From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: The Station of The Bab (Re: A Refutation of Baha'i view....) 8/10
Date: 28 Jan 93 18:14:12 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


Continuation from part 7:

HS>For his contradictory statements he was often times confronted by the
HS>Ulema in Iran. 

I beg to disagree with you my friend. The following quotation from A.L.M. 
Nicolas will perhaps help the readership of this forum to realize the 
nature of the knowledge and the mentality of the Ulema of Iran The Bab 
was faced with, and offer a perspective on the manner by which the Ulema
confronted The Bab. He writes:

"Muhammad [One of Ulema. KH] having grown silent, Mirza Muhammad-Hassan
[Another of the Ulema. KH], who followed the philosophical doctrine of 
Mulla Sadra, questioned the Bab in order to induce him to explain three 
miracles which it would suffice to relate in order to enlighten the reader. 
The first was the Tayyu'l-Ard, or the immediate transfer of a human being 
from one part of the world to another very distant point. The Shiites are 
convinced that the third Imam, Javad, had adopted this easy and economical 
way of traveling. For example he betook himself, in the twinkling of an 
eye, from Medina in Arabia to Tus in Khurasan [A province of Iran. KH].

The second miracle  was the multiple and simultaneous presence of the 
same person in many different places. Ali was, at the same moment, host
to sixty different people.

The third miracle was a problem of cosmography which I submit to our  
astronomers who will certainly relish it. It is said that, during the
reign of a tyrant, the heavens revolve rapidly, while during that of
an Imam they revolve slowly. First, how could the heavens have two 
movements and then, what were they doing during the reign of the 
Ummayads and the Abbasids? It was the solution of these insanities that 
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
they [i.e these religious leaders. KH] proposed to the Bab!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I shall not dwell on them any longer but I believe I must here make
                                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
clear the mentality of the learned Muslim of Persia. And if one should
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
consider that, for nearly one thousand years, the science of Iran
                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
rests upon such trash, that men exhaust themselves in continuous
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
research upon such matters, one will easily understand the emptiness
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
of all these minds.

But, that as it may, the reunion was interrupted by the announcement 
of dinner of which each one partook, after which they returned to
their respective homes."

            A.L.M. Nicolas "Seyyid Ali Muhammad dit le Bab p. 239-240

Haji Abolghasem Khan-i Ebrahimi, the late leader of the Shaykhi School,
who was by no means a friend of the Baha'i Faith, makes two very 
interesting observations about The Bab in two of his books which is
relevant to the point you are attempting to make:

1- He writes in his book Shekayat Namih: "Seyyed-i Bab was not a pupil of
   Seyyed Kazim, a`li-allah maqamih. In fact he was not a pupil of any
   teacher and.... he was not even tutored in the presence of a Mulla-yeh 
   maktab dar (Mulla who had a school)."

	Shekayat Namih, pp. 42-43, Sa`adat Print shop 1368, Kerman/Iran

2- He also writes in Tanzih'ul O`ulia: "During the five-six years this 
   man [i.e. The Bab. KH].... appeared, Ulema contemporaneous with him
   did not capably answer him, except cursing him and calling him godless
   and sinful. Even today after the passage of one hundred years no book
   from that time can be seen which has effectively disproven his claims."

	Tanzih'ul O`ulia, p. 162, Sa`adat Print shop 1368, Kerman/Iran

						Part 8 of 10
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc,alt.atheism,alt.pagan