|
The circumstances attending the examination of the Bab, as a result of so precipitate an act, may well rank as one of the chief landmarks of His dramatic career. The avowed purpose of that convocation was to arraign the Prisoner, and deliberate on the steps to be taken for the extirpation of His so- called heresy. It instead afforded Him the supreme opportunity of His mission to assert in public, formally and without any reservation, the claims inherent in His Revelation. In the official residence, and in the presence, of the governor of Adhirbayjan, Nasiri'd- Din Mirza, the heir to the throne; under the presidency of Haji Mulla Mahmud, the Nizamu'l- 'Ulama, the Prince's tutor; before the assembled ecclesiastical dignitaries of Tabriz, the leaders of the Shaykhi community, the Shaykhu'l- Islam, and the Imam- Jum'ih, the Bab, having seated Himself in the chief place which had been reserved for the Vali- 'Ahd (the heir to the throne), gave, in ringing tones, His celebrated answer to the question put to Him by the President of that assembly. "I am," He exclaimed, "I am, I am the Promised One! I am the One Whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at Whose mention you have risen, Whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of Whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily, I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word, and to pledge allegiance to My person." (21:1) Awe- struck, those present momentarily dropped their heads in silent confusion. Then Mulla Muhammad- i- Mamaqani, that one- eyed white- bearded renegade, summoning sufficient courage, with characteristic insolence, reprimanded Him as a perverse and contemptible follower of Satan; to which the undaunted Youth retorted that He maintained what He had already asserted. To the query subsequently addressed to Him by the Nizamu'l- 'Ulama the Bab affirmed that His words constituted the most incontrovertible evidence of His mission, adduced verses from the Qur'an to establish the truth of His assertion, and claimed to be able to reveal, within the space of two days and two nights, verses equal to the whole of that Book. In answer to a criticism calling His attention to an infraction by Him of the rules of grammar, He cited certain passages from the Qur'an as corroborative evidence, and, turning aside, with firmness and dignity, a frivolous and irrelevant remark thrown at Him by one of those who were present, summarily disbanded that gathering by Himself rising and quitting the room. The convocation thereupon dispersed, its members confused, divided among themselves, bitterly resentful and humiliated through their failure to achieve their purpose. Far from daunting the spirit of their Captive, far from inducing Him to recant or abandon His mission, that gathering was productive of no other result than the decision, arrived at after considerable argument and discussion, to inflict the bastinado on Him, at the hands, and in the prayer- house of the heartless and avaricious Mirza Ali- Asghar, the Shaykhu'l- Islam of that city. Confounded in his schemes Haji Mirza Aqasi was forced to order the Bab to be taken back to Chihriq.
(21:2)
|