The vigour with which he [Siyyid Kázim] prosecuted his task
inflamed the animosity of the ignorant and envious. “For forty years,” they
clamoured, “we have suffered the pretentious teachings of Shaykh Ahmad to be
spread with no opposition whatever on our part. We no longer can tolerate
similar pretensions on the part of his successor, who rejects the belief in the
resurrection of the body, who repudiates the literal interpretation of the
‘Mi’ráj,’ [“The Ascent” of Muhammad to Heaven] who regards the signs of the
coming Day as allegorical, and who preaches a doctrine heretical in character
and subversive of the best tenets of orthodox Islám.” The louder their clamour
and protestations, the firmer grew the determination of Siyyid Kázim to
prosecute his mission and fulfil his trust.
(Chapter 1, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
