Mullá Husayn set out the next day at the hour of sunrise to interview the Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá’. Alone and unaided, he sought his presence and conveyed to him, as bidden by Quddús, the Message of the new Day. With fearlessness and eloquence, he pleaded, in the midst of the assembled disciples, the Cause of his beloved Master, called upon him to demolish those idols which his own idle fancy had carved and to plant upon their shattered fragments the standard of Divine guidance. He appealed to him to disentangle his mind from the fettering creeds of the past, and to hasten, free and untrammelled, to the shores of eternal salvation. With characteristic vigour, he defeated every argument with which that specious sorcerer sought to refute the truth of the Divine Message, and exposed, by means of his unanswerable logic, the fallacies of every doctrine that he endeavoured to propound. Assailed by the fear lest the congregation of his disciples should unanimously rally round the person of Mullá Husayn, the Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá’ had recourse to the meanest of devices, and indulged in the most abusive language in the hope of safeguarding the integrity of his position. He hurled his calumnies into the face of Mullá Husayn, and, contemptuously ignoring the proofs and testimonies adduced by his opponent, confidently asserted, without the least justification on his part, the futility of the Cause he had been summoned to embrace. No sooner had Mullá Husayn realised his utter incapacity to apprehend the significance of the Message he had brought him than he arose from his seat and said: “My argument has failed to rouse you from your sleep of negligence. My deeds will in the days to come prove to you the power of the Message you have chosen to despise.” He spoke with such vehemence and emotion that the Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá’ was utterly confounded. Such was the consternation of his soul that he was unable to reply. Mullá Ḥusayn then turned to a member of that audience who seemed to have felt the influence of his words, and charged him to relate to Quddús the circumstances of this interview. “Say to him,” he added: “‘Inasmuch as you did not specifically command me to seek your presence, I have determined to set out immediately for Khurásán. I proceed to carry out in their entirety those things which you have instructed me to perform.’”
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’ chapter 14)
