I was greatly surprised, and politely observed: “He whose
advent we await is a Man of unsurpassed holiness, and the Cause He is to
reveal, a Cause of tremendous power. Many and diverse are the requirements
which He who claims to be its visible embodiment must needs fulfil. How often
has Siyyid Kázim referred to the vastness of the knowledge of the promised One!
How often did he say: ‘My own knowledge is but a drop compared with that with
which He has been endowed. All my attainments are but a speck of dust in the
face of the immensity of His knowledge. Nay, immeasurable is the difference!’”
No sooner had those words dropped from my lips than I found myself seized with
fear and remorse, such as I could neither conceal nor explain. I bitterly
reproved myself, and resolved at that very moment to alter my attitude and to
soften my tone. I vowed to God that should my Host again refer to the subject,
I would, with the utmost humility, answer and say: “If you be willing to
substantiate your claim, you will most assuredly deliver me from the anxiety
and suspense which so heavily oppress my soul. I shall truly be indebted to you
for such deliverance.” When I first started upon my quest, I determined to
regard the two following standards as those whereby I could ascertain the truth
of whosoever might claim to be the promised Qá’im. The first was a treatise
which I had myself composed, bearing upon the abstruse and hidden teachings
propounded by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. Whoever seemed to me capable of
unravelling the mysterious allusions made in that treatise, to him I would next
submit my second request, and would ask him to reveal, without the least
hesitation or reflection, a commentary on the Súrih of Joseph, in a style and
language entirely different from the prevailing standards of the time. I had
previously requested Siyyid Kázim, in private, to write a commentary on that
same Súrih, which he refused, saying: “This is, verily, beyond me. He, that
great One, who comes after me will, unasked, reveal it for you. That commentary
will constitute one of the weightiest testimonies of His truth, and one of the
clearest evidences of the loftiness of His position.
- Mulla Husayn (Quoted by
Nabil in chapter 3 of ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
