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The Reconciliation of Races and Religions

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




'His Holiness smiled, and, applauding his faithful devotion and
sincere belief, said, "To-morrow, when you are questioned, repudiate
me, and renounce my doctrines, for thus is the command of God now laid
upon you...." The Bab's companions agreed, with the exception of
Mirza Muhammad 'Ali, who fell at the feet of His Holiness and began
to entreat and implore.... So earnestly did he urge his entreaties
that His Holiness, though (at first) he strove to dissuade him, at
length graciously acceded.

'Now when a little while had elapsed after the rising of the sun, they
brought them, without cloak or coat, and clad only in their undercoats
and nightcaps, to the Government House, where they were sentenced to
be shot. Aka Sayyid Huseyn, the amanuensis, and his brother, Aka
Sayyid Hasan, recanted, as they had been bidden to do, and were set
at liberty; and Aka Sayyid Huseyn bestowed the gems of wisdom
treasured in his bosom upon such as sought for and were worthy of
them, and, agreeably to his instructions, communicated certain secrets
of the faith to those for whom they were intended. He (subsequently)
attained to the rank of martyrdom in the Catastrophe of Tihran.

'But since Mirza Muhammad 'Ali, athirst for the draught of
martyrdom, declared (himself) in the most explicit manner, they
dragged him along with that (Central) Point of the Universal Circle
[Footnote: i.e. the Supreme Wisdom.] to the barrack, situated
by the citadel, and, opposite to the cells on one side of the barrack,
suspended him from one of the stone gutters erected under the eaves of
the cells. Though his relations and friends cried, "Our son is gone
mad; his confession is but the outcome of his distemper and the raving
of lunacy, and it is unlawful to inflict on him the death penalty," he
continued to exclaim, "I am in my right mind, perfect in service and
sacrifice." .... Now he had a sweet young child; and they, hoping to
work upon his parental love, brought the boy to him that he might
renounce his faith. But he only said,--

"Begone, and bait your snares for other quarry;
The 'Anka's nest is hard to reach and high."

So they shot him in the presence of his Master, and laid his faithful
and upright form in the dust, while his pure and victorious spirit,
freed from the prison of earth and the cage of the body, soared to the
branches of the Lote-tree beyond which there is no passing. [And the
Bab cried out with a loud voice, "Verily thou shalt be with me in
Paradise."]

'Now after this, when they had suspended His Holiness in like manner,
the Shakaki regiment received orders to fire, and discharged their
pieces in a single volley. But of all the shots fired none took
effect, save two bullets, which respectively struck the two ropes by
which His Holiness was suspended on either side, and severed them. The
Bab fell to the ground, and took refuge in the adjacent room. As
soon as the smoke and dust of the powder had somewhat cleared, the
spectators looked for, but did not find, that Jesus of the age on the
cross.

'So, notwithstanding this miraculous escape, they again suspended His
Holiness, and gave orders to fire another volley. The Musulman
soldiers, however, made their excuses and refused. Thereupon a
Christian regiment [Footnote: Why a Christian regiment? The reason is
evident. Christians were outside the Babi movement, whereas the
Musulman population had been profoundly affected by the preaching of
the Babi, and could not be implicitly relied upon.] was ordered
to fire the volley.... And at the third volley three bullets struck
him, and that holy spirit, escaping from its gentle frame, ascended to
the Supreme Horizon.' It was in July 1850.

It remained for Holy Night to hush the clamour of the crowd. The great
square of Tabriz was purified from unholy sights and sounds. What, we
ask, was done then to the holy bodies--that of Bab himself and that
of his faithful follower? The enemies of the Bab, and even Count
Gobineau, assert that the dead body of the Bab was cast out into the
moat and devoured by the wild beasts. [Footnote: A similar fate is
asserted by tradition for the dead body of the heroic Mulla
Muhammad 'Ali of Zanjan.] We may be sure, however, that if the holy
body were exposed at night, the loyal Babis of Tabriz would lose
no time in rescuing it. The _New History_ makes this statement,--

'To be brief, two nights later, when they cast the most sacred body
and that of Mirza Muhammad 'Ali into the moat, and set three
sentries over them, Haji Suleyman Khan and three others, having
provided themselves with arms, came to the sentries and said, "We will
ungrudgingly give you any sum of money you ask, if you will not oppose
our carrying away these bodies; but if you attempt to hinder us, we
will kill you." The sentinels, fearing for their lives, and greedy for
gain, consulted, and as the price of their complaisance received a
large sum of money.

'So Haji Suleyman Khan bore those holy bodies to his house, shrouded
them in white silk, placed them in a chest, and, after a while,
transported them to Tihran, where they remained in trust till such
time as instructions for their interment in a particular spot were
issued by the Sources of the will of the Eternal Beauty. Now the
believers who were entrusted with the duty of transporting the holy
bodies were Mulla Huseyn of Khurasan and Aka Muhammad of
Isfahan, [Footnote: _TN_, p. 110, n. 3; _NH_, p. 312, n. 1.] and the
instructions were given by Baha-'ullah.' So far our authority.
Different names, however, are given by Nicolas, _AMB_, p. 381.

The account here given from the _New History_ is in accordance
with a letter purporting to be written by the Bab to Haji Suleyman
Khan exactly six months before his martyrdom; and preserved in the
_New History_, pp. 310, 311.

'Two nights after my martyrdom thou must go and, by some means or
other, buy my body and the body of Mirza Muhammad 'Ali from the
sentinels for 400 tumans, and keep them in thy house for six
months. Afterwards lay Aka Muhammad 'Ali with his face upon my
face the two (dead) bodies in a strong chest, and send it with a
letter to Jenab-i-Baha (great is his majesty!). [Footnote: _TN_,
p. 46, n. 1] Baha is, of course, the short for Baha-'ullah, and, as
Prof. Browne remarks, the modest title Jenab-i-Baha was, even after
the presumed date of this letter, the title commonly given to this
personage.

The instructions, however, given by the Bab elsewhere are widely
different in tendency. He directs that his remains should be placed
near the shrine of Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, which 'is a good land, by
reason of the proximity of Wahid (i.e. Subh-i-Ezel).' [Footnote: The
spot is said to be five miles south of Tihran.] One might naturally
infer from this that Baha-'ullah's rival was the guardian of the
relics of the Bab. This does not appear to have any warrant of
testimony. But, according to Subh-i-Ezel himself, there was a time
when he had in his hands the destiny of the bodies. He says that when
the coffin (there was but one) came into his hands, he thought it
unsafe to attempt a separation or discrimination of the bodies, so
that they remained together 'until [both] were stolen.'

It will be seen that Subh-i-Ezel takes credit (1) for carrying out
the Bab's last wishes, and (2) leaving the bodies as they were. To
remove the relics to another place was tantamount to stealing. It was
Baha-'ullah who ordered this removal for a good reason, viz., that the
cemetery, in which the niche containing the coffin was, seemed so
ruinous as to be unsafe.

There is, however, another version of Subh-i-Ezel's tradition; it has
been preserved to us by Mons. Nicolas, and contains very strange
statements. The Bab, it is said, ordered Subh-i-Ezel to place his
dead body, if possible, in a coffin of diamonds, and to inter it
opposite to Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, in a spot described in such a way that
only the recipient of the letter could interpret it. 'So I put the
mingled remains of the two bodies in a crystal coffin, diamonds being
beyond me, and I interred it exactly where the Bab had directed
me. The place remained secret for thirty years. The Baha'is in
particular knew nothing of it, but a traitor revealed it to
them. Those blasphemers disinterred the corpse and destroyed it. Or if
not, and if they point out a new burying-place, really containing the
crystal coffin of the body of the Bab which they have purloined, we
[Ezelites] could not consider this new place of sepulture to be
sacred.'

The story of the crystal coffin (really suggested by the Bayan) is too
fantastic to deserve credence. But that the sacred remains had many
resting-places can easily be believed; also that the place of burial
remained secret for many years. Baha-'ullah, however, knew where it
was, and, when circumstances favoured, transported the remains to the
neighbourhood of Haifa in Palestine. The mausoleum is worthy, and
numerous pilgrims from many countries resort to it.


EULOGIUM ON THE MASTER

The gentle spirit of the Bab is surely high up in the cycles of
eternity. Who can fail, as Prof. Browne says, to be attracted by him?
'His sorrowful and persecuted life; his purity of conduct and youth;
his courage and uncomplaining patience under misfortune; his complete
self-negation; the dim ideal of a better state of things which can be
discerned through the obscure mystic utterances of the Bayán; but
most of all his tragic death, all serve to enlist our sympathies on
behalf of the young prophet of Shiraz.'

'Il sentait le besoin d'une réforme profonde à introduire dans les
moeurs publiques.... Il s'est sacrifié pour l'humanité; pour elle il
a donné son corps et son âme, pour elle il a subi les privations,
les affronts, les injures, la torture et le martyre.' (Mons. Nicolas.)

_In an old Persian song, applied to the Bab by his followers, it is
written_:--

In what sect is this lawful? In what religion is this lawful?
That they should kill a charmer of hearts! Why art thou a stealer of
hearts?


MULLA HUSEYN OF BUSHRAWEYH

Mulla Huseyn of Bushraweyh (in the province of Mazarandan) was the
embodied ideal of a Babi chief such as the primitive period of the
faith produced--I mean, that he distinguished himself equally in
profound theosophic speculation and in warlike prowess. This
combination may seem to us strange, but Mirza Jani assures us that
many students who had left cloistered ease for the sake of God and the
Bab developed an unsuspected warlike energy under the pressure of
persecution. And so that ardour, which in the case of the Bab was
confined to the sphere of religious thought and speculation and to the
unlocking of metaphorical prison-gates, was displayed in the case of
Mulla Huseyn both in voyages on the ocean of Truth, and in
warfare. Yes, the Mulla's fragile form might suggest the student,
but he had also the precious faculty of generalship, and a happy
perfection of fearlessness.

Like the Bab himself in his preparation-period, he gave his adhesion
to the Sheykhi school of theology, and on the decease of the former
leader (Sayyid Kazim) he went, like other members of the school, to
seek for a new spiritual head. Now it so happened that Sayyid Kazim
had already turned the eyes of Huseyn towards 'Ali Muhammad;
already this eminent theosophist had a presentiment that wonderful
things were in store for the young visitor from Shiraz. It was
natural, therefore, that Huseyn should seek further information and
guidance from 'Ali Muhammad himself. No trouble could be too great;
the object could not be attained in a single interview, and as 'Ali
Muhammad was forbidden to leave his house at Shiraz, secrecy was
indispensable. Huseyn, therefore, was compelled to spend the
greater part of the day in his new teacher's house.

The concentration of thought to which the constant nearness of a great
prophet (and 'more than a prophet') naturally gave birth had the only
possible result. All barriers were completely broken down, and
Huseyn recognized in his heaven-sent teacher the Gate (_Bab_)
which opened on to the secret abode of the vanished Imam, and one
charged with a commission to bring into existence the world-wide
Kingdom of Righteousness. To seal his approval of this thorough
conversion, which was hitherto without a parallel, the Bab conferred
on his new adherent the title of 'The First to Believe.'

This honourable title, however, is not the only one used by this Hero
of God. Still more frequently he was called 'The Gate of the Gate,'
i.e. the Introducer to Him through Whom all true wisdom comes;
or, we may venture to say, the Bab's Deputy. Two other titles maybe
mentioned. One is 'The Gate.' Those who regarded 'Ali Muhammad of
Shiraz as the 'Point' of prophecy and the returned Imâm (the Ka'im)
would naturally ascribe to his representative the vacant dignity of
'The Gate.' Indeed, it is one indication of this that the
Subh-i-Ezel designates Mulla Huseyn not as the Gate's Gate,
but simply as the Gate.

And now the 'good fight of faith' begins in earnest. First of all, the
Bab's Deputy (or perhaps 'the Bab' [Footnote: Some Babi
writers (including Subh-i-Ezel) certainly call MullaHuseyn
'the Bab.']--but this might confuse the reader) is sent to Khurasan,
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 44.] taking Isfahan and Tihran in his way. I need
not catalogue the names of his chief converts and their places of
residence. [Footnote: See Nicolas, _AMB_.] Suffice it to mention
here that among the converts were Baha-'ullah, Muhammad 'Ali of
Zanjan, and Haji Mirza Jani, the same who has left us a much
'overworked' history of Babism (down to the time of his
martyrdom). Also that among the places visited was Omar Khayyám's
Nishapur, and that two attempts were made by the 'Gate's Gate' to
carry the Evangel into the Shi'ite Holy Land (Mash-had).

But it was time to reopen communications with the 'lord from Shiraz'
(the Bab). So his Deputy resolved to make for the castle of Maku,
where the Bab was confined. On the Deputy's arrival the Bab
foretold to him his own (the Bab's) approaching martyrdom and the
cruel afflictions which were impending. At the same time the Bab
directed him to return to Khurasan, adding that he should 'go thither
by way of Mazandaran, for there the doctrine had not yet been rightly
preached.' So the Deputy went first of all to Mazandaran, and there
joined another eminent convert, best known by his Babi name
Kuddus (sacred).

I pause here to notice how intimate were the relations between the two
friends--the 'Gate's Gate' and 'Sacred.' Originally the former was
considered distinctly the greater man. People may have reasoned
somewhat thus:--It was no doubt true that Kuddus had been privileged
to accompany the Bab to Mecca, [Footnote: For the divergent
tradition in Nicolas, see _AMB_, p. 206.] but was not the Bab's
Deputy the more consummate master of spiritual lore? [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 43, cp. p. 404.]

It was at any rate the latter Hero of God who (according to one
tradition) opened the eyes of the majority of inquirers to the
truth. It is also said that on the morning after the meeting of the
friends the chief seat was occupied by Kuddus, while the Gate's
Deputy stood humbly and reverentially before him. This is certainly
true to the spirit of the brother-champions, one of whom was
conspicuous for his humility, the other for his soaring spiritual
ambition.

But let us return to the evangelistic journey. The first signs of the
approach of Kuddus were a letter from him to the Bab's Deputy (the
letter is commonly called 'The Eternal Witness'), together with a
white robe [Footnote: White was the Babite colour. See _NH_, p. 189;
_TN_, p. xxxi, n. 1.] and a turban. In the letter, it was announced
that he and seventy other believers would shortly win the crown of
martyrdom. This may possibly be true, not only because circumstantial
details were added, but because the chief leaders of the Babis do
really appear to have had extraordinary spiritual gifts, especially
that of prophecy. One may ask, Did Kuddus also foresee the death of
his friend? He did not tell him so in the letter, but he did direct
him to leave Khurasan, in spite of the encyclical letter of the Bab,
bidding believers concentrate, if possible, on Khurasan.

So, then, we see our Babi apostles and their followers, with
changed route, proceeding to the province of Mazandaran, where
Kuddus resided. On reaching Miyami they found about thirty
believers ready to join them--the first-fruits of the preaching of the
Kingdom. Unfortunately opposition was stirred up by the appearance of
the apostles. There was an encounter with the populace, and the
Babis were defeated. The Babis, however, went on steadily till
they arrived at Badasht, much perturbed by the inauspicious news of
the death of Muhammad Shah, 4th September 1848. We are told that the
'Gate's Gate' had already foretold this event, [Footnote: _NH_,
p. 45.] which involved increased harshness in the treatment of the
Bab. We cannot greatly wonder that, according to the Babis,
Muhammad Shah's journey was to the infernal regions.

Another consequence of the Shah's death was the calling of the Council
of Badasht. It has been suggested that the true cause of the summoning
of that assembly was anxiety for the Bab, and a desire to carry him
off to a place of safety. But the more accepted view--that the subject
before the Council was the relation of the Babis to the Islamic
laws--is also the more probable. The abrogation of those laws is
expressly taught by Kurratu'l 'Ayn, according to Mirza Jani.

How many Babis took part in the Meeting? That depends on whether
the ordinary Babis were welcomed to the Meeting or only the
leaders. If the former were admitted, the number of Babis must
have been considerable, for the 'Gate's Gate' is said to have gathered
a band of 230 men, and Kuddus a band of 300, many of them men of
wealth and position, and yet ready to give the supreme proof of their
absolute sincerity. The notice at the end of Mirza Jani's account,
which glances at the antinomian tendencies of some who attended the
Meeting, seems to be in favour of a large estimate. Elsewhere Mirza
Jani speaks of the 'troubles of Badasht,' at which the gallant Riza
Khan performed 'most valuable services.' Nothing is said, however, of
the part taken in the quieting of these troubles either by the 'Gate's
Gate' or by Kuddus. Greater troubles, however, were at hand; it is
the beginning of the Mazandaran insurrection (A.D. 1848-1849).

The place of most interest in this exciting episode is the fortified
tomb of Sheykh Tabarsi, twelve or fourteen miles south of
Barfurush. The Babis under the 'Gate's Gate' made this their
headquarters, and we have abundant information, both Babite and
Muslim, respecting their doings. The 'Gate's Gate' preached to them
every day, and warned them that their only safety lay in detachment
from the world. He also (probably as _Bab_, 'Ali Muhammad having
assumed the rank of _Nukta_, Point) conferred new names (those of
prophets and saints) on the worthiest of the Babis, [Footnote: This is
a Muslim account. See _NH_, p. 303.] which suggests that this Hero of
God had felt his way to the doctrine of the equality of the saints in
the Divine Bosom. Of course, this great truth was very liable to
misconstruction, just as much as when the having all things in common
was perverted into the most objectionable kind of communism.
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 55.]

'Thus,' the moralist remarks, 'did they live happily together in
content and gladness, free from all grief and care, as though
resignation and contentment formed a part of their very nature.'

Of course, the new names were given with a full consciousness of the
inwardness of names. There was a spirit behind each new name; the
revival of a name by a divine representative meant the return of the
spirit. Each Babi who received the name of a prophet or an Imam
knew that his life was raised to a higher plane, and that he was to
restore that heavenly Being to the present age. These re-named
Babis needed no other recompense than that of being used in the
Cause of God. They became capable of far higher things than before,
and if within a short space of time the Bab, or his Deputy, was to
conquer the whole world and bring it under the beneficent yoke of the
Law of God, much miraculously heightened courage would be needed. I am
therefore able to accept the Muslim authority's statement. The
conferring of new names was not to add fuel to human vanity, but
sacramentally to heighten spiritual vitality.

Not all Babis, it is true, were capable of such insight. From the
Babi account of the night-action, ordered on his arrival at Sheykh
Tabarsi by Kuddus, we learn that some Babis, including those of
Mazandaran, took the first opportunity of plundering the enemy's
camp. For this, the Deputy reproved them, but they persisted, and the
whole army was punished (as we are told) by a wound dealt to Kuddus,
which shattered one side of his face. [Footnote: _NH_, 68
_f_.] It was with reference to this that the Deputy said at last
to his disfigured friend, 'I can no longer bear to look upon the wound
which mars your glorious visage. Suffer me, I pray you, to lay down my
life this night, that I may be delivered alike from my shame and my
anxiety.' So there was another night-encounter, and the Deputy knew
full well that it would be his last battle. And he 'said to one who
was beside him, "Mount behind me on my horse, and when I say, 'Bear me
to the Castle,' turn back with all speed." So now, overcome with
faintness, he said, "Bear me to the Castle." Thereupon his companion
turned the horse's head, and brought him back to the entrance of the
Castle; and there he straightway yielded up his spirit to the Lord and
Giver of life.' Frail of form, but a gallant soldier and an
impassioned lover of God, he combined qualities and characteristics
which even in the spiritual aristocracy of Persia are seldom found
united in the same person.


MULLA MUHAMMAD 'ALI OF BARFURUSH

He was a man of Mazandaran, but was converted at Shiraz. He was one of
the earliest to cast in his lot with God's prophet. No sooner had he
beheld and conversed with the Bab, than, 'because of the purity of his
heart, he at once believed without seeking further sign or proof.'
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 39.] After the Council of Badasht he received
among the Babis the title of Jenab-i-Kuddus, i.e. 'His Highness the
Sacred,' by which it was meant that he was, for this age, what the
sacred prophet Muhammad was to an earlier age, or, speaking loosely,
that holy prophet's 're-incarnation.' It is interesting to learn that
that heroic woman Kurratu'l 'Ayn was regarded as the 'reincarnation'
of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad. Certainly Kuddus had
enormous influence with small as well as great. Certainly, too, both
he and his greatest friend had prophetic gifts and a sense of oneness
with God, which go far to excuse the extravagant form of their claims,
or at least the claims of others on their behalf. Extravagance of
form, at any rate, lies on the surface of their titles. There must be
a large element of fancy when Muhammad 'Ali of Barfurush (i.e.
Kuddus) claims to be a 'return' of the great Arabian prophet and even
to be the Ka'im (i.e. the Imam Mahdi), who was expected to bring in
the Kingdom of Righteousness. There is no exaggeration, however, in
saying that, together with the Bab, Kuddus ranked highest (or equal to
the highest) in the new community. [Footnote: In _NH_, pp. 359, 399,
Kuddus is represented as the 'last to enter,' and as 'the name of the
last.']

We call him here Kuddus, i.e. holy, sacred, because this was his
Babi name, and his Babi period was to him the only part of his
life that was worth living. True, in his youth, he (like 'the Deputy')
had Sheykhite instruction, [Footnote: We may infer this from the
inclusion of both persons in the list of those who went through the
same spiritual exercises in the sacred city of Kufa (_NH_, p. 33).]
but as long as he was nourished on this imperfect food, he must have
had the sense of not having yet 'attained.' He was also like his
colleague 'the Deputy' in that he came to know the Bab before the
young Shirazite made his Arabian pilgrimage; indeed (according to our
best information), it was he who was selected by 'Ali Muhammad to
accompany him to the Arabian Holy City, the 'Gate's Gate,' we may
suppose, being too important as a representative of the 'Gate' to be
removed from Persia. The Bab, however, who had a gift of insight,
was doubtless more than satisfied with his compensation. For Kuddus
had a noble soul.

The name Kuddus is somewhat difficult to account for, and yet it
must be understood, because it involves a claim. It must be observed,
then, first of all, that, as the early Babis believed, the last of
the twelve Imams (cp. the Zoroastrian Amshaspands) still lived on
invisibly (like the Jewish Messiah), and communicated with his
followers by means of personages called Babs (i.e. Gates), whom the
Imam had appointed as intermediaries. As the time for a new divine
manifestation approached, these personages 'returned,' i.e. were
virtually re-incarnated, in order to prepare mankind for the coming
great epiphany. Such a 'Gate' in the Christian cycle would be John
the Baptist; [Footnote: John the Baptist, to the Israelites, was the
last Imam before Jesus.] such 'Gates' in the Muhammadan cycle
would be Waraka ibn Nawfal and the other Hanifs, and in the
Babi cycle Sheikh Ahmad of Ahsa, Sayyid Kazim of Resht,
Muhammad 'Ali of Shiraz, and Mulla Huseyn of Bushraweyh, who was
followed by his brother Muhammad Hasan. 'Ali Muhammad, however,
whom we call the Bab, did not always put forward exactly the same
claim. Sometimes he assumed the title of Zikr [Footnote: And when God
wills He will explain by the mediation of His Zikr (the Bab) that
which has been decreed for him in the Book.--Early Letter to the
Bab's uncle (_AMB_, p. 223).] (i.e. Commemoration, or perhaps
Reminder); sometimes (p. 81) that of Nukta, i.e. Point (= Climax
of prophetic revelation). Humility may have prevented him from always
assuming the highest of these titles (Nukta). He knew that there
was one whose fervent energy enabled him to fight for the Cause as he
himself could not. He can hardly, I think, have gone so far as to
'abdicate' in favour of Kuddus, or as to affirm with Mirza Jani
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 336.] that 'in this (the present) cycle the
original "Point" was Hazrat-i-Kuddus.' He may, however, have
sanctioned Muhammad 'Ali's assumption of the title of 'Point' on
some particular occasion, such as the Assembly of Badasht. It is true,
Muhammad 'Ali's usual title was Kuddus, but Muhammad 'Ali
himself, we know, considered this title to imply that in himself there
was virtually a 'return' of the great prophet Muhammad. [Footnote:
_Ibid_. p. 359.] We may also, perhaps, believe on the authority of
Mirza Jani that the Bab 'refrained from writing or circulating
anything during the period of the "Manifestation" of Hazrat-i-Kuddus,
and only after his death claimed to be himself the Ka'im.'
[Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 368.] It is further stated that, in the list of
the nineteen (?) Letters of the Living, Kuddus stood next to the
Bab himself, and the reader has seen how, in the defence of Tabarsi,
Kuddus took precedence even of that gallant knight, known among the
Babis as 'the Gate's Gate.'

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