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| Muhammad Shah |
Muhammad Sháh himself was moved to ascertain the veracity of
these reports and to enquire into their nature. He delegated Siyyid
Yahyáy-i-Darábí, the most learned, the most eloquent, and the most influential
of his subjects, to interview the Báb and to report to him the results of his
investigations. The Sháh had implicit confidence in his impartiality, in his
competence and profound spiritual insight. He occupied a position of such
pre-eminence among the leading figures in Persia that at whatever meeting he
happened to be present, no matter how great the number of the ecclesiastical
leaders who attended it, he was invariably its chief speaker. None would dare
to assert his views in his presence. They all reverently observed silence
before him; all testified to his sagacity, his unsurpassed knowledge and mature
wisdom.
In those days Siyyid Yahyá was residing in Tihrán in the
house of Mírzá Lutf-‘Alí, the Master of Ceremonies to the Sháh, as the honoured
guest of his Imperial Majesty. The Sháh confidentially signified through Mírzá
Lutf-‘Alí his desire and pleasure that Siyyid Yahyá should proceed to Shíráz
and investigate the matter in person. “Tell him from us, commanded the
sovereign, “that inasmuch as we repose the utmost confidence in his integrity,
and admire his moral and intellectual standards, and regard him as the most
suitable among the divines of our realm, we expect him to proceed to Shíráz, to
enquire thoroughly into the episode of the Siyyid-i-Báb, and to inform us of
the results of his investigations; We shall then know what measures it behoves
us to take.”
(Chapter 9, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
