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The overbearing and crafty Haji Mirza Aqasi, fearful lest the sway of the Bab encompass his sovereign and thus seal his own doom, was aroused as never before. Prompted by a suspicion that the Bab possessed the secret sympathies of the Mu'tamid, and well aware of the confidence reposed in him by the Shah, he severely upbraided the Imam- Jum'ih for the neglect of his sacred duty. He, at the same time, lavished, in several letters, his favors upon the ulamas of Isfahan, whom he had hitherto ignored. From the pulpits of that city an incited clergy began to hurl vituperation and calumny upon the Author of what was to them a hateful and much to be feared heresy. The Shah himself was induced to summon the Bab to his capital. Manuchihr Khan, bidden to arrange for His departure, decided to transfer His residence temporarily to his own home. Meanwhile the mujtahids and ulamas, dismayed at the signs of so pervasive an influence, summoned a gathering which issued an abusive document signed and sealed by the ecclesiastical leaders of the city, denouncing the Bab as a heretic and condemning Him to death. Even the Imam- Jum'ih was constrained to add his written testimony that the Accused was devoid of reason and judgment. The Mu'tamid, in his great embarrassment, and in order to appease the rising tumult, conceived a plan whereby an increasingly restive populace were made to believe that the Bab had left for Tihran, while he succeeded in insuring for Him a brief respite of four months in the privacy of the Imarat- i- Khurshid, the governor's private residence in Isfahan. It was in those days that the host expressed the desire to consecrate all his possessions, evaluated by his contemporaries at no less than forty million francs, to the furtherance of the interests of the new Faith, declared his intention of converting Muhammad Shah, of inducing him to rid himself of a shameful and profligate minister, and of obtaining his royal assent to the marriage of one of his sisters with the Bab. The sudden death of the Mu'tamid, however, foretold by the Bab Himself, accelerated the course of the approaching crisis. The ruthless and rapacious Gurgin Khan, the deputy governor, induced the Shah to issue a second summons ordering that the captive Youth be sent in disguise to Tihran, accompanied by a mounted escort. To this written mandate of the sovereign the vile Gurgin Khan, who had previously discovered and destroyed the will of his uncle, the Mu'tamid, and seized his property, unhesitatingly responded. At the distance of less than thirty miles from the capital, however, in the fortress of Kinar- Gird, a messenger delivered to Muhammad Big, who headed the escort, a written order from Haji Mirza Aqasi instructing him to proceed to Kulayn, and there await further instructions. This was, shortly after, followed by a letter which the Shah had himself addressed to the Bab, dated Rabi'u'th- thani 1263 (March 19- April 17, 1847), and which, though couched in courteous terms, clearly indicated the extent of the baneful influence exercised by the Grand Vizir on his sovereign. The plans so fondly cherished by Manuchihr Khan were now utterly undone. The fortress of Mah- Ku, not far from the village of that same name, whose inhabitants had long enjoyed the patronage of the Grand Vizir, situated in the remotest northwestern corner of Adhirbayjan, was the place of incarceration assigned by Muhammad Shah, on the advice of his perfidious minister, for the Bab. No more than one companion and one attendant from among His followers were allowed to keep Him company in those bleak and inhospitable surroundings. All- powerful and crafty, that minister had, on the pretext of the necessity of his master's concentrating his immediate attention on a recent rebellion in Khurasan and a revolt in Kirman, succeeded in foiling a plan, which, had it materialized, would have had the most serious repercussions on his own fortunes, as well as on the immediate destinies of his government, its ruler and its people.
(15:2)
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