The Báb: The Herald of the Day of DaysBalyuzi, H. M.
Religion
The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days
Balyuzi, H. M.
Bab, Ali Muhammad Shirazi, 1819-1850; Bahai Faith
'Deliver me from my perplexity. I adjure You, by the Prophet
of God, Your illustrious Ancestor, to dissipate my doubts,
for their weight has well-nigh crushed my heart. I was
riding through the wilderness and was approaching the gate
of the town, when, it being the hour of dawn, my eyes
suddenly beheld You standing by the side of the river
engaged in offering Your prayer. With outstretched arms and
upraised eyes, You were invoking the name of God. I stood
still and watched You. I was waiting for You to terminate
Your devotions that I might approach and rebuke You for
having ventured to leave the castle without my leave. In
Your communion with God, You seemed so wrapt in worship that
You were utterly forgetful of Yourself. I quietly approached
You; in Your state of rapture, You remained wholly unaware
of my presence. I was suddenly seized with great fear and
recoiled at the thought of awakening You from Your ecstasy.
I decided to leave You, to proceed to the guards and to
reprove them for their negligent conduct. I soon found out,
to my amazement, that both the outer and inner gates were
closed. They were opened at my request, I was ushered into
Your presence, and now find You, to my wonder, seated before
me. I am utterly confounded. I know not whether my reason
has deserted me.' The Báb answered and said: 'What you have
witnessed is true and undeniable. You belittled this
Revelation and have contemptuously disdained its Author.
God, the All-Merciful, desiring not to afflict you with His
punishment, has willed to reveal to your eyes the Truth. By
His Divine interposition, He has instilled into your heart
the love of His chosen One, and caused you to recognise the
unconquerable power of His Faith.'[7]
All the arrogance of the warden left him. He was totally conquered. He
became humble. The first words that he uttered were:
A poor man, a [_sh_]ay[_kh_], is yearning to attain Your
presence. He lives in a masjid [mosque] outside the gate of
Máh-Kú. I pray You that I myself be allowed to bring him to
this place that he may meet You. By this act I hope that my
evil deeds may be forgiven, that I may be enabled to wash
away the stains of my cruel behaviour toward Your
friends.[8]
He went away and returned with [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí.
`Alí [_Kh_]án's change of heart and attitude radically altered the
situation. The prison gates no longer barred the Báb from His
followers. Bábís came from everywhere to attain the presence of their
Lord, among them Mullá Ḥusayn, the Bábu'l-Báb. The Báb received him
at the gate of the castle and celebrated the Feast of Naw-Rúz with
him. Ere his departure, the Báb directed him to visit Tabríz and other
towns of the province of Á[_dh_]arbáyján, and then proceed to Zanján,
Qazvín, Ṭihrán, and finally to the province of Mázindarán.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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