Reconciliation of Races and Religions — 14 – [Part II. Biographical and Historical]: Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn: From “Among the Heroes of God…” to “…to the Government”

ḲURRATU'L 'AYN

Among the Heroes of God was another glorious saint and martyr of the new society, originally called Zarrin Taj ('Golden Crown'), but afterwards better known as Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn ('Refreshment of the Eyes') or Jenab-i-Tahira ('Her Excellency the Pure, Immaculate').

She was the daughter of the 'sage of Kazwin,' Haji Mullā Salih, an eminent jurist, who (as we shall see) eventually married her to her cousin Mullā Muḥammad.

Her father-in-law and uncle was also a mullā, and also called Muḥammad; he was conspicuous for his bitter hostility to the Sheykhi and the Bābī sects.

Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn herself had a flexible and progressive mind, and shrank from no theological problem, old or new.

She absorbed with avidity the latest religious novelties, which were those of the Bāb, and though not much sympathy could be expected from most of her family, yet there was one of her cousins who was favourable like herself to the claims of the Bāb. Her father, too, though he upbraided his daughter for her wilful adhesion to 'this Shiraz lad,' confessed that he had not taken offence at any claim which she advanced for herself, whether to be the Bāb or _even more than that_.

Now I cannot indeed exonerate the 'sage of Kazwin' from all responsibility for connecting his daughter so closely with a bitter enemy of the Bāb, but I welcome his testimony to the manifold capacities of his daughter, and his admission that there were not only extraordinary men but extraordinary women qualified even to represent God, and to lead their less gifted fellow-men or fellow-women up the heights of sanctity.

The idea of a woman-Bāb is so original that it almost takes one's breath away, and still more perhaps does the view--modestly veiled by the Haji--that certain men and even women are of divine nature scandalize a Western till it becomes clear that the two views are mutually complementary.

Indeed, the only difference in human beings is that some realize more, and some less, or even not at all, the fact of the divine spark in their composition.

Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn certainly did realize her divinity.

On one occasion she even reproved one of her companions for not at once discerning that she was the _Ḳibla_ towards which he ought to pray.

This is no poetical conceit; it is meant as seriously as the phrase, 'the Gate,' is meant when applied to Mirza 'Ali Muḥammad.

We may compare it with another honorific title of this great woman--'The Mother of the World.'

The love of God and the love of man were in fact equally prominent in the character of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, and the Glorious One (el-Abha) had endowed her not only with moral but with high intellectual gifts.

It was from the head of the Sheykhi sect (Haji Sayyid Kaẓim) that she received her best-known title, and after the Sayyid's death it was she who (see below) instructed his most advanced disciples; she herself, indeed, was more advanced than any, and was essentially, like Symeon in St. Luke's Gospel, a waiting soul.

As yet, it appears, the young Shiraz Reformer had not heard of her.

It was a letter which she wrote after the death of the Sayyid to Mullā Ḥuseyn of Bushraweyh which brought her rare gifts to the knowledge of the Bāb. Ḥuseyn himself was not commissioned to offer Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn as a member of the new society, but the Bāb 'knew what was in man,' and divined what the gifted woman was desiring.

Shortly afterwards she had opportunities of perusing theological and devotional works of the Bāb, by which, says Mirza Jani, 'her conversion was definitely effected.'

This was at Karbala, a place beyond the limits of Persia, but dear to all Shi'ites from its associations.

It appears that Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn had gone thither chiefly to make the acquaintance of the great Sheykhite teacher, Sayyid Kaẓim.

Great was the scandal of both clergy and laity when this fateful step of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn became known at Kazwin.

Greater still must it have been if (as Gobineau states) she actually appeared in public without a veil.

Is this true?

No, it is not true, said Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel, when questioned on this point by Browne.

Now and then, when carried away by her eloquence, she would allow the veil to slip down off her face, but she would always replace it.

The tradition handed on in Baha-'ullah's family is different, and considering how close was the bond between Bāhāa and Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, I think it safer to follow the family of Bāhā, which in this case involves agreeing with Gobineau.

This noble woman, therefore, has the credit of opening the catalogue of social reforms in Persia.

Presently I shall have occasion to refer to this again.

Mirza Jani confirms this view.

He tells us that after being converted, our heroine 'set herself to proclaim and establish the doctrine,' and that this she did 'seated behind a curtain.'

We are no doubt meant to suppose that those of her hearers who were women were gathered round the lecturer behind the curtain.

It was not in accordance with conventions that men and women should be instructed together, and that--horrible to say--by a woman.

The governor of Karbala determined to arrest her, but, though without a passport, she made good her escape to Baghdad.

There she defended her religious position before the chief mufti.

The secular authorities, however, ordered her to quit Turkish territory and not return.

The road which she took was that by Kirmanshah and Hamadan (both in Iraḳ; the latter, the humiliated representative of Ecbatana).

Of course, Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn took the opportunity of preaching her Gospel, which was not a scheme of salvation or redemption, but 'certain subtle mysteries of the divine' to which but few had yet been privileged to listen.

The names of some of her hearers are given; we are to suppose that some friendly theologians had gathered round her, partly as an escort, and partly attracted by her remarkable eloquence.

Two of them we shall meet with presently in another connection.

It must not, of course, be supposed that all minds were equally open.

There were some who raised objections to Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, and wrote a letter to the Bāb, complaining of her.

The Bāb returned discriminating answers, the upshot of which was that her homilies were to be considered as inspired.

We are told that these same objectors repented, which implies apparently that the Bāb's spiritual influence was effectual at a distance.

Other converts were made at the same places, and the idea actually occurred to her that she might put the true doctrine before the Shah.

It was a romantic idea (Muḥammad Shah was anything thing but a devout and believing Muslim), not destined to be realized.

Her father took the alarm and sent for her to come home, and, much to her credit, she gave filial obedience to his summons.

It will be observed that it is the father who issues his orders; no husband is mentioned.

Was it not, then, most probably on _this_ return of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn that the maiden was married to Mullā Muḥammad, the eldest son of Haji Mullā Muḥammad Taḳi. Mirza Jani does not mention this, but unless our heroine made two journeys to Karbala, is it not the easiest way of understanding the facts?

The object of the 'sage of Kazwin' was, of course, to prevent his daughter from traversing the country as an itinerant teacher.

That object was attained.

I will quote from an account which claims to be from Haji Muḥammad Hamami, who had been charged with this delicate mission by the family.

'I conducted Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn into the house of her father, to whom I rendered an account of what I had seen.

Haji Mullā Taḳi, who was present at the interview, showed great irritation, and recommended all the servants to prevent "this woman" from going out of the house under any pretext whatsoever, and not to permit any one to visit her without his authority.

Thereupon he betook himself to the traveller's room, and tried to convince her of the error in which she was entangled.

He entirely failed, however, and, furious before that settled calm and earnestness, was led to curse the Bāb and to load him with insults.

Then Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn looked into his face, and said to him, "Woe unto thee, for I see thy mouth filling with blood."

' Such is the oral tradition which our informant reproduces.

In criticizing it, we may admit that the gift of second sight was possessed by the Bābī and Bahai leaders.

But this particular anecdote respecting our heroine is (may I not say?

) very improbable.

To curse the Bāb was not the way for an uncle to convince his erring niece.

One may, with more reason, suppose that her father and uncle trusted to the effect of matrimony, and committed the transformation of the lady to her cousin Mullā Muḥammad.

True, this could not last long, and the murder of Taḳi in the mosque of Kazwin must have precipitated Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn's resolution to divorce her husband (as by Muḥammadan law she was entitled to do) and leave home for ever.

It might, however, have gone hardly with her if she had really uttered the prophecy related above.

Evidently her husband, who had accused her of complicity in the crime, had not heard of it.

So she was acquitted.

The Bāb, too, favoured the suggestion of her leaving home, and taking her place among his missionaries.

[Footnote: Nicolas, _AMB_, p. 277. ] At the dead of night, with an escort of Bābīs, she set out ostensibly for Khurasan.

The route which she really adopted, however, took her by the forest-country of Mazandaran, where she had the leisure necessary for pondering the religious situation.

The sequel was dramatic.

After some days and nights of quietude, she suddenly made her appearance in the hamlet of Badasht, to which place a representative conference of Bābīs had been summoned.

The object of the conference was to correct a widespread misunderstanding.

There were many who thought that the new leader came, in the most literal sense, to fulfil the Islamic Law.

They realized, indeed, that the object of Muḥammad was to bring about an universal kingdom of righteousness and peace, but they thought this was to be effected by wading through streams of blood, and with the help of the divine judgments.

The Bāb, on the other hand, though not always consistent, was moving, with some of his disciples, in the direction of moral suasion; his only weapon was 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.'

When the Ḳa'im appeared all things would be renewed.

But the Ḳa'im was on the point of appearing, and all that remained was to prepare for his Coming.

No more should there be any distinction between higher and lower races, or between male and female.

No more should the long, enveloping veil be the badge of woman's inferiority.

The gifted woman before us had her own characteristic solution of the problem.

So, doubtless, had the other Bābī leaders who were present, such as Ḳuddus and Baha-'ullah, the one against, the other in favour of social reforms.

It is said, in one form of tradition, that Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn herself attended the conference with a veil on.

If so, she lost no time in discarding it, and broke out (we are told) into the fervid exclamation, 'I am the blast of the trumpet, I am the call of the bugle,' i. e. 'Like Gabriel, I would awaken sleeping souls.'

It is said, too, that this short speech of the brave woman was followed by the recitation by Baha-'ullah of the Sura of the Resurrection (lxxv.

).

Such recitations often have an overpowering effect.

The inner meaning of this was that mankind was about to pass into a new cosmic cycle, for which a new set of laws and customs would be indispensable.

There is also a somewhat fuller tradition.

Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn was in Mazandaran, and so was also Baha'ullah.

The latter was taken ill, and Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, who was an intimate friend of his, was greatly concerned at this.

For two days she saw nothing of him, and on the third sent a message to him to the effect that she could keep away no longer, but must come to see him, not, however, as hitherto, but with her head uncovered.

If her friend disapproved of this, let him censure her conduct.

He did not disapprove, and on the way to see him, she proclaimed herself the trumpet blast.

At any rate, it was this bold act of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn which shook the foundations of a literal belief in Islamic doctrines among the Persians.

It may be added that the first-fruits of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn's teaching was no one less than the heroic Ḳuddus, and that the eloquent teacher herself owed her insight probably to Baha-'ullah.

Of course, the supposition that her greatest friend might censure her is merely a delightful piece of irony.

[Footnote: _NH_, pp. 357-358. ] I have not yet mentioned the long address assigned to our heroine by Mirza Jani.

It seems to me, in its present form, improbable, and yet the leading ideas may have been among those expressed by the prophetess.

If so, she stated that the laws of the previous dispensation were abrogated, and that laws in general were only necessary till men had learnt to comprehend the Perfection of the Doctrine of the Unity.

'And should men not be able to receive the Doctrine of the Unity at the beginning of the Manifestation, ordinances and restrictions will again be prescribed for them.'

It is not wonderful that the declaration of an impending abrogation of Law was misinterpreted, and converted into a licence for Antinomianism.

Mirza Jani mentions, but with some reticence, the unseemly conduct of some of the Bābīs. There must, however, have been some who felt the spell of the great orator, and such an one is portrayed by Mme.

H.

Dreyfus, in her dramatic poem _God's Heroes_, under the name of 'Ali.

I will quote here a little speech of 'Ali's, and also a speech of Ḳurratu'l 'Ayn, because they seem to me to give a more vivid idea of the scene than is possible for a mere narrator.

[Footnote: _God's Heroes_, by Laura Clifford Barney [Paris, 1909], p. 64, Act III.

] 'ALI

'Soon we shall leave Badasht: let us leave it filled with the Gospel of life!

Let our lives show what we, sincere Muḥammadans, have become through our acceptance of the Bāb, the Mahdi, who has awakened us to the esoteric meaning of the Resurrection Day.

Let us fill the souls of men with the glory of the revealed word.

Let us advance with arms extended to the stranger.

Let us emancipate our women, reform our society.

Let us arise out of our graves of superstition and of self, and pronounce that the Day of Judgment is at hand; then shall the whole earth respond to the quickening power of regeneration!'

QURRATU'L-'AIN

(_Deeply moved and half to herself.

_) 'I feel impelled to help unveil the Truth to these men assembled.

If my act be good the result will be good; if bad, may it affect me alone!

'(_Advances majestically with face unveiled, and as she walks towards Baha-'ullah's tent, addresses the men.

_) That sound of the trumpet which ushers in the Day of Judgment is my call to you now!

Rise, brothers!

The Quran is completed, the new era has begun.

Know me as your sister, and let all barriers of the past fall down before our advancing steps.

We teach freedom, action, and love.

That sound of the trumpet, it is I!

That blast of the trumpet, it is I!

(_Exit_ Qurratu'l 'Ain.

)' On the breaking up of the Council our heroine joined a large party of Bābīs led by her great friend Ḳuddus.

On their arrival in Nūr, however, they separated, she herself staying in that district.

There she met Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel, who is said to have rendered her many services.

But before long the people of Mazandaran surrendered the gifted servant of truth to the Government.