The prediction which the Báb had uttered was promptly fulfilled. Those who had been charged to watch secretly the movements and conduct of ‘Alí Khán submitted to Hájí Mírzá Aqásí a detailed report in which they expatiated upon his extreme devotion to his Prisoner and described such incidents as tended to confirm their statements. “Day and night,” they wrote him, “the warden of the castle of Máh-Kú is to be seen associating with his captive in conditions of unrestrained freedom and friendliness. ‘Alí Khán, who obstinately refused to wed his daughter with the heir to the throne of Persia, pleading that such an act would so infuriate the sunní relatives of his mother that they would unhesitatingly put him and his daughter to death, now with the keenest eagerness desires that same daughter to be espoused to the Báb. The latter has refused, but ‘Alí Khán still persists in his entreaty. But for the prisoner’s refusal, the nuptials of the maiden would have been already celebrated.” ‘Alí Khán had actually made such a request and had even begged Mullá Husayn to intercede in his behalf with the Báb but had failed to obtain His consent.
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’ chapter 13)
