There can be little doubt from the intolerance they show to those who recant, that should they gain power enough they would be as ready to persecute Christians as was Mohammed to put to death the Jews of Medina.--_Dr. G. W. Holmes in Speer's ibid., p. 130._ Bahaism, as a new religion bidding for popular favour, should be considered in its relation to the State, for this is an important factor in forming our judgment of it. As it historically sprang from Babism, it is well to review, first of all, the political relations of Babism. I. Babism in Persia was a form of Mahdiism. Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab, claimed to be the Mahdi, the Kaim, the twelfth Imam returned. According to Shiah doctrine, the rulership of the State by divine law belongs to the Imam. The Kajar Shahs had the right to kingship only in the absence of the Imam. Their authority would cease with his appearance. This is so universally recognized that the constitution of Persia drawn up by the Parliament in 1906-1907 contains in the preamble the provision that it shall continue only till the manifestation of the Imam. In accordance with this principle the Babis looked upon Mohammed Shah and Nasr-ud-Din Shah as no longer the rightful rulers. They were, _ipso facto_, supplanted by the Bab, the Sahib-i-Zaman or Lord of the Age. The Kajars were called by them "unlawful kings." Hazrat-Kuddus says,[265] "We are the rightful rulers; know that Nasr-ud-Din is no true king and that such as support him shall be tormented in hell-fire." Disloyalty was an essential corollary of Babism and not a consequence of the repression and persecution which it met. The measures of the Persian Government were caused by this knowledge. The rebellions of the Babis were justified in their eyes by self-preservation as well as by the desire to remove, if possible, the Shah and make way for the reign of the Bab. Professor Browne's opinion on these points is conclusive. He says:[266]-- "The Babis looked for their immediate triumph over all existing powers, culminating in the universal establishment of the true faith and the reign of God's saints on earth.... They intended to inherit the earth; they held those who rejected the Bab as unclean and worthy of death, and they held the Kajar Shahs in a detestation which they were at no pains to hide.... They did not make any profession of loyalty to or love for the reigning dynasty.... Unbelievers were flouted with scorn because they supposed that the Promised Deliverer would confirm the authority of the Shahs."