaccuracies. Thus, on p. 104, speaking of the Bábís
up in arms at
Yezd in May 1850, the writer says, "failing in this" (i.e. their attempt to
capture the
citadel) "they retired to Zinjan"; and he further describes the Báb
as having
been present in person amongst the besieged in that city, and as having
been captured
"in one of the assaults of the Sháh's troops" and executed
there.
[A.D. 1874.] Gurret-
ül-Eyn: Ein Bild aus Persiens Neuzeit, by Marie von Najmájer
(Vienna, 1874). This is a poem in six cantos in honour of the
Bábí
heroine Kurratu'l-'Ayn, which, if not possessing much historic
value, is
at
[page 208]
least a graceful and pleasing tribute to the memory of a noble woman.
[A.D. 1875.] Journey
in the
Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey in Asia, by Lieut. Baron Max von Thielmann,
translated into English by Charles Henneage, F.R.G.S. (London, 1875, 2
vols). The first volume of this work contains (at p. 262) a brief
reference to
the Bábís à propos of 'Muridism.' The
second volume
contains (at p. 52) an allusion to the Báb's execution in the
citadel (arg)
of Tabríz, which event is wrongly described as having occurred in
A.D. 1843;
and (at pp. 90-91) an interesting account of a Bábí named
Hájí Muhammad Ja'far[footnote 1: Baron von
Thielmann's
fellow-traveller is very probably identical with the Hájí
Muhammad Ja'far mentioned on p. 100, supra, and in note 1 on
the same
page.] who was the author's fellow-traveller from Tabríz to
Mosul.
[A.D. 1877.]
Collections
Scientifiques de l'Institut des Langues Orientales, vol. i,
Manuscrits Arabes,
by Baron Victor Rosen (St. Petersburg, 1886). To this most valuable
contribution to
our knowledge I have had occasion to refer frequently, both in my second
paper on the
Bábís (pp. 886, 905-909, 954-960, &c.), and in the present
work. Of
the two Bábí MSS. described, the first is conjectured by Baron
Rosen (and there can hardly be a doubt that his conjecture is right) to be the
Commentary on the Súra of Joseph (~~~) composed by the
Báb at the beginning of his mission; the
second, concerning which I was unable to arrive at a definite conclusion in
my second
paper on the Bábís (p. 954-958), has since been proved beyond
all
question to be a copy of Behá's Súra-i-Heykal, whereof
the
Epistles to the Kings (including the Epistle to the Sháh, a complete
translation of
which is given in the present work[footnote 2: See pp. 108-151,
supra,
and Note X, infra. The latter contains a translation of that portion
of the Arabic
exordium which is not cited in the Persian text.]) form a portion.
Baron
Rosen's convincing arguments (which he has kindly allowed me to see in
proof) are
prefixed to the text of the MS., which will be published in
[page 209]
extenso in vol. vi of the Collections Scientifiques &c.,
shortly to appear (p.
145 et seq.).
[A.D. 1879.] The
Deutsche
Rundschau (vol. xviii, pp. 284-291) contains an article entitled
Orientalischer
Socialismus by Professor t. N\'f6ldeke, in which the tenets of the
Bábís are briefly discussed, and compared with those of the
Mazdakites.
[A.D. 1886.]
Collections
Scientifiques &c., vol. iii, Manuscrits Persans, by Baron Rosen (St
Petersburg, 1886). This volume, equally valuable with the other, contains
descriptions
of MSS. of the Persian Beyán (pp. 1-32) and the
Íkán (pp. 33-51).
[A.D. 1887.] The Revue
Critique d'Histoire et de Littérature for April 18th of this
year contains (pp.
297-298) a review of Baron Rosen's Manuscrits Persans by M. E. Fagnan.
Special notice is taken of the Bábí MSS. described by Baron
Rosen,
and some valuable information is given concerning the five Bábí
MSS. brought by Gobineau from Persia, which, on the death of their owner, were
bought by the Bibliothèque Nationale.
[A.D. 1887.] Haifa,
or Life
in Modern Palestine, by Laurence Oliphant (Edinburgh and London, 1887).
This
work consists of a series of letters or essays on different subjects
connected with the
Holy Land, of which the twenty-first, entitled "the Babs and their
Prophet" (pp.
103-107), gives an account of a visit paid by the writer to one of
Behá's
gardens in the vicinity of Acre, together with such information as to the
history of the
Báb and the Bábís and the personal character and
claims of
Behá as he was able to collect. This account is very noteworthy,
since it is, so far
as I know, the first published notice of Behá and the
Bábí colony
at Acre. Several erroneous statements are made, especially one to the
effect that
Behá "is visible only to women or men of the poorest class," and
that "his own
disciples who visit him are only allowed a glimpse of his august back." I
myself,
during the week which I spent at Acre (April 13th-20th, 1890), was
[page 210]
admitted to the august presence four times, each interview lasting about 20
minutes;
besides which on one occasion I saw Behá walking in his garden of
Janayn
surrounded by a dozen or so of his chief disciples. Not a day passes but
numerous
Bábís of all classes are permitted to wait upon him.
[A.D. 1887.] Note
sur trois
ouvrages Bâbis communicated by M. Clément Huart to the
Journal
Asiatique for 1887 (eighth series, vol. x, pp. 133-144). Of the first
of the three
MSS. described I submitted an extract to Subh-i-Ezel, who
pronounced it to be (as M. Huart had conjectured) from his own work the
Kitáb-i-Núr ('Book of Light'), or rather from one of
the two
works which go by that name. The translation of Subh-i-Ezel's
words
(contained in a letter written at the end of September 1889) will be found
in Note U
infra. The other two MSS. described by M. Huart appear to be from the
same source. Baron Rosen alludes to another article about these MSS. by M.
Huart
in the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions (vol. xviii, p. 279-296),
which I have
not seen.
[A.D. 1889.] La
Religion de
Bab, a little volume of 64 pages, also by M. Huart, forming one of the
series known
as the Bibliothèque Orientale Elzévirienne (Paris,
1889). This contains
some translations from the above MSS. The historical portion supplies us
with no
new facts.
[A.D. 1889.] The
Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society [New Series] vol. XXI contains
my two
papers on the Bábís, whereof the first (throughout this work
referred to
as B. i) is entitled The Bábís of Persia. I.
Sketch of their
History and Personal Experiences amongst them, and the second (referred
to as B.
ii) The Bábís of Persia. II. Their Literature and
Doctrines. These
two papers embody the results of my investigations on this subject during
the year
which I spent in Persia (1887-1888).
[A.D. 1889.] Baron Rosen's
Zapiski (vol. iv, parts 1 and 2, pp. 112-114) contains a short
account of four
Bábí works recently brought to St Petersburg. These four
[page 211]
works are:- (1) A MS. of the ~~~; (2)
A copy of the Bombay lithographed edition of the ~~~; (3) A MS. of the ~~~
(which work I wrongly named ~~~ in my papers on the Bábís in
the J. R. A. S.); (4) A MS. of the ~~~
(or ~~~). A much fuller description of all
these will be found in vol. vi of the Collections Scientifiques when
it appears. See
immediately below.
[To appear shortly.]
Collections
Scientifiques, vol. vi, by Baron Rosen. Although this volume is not yet
published, the
kindness of the learned author in sending me the proof-sheets as they were
printed off
has enabled me to make reference to it when occasion required. It will
contain, amongst
much other valuable matter, the complete text of the Súra-i-
Heykal.
See also articles in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica
sv. Bâbi (vol. iii, 1875, pp. 180-181), Persia, Modern
History (vol. xviii, 1885, pp. 650-651), and Sunnites and
Shí'ites
(vol. xxii, 1887, p. 665); and articles in the following periodicals:-
Contemporary
Review (vol. xi, p. 581; vol. xii, p. 245), Chambers' Journal
(vol. xxix, p.
45), All the Year Round (vol. xxii, p. 149), Hours at Home
(vol. viii, p.
210), and (vol. ii, p. 793).
NOTE B.
THE MARTYRDOM OF MÍRZÁ SEYYID 'ALÍ THE
BÁB'S
MATERNAL UNCLE AMONGST THE 'SEVEN
MARTYRS.'
"This year," says Lady Sheil writing in
September
1850, "seven Ba[macron over the a]bees were executed at
Tehran for an alleged conspiracy against the life of the Prime Minister.
Their fate
excited general sympathy, for every one knew that no criminal act had been
committed,
and suspected the accusation to be a pretence. Besides this
Bábeeism
[page 212]
had spread in Tehran too. They died with the utmost firmness. Previously to
decapitation
they received an offer of pardon, on the condition of reciting the Kelema,
or creed, that
Mahommed is the Prophet of God. It was rejected, and these visionaries died
steadfast in
their faith. The Persian minister was ignorant of the maxim that
persecution was
proselytismsup>1". Amongst these seven - 'the Seven
Martyrs'
as they are called by the Bábís - was the Báb's uncle
Hájí Mírzá Seyyid 'Alí. The other
sufferers were
Hájí Mullá Isma'íl of Kum,
Mírzá
Kurbán 'Alí the dervish, Áká Seyyid
Huseyn of Turshíz the mujtahid, Hájí
Mullá Nakí of Kirmán, Mírzá
Muhammad Huseyn of Tabríz, and Mullá
Sádik. of Marágha. Of their martyrdom the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd gives a long and touching
account, on
which I here append an abridgement.
What led to this tragic event was, as stated
by Lady
Sheil, a report conveyed to Mírzá Takí
Khán the
Prime Minister that the Bábís in Teherán meditated a
rising.
Thirty-eight persons suspected of belonging to the obnoxious sect were
therefore
arrested and cast into prison. After a few days it was decided that all of
these who would
consent to renounce or repudiate their connection with the Báb and
his doctrines
should be released, but that those who refused to do so should suffer
death.
When this news was brought to the prisoners,
Hájí Mullá Isma'íl of Kum, who was one
of the
earliest believers and who had been present at the conference at Badasht
[see
Gobineau, pp. 180-184], arose and addressed his fellow-captives,
announcing
his own intention of standing firm in the faith even unto death, and
exhorting others
like-minded with himself and not hindered by any impediment to follow his
example,
"for," said he, "if we do not show forth the religion of His Highness the
Ká'im, who then will show it forth?" At the same time
he declared
that those whose faith was weak, or who were prevented by domestic ties
from freely
laying down their lives, must judge for themselves as to the duty incumbent
upon them,
and decide whether they were justified in making a formal renunciation of the
Báb's doctrine.
1 Lady Sheil's Life and
Manners in Persia, pp. 180-181.
[page 213]
Accordingly of the thirty-eight prisoners seven
(including Hájí Mullá Isma'íl) determined to
adopt the
more courageous course, while the others for various reasons were not
prepared to
forfeit their lives, and decided to recant. The latter were therefore
released: the former
were led out to die.
In spite of the wide-spread sympathy felt for
the
sufferers there were not lacking wretches to deride and mock them as they
were led
forth to the place of execution1. Some of these
threw stones
at them; others confined themselves to abuse and raillery, crying out,
"These are
Bábís and madmen." Thereupon Hájí Mullá
Isma'íl turned towards them and said, "Yes, we are
Bábís; but mad
we are not. By God, O people, it is for your awakening and your
enlightenment that we
have foregone life, wealth, wife, and child, and have shut our eyes to the
world and its
citizens, that perchance ye may be warned and may escape from uncertainty
and error,
that ye may fall to making enquiry, that ye may recognize the Truth as is
meet, and that
ye may no longer be veiled therefrom."
Now when they were come to the place of
execution, one
came to Hájí Mullá Isma'íl and said, "Such an
one of your
friends will, on condition of your recanting, give a sum of money in order
that they may
not kill you. To save your life what harm is there in saying merely 'I am
not a
Bábí'?" To this, however, Hájí Mullá
Isma'íl would by no means consent; and, when greatly importuned, he
drew
himself up and said,
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"O zephyr! Say from me to Isma'íl2
destined for
sacrifice,
'To return alive from the street of the Friend is not the condition of
love.'"
1 This, as I have heard, was
the square called Sabz-i-Meydán, adjoining the northern limit
of the bazaars, but according to the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd the execution took place in the
Meydán-i-Sháh
2 According to the Muhammadans it
was Ishmael
[Ismá'íl] not Isaac
[Is-hák] whom Abraham designed for a
sacrifice to
God.
[page 214]
Then he took off his turban and said to the executioner, "Go on with thy
work;" and the
latter, filled with amazement, struck the fatal blow.
The next victim was Mírzá
Kurbán-'Alí the dervish, an old man highly respected
and beloved
of all, who had spent the last night in prison in exhorting and encouraging
his comrades
and reciting verses appropriate to their condition. So high was the
consideration in
which he was held that the Sháh's mother exerted her influence with
her son to
have him pardoned, declaring that it was impossible that he could be a
Bábí. So, as he stood there awaiting death, messengers came
from the
palace to give him another chance of saving his life. "Thou art a dervish,"
said they, "and
art a man of excellence and virtue: they have thrown suspicion upon thee,
but thou art
not of this misguided people." "I consider myself as one of the disciples
and servants of
His Highness [the Báb]," answered the old dervish,
"though
whether He hath accepted me into His service or not I know not." And when they
continued to press him and urge him to save his life he cried, "This drop
of blood - this
poor life - is nought: were I possessed of the lordship of the world, and
had I a thousand
lives, I would freely cast them before the feet of His friends." So, when they
perceived that their efforts were of no avail, they desisted therefrom, and
signified to
the executioner that he should proceed with his work. The first blow struck
only
wounded the old man's neck and cast his turban to the ground. He raised his
head and
exclaimed,
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"O happy that intoxicated lover who at the feet of the Friend
Knoweth not whether it be his head or his turban which he casteth!"
Then the executioner quickly dealt him another blow which slew him.
[page 215]
After him was slain Áká
Seyyid
Huseyn the mujtahid of Turshíz, who, returning
homewards from
Kerbelá to visit his friends and family, had been arrested in
Teherán. He
too died with the utmost firmness and alacrity.
Then came the turn of the Báb's uncle
Hájí Mírzá Seyyid 'Alí. A merchant of his
acquaintance wished to ransom him for the sum of three hundred
túmáns, but he declared that to suffer martyrdom was
his greatest
desire. Then he took off his turban, and, raising his face towards heaven,
exclaimed, "O
God, Thou art witness of how they are slaying the son of Thy Most
Honourable Prophet
without fault on his part." Then he turned to the executioner and recited this
verse:-
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"How long shall grief of separation from him slay me?
Cut off my head, that Love may bestow on me a
head1."
When he had said this he too submitted himself to the executioner's
hands.
After this the other three victims, each in
his turn, met
their death with like heroism. Of the martyrdom of one of these not
specified by name
but described as "a young Seyyid of pleasing countenance and attractive
aspect"; of the
attempt to save him made by Hájí 'Alí Khán the
Hájibu'd-Dawla (see p. 52, note 1), who was superintending the
execution and was moved to a compassion rare in him at the sight of so
youthful and
comely a sufferer; and of the refusal of the youthful Bábí to
escape death
and secure wealth, luxury, and a fair bride as the price of a simple
recantation, the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd gives a detailed account, which,
notwithstanding its pathetic interest, lack of space compels me to omit in
this place.
When the executioners had completed their bloody
work, the rabble onlookers, awed for a while by the patient courage of the
martyrs,
again allowed their ferocious fanati-
1
Masnaví, Book VI, p. 649, l. 2 (ed.
'Alá 'ud-Dawla).
[page 216]
cism to break out in insults to the mortal remains of those whose spirits
had now passed
beyond the power of their malice. They cast stones and filth at the
motionless corpses,
abusing them, and crying out, "This is the recompense of the people of
affection and of
such as pursue the Path of Wisdom and Truth!" Nor would they suffer their
bodies to be
interred in a burial-ground, but cast them into a pit outside the Gate of
Sháh
'Abdu'l-'Azím, which they then filled up.
After detailing the occurrences briefly set
forth above,
the Bábí historian proceeds to point out the special value
and unique
character of the testimony given by the "Seven Martyrs." They were men
representing all the more important classes in Persia - divines, dervishes,
merchants,
shop-keepers, and government officials; they were men who had enjoyed the
respect and
consideration of all; they died fearlessly, willingly, almost eagerly,
declining to
purchase life by that mere lip-denial, which, under the name of
ketmán
or takiya, is recognized by the Shi'ites as a perfectly
justifiable
subterfuge in case of peril; they were not driven to despair of mercy as
were those who
died at Sheykh Tabarsí and Zanján; and they sealed
their faith
with their blood in the public square of the Persian capital wherein is the
abode of the
foreign ambassadors accredited to the court of the Sháh. And herein the
Bábí historian is right: even those who speak severely of the
Bábí movement generally, characterizing it as a communism
destructive
of all order and all morality, express commiseration for these guiltless
victims. To the
day of their martyrdom we may well apply Gobineau's eloquent reflection on
a similar
tragedy enacted two years later:- "Cette journée donna au Bâb
plus de
partisans secrets que bien des prédications n'auraient pu faire. Je
l'ai dit tout \'e0
l'heure, l'impression produite sur le peuple par l'effroyable
impassibilité des
martyrs fut profonde et durable. J'ai souvent entendu raconter les
scènes de cette
journée par des témoins oculaires, par des hommes tenant de
près au
gouvernement, quelques-uns occupant des fonctions éminentes. A les
entendre, on
eut pu croire aisément que tous étaient bâbys, tant ils se
montraient pénétrés d'admiration pour des souvenirs o\'f9
l'Islam
ne jouait pas le plus beau rôle, et par
[page 217]
la haute idée qu'ils avouaient des ressources, des
espérances, et des
moyens de succès de la secte1."
With regard to Hájí
Mírzá Seyyid 'Alí the Báb's uncle, with whom we
are more
particularly concerned, the Táríkh-i-Jádid
gives the
following additional particulars. Before leaving Shíráz
(where, as it
would appear, he had remained after the Báb departed to
Isfahán) he set
all his affairs in order and paid all his creditors in person, as though in
anticipation of a
speedy death. Then he took a tender farewell of all his friends and
relatives, besought
them to pardon any fault which he might have committed in regard to them,
and set out
for Teherán, apparently with the intention of proceeding thence to
Chihrík. to visit the Báb. Perhaps on his arrival at the
capital he was met
with the news of his nephew's martyrdom at Tabríz on July 9th 1850:
at all
events it would appear that he continued there till, not two months later,
he himself met
with a similar fate.
As the Bábí historian does not
omit to
point out, no stronger evidence of the marvellous personal influence of the
Báb
over all with whom he came in contact can be found than the devoted
attachment to him
manifested by his aged uncle, who, knowing him from his childhood upwards,
and being
fully conversant with his daily life, was one of the first to embrace the
faith for which
he died. Of the extraordinary purity and piety of the Báb's life,
indeed, we have
ample evidence. His bitterest enemies cannot asperse his personal
character. Hence
those who knew him best loved and revered him most. I was fortunate enough
to meet at
Acre one who was the Báb's cousin, comrade, play-fellow, and
brother-in-law.
He was a gentle old man with light blue eyes and white beard. I begged him
to give me
some account of the Báb's personal character. "He was very dignified
and gentle
in his manner," replied he, "yet at times, when any attempt to treat him
unfairly or
discourteously was made, he could be very stern. Once I remember while we were
engaged in business at Bushire a custom-house officer attempted to
1 Gobineau, Religions et
Philosophies dans l'Asie
Centrale, 2nd ed. p. 303.
[page 218]
extort money from him wrongfully and treated him with disrespect. Thereupon
the
Báb, finding remonstrance unavailing, struck his assailant with his
slipper
once, accompanying the blow with a look of such majestic anger that the
latter instantly
became silent and took his departure."
NOTE C.
TEXTS FROM THE PERSIAN BEYÁN GIVING THE BÁB'S AGE AT THE
COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MISSION, AND THE DATE THEREOF.
The Báb mentions his age in two
passages in the
Persian Beyán. The first of these occurs in
Váhid II,
ch. 1 and runs as follows in my MS. The variants of the British Museum codex
marked Or. 2819 are here and hereafter given at the foot of each page. This
codex is
denoted by the letter B.
[six lines of Persian/Arabic text, including seven
footnotes]
[page 219]
[eight lines of Persian/Arabic text, including eleven
footnotes]
"And if anyone should reflect on the
appearance of this
Tree12, he will without doubt admit the loftiness
of God's
religion. For in one from whose life [only] twenty-four
years had
passed, who was devoid of those sciences wherein all are learned, who now
recites verses
after such fashion without thought or hesitation, who in the course of five
hours writes a
thousand verses of supplications without pause of the pen, who produces
commentaries
and learned treatises of so high a degree of wisdom and understanding of
the Divine Unity
that doctors and philosophers confess their inability to comprehend those
passages,
there is no doubt that all this is from God. What pains do these
doctors
12 i.e. the Báb, who
repeatedly calls himself "the Tree of
Truth."
[page 220]
take who study diligently from the beginning to the end of their lives when
writing a
single line of Arabic! Yet after all [the result] is but
words which are
unworthy of mention. All these things are for a proof unto the people; else
is the religion
of God too mighty and glorious for one to be able to understand it by aught
other than
itself; rather by it is all else understood"
The second passage occurs in
Váhid vi, ch. 11, which prohibits the cruel beating of
children and
defines the penalties incurred by schoolmasters and teachers who infringe this
injunction. After stating these in full it continues as follows:-
[five lines of Persian/Arabic text, including five
footnotes]
"The fruit of these ordinances is this, that
perchance no
sorrow may befal that Soul from the ocean of whose bounty all are endowed with
existence. For the teacher doth not recognize the Teacher of himself and of
all, even as in
the manifestation of the Furkán [i.e. the
Kur'án] none recognized that Sun of Truth till
forty
years had passed, and in the [case of the ] Point of Revelation
[i.e. the Báb] for twenty-five years."
In my first paper on the Bábís
in the
J. R. A. S. (B. i, pp. 509-511), I was disposed to believe that in each of
these two passages the Báb referred to his actual age at
[page 221]
the time of writing, and that this was why he described himself in one
passage as being
twenty-four years of age and in the other as twenty-five. Starting with
this hypothesis,
I attempted to fix as nearly as possible the date when the first of these
passages was
written, and decided that it must have been about the end of A.D. 1847 or
the beginning
of A.D. 1848. From this I concluded that the Báb must have been born
not earlier
than A.D. 1824, and that he was consequently only nineteen years old at the
commencement of his mission, as alleged by Gobineau (pp. 142-143) and by
some of the
Bábís whom I saw in Kirmán. Further information as to
the date
of the Báb's birth, which reached me after the publication of my
first paper,
compelled me to abandon this view1. Indeed, had I
not been
unduly influenced by the idea that the Báb was nineteen years of age
at the
commencement of his mission, and had I more carefully considered the second
of the two
passages above quoted, I should have perceived that the Báb speaks
of his own age
and that of Muhammad at the beginning of their respective missions
when their
prophetic office was first disclosed to mankind. In ~~~ (Seven
Proofs) the Báb also describes himself as
~~~ "of an age which did not exceed five and
twenty." When in Cyprus I one day enquired of Mírzá
Yahyá Subh-i-Ezel how old the Báb
was at
the time of the 'manifestation.' He replied without hesitation
"twenty-four, and entering
on his twenty-fifth year." Now the date of the 'manifestation' is given in
the Persian
Beyán (the passages will be quoted immediately) as
Jamádí-ul-Úlá 5th A.H. 1260 (May 23rd A.D.
1844). It
therefore follows that the Báb, being at that date, according to his
own statement,
over twenty-four and under twenty-five years of age, must have been born on
Muharram 1st A.H. 1236 (October 9th, A.D. 1820) rather than on
Muharram 1st A.H. 1235 (October 20th, A.D. 1819) as stated at p. 2
of the
present work. The
1 This information will be
found at p. 993 of my second paper on
the Bábís.
[page 222]
correctness of the former date is further corroborated by the enquiries kindly
undertaken by a friend of mine at Shíráz who is himself
connected with
the Báb's family (see B. ii, p. 993), and I think there can be
little doubt that it
is the true one.
The first passage in the Persian
Beyán
where the date of the 'manifestation' is given occurs in
Váhid II,
ch. 7, which treats of the real meaning of the Resurrection. It commences
as follows:-
[nine lines of Persian/Arabic text, including 12
footnotes]
[page 223]
[11 lines of Persian/Arabic text, including 14
footnotes]
[page 224]
[six lines of Persian/Arabic text, including 7
footnotes]
"The seventh chapter of the second
Váhid. In explanation of the Day of Resurrection. The
quintessence of
this chapter is this, that what is intended by the Day of Resurrection is
the day of the
appearance of the Tree of Truth: but it is not seen that any one of the
Shi'ites hath
understood the Day of Resurrection; rather have they fancifully imagined a
thing which
with God hath no reality. [And that which hath no reality with God
hath no
reality.] But what is meant by God and by those who are wise
amongst the people
of truth by the Day of Resurrection is this, that from the time of the
appearance of the
Tree of Truth, at whatever period, and under whatever name [or
form]
(it be), until the moment of its disappearance is the Day of Resurrection.
For example,
from the (first) day of the mission of Jesus till the day of His ascension
was the
Resurrection of Moses, for during that period the manifestation of God
[appeared
in the form of that Truth, who rewarded by His word everyone who believed
in Moses,
and punished by His word everyone who did not believe. For what God
regarded at that
time] was what God beheld in the Gospel. And after the (first) day
of the mission
of the Prophet of God
[page 225]
till the day of his ascension was the Resurrection of Jesus, wherein the
Tree of Truth
appeared in the form of Muhammad, rewarding by his word every one
who was a
believer in Jesus, and tormenting by his word every one who was not a
believer in Him.
And from the moment when the Tree of the Beyán appeared until it
disappeareth
is the Resurrection of the Prophet of God which God hath promised in the
Kur'án; of which appearance the beginning was when two
hours and
fifteen minutes (had passed) from the eve of [Friday
the fifth
of] Jamádí-ul-Úlá (A.H.) 1260,
which is the year 1270 of the mission (of Muhammad). (This) was the
beginning of the Day of Resurrection of the Kur'án. And until
the
disappearance of the Tree of Truth1 is the
Resurrection of the Kur'án. For of no thing doth the
Resurrection occur till it reacheth the stage of perfection. The perfection
of the religion
of Islám was consummated ere the beginning of this Manifestation,
and from the
beginning of this Manifestation till the moment of disappearance the fruits
of the Tree of
Islám, whatever they are, will become apparent. And the Resurrection
of the
Beyán is from the (first) appearance of Him whom God shall manifest;
for to day
the Beyán is in the stage of seed, but at the beginning of the
manifestation of Him
whom God shall manifest the ultimate perfection of the Beyán will
become
apparent, when He shall gather the fruits of the trees which have been
planted."
The second passage giving the date of the
'manifestation'
occurs on Váhid vi, ch. 13 and runs as follows:-
[three lines of Persian/Arabic text, with seven
footnotes]
\tab 1 See note 12 at the foot of p.
219.
[page 226]
"And after the planting of the Tree of the
Kur'án the perfection thereof was attained in one thousand
two hundred
and seventy years. Had the maturity thereof been (attained) at two o'clock
on the night of
[Thursday] the fifth of
Jamádí-ul-Úlá, it
(i.e. the new manifestation) would not have appeared five minutes
later."
The above quotations also illustrate what I
have had
occasion to notice in my first Paper on the Bábís (B. i, p.
507), viz.
that the Báb prefers to date not from the flight of
Muhammad
but from the beginning of his mission, which he places ten years
earlier. Hence
he usually states the beginning of his own mission as having occurred not
in the year
1260 A.H., but "1270 years after the mission of Muhammad." Cf.
Persian Beyán, Váhid ii, ch. 7; iv, 14;
iv. 16; iv,
18; vi, 7; vi, 8; vi, 13 (bis).
NOTE D.
THE MEANING OF THE TITLE 'BÁB.'
Every writer who has made mention of the
Báb
has pointed out that this title assumed by him at the beginning of his
mission signifies
in Arabic 'Gate' or 'Door,' but in specifying that whereunto he professed
to be the 'Gate'
they are no longer in accord. Kazem-Beg says (i, p. 343) that one day,
falling into
ecstasy, Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad "discovered that
he was
the Báb, the Gate of Truth," and a few lines lower he says,
"Je ne sais si
les paroles du Christ: 'Je suis la porte' lui étaient connues; mais
il n'ignorait
sans doute pas que Mahomet avait dit: 'Je suis la ville du savoir et Ali
(son gendre) est
la porte de cette ville'." Gobineau (pp. 149-150) says, "Il annonca qu'il
était le
Bâb, la Porte par laquelle seule on pouvait parvenir à la
connaissance de Dieu."
Lady Sheil says (p. 176), "this amiable sect is styled
Ba[macron]bee, from Ba[macron]b, a
gate, in
[page 227]
Arabic, the name assumed by its founder, meaning, I suppose, the gate to
heaven."
Watson (p. 348) gives the clearest and most correct statement of the
meaning of the
title in question. He says, "He (Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad)
now gave out that as Ali had been the gate by which men had entered the
city of the
prophet's knowledge, even so he was the gate through which men might attain
to the
knowledge of the twelfth Imam. It was in accordance with this doctrine that
he received
the distinguishing appellation of Ba[macron]b, or
gate; from
which his followers were styled
Ba[macron]bis."
As regards the Muhammadan historians, the
Násikhu 't-Tawáríkh of Sipihr, which gives the
fullest
account of the Bábí movement, and which has served as a basis of
information to most European writers, says in speaking of the beginning of
what it calls
"the mischief (fitna) of Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad the
Báb":-
[nine lines of Persian/Arabic text]
[page 228]
[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"When Hájí Seyyid
Kázim departed from this world to the Eternal Abode, he
[Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad] carried off
several of his disciples and retired for vigils and worship to the mosque
of Kúfa,
where he abode forty days. All at once his disposition swerved aside from
rectitude.
Then he secretly seduced men to his own austerities and doctrine, inviting
them to
devote themselves to him. And in whomsoever he felt confidence, to him he
would say, 'I
am the Gate of God: enter, then, houses by their gates: one cannot
enter any house
otherwise than by the gate thereof. Whosoever desireth to come to God and
to know the
religion of God cannot do so until he seeth me and receiveth permission
from me.'
Therefore he became known as 'Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad the
Báb'; and when a few days had passed he was named 'the Báb,'
and his
own name rarely crossed men's tongues."
During the latter part of the reign of
Muhammad Sháh when the Báb, then in captivity at
Chihrík, was brought to Tabríz, and examined
concerning his
doctrine by a council of divines and doctors presided over by the present
Sháh of
Persia, then Crown-Prince, he was required to explain the title which he
had assumed
and to state what meaning he attached to it. The account given of this
examination in the
present history (pp. 19-21, supra) is brief compared to the accounts
contained
in the supplement of the Rawzatu's-Safá,
the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, and the
Kisasu'l-'Ulamá (concerning which works see
above, Note A). Of the proceedings of this council a fuller account
compiled from the
above sources will be found in Note M. For our present purpose it is
sufficient to
observe that when the Báb was asked by his inquisitors, "What is the
meaning of
[the name] Báb?" he answered, "The same as in
the holy
tradition, 'I am the City of Knowledge and 'Alí is the Gate
thereof'."
[page 229]
Von Kremer, in the account of the Báb
which he
gives in his Herrschenden Ideen des Islams, quotes this same
tradition as
the probable source whence Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad
derived his title, and further points out (p. 209) that he was not the
first to adopt it,
one Abú Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Alí ash-
Shalmaghání, generally known as Ibn Abí
Azákir,
having suffered death under the Caliph Ar-Rádhí for
assuming
this same title of Báb and teaching new and heretical
doctrines which
included the tenet of metempsychosis. In his case also the title was
explained by Ibn
Abdús, one of his followers, as signifying "the door which led to
the expected
Imám." So likewise Abu'l-Kásim al-Huseyn ibn
Rúh1, a contemporary of ash-
Shalmaghání who died A.H. 326 (A.D. 937-938), was regarded by
his
disciples as one of the "doors leading to the Lord of the Age"
(Sáhibu'z-Zamán). Lack of space forbids
further
discussion on the history of this title and its employment. Those who
desire fuller
information may consult the authorities referred to by von Kremer, viz.
Ibn
Khallikán, ed. Wüst, p. 129, Vita 186; Baron MacGuckin de
Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikán, vol. i, pp. 436-437, and notes
on p. 439;
Hammer-Purgstall, Litt. Geschichte der Araber, vol. v, p. 283; and
Ibnu'l-
Athír, vol. viii, p. 217.
It must be borne in mind that, as is clearly
explained
by Gobineau (pp. 150 and 156) and Watson (p. 348), the title of
Báb
was only provisionally and temporarily adopted by Mírzá
'Alí
Muhammad, nor is he now generally so styled by his followers, who
call him
~~~ ('l'Altesse Sublime' of Gobineau),
~~~ ('His Highness the Point of Revelation'),
~~~ ('His Highness the First Point'), or even
~~~ ('His Highness my Lord the Supreme').
In the Persian Beyán he applies to himself other titles in
addition to the
\tab 1 For further particulars concerning this
personage, see Note O,
infra.
[page 230]
second and third of those above enumerated, such as ~~~ (the 'Tree of
Truth'), ~~~
(the 'Person' or 'Essence of the Seven Letters,' because his name,
~~~, contains seven letters), and the like.
But amongst the Behá'ís there is a tendency (very evident in
the present
work, where the term Báb is used throughout, and no mention
is made of
the fuller development of doctrine and exaltation of rank which marked the
later period
of Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad's mission) to suppress the
higher titles implying a supremacy which they would reserve for
Behá, and to
speak of the Báb as ~~~ ('His
Highness the Evangelist'). In reading the present history, the fact that it
represents
throughout the view of the Behá'ís, not of the original
Bábís or the Ezelís of to-day, must never be lost
sight of. When,
in the words of Gobineau (p. 156), Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad "déclara qu'il n'était pas le Bâb,
comme on
l'avait cru jusqu'alors, comme il l'avait pensé lui-même,
c'est-\'e0-dire la
Porte de la connaissance des vérités, mais qu'il était le
Point, c'est-\'e0-dire le générateur même de la
vérité, une apparition divine, une manifestation
toute-puissante," then,
to continue the quotation, "le titre de Bâb, ainsi devenu libre, pouvait
désormais récompenser le pieux dévouement de l'un des
néophytes," and it was on Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh
that it
was bestowed. Accordingly by Subh-i-Ezel this illustrious
champion of
the new faith is always spoken of as ~~~,
while in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd he is called
~~~ 'His Excellency the Gate of the
Gate.'
In his earlier writings (e.g. the
Commentary on the
Súra-i-Yúsuf, for specimens of which see Rosen's MSS.
Arabes, pp. 179-191) Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad
repeatedly uses the term Báb and apparently applies it to
himself. In the
Persian Beyán, which was composed during his imprisonment at
Mákú and embodies his fully developed doctrine, he continues
to use the
term, but no longer limits
[page 231]
it to himself, though still occasionally employing it as his own title, as,
for instance, in
the following passage in Váhid ii, ch. 1:-
[seven lines of Persian/Arabic text, with six
footnotes]
"God demandeth in His own speech, 'Whose book
is the
Kur'án?' All the believers said to Him, 'It is the Book of
God'
Afterwards it was asked, 'Is any difference seen between the
Furkán
[i.e. the Kur'án] and the Beyán?' The
spiritually-minded answered, 'No, by God, all is from our Lord': and none are
mentioned but those endowed with discernment. Then the Lord of the World
[thus] revealed:- 'That Word is by the tongue of
Muhammad the
Apostle of God, and this is my Word by the tongue of the Person of the
Seven Letters, the
Gate of God'."
In other passages, however, the term is employed
(often in the plural) in a more general sense. Thus the last four
[page 232]
chapters of the first Váhid, consisting, as it would
appear, of
mere titles uncommentated and undeveloped, stand as follows:-
[nine lines of Persian/Arabic text, with six
footnotes]
"The sixteenth chapter of the first
Váhid. Concerning this, that the First Gate
(Báb) hath
returned to the world with everyone who believed in him truly or
otherwise."
"The seventeenth chapter...&c.
Concerning this,
that the Second Gate..." &c.
"The eighteenth chapter...&c.
Concerning this,
that the Third Gate..." &c.
"The nineteenth chapter...&c.
Concerning this,
that the Fourth Gate..." &c.
In one of my interviews with
Subh-i-
Ezel I asked him
[page 233]
who were intended by these 'Bábs' or 'Gates,' and he answered
that
Sheykh Ahmad Ahsá'í and Hájí Seyyid
Kázim of Resht [see Note E, infra, and also B.
ii, pp.
884-885 and 888-892] were two of them. But this would only signify
that in
them reappeared, or 'returned to the world,' two of the four original
'Gates' And
by these can only be meant those four persons who, during the period of
seclusion of the
twelfth Imám known as the "Lesser Occultation" (~~~), acted as
intermediaries between him and his followers. These four
were, according to the ~~~, (1) Abú
'Umar 'Othmán ibn Sa'íd; (2) Abú Ja'far
Muhammad ibn
'Othmán, son of the above; (3) Huseyn ibn Rúh.
[see Note
O, infra, and the beginning of this note, p. 229]; (4)
Abú'l-
Hasan 'Alí ibn Muhammad Símarí.
So also in Váhid ii, ch.
iv, this
sentence occurs:-
[five lines of Persian/Arabic text, with five
footnotes]
"For God hath assimilated refuge in Himself
to refuge
in His Apostle, and refuge in His Apostle to refuge in His executors (i.e. the
Imáms), and refuge [in His executors to refuge] in
the Gates
(Abwáb or Bábs) of His executors..... For
refuge in
the Apostle is identical with refuge in God,
[page 234]
and refuge in the Imáms is identical with refuge in the Apostle, and
refuge in the
Gates is identical with refuge in the Imáms."
So likewise in other passages "Gates of the
Fire"
(~~~) are spoken of as identical with
"Letters of Denial" (~~~), both terms
signifying such as vehemently oppose the Truth and lead men to hell.
NOTE E.
THE SHEYKHÍS, AND THEIR DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE
'FOURTH
SUPPORT.'
The founder of the Sheykhí school,
with which in
its origin the Bábí movement is so closely connected, was Sheykh
Ahmad of Ahsá (often, but apparently erroneously, written
Lahsá) in the province of Bahreyn. The following is a
brief
account of his life, for which I am indebted to the kindness of one of my
Persian friends in
Teherán. The genealogy therein contained purports to be based on an
account
written by the Sheykh himself for his son Sheykh Muhammad
Takí.
Sheykh Ahmad was the son of Sheykh
Zeynu'd-
Dín Ahsá'í, son of Sheykh Ibrahím, son
of Sheykh
Sakr, son of Sheykh Ibrahím, son of Sheykh
Dághir, son of
Sheykh Ramadhán, son of Sheykh Ráshid, son of Sheykh
Dihím, son of Sheykh Shamrúkh of the tribe of
Sakr, one
of the most important tribes of the Arabs. From Sheykh Shamrúkh to
Sheykh
Ramadhán the family were ostensibly not of the Imámite
(Shi'ite)
faith, but conformed outwardly to the practices of the Sunnites.
According to my correspondent's statement,
the year of
Sheykh Ahmad's birth is represented by the chronogram
[page 235]
~~~ (A.H. 1166 = A.D. 1752-53). I think,
however, that it should be ~~~, "the water-
courses overflowed." This sentence yields the date 1157 A.H., which
agrees with the
other particulars given, and also conveys an intelligible meaning, neither
of which
conditions, so far as I can see, are fulfilled by the first chronogram. The
year of his death
(A.H. 1242 = A.D. 1826-27) is contained in the following chronogram:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic text]
"Thou hast victoriously attained unto Paradise, O Ahmad son of
Zeynu'd-
Dín!" Sheykh Ahmad was eighty-five years old at the time
of his
death.
From his youth upwards Sheykh Ahmad was
pious, devout, and ascetic in his life. At the direction of his spiritual
guides he quitted his
native country and went to 'Irák. (Kerbelá and Nejef), where
he took up
his abode and occupied himself in teaching and diffusing religious
knowledge. He soon
acquired great fame, and many students gathered around him. His fame
continuing to
increase, he was invited by Fath-'Alí Sháh, Prince
Muhammad 'Alí Mírzá Ruknu'd-Dawla, and
other
eminent personages, to visit Persia. He accordingly came to Teherán;
thence he
proceeded to Kirmánsháhán, and thence to Yezd, where
he abode of
twelve years. He performed the pilgrimage to Mecca several times, and on
the last
occasion for doing so died two stages from Medína, where he was
buried in the
cemetery called Bakí' [-ul-Gharkad. See Lane's
Arabic-
English-Lexicon, Book I. Part i, p. 235].
The account of Sheykh Ahmad
Ahsá'í contained in the Kisasu'l-
'Ulamá1 differs somewhat from that above
given. Thus it is asserted that he came direct from Bahreyn to Yezd
where he
abode some time; that from Yezd he went to
Kirmánsháhán, where
he received yearly the sum of 700 túmáns from Fath-
'Alí Sháh's son Muhammad 'Alí Mírzá
1 See Note A, pp.
197-198,
supra.
[page 236]
Ruknu'd-Dawla; and that thence he went to Kerbelá where he
finally took
up his abode. It would appear, however, that he again visited Persia
towards the end of his
life, and that on this occasion he passed through Kazvín,
where he paid a
visit to Hájí Mullá Muhammad
Takí1 . The latter questioned him
concerning
his views on the resurrection, and, after a violent altercation, declared
them to be
heretical. In consequence of this many other divines, who had hitherto
regarded Sheykh
Ahmad almost as a saint, began to look askance at him or even to
display open
hostility, so that he was compelled to leave Kazvín. He
intended to proceed
to Mecca, but died on his way thither at Basra.
The chief points wherein Sheykh Ahamd's
doctrine is regarded as heterodox are stated as follows. He believed that
the body of man
was compounded of parts derived from each of the nine heavens and the four
elements;
that the grosser elemental part perished irrevocably at death; and that
only the more
subtle celestial portion would appear at the resurrection. This subtle body
he named
~~~ (the word
Huwarkilyá being supposed to be of Greek origin) and
believed to
be similar in substance to the forms in the "World of Similitudes'
(~~~). Similarly he denied that the Prophet's
material body had, on the occasion of his night-journey to heaven
(~~~), moved from the spot where it lay in a
trance or sleep. He was much given to fasts, vigils, and austerities, and
believed himself
to be under the special guidance of the Imáms, especially, as it
would appear, the
Imám Ja'far-i-Sádik. He regarded the
Imáms as
creative forces, quoting in support of this view the expression
~~~ "God, the Best of Creators,"
occurring in Kur'án xxiii, 14; "for," said he, "if God be the
Best of
Creators He cannot be the sole Creator." He also adduced in support
of this
1 The maternal uncle and
father-in-law of Kurratu'l-
'Ayn, see Note Q, infra, and pp. 197-198, supra.
[page 237]
view the tradition wherein the following words are attributed to
'Alí:-
~~~ "I am the
Creator of the heavens and the earth" He even went so far as to
assert that in
reciting the opening chapter of the Kur'án (~~~) the
worshipper should fix his thoughts on 'Alí as he repeats
the words ~~~ "Thee do we worship."
Sheykh Ahmad composed a number of works,
amongst which the following are enumerated by the author of the
Kisasu'l-'Ulamá:-
~~~
Commentary on the Ziyárat-i-Jámi'a, in four vols.
According to
Subh-i-Ezel's statement it is in this work that the doctrine
of the subtle
body (~~~ or ~~~) which survives the dissolution of the material frame is
elaborated.
~~~
Answers to questions.
~~~
Commentary on the 'Arshiyya of Mullá
Sadrá1 .
~~~
Commentary on the Mashá'ir of Mullá
Sadrá.
~~~
Commentary on the Tabsira-i-
'Alláma2 .
1 Concerning Mullá
Sadrá and his
doctrines see Note K, infra.
2 Concerning
'Alláma ('the Sage'), i.e.
Jemálu'd-Dín Hasan ibn Yúsuf ibn 'Alí of
Hilla, see a footnote on Note M, infra. The full title of the
work here
mentioned appears to be ~~~ ("The
Enlightenment of students on the ordinances of Religion.")
[page 238]
~~~ The
Fawá'id and Commentary thereupon.
Sheykh Ahmad
Ahsá'í was
succeeded at his death by his disciple Hájí Seyyid
Kázim of
Resht, of whose life the following brief account was supplied to me by the
same friend to
whom I am indebted for the biography of Sheykh Ahmad given at the
beginning of
this note. His family were merchants of repute. His father was named
Áká Seyyid Kásim. When twelve years old
he was
living at Ardabíl near the tomb of Sheykh
Safí'ud-Dín Is-
hák, the descendant of the seventh Imám
Músá Kázim and the ancestor of the
Safaví
kings. One night in a dream it was signified to him by one of the
illustrious progenitors of
the buried saint that he should put himself under the spiritual guidance of
Sheykh
Ahmad Ahsá'í, who was at this time residing at
Yezd. He
accordingly proceeded thither and enrolled himself amongst the disciples of
Sheykh
Ahmad, in whose doctrine he attained such eminence that on the
Sheykh's death he
was unanimously recognized as the leader of the Sheykhí school. He
died at Baghdad
ere he had attained his fiftieth year A.H. 1259 (A.D. 1843-1844). The date
of his death
is contained in the following chronogram: ~~~,
"The moon of guidance hath disappeared" His works are said to exceed
300
volumes.
Up to this point the Sheykhís were a
united body,
for the succession of Hájí Seyyid Kázim would
seem to have
been approved and accepted by all. This unanimity was no longer to
continue. Seyyid
Kázim had not explicitly nominated a successor; indeed
according to the
Bábí historian he had hinted that the transitional state of
things under
which he and his master Sheykh Ahmad had assumed the guidance of the
faithful
was with his declining life drawing to a close, and that a brighter light
was about to shine
forth from the horizons of the spiritual world. Let the Bábí
historian, the
author of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, take up the tale,
and describe
in the words of his informant the closing scenes of the life of Seyyid
Kázim.
"When Hájí Seyyid
Kázim
had but recently departed
[page 239]
this life, I arrived at the Supreme Shrines [Kerbelá and
Nejef]
and heard from his disciples that the late Seyyid (may God exalt his
station) had, during
the last two or three years of his life, wholly restricted his discourse,
both in lecture-
room and pulpit, to discussing the promised Proof, the signs of his
appearance, and their
explanation, and enumerating the qualities of the Master of the
Dispensation, repeatedly
declaring that he would be a youth, that he would not be versed in the
learning of men, and
that he would, moreover, be of the race of Háshim. Sometimes, too,
he would say,
'I see him as the rising sun.' At length during the last journey
which he made with
the intention of visiting Kázimeyn and Surra-man-ra'a, while
he was
returning from the latter place to Kázimeyn and Baghdad, he was
entertained by one of his friends and disciples, some dozen of his
[other]
disciples and pupils being [also] present in that garden.
Suddenly an Arab
entered, and, still standing, made representation thus:- 'I have seen a
vision touching
your Reverence.' On receiving permission, he repeated the dream; whereupon
Seyyid
Kázim appeared somewhat troubled, and said, 'The
interpretation of this
dream is this, that my departure from this world is nigh at hand and I must
go hence.' His
companions who were present were much distressed and grieved at this
intelligence, but
he turned his face towards them and said, 'The time of my sojourn in the
world has come
to an end, and this is my last journey. Why are ye grieved and troubled
because of my
death? Do ye not then desire that I should go and the True One should
appear?'
"This is as I have heard it from
Hájí
'Abdu'l-Muttalib of Isfahán, and Suleymán
Khán
Afshár1 of Sá'ín
Kal'a, who
were present in that assembly. Indeed from the noble personage alluded to
[apparently Suleymán Khán] I further
1 This must be a mistake.
Suleymán Khán
Afshár was conspicuous as a persecutor of the Bábís,
for he was
not only chiefly instrumental in putting down the Mázandarán
insurrection, but was also the bearer of the Báb's death-warrant from
Teherán to Tabríz. Hájí Suleymán
Khán the
son of Yahyá Khán of Tabríz, one of the most
ardent
adherents and steadfast martyrs of the Bábí faith [see
Note T,
infra], is no doubt intended.
[page 240]
heard as follows:- 'The late Seyyid specially promised me that I should
myself apprehend
the Manifestation, saying, "Thou shalt be there and shalt
apprehend" Now
the utterance of these words and good tidings by him [Seyyid
Kázim] as here described is a matter of notoriety and
a thing
universally admitted amongst his intimates, being authenticated by several
letters from
well-known persons to others who accepted the new Manifestation
also1 . Indeed some of those [who
were]
present in that assembly are still alive, and confess to having heard that
announcement
from the late Seyyid. Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh, one of the
most
distinguished of divines, who was moreover intimately acquainted with the
late Seyyid,
made urgent enquiry as to the manner in which the Manifestation should come
to pass. The
latter, however, only replied, '"Permission is not accorded unto me to say
more than
this2 ." But from whatever quarter the Sun of
Truth shall
arise it will irradiate all horizons and render the mirrors of believers'
hearts capable of
receiving the effulgences of the lights of wisdom.' At all events after his
return from
Surra-man-ra'a the revered Seyyid departed this life as he had
foretold"
Whatever credence we may be disposed to
attach to this
narrative, there is no doubt that the Sheykhís were, in general,
anxiously
expecting the appearance of someone who should assume the leadership of
their party. A
number of the late Seyyid Kázim's immediate disciples
repaired directly
after his death to the mosque at Kúfa, and there, with fasting,
vigils and prayers,
sought for God's guidance in the choice of a spiritual director. Having
completed their
religious exercises they dispersed each in his own way. Mullá
Huseyn of
Bushraweyh proceeded to Shíráz, and on his arrival there paid
a visit to
Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad, with whom he had become
acquainted at Kerbelá. To him first of all did the young prophet
announce
his
1 "The new Manifestation"
(~~~) may mean only the dispensation inaugurated by the Báb, but
the force of the "also" (~~~) which follows
leads me rather to conjecture that the dispensation of Behá is
intended.
2 This quotation is from the
beginning of the first book of the
Masnaví.
[page 241]
divine mission, adducing in proof thereof his Commentary on the
Súra of
Joseph, and showing other signs whereby Mullá Huseyn,
after a
mental struggle which lasted several days, became firmly convinced that the
Master so
eagerly sought for and so earnestly desired had at length been found. No
sooner was he
himself convinced than, with that fiery energy which so pre-eminently
distinguished him
even amongst the eager active spirits who were soon to carry the new
doctrine throughout
the length and breadth of the Persian land, and cause the echo of its fame
to reverberate
through the civilized world, he hastened to apprise his friends and
comrades of his
discovery. Thus did he become the "Gate of the Gate" (~~~), the "First
Letter" (~~~),
the "First to believe" (~~~). The rapidity with
which the new doctrine spread was wonderful, representatives of all classes
hastening to
tender their allegiance to the young Seer of Shíráz, but it
was from the old
Sheykhí party that the most eminent supporters of the new faith were
for the
most part derived.
It must not be supposed, however, that
all the
followers of the late Seyyid Kázim accepted the new doctrine. A
considerable number, headed by Hájí Muhammad Karím
Khán of Kirmán, utterly declined to admit the Báb's
pretensions
(for so they regarded his claims), and these became the bitterest and most
violent of his
persecutors. Of those doctors who heaped insult on the Báb during
his first
examination at Tabríz, and those who two years later ratified his
death-warrant
in the name of religion, several were Sheykhís. Hence it is
necessary to recognize
clearly the difference between the relations of Bábíism to
the old and the
new Sheykhí school. From the bosom of the former it arose, and, in
great
measure, derived its strength; with the latter it was ever in fiercest
conflict. Of Sheykh
Ahmad Ahsá'í and Seyyid Kázim of
Resht
both Bábís and Sheykhís speak with reverence and
affection; but
Hájí Muhammad Karím Khán and his
followers are
as odious in the eyes of the Bábís as Mírzá
'Alí
Muhammad the Báb
[page 242]
and his adherents are execrable in the opinion of the modern
Sheykhís. The
Báb stigmatized Hájí Muhammad Karím
Khán as "the Quintessence of Hell-fire" (~~~) and "the
[infernal] Tree of Zakkum"
(see B. ii, pp. 910-911), while Hájí Muhammad
Karím
Khán wrote at least two treatises (one called "the crushing of
Falsehood,"
~~~) in refutation and denunciation of the
Bábí doctrines. Of the bitter enmity which subsists between
these two
sects I had ample evidence during the two months which I spent at
Kirmán in the
summer of 1888, and on more than one occasion when representatives of both
parties
happened to visit me simultaneously their scarcely disguised animosity,
which seemed
ready at the slightest opportunity to burst forth into open conflict,
caused me the
liveliest disquietude.
I trust that I have succeeded in making clear
the
relations which exist between the Bábís on the one hand, and
the old and
new Sheykhís on the other; for a proper appreciation of these is
essential to a
clear understanding of the history of Bábíism. Indeed we
cannot consider
that we have thoroughly fathomed the drift and purport of the
Bábí
movement until the writings of Sheykh Ahmad
Ahsá'í and
Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht shall have been
submitted to
careful and minute examination and study. This, however, is a labour still
unaccomplished, and, with the exception of one point to be noticed
immediately, I shall
say no more about the Sheykhí doctrines in this place. Some further
information
concerning them will be found in Kazem-Beg's articles on the
Bábís
(Journal Asiatique, 1866, 6me série, tome vii, pp. 457-464);
in von
Kremer's Herrschenden Ideen des Islams (pp. 206-208); and in my second
article on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for 1889 (pp. 884-
885 and 888-892).
The point of doctrine above mentioned as
demanding some
explanation (for it is alluded to in the present text) is that of the
"Fourth
Support" (~~~). What I shall say
concerning it is derived from notes of a conversa-
[page 243]
tion which I had in June 1888 with a Sheykhí doctor of Kirmán
named
Mullá Ghulám Huseyn. I asked him to explain to me
wherein the
doctrine of the Sheykhís chiefly differed from that of other
Shi'ites. His answer
was in substance as follows:- "The Bálásarís
[i.e. non-
Sheykhí Shi'ites] hold that the 'Supports,' or
essential principles
of religion (~~~), are five, to wit (1)
Belief in the Unity of God (~~~); (2) Belief in
the Justice of God (~~~); (3) Belief in
Prophethood (~~~); (4) Belief in the
Imámate (~~~); (5) Belief in the
Resurrection (~~~). Now two of these (Nos. 2
and 5) we refuse to admit as separate principles, for why should we specify
belief in the
Justice of God as one of the essentials of faith and omit belief in the
Mercifulness of God,
the Wisdom of God, the Power of God, and all the other Attributes? These,
moreover, as
well as belief in the Resurrection, are really included in the third
principle, for belief in
Prophethood involves belief in the Prophet, and this again involves belief
in his book,
wherein these two so-called principles are set forth and whence only they
are known. Of
the five 'principles' of the Bálásarís, therefore, we
only accept
three, viz. (1) Belief in the Unity of God; (2) Belief in
Prophethood; (3) Belief in
the Imámate; but to these we add another, which we call the 'Fourth
Support' (~~~), viz. (4) that there must
always be amongst the Shi'ites some one perfect man (whom we call
~~~ 'the perfect Shi'ite') capable of serving as
a channel of grace (~~~) between the Absent
Imám and his church. Such is our doctrine of the 'Fourth
Support,' and it is
evident that, whereas four supports are under all circumstances necessary
for stability,
a greater number than this is unnecessary."
As so explained, the 'Fourth Support'
is a term
applicable rather to that article of faith which declares that there must
always exist in
the Church of the Imáms some visible
[page 244]
head who enjoys their special spiritual guidance and serves to convey their
wishes and
their wisdom to all true Shi'ites, than to the actual personage who fulfils
this function.
Yet outside the Sheykhí circle, both amongst the
Bálásarís
and the Bábís, it certainly bears the second meaning as well;
and it is
commonly asserted that Hájí Muhammad Karím
Khán regarded himself, and was regarded by his followers, as being this
'Fourth Support' or Channel of Grace from the Spiritual World. It is
evidently this
second meaning which the term bears in the present text, and if it bore it
from the first
it is evident that there was originally very little difference between the
pretensions of
Mírzá 'Alí Muhammad the Báb and those of
Hájí Muhammad Karím Khán, since both, in
the
first instance, claimed to be neither more nor less than intermediaries
between the
absent Imám and his Church, exactly in the same sense as were the
four original
'Gates' (Abwáb, or Bábs) who served as a
connection
between the Twelfth Imám and his followers during the period of the
'Lesser
Occultation.' [See end of Note D, supra.]
As regards the actual condition of the
Sheykhís at
the present day, their head-quarters are still at Kirmán, near which
city, in a
little village called Langar, situated two or three miles from
Máhán (the
burial-place of the great dervish Sháh Ni'matu'lláh), several
of the sons
of Hájí Muhammad Karím Khán still
reside. During
my stay at Kirmán I visited Langar and was permitted to sit for half
an hour at the
feet of 'the Masters' (Ákáyán) as they
are called by
their followers. The elder brothers were at Kerbelá at that time
(where, I
believe, they were very coldly received, being, indeed, prevented from
preaching in the
mosque as they desired to do), but two younger brothers were engaged in
expounding the
doctrines of Sheykh Ahmad to an appreciative audience of heavy-turbaned
votaries. At the conclusion of the lecture I had some conversation with
them, but, though I
had no reason to complain of lack of courtesy on their part, I cannot say
that I was greatly
impressed with their wisdom. After Kirmán I believe that
Tabríz contains
more Sheykhís than any other city in Persia, but they are to be
found in most of
the large towns. They are generally regarded by orthodox Shi'ites with
considerable
dislike and suspicion.
[page 245]
NOTE F.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING SOME OF THE
PERSONS MENTIONED ON P.
5.
Concerning several of the persons mentioned
in the passage
to which this note refers, the information at present at my disposal is
deplorably scanty.
Such as it is, however, I set it down, hoping that others may be able in
the future to
supplement these meagre notes with further details.
Mullá Huseyn of
Bushraweyh ('The
Gate of the Gate,' ~~~). Concerning this illustrious
personage we have the fullest information. The Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh devotes some 10 pages (each containing about 600
words) to
his history, and the Rawzatu's-Safá
gives an almost
equally detailed account of his career. Gobineau and Kazem-Beg both treat
of his life, work,
and gallant death at Sheykh Tabarsí very fully, and in the
present work a
sufficient summary thereof is contained. Some account of his conversion
will be found in
Note E above. Nothing further need be added here except that, so far as I
can learn, his mortal
remains still repose in the little inner room of the shrine of Sheykh
Tabarsí
where, at the direction of Mullá Muhammad 'Alí
Bárfurúshí, they were reverently laid by the hands of
his sorrowing
comrades in the beginning of the year A.D. 1849.
Mírzá Ahmad of
Azghand is
mentioned in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd in the
following passage:-
[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]
[page 246]
[three lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"In short, after a while His Excellency 'the
Gate of the Gate'
[i.e. Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh above
mentioned] set out
for Khurásán. And after that there emanated from the Source
of Command
[i.e. the Báb] an epistle to confer honour on the
faithful, wherein it
was made incumbent upon them to proceed to Khurásán in the
case of this
being possible and their being able. And in the epistle addressed to
Áká
Mírzá Ahmad Azkandí, who was one of the
chief
disciples of the late Seyyid [Kázim of Resht],
he [the
Báb] foreshadowed the catastrophe of
Mázandarán." In only
one other passage in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd can I
find any
reference to Mírzá Ahmad of Azghand, and this,
consisting of a mere
list of the names of learned and pious persons who believed in the
Báb and "most of
whom attained the lofty rank of martyrdom," throws no further light on the
matter. I cannot
find any other mention of this Mírzá Ahmad in any of
the documents at
my disposal.
Mullá [Muhammad]
Sádik, entitled "the Holy" (~~~), or "the Holy one
of Khurásán
(~~~), was, according to the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, one of the first converts
gained by
Mullá Huseyn to the new faith. He was, previously to his
conversion, a
mudarris, or professor, at one of the colleges of Isfahán. On
the arrival of
Mullá Huseyn in that city (the first visited by him on the
missionary
journey which at the command of his master he undertook) Mullá
Sádik. sought and obtained an interview with him, listened to
his arguments,
examined the sacred books of the new creed, and, after a brief but severe
mental struggle,
wherein love of truth finally triumphed over fear and prudence, embraced the doctrines
of
[page 247]
the Bá
b. We next find him some months later (Sept. 23rd or 24th, A.D. 1845) at
Shíráz, suffering the penalty of his zeal as described in the
text. Expelled
from Shíráz, he seems to have made his way to
Mázandarán; at
all events we find him amongst the number of the besieged at Sheykh
Tabarsí,
and after the capitulation he was one of those reserved from the general
massacre to grace
the triumphal entry of Prince Mahdí-Kulí
Mírzá into
Bárfurúsh. Here again fortune so far favoured him that he was
saved by being
sold into slavery1 from the direr fate which
overtook almost
all of his companions. What befel him after this I know not, but from the
manner in which he
is referred to in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd it would
appear that he
was no longer alive at the time when that work was composed.
Sheykh Abú Turáb of
Ashtahárd is only twice alluded to in the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd, and I can find no further account of him elsewhere. In
the second of these
passages his name is merely mentioned in the list of eminent men converted
to the new faith
of which I have already spoken. In the first it is stated that he was
married to the sister of
Mullá Huseyn of Bushraweyh, a woman of extraordinary virtue
and piety,
who, from association with the celebrated Kurratu'l-'Ayn [see
Note Q,
infra], had attained to the highest degree of excellence and
learning. Although
the Sheykh Abú Turáb here mentioned is described as
Kazvíní, not as
Ashtahárdí, I think that
the same person is intended in both passages.
Mullá Yúsuf of
Ardabíl. See
Kazem-Beg (Journal Asiatique, sixi\'e8me série, tome vii, pp.
357, 358, 467,
468, 473, 477, 486, and 522). Mullá Yúsuf was one of the
Báb's
most energetic missionaries, and was deputed to preach the doctrine in
Ázarbaiján. Through his instrumentality the majority of the
inhabitants of
Mílán were converted. He afterwards attempted to join the
Bábís at Sheykh Tabarsí, but on his way thither
fell into the
hands of Mahdí-Kulí Mírzá, who detained
him as a
prisoner till the conclusion of the siege, when, in company with several of
the
Bábí chiefs reserved from the general massacre to grace the
Prince's
triumph, he was led captive into Bár-
1 See,
however, note 2 at the foot of p. 129
supra.
[page 248]
furúsh. There, according to M. Sévruguin's account quoted by
Kazem-Beg
(loc. cit, p. 522), he was blown from the mouth of a cannon.
The remainder of
Kazem-Beg's account differs from that given in the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd, in that it represents him not only as reaching the Castle
of Sheykh
Tabarsí, but as taking a prominent part in the defence
thereof.
Mullá Jalíl of
Urúmiyya and
Mullá Mahdí of Kand are merely mentioned in the list
of illustrious
martyrs contained in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd.
Of Sheykh Sa'íd the Indian I
can find no other
mention.
Mullá 'Alí of
Bistám,
according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, was one of
those who, on the
death of Hájí Seyyid Kázim of Resht, assembled
in the mosque
at Kúfa to fast and pray for guidance. Subh-i-Ezel in
December 1889
wrote for me a short account of the history of the Bábí
movement, which at
some future date I hope to publish. In this occurs the following
message:-
([five lines of Persian/Arabic text])
"His Excellency Mullá 'Alí
Bistámí, who was noted for his sanctity (for he is
'the Holy One of
Khurásán'), set out towards Turkey, but in Baghdad they took
him and
imprisoned him. Then, at the decision of the Muftí, they sent
him off towards
Constantinople, but martyred him by poison at a place near Baghdad called Bad-
rá'í." In one of the interviews which I had with
Subh-i-Ezel
during my stay at Famagusta in March 1890 he communicated to me the
[page 249]
following additional particulars:- "Mullá 'Alí of
Bistám was
the first martyr, and the only one who died by the hands of the
Osmánlí Turks.
His martyrdom occurred in the second or third year of the 'Manifestation'
[A.H.
1262-3, A.D. 1846-7]. He was arrested at Baghdad and cast into
prison. All the
muftís of Baghdad, headed by Mahmud Efendí and
Sheykh
Muhammad Hasan1, signed his
death-warrant,
save one, Muhsin or Hasan by name, who refused, saying that
he was doubtful
as to the rightfulness of so doing. Subsequently the Báb addressed
these words to the
above-mentioned Muhsin or Hasan in the Book of Names
(~~~):- 'Because you doubted and declined to take
part in this murder, therefore hath God decreed that in the Day of
Resurrection the fire shall
not touch you.'"
1 Probably the same Sheykh
Muhammad Hasan who is
censured in the Kitáb-i-Akdas (see B. ii, p.
980).
NOTE G.
THE BÁB'S PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA AND RETURN TO
SHÍRÁZ.
As the accounts hitherto published of the
Báb's
movements during the earlier period of his mission are somewhat
contradictory, it has
seemed to me advisable to embody in the present note all that I have been
able to learn on this
matter, together with the conclusions which may be fairly deduced from the
facts at present
available.
First of all let us
enumerate briefly the facts which seem to be sufficiently established by good
evidence.
(1) Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad,
afterwards the Báb, was born at Shíráz either on
Muharram
1st A.H. 1236 (Oct. 9th, A.D. 1820), or on Muharram 1st 1235 (Oct.
20th, A.D.
1819), most probably (for the reasons advanced in Note C, p. 221,
supra) the
former.
[page 250]
(2) Whilst he was still of tender age he lost
his father,
Seyyid Muhammad Rizá, and was placed under the care of
his
maternal uncle, Mírzá Seyyid 'Alí (supra, p.
2).
(3) On attaining years of discretion
(probably, as Kazem-
Beg states at p. 335 of his first article, when about fourteen or fifteen
years old) he was
sent to Bushire to help in his uncle's business (supra, p. 2).
(4) Disinclined by nature to the calling for
which he was
destined, he proceeded at some time antecedent to the year A.H. 1259 (in
which year Seyyid
Kázim died, see p. 238, supra) to Kerbelá,
where he resided
for some time (two months, according to the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd),
occasionally attending the lectures of Hájí Seyyid
Kázim of
Resht.
(5) In A.H. 1258 (A.D. 1842) when in his
twenty-third
year he married (B. ii, p. 993). There is no positive evidence to show
whether this
marriage took place at Shíráz or Kerbelá, but the
former hypothesis
appears more probable. By this marriage he had (according to a statement
made by
Subh-i-Ezel) one son named (if my memory serves me aright)
Ahmad, who died in infancy. The loss of this child is said to be
alluded to in the
Commentary on the Súra of Joseph.
(6) On
Jamádí-ul-Úlá 5th,
A.H. 1260 (May 23rd, A.D. 1844) Mírzá 'Alí
Muhammad -
then "twenty-four years of age and entering on his twenty-fifth year" as
Subh-i-Ezel states, or, in his own words, "at an age which
did not exceed five
and twenty" (see p. 221, supra) - first became clearly conscious of
the divine
mission laid upon him, and (apparently without much delay) began to
announce himself as
the Báb. If by the 'manifestation' (~~~) we are to understand that
period at which the
views of the young Seer first became definitely formulated rather than that
at which they
were first made known to others, it is of course possible that some little
while elapsed
between the 'manifestation' and its disclosure. This hypothesis is
supported by the narrative
of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, according to which
Mullá
Huseyn of Bushraweyh (who was, as is unanimously admitted, and as
his titles 'the
first Letter' and the 'First who believed' imply, the earliest convert)
came to
Shíráz shortly after the death of Seyyid Kázim,
visited
Mírzá 'Alí
[page 251]
Muhammad (with whom he had been previously acquainted at
Kerbelá), and,
during this first visit, was surprised by his former fellow-student
demanding of him
'whether he saw in him the signs which must characterize Seyyid
Kázim's
successor?' (see B. ii, pp. 902-903). On the other hand it is clear that
not more than a
month or two can have elapsed between the time of the 'manifestation' and
its disclosure,
firstly, because the beginning of the Bábí propaganda
is placed by both
of the Musulmán historians in this same year of A.H. 1260;
secondly, because
seven months after the 'manifestation' (as will be shown immediately) the
Báb,
having laid the foundations of his religion at Shíráz, was
away performing the
pilgrimage to Mecca.
We have now reached the point to which this
note specially
refers - the Báb's pilgrimage to Mecca. Concerning this Gobineau
says simply (pp.
144-145), "Il fit très-jeune le pèlerinage de la Mecque...Il
est bien probable que ce fut
dans la ville sainte elle-même qu'il se détacha absolument et
définitivement de la foi du Prophète, et qu'il concut la
pensée de ruiner cette
foi pour mettre à sa place tout autre chose." Kazem-Beg says (i, p.
344), "Après avoir
semé bon gré mal gré quelques mauvais grains dans
cette terre de
Chiraz si fertile en préjugés et en superstitions, le
Kerbèlaï
Seïd Ali-Mohammed se rendit en pèlerinage à la Mecque."
In this instance Kazem-Beg
is undoubtedly right; it was after, not before, the
manifestation that the
Báb went to Mecca. The
Násikhu't-Tawáríkh is clear on
this point. "To proceed with the narrative," it says, "when the Báb
had laid the
foundations of such an edifice, he, according to his promise, set out for
Mecca the venerable."
The promise alluded to in this passage is thus noticed on the preceding
page: "Since tradition
affirms that His Highness the Ká'im (i.e. the Imám
Mahdí) shall come
forth from Mecca the venerable, he (the Báb) used to tell his
disciples that next year
he would announce his claim in Mecca and come forth with the sword"
A statement of
Subh-i-Ezel's to the effect that the manifestation was in
Shíráz (not in Kerbelá, as stated in the
Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh), that Mullá Huseyn first
believed, and that
soon after this the Báb set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca, taken in
conjunction with
the above testimony, seems to prove conclusively that the
[page 252]
pilgrimage-journey took place shortly after the 'manifestation.'
Now since, as we have seen, the
'manifestation' was on
Jamádí-ul-Úlá 5th A.H. 1260, and since the
pilgrimage must
be performed in the month of Zi'l-Hijjé (the last
month of the
Muhammadan year), it follows that Kazem-Beg's statement (i, p. 346) that
"at the end of the
year 1260 (1844) he (i.e. the Báb) returned from Mecca to
Bandar-Bushire,
where he was arrested in the month of October, by order of the
Nizámu'd-
Dawla Huseyn Khán, governor of Shíráz," is
erroneous.
For, according to the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh, the
horsemen sent
to Bushire to arrest the Báb set out from Shíráz on
Sha'bán
16th, and returned, bringing with them their prisoner, on
Ramazán 19th.
The latter of these dates is confirmed by the Rawzatu's-
Safá; while the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, after
mentioning that the Báb's return to Bushire occurred in A.H. 1261,
says that he was
brought before Huseyn Khán on the eve of
Ramazán 21st.
Though neither of the Musulmán historians mentions the
year1, it is evident that A.H. 1261 is intended,
for in
Ramazán A.H. 1260 the Báb had not yet started for
Mecca. We may
therefore add to the facts previously stated about the Báb's earlier
movements-
(7) That towards the end of the year A.H.
1260, and
presumably in the month Zi'l-Ka'da of that year (November,
A.D. 1844), he
set out from Shíráz for Mecca.
(8) That he remained at Mecca at any rate
till Zi'l-
Hijjé 13th A.H. 1260 (December 24th, A.D. 1844) for the
completion of the
rites incumbent on pilgrims.
(9) That he returned by sea some time during
the first half
of the year A.H. 1261 (A.D. 1845) to Bushire, whence he sent missionaries to
Shíráz, he himself remaining at the former place. (See
supra, p.
5.)
(10) That on Sha'bán 2nd A.H. 1261
(August 6th,
A.D. 1845) strong measures were adopted by Huseyn Khán
against these
missionaries. (See supra, pp. 5-6.)
(11) That on Sha'bán 16th A.H. 1261
(August 20th,
1845) horsemen were sent from Shíráz to arrest the Báb at
Bushire.
1 Compare the remarks on pp. 186-187,
supra.
[page 253]
(12) That these horsemen re-entered
Shíráz
with their prisoner on Ramazán 19th A.H. 1261 (September
21st, A.D.
1845), and that on that same day (according to the Rawzatu's-
Safá), or on the evening of the following day (according
to the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd), the Báb was brought before
Huseyn Khán.
There is not at present sufficient evidence
to determine
definitely the following points:-
(1) At what age the Báb lost his
father.
(2) At what age he first left
Shíráz and went
to Bushire.
(3) How long he remained at Bushire engaged in
commerce.
(4) When he went to Kerbelá, how long
he remained
there, and whether he married before, during, or after his sojourn
there.
(5) Whether he returned directly to Bushire
after
performing the rites of the pilgrimage at Mecca and visiting Medína,
or whether he
remained some few months in Arabia.
The Báb was accompanied on the
pilgrimage by
Hájí Muhammad 'Alí Bárfurúshí
(Kazem-Beg, i, p. 344, note; confirmed by Subh-i-Ezel), and was
(according to Subh-i-Ezel) joined later by Hájí
Suleymán Khán.
NOTE H.
ÁKÁ SEYYID YAHYÁ OF DÁRÁB
AND THE
NÍRÍZ
INSURRECTION.
Gobineau makes no mention of the
Níríz
insurrection. Kazem-Beg gives a long account of it, occupying fifteen pages
(ii, pp. 224-
239), which contains neither much more nor much less than the
Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh. His error as to the date of the Zanján
siege (see
supra, p. 187) has led him to give a wrong date for this event
likewise.
Áká Seyyid Yahyá's death - the closing
catastrophe of
the Níríz insurrection - occurred, not, as he implies, early
in A.D. 1850,
but on Sha'bán 28th A.H. 1266 (July 9th, A.d.
[page 254]
1850, see supra, p. 45, note 1). The
Rawzatu's-Safá
contains a much briefer account of the matter, which agrees in the main
with those above
alluded to. The Táríkh-i-Jadíd, on the other
hand, differs
considerably from the Musulmán histories, and supplies us with much
new matter.
As the versions embodied in the latter are rendered sufficiently accessible
to the European
reader by Kazem-Beg's narrative, I shall confine myself here to giving a
brief presentation
of the account according to the Bábí tradition.
Seyyid Yahyá's father Seyyid
Ja'far,
surnamed Kashfí or Kashsháf ('the Discloser')
because of his
skill in the exegesis of the Kur'án and the visions which he
claimed to have,
seems, according to all accounts, to have been universally respected and
revered. Before the
events with which we are concerned took place he left his native town of
Dáráb and settled in Burújird. His son Seyyid
Yahyá
would seem to have resided at Teherán for some time previously to
the Báb's
appearance, but for how long does not appear. At all events, shortly after
this took place he
(at the command of Muhammad Sháh as stated at p. 7 of the
present work, at
the request of his disciples and followers according to the
Táríkh-i-
Jadíd) proceeded to Shíráz with the express object
of enquiring
into the Báb's claims; and was present, according to the
Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh, at the Báb's examination before
Huseyn
Khán on Ramazán 21st A.H. 1261 (Sept. 23rd, A.D.
1845). Although,
if we are to give credence to the Musulmán historian's assertions,
the Báb
scarcely emerged from this ordeal with flying colours, Seyyid
Yahyá was
sufficiently impressed by what he saw of the young reformer to desire
fuller opportunities
of conversing with him. The usual result followed. After a brief period of
hesitation and
doubt, Seyyid Yahyá eagerly embraced the new faith. A long
account of his
conversion is given in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd,
which, interesting
as it is, lack of space compels me to omit.
Seyyid Yahyá does not seem to
have remained
in Shíráz long after his conversion. The present history (p.
8) states that he
"hastened to Burújird to his father Seyyid Ja'far"; the
Táríkh-i-
Jadíd describes him as "setting out for Yezd";
[page 255]
while the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh asserts that after
the
Báb's flight to Isfahán he was informed by Huseyn
Khán that
"his further sojourn in Fárs was undesirable," and that accordingly
he betook
himself to Yezd. Whatever his immediate movements on quitting
Shíráz may
have been (and it is not improbable that he may have visited many towns
besides those
mentioned to preach the new faith, being, as would appear, commissioned by
the Báb
so to do) he would seem to have again visited Teherán, and there to
have remained for
some considerable time. Subh-i-Ezel, in reply to a question
which I
addressed to him as to the character of Áká Seyyid
Yahyá and the truth or falsity of the charge of perfidy
brought against him by
a certain writer (Kazem-Beg, ii, p. 239), wrote thus:- "The virtue and
perfections of His
Excellency Áká Seyyid Yahyá were beyond
all limits
and bounds. He was not such as that historian has described. I bear witness
by God and His
Spirit that this [historian] has written downright
falsehood. Most of the
people of Persia admitted his virtue and perfections. I myself in the days
of my youth met
him several times at night in my own house and elsewhere, and witnessed the
perfection of
his virtues and endowments"
The information at our disposal is
insufficient to enable us
to trace Seyyid Yahyá's movements from the period of his
conversion in the
autumn of A.D. 1845 till we find him involved in the troubles at Yezd in
May 1850. If the
reiterated assertions of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd to
the effect that he
proceeded directly from Shíráz to Yezd, returned directly
from Yezd to
Shíráz and Níríz, and also visited
Teherán, are to be
credited, we must suppose that he visited Yezd twice at least during this
period. At all events
in May 1850 we find him in that city, busily engaged in preaching the
Bábí
doctrines, and surrounded by a considerable number of followers. The
governor of Yezd,
Áká Khán, at length considered it advisable to
interfere, and
sent men to arrest Seyyid Yahyá, who retired with some of his
followers to
the citadel and prepared to defend himself. An unsuccessful attack on the
insurgents' position
resulted in a loss of thirty lives to the besiegers and seven to the
Bábís.
[page 256]
Seyyid Yahyá, however, does not
seem to
have been altogether satisfied with his position. One night he said, "If
anyone could lead out
my horse so that I could go forth to put an end to this matter and convey
myself to some other
place, it would not be a bad thing." A youth named Hasan,
distinguished by a singular
devotion to Seyyid Yahyá, at once volunteered to make the
attempt, and
persisted in his purpose in spite of his master's warning that he would be
taken and slain.
This actually befel. Hasan was captured by the enemy and brought
before the
governor, who ordered him to be blown from the mouth of gun. So little did
this terrible
sentence affect the brave youth that he requested that he might be bound
with his face
towards the cannon so that he might see the match applied. In spite of this
untoward event
Seyyid Yahyá succeeded in effecting his escape from Yezd in
company with one
of his disciples. He first made his way to Shíráz, whence he
proceeded to
Níríz. After his departure, the Bábís at Yezd
were soon
subdued by the governor, who punished some with death, some with
imprisonment, and some
with fines.
No sooner had Seyyid Yahyá reached
Níríz than he again began his propaganda, undeterred by the
remonstrances
and threats of the governor Zeynu'l-'Ábidín Khán. The
latter finally
called upon the people of Níríz to assist him in forcibly
expelling the
disturber. Seyyid Yahyá, being apprised of this, repaired to
the mosque
where his father had been wont to preach, and addressed to the people there
assembledan
affecting discourse, wherein he reminded them of their former love for
himself, declared
that his only object was to make him partakers in that faith which had been
to him a source
of such great happiness, and concluded by conjuring them by the veneration
in which they
held his father's memory not to suffer themselves to be made the
instruments of the
governor's malice. Having finished his discourse he left the town
accompanied by seventeen
of his followers, and took up his abode at an old ruined castle in the
neighbourhood.
Seyyid Yahyá was not suffered
to remain long
undisturbed. His foes soon discovered his retreat and proceeded to lay
siege to it. At first they
were unsuccessful, Seyyid
[page 257]
Yahyá having apparently been joined by a large number of
supporters (three
hundred according to the Musulmán historian); and indeed the
Bábís
gained at least one decided victory over their foes. But in a short while
the besiegers were
re-inforced by troops sent from Shíráz at the command of
Fírúz Mírzá, the new governor of Fárs,
and commanded
by Mihr 'Alí Khán Shujá'u'l-Mulk of Núr and
Mustafá-Kulí Khán Kára-
gúzlú. The arrival of these troops greatly dispirited the
besieged; many of the
less ardent deserted, and in a short time the occupants of the castle were
reduced to
seventy.
In spite of the defections from their ranks, the
Bábís (according to the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd)
continued to defend themselves with such vigour that the besiegers were
fain to have
recourse to treachery similar in character to that whereby Sheykh
Tabarsí
and Zanján were finally subdued. They sent a message to Seyyid
Yahyá
asking him to come to their camp and hold a peaceful consultation with the
royalist leaders,
and assuring him with oaths registered on the Kur'án that no
harm should
befal him at their hands. Seyyid Yahyá, in spite of the
remonstrances and
warnings of his followers, acquiesced in the proposed arrangement, and
forthwith betook
himself to the besiegers' camp. He was at first received with courtesy and
treated with all
respect, but when, on the following morning, he attempted to leave the tent
which had been
assigned to him, he was prevented by the sentinels from so doing. The
Bábís,
becoming aware in some way of the insult offered to their chief, made a
sudden sortie and
succeeded in greatly discomfiting their foes. Thereupon the officers of the
besieging army
hastened to Seyyid Yahyá's tent and remonstrated with him on
the action of his
followers, reminding him that he had agreed to co-operate with them in
striving to bring
about a peaceful settlement. Seyyid Yahyá in turn reproached
them with
wanton violation of good faith in confining him to his tent, which conduct
on their part, he
assured them, was the sole cause of what had now occurred. The royalist
officers apologised
for the insult offered, which, they declared, they had in no wise
sanctioned, and finally
prevailed on Seyyid Yahyá to write to his followers
instructing them to lay
down their arms, evacuate their
[page 258]
fortress, and return to their homes. The Bábís faithfully
obeyed the
commands of their chief, but no sooner were they disbanded and scattered
than they were
seized by the soldiers and brought in chains to the camp, while their
houses were given over
to plunderers.
The besiegers, having now gained their
object, readily
forgot their oaths and plighted troth. Seyyid Yahyá was
strangled with this
own girdle by one of whose two brothers had been killed during the siege,
and the other
Bábís likewise died by the hands of the executioner. The
heads of the victims
were stuffed with straw1, and,
bearing with them these grim trophies of their prowess, together with some
forty or fifty
Bábí women and one child of tender age as captives, the
victorious army
returned to Shíráz. Their entry into that city was made the
occasion of
general rejoicings; the captives were paraded through the streets and
bazaars and finally
brought before Prince Fírúz Mírzá, who was
feasting in a
summer-house called Kuláh-i-Firangí. In his presence Mihr
'Alí Khán, Mírzá Na'ím, and the other
officers
recounted the details of their victory, and received congratulations and
marks of favour. The
captive women were finally imprisoned in an old caravansaray outside the
Isfahán
gate. What treatment they experienced at the hands of their captors is left
to our conjecture.
Twelve Bábís who had escaped from Níríz to
Isfahán
were there captured and sent to Shíráz where they were
executed. Thus ended
the first Níríz insurrection.
The second insurrection occurred about two
years later. A
number of Bábís took refuge with their wives and children in
the mountains
about Níríz, and for a long while offered a vigorous and
successful resistance
to those who strove to dislodge them. They even attacked the town and
killed the governor
Zeynu'l-'Ábidín Khán - the chief author of their
sufferings - while he
was at the bath. Finally troops were sent from Shíráz by the
governor
Tahmásp Mírzá, and these, aided by the
tribesmen of
Dáráb and Sábúnát, succeeded at
length in
stamping out the insurrec-
1 Concerning this
disgusting practice compare
Eastwick's Diplomate's Residence in Persia, vol. ii, pp.
55-56.
[page 259]
tion. The fate of the captives was in every respect similar to that which
had befallen their
predecessors.
The author of the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd in concluding this narrative takes occasion to point out
how literally was
fulfilled in these events the prophecy contained in a tradition referring
to the signs which
shall mark the appearance of Imám Mahdí:-
[five lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"In him [shall be]
the perfection
of Moses, the preciousness of Jesus, and the patience of Job; his saints
shall be abased in his
time, and their heads shall be exchanged as presents, even as the heads of
the Turk and the
Deylamite are exchanged as presents; they shall be slain and burned, and
shall be afraid,
fearful, and dismayed; the earth shall be dyed with their blood, and
lamentation and wailing
shall prevail amongst their women; these are my saints
indeed"1
When I was at Yezd in the early summer of
1888, I became
acquainted with a Bábí holding a position of some importance
under
government, two of whose ancestors had taken a prominent part in the
suppression of the
Níríz insurrection. Of what he told me concerning this the
following is a
summary taken from my diary for May 18th, 1888:-
"My maternal grandfather Mihr 'Alí
Khán
Shujá'u'l-Mulk and my great-uncle Mírzá
Na'ím both
took an active
1 This tradition, called
[~~~] is also quoted from the
Káfí (one of the principal compilations of Shi'ite
traditions) in the
Ikán.
[page 260]
part in the Níríz war - but on the wrong side. When
orders came to
Shíráz to quell the insurrection, my grandfather was
instructed to take
command of the expedition sent for that purpose. He did not like the task
committed to him
and communicated his reluctance to two of the 'Ulamá, who,
however, re-
assured him, declaring that the war on which he was about to engage was a
holy enterprise
sanctioned by Religion, and that he would receive reward therefor in
Paradise. So he went,
and what happened happened. After they had killed 750 men, they took the
women and
children, stripped them almost naked, mounted them on donkeys, mules, and
camels, and led
them through rows of heads hewn from the lifeless bodies of their fathers,
brothers, sons,
and husbands towards Shíráz. On their arrival there, they
were placed in a
ruined caravansaray just outside the Isfahán gate and opposite to an
Imám-
zádé, their captors taking up their quarters under some
trees hard by.
Here they remained for a long while, subjected to many insults and
hardships, and many of
them died.
"Now see the judgement of God on the
oppressors; for of
those chiefly responsible for these cruelties not one but came to a bad end
and died
overwhelmed with calamity.
"My grandfather Mihr 'Alí Khán
presently
fell ill and was dumb till the day of his death. Just as he was about to
expire, those who stood
round him saw from the movement of his lips that he was whispering
something. They leant
down to catch his last words and heard him murmur faintly
'Bábí!
Bábí! Bábí!' three times. Then he fell back
dead.
"My great-uncle Mírzá
Na'ím fell
into disgrace with the government and was twice fined, 10,000
túmáns the first time, 15,000 the second. But his
punishment did not
cease here, for he was made to suffer diverse tortures. His hands were put
in the el-
chek1 and his feet in the tang-i-
Kájár2; he was made to
stand bare-headed in
the sun
1 The torture called
el-chek consists in placing pieces of
wood between the victim's fingers, binding them round tightly with cord.
Cold water is then
thrown over the cord to cause its further contraction.
2 The tang-i-
Kájár or 'Kájár squeeze' is
an instrument
of torture resembling the 'boot' once used
in England, for the introduction of which (as its name implies) Persia is
indebted to the
dynasty which at present occupies the throne.
[page 261]
with treacle smeared over his head to attract the flies; and, after
suffering these and other
torments yet more painful and humiliating, he was dismissed a disgraced and
ruined
man."1
Áká Seyyid
Yahyá
was, as Subh-i-Ezel informed me, not more than forty years
old at the time
of his death. A certain Bábí named Biyúk
Áká
used to say jestingly, "I like a handsome 'Commander of the Faithful' like
Seyyid
Yahyá, not an ugly old man bent double with age like
Mullá Sheykh
'Alí."
Major-General Sir Frederick Goldsmith was
kind enough to
call my attention to the following passage in Lovett's Surveys on the
road from
Shíráz to Bam (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,
1872):-
"It (i.e. Níríz) is divided
into three parishes
or mahallas; that to the South, termed the 'Mahalla-i-
Bábí' is well known to be peopled almost entirely by
Bábís, who, though they do not openly profess their faith in
the teachings of
Seyyid 'Alí Muhammad the Báb, still practise the
principles of
communism he inculcated. It is certain, moreover, that the tolerance which
was one of the
precepts inculcated by the Báb is here shewed, for not only was I
invited to make use
of the public hammám, if I required it, but quarters were
assigned to me
in a madrasa."
Is it in the least degree probable that, if
Seyyid
Yahyá's conduct had been such as Kazem-Beg describes it,
Níríz should have continued so long one of the strongholds of
that faith
whereof he was the apostle?
1 Another yet more striking
instance of Divine vengeance was related
to me in the same connection, but I omit it as not bearing on the present
subject. The belief
prevalent amongst the Bábís, that signal punishment befalls
those who are
most active in persecuting them, is strangely supported not only by the
above instances but
by the fates of the Amír-Nizám (Gobineau, pp.
253-254), of
Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar (Gobineau, p.
295), of
Sheykh Bákir, and others (B. i, pp. 491-492).
[page 262]
NOTE I.
THE BÁB'S ESCAPE FROM SHÍRÁZ TO
ISFAHÁN.
According to the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd the Báb, after his examination before Huseyn
Khán
on Ramazán 21st, A.H. 1261 (Sept. 23rd, A.D. 1845), was
confined, not, as
stated in this history (p. 6), in the house of his uncle Hájí
Seyyid
'Alí, nor, as asserted by the Musulmán historians, in prison,
but in the house
of 'Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán the
Dárúghá or
chief constable of Shíráz. That for some portion of the six
months which
elapsed between his arrest and his escape to Isfahán the Báb
was an inmate of
the house of this official would appear certain, for
Subh-i-Ezel, whom I
questioned on the subject, affirmed this to have been the case, adding, in
answer to further
questions as to how strict was the custody in which he was kept, that the
rawza-
khwáns or religious recitations, of which the constable's house
was frequently
the scene, afforded opportunities to the Bábís of seeing and
conversing with
their Master.
That some attack on the Báb's house
such as that
described at p.10 of the present work did take place appears to be proved
by the following
passage from one of the Báb's works, for which I am also indebted to
Subh-i-Ezel:-
[two lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"His party entered in unto my house on the
'Night of
Worth'1 and took what they could of that
which my Lord hath caused
me to possess, at the command of the ruler of Fárs, upon whom be the
curse of
God!"
1 The
Leylatu'l-kadr ("Night of Worth" or
"Decrees") is generally supposed to be the night between the 23rd and 24th of
Ramazán. (See Sale's translation of the Kur'án,
note on
sura xcvii.)
[page 263]
The account of the Báb's escape from
Shíráz contained in the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd differs
somewhat from that here given, and is in substance as follows. When the
plague broke out in
Shíráz the son of 'Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán was
amongst
those stricken by the awful malady. 'Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán
in his
distress and anxiety appealed to the Báb, entreating him to pray for
the youth's
recovery. This shortly took place; whereat the grateful father sought out
his illustrious
guest, and, with profuse expressions of thankfulness, assured him that he
might consider
himself free to go where he pleased. According to the Musulmán
accounts (which,
together with a note containing a very pertinent criticism on their
intrinsic improbability,
will be found in Kazem-Beg's first paper, pp. 348-349) Minúchihr
Khán
Mu'tamadu'd-Dawla, the governor of Isfahán, sent horsemen to
Shíráz expressly to deliver the Báb from his captivity
and bring him
to Isfahán. It is but fair to add that Subh-i-Ezel
also attributed the
Báb's release directly to Minúchihr Khán's
efforts.
Of the Báb's journey to Isfahán
in company
with Áká Huseyn of Ardistán and
Áká Seyyid Kázim of Zanján (who
died shortly
after reaching Isfahán) the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd gives a
detailed account on the authority of Hájí Mírzá
Jání of Káshán, who had heard it from the
above-mentioned
Áká Muhammad Huseyn himself. The most
noteworthy
feature of this account is its evident tendency to invest in the
Báb's slightest actions
with a miraculous character.
The Báb probably reached
Isfahán early in
the summer of A.D. 1846, since, according to both the Musulmán
historians, his
captivity at Shíráz lasted six months, and since, according
to the present
history (p. 11), the hot weather (which seldom sets in till the beginning
of May at the
earliest) had already begun ere he left Shíráz. On
approaching Isfahán
he addressed a letter to the governor Minúchihr Khán asking
permission to
enter the city and craving protection. Of this letter Kazem-Beg (i. p. 352
and note) gives a
translation, which, as it appears to be derived from authoritative sources,
I here
reproduce:- "Poursuivi par tous, persécuté, j'accours me placer
sous
[page 264]
votre égide; j'attends votre réponse au seuil de la capitale,
et n'y entrerai pas
avant d'avoir obtenu l'assurance de votre protection."
During the first forty days of his sojourn in
Isfahán
the Báb was, as stated at p. 11 of the present work and also in the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, the guest of the
Imám-Jum'a, who at
first treated him with great respect, and at whose request he wrote the
Commentary on
the Súratu'l-'Asr. Of this work I have been fortunate
enough to obtain a
MS. quite recently. [See infra at the end of Note U].
NOTE J.
THE CONFERENCE AT ISFAHÁN.
Of the circumstances which led to the
conference, and the
considerations which induced the majority of the clergy invited to take
part in it to absent
themselves therefrom, the Táríkh-i-Jadíd gives
the following
account. Although the 'Ulamá of Isfahán headed by the
Imám-
Jum'a had at first behaved towards the Báb with respect, and
expressed themselves
favourably with regard to him, they began after a while to be alarmed at
his increasing
influence over the governor Munúchihr Khán. Alarm presently
passed into
hatred: they began to speak ill of him whom they had professed to admire,
and even destroyed
certain books which he had composed at their request. Munúchihr
Khán on
hearing this was greatly incensed, and bitterly reproached these divines
with the fickleness
of their conduct. "At first," he said, "you praised and admired. What has
happened now to
cause you to become so hostile and envious and induce you to speak so ill?
There is no sense
in denunciation without investigation or enquiry. If you are in truth
searchers and strivers
in matters of faith and religion, then choose one of three places - the
Imám-Jum'a's
house, my house, or the Masjid-i-Sháh - and hold discussion with him
[the
Báb]. If he can establish and prove the truth of his claim
so as to persuade
and convince you,
[page 265]
admit it, so that the clergy of Persia may not oppose and resist it without
reason, or turn
away from the truth without cause. If he cannot succeed in establishing his
claim, then do you
be the first to rebut it, so that this mischief may cease, and mankind may
be set at ease. But
it is a condition that I myself be present and that only one person at a
time speak, for if once
wrangling begins and clerical tricks are resorted to, the matter will not be
understood"
The clergy agreed to this proposal, and
selected the Masjid-
Sháh as the scene of the conference. On the appointed day Mír
Seyyid
Hasan Mudarris, Hájí Mullá Hasan
'Alí
of Túsirkán, Áká Muhammad
Mahdí
Kalbásí, and other members of the clergy who were to take
part in the
discussion met at the house of Hájí Muhammad Ja'far of
Fárs,
intending to proceed with him to the Masjid-i-Sháh. Hájí
Muhammad Ja'far, however, who was the oldest and most learned of
those present,
expressed a strong opinion to the effect that they would act most wisely in
refusing to take
any part in the projected discussion with the Báb, "for," said he,
"if you prevail over
him you will add but little to your reputation, seeing that he is
confessedly unlearned and
untrained in science; while if he prevail over you, you will be for ever
shamed and
disgraced. Under these circumstances it is best that we should sign a
declaration stating that
we are convinced of the heretical character of his doctrines, and refuse to
have any further
dealings with him." This expedient was, after some discussion, unanimously
adopted, and the
declaration was sent to Minúchihr Khán, who was greatly incensed
thereat.
That some of the clergy who had been invited
to take part in
the discussion refused to attend is a fact vouched for by both of the
Bábí
historians, though as to the names of the absentees they are not in
complete accord,
Áká Muhammad Mahdí, for instance, being
specially
designated in the present work (p. 12) as having been present at the
conference. The
Násikh 't-Tawáríkh gives a totally different
account of the
matter, including a report of the discussion. This account is in substance
as follows.
Minúchihr Khán, anxious to test
the
Báb's wisdom, one
[page 266]
night invited to his house several eminent members of the clergy of
Isfahán, amongst
these being Mírzá Seyyid Muhammad
Imám-Jum'a,
Áká Muhammad Mahdí
Kalbásí, and
Mírzá Muhammad Hasan of Núr. Shortly
after these
had arrived the Báb entered and was placed in a seat of honour. The
following colloquy
then took place:-
Áká Muhammad
Mahdí. - "Persons who follow the path of Religion belong to one
of two classes:
either they themselves deduce and determine religious questions from
history and tradition,
or else they follow some competent authority
(mujtahid)".1
Báb: - "I follow no one, and
moreover I
regard it as unlawful for each one to act after his own fancy."
Á. M. M. - "To-day the Gate of
Knowledge
(Báb-i-'ilm) is shut, and the Proof of God[i.e. the
Twelfth
Imám.] absent. Unless you hold converse with the Imám
of the Age
and hear the explanation of questions of truth from his tongue, how can you
attain certainty
and be assured? Tell me, whence have you acquired this knowledge, and from
whom did you
gain this assurance?"
Báb. - "You are educated in
tradition and are
as a child learning the alphabet. The 'Station of Praise and of the Spirit'
is mine. You cannot
speak with me of what you know not"
Mírzá Hasan (the
Platonist and
follower of Mullá Sadrá). - "Stop at this
statement which you
have made! We in our terminology have assigned a station to 'Praise and the
Spirit,'
whereunto whosoever attaineth is conversant with all things; from him
nothing remains
concealed, and there is nothing which he knoweth not. Do you recognise the
'Station of Praise
and of the Spirit' as such, and does your nature thus comprehend all
things?"
Báb (without hesitation). - "It
is even so. Ask
what you please."
M. H. - "One of the miracles of the
Prophets and
Saints was, as it appears, the [instant] traversing of the
1 He who follows is called
mukallid, and he who leads, mujtahid. Everyone
belonging to the
former class is at liberty to select his own guide from the
latter.
[page 267]
earth. Tell me now, that I may know, how the earth can be thus traversed.
For instance, His
Holiness Jawád1 (upon him be peace) lifted
up his foot
in Medína and put it down in Tús? Whither went the
space which was
between Medína and Tús? Did the ground between these
two cities sink
down, so that Medína became contiguous to Tús? And
when the
Imám (upon him be peace) reached Tús, did the earth
again rise up?
This cannot have been, for how many cities are there between Medína and
Tús, all of which must in that case have been swallowed up
and every living
thing therein destroyed! And if you say that the lands [between
them] were
agglomerated so that they became amalgamated, this too is impossible, for
in that case how
many cities would have been obliterated or would have passed beyond
Medína or
Tús, whereas [in fact] no part of the earth
was altered or
moved from its place. And if you say, 'The Imám flew, and leapt with
his mortal body
from Medína to Tús,' this likewise agreeth not with
sound reasonings.
Say also how 'Alí the Prince of Believers (upon Him be peace) was in
one night -
nay, in one moment - a guest in forty [different] houses. If
you say, 'It was
not 'Alí, but a simulacrum [of him] appeared,' we
admit it not, for
God and the Prophet lie not, neither was 'Alí a juggler. And if it
was in truth he, how
was it so? So likewise it is [stated] in tradition that the
heavens moved
swiftly in the time of Sultán Jábir, but had a slow
motion in the time
of the Imáms. Now firstly how can there be two sorts of
motion for the
heavens? And secondly the Omeyyad and 'Abbásid Kings were
contemporary
with our Imáms (upon them be peace), so that the heavens must at one
time have had
both a slow and a swift motion. Discover this mystery also."
Báb. - "If you wish, I will
explain these
difficulties verbally; if not, I will write [their
solutions] with fingers and
pen on paper."
M. H. - "The choice is yours. Do
whichever you
please."
Then the Báb took pen and paper and
began to
write.
1 Jawád ("the
Generous")
is one of the titles assigned to the ninth Imám, Muhammad
Takí.
[page 268]
At this moment supper was brought in. Mírzá Hasan
picked up the
paper on which the Báb had written a few lines and, after glancing
at it, said, "It
appears that you have begun a homily, and have only written an exordium of
praise to God and
a few words of prayer, without acquainting us with that which we desired to
know." Here the
discussion dropped, and after partaking of supper each one returned to his own
home.
Whatever may be the truth about this
conference and the
behaviour of the clergy of Isfahán towards the Báb, one fact
is clearly proved
by all accounts, namely, that from first to last Minúchihr
Khán shewed
himself a sincere and faithful friend to the Báb. Whether, as stated by
Subh-i-Ezel, he wrote to Muhammad Sháh telling
him that "it
was unseemly for the Government to engage in a quarrel with a private
individual," and
offered all the money at his disposal and even the rings on his hand to the
Báb; or
whether, as asserted by the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, he
even went so
far as to offer to place 50,000 troops at the Báb's disposal, march on
Teherán, and compel the King to accept the new faith and bestow the
hand of one of his
daughters on its founder, must remain doubtful; but this much at least is
certain, that almost
the only period of comparative peace and comfort enjoyed by the Báb
from the
beginning of his mission till his martyrdom was the year which he passed in
Isfahán
under the protection of the wise and powerful Georgian eunuch.
NOTE K.
MULLÁ SADRÁ AND HIS PHILOSOPHY.
Gobineau in his Religions et Philosophies
dans l'Asie
Centrale (pp. 81-91) has given so admirable an account of the life of
this great
philosopher and of the part played by him in the revival of metaphysical
learning in Persia
that any very detailed notice of his career on my part would be
superfluous. I shall therefore
confine myself to reproducing
[page 269]
a brief sketch of his biography as it was related to me by a most learned
and amiable scholar
- himself a pupil of Hájí Mullá Hádí of
Sabzawár, whose fame as a metaphysician has almost eclipsed that of
the illustrious
Mullá Sadrá - with whom it was my privilege to study
for some time
in Teherán. This account agrees in the main with Gobineau's, but
differs in some few
points.
Mullá Sadrá's father was
a rich
merchant of Shíráz, but though he had reached an advanced age
he had no child
to whom he might bequeath his wealth. This caused him much sorrow, and he
prayed
earnestly to God that a son might be vouchsafed to him, making a vow that
if his prayer were
granted he would bestow a túmán a day in alms on the
poor. Shortly
after this, that which he so earnestly desired came to pass, and a son -
afterwards the great
Mullá Sadrá - was born to him. From an early age the
boy gave
indications of extraordinary talent and virtue. When his father died, he
decided, after
consulting his mother, to give the greater portion of the wealth which he
had inherited to the
poor, reserving only what was sufficient for his modest needs. He then left
Shíráz and took up residence in Isfahán, which was at
that time
unrivalled in Persia as a seat of learning. On his arrival there he
enquired who were the best
teachers of philosophy, and was answered that they were three - Mír
Dámád, Mír Fandariskí, and Sheykh Behá.
To the first
of these he forthwith presented himself, and asked advice as to the course
of study which he
should pursue. "If you want sheer ideas," replied Mír
Dámád, "go to
Mír Fandariskí; if you want merely eloquence, go to Sheykh
Behá; if
you want both, come to me." Mullá Sadrá accordingly
attended with
diligence the lectures of all three, but chiefly those of Mír
Dámád.
After a while Mír Dámád, wishing to make the
pilgrimage to Mecca,
bade a temporary farewell to his students, and instructed each of them to
compose during his
absence a treatise on some branch of Philosophy. On his return he asked to
see the results of
their labours. These he glanced over in private, and all of them he laid
aside after a cursory
inspection save the treatise composed by Mullá Sadrá
under the name
of Shawáhid-i-Rubúbiyya ('Evidences of Divinity') - a
treatise to this
day most
[page 270]
highly esteemed in Persia. A few days after, as he was riding through the
streets attended by
his disciples, he called Mullá Sadrá to him and said:-
"Sadrá ján! Kitáb-i-mará az meyán
burdí!" ("My dear Sadrá, you have done away with
my book!"),
meaning to signify that the pupil had superseded the teacher. Shortly after
this Mullá
Sadrá, having completed his studies, went to
Káshán, and
thence, after a while, to Kum, in the mountains around which city he
long lived a
secluded and studious life, troubled occasionally by the malice and
hostility of the
mullás.
Gobineau says (loc. cit., p. 89) that
Mullá Sadrá's philosophy was simply a revival of
Avicenna's and
contained nothing new; but this, as he himself remarks, is not the general
opinion in Persia.
The following three points, as I was informed, constitute the chief
original features of
Mullá Sadrá's system:-
(1) The aphorism
[one line of Persian/Arabic
text]
"The elementary Reality is all things, yet is
no one of them."
(2) The doctrine of "the Union of the
Intellect with the
Intelligible" (~~~), according to which the clear
apprehension of an idea implies and involves the establishment of a kind of
identity between
it and the mind which apprehends it.
(3) The doctrine of "the Incorporeality of
Imagination"
(~~~) - a doctrine involving the important
consequence that Reason (or the development of that principle which stands
above
Imagination in the evolution of the spiritual faculties) is not a necessary
condition of
immortality, and hence that not infants only but even animals possess a
spiritual part which
survives the death of the body.
Mullá Sadrá composed a
great
number of works, whereof the Asfár ('Treatises'), in two
large volumes, and
the Sha-
[page 271]
wáhid-i-Rubúbiyya ('Evidences of Divinity') mentioned
above, are
the most important. His influence on Persian thought has been great; and
his relations with
the later developments thereof - especially with the Sheykhí school
(concerning
which see Note E supra) - merit a much more careful study than they
have yet
received.
NOTE L.
THE BÁB AT MÁKÚ AND CHIHRÍK.
The Báb was accompanied on his journey to
Mákú by his amanuensis Áká Seyyid
Huseyn of
Yezd, Mullá Sheykh 'Alí
'Jenáb-i-'Azím',
Mullá Muhammad 'Mu'allim-i-Núrí'
(afterwards
killed at Sheykh Tabarsí)1, and an
escort of
twelve horsemen under the command of Muhammad Beg
Chápárjí. A full account of this journey, on
the authority of
Hájí Mírzá Jání of
Káshán, who
had it directly from the aforesaid Muhammad Beg, is contained in the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd. The substance of this account
is as follows:-
When Muhammad Beg was ordered to
conduct the
Báb to Tabríz and there deliver him over to Bahman
Mírzá the
governor, he was so averse to undertaking this charge that he feigned
illness in hopes of
being excused so thankless a task. His orders, however, were peremptorily
repeated, and he
was obliged to set out. He had been instructed not to take the Báb
into the towns which
they must pass on the road, and accordingly on approaching Zanján he
called a halt at
a stone caravansaray situated outside and at some distance from the city.
In spite of this, no
sooner did their arrival become known than numbers of the inhabitants came
out in the hopes
of being able to get a
1 This is according to
Subh-i-Ezel's statement. According to the
Táríkh-i-
Jadíd his companions were, besides the escort,
Áká
Mírzá 'Abdu'l-Wahháb, Mullá Muhammad,
Áká Seyyid Huseyn the amanuensis, his brother
Áká Seyyid Hasan of Yezd, and Seyyid
Murtazá.
[page 272]
glimpse of the Báb. Muhammad Beg, being occupied with other
business, took
no heed of what was passing, while the other men who composed the escort
only offered such
opposition to the entry of each group of eager visitors as sufficed to
procure for themselves a
gift of money. Presently an urgent message was brought from Ashraf
Khán the
governor of Zanján (who was greatly alarmed at the popular
excitement caused by the
Báb's proximity to the town) ordering Muhammad Beg at once to
start again
and proceed to some spot further distant. Muhammad Beg accordingly
informed the
Báb, with many apologies and expressions of regret, that he must
prepare to resume
his journey without delay, to which, with a single expression of surprise
and regret at the
governor's harshness, he submitted, and they pushed on to a brick
caravansaray two
farsakhs beyond Zanján. At Mílán the
Báb's arrival was
the signal for a similar demonstration of enthusiasm on the part of the
populace, and some
two hundred persons who had come out of mere curiosity were converted to
the new faith.
Before Tabríz was reached
Muhammad Beg
too began to experience that marvellous fascination which the Báb
exerted over
almost everyone with whom he came in contact, and ere the journey was
completed he had
become an avowed believer in the divine mission of the captive whom he was
conducting into
exile. Of those disciples who accompanied the Báb on this journey
two only -
Áká Seyyid Huseyn and Seyyid Murtaza -
allowed it to
appear that they were his companions. The others used to follow at some
distance behind, and
only on halting for the night did they seek to find some pretext for
approaching their beloved
Master. In spite of these precautions, Muhammad Beg, whose faculties
were perhaps
quickened by his own recent conversion, did not fail in time to discover
what they wished to
keep secret from him, for of the change which had been wrought in his
opinions and feelings
they were not yet aware. One day, however, he opened his heart to them,
declaring that when
he reflected on the service in which he was engaged he felt himself to be
worse than Shimr
and Yazíd, and expressing the warmest admiration for the patience,
sweetness,
gentleness, and holiness of the Báb, "for," said he, "had he chosen
to give the
slightest
[page 273]
hint to the people of Zanján or Mílan that they should effect
his deliverance,
they would not have given us time to draw our breath ere they had effected
their
object."
Muhammad Beg was in hopes that he
might be
appointed to accompany the Báb to Mákú - his ultimate
destination -
and this hope he communicated to the Báb, who, however, replied that
this was by no
means a thing which he desired, for that in that journey there would
be harshness and
cruelty shewn wherein he would not that Muhammad Beg should bear any
part. When
they had come within a stage of Tabríz the Báb requested
Muhammad
Beg to go on in advance and announce his approach to Bahman
Mírzá, to whom
he also sent a message praying that he might not be sent to
Mákú but might be
allowed to remain in Tabríz. To this message the Prince merely
replied that it had
nothing to do with him, and that the instructions given at the capital must
be complied with.
Much distressed at being the bearer of such unwelcome tidings,
Muhammad Beg
returned to meet the Báb, whom he brought in to his own house at
Tabríz.
There the Báb remained for several days until the fresh escort which
was to conduct
him to Mákú arrived. The Báb sent Muhammad Beg
with a
second message to the Prince, again renewing his request for permission to
remain at
Tabríz. To this message also Bahman Mírzá turned a
deaf ear; and such
was Muhammad Beg's chagrin, and so great the sorrow which he
experienced on
parting from the Báb (whose new escort would suffer no further delay
in starting),
that he fell ill of a fever which did not quit him for two months.
No sooner had Muhammad Beg recovered
his health
than he set out for Mákú to visit the Báb. On his
arrival there he fell
at the Báb's feet, entreating him to overlook and condone any fault
of which he might
have been guilty. The Báb answered that he was not willing that even
his enemies
should suffer, much less his friends, and that he freely forgave all who
had wittingly or
unwittingly trespassed against him. He then enquired concerning the details
of the disgrace
which had befallen two of those who had slighted him - Ashraf Khán
and Bahman
Mírzá - with which Muhammad Beg forthwith proceeded to
acquaint
him; and, on hearing the indignities to which Ashraf Khán
[page 274]
had been subjected by the relatives of a woman whom he had seduced, he
expressed sorrow
that so severe a punishment should have overtaken him.
The confinement to which the Báb was
subjected at
Mákú was by no means an excessively rigorous one. Not only
his amanuensis
Áká Seyyid Huseyn, but also (according to
Subh-i-Ezel) Mullá Sheykh 'Alí, and apparently
others
amongst the most earnest and devoted of his followers, were constantly with
him, while many
others flocked to Mákú from all parts of Persia and were
permitted to hold
almost unrestricted converse with their Master. Besides this, continual
correspondence was
carried on between the Báb and his most active apostles, in spite of
the instructions
given to 'Alí Khán the warden of Mákú Castle by
the Prime
Minister Hájí Mírzá
Ákásí to
the effect that no such correspondence was to be permitted. Whether
'Alí Khán
found himself unable to prevent his correspondence (at any rate without
risking a popular
tumult), or whether he simply connived at it either from indolence,
indifference, or
partiality for the Báb, does not very clearly appear. It would at
any rate seem that he
always treated his prisoner with the utmost respect and deference, toiled
daily up the steep
road from the village to the Castle (which stood on the summit of a
neighbouring hill), and,
when questioned by his friends as to the opinion which he had formed of the
Báb,
would reply that, although he was not clever enough to understand his
sayings, he was
convinced of his greatness and holiness.
During his sojourn at Mákú the
Báb
composed a great number of works, amongst the more important of which may
be especially
mentioned the Persian Beyán and the 'Seven Proofs'
(Dalá'il-i-
Sab'a), both of which contain ample internal evidence of having been
written at this
period (B. ii, pp. 912-913). Indeed, if we may credit a statement made in the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd on the authority of
Mírzá
'Abdu'l-Wahháb, the various writings of the Báb current in
Tabríz
alone amounted in all to not less than a million verses! The Prime Minister
himself,
Hájí Mírzá Ákásí,
was made the
object of a homily entitled "The Sermon of Wrath" (~~~) "which," says the
author
[page 275]
of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, "if anyone will peruse,
he shall
understand the true meaning of inward Strength and Power." Whether this
document reached
the eyes of him for whom it was intended and roused him to take further
steps for the more
effectual isolation of its author is uncertain; but at all events fresh
instructions of a more
peremptory character were despatched by the Prime Minister to the Warden of
Mákú commanding him at once to put a stop to the interchange
of letters
between the Báb and his followers. 'Alí Khán replied
that he was
absolutely unable to do this; whereupon orders were issued by the Prime
Minister for the
removal of the Báb from Mákú to Chihrík.
'Alí
Khán, though his own action had brought about this transference,
communicated the
announcement thereof to the Báb with every expression of distress
and concern, but
the latter sternly cut short his apologies saying, "Why dost thou lie? Thou
didst thyself
write, and dost thou excuse thyself?" So the Báb was taken to
Chihrík. and
placed in the custody of Yahyá Khán.
The
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, ever
disposed towards the marvellous if not the miraculous, relates that
Yahyá
Khán saw the Báb in a dream a short time before his actual
arrival at
Chihrík, and that this dream he related to Jenáb-i-
'Azím (Mullá Sheykh 'Alí), declaring at the
same time
that should the Báb's appearance prove to be such as he had seen in
his vision he
would know for a surety that this was indeed the promised Imám
Mahdí. On
the Báb's arrival Yahyá Khán went out to meet
him and beheld
his face even as the face in the dream. Thereupon, being greatly moved, he
bowed himself in
reverence before the Báb, and brought him in with all honour into
his own house,
neither would he sit down in his presence without permission. In
consequence of the
impression thus produced on Yahyá Khán, the
Báb, in spite of
Hájí Mírzá Ákásí's
stringent
orders, was not much more isolated from his followers at Chihrík.
than he had been
at Mákú.
Subh-i-Ezel's version is quite
different, and
is not only much more probable in itself, but also rests on much better
authority, since
through his hands passed the greater part of the correspondence which was
carried on with
the Báb. According to this version, the Báb's confinement at
Chihrík.
[page 276]
was of the most rigorous kind, and it was only with the greatest difficulty
that letters could
be conveyed to or from him. Some of the expedients resorted to for this
purpose were
described by Mullá Sheykh 'Alí to Subh-i-Ezel
and by him to
me. Sometimes the letter to be conveyed to the Báb was carefully
wrapped up in a
waterproof covering, weighted, and sunk in a vessel filled with
mást (curdled
milk), which vessel the Bábí messenger would pray the guards
to convey as a
trifling present to the captive. Sometimes the letter was enclosed in a
candied walnut of the
kind called juzghand. The bearer, on his arrival at
Chihrík, would
enter into conversation with the sentries, offer them a share of his
juzghands, and
finally, having sufficiently ingratiated himself with them, request them to
carry a handful of
sweetmeats to their prisoner. If they consented to do this, the walnut
containing the letter
was dexteriously slipped into the handful destined for the Báb.
A passage from M. Mochenin's memoir quoted by
Kazem-Beg
(i. p. 371) would seem, however, to imply that even at Chihrík. the
Báb was
permitted to address those who came to hear and see him. "The concourse of
people," he says,
"was so great that, the court not being spacious enough to contain all the
audience, the
greater number remained in the street listening attentively to the verses
of the new
Kur'án." But at all events the Báb was subjected to a
closer and more
rigorous confinement at Chihrík. than he had been at
Mákú. Hence he
used to call the former "the Grievous Mountain"
(~~~)1) for which it stands.], and
the latter "the Open Mountain" (~~~). His
gaoler at Chihrík. was moreover a coarse and unsympathetic creature,
to whom
Áká Seyyid Huseyn of Yezd gave the name of
"Fierce and
Terrible" (~~~)2.
The last point which requires discussion is
this:- of the
three and a half years which elapsed between the death
1 It will be noticed that
the numerical
value of the word ~~~ (318) is the same as that of
the name Chihrík. (~~~)
2 Kur'án, lxvi.
6.
[page 277]
of Minúchihr Khán (Rabí'ul-Avval A. H. 1263 = Feb. -
March A. D.
1847) and the execution of the Báb (Sha'bán 27th A.H. 1266 =
July 8th A.D.
1850) what portion was passed by the Báb at Mákú and
Chihrík. respectively? As the Báb did not leave
Isfahán till after
Minúchihr Khán's death, we may, allowing for the time
consumed in
travelling and probable delays, assume that he did not reach
Mákú much
before June A.D. 1847. Kazem-Beg says that he remained there six months ere
he was
transferred to Chihrík, where, if this statement be correct,
he must have
arrived about the beginning of A.D. 1848. From Chihrík. he was
brought to
Tabríz to undergo his first examination (see subsequent note) during
the life of
Muhammad Sháh, who died on Sept. 4th, A.D. 1848; and from
Chihrík.
he was again brought to Tabríz in July A.D. 1850 to suffer
martyrdom. It would
therefore seem that of the last three years of the Báb's life six
months (from June to
December, A.D. 1847) were spent at Mákú, and two years and a
half
(January A.D. 1848 - July A.D. 1850) at Chihrík.
NOTE M.
THE FIRST EXAMINATION OF THE BÁB AT TABRÍZ.
Of what took place in this assembly we have
four accounts
besides that which is contained in the present work, whereof two - those
contained in the
Rawzatu 's-Safá and the
Kisasu 'l-
'Ulamá - are almost identical. The version contained in the
Násikhu 't-
Tawárikh is substantially a mere condensation of these, and
contains little new
matter, though the order of the proceedings is somewhat differently given.
The account
contained in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd is relatively
very brief, and
in the main agrees with what is stated in the present work.
Bábí tradition, in
short, supplies us with no detailed narrative of this event, the reason for
this being
apparently that the assembly in question was held with closed doors, and
that
[page 278]
the Báb (so far as we can tell) was unsupported by the presence of a
single
friend.
As to the credibility of the Muhammadan
version, Kazem-
Beg has some very pertinent remarks in his first article (pp. 360-363).
While fully
sharing the doubts which he expresses as to the historical value of this
version, I have
nevertheless thought it worth reproducing in this place, believing that,
whether it be true
or false, it will not be found altogether uninteresting as a specimen of
the method of judicial
enquiry adopted by an Ecclesiastical Court in Persia. I have in the main
followed the account
given in the Rawzatu 's-Safá and the
Kisasu 'l-'Ulamá, except in a few cases where a
question or
answer seemed to be more clearly put in the Násikhu 't-
Tawáríkh.
In the Násikhu
't-Tawárikh this
conference is described as having taken place in the year A.H. 1263. If
this were
so,1 it must
have been at the close of that year (which ended on December 8th, A.D.
1847), inasmuch as
the Báb was, according to all authorities (including Dr A. H. Wright of
Urúmiyya), brought to Tabríz from
Chihrík, whither
(as I have attempted to shew in the previous note) he was not transferred
much before the
beginning of A.D. 1848.
The chief persons who took part in this
examination of the
Báb were:-
Násiru 'd-Dín
Mírzá, now King, then Crown-Prince, of Persia, who was at
this time
about sixteen years old, and on whom the government of
Ázarbaiján had only
recently been bestowed; Hájí Mullá
Mahmúd
entitled Nizámu'l-'Ulamá, the young Prince's
tutor;
Mullá Muhammad Mámakání
entitled
Hujjatu'l-Islám, an eminent Sheykhí divine;
Hájí Murtazá-Kulí Marandí
entitled
'Ilmu 'l-Hudá; Hájí Mírzá
'Alí
Asghar the Sheykhu'l-Islám; and (according to the
present work)
Mírzá Ahmad the Imám-Jum'a.
Shortly after
these had assembled the Báb was brought in, and (according to the
Musulmán,
but not the Bábí, accounts) was motioned to a seat of honour.
The following
dialogue then ensued:-
Hájí Mullá
Mahmúd. - "The command of His Imperial Majesty the King
is that you
should set forth your
1 But see remarks on pp.
186-187 supra.
[page 279]
claims in the presence of the doctors of Islám, so that the truth of
falsehood thereof
may be established. Although I myself am not one of the learned and only
occupy the position
of an attendant, I am free from prejudice, and my conversion will not be
without importance.
Now I have three questions to ask of you. Firstly, are these books
composed in the
fashion and style of the Kur'án, of Epistles, and of Prayers,
and disseminated
through all parts and regions of Persia yours, and did you compose them, or
do men
[wrongly] attribute them to you?"
Báb. - "They are from
God"
H. M. M.- "I am no great scholar; if
they are yours,
say so; and if not, don't"
Báb. - "They are mine."
H. M. M. - "The meaning of your saying
'They are
from God' is that your tongue is like the Tree on
Sinai1 -
[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]2
[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]3
Báb. - "Mercy be upon you!"
H. M. M. - "They call you
'Báb.' Who
gave you this name, and where did they give it? What is the meaning of
'Báb'?
And are you content with this name or not?"
Báb. - "God gave me this
name."
H. M. M. - "Where? In the House of the
Ka'ba, or in
the 'Holy House,'4 or in the 'Frequented
House'?"5
1 i.e. The Burning Bush. Cf.
Kur'án xxvii, 7-9; and xxviii, 29-30.
2 "If [to say] 'I am the Truth'
(i.e. God)
be right in a tree, Why should it not be right in some favoured man?"
3 See note 1 at the foot of p. 23
supra.
4 Jerusalem.
5 See Kur'án lii, v.
4, and
explanations in the commentaries.
[page 280]
Báb. - "Wherever it was, it is
a divine
name."
H. M. M. - "In that case of course you
are content
with a 'divine name.' What is the meaning of 'Báb'?"
Báb. - "The same word
'Báb' in
[the tradition] -
~~~1
H. M. M. - "Then you are the 'Gate of
the City of
Knowledge'?"
Báb. - "Yes"
H. M. M. - "Praise be to God! For
forty years have I
journeyed seeking to meet with one of the 'Gates,' and it was not granted
to me. Now, praise
be to God, you have come to me in my own country, even to my very pillow!
If it be so, and I
can but assure myself that you are the 'Gate,' give me, I pray, the office
of shoe-
keeper!"
Báb. - "Surely you are
Hájí
Mullá Mahmúd?"
H. M. M. - "Yes"
Báb. - "Your dignity is great;
great offices
should be bestowed upon you."
H. M. M. - "I only want that office,
and it is sufficient
for me."
The Prince. - "We too will leave and
deliver over
this throne to you who are the 'Gate.'"
H. M. M. - "As the Prophet or some
other wise man
hath said -
~~~2
I ask, then, in Medicine, what occurs in the
stomach when a
person suffers from indigestion? Why are some cases amenable to treatment?
Any why do
some go on to permanent dyspepsia or syncope,3 or
terminate in
hypochondriasis?"
1 "I am the City of
Knowledge and 'Alí is
its Gate (Báb)."
2 "Knowledge is twofold - knowledge
of bodies,
and knowledge of religions;" i.e. Medicine and Theology are the only two
branches of science
which are really worthy of attention."
3 ~~~
swooning or syncope. For fainting-fits in connection with dyspepsia, see
Avicenna's
Kánún (Rome, A.D. 1593), vol. i, p.
440.
[page 281]
Báb. - "I have not studied
Medicine."
The Prince. - "If so be that you are
the 'Gate of
Knowledges,' yet say 'I have not studied Medicine,' this is quite
incompatible with your
claim!"
H. M. M. - (To the Prince) "It
is of no
consequence, for this is but the art of the veterinarian and is not
included amongst sciences;
so that herein is no incompatibility with Báb-hood" (To the
Báb) "Theology consists of the sciences of 'Principles'
([~~~]) and 'Applications'
([~~~]). The science of 'Principles' has a beginning
([~~~]) and a conclusion
([~~~]). Say then: are [the Divine Attributes
of ] Knowledge, Hearing, Seeing, and Power identical with the
[Divine] Essence, or otherwise?"
Bab. - "Identical with the
Essence."
H. M. M. - "Then God is multiple and
composite; the
[Divine] Essence and the [Divine] Knowledge
are two things
like vinegar and syrup which have yet become identical; [God
is]
compounded of [the Divine] Essence plus Knowledge, of
[the
Divine] Essence plus Power, and so on. Besides this, the
[Divine] Essence is 'without Opposite, without
Antithesis' But
Knowledge, which is identical with the [Divine] Essence, has
an opposite,
which is Ignorance. Besides these two objections, God knows, the
Prophet knows, and I
know: we [therefore] partake in Knowledge. We also have a
'ground of
distinction'; for the Knowledge of God is from Himself, while our knowledge
is from Him.
Therefore God is compounded of a 'ground of distinction' and a 'ground of
identity.' But God is
not composite."
Báb. - "I have not studied
Philosophy."
(The Prince smiles, but preserves silence.)
H. M. M. - "The science of
'Applications' is elucidated
from the Book and the Code1, and the
understanding of the Book
and the Code depends on many sciences, such as Grammar, Rhetoric, and
Logic. Do you who
are the Báb conjugate Kála?"
Báb. - "What
Kála?"
1 i.e. the
Kur'án and the
Traditions.
[page 282]
H. M. M. - "Kála,
yakúlu, kawlan." (Begins to say the past tense after the
fashion of a school-boy - "Kála, kálá,
kálú; kálat, kálatá,
kulná." Then addressing the Báb) "Do you say the
rest."
Báb. - "I learned it in
childhood, but I have
forgotten it"
H. M. M. - "Give the derivatives of
Kála."
Báb. - "How give the
derivatives?"
H. M. M. (after giving some of the
derivatives) - "Now give the rest."
Báb. - "I told you, I have
forgotten."
H. M. M. - "Explain this verse of the
Glorious
Kur'án:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic
text]1
and tell me also what is the construction of ~~~?"
Báb. - "I don't remember."
H. M. M. - "What is the meaning of
this tradition:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic
text]2
Báb. - "I don't know."
H. M. M. - "Explain the meaning of
this tradition of
what passed between Ma'mún the Caliph and His Highness
Rizá the
eighth Imám:-
1 "It is He who maketh
you to behold
the lightning, a fear and a hope." Kur'án, xiii, 13.
2 "May God curse the eyes, for
verily they
have acted unjustly towards the one eye." I regret to say that I have
failed to ascertain by
whom and on what occasion these words were uttered or to what they
allude.
[page 283]
[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]1
What was the nature of the argument employed by Rizá (on him
be peace),
and what the point of Ma'mún's objection and of Rizá's
reply
thereto?"
Báb. - "Is it a tradition?"
H. M. M. - "Yes" (Cites
authorities)
"The circumstances under which the Súratu 'l-Kawthar was
revealed were, as
is well known, the following:- His Highness the Prophet was passing by.
'Ás said,
'This is the childless man!' Shortly afterwards he died, leaving no
children. His Highness the
Prophet was grieved, and so this Súra was revealed for his
consolation. Tell me now,
what was the nature of the consolation which it
contained?"2
Báb. - "Were these indeed the
circumstances
under which it was revealed?"
1 "Ma'mún said,
'What is the proof for [the right to] the Caliphate
of thine
ancestor 'Alí ibn Abí Tálib?' He [i.e.
Rizá] said, 'The sign of ourselves' He
[i.e. Ma'mún] said, 'If it were not for our
wives!' He
[i.e. Rizá] said, 'If it were not for
our sons!'
Then Ma'mún was silent" By his first answer the Imám
Rizá means that the right of 'Alí and his descendants
to the
Caliphate is sufficiently proved by their being what they are and connected
as they
are with the Prophet. Ma'mún objects, 'Yes, that is all very well,
but we too
are related to the Prophet on the female side;' to which objection the
Imám
Rizá replies, 'But our connection is in the male
line;' for
connection in the male line is a much closer tie, as expressed in the
following verse
from on old Arab poet for which I am indebted to my friend Mr Khalíl
Khayyát. of Beyrout:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic text]
"Our sons' sons are our sons, but as for our daughters
Their sons are the sons of strange men."
This, at least, appears to me to be the explanation of the tradition.
2 Concerning the circumstances
under which
the Súratu'l-Kawthar was revealed see Ibn Hishám's
Life of
Muhammad, ed. Wüstenfeld, p. 261.
[page 284]
H. M. M. - "Yes" (Cites
authorities.)
(The Báb asks for time to
think.)
H. M. M. - "In the days of our youth
we used,
according to the dictates of our age, jestingly to repeat this sentence of
'Alláma1 whereof I desire you now
to explain to
me the meaning:-
[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]2
Why should this be so?"
Báb. - (after reflecting for
a while)
"Is this sentence from 'Alláma?"
The audience (unanimously). -
"Yes!"
H. M. M. - "Suppose it is not
'Alláma's
but mine, do you nevertheless explain its meaning. After all you are the
'Gate of
Knowledge'!"
Báb. - "I cannot think of
anything."
H. M. M. - "One of the miracles of the
Arabian
Prophet is the Kur'án, and the miraculous character thereof
is derived from
its fasáhat and its balághat.
What is the
definition of fasáhat and
balághat? Is the
relation which subsists between them tabáyun, tasáwí,
'umúm wa khusús. min wajh, or 'umúm wa
khusús-i-
mutlak?"3
1 The title of the
'Alláma
("the very erudite"), is used by the Shi'ites to designate one of their
great theologians named
Hasan ibn Yüsuf ibn 'Alí of Hilla. According to the
Kisasu'l-'Ulamá he was born on
Ramazán 19th, A.H. 648 (December 15th, A.D. 1250), and died on
Muharram 11th, A.H. 726 (December 18th, A.D. 1325). No less than
seventy-five
of his works are enumerated
2 "Si vir cum hermaphrodito,
hermaphroditus cum muliere rem habet, ab hermaphrodito requiritur ut
aquâ se
purget, non vero a viro et muliere."
3
Fasáhat and
balághat both signify in general "eloquence," but the former
especially denotes
correctness of diction and chasteness of style, the latter
moving and
affecting language which reaches the hearts of the
hearers or causes the
speaker to reach his object. (See Lane's Arabic-English
Lexicon, sv.
[~~~] and [Arabic word].)
[footnote goes onto page 285] The "four relations"
recognized by
Muhammadan logicians and here enumerated are in detail as follows:- (1)
Tasáwí ("Equivalence" or "Co-extensiveness"), as "man"
and "endowed
with articulate speech" (2) Tabáyun ("Diversity"), as
"man" and
"stone." (3) 'Umúm wa khusús. i-mutlak.
("Relation
of genus and species absolutely"), as "animal" and "man." (4)
'Umúm wa
khusús. min wajh ("Relation of genus and species under
one aspect"), as
"animal" and "white."
[page 285]
Báb. - "I don't know." (The
audience
manifest signs of anger and impatience.)
H. M. M. - "If you were in doubt
between two and
three [inclinations in prayer] what would you
do?"1
Báb. - "I would assume
two."
Mullá Muhammad
Mámákání:- "O impious one! You do
not even know
what to do in cases of doubt in prayer, and yet you claim to be the
Báb!"
Báb. - "I would assume
three."
1 This question, with what
immediately
follows it, refers to the duty incumbent on a Musulmán who, while
engaged in the
performance of one of the prescribed prayers, becomes conscious of a doubt
as to whether he
has duly fulfilled some one or more of its essential elements, e.g.
as to whether he has
performed two or three inclinations (rak'a). Every possible case of
doubt is provided
for in that section of Muhammadan jurisprudence which is entitled
[Arabic
script] concerning which see Querry's Droit Musulman
(Paris, 1871)
vol. i, pp. 107-109. The general rule is thus stated at p. 21 of the
catechism called
Su'ál ú Jawáb ("Questions and answers")
composed by
Hájí Seyyid Muhammad Bákir of
Isfahán and
printed at Teherán in A.H. 1247 (A.D. 1831-2):- "He who is doubtful
assumes the
[performance of the] act concerning which he doubts, whether
it relates to
the number of inclinations (rak'a) or not; except in cases where
[the
performance of] the act concerning which he doubts would cause
nullity [of
the prayer], when he assumes its omission. If, then, he be doubtful
whether it is
two or three inclinations [which he has performed], he
assumes three; if he
be doubtful whether he has performed the inclination or the prostration or
not, he assumes
that he has performed them; and if he be doubtful whether he has performed
the recitation
(kará'at), he assumes that he has performed it. But
[on the
other hand] if he be doubtful whether he has inclined twice or once
he assumes that
he has inclined [only] once; and if he be doubtful whether
he has performed
four inclinations of prayer or five, he assumes that it is
four."
[page 286]
H. M. M. - "Evidently if it is not two
you must say
three."
H. M. M. - "Three is also wrong. Why
did you not ask
whether it was in the morning or evening prayer that I was in doubt, and
whether it was
after the inclination or before the inclination, or after the completion of
two
prostrations?"
H. M. M. - "You ought to give thanks,
for had he said
'I would assume two' (inasmuch as engaging in an indubitable duty demands
fulfilment of that
indubitable duty) what would you have done
then1?" (To the
Báb)
"Did you write:- ~~~?2
Is this expression yours or not?"
Báb. "Yes, it is mine."
H. M. M. - "Then in that case you were
the leader and
they were followers, and you must be superior to them?"
Hájí Murtazá-
Kulí Marandí. - "The Lord of the Universe has
said:-
[one line of Persian/Arabic
text]3
1 If I have understood this
rather
obscure expression (~~~) it means that the
undertaking of an obligation such as prayer necessitates and requires the
due discharge of all
that is properly involved therein, without which it is null and void. Hence
if it were
necessary in a case of doubt such as is indicated above to assume that only
two inclinations
had been performed (or, in other words, to assume the minimum instead of
the maximum),
then all persons who had followed the rule ordinarily received would have
been guilty of
numerous sins of omission for which they would be held responsible.
2 "The first to believe in me
was the Light of
Muhammad and [the Light of] 'Alí."
3 "And know that whenever ye
seize anything
as a spoil, to God belongs a fifth thereof, and to His Apostle......"
Kur'án,
viii, 42.
[page 287]
while you in your Kur'án say [Arabic
script]1 . On what authority, and
why?"
Báb. - "A third is the half of
a fifth. What
difference does it make?"
(The audience laugh).
H.M.-K. M. - "In how many ways is
nine divisible?"
(The Báb gives no answer.)
H. M. M. -
"[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]2
I am not tied down to words; shew me a
miracle suitable to
your claims, so that I may become your follower, and on my submission many
will set their
footsteps within the circle of devotion to you, for I am well known as
learned, and the learned
man will never follow the ignorant"
Báb. - "What miracle do you
desire?"
H. M. M. - "His Majesty the King
Muhammad
Sháh is sick. Restore him to health"
The Prince. - "Why go so far? Are not
you present?
Let him exert an influence over your being and restore you
1"A third thereof."
As a matter of
fact the ordinances contained in the Persian Beyán relative
to the disposal of
spoils taken from infidels do not accord with the statement here made,
which is probably
quite fictitious. They will be found in Váhid v, ch.
vi, and are in
substance as follows:- (1) One-fifth of the spoils, together with whatever
is incomparable
in value or beauty, belongs to the Báb. If he be no longer alive it
is to be held in trust
for "Him whom God shall manifest" (2) Of what remains the warriors
who have won
it take what suffices for their needs. (3) The residue is given to the
poor, all of whom, so far
as possible, are to be made partakers in the bounty. Should anything still
remain over, it
may be expended on building or repairing shrines etc.
2 "How long these
words and this concealment and metaphor?
I would burn, burn,
and acquiesce
in that burning."
Masnaví (ed. 'Alá'u'd-Dawla, p. 143, line
8).
[page 288]
to youthfulness, so that you may ever continue in attendance on our
stirrup. We too, on
witnessing the accomplishment of this miracle, will resign this throne to
him."1
Báb. - "It is not in my
power."
H. M. M. - "Then honour is not
rendered without
some reason. O dumb in the realms of words and dumb in the realms of ideas,
what virtue
then do you possess?"
Báb. - "I can utter eloquent
words"
(Recites)
[one line of Persian/Arabic
text]2
(pronouncing the last word with final fat-ha).
Prince (smiling). -
[two lines of Persian/Arabic
text]3
Báb. - "My name 'Alí
Muhammad corresponds with Rabb"
(Lord).4
H. M. M. - "Every 'Alí
Muhammad and
Muhammad 'Alí corresponds with Rabb. Besides in that
case you should
claim to be the Lord rather than the Báb."
Báb. - "I am that person for whose
appearance ye have waited a thousand years"
H. M. M. - "That is to say you are the
Mahdí,
the Lord of Religion?"5
1 There is something almost
ludicrous
in the eagerness wherewith the Crown-Prince interposes to check the miracle
designed to
restore his dying father to health"
2 "Praise be to God who created
the
heavens."
3 "That which forms its plural in
alif
and tá is pointed with kesra alike in the adjective
and in the dependent
cases." This sentence is from the well-known versified Arabic Grammar
called the
Alfiyya, and will be found on p. 19 of Dieterici's edition of that
work (Leipsic,
1851).
4 The sum of the letters in
'Alí
Muhammad is 202, which is also the numerical equivalent of
Rabb.
5 i.e. the Twelfth Imám.
See Note O
infra.
[page 289]
Báb. - "Yes"
H. M. M. - "The same in person, or
generically?"
Báb. - "In person."
H. M. M. - "What is your name, and
what are the
names of your father and mother? Where is your birthplace? And how old are
you?"
Báb. - "My name is 'Alí
Muhammad; my mother was named Khadíja and my father
Mírzá Rizá the cloth-seller; my birth-place is
Shíráz; and of my life, behold, thirty-five years have
elapsed"1 Kazem-Beg (i, p. 334, note 4) bases the
calculation
whereby he arrives at the date of the Báb's birth on this passage,
which, as a matter
of fact, affords a strong proof of the falsity of the whole narrative
wherein it occurs, since
the Báb's age certainly did not exceed 29 years at this time (see
Note C
supra).]
H. M. M. - "The name of the Lord of
Religion is
Muhammad; his father was named Hasan and his mother Narjis;
his birth-
place was Surra-man-Ra'a; and his age is more than a thousand years. There
is the most
complete variance. And besides I did not send you."
Báb. - "Do you claim to be
God?"
H. M. M. - "Such an Imám is
worthy of such a
God"
Báb. - "I can in one day write
two thousand
verses. Who else can do this?"
H. M. M. - "When I resided at the
Supreme Shrines I
had a secretary who used to write two thousand verses a day. Eventually he
became blind. You
must certainly give up this occupation, or else you too will go
blind"
The conference then broke up, and the
Báb was taken
back to the house of Muhammad Kázim Khán the
Farráshbáshí. Next day he was again brought
before the Prince
and the doctors, who sentenced him to the bastinado. The Muhammadan
historians admit that
the farráshes were still, in spite of what had taken place at
the examination on
the previous day, so strongly inclined to sympathize with the Báb
that they positively
refused to take part in administering the punishment decreed, the execution
of which
therefore devolved on the servants of Hájí Mullá
Muhmúd and the Sheyku 'l-Islám. It is of course
asserted
[page 290]
by the Musulmán historians that the Báb again recanted and
revoked all his
claims under the chastisement inflicted upon him, whereupon he was released
and sent back
to Chihrík.
It is difficult to decide to what measure of
credence the above
narrative is entitled. Very probably such questions as are there recorded -
and assuredly
some of them are sufficiently frivolous and even indecent - were asked;
but, even though the
Báb may have been unable to answer them, it is far more likely that,
as stated in the
Táríkh-i-Jadíd, he preserved a dignified
silence than that he
gave utterance to the absurdities attributed to him by the Muhammadan
writers. These,
indeed, spoil their own case; for, desiring to prove that the Báb
was not endowed with
superhuman wisdom, they represent him as displaying an ignorance which we
can scarcely
credit. That the whole examination was a farce throughout, that the
sentence was a foregone
conclusion, that no serious attempt to apprehend the nature and evidence of
the Báb's
claim and doctrine was made, and that from first to last a systematic
course of brow-beating,
irony, and mockery was pursued appear to me to be facts proved no less by
the Muhammadan
than by the Bábí accounts of these inquisitorial
proceedings.
Return to home page of A Traveller's Narrative
Appendices Pt. 2 (N-Z) of A Traveller's Narrative
Introduction to A Traveller's Narrative
Translation of A Traveller's Narrative
Index of A Traveller's Narrative
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