[_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad's constant theme was the near advent of the Deliverer of the Latter Days, promised to the world of Islám, the Qá'im of the House of Muḥammad or the Mihdí (Mahdí).[1] In the course of his last pilgrimage to the holy cities of Arabia, he told a merchant from Iṣfahán[C] who was with him: 'You will attain the presence of the Báb; salute Him on my behalf.'[2] [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad did not believe in physical resurrection nor in the physical ascent (Mi`ráj)[D] of the Prophet Muḥammad to heaven on the night that the Angel Gabriel took Him to view the celestial world. Mi`ráj was an experience of the spirit, [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad maintained. Moreover he asserted that the signs and portents of the coming of the Qá'im, given by the Prophet and the Imáms, were allegorical. These and similar doctrines were anathema to the orthodox, but while [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad lived, royal patronage muted their hostile criticism. [Footnote C: Ḥájí Muḥammad-Ismá`íl-i-Gulpáygání.] [Footnote D: The following verse in the Qur'án (xvii, 4) refers to the Mi`ráj: Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque the precincts of which We have blessed, that We might show him some of Our signs. He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing. --Arberry, _The Koran Interpreted_ The Holy Mosque (Masjid-al-Ḥarám) is the Ka`bah in Mecca; the Further Mosque (Masjid-al-Aqṣá) is in Jerusalem.] Siyyid Káẓim (1793-1843), who, in accordance with the will of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad, succeeded him in guiding his disciples, was the son of Siyyid Qásim of Ra[_sh_]t, a town in northern Írán close to the Caspian Sea. He came from a family of well-known merchants and was no more than thirty-three years old when he occupied the seat of authority. The orthodox divines now began their vitriolic assaults in earnest until, at last, Siyyid Káẓim felt that he needed solid support in Írán from the ranks of the orthodox. For that purpose he chose one of his ablest disciples, Mullá Ḥusayn, a native of the small town of Bu[_sh_]rúyih in [_Kh_]urásán, to go to Iṣfahán and secure the aid of Ḥájí Siyyid Muḥammad-Báqir-i-Ra[_sh_]tí, a noted divine whose influence was felt far and wide. Mullá Ḥusayn succeeded brilliantly in accomplishing the mission entrusted to him, obtained the support of that famous man in writing, and then proceeded to Ma[_sh_]had to acquire a similar pledge from yet another powerful divine.