A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The Reconciliation of Races and Religions

T >> Thomas Kelly Cheyne >> The Reconciliation of Races and Religions




But a storm-cloud came up from the sea, no bigger than a man's hand,
and it spread, and the destruction wrought by it was great. On March
4, 1847, the French ambassador wrote home stating that the governor of
Isfahan had died, leaving a fortune of 40 million francs. [Footnote:
_AMB_, p. 242.] He could not be expected to add what the
Babite tradition affirms, that the governor offered the Bab all
his riches and even the rings on his fingers, [Footnote: _TN_,
pp. 12, 13, 264-8; _NH_, p. 402 (Subh-i-Ezel's narrative),
cp. pp. 211, 346.] to which the prophet refers in the following
passage of his famous letter to Muhammad Shah, written from Maku:

'The other question is an affair of this lower world. The late
Meu'timed [a title of Minuchihr Khan], one night, made all the
bystanders withdraw, ... then he said to me, "I know full well that
all that I have gained I have gotten by violence, and that belongs to
the Lord of the Age. I give it therefore entirely to thee, for thou
art the Master of Truth, and I ask thy permission to become its
possessor." He even took off a ring which he had on his finger, and
gave it to me. I took the ring and restored it to him, and sent him
away in possession of all his goods.... I will not have a dinar of
those goods, but it is for you to ordain as shall seem good to
you.... [As witnesses] send for Sayyid Yahya [Footnote: See above,
p. 47.] and Mulla Abdu'l-Khalik.... [Footnote: A disciple of
Sheykh Ahmad. He became a Babi, but grew lukewarm in the faith
(_NH_, pp. 231, 342 n.1).] The one became acquainted with me
before the Manifestation, the other after. Both know me right well;
this is why I have chosen them.' [Footnote: _AMB_, pp. 372,
373.]

It was not likely, however, that the legal heir would waive his claim,
nor yet that the Shah or his minister would be prepared with a scheme
for distributing the ill-gotten riches of the governor among the poor,
which was probably what the Bab himself wished. It should be added
(but not, of course, from this letter) that Minuchihr Khan also
offered the Bab more than 5000 horsemen and footmen of the tribes
devoted to his interests, with whom he said that he would with all
speed march upon the capital, to enforce the Shah's acceptance of the
Bab's mission. This offer, too, the Bab rejected, observing that
the diffusion of God's truth could not be effected by such means. But
he was truly grateful to the governor who so often saved him from the
wrath of the mullas. 'God reward him,' he would say, 'for what he
did for me.'

Of the governor's legal heir and successor, Gurgin Khan, the Bab
preserved a much less favourable recollection. In the same letter
which has been quoted from already he says: 'Finally, Gurgin made me
travel during seven nights without any of the necessaries of a
journey, and with a thousand lies and a thousand acts of violence.'
[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 371.] In fact, after trying to impose upon
the Bab by crooked talk, Gurgin, as soon as he found out where the
Bab had taken refuge, made him start that same night, just as he
was, and without bidding farewell to his newly-married wife, for the
capital. 'So incensed was he [the Bab] at this treatment that he
determined to eat nothing till he arrived at Kashan [a journey of five
stages], and in this resolution he persisted... till he reached the
second stage, Murchi-Khur. There, however, he met Mulla Sheykh
Ali... and another of his missionaries, whom he had commissioned two
days previously to proceed to Tihran; and then, on learning from his
guards how matters stood, succeeded in prevailing on him to take some
food.' [Footnote: _NH_, pp. 348, 349.]

Certainly it was a notable journey, diversified by happy meetings with
friends and inquirers at Kashan, Khanlik, Zanjan, Milan, and Tabriz.
At Kashan the Bab saw for the first time that fervent disciple, who
afterwards wrote the history of early Babism, and his equally
true-hearted brother--merchants both of them. In fact, Mirza Jani
bribed the chief of the escort, to allow him for two days the felicity
of entertaining God's Messenger. [Footnote: _Ibid_. pp. 213, 214.]
Khanlik has also--though a mere village--its honourable record, for
there the Bab was first seen by two splendid youthful heroes
[Footnote: _Ibid_. pp. 96-101.]--Riza Khan (best hated of all the
Babis) and Mirza Huseyn 'Ali (better known as Baha-'ullah). At
Milan (which the Bab calls 'one of the regions of Paradise'), as
Mirza Jani states, 'two hundred persons believed and underwent a true
and sincere conversion.' [Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 221. Surely these
conversions were due, not to a supposed act of miraculous healing, but
to the 'majesty and dignity' of God's Messenger. The people were
expecting a Messiah, and here was a Personage who came up to the ideal
they had formed.]What meetings took place at Zanjan and Tabriz, the
early Babi historian does not report; later on, Zanjan was a focus
of Babite propagandism, but just then the apostle of the Zanjan
movement was summoned to Tihran. From Tabriz a remarkable cure is
reported, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 226.] and as a natural consequence we
hear of many conversions.

The Bab was specially favoured in the chief of his escort, who, in
the course of the journey, was fascinated by the combined majesty and
gentleness of his prisoner. His name was Muhammad Beg, and his moral
portrait is thus limned by Mirza Jani: 'He was a man of kindly nature
and amiable character, and [became] so sincere and devoted a believer
that whenever the name of His Holiness was mentioned he would
incontinently burst into tears, saying,

I scarcely reckon as life the days when to me thou wert all unknown,
But by faithful service for what remains I may still for the past
atone.'

It was the wish, both of the Bab and of this devoted servant, that the
Master should be allowed to take up his residence (under surveillance)
at Tabriz, where there were already many Friends of God. But such was
not the will of the Shah and his vizier, who sent word to Khanlik
[Footnote: Khanlik is situated 'about six parasangs' from Tihran
(_NH_, p. 216). It is in the province of Azarbaijan.] that the
governor of Tabriz (Prince Bahman Mirza) should send the Bab in charge
of a fresh escort to the remote mountain-fortress of Maku. The
faithful Muhammad Beg made two attempts to overcome the opposition of
the governor, but in vain; how, indeed, could it be otherwise? All
that he could obtain was leave to entertain the Bab in his own house,
where some days of rest were enjoyed. 'I wept much at his departure,'
says Muhammad. No doubt the Bab often missed his respectful escort; he
had made a change for the worse, and when he came to the village at
the foot of the steep hill of Maku, he found the inhabitants 'ignorant
and coarse.'

It may, however, be reasonably surmised that before long the Point of
Wisdom changed his tone, and even thanked God for his sojourn at
Maku. For though strict orders had come from the vizier that no one
was to be permitted to see the Bab, any one whom the illustrious
captive wished to converse with had free access to him. Most of the
time which remained was occupied with writing (his secretary was with
him); more than 100,000 'verses' are said to have come from that
Supreme Pen.

By miracles the Bab set little store; in fact, the only supernatural
gift which he much valued was that of inditing 'signs or verses, which
appear to have produced a similar thrilling effect to those of the
great Arabian Prophet. But in the second rank he must have valued a
power to soothe and strengthen the nervous system which we may well
assign to him, and we can easily believe that the lower animals were
within the range of this beneficent faculty. Let me mention one of the
horse-stories which have gathered round the gentle form of the Bab.
[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 371.]

It is given neither in the Babi nor in the Muslim histories of
this period. But it forms a part of a good oral tradition, and it may
supply the key to those words of the Bab in his letter to Muhammad
Shah: [Footnote: Ibid. pp. 249, 250.] 'Finally, the Sultan
[i.e. the Shah] ordered that I should journey towards Maku without
giving me a horse that I could ride.' We learn from the legend that an
officer of the Shah did call upon the Bab to ride a horse which was
too vicious for any ordinary person to mount. Whether this officer was
really (as the legend states) 'Ali Khan, the warden of Maku, who
wished to test the claims of 'Ali Muhammad by offering him a vicious
young horse and watching to see whether 'Ali Muhammad or the horse
would be victorious, is not of supreme importance. What does concern
us is that many of the people believed that by a virtue which resided
in the Bab it was possible for him to soothe the sensitive nerves of
a horse, so that it could be ridden without injury to the rider.

There is no doubt, however, that 'Ali Khan, the warden of the
fortress, was one of that multitude of persons who were so thrilled by
the Bab's countenance and bearing that they were almost prompted
thereby to become disciples. It is highly probable, too, that just now
there was a heightening of the divine expression on that unworldly
face, derived from an intensification of the inner life. In earlier
times 'Ali Muhammad had avoided claiming Mahdiship (Messiahship)
publicly; to the people at large he was not represented as the
manifested Twelfth Imâm, but only as the Gate, or means of access to
that more than human, still existent being. To disciples of a higher
order 'Ali Muhammad no doubt disclosed himself as he really was,
but, like a heavenly statesman, he avoided inopportune self-revelations.
Now, however, the religious conditions were becoming different. Owing
in some cases to the indiscretion of disciples, in others to a craving
for the revolution of which the Twelfth Imâm was the traditional
instrument, there was a growing popular tendency to regard Mirza 'Ali
Muhammad as a 'return' of the Twelfth Imâm, who was, by force of
arms, to set up the divine kingdom upon earth. It was this, indeed,
which specially promoted the early Babi propagandism, and which
probably came up for discussion at the Badasht conference.

In short, it had become a pressing duty to enlighten the multitude on
the true objects of the Bab. Even we can see this--we who know that
not much more than three years were remaining to him. The Bab, too,
had probably a presentiment of his end; this was why he was so eager
to avoid a continuance of the great misunderstanding. He was indeed
the Twelfth Imâm, who had returned to the world of men for a short
time. But he was not a Mahdi of the Islamic type.

A constant stream of Tablets (letters) flowed from his pen. In this
way he kept himself in touch with those who could not see him in the
flesh. But there were many who could not rest without seeing the
divine Manifestation. Pilgrims seemed never to cease; and it made the
Bab still happier to receive them.

This stream of Tablets and of pilgrims could not however be
exhilarating to the Shah and his Minister. They complained to the
castle-warden, and bade him be a stricter gaoler, but 'Ali Khan, too,
was under the spell of the Gate of Knowledge; or--as one should rather
say now--the Point or Climax of Prophetic Revelation, for so the Word
of Prophecy directed that he should be called. So the order went
forth that 'Ali Muhammad should be transferred to another
castle--that of Chihrik. [Footnote: Strictly, six or eight months
(Feb. or April to Dec. 1847) at Maku, and two-and-a-half years at
Chihrik (Dec. 1847 to July 1850).]

At this point a digression seems necessary.

The Bab was well aware that a primary need of the new fraternity was
a new Kur'an. This he produced in the shape of a book called _The
Bayan_ (Exposition). Unfortunately he adopted from the Muslims the
unworkable idea of a sacred language, and his first contributions to
the new Divine Library (for the new Kur'an ultimately became this)
were in Arabic. These were a Commentary on the Sura of Yusuf (Joseph)
and the Arabic Bayan. The language of these, however, was a barrier to
the laity, and so the 'first believer' wrote a letter to the Bab,
enforcing the necessity of making himself intelligible to all. This
seems to be the true origin of the Persian Bayan.

A more difficult matter is 'Ali Muhammad's very peculiar
consciousness, which reminds us of that which the Fourth Gospel
ascribes to Jesus Christ. In other words, 'Ali Muhammad claims for
himself the highest spiritual rank. 'As for Me,' he said, 'I am that
Point from which all that exists has found existence. I am that Face
of God which dieth not. I am that Light which doth not go out. He that
knoweth Me is accompanied by all good; he that repulseth Me hath
behind him all evil.' [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 369.] It is also certain
that in comparatively early writings, intended for stedfast disciples,
'Ali Muhammad already claims the title of Point, i.e. Point of
Truth, or of Divine Wisdom, or of the Divine Mercy. [Footnote: _Beyan
Arabe_, p. 206.]

It is noteworthy that just here we have a very old contact with
Babylonian mythology. 'Point' is, in fact, a mythological term. It
springs from an endeavour to minimize the materialism of the myth of
the Divine Dwelling-place. That ancient myth asserted that the
earth-mountain was the Divine Throne. Not so, said an early school of
Theosophy, God, i.e. the God who has a bodily form and manifests the
hidden glory, dwells on a point in the extreme north, called by the
Babylonians 'the heaven of Anu.'

The Point, however, i.e. the God of the Point, may also be
entitled 'The Gate,' i.e. the Avenue to God in all His various
aspects. To be the Point, therefore, is also to be the Gate. 'Ali, the
cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was not only the Gate of the City
of Knowledge, but, according to words assigned to him in a
_hadith_, 'the guardian of the treasures of secrets and of the
purposes of God.' [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 142.]

It is also in a book written at Maku--the Persian Bayan--that the
Bab constantly refers to a subsequent far greater Person, called 'He
whom God will make manifest.' Altogether the harvest of sacred
literature at this mountain-fortress was a rich one. But let us now
pass on with the Bab to Chihrik--a miserable spot, but not so
remote as Maku (it was two days' journey from Urumiyya). As
Subh-i-Ezel tells us, 'The place of his captivity was a house
without windows and with a doorway of bare bricks,' and adds that 'at
night they would leave him without a lamp, treating him with the
utmost lack of respect.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 403.] In the
Persian manner the Bab himself indicated this by calling Maku 'the
Open Mountain,' and Chihrik 'the Grievous Mountain.' [Footnote:
Cp. _TN_, p. 276.] Stringent orders were issued making it
difficult for friends of the Beloved Master to see him; and it may be
that in the latter part of his sojourn the royal orders were more
effectually carried out--a change which was possibly the result of a
change in the warden. Certainly Yahya Khan was guilty of no such
coarseness as Subh-i-Ezel imputes to the warden of Chihrik. And
this view is confirmed by the peculiar language of Mirza Jani,
'Yahya Khan, so long as he was warden, maintained towards him an
attitude of unvarying respect and deference.'

This 'respect and deference' was largely owing to a dream which the
warden had on the night before the day of the Bab's arrival. The
central figure of the dream was a bright shining saint. He said in
the morning that 'if, when he saw His Holiness, he found appearance
and visage to correspond with what he beheld in his dream, he would be
convinced that He was in truth the promised Proof.' And this came
literally true. At the first glance Yahya Khan recognized in the
so-called Bab the lineaments of the saint whom he had beheld in his
dream. 'Involuntarily he bent down in obeisance and kissed the knee of
His Holiness.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 240. A slight alteration has
been made to draw out the meaning.]

It has already been remarked that such 'transfiguration' is not wholly
supernatural. Persons who have experienced those wonderful phenomena
which are known as ecstatic, often exhibit what seems like a
triumphant and angelic irradiation. So--to keep near home--it was
among the Welsh in their last great revival. Such, too, was the
brightness which, Yahya Khan and other eye-witnesses agree, suffused
the Bab's countenance more than ever in this period. Many adverse
things might happen, but the 'Point' of Divine Wisdom could not be
torn from His moorings. In that miserable dark brick chamber He was
'in Paradise.' The horrid warfare at Sheykh Tabarsi and elsewhere,
which robbed him of Babu'l Bab and of Kuddus, forced human tears
from him for a time; but one who dwelt in the 'Heaven of
Pre-existence' knew that 'Returns' could be counted upon, and was
fully assured that the gifts and graces of Kuddus had passed into
Mirza Yahya (Subh-i-Ezel). For himself he was free from
anxiety. His work would be carried on by another and a greater
Manifestation. He did not therefore favour schemes for his own
forcible deliverance.

We have no direct evidence that Yahya Khan was dismissed from his
office as a mark of the royal displeasure at his gentleness. But he
must have been already removed and imprisoned, [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 353.] when the vizier wrote to the Crown Prince (Nasiru'd-Din,
afterwards Shah) and governor of Azarbaijan directing him to summon
the Bab to Tabriz and convene an assembly of clergy and laity to
discuss in the Bab's presence the validity of his claims.
[Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 284.] The Bab was therefore sent, and
the meeting held, but there is (as Browne has shown) no trustworthy
account of the deliberations. [Footnote: _TN_, Note M, 'Bab
Examined at Tabriz.'] Of course, the Bab had something better to do
than to record the often trivial questions put to him from anything
but a simple desire for truth, so that unless the great Accused had
some friend to accompany him (which does not appear to have been the
case) there could hardly be an authentic Babi narrative. And as
for the Muslim accounts, those which we have before us do not bear the
stamp of truth: they seem to be forgeries. Knowing what we do of the
Bab, it is probable that he had the best of the argument, and that
the doctors and functionaries who attended the meeting were unwilling
to put upon record their own fiasco.

The result, however, _is_ known, and it is not precisely what
might have been expected, i.e. it is not a capital sentence for
this troublesome person. The punishment now allotted to him was one
which marked him out, most unfairly, as guilty of a common
misdemeanour--some act which would rightly disgust every educated
person. How, indeed, could any one adopt as his teacher one who had
actually been disgraced by the infliction of stripes? [Footnote:
Cp. Isaiah liii. 5.] If the Bab had been captured in battle,
bravely fighting, it might have been possible to admire him, but, as
Court politicians kept on saying, he was but 'a vulgar charlatan, a
timid dreamer.' [Footnote: Gobineau, p. 257.] According to Mirza
Jani, it was the Crown Prince who gave the order for stripes, but his
'_farrashes_ declared that they would rather throw themselves
down from the roof of the palace than carry it out.' [Footnote:
_NH_, p. 290.] Therefore the Sheykhu'l Islam charged a certain
Sayyid with the 'baleful task,' by whom the Messenger of God was
bastinadoed.

It seems clear, however, that there must have been a difference of
opinion among the advisers of the Shah, for shortly before Shah
Muhammad's death (which was impending when the Bab was in Tabriz)
we are told that Prince Mahdi-Kuli dreamed that he saw the Sayyid
shoot the Shah at a levee. [Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 355.]
Evidently there were some Court politicians who held that the Bab
was dangerous. Probably Shah Muhammad's vizier took the disparaging
view mentioned above (i.e. that the Bab was a mere mystic
dreamer), but Shah Muhammad's successor dismissed Mirza Akasi, and
appointed Mirza Taki Khan in his place. It was Mirza Taki Khan to
whom the Great Catastrophe is owing. When the Bab returned to his
confinement, now really rigorous, at Chihrik, he was still under the
control of the old, capricious, and now doubly anxious grand vizier,
but it was not the will of Providence that this should continue much
longer. A release was at hand.

It was the insurrection of Zanjan which changed the tone of the
courtiers and brought near to the Bab a glorious departure. Not, be
it observed, except indirectly, his theosophical novelties; the
penalty of death for deviations from the True Faith had long fallen
into desuetude in Persia, if indeed it had ever taken root there.
[Footnote: Gobineau, p. 262.] Only if the Kingdom of Righteousness
were to be brought in by the Bab by material weapons would this
heresiarch be politically dangerous; mere religious innovations did
not disturb high Court functionaries. But could the political leaders
any longer indulge the fancy that the Bab was a mere mystic dreamer?
Such was probably the mental state of Mirza Taki Khan when he wrote
from Tihran, directing the governor to summon the Bab to come once
more for examination to Tabriz. The governor of Azarbaijan at this
time was Prince Hamzé Mirza.

The end of the Bab's earthly Manifestation is now close upon us. He
knew it himself before the event, [Footnote: _NH_, pp. 235,
309-311, 418 (Subh-i-Ezel).] and was not displeased at the
presentiment. He had already 'set his house in order,' as regards the
spiritual affairs of the Babi community, which he had, if I
mistake not, confided to the intuitive wisdom of Baha-'ullah. His
literary executorship he now committed to the same competent hands.
This is what the Baha'is History (_The Travellers Narrative_)
relates,--

'Now the Sayyid Bab ... had placed his writings, and even his ring
and pen-case, in a specially prepared box, put the key of the box in
an envelope, and sent it by means of Mulla Bakir, who was one of
his first associates, to Mulla 'Abdu'l Karim of Kazwin. This trust
Mulla Bakir delivered over to Mulla 'Abdu'l Karim at Kum in
presence of a numerous company.... Then Mulla 'Abdu'l Karim conveyed
the trust to its destination.' [Footnote: _TN_, pp. 41, 42.]

The destination was Baha-'ullah, as Mulla Bakir expressly told the
'numerous company.' It also appears that the Bab sent another letter
to the same trusted personage respecting the disposal of his remains.

It is impossible not to feel that this is far more probable than the
view which makes Subh-i-Ezel the custodian of the sacred writings
and the arranger of a resting-place for the sacred remains. I much
fear that the Ezelites have manipulated tradition in the interest of
their party.

To return to our narrative. From the first no indignity was spared to
the holy prisoner. With night-cap instead of seemly turban, and clad
only in an under-coat, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 294.] he reached
Tabriz. It is true, his first experience was favourable. A man of
probity, the confidential friend of Prince Hamzé Mirza, the governor,
summoned the Bab to a first non-ecclesiastical examination. The tone
of the inquiry seems to have been quite respectful, though the accused
frankly stated that he was 'that promised deliverer for whom ye have
waited 1260 years, to wit the Ka'im.' Next morning, however, all
this was reversed. The 'man of probity' gave way to the mullas and
the populace, [Footnote: See _New History_, pp. 296 _f._, a
graphic narration.] who dragged the Bab, with every circumstance of
indignity, to the houses of two or three well-known members of the
clergy. 'These reviled him; but to all who questioned him he declared,
without any attempt at denial, that he was the Ka'im [ = he that
ariseth]. At length Mulla Muhammad Mama-ghuri, one of the Sheykhi
party, and sundry others, assembled together in the porch of a house
belonging to one of their number, questioned him fiercely and
insultingly, and when he had answered them explicitly, condemned him
to death.

'So they imprisoned him who was athirst for the draught of martyrdom
for three days, along with Aka Sayyid Huseyn of Yezd, the
amanuensis, and Aka Sayyid Hasan, which twain were brothers, wont
to pass their time for the most part in the Bab's presence....

'On the night before the day whereon was consummated the martyrdom
... he [the Bab] said to his companions, "To-morrow they will slay
me shamefully. Let one of you now arise and kill me, that I may not
have to endure this ignominy and shame from my enemies; for it is
pleasanter to me to die by the hands of friends." His companions,
with expressions of grief and sorrow, sought to excuse themselves with
the exception of Mirza Muhammad 'Ali, who at once made as though he
would obey the command. His comrades, however, anxiously seized his
hand, crying, "Such rash presumption ill accords with the attitude of
devoted service." "This act of mine," replied he, "is not prompted by
presumption, but by unstinted obedience, and desire to fulfil my
Master's behest. After giving effect to the command of His Holiness, I
will assuredly pour forth my life also at His feet."

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