Mullá ‘Alí realised from this experience how steep and
thorny was the path leading to his eventual attainment of the promise given him
by his Master. Wholly resigned to His will, and prepared to shed his life-blood
for His Cause, he resumed his journey until he arrived at Najaf. In the
presence of Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan, one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics of
shí’ah Islám, and in the face of a distinguished company of his disciples,
Mullá ‘Alí announced fearlessly the manifestation of the Báb, the Gate whose
advent they were eagerly awaiting. “His proof,” he declared, “is His Word; His
testimony, none other than the testimony with which Islám seeks to vindicate
its truth. From the pen of this unschooled Háshimite Youth of Persia there have
streamed, within the space of forty-eight hours, as great a number of verses, of
prayers, of homilies, and scientific treatises, as would equal in volume the
whole of the Qur’án, which it took Muhammad, the Prophet of God, twenty-three
years to reveal!” That proud and fanatic leader, instead of welcoming, in an
age of darkness and prejudice, these life-giving evidences of a new-born
Revelation, forthwith pronounced Mullá ‘Alí a heretic and expelled him from the
assembly. His disciples and followers, even the Shaykhís, who already testified
to Mullá ‘Alí’s piety, sincerity, and learning, endorsed, unhesitatingly, the
judgment against him. The disciples of Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan, joining hands
with their adversaries, heaped upon him untold indignities. They eventually
delivered him, his hands bound in chains, to an official of the Ottoman government,
arraigning him as a wrecker of Islám, a calumniator of the Prophet, an
instigator of mischief, a disgrace to the Faith, and worthy of the penalty of
death. He was taken to Baghdád under the escort of government officials, and
was cast into prison by the governor of that city.
(Chapter 3, ‘The
Dawn-Breakers’)
