No sooner had the Báb performed the last of the observances
in connection with His pilgrimage to Mecca than he addressed an epistle to the
Sherif of that holy city, wherein He set forth, in clear and unmistakable
terms, the distinguishing features of His mission, and called upon him to arise
and embrace His Cause. This epistle, together with selections from His other
writings, He delivered to Quddús, and instructed him to present them to the
Sherif. The latter, however, too absorbed in his own material pursuits to
incline his ear to the words which had been addressed to him by the Báb, failed
to respond to the call of the Divine Message. (Chapter 7, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
