How, We wonder, do they explain the aforementioned tradition, a tradition
which, in unmistakable terms, foreshadoweth the revelation of things
inscrutable, and the occurrence of new and wondrous events in His day?
Such marvellous happenings kindle so great a strife amongst the people,
that all the divines and doctors sentence Him and His companions to death,
and all the peoples of the earth arise to oppose Him. Even as it hath been
recorded in the “Káfí,” in the tradition of Jabír, in the “Tablet of
Fátimih,” concerning the character of the Qá’im: “He shall manifest the
perfection of Moses, the splendour of Jesus, and the patience of Job. His
chosen ones shall be abased in His day. Their heads shall be offered as
presents even as the heads of the Turks and the Daylamites. They shall be
slain and burnt. Fear shall seize them; dismay and alarm shall strike
terror into their hearts. The earth shall be dyed with their blood. Their
womenfolk shall bewail and lament. These indeed are my friends!” Consider,
not a single letter of this tradition hath remained unfulfilled. In most
of the places their blessed blood hath been shed; in every city they have
been made captives, have been paraded throughout the provinces, and some
have been burnt with fire. And yet no one hath paused to reflect that if
the promised Qá’im should reveal the law and ordinances of a former
Dispensation, why then should such traditions have been recorded, and why
should there arise such a degree of strife and conflict that the people
should regard the slaying of these companions as an obligation imposed
upon them, and deem the persecution of these holy souls as a means of
attaining unto the highest favour?
Moreover, observe how these things that have come to pass, and the acts
which have been perpetrated, have all been mentioned in former traditions.
Even as it hath been recorded in the “Rawdíy-i-Káfí,” concerning “Zawrá.”
In the “Rawdíy-i-Káfí” it is related of Mu’áviyih, son of Vahháb, that
Abú-‘Abdi’lláh hath spoken: “Knowest thou Zawrá?” I said: “May my life be
a sacrifice unto thee! They say it is Baghdád.” “Nay,” he answered. And
then added: “Hast thou entered the city of Rayy?”,(183) to which I made
reply: “Yea, I have entered it.” Whereupon, He enquired: “Didst thou visit
the cattle-market?” “Yea,” I answered. He said: “Hast thou seen the black
mountain on the right hand side of the road? The same is Zawrá. There
shall eighty men, of the children of certain ones, be slain, all of whom
are worthy to be called caliphs.” “Who will slay them?” I asked. He made
reply: “The children of Persia!”
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