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And yet, the foolish and short- sighted Haji Mirza Aqasi fondly imagined that by confounding the plan of the Bab to meet the Shah face to face in the capital, and by relegating Him to the farthest corner of the realm, he had stifled the Movement at its birth, and would soon conclusively triumph over its Founder. Little did he imagine that the very isolation he was forcing upon his Prisoner would enable Him to evolve the System designed to incarnate the soul of His Faith, and would afford Him the opportunity of safeguarding it from disintegration and schism, and of proclaiming formally and unreservedly His mission. Little did he imagine that this very confinement would induce that Prisoner's exasperated disciples and companions to cast off the shackles of an antiquated theology, and precipitate happenings that would call forth from them a prowess, a courage, a self- renunciation unexampled in their country's history. Little did he imagine that by this very act he would be instrumental in fulfilling the authentic tradition ascribed to the Prophet of Islam regarding the inevitability of that which should come to pass in Adhirbayjan. Untaught by the example of the governor of Shiraz, who, with fear and trembling, had, at the first taste of God's avenging wrath, fled ignominiously and relaxed his hold on his Captive, the Grand Vizir of Muhammad Shah was, in his turn, through the orders he had issued, storing up for himself severe and inevitable disappointment, and paving the way for his own ultimate downfall. (18:1) His orders to Ali Khan, the warden of the fortress of Mah- Ku, were stringent and explicit. On His way to that fortress the Bab passed a number of days in Tabriz, days that were marked by such an intense excitement on the part of the populace that, except for a few persons, neither the public nor His followers were allowed to meet Him. As He was escorted through the streets of the city the shout of "Allah- u- Akbar" resounded on every side. So great, indeed, became the clamor that the town crier was ordered to warn the inhabitants that any one who ventured to seek the Bab's presence would forfeit all his possessions and be imprisoned. Upon His arrival in Mah- Ku, surnamed by Him Jabal- i- Basit (the Open Mountain) no one was allowed to see Him for the first two weeks except His amanuensis, Siyyid Husayn, and his brother. So grievous was His plight while in that fortress that, in the Persian Bayan, He Himself has stated that at night- time He did not even have a lighted lamp, and that His solitary chamber, constructed of sun- baked bricks, lacked even a door, while, in His Tablet to Muhammad Shah, He has complained that the inmates of the fortress were confined to two guards and four dogs.
(18:2)
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