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Another famous advocate of the Cause of the Bab, even fiercer in zeal than Vahid, and almost as eminent in rank, was Mulla Muhammad- 'Aliy- i- Zanjani, surnamed Hujjat. An Akhbari, a vehement controversialist, of a bold and independent temper of mind, impatient of restraint, a man who had dared condemn the whole ecclesiastical hierarchy from the Abvab- i- Arba'ih down to the humblest mulla, he had more than once, through his superior talents and fervid eloquence, publicly confounded his orthodox Shi'ah adversaries. Such a person could not remain indifferent to a Cause that was producing so grave a cleavage among his countrymen. The disciple he sent to Shiraz to investigate the matter fell immediately under the spell of the Bab. The perusal of but a page of the Qayyumu'l- Asma', brought by that messenger to Hujjat, sufficed to effect such a transformation within him that he declared, before the assembled ulamas of his native city, that should the Author of that work pronounce day to be night and the sun to be a shadow he would unhesitatingly uphold his verdict. (12:1) Yet another recruit to the ever- swelling army of the new Faith was the eminent scholar, Mirza Ahmad- i- Azghandi, the most learned, the wisest and the most outstanding among the ulamas of Khurasan, who, in anticipation of the advent of the promised Qa'im, had compiled above twelve thousand traditions and prophecies concerning the time and character of the expected Revelation, had circulated them among His fellow- disciples, and had encouraged them to quote them extensively to all congregations and in all meetings.
(12:2)
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