From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim)
Subject: Re: Some more info on the Baha'is (10)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 17:16:20 GMT


Continuation from part 9:

farzin@apollo3d.apollo3.ntt.JP (Farzin Mokhtarian), you write:

>The
>second Toubeh nameh was written in Tabreez and it is quoted by Edward Brown
>and also on Pages 204-205 of the book entitled "Kashfolgheta'" by Mirza
>Aboulfazle Golpayegani, a very prominent Bahaii moballegh.

This is incorrect. Letter of Prince Nasir-ud-Din Mirza to His father
Muhammad Shah, who was present at the gathering is available in his 
own handwriting indicating that whatever they did, Siyyed-i Bab DID 
NOT give up His claim. Perhaps that is why they killed The Bab. If 
The Bab was to reject His claim what was the reason for the religious 
leaders to sign His death sentence and carrying out this order? I
leave this for you to contemplate on. 

For more information refer to the book entitled "Bayani- Haghayegh" 
by Siyyed Abbas-i Alavi, published by the Baha'i Publishing Trust of
Iran.

>When Seyede Bab was in prison in Tabreez. There was a hearing by Ulema and
>they decided that he was mentally ill and should not be executed (page 209
>of Brown's the Babi religion), But amir Kabeer, the sadre Azam, for the sake
>of the country  had to order for his execution. You see, the poor people of
>Iran was awaiting the Mahdi and they were thinking the gate to Mahdi is
>in prison. Bab with the help of many agents or semi agents was making alot
>of trouble at a time that Iran desparately needed calm and harmony.

This event is described as follows in God Passes By as follows:

"To allay the rising excitement the Bab was summoned to Tabriz. Fearful 
of the enthusiasm of the people of 'Adhirbayjan, those into whose custody 
He had been delivered decided to deflect their route, and avoid the town 
of Khuy, passing instead through Urumiyyih. On His arrival in that town 
Prince Malik Aasim Mirza ceremoniously received Him [i.e. The Bab], and 
was even seen, on a certain Friday, when his Guest was riding on His way 
to the public bath, to accompany Him on foot, while the Prince's footmen 
endeavored to restrain the people who, in their overflowing enthusiasm, 
were pressing to catch a glimpse of so marvelous a Prisoner. Tabriz, in 
its turn in the throes of wild excitement, joyously hailed His arrival. 
Such was the fervor of popular feeling that the Bab was assigned a place 
outside the gates of the city. This, however, failed to allay the 
prevailing emotion. Precautions, warnings and restrictions served only 
to aggravate a situation that had already become critical. It was at this 
juncture that the Grand Vizir [i.e. Amir Kabir] issued his historic order 
for the immediate convocation of the ecclesiastical dignitaries of Tabriz 
to consider the most effectual measures which would, once and for all, 
extinguish the flames of so devouring a conflagration.

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. Verify, 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.' Awe-struck, those present 
momentarily dropped their heads in silent confusion. The 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 [i.e.
The Bab] 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 [i.e.
The Qur'an]. 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."

					God Passes By, pp. 20-22

						Part 10 of 12