|
"Tales of magnificent heroism," is the written testimony of Lord Curzon of Kedleston, "illumine the blood- stained pages of Babi history.... The fires of Smithfield did not kindle a nobler courage than has met and defied the more refined torture- mongers of Tihran. Of no small account, then, must be the tenets of a creed that can awaken in its followers so rare and beautiful a spirit of self- sacrifice. The heroism and martyrdom of His (the Bab) followers will appeal to many others who can find no similar phenomena in the contemporaneous records of Islam." "Babism," wrote Prof. J. Darmesteter, "which diffused itself in less than five years from one end of Persia to another, which was bathed in 1852 in the blood of its martyrs, has been silently progressing and propagating itself. If Persia is to be at all regenerate it will be through this new Faith." "Des milliers de martyrs," attests Renan in his "Les Apotres," "sont accourus pour lui (the Bab) avec allegresse au devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut- etre dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Babis a Teheran." "One of those strange outbursts," declares the well- known Orientalist Prof. E. G. Browne, "of enthusiasm, faith, fervent devotion and indomitable heroism ... the birth of a Faith which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world." And again: "The spirit which pervades the Babis is such that it can hardly fail to affect most powerfully all subjected to its influence.... Let those who have not seen disbelieve me if they will, but, should that spirit once reveal itself to them, they will experience an emotion which they are not likely to forget." "J'avoue meme," is the assertion made by Comte de Gobineau in his book, "que, si je voyais en Europe une secte d'une nature analogue au Babysme se presenter avec des avantages tels que les siens, foi aveugle, enthousiasme extreme, courage et devouement eprouves, respect inspire aux indifferents, terreur profonde inspiree aux adversaires, et de plus, comme je l'ai dit, un proselytisme qui ne s'arrete pas, et donc les succes sont constants dans toutes les classes de la societe; si je voyais, dis- je, tout cela exister en Europe, je n'hesiterais pas a predire que, dans un temps donne, la puissance et le sceptre appartiendront de toute necessite aux possesseurs de ces grands avantages."
(80:2)
|