The burden of a semi-feudal state was indeed onerous, and no less so was the burden of the dominance established by the divines. Certainly, they had in their ranks men of the calibre and quality of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í, Siyyid Káẓim-i-Ra[_sh_]tí, Ḥájí Siyyid Muḥammad-Báqir-i-Ra[_sh_]tí[EN] and [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Murtiḍáy-i-Anṣárí, men who had high regard for truth and righteousness; just as there were in the service of the State men of enlightened vision and shining integrity. But collectively the divines abused the power they had obtained with the advent of the Ṣafavid dynasty. [Footnote EN: Known both as Ra[_sh_]tí and [_Sh_]aftí.] The fall of a nation from the pinnacle of achievement is more marked than the decline from lesser heights. The Call to a New Day The Call of the Báb was a call to awakening, a claim that a New Day had dawned. But the magnitude of this claim was not easily realized; one of the first to do so was Qurratu'l-`Ayn. When Mullá `Alíy-i-Basṭámí was condemned and imprisoned in Ba[_gh_]dád, she was still at Karbilá. Because of complaints by the [_Sh_]í`ah divines, the Government sent her back to Ba[_gh_]dád, where she lodged in the house of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Muḥammad [_Sh_]ibl, the father of Áqá Muḥammad Muṣṭafáy-i-Ba[_gh_]dádí, until the Government moved her to the house of the Muftí of Ba[_gh_]dád.[EO] So outspoken was she in her public statements that some of her fellow-believers from Káẓimayn were alarmed and, according to Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá, agitated against her. Siyyid `Alí Bi[_sh_]r, the most learned of them, wrote a letter on their behalf to the Báb, which Nawrúz-`Alí, once an attendant of Siyyid Káẓim, took to Him in Máh-Kú, returning with His answer which rang with high praise of Qurratu'l-`Ayn. It caused Siyyid `Alí Bi[_sh_]r and his party from Káẓimayn[EP] to withdraw from the Faith they had previously espoused with enthusiasm. The Báb described Qurratu'l-`Ayn, in that Epistle, as Ṭáhirih, the Pure, and Ṣiddíqih, the Truthful, and laid an injunction on His followers in `Iráq to accept without question whatever she might pronounce, for they were not in a position to understand and appreciate her station. By this time a large number of Bábís had assembled in Ba[_gh_]dád, and Qurratu'l-`Ayn was constantly and openly teaching the Faith. She had received a copy of the _Commentary on the Súrih of Kaw[_th_]ar_, which the Báb had revealed for Vaḥíd, and she made full use of it, driving the opposing divines to desperation. When she threw down a challenge to them to debate the issue with her, their only reply was vehement denunciation. [Footnote EO: In a book which the Muftí, Maḥmúd al-Álúsí, wrote, he spoke of Qurratu'l-`Ayn with great admiration.] [Footnote EP: These included Siyyid Ṭáhá and Siyyid Muḥammad-Ja`far.]