The sad story of an individual noted for his learning attained the presence of the Báb “heard His voice, watched His movements, looked upon the expression of His face, and noted the words which streamed unceasingly from His lips, and yet failed to be moved by their majesty and power”

On that same night, [the night when the Báb arrived in Káshán] Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí, who had previously, in accordance with the directions of the Báb, come to Káshán, was invited to the house of Hájí Mírzá Jání and introduced into the presence of his Master. The Báb was dictating to him a Tablet in honour of His host, when a friend of the latter, a certain Siyyid ‘Abdu’l-Báqí, who was noted in Káshán for his learning, arrived. The Báb invited him to enter, permitted him to hear the verses which He was revealing, but refused to disclose His identity….

Siyyid ‘Abdu’l-Báqí sat and listened to the Báb. He heard His voice, watched His movements, looked upon the expression of His face, and noted the words which streamed unceasingly from His lips, and yet failed to be moved by their majesty and power. Wrapt in the veils of his own idle fancy and learning, he was powerless to appreciate the meaning of the utterances of the Báb. He did not even trouble to enquire the name or the character of the Guest into whose presence he had been introduced. Unmoved by the things he had heard and seen, he retired from that presence, unaware of the unique opportunity which, through his apathy, he had irretrievably lost. A few days later, when informed of the name of the Youth whom he had treated with such careless indifference, he was filled with chagrin and remorse. It was too late, however, for him to seek His presence and atone for his conduct, for the Báb had already departed from Káshán. In his grief, he renounced the society of his fellowmen, and led, to the end of his days, a life of unrelieved seclusion. 

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers, chapter 11)

Views of the House of Hájí Mírzá Jání in Káshán showing the room where the Báb stayed

 

(The Dawn-Breakers)

Gate of Attár in Káshán, circa 1930

A believer’s dream about hosting the Báb when He was expected to arrive, at Káshán in the company of a mounted escort

View of Kashan c. 1930

On the eve of the Báb’s arrival at Káshán, Hájí Mírzá Jání, surnamed Parpa, a noted resident of that city, dreamed that he was standing at a late hour in the afternoon at the gate of Attár, one of the gates of the city, when his eyes suddenly beheld the Báb on horseback wearing, instead of His customary turban, the kuláh  usually worn by the merchants of Persia. Before Him, as well as behind Him, marched a number of horsemen into whose custody He seemed to have been delivered. As they approached the gate, the Báb saluted him and said: “Hájí Mírzá Jání, We are to be your Guest for three nights. Prepare yourself to receive Us.”

When he awoke, the vividness of his dream convinced him of the reality of his vision. This unexpected apparition constituted in his eyes a providential warning which he felt it his duty to heed and observe. He accordingly set out to prepare his house for the reception of the Visitor, and to provide whatever seemed necessary for His comfort. As soon as he had completed the preliminary arrangements for the banquet which he had decided to offer the Báb that night, Hájí Mírzá Jání proceeded to the gate of Attár, and there waited for the signs of the Báb’s expected arrival. At the appointed hour, as he was scanning the horizon, he descried in the distance what seemed to him a company of horsemen approaching the gate of the city. As he hastened to meet them, his eyes recognised the Báb surrounded by His escort dressed in the same clothes and wearing the same expression as he had seen the night before in his dream. Hájí Mírzá Jání joyously approached Him and bent to kiss His stirrups. The Báb prevented him, saying: “We are to be your Guest for three nights. To-morrow is the day of Naw-Rúz; we shall celebrate it together in your home.” Muhammad Big, who had been riding close to the Báb, thought Him to be an intimate acquaintance of Hájí Mírzá Jání. Turning to him, he said: “I am ready to abide by whatever is the desire of the Siyyid-i-Báb. I would ask you, however, to obtain the approval of my colleague who shares with me the charge of conducting the Siyyid-i-Báb to Tihrán.” Hájí Mírzá Jání submitted his request and was met with a flat refusal. “I decline your suggestion,” he was told. “I have been most emphatically instructed not to allow this youth to enter any city until his arrival at the capital. I have been particularly commanded to spend the night outside the gate of the city, to break my march at the hour of sunset, and to resume it the next day at the hour of dawn. I cannot depart from the orders that have been given to me.” This gave rise to a heated altercation which was eventually settled in favour of Muhammad Big, who succeeded in inducing his opponent to deliver the Báb into the custody of Hájí Mírzá Jání with the express understanding that on the third morning he should safely deliver back his Guest into their hands. Hájí Mírzá Jání, who had intended to invite to his home the entire escort of the Báb, was advised by Him to abandon this intention. “No one but you,” He urged, “should accompany Me to your home.” Hájí Mírzá Jání requested to be allowed to defray the expense of the horsemen’s three days’ stay in Káshán. “It is unnecessary,” observed the Báb; “but for My will, nothing whatever could have induced them to deliver Me into your hands. All things lie prisoned within the grasp of His might. Nothing is impossible to Him. He removes every difficulty and surmounts every obstacle.” The horsemen were lodged in a caravanserai in the immediate neighbourhood of the gate of the city. Muhammad Big, following the instructions of the Báb, accompanied Him until they drew near the house of Hájí Mírzá Jání. Having ascertained the actual situation of the house, he returned and joined his companions.

The night the Báb arrived at Káshán coincided with the eve preceding the third Naw-Rúz, after the declaration of His Mission, which fell on the second day of the month of Rabí’u’th-Thání, in the year 1263 A.H. [1847] 

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers, chapter 11)

The Báb was escorted to the capital

Gurgín Khán went immediately to the Báb and delivered into His hands the written mandate of the sovereign. He then summoned Muhammad Big, conveyed to him the behests of Muhammad Sháh, and ordered him to undertake immediate preparations for the journey. “Beware,” he warned him, “lest anyone discover his identity or suspect the nature of your mission. No one but you, not even the members of his escort, should be allowed to recognise him. Should anyone question you concerning him, say that he is a merchant whom we have been instructed to conduct to the capital and of whose identity we are completely ignorant.” Soon after midnight, the Báb, in accordance with those instructions, set out from the city and proceeded in the direction of Tihrán. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Shah “issued an imperial mandate summoning the Báb to the capital”

The Sháh, who was firmly convinced of the loyalty of the Mu’tamíd, realised, when he received this message, that the late governor’s sincere intention had been to await a favourable occasion when he could arrange a meeting between him and the Báb, and that his sudden death had interfered with the execution of that plan. He issued an imperial mandate summoning the Báb to the capital. In his written message to Gurgín Khán, the Sháh commanded him to send the Báb in disguise, in the company of a mounted escort headed by Muhammad Big-i-Chaparchí, of the sect of the ‘Alíyu’lláhí, to Tihrán; to exercise the utmost consideration towards Him in the course of His journey, and strictly to maintain the secrecy of His departure. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

“The Sháh, whimsical and fickle, forgetting that he had, a short time before, ordered the murder of the Reformer, felt the desire of seeing, at last, the man who aroused such universal interest; he therefore gave the order to Gurgín Khán to send the Báb to him in Tihrán.” 

- A. L. M. Nicolas (“Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” p. 242.; Footnotes to chapter 10 provided by Shoghi Effendi)

Manuchihr Khán’s successor, Gurgín Khán, informed the Shah about the Báb being at the private residence of Manuchihr Khán

A few days after the death of the Mu’tamíd, a certain person who was aware of the design which he had conceived and carried out for the protection of the Báb, informed his successor, Gurgín Khán, of the actual residence of the Báb in the Imárat-i-Khurshíd, and described to him the honours which his predecessor had lavished upon his Guest in the privacy of his own home. On the receipt of this unexpected intelligence, Gurgín Khán despatched his messenger to Ṭihrán and instructed him to deliver in person the following message to Muhammad Sháh: “Four months ago it was generally believed in Isfáhán that, in pursuance of your Majesty’s imperial summons, the Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih, my predecessor, had sent the Siyyid-i-Báb to the seat of your Majesty’s government. It has now been disclosed that this same siyyid is actually occupying the Imárat-i-Khurshíd, the private residence of the Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih. It has been ascertained that my predecessor himself extended the hospitality of his home to the Siyyid-i-Báb and sedulously guarded that secret from both the people and the officials of this city. Whatever it pleases your Majesty to decree, I unhesitatingly pledge myself to perform.” 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Báb instructed believers to leave Isfahán

As the life of the Mu’tamíd was approaching its end, the Báb summoned to His presence Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí and Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím, acquainted them with the nature of His prediction to His host, and bade them tell the believers who had gathered in the city, to scatter throughout Káshán, Qum, and Tihrán, and await whatever Providence, in His wisdom, might choose to decree. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

February - March 1847: Manuchihr Khán passed away; his “fortune appraised at forty million francs”

On the fourth of March, 1847, Monsieur de Bonniere wrote to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of France: ‘Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih, governor of Isfáhán, has just died leaving a fortune appraised at forty million francs.’ 

- A. L. M. Nicolas  (“Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” p. 242, note 192. He died, according to E. G. Browne (‘A Traveller’s Narrative,’ Note L, p. 227), in the month of Rabí’u’l-Avval of the year 1263 A.H. (Feb.-March, 1847 A.D.; Footnotes to chapter 10 provided by Shoghi Effendi)

The Governor of Isfahán, Manuchihr Khán’s, last days of life and his intimate conversation with the Báb

As the days of his earthly life were drawing to a close, the Mu’tamíd increasingly sought the presence of the Báb, and, in his hours of intimate fellowship with Him, obtained a deeper realisation of the spirit which animated His Faith. “As the hour of my departure approaches,” he one day told the Báb, “I feel an undefinable joy pervading my soul. But I am apprehensive for You, I tremble at the thought of being compelled to leave You to the mercy of so ruthless a successor as Gurgín Khán. He will, no doubt, discover Your presence in this home, and will, I fear, grievously ill-treat You.” “Fear not,” remonstrated the Báb; “I have committed Myself into the hands of God. My trust is in Him. Such is the power which He has bestowed upon Me that if it be My wish, I can convert these very stones into gems of inestimable value, and can instil into the heart of the most wicked criminal the loftiest conceptions of uprightness and duty. Of My own will have I chosen to be afflicted by My enemies, ‘that God might accomplish the thing destined to be done.’” As those precious hours flew by, a sense of overpowering devotion, of increased consciousness of nearness to God, filled the heart of the Mu’tamíd. In his eyes the world’s pomp and pageantry melted away into insignificance when brought face to face with the eternal realities enshrined in the Revelation of the Báb. His vision of its glories, its infinite potentialities, its incalculable blessings grew in vividness as he increasingly realised the vanity of earthly ambition and the limitations of human endeavour. He continued to ponder these thoughts in his heart, until the time when a slight attack of fever, which lasted but one night, suddenly terminated his life. Serene and confident, he winged his flight to the Great Beyond. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The governor’s successor, his nephew, “the rapacious Gurgín Khán”,”contemptuously ignored his wishes”

The Mu’tamíd greatly rejoiced at these words. Resigned to the will of God, he prepared himself for the departure which the words of the Báb had so clearly foreshadowed. He wrote his testament, settled his private affairs, and bequeathed whatever he possessed to the Báb. Immediately after his death, however, his nephew, the rapacious Gurgín Khán, discovered and destroyed his will, seized his property, and contemptuously ignored his wishes. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Báb’s response to Manuchihr Khán’s offer

“May God requite you for your noble intentions,” the Báb replied. “So lofty a purpose is to Me even more precious than the act itself. Your days and Mine are numbered, however; they are too short to enable Me to witness, and allow you to achieve, the realisation of your hopes. Not by the means which you fondly imagine will an almighty Providence accomplish the triumph of His Faith. Through the poor and lowly of this land, by the blood which these shall have shed in His path, will the omnipotent Sovereign ensure the preservation and consolidate the foundation of His Cause. That same God will, in the world to come, place upon your head the crown of immortal glory, and will shower upon you His inestimable blessings. Of the span of your earthly life there remain only three months and nine days, after which you shall, with faith and certitude, hasten to your eternal abode.” 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Governor of Isfáhán, Manuchihr Khán, expressed his desire to dedicate all his possessions to the furtherance and spread of the Cause of the Báb

One day, while seated with the Báb in his private garden within the courtyard of his house, the Mu’tamíd, taking his Guest into his confidence, addressed Him in these words: “The almighty Giver has endowed me with great riches. [1] I know not how best to use them. Now that I have, by the aid of God, been led to recognise this Revelation, it is my ardent desire to consecrate all my possessions to the furtherance of its interests and the spread of its fame. It is my intention to proceed, by Your leave, to Tihrán, and to do my best to win to this Cause Muḥammad Sháh, whose confidence in me is firm and unshaken. I am certain that he will eagerly embrace it, and will arise to promote it far and wide. I will also endeavour to induce the Sháh to dismiss the profligate Hájí Mírzá Aqásí, the folly of whose administration has well-nigh brought this land to the verge of ruin. Next, I will strive to obtain for You the hand of one of the sisters of the Sháh, and will myself undertake the preparation of Your nuptials. Finally, I hope to be enabled to incline the hearts of the rulers and kings of the earth to this most wondrous Cause and to extirpate every lingering trace of that corrupt ecclesiastical hierarchy that has stained the fair name of Islám.” 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

[1] “On the fourth of March, 1847, Monsieur de Bonniere wrote to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of France: ‘Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih, governor of Iṣfáhán, has just died leaving a fortune appraised at forty million francs.’” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad dit le Báb,” p. 242, note 192.) [Footnote provided by Shoghi Effendi]

Rumours concerning what happened to the Báb distressed the believers who were residing in Isfáhán

Meanwhile the wildest conjectures obtained currency in the city regarding the journey of the Báb to Tihrán, the sufferings which He was made to endure on His way to the capital, the verdict which had been pronounced against Him, and the penalty which He had suffered. These rumours greatly distressed the believers who were residing in Isfáhán. The Mu’tamíd, [the Governor, Manuchihr Khán] who was well aware of their grief and anxiety, interceded with the Báb in their behalf and begged to be allowed to introduce them into His presence. The Báb addressed a few words in His own handwriting to Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím-i-Qazvíní, who had taken up his quarters in the madrisih of Ním-Ávard, and instructed the Mu’tamíd to send it to him by a trusted messenger. An hour later, Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím was ushered into the presence of the Báb. Of his arrival no one except the Mu’tamíd was informed. He received from his Master some of His writings, and was instructed to transcribe them in collaboration with Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí and Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí. To these he soon returned, bearing the welcome news of the Báb’s well-being and safety. Of all the believers residing in Isfáhán, these three alone were allowed to see Him. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

1846: How the Governor of Isfáhán, Manuchihr Khán, managed to save the Báb from the death verdict issued by seventy eminent ‘ulamás and notables in Isfáhán

Imarat-i-Khurshid

No sooner had the Mu’tamíd [Manuchihr Khan, the Governor] been informed of the condemnation pronounced by the ‘ulamás of Isfáhán than he determined, by a plan which he himself conceived, to nullify the effects of that cruel verdict. He issued immediate instructions that towards the hour of sunset the Báb, escorted by five hundred horsemen of the governor’s own mounted bodyguard, should leave the gate of the city and proceed in the direction of Tihrán. Imperative orders had been given that at the completion of each farsang [about 3 to 4 miles] one hundred of this mounted escort should return directly to Isfáhán. To the chief of the last remaining contingent, a man in whom he placed implicit confidence, the Mu’tamíd confidentially intimated his desire that at every maydán [a square or open place, a subdivision of farsang] twenty of the remaining hundred should likewise be ordered by him to return to the city. Of the twenty remaining horsemen, the Mu’tamíd directed that ten should be despatched to Ardistán [a town north of Isfáhán] for the purpose of collecting the taxes levied by the government, and that the rest, all of whom should be of his tried and most reliable men, should, by an unfrequented route, bring the Báb back in disguise to Isfáhán. [1] They were, moreover, instructed so to regulate their march that before dawn of the ensuing day the Báb should have arrived at Isfáhán and should have been delivered into his custody. 

View of the ruins of the section the Bab occupied

This plan was immediately taken in hand and duly executed. At an unsuspected hour the Báb re-entered the city, was directly conducted to the private residence of the Mu’tamíd, known by the name of Imárat-i-Khurshíd, [2] and was introduced, through a side entrance reserved for the Mu’tamíd himself, into his private apartments. The governor waited in person on the Báb, served His meals, and provided whatever was required for His comfort and safety. [3] 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

[1] According to “A Traveller’s Narrative” (p. 13), the Mu’tamíd gave secret orders that when the Báb reached Murchih-Khar (the second stage out from Isfáhán on the north road, distant about 35 miles therefrom), He should return to Isfáhán.

[2] “Thus this room (in which I find myself) which has neither doors nor definite limits, is today the highest of the dwellings of Paradise, for the Tree of Truth lives herein. It would seem that all the atoms of the room, all sing in one voice, ‘In truth, I am God! There is no other God beside Me, the Lord of all things.’ And they sing above all the rooms of the earth, even above those adorned with mirrors of gold. If, however, the Tree of Truth abides in one of these ornamented rooms, then the atoms of their mirrors sing that song as did and do the atoms of the mirrors of the Palace Sadrí, for in the days of Sád (Isfáhán) he abided therein.” (“Le Bayán Persan,” vol. 1, p. 128.)

[3] According to “A Traveller’s Narrative,” p. 13, the Báb remained four months in that house

Seventy eminent ‘ulamás and notables in Isfáhán “condemned the Báb as a heretic… deserving of the penalty of death”

According to Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl, about seventy eminent ‘ulamás and notables had set their seal to a document which condemned the Báb as a heretic, and which declared Him to be deserving of the penalty of death. 

(Footnote to chapter 10 provided by Shoghi Effendi)

The ‘ulamás of Isfáhán “issued a written document, signed and sealed by all the ecclesiastical leaders of the city, condemning the Báb to death” – two of them refused

The high honours accorded to the Báb served further to inflame the hostility of the ‘ulamás of Isfáhán. With feelings of dismay, they beheld on every side evidences of His all-pervasive influence invading the stronghold of orthodoxy and subverting their foundations. They summoned a gathering, at which they issued a written document, signed and sealed by all the ecclesiastical leaders of the city, condemning the Báb to death.  They all concurred in this condemnation with the exception of Hájí Siyyid Asadu’lláh and Hájí Muhammad-Ja’far-i-Abadiyí, both of whom refused to associate themselves with the contents of so glaringly abusive a document. The Imám-Jum’ih, though declining to endorse the death-warrant of the Báb, was induced, by reason of his extreme cowardice and ambition, to add to that document, in his own handwriting, the following testimony: “I testify that in the course of my association with this youth I have been unable to discover any act that would in any way betray his repudiation of the doctrines of Islám. On the contrary, I have known him as a pious and loyal observer of its precepts. The extravagance of his claims, however, and his disdainful contempt for the things of the world, incline me to believe that he is devoid of reason and judgment.” 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Báb blessed the parents of Munirih Khanum, the future wife of ‘abdu’l-Baha, allowing them to conceive a child

Ere the Báb had transferred His residence to the house of the Mu’tamíd, Mírzá Ibráhím, father of the Sulṭánu’sh-Shuhudá’ and elder brother of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alíy-i-Nahrí, to whom we have already referred, invited the Báb to his home one night. Mírzá Ibráhím was a friend of the Imám-Jum’ih, was intimately associated with him, and controlled the management of all his affairs. The banquet which was spread for the Báb that night was one of unsurpassed magnificence. It was commonly observed that neither the officials nor the notables of the city had offered a feast of such magnitude and splendour. The Sultánu’sh-Shuhudá’ and his brother, the Mahbúbu’sh-Shuhadá’, who were lads of nine and eleven, respectively, served at that banquet and received special attention from the Báb. That night, during dinner, Mírzá Ibráhím turned to his Guest and said: “My brother, Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí, has no child. I beg You to intercede in his behalf and to grant his heart’s desire.” The Báb took a portion of the food with which He had been served, placed it with His own hands on a platter, and handed it to His host, asking him to take it to Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí and his wife. “Let them both partake of this,” He said; “their wish will be fulfilled.” By virtue of that portion which the Báb had chosen to bestow upon her, the wife of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí conceived and in due time gave birth to a girl, who eventually was joined in wedlock with the Most Great Branch,  a union that came to be regarded as the consummation of the hopes entertained by her parents. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The Báb remained forty days at the residence of the Imám-Jum’ih of Isfahan

The Báb had tarried forty days at the residence of the Imám-Jum’ih. While He was still there, a certain Mullá Muhammad-Taqíy-i-Haratí, who was privileged to meet the Báb every day, undertook, with His consent, to translate one of His works, entitled Risáliy-i-Furú-i-‘Adlíyyih, from the original Arabic into Persian. The service he thereby rendered to the Persian believers was marred, however, by his subsequent behaviour. Fear suddenly seized him, and he was induced eventually to sever his connection with his fellow-believers. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

To further protect the Báb the governor decided to keep Him at his own house

The Mu’tamíd subsequently confided his apprehensions to the Imám-Jum’ih. “I fear the machinations of the enemies of the Siyyid-i-Báb,” he told him. “The Sháh has summoned Him to Tihrán. I am commanded to arrange for His departure. I deem it more advisable for Him to stay in my home until such time as He can leave this city.” The Imám-Jum’ih acceded to his request and returned alone to his house. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

One clergy asked the Báb to explain about certain miracles associated with Imam Javád and Imam ‘Ali

“Muhammad having grown silent, Mírzá Muhammad-Ḥasan, who followed the philosophical doctrine of Mullá Sadrá, questioned the Báb in order to induce him to explain three miracles which it would suffice to relate in order to enlighten the reader. The first one was the Tiyyu’l-Ard, or the immediate transfer of a human being from one part of the world to another very distant point. The Shiites are convinced that the third Imám, Javád, had adopted this easy and economical way of traveling. For example, he betook himself, in the twinkling of an eye, from Medina in Arabia to Tus in Khurásán.

“The second miracle was the multiple and simultaneous presence of the same person in many different places. ‘Alí was, at the same moment, host to sixty different people.

“The third miracle was a problem of cosmography which I submit to our astronomers who will certainly relish it. It is said that, during the reign of a tyrant, the heavens revolve rapidly, while during that of an Imám they revolve slowly. First, how could the heavens have two movements and then, what were they doing during the reign of the Umayyads and the Abbassids? It was the solution of these insanities that they proposed to the Báb!

“I shall not dwell on them any longer but I believe I must here make clear the mentality of the learned Moslems of Persia. And if one should consider that, for nearly one thousand years, the science of Írán rests upon such trash, that men exhaust themselves in continuous research upon such matters, one will easily understand the emptiness and arrogance of all these minds.

“Be that as it may, the reunion was interrupted by the announcement of dinner of which each one partook, after which they returned to their respective homes.” 

- A. L. M. Nicolas  ('Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,' pp. 239–240; footnotes to chapter 10 provided by Shoghi Effendi)

A few of the clergies attended the meeting with the Báb at the governor’s residence and requested the Báb to explain certain Islamic traditions and laws

Hájí Muhammad-Ja’far heeded this counsel and refused to accept the invitation of the governor. Muhammad Mihdí, Mírzá Hasan-i-Núrí, and a few others who disdained such advice, presented themselves at the appointed hour at the home of the Mu’tamíd. At the invitation of the host, Mírzá Hasan, a noted Platonist, requested the Báb to elucidate certain abstruse philosophical doctrines connected with the Arshíyyih of Mullá Sadrá, the meaning of which only a few had been able to unravel. In simple and unconventional language, the Báb replied to each of his questions. Mírzá Hasan, though unable to apprehend the meaning of the answers which he had received, realised how inferior was the learning of the so-called exponents of the Platonic and the Aristotelian schools of thought of his day to the knowledge displayed by that Youth. Muhammad Mihdí ventured in his turn to question the Báb regarding certain aspects of the Islámic law. Dissatisfied with the explanation he received, he began to contend idly with the Báb. He was soon silenced by the Mu’tamíd, who, cutting short his conversation, turned to an attendant and, bidding him light the lantern, gave the order that Muhammad Mihdí be immediately conducted to his home. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

The argument that one of the invited clergy used to dissuade others from attending the meeting at the governor’s home

Hájí Siyyid Asadu’lláh refused the invitation and endeavoured to dissuade those who had been invited, from participating in that gathering. “I have sought to excuse myself,” he informed them, “and I would most certainly urge you to do the same. I regard it as most unwise of you to meet the Siyyid-i-Báb face to face. He will, no doubt, reassert his claim and will, in support of his argument, adduce whatever proof you may desire him to give, and, without the least hesitation, will reveal as a testimony to the truth he bears, verses of such a number as would equal half the Qur’án. In the end he will challenge you in these words: ‘Produce likewise, if ye are men of truth.’ We can in no wise successfully resist him. If we disdain to answer him, our impotence will have been exposed. If we, on the other hand, submit to his claim, we shall not only be forfeiting our own reputation, our own prerogatives and rights, but will have committed ourselves to acknowledge any further claims that he may feel inclined to make in the future.” 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)

Views of the house of the governor of Isfahan

 

The governor of Isfahan arranged for a meeting at his home and invited the Báb, the Imam-Jum’ih and some other clergy

As soon as the Mu’tamíd was informed of these developments, he sent a message to the Imám-Jum’ih in which he reminded him of the visit he as governor had paid to the Báb, and extended to him as well as to his Guest an invitation to his home. The Mu’tamíd invited Hájí Siyyid Asadu’lláh, son of the late Hájí Siyyid Muhammad Báqir-i-Rashtí, Hájí Muhammad-Ja’far-i-Abadiyí, Muhammad-Mihdí, Mírzá Hasan-i-Núrí, and a few others to be present at that meeting. 

- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, chapter 10)