The life of the Báb: remembrance and a new beginning

The Exalted One [The Bab], may My spirit be a sacrifice unto Him, has said, "When at a very young age, I was assigned to write the merchants' name on their commodities, or recite the list of names, I would bow My head and praise God, so that even during this small undertaking, I would remember Him. My purpose was God, and under all circumstances, He was before My eyes."

They directed me to his office and to my chagrin I found that he has left for Shiraz but the Bab who was then in the efflorescence of his youth was appointed in his place to manage the business of the office. His mustache was just beginning to grow and the signs of manhood appearing in his whole being.

During the time that His Holiness the Exalted One lived in Bushihr and was in the trading business, a few merchants bought some Prussian blue dye from His blessed Person.

The Bab was a young merchant of the Pure Lineage. He was born in the year one thousand two hundred and thirty-five [A.H.] on the first day of Muharram, and when after a few years His father Siyyid Muhammad-Rida died, He was brought up in Shiraz in the arms of His maternal uncle Mirza Siyyid 'Ali the merchant. On attaining maturity He engaged in trade in Bushihr, first in partnership with His maternal uncle and afterwards independently. On account of what was observed in Him He was noted for godliness, devoutness, virtue, and piety, and was regarded in the sight of men as so characterized.

… Now when the accomplished divines of Adhirbayjan perceived that in all the parts round about Tabriz it was as though the last day had come by reason of the excessive clamor, they requested the government to punish the [Bab's] followers, and to remove the Bab to the Castle of Chihriq. So they sent Him to that castle and consigned Him to the keeping of Yahya Khan the Kurd.

By My life! I was compelled in a land in my homeland to such a degree that I departed in fear and trepidation, until I was received by one born among Christians who honored me, exalted me, and established me in a station than which none greater could be found within his power in the religion of God, until he passed away.

Say: I was raised among the Persians, and God revealed unto Me, after twenty-five years of My life had passed, verses which all are powerless to produce.

Remember, O people, when the Revealer of the Bayan came to you with novel and holy verses, saying: "I am the Gate of Knowledge, and whoso believeth concerning Me more than this hath indeed fabricated a calumny and earned for himself a grievous sin." Then He said: "I am verily the promised Qa'im Whose appearance was promised you in sacred scrolls." Then did He, exalted be His remembrance, declare: "I am the Primal Point, which is indeed Muhammad, the Messenger of God, as ye have heard and witnessed in the Tablets of God, the Sovereign, the All-Wise."

In the name of Him Who is the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting

Inasmuch as He, at the inception of His manifestation, interpreted Himself through His own light and prefaced each surah with two verses from the Qur'an - thereby indicating that He is the Point of the Qur'an in the letter 'B' of the Bismillah, concerning which it is stated in the tradition that all things stand through Him - and established forty unique verses as an allusion to the numerical value of 'Li' in the verse "I saw them prostrating themselves before me," the Surah of the Kindred was revealed, showing that Our grace had existed aforetime.

The matter will be completed, God willing, with the divines when they appear on the Day of Arafat or the Day of Sacrifice for the mutual execration, for that was my judgment between them.

Finally, the matter led to an ordeal of prayer. One night all the divines gathered in the shrine of the Prince of Martyrs, performed prayers and supplications, and in the end stood up and said "O God, if this Person is true, make it manifest," and this verse came: "And whoever turns away from My remembrance, his shall be a straitened life, and We will raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection." The divines interpreted this to mean that "My remembrance" referred to the religious law because the Bab's title was "remembrance."

Among the Shi'ihs it is universally acknowledged that He never studied in any school, nor acquired learning from any teacher. To this the people of Shiraz, each and all, bear witness. Nevertheless, He suddenly appeared before the people, endowed with consummate knowledge, and though but a merchant, confounded all the divines of Persia. … This illustrious Being arose with such power as to shake the foundations of the religious laws, customs, manners, morals, and habits of Persia, and instituted a new law, faith, and religion. Though the eminent men of the State, the majority of the people, and the leaders of religion arose one and all to destroy and annihilate Him, He single-handedly withstood them and set all of Persia in motion.

Today is a most blessed day. It is hallowed and auspicious. It is the dawning of the lights of guidance. It is the source and origin of God's Cause. It is the effulgence of the Sun of Truth. It is the Day of the blast of the trumpet and the sounding of the bugle. The events of this day are most momentous, though their reality is known only to them that are endowed with insight, and though the honor of this day is hidden from the people, even though it is the first blast.

In the blessed verse of the Qur'an it is said: "And there shall be a blast on the trumpet, and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth shall swoon." It is a day wherein all who are in the heavens and on earth were struck unconscious--that is to say, in the eyes of them that are endowed with insight, they were truly dumbfounded, and the unconscious person--that is, one deprived of eternal life--perceives nothing. However, the person of insight becomes aware of the reality of the Cause. In other words, those souls who attain eternal life become conscious that it is the dawning of the Sun of Truth and it is the first blast, whereby the spirit of life is received from spiritual realities and the world of heart and soul becomes ready for the second blast.

This is why He says: "Then there shall be another blast, and lo! they shall rise and gaze around them: And the earth shall shine with the light of her Lord." And from the second blast, spiritual realities and celestial essences shall find life and shall be set in motion by the dawning of the Sun of Truth. This second blast is the appearance of the Ancient Beauty, "Him Whom God shall make manifest."

In any case, observe the sun: when it rises in the morning, it is the resurrection of all earthly things, for all the earth is set in motion and the mysteries of all beings pass from the realm of the unseen to that of the visible. And all that exists in the earth becomes manifest and apparent, and all that is hidden in the trees becomes visible. Yet although all beings are resurrected and dispersed through this outpouring of the sun, and although their very existence depends on the sun's dawning and rising, they remain unaware of this bounty, save for living creatures that are alive. Living creatures become conscious that the sun has risen; therefore the beginning of this blessed day is the beginning of the resurrection.

Those souls who possessed eternal life perceived and felt that this day is equivalent to fifty thousand years. This is the day when the heavens were folded up. This is the day when the sun was wound up. This is the day when the moon was cleft asunder. This is the day when the stars were scattered. This is the day when the mountains were set in motion. This is the day when the dead came forth from their graves. The gathering took place; the dispersal occurred. The balance was set up. The path was stretched out. The secrets of the earth became manifest and evident. The gates of Paradise were opened. The flames of hell were kindled. These are all the signs of the Day of Resurrection. The Bab declares that all these events occurred in a single moment. In the twinkling of an eye, fifty thousand years passed away.

Paradise was unveiled. The gates of heaven were opened. The flames of hell were kindled. These are all signs of the Day of Resurrection. The Bab declares that in one moment these events transpired. In the twinkling of an eye fifty thousand years elapsed and all these events were made manifest, for these are spiritual and not physical occurrences. Thus does the Primal Point--may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him--declare: "By God! The Hour hath come, and the moon hath been cleft asunder, and all are gathered to an inevitable assembly."

Glory be to God! These conditions of the resurrection, according to the explicit text of the Bab--may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him--all transpired in the twinkling of an eye; that is to say, fifty thousand years elapsed in one moment and all these momentous events and conditions of the Day of Resurrection came to pass. Despite this, the people of the Bayan say that the condition for the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest is that two thousand years must elapse, and since two thousand years have not elapsed, the Blessed Beauty is not true. Those souls who themselves acknowledge that fifty thousand years elapsed in the twinkling of an eye and the momentous events of the resurrection were fulfilled, deny that the number of Mustaghath could elapse in nineteen years. Take heed, O ye who are endowed with insight! Behold to what degree unfairness extends and to what limit ignorance reaches!

God explicitly states in the Qur'an that two calls follow in succession, and the Bab--may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him--rent asunder all the veils of the people and set no condition for the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest, declaring "Should He appear this very moment, I would be the first to adore Him," and explicitly stating: "Beware, beware lest thou be veiled by the Bayanic Unity or by what hath been revealed in the Bayan." Despite this, the people of the Bayan say that in the Bayan mention is made of Mustaghath and that the Bayanic Unity comprises the holy person of the Bab and the eighteen Letters of the Living. He says, "Be not veiled from Him Whom God shall make manifest by the Bayanic Unity." Yet now the people of the Bayan are veiled a myriad times from the Sun of Truth.

But the Promised One of the Bayan - may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him - was so clearly and manifestly described by the Bab that no one, neither secretly nor openly, neither inwardly nor outwardly, neither in meaning nor in form, was left with any excuse or pretext. He explicitly states: "Beware, beware lest thou be veiled by the Vahid of the Bayan or by what was revealed in the Bayan."

Then We raised up the Sovereign of the Messengers, who was named Ali in all the tablets, and through him We opened the gates of grace unto the faces of all created things. We made him the herald of this Manifestation. He said: "O people! When the Beloved of the worlds cometh unto you, beware lest ye hesitate in His Manifestation and cling to what ye possess from the tidings of the ancients.

Say: O concourse! Hearken unto the judgment of the Remnant of God from His wise servant Ali. Verily he is a servant born on the first day of Muharram in the year 1235, and now it is the fifteenth day of the month preceding Rajab in the year 1261 as recorded in God's Book. And what hath been revealed through him from the Day of Permission until this day are those verses witnessed in God's Book.

Grieve not that you have not been chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to Hijaz.

… God willing, I shall return hither by the way of Kufih, in which place I hope to meet you. If it be decreed otherwise, I shall ask you to join Me in Shiraz.

"A few days after your departure from this place," the Bab informed him, "they will transfer Us to another mountain. Ere you arrive at your destination, the news of Our departure from Mah-Ku will have reached you."

Thou didst create Me, O Lord, through Thy gracious favor and didst protect Me through Thy bounty in the darkness of the womb and didst nourish Me, through Thy loving-kindness, with life-giving blood. … Thou didst then nourish Me with refreshing milk and didst rear Me in the arms of My parents with manifest compassion, until Thou didst graciously acquaint Me with the realities of Thy Revelation and apprised Me of the straight path of Thy Faith as set forth in Thy Book. And when I attained full maturity Thou didst cause Me to bear allegiance unto Thine inaccessible Remembrance, and enabled Me to advance towards the designated station, where Thou didst educate Me through the subtle operations of Thy handiwork and didst nurture Me in that land with Thy most gracious gifts.

By all this is meant that the Resurrection was conditioned upon the appearance of all these signs. The Bab---may my life be offered up for Him---hath said that all these momentous events, and the Great Resurrection itself, came to pass in less than the twinkling of an eye and took place in the span of a single breath. And yet not one soul perceived them or grasped their significance. But, praise be to God, in this Most Great Revelation no conditions have been set, no prerequisites have been laid down, no veils exist, nor is there any excuse to remain deprived.

So Husayn Khan ordered 'Abdu'l-Hamid Khan the high constable to attack the house of the Bab's maternal uncle at midnight on all sides, and to bring Him and all His followers handcuffed. But 'Adbu'l-Hamid Khan and his hosts found no one in the house save the Bab, His maternal uncle, and Siyyid Kazim of Zanjan; and as it chanced that on that night the sickness of the plague and the extreme heat of the weather had compelled Husayn Khan to flee, he released the Bab on condition of His quitting the city. On the morning after that night the Bab with Siyyid Kazim of Zanjan set out from Shiraz for Isfahan. Before reaching Isfahan He wrote a letter to the Mu'tamidu'd-Dawlih, the governor of the province, requesting a lodging in some suitable place with the sanction of the government. The governor appointed the mansion of the Imam-Jum'ih. There He abode forty days

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