Mullá `Alí was the first martyr of the Bábí Faith. Though his arrest and sufferings lasted only a few months, he was the centre of conjecture, the subject of official report, and the cause of increased rancour between the Sunní and [_Sh_]í`ah sects, and the Ottoman and Iranian governments. European officials who were drawn into this obscure drama included Major Rawlinson, who submitted frequent and lengthy reports to Sir Stratford Canning in Istanbul and Lt.-Col. Sheil in Ṭihrán, and received their advice and instructions; M. de Titow, Russian envoy in Istanbul who joined Canning in urging the Sublime Porte to restrain Najíb Pá[_sh_]á from putting 'the Persian Priest' to death, and instead to inflict on him only 'the mildest punishment consistent with the public tranquillity'; and Lord Aberdeen, the British Foreign Secretary in London, who was apprised of the final outcome. Although the dispatches of Major Rawlinson are in certain aspects subject to grave reservations, for his knowledge was sometimes meagre and at second hand, even inaccurate, they do portray the agitation, confusion and opposition created by the claim of the Báb and the teaching of Mullá `Alí. Thus he wrote to Canning: The Soonnee Priesthood have taken up the case in a rancorous spirit of bigotry, and their inveteracy has enlisted the sympathies of the entire Sheeah sect, in favor of the imprisoned Persian ... the question has now become one of virulent contest, between the Soonee & Sheeah sects, or which is the same thing in this part of the Ottoman Empire, between the Turkish & Persian population....[8] It was the Governor (Válí) of Ba[_gh_]dád, Najíb Pá[_sh_]á, who bore the responsibility of controlling these passions; but being himself a fanatical Sunní, he was resolved that the [_Sh_]í`ahs should submit to the Sunní authority, and determined to bar any intrusions of the Persians into the affairs of his Pá[_sh_]álik.[BG] Nevertheless, as reported by Rawlinson: Nejib Pasha at the same time, to give all due formality to his proceedings, and to divest the affair of the appearance of mere sectarian persecution, has brought in the chief Priests from Nejef & Kerbela, to hold a solemn Court of Inquisition in conjunction with the heads of the Soonnee religion in Bagdad, but I do not anticipate much benefit from this compulsory & most unwilling attendance of the former parties--They will probably make an effort to save the life of their unfortunate countryman, proposing the banishment of the messenger and of the heads of the _Usúlí_ sect, as the simplest method of suppressing the heresy, but they will be intimidated & overruled....[9] [Footnote BG: His province.] Indeed, such an unwieldy court of Sunní and [_Sh_]í`ah divines could come to no agreement about Mullá `Alí's punishment. On January 16th 1845, Rawlinson wrote to Sheil, in Ṭihrán: