The Reconciliation of Races and ReligionsCheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Religion
The Reconciliation of Races and Religions
Cheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Bahais
The Point, however, i.e. the God of the Point, may also be
entitled 'The Gate,' i.e. the Avenue to God in all His various
aspects. To be the Point, therefore, is also to be the Gate. 'Ali, the
cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, was not only the Gate of the City
of Knowledge, but, according to words assigned to him in a
_ḥadith_, 'the guardian of the treasures of secrets and of the
purposes of God.' [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 142.]
It is also in a book written at Maku--the Persian Bayan--that the
Bāb constantly refers to a subsequent far greater Person, called 'He
whom God will make manifest.' Altogether the harvest of sacred
literature at this mountain-fortress was a rich one. But let us now
pass on with the Bāb to Chihriḳ--a miserable spot, but not so
remote as Maku (it was two days' journey from Urumiyya). As
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel tells us, 'The place of his captivity was a house
without windows and with a doorway of bare bricks,' and adds that 'at
night they would leave him without a lamp, treating him with the
utmost lack of respect.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 403.] In the
Persian manner the Bāb himself indicated this by calling Maku 'the
Open Mountain,' and Chihriḳ 'the Grievous Mountain.' [Footnote:
Cp. _TN_, p. 276.] Stringent orders were issued making it
difficult for friends of the Beloved Master to see him; and it may be
that in the latter part of his sojourn the royal orders were more
effectually carried out--a change which was possibly the result of a
change in the warden. Certainly Yaḥya Khan was guilty of no such
coarseness as Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel imputes to the warden of Chihriḳ. And
this view is confirmed by the peculiar language of Mirza Jani,
'Yaḥya Khan, so long as he was warden, maintained towards him an
attitude of unvarying respect and deference.'
This 'respect and deference' was largely owing to a dream which the
warden had on the night before the day of the Bāb's arrival. The
central figure of the dream was a bright shining saint. He said in
the morning that 'if, when he saw His Holiness, he found appearance
and visage to correspond with what he beheld in his dream, he would be
convinced that He was in truth the promised Proof.' And this came
literally true. At the first glance Yaḥya Khan recognized in the
so-called Bāb the lineaments of the saint whom he had beheld in his
dream. 'Involuntarily he bent down in obeisance and kissed the knee of
His Holiness.' [Footnote: _NH_, p. 240. A slight alteration has
been made to draw out the meaning.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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