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The tumultuous enthusiasm of the people of Isfahan was meanwhile visibly increasing. Crowds of people, some impelled by curiosity, others eager to discover the truth, still others anxious to be healed of their infirmities, flocked from every quarter of the city to the house of the Imam- Jum'ih. The wise and judicious Manuchihr Khan could not resist the temptation of visiting so strange, so intriguing a Personage. Before a brilliant assemblage of the most accomplished divines he, a Georgian by origin and a Christian by birth, requested the Bab to expound and demonstrate the truth of Muhammad's specific mission. To this request, which those present had felt compelled to decline, the Bab readily responded. In less than two hours, and in the space of fifty pages, He had not only revealed a minute, a vigorous and original dissertation on this noble theme, but had also linked it with both the coming of the Qa'im and the return of the Imam Husayn-- an exposition that prompted Manuchihr Khan to declare before that gathering his faith in the Prophet of Islam, as well as his recognition of the supernatural gifts with which the Author of so convincing a treatise was endowed.
(14:1)
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