The Reconciliation of Races and Religions — John Shaqi
The Reconciliation of Races and ReligionsCheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Religion
The Reconciliation of Races and Religions
Cheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Bahais
The instructions, however, given by the Bāb elsewhere are widely
different in tendency. He directs that his remains should be placed
near the shrine of Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, which 'is a good land, by
reason of the proximity of Wahid (i.e. Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel).'
[Footnote: The spot is said to be five miles south of Tihran.] One
might naturally infer from this that Baha-'ullah's rival was the
guardian of the relics of the Bāb. This does not appear to have any
warrant of testimony. But, according to Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel himself, there
was a time when he had in his hands the destiny of the bodies. He says
that when the coffin (there was but one) came into his hands, he
thought it unsafe to attempt a separation or discrimination of the
bodies, so that they remained together 'until [both] were stolen.'
It will be seen that Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel takes credit (1) for carrying out
the Bāb's last wishes, and (2) leaving the bodies as they were. To
remove the relics to another place was tantamount to stealing. It was
Baha-'ullah who ordered this removal for a good reason, viz., that the
cemetery, in which the niche containing the coffin was, seemed so
ruinous as to be unsafe.
There is, however, another version of Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel's tradition; it
has been preserved to us by Mons. Nicolas, and contains very strange
statements. The Bāb, it is said, ordered Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel to place
his dead body, if possible, in a coffin of diamonds, and to inter it
opposite to Shah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, in a spot described in such a way that
only the recipient of the letter could interpret it. 'So I put the
mingled remains of the two bodies in a crystal coffin, diamonds being
beyond me, and I interred it exactly where the Bāb had directed
me. The place remained secret for thirty years. The Baha'is in
particular knew nothing of it, but a traitor revealed it to
them. Those blasphemers disinterred the corpse and destroyed it. Or if
not, and if they point out a new burying-place, really containing the
crystal coffin of the body of the Bāb which they have purloined, we
[Ezelites] could not consider this new place of sepulture to be
sacred.'
The story of the crystal coffin (really suggested by the Bayan) is too
fantastic to deserve credence. But that the sacred remains had many
resting-places can easily be believed; also that the place of burial
remained secret for many years. Baha-'ullah, however, knew where it
was, and, when circumstances favoured, transported the remains to the
neighbourhood of Ḥaifa in Palestine. The mausoleum is worthy, and
numerous pilgrims from many countries resort to it.
EULOGIUM ON THE MASTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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