The unsatiable hatred that animated those who had been responsible for the martyrdom of Shaykh Sálih impelled them to seek additional instruments for the furtherance of their designs. Hájí Mírzá Aqásí, whom the Sáhib-Diván [local ‘Master of the Bureau’, or ‘Chief of the Secretariat’] had succeeded in convincing of the treacherous conduct of the heirs of Mullá Taqí, refused to entertain their appeal. Undeterred by his refusal, they submitted their case to the Sadr-i-Ardibílí, a man notoriously presumptuous and one of the most arrogant among the ecclesiastical leaders of Persia. “Behold,” they pleaded, “the indignity that has been inflicted upon those whose supreme function it is to keep guard over the integrity of the Law. How can you, who are its chief and illustrious exponent, allow so grave an affront to its dignity to remain unpunished? Are you really incapable of avenging the blood of that slaughtered minister of the Prophet of God? Do you not realise that to tolerate such a heinous crime would in itself unloose a flood of calumny against those who are the chief repositories of the teachings and principles of our Faith? Will not your silence embolden the enemies of Islám to shatter the structure which your own hands have reared? As a result, will not your own life be endangered?”
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’ chapter 15)
