The cause of the rejection and persecution of the Báb was in
its essence the same as that of the rejection and persecution of the Christ. If
Jesus had not brought a New Book, if He had not only reiterated the spiritual
principles taught by Moses but had continued Moses’ rules and regulations too,
He might as a merely moral reformer have escaped the vengeance of the Scribes
and Pharisees. But to claim that any part of the Mosaic law, even such material
ordinances as those that dealt with divorce and the keeping of the Sabbath,
could be altered—and altered by an unordained preacher from the village of
Nazareth—this was to threaten the interests of the Scribes and Pharisees
themselves, and since they were the representatives of Moses and of God, it was
blasphemy against the Most High. As soon as the position of Jesus was
understood, His persecution began. As He refused to desist, He was put to
death.
For reasons exactly parallel, the Báb was from the beginning
opposed by the vested interests of the dominant Church as an uprooter of the
Faith. Yet, even in that dark and fanatical country, the mullás (like the
Scribes in Palestine eighteen centuries before) did not find it very easy to
put forward a plausible pretext for destroying Him whom they thought their
enemy.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction to ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
