Reconciliation of Races and Religions — 08 – [Part II. Biographical and Historical]: Seyyid 'Ali Muḥammad (The Bāb): From “Certainly it was a notable journey…” to “…and of the purposes of God.’ [Footnote: AMB, p. 142.]”

Certainly it was a notable journey, diversified by happy meetings with friends and inquirers at Kashan, Khanliḳ, Zanjan, Milan, and Tabriz.

At Kashan the Bāb saw for the first time that fervent disciple, who afterwards wrote the history of early Bābism, and his equally true-hearted brother--merchants both of them.

In fact, Mirza Jani bribed the chief of the escort, to allow him for two days the felicity of entertaining God's Messenger.

[Footnote: _Ibid_.

pp. 213, 214. ] Khanliḳ has also--though a mere village--its honourable record, for there the Bāb was first seen by two splendid youthful heroes [Footnote: _Ibid_.

pp. 96-101. ]--Riza Khan (best hated of all the Bābis) and Mirza Ḥuseyn 'Ali (better known as Baha-'ullah).

At Milan (which the Bāb calls 'one of the regions of Paradise'), as Mirza Jani states, 'two hundred persons believed and underwent a true and sincere conversion.'

[Footnote: _Ibid_.

p. 221. Surely these conversions were due, not to a supposed act of miraculous healing, but to the 'majesty and dignity' of God's Messenger.

The people were expecting a Messiah, and here was a Personage who came up to the ideal they had formed.

]What meetings took place at Zanjan and Tabriz, the early Bābi historian does not report; later on, Zanjan was a focus of Bābite propagandism, but just then the apostle of the Zanjan movement was summoned to Tihran.

From Tabriz a remarkable cure is reported, [Footnote: _NH_, p. 226. ] and as a natural consequence we hear of many conversions.

The Bāb was specially favoured in the chief of his escort, who, in the course of the journey, was fascinated by the combined majesty and gentleness of his prisoner.

His name was Muḥammad Beg, and his moral portrait is thus limned by Mirza Jani: 'He was a man of kindly nature and amiable character, and [became] so sincere and devoted a believer that whenever the name of His Holiness was mentioned he would incontinently burst into tears, saying, I scarcely reckon as life the days when to me thou wert all unknown, But by faithful service for what remains I may still for the past atone.'

It was the wish, both of the Bāb and of this devoted servant, that the Master should be allowed to take up his residence (under surveillance) at Tabriz, where there were already many Friends of God.

But such was not the will of the Shah and his vizier, who sent word to Khanliḳ [Footnote: Khanliḳ is situated 'about six parasangs' from Tihran (_NH_, p. 216).

It is in the province of Azarbaijan.

] that the governor of Tabriz (Prince Bahman Mirza) should send the Bāb in charge of a fresh escort to the remote mountain-fortress of Maku.

The faithful Muḥammad Beg made two attempts to overcome the opposition of the governor, but in vain; how, indeed, could it be otherwise?

All that he could obtain was leave to entertain the Bāb in his own house, where some days of rest were enjoyed.

'I wept much at his departure,' says Muḥammad.

No doubt the Bāb often missed his respectful escort; he had made a change for the worse, and when he came to the village at the foot of the steep hill of Maku, he found the inhabitants 'ignorant and coarse.'

It may, however, be reasonably surmised that before long the Point of Wisdom changed his tone, and even thanked God for his sojourn at Maku.

For though strict orders had come from the vizier that no one was to be permitted to see the Bāb, any one whom the illustrious captive wished to converse with had free access to him.

Most of the time which remained was occupied with writing (his secretary was with him); more than 100,000 'verses' are said to have come from that Supreme Pen.

By miracles the Bāb set little store; in fact, the only supernatural gift which he much valued was that of inditing 'signs or verses, which appear to have produced a similar thrilling effect to those of the great Arabian Prophet.

But in the second rank he must have valued a power to soothe and strengthen the nervous system which we may well assign to him, and we can easily believe that the lower animals were within the range of this beneficent faculty.

Let me mention one of the horse-stories which have gathered round the gentle form of the Bāb. [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 371. ] It is given neither in the Bābī nor in the Muslim histories of this period.

But it forms a part of a good oral tradition, and it may supply the key to those words of the Bāb in his letter to Muḥammad Shah: [Footnote: Ibid.

pp. 249, 250. ] 'Finally, the Sultan [i. e. the Shah] ordered that I should journey towards Maku without giving me a horse that I could ride.'

We learn from the legend that an officer of the Shah did call upon the Bāb to ride a horse which was too vicious for any ordinary person to mount.

Whether this officer was really (as the legend states) 'Ali Khan, the warden of Maku, who wished to test the claims of 'Ali Muḥammad by offering him a vicious young horse and watching to see whether 'Ali Muḥammad or the horse would be victorious, is not of supreme importance.

What does concern us is that many of the people believed that by a virtue which resided in the Bāb it was possible for him to soothe the sensitive nerves of a horse, so that it could be ridden without injury to the rider.

There is no doubt, however, that 'Ali Khan, the warden of the fortress, was one of that multitude of persons who were so thrilled by the Bāb's countenance and bearing that they were almost prompted thereby to become disciples.

It is highly probable, too, that just now there was a heightening of the divine expression on that unworldly face, derived from an intensification of the inner life.

In earlier times 'Ali Muḥammad had avoided claiming Mahdiship (Messiahship) publicly; to the people at large he was not represented as the manifested Twelfth Imâm, but only as the Gate, or means of access to that more than human, still existent being.

To disciples of a higher order 'Ali Muḥammad no doubt disclosed himself as he really was, but, like a heavenly statesman, he avoided inopportune self-revelations.

Now, however, the religious conditions were becoming different.

Owing in some cases to the indiscretion of disciples, in others to a craving for the revolution of which the Twelfth Imâm was the traditional instrument, there was a growing popular tendency to regard Mirza 'Ali Muḥammad as a 'return' of the Twelfth Imâm, who was, by force of arms, to set up the divine kingdom upon earth.

It was this, indeed, which specially promoted the early Bābī propagandism, and which probably came up for discussion at the Badasht conference.

In short, it had become a pressing duty to enlighten the multitude on the true objects of the Bāb. Even we can see this--we who know that not much more than three years were remaining to him.

The Bāb, too, had probably a presentiment of his end; this was why he was so eager to avoid a continuance of the great misunderstanding.

He was indeed the Twelfth Imâm, who had returned to the world of men for a short time.

But he was not a Mahdi of the Islamic type.

A constant stream of Tablets (letters) flowed from his pen.

In this way he kept himself in touch with those who could not see him in the flesh.

But there were many who could not rest without seeing the divine Manifestation.

Pilgrims seemed never to cease; and it made the Bāb still happier to receive them.

This stream of Tablets and of pilgrims could not however be exhilarating to the Shah and his Minister.

They complained to the castle-warden, and bade him be a stricter gaoler, but 'Ali Khan, too, was under the spell of the Gate of Knowledge; or--as one should rather say now--the Point or Climax of Prophetic Revelation, for so the Word of Prophecy directed that he should be called.

So the order went forth that 'Ali Muḥammad should be transferred to another castle--that of Chihriḳ.

[Footnote: Strictly, six or eight months (Feb.

or April to Dec.

1847) at Maku, and two-and-a-half years at Chihriḳ (Dec.

1847 to July 1850).

] At this point a digression seems necessary.

The Bāb was well aware that a primary need of the new fraternity was a new Ḳur'an.

This he produced in the shape of a book called _The Bayan_ (Exposition).

Unfortunately he adopted from the Muslims the unworkable idea of a sacred language, and his first contributions to the new Divine Library (for the new Ḳur'an ultimately became this) were in Arabic.

These were a Commentary on the Sura of Yusuf (Joseph) and the Arabic Bayan.

The language of these, however, was a barrier to the laity, and so the 'first believer' wrote a letter to the Bāb, enforcing the necessity of making himself intelligible to all.

This seems to be the true origin of the Persian Bayan.

A more difficult matter is 'Ali Muḥammad's very peculiar consciousness, which reminds us of that which the Fourth Gospel ascribes to Jesus Christ.

In other words, 'Ali Muḥammad claims for himself the highest spiritual rank.

'As for Me,' he said, 'I am that Point from which all that exists has found existence.

I am that Face of God which dieth not.

I am that Light which doth not go out.

He that knoweth Me is accompanied by all good; he that repulseth Me hath behind him all evil.'

[Footnote: _AMB_, p. 369. ] It is also certain that in comparatively early writings, intended for stedfast disciples, 'Ali Muḥammad already claims the title of Point, i. e. Point of Truth, or of Divine Wisdom, or of the Divine Mercy.

[Footnote: _Beyan Arabe_, p. 206. ] It is noteworthy that just here we have a very old contact with Babylonian mythology.

'Point' is, in fact, a mythological term.

It springs from an endeavour to minimize the materialism of the myth of the Divine Dwelling-place.

That ancient myth asserted that the earth-mountain was the Divine Throne.

Not so, said an early school of Theosophy, God, i. e. the God who has a bodily form and manifests the hidden glory, dwells on a point in the extreme north, called by the Babylonians 'the heaven of Anu.'

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. ]