Chapter II: Prologue: I

About the time that the thirteen colonies of North America were gaining their independence to form the nucleus of the mighty Republic of the West, France was inching her way towards a revolution such as the world had never seen, and Britain was striding along the road to a revolution of a different kind, industrial, agrarian and economic in nature, a cleric of the Islamic [_Sh_]í`ah persuasion left his island-home in the Persian Gulf for the great centres of [_Sh_]í`ah learning and [_Sh_]í`ah devotion in `Iráq. His purpose was to find a much larger audience in order to give voice to thoughts and presentiments that had developed with his years.

[_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í (1743-1826), the founder of the [_Sh_]ay[_kh_]í school, belonged to the ancient tribe of Banú-Ṣa[_kh_]r, and his family originated from the region of Aḥsá on the Arabian mainland. His father's name was [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Zayni'd-Dín, and Baḥrayn had been their home. [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad first visited Najaf, where the Tomb of `Alí, the first Imám, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad, is situated. Then in Karbilá, close by the Shrine of the martyred Ḥusayn, the third Imám, he began to preach and a circle of earnest students gathered round him. He asked the leading [_Sh_]í`ah divines of the holy cities of `Iráq to issue him a licence which would give him recognition as a mujtahid in his own right, that is, a divine empowered to interpret and prescribe. They all declared that they considered [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad to be a man of knowledge and talent superior to their own, and that their testimonial was written solely at his request.

The fame of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad soon spread throughout Írán. Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh (reigned 1797-1834) and Muḥammad-`Alí Mírzá,[A] a son of the [_Sh_]áh who held the life-long tenure of the governorship of Kirmán[_sh_]áh, were particularly desirous to meet him. But [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad preferred to go to Írán by way of Bú[_sh_]ihr (Bushire) in the south, rather than by the nearer and more accessible route of Kirmán[_sh_]áh in the west. From Bú[_sh_]ihr he went to [_Sh_]íráz and thence to Yazd, where he stayed for a number of years. Siyyid Káẓim-i-Ra[_sh_]tí, a young man barely out of his teens, who shared the same views, joined him there (sometime in 1231 A.H.: 1815-16). [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad was then making his final arrangements to go on pilgrimage to the holy city of Ma[_sh_]had,[B] prior to his visit to Ṭihrán. He received Siyyid Káẓim with great affection and asked him to remain at Yazd to take up his own patient work of many years. In Ma[_sh_]had and later in Ṭihrán, [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad was shown every mark of high respect and reverence.

[Footnote A: The Rukni'd-Dawlih.]

[Footnote B: Ma[_sh_]had (Meshed) contains the Shrine of Imám
Riḍá, the eighth Imám.]

Eventually Siyyid Káẓim travelled north to be in his company, and together they went to Kirmán[_sh_]áh, as the Prince-Governor had been urgently begging his father to let [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad visit him. They stayed in Kirmán[_sh_]áh as long as the Governor lived. After his premature death, they departed for Karbilá, where [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad, his zeal unabated and his powers untouched by advancing years, preached and taught. He was in his early eighties when he took the road to Mecca and Medina. From that journey he did not return and lies buried in the famed cemetery of Baqi`, in the vicinity of the Tomb of the Prophet Muḥammad.

[_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad's constant theme was the near advent of the Deliverer of the Latter Days, promised to the world of Islám, the Qá'im of the House of Muḥammad or the Mihdí (Mahdí).[1] In the course of his last pilgrimage to the holy cities of Arabia, he told a merchant from Iṣfahán[C] who was with him: 'You will attain the presence of the Báb; salute Him on my behalf.'[2] [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad did not believe in physical resurrection nor in the physical ascent (Mi`ráj)[D] of the Prophet Muḥammad to heaven on the night that the Angel Gabriel took Him to view the celestial world. Mi`ráj was an experience of the spirit, [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad maintained. Moreover he asserted that the signs and portents of the coming of the Qá'im, given by the Prophet and the Imáms, were allegorical. These and similar doctrines were anathema to the orthodox, but while [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad lived, royal patronage muted their hostile criticism.

[Footnote C: Ḥájí Muḥammad-Ismá`íl-i-Gulpáygání.]

[Footnote D: The following verse in the Qur'án (xvii, 4)
refers to the Mi`ráj:

Glory be to Him, who carried His servant by night
from the Holy Mosque to the Further Mosque
the precincts of which We have blessed,
that We might show him some of Our signs.
He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing.
--Arberry, _The Koran Interpreted_

The Holy Mosque (Masjid-al-Ḥarám) is the Ka`bah in Mecca;
the Further Mosque (Masjid-al-Aqṣá) is in Jerusalem.]

Siyyid Káẓim (1793-1843), who, in accordance with the will of [_Sh_]ay[_kh_] Aḥmad, succeeded him in guiding his disciples, was the son of Siyyid Qásim of Ra[_sh_]t, a town in northern Írán close to the Caspian Sea. He came from a family of well-known merchants and was no more than thirty-three years old when he occupied the seat of authority. The orthodox divines now began their vitriolic assaults in earnest until, at last, Siyyid Káẓim felt that he needed solid support in Írán from the ranks of the orthodox. For that purpose he chose one of his ablest disciples, Mullá Ḥusayn, a native of the small town of Bu[_sh_]rúyih in [_Kh_]urásán, to go to Iṣfahán and secure the aid of Ḥájí Siyyid Muḥammad-Báqir-i-Ra[_sh_]tí, a noted divine whose influence was felt far and wide. Mullá Ḥusayn succeeded brilliantly in accomplishing the mission entrusted to him, obtained the support of that famous man in writing, and then proceeded to Ma[_sh_]had to acquire a similar pledge from yet another powerful divine.

In the meantime not only did Siyyid Káẓim suffer from the intrigues and onslaughts of his adversaries headed by Siyyid Ibráhím-i-Qazvíní, but the whole of Karbilá was thrown into turmoil. These disorders were of long standing and gradually the authority of the Ottoman government had ceased to exist. Within the town there were several factions at odds with one another, but all determined to resist the re-establishment of Ottoman power. Two successive Válís (governor-generals) of `Iráq tried to force the people of Karbilá to submission, but failed conspicuously. However, in the closing months of the year 1842, Najíb Pá[_sh_]á, a man resolute and even obstinate, came to occupy the post of Válí. Affairs in Karbilá had gradually gone from bad to worse. Lawlessness had increased and mob rule prevailed. Najíb Pá[_sh_]á's first thought was to resolve this problem which had baffled his predecessors. He tried to negotiate a settlement, but neither he nor the rebels of Karbilá could really trust one another. Najíb Pá[_sh_]á moved near-by to Musayyib and sent Sar`askar (Colonel) Sa`du'lláh Pá[_sh_]á with a small force to reduce the town. Negotiations proceeded apace. Emissaries came and went. Persian princes, who lived in Karbilá, took part in the negotiations, but nothing was achieved.

During those fatal weeks, at the end of the year 1842 and the beginning of 1843, Siyyid Káẓim, who was greatly respected both for his wisdom and humanity,[E] took a leading role, urging all parties to act with moderation and in a spirit of conciliation. Twice, in company with a small delegation, he visited the camps of Najíb Pá[_sh_]á and Sa`du'lláh Pá[_sh_]á outside Karbilá. Lieutenant-Colonel Farrant, the British Special Commissioner, reported his efforts to Constantinople:

The Chief Priest Hajee Seid Kausem did all in his power to
prevent hostilities, he preached against their proceedings,
he was abused and threatened, they would not listen to
him--this I have heard from many people at Kerbella--at this
time all were unanimous in defending the place

... to the very last he entreated them to listen to the
Pacha but without avail, he shewed great courage on the
occasion, as he had all the chief Geramees[F] and Mollahs
against him.[4]

[Footnote E: `Abdu'l-Bahá has related this story of Siyyid
Káẓim's works of charity: '`Alí-[_Sh_]áh [the
Ẓillu's-Sulṭán, see Prologue II, p. 10] claimed the
throne of Írán. He showed great benevolence towards the
divines of Karbilá and Najaf, sent them money and stood up
for them. However, he was unsuccessful and betook himself to
Karbilá. There he fell on hard times and suffered poverty. He
expected the divines to come to his help and applied to them,
one by one. But none heeded him. One night he and his family
had to go to bed hungry. At midnight he heard a knock on his
door. When he opened it he found someone, who had pulled his
`abá over his head so as to hide his face. This man put a
purse with money in it into his hands and went away.

'Time passed. Indigence and want recurred. Again the same
person, head covered with `abá, came at midnight, handed a
sum of money and went away without a word. To the repeated
question "who are you?" he gave no answer. Then, that man
came a third time with a purse containing money. This time
`Alí-[_Sh_]áh followed him and saw him enter the house of
Ḥájí Siyyid Káẓim and shut the door. `Alí-[_Sh_]áh
related this event in many gatherings. He used to say: "O
people! I am not a [_Sh_]ay[_kh_]í, but this deed is the work
of righteousness. None but a man of truth would act in this
way."'[3]

[Footnote F: Probably 'yárámáz', meaning 'good-for-nothing'.]

Unhappily, his counsel was ignored by both rebels and Turks. In January 1843, after a siege of twenty-four days, the holy city was taken by assault, causing great suffering to the innocent inhabitants. The files of the Public Record Office in London contain several documents that throw light on this episode, as well as on the central part played by Siyyid Káẓim. (See Appendix I.)

During the siege Ḥájí Siyyid Káẓim had spent himself in an effort to forestall violence and protect all parties to the conflict. Although only fifty years of age, he became aware that his life was nearing its close. He was warned of this, we are told, by the dream of an Arab shepherd who recounted it to him. When his disciples expressed their distress, Siyyid Káẓim replied:

Is not your love for me for the sake of that true One whose
advent we all await? Would you not wish me to die, that the
promised One may be revealed?[5]

The year 1844 was about to dawn when Siyyid Káẓim breathed his last and was laid to rest near the tomb of Imám Ḥusayn. His death was reported by Farrant, who wrote on January 24th 1844 to Sir Stratford Canning, sending a copy in February to Lt.-Col. (later Sir) Justin Sheil,[6] the British chargé d'affaires in Ṭihrán:

Hajee Seid Kausem one of the Chief Priests of Kerbella died
lately on his return from a visit to Samerrah--Seid Ibrahim
Kasveenee the other Chief Priest who was greatly opposed to
him, will now enjoy full power, and all contention between
the two religious parties will cease.[7]

When Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bu[_sh_]rú'í returned to Karbilá from his highly successful mission in Írán, his teacher was dead. He had not appointed anyone to succeed him.

II

To follow the events of this narrative, it may be helpful to consider their background in some aspects of Iranian history.[G]

[Footnote G: For other aspects the reader is referred to the
Introduction of Nabíl's _The Dawn-Breakers_.]

Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh, the third monarch of the Qájár dynasty, ruled the land in 1843, but real power rested in the hands of Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí, his unprepossessing Grand Vizier. The Qájárs were a tribe of Turkish origin. Áqá Muḥammad [_Kh_]án, a eunuch chieftain of this tribe, arose in the year 1779 to carve out a kingdom for himself. Fifteen years later he finally won the crown of Írán when he captured and brutally murdered Luṭf-`Alí [_Kh_]án, the last ruler of the Zand dynasty, who was brave and high-minded but piteously young. The eunuch king was utterly and savagely ruthless, and he managed to hold off the Russians in the area of the Caucasus until 1797 when he was struck down by three assassins. He was succeeded by his nephew, Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh, a man of soft heart and weak will, who was highly uxorious. At his death in 1834, fifty-three sons and forty-six daughters survived him.

During the reign of Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh, Írán lost heavily to Russia in a series of disastrous wars. Her ministers, comfortably cocooned in their isolation from the currents of world affairs, and totally ignorant of the realities of the European situation, believed that with the aid of the Emperor of France the Russian menace could be thwarted. Hard on the heels of General Gardanne, Bonaparte's envoy, not one but two envoys from the more familiar 'Ingríz' (English) came in 1808. Sir Harford Jones had been dispatched from the court of King George III and Sir John Malcolm from India. In 1801 the latter, on behalf of the Marquis of Wellesley, Governor-General of India, concluded an abortive treaty with the shrewd and immensely ambitious Grand Vizier[H] of Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh. But in the intervening years Bonaparte, subsequent to his _débacle_ in Egypt and Syria, showered his dubious favours on the Persians, and the British connexion was conveniently ignored by the ministers of Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh, who had entered into the Treaty of Finkenstein (1807) with the French. Moreover, in the same period, the most capable Ḥájí Ibráhím [_Kh_]án, who had contributed more than anyone to the downfall of the Zand dynasty and the ensuing victories of the eunuch king, fell from power and, as legend has it, met his death in a boiling cauldron.

[Footnote H: Ḥájí Ibráhím [_Kh_]án (the
I`timádu'd-Dawlih).]

Indeed, high hopes centred on what the Emperor of France would do for Írán, only to be dashed by Bonaparte's change of policy; when he met Tsar Alexander I at Tilsit (1807) he did not remember any of his promises. And so General Gardanne was ignominiously ousted from Ṭihrán, and Sir Harford Jones and Sir John Malcolm were left at peace, to glower at each other, much to the amusement and also surprise and embarrassment of the Persian ministers. But as Napoleon's star waned, so did the interest of the British in Persian affairs. The wars with Russia went on until the Persians acknowledged defeat in the Treaty of Gulistán of 1813.

Amidst abysmal ignorance, nepotism and malpractice which abounded in the realm, there stood two men in particular, untouched by corruption, who were fully aware of the needs of their country: Prince `Abbás Mírzá, the heir to the throne, and his vizier, Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim, Qá'im-Maqám-i-Faráhání. But their attempts at reform could not obtain the success they deserved because of the obscurantism surrounding the person of the sovereign. It was this Crown Prince who sent the first group of Iranian students to Britain to learn the crafts of the West. Their story, which does no credit to the government in London, is preserved in a number of documents lodged in the Public Record Office. Incidentally, one of these men, a student of medicine, was named Mírzá Ḥájí Bábá, the eponym of the chief character of James Morier's well-known satire.

Prince `Abbás Mírzá, worsted in the field by the Russians, now tried to provide his country with a modern army and engaged British instructors. As in the past, Ṭihrán gave him little help. Yet he was under constant pressure to resume hostilities. The divines, particularly, were urging it.[I] Yet Russia had no desire to fight; nor had Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh: war was too expensive. Prince Menchikov arrived from St. Petersburg (the present-day Leningrad) not to dictate but to negotiate. But the demands of those who sought war--the clerics and the powerful court faction of Alláh-Yár [_Kh_]án[J]--proved irresistible; Menchikov returned to St. Petersburg.

[Footnote I: This incident is referred to by Bahá'u'lláh in
His Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín [_Sh_]áh.]

[Footnote J: The Áṣafu'd-Dawlih, who later rose in
rebellion against the central government during the reign of
Náṣiri'd-Dín [_Sh_]áh.]

In the war that soon followed the Persians were soundly beaten and Russian forces surged forward to occupy the city of Tabríz. The first to abandon the field was a group of clerics, who, with raised standards, had accompanied the army. By the Treaty of Turkuman[_ch_]áy (1828), onerous and humiliating in the extreme, Írán was excluded from the Caucasus. In addition to the payment of heavy indemnities, she lost her rights in the Caspian Sea and the frontier between Russia and Írán was fixed on the river Aras.

Prince `Abbás Mírzá was now a sad and broken man. Rash actions forced upon him had brought total desolation. His modern army was shattered. Because he knew of the intrigues that plagued his father's court, and to make certain that his eldest son would not be left undefended, he asked for guarantees from the Tsar, which were readily given. After this ordeal of defeat and submission Prince `Abbás Mírzá did not live long. He died at the age of forty-five, and a year later his father followed him to the grave.

The eldest son of `Abbás Mírzá, named heir-apparent by Fatḥ-`Alí [_Sh_]áh, came into his heritage by a combination of the assured support of Britain and Russia, and the wise strategy of Qá'im-Maqám. Sir John Campbell, the British Minister in Ṭihrán, and Sir Henry Lindesay Bethune, who took command of the forces loyal to the son of `Abbás Mírzá, brought him safely from Tabríz to Ṭihrán. Qá'im-Maqám, in the meantime, secured the backing of influential men in the capital, where another son of the late king had styled himself `Adil [_Sh_]áh[K] and was claiming the throne. But his reign was brief, and soon Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh, the heir-apparent, was well entrenched in Ṭihrán, for Sir Henry Lindesay Bethune (whom a Persian historian calls Mr. Lenzi) easily routed other pretenders.[8]

[Footnote K: In reality `Alí-[_Sh_]áh, the
Ẓillu's-Sulṭán, not to be confused with Prince
Sulṭán Mas`úd Mírzá, the Governor-General of Iṣfahán,
who had the same title in later years.]

Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh did not wish to seem beholden to the British officials who had helped him to his throne, nor did he show much gratitude to Qá'im-Maqám, the architect of his victory. Within a year he contrived the death of that great minister who had served him and his father so well. By the death of Qá'im-Maqám, treacherously designed, Írán sustained a tremendous and irreparable loss. Qá'im-Maqám was not only a brilliant statesman, but also a master of prose whose style rescued the language from encrusted artificialities.[L]

[Footnote L: See Balyuzi, _`Abdu'l-Bahá_, p. 373 and note.]

His successor as the Grand Vizier was Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí, a man ignorant and devoid of all graces, affecting deep piety. This is how Sir Henry Layard[9] saw him in 1840:

We waited upon the Prime Minister, the Haji Mirza Agasi, who
was then the man of the greatest influence, power and
authority in Persia. The Shah had committed to him almost
the entire government of his kingdom, occupying himself but
little with public affairs, aware of his own incapacity for
conducting them. 'The Haji'--the name by which he was
familiarly known--was, by all accounts, a statesman of craft
and cunning, but of limited abilities. He was cruel and
treacherous, proud and overbearing, although he affected the
humility of a pious mulla who had performed the pilgrimage
to Mecca and the holy shrines of the Imaums. The religious
character which he had assumed made him intolerant and
bigoted, and he was known to be a fanatical hater of
Christians. He had been the Shah's tutor and instructor in
the Koran, and had acquired a great influence over his
pupil, who had raised him to the lofty position which he
then held. He had the reputation of being an accomplished
Persian and Arabic scholar, but he was entirely ignorant of
all European languages. His misgovernment, and the
corruption and general oppression which everywhere existed
had brought Persia to the verge of ruin. Distress, misery,
and discontent prevailed to an extent previously unknown. He
was universally execrated as the cause of the misfortunes
and misery from which the people and the State were
suffering. We found him seated on his hams, in the Persian
fashion, on a fine Kurdish carpet spread in a handsome hall.
Before him was a large tray filled with ices and a variety
of fruit.... He was a man of small stature, with sharp and
somewhat mean and forbidding features, and a loud shrill
voice. His dress was simple--almost shabby--as became a
mulla and a man devoted to religious life.... It was evident
that the Haji suspected that we were spies and agents of the
British Government. However, he declared that the Shah was
willing that we should visit any part of his territories
where we could travel in safety, and that orders had been
issued for the preparation of our farman [royal decree]; for
his Majesty had said that we belonged to a friendly nation,
and his quarrel was not with England but with Lord
Palmerston, who had treated Persia ill, and had recalled the
Queen's Ambassador[10] without sufficient cause....

Nor was Írán on good terms with the Ottomans. Layard's book, _Early Adventures_, indicates the considerable extent of the incursions which the Turks had made into Iranian territory. The meeting between Layard and Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí in 1840 took place in Hamadán, not far from the frontier, where Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh was encamped with his army. The relations between the Ottoman and Iranian governments were further strained by the storming and sacking of Karbilá in January 1843, where the chief sufferers were Persian. We have seen how the Persian princes living in Karbilá at the time of its investment by the troops of Najíb Pá[_sh_]á took a hand in negotiations. They were exiles and fugitives who had contested with Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh and offended him, and senior among them was `Alí-[_Sh_]áh, the Ẓillu's-Sulṭán.

Yet another issue reared its ugly head to exacerbate relations between Írán and the Ottoman Empire, that of [_Sh_]í`ah against Sunní. Sheil, the British Minister in Ṭihrán, reported to the Foreign Secretary, the Earl of Aberdeen:

If the Moollahs, and in particular the chief priest of
Ispahan, Hajee Syed Moollah Mahomed Baukir, whose religious
influence in Persia is powerful, should use the present
opportunity for regaining their former position by exerting
their authority among the people, and preaching a crusade
against the rival branch of Mahommedanism, it is not easy to
foresee the consequences.[11]

Indeed, reported Sheil, the Persian Foreign Minister and Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí were considering the possibility of war.[12]

This chief priest of Iṣfahán, mentioned by Sheil, was the same divine from whom Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bu[_sh_]rú'í obtained unqualified support for Siyyid Káẓim-i-Ra[_sh_]tí.

It is helpful to compare the authority of the divines of these two great branches of Islám. The [_Sh_]í`ah divine in contradistinction to the Sunní has the power of 'Ijtihád', that is, issuing _ex cathedra_ decrees and judgments. His position is, in a sense, analogous to that of the English judge who can, within the boundaries of equity and common law, establish precedents. The Sunní divine belongs to one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence: the Ḥanafí, the [_Sh_]áfi`í, the Málikí and the Ḥanbalí. The jurisconsults, who founded these four schools or rites, which are named after them, set certain standards from which the Sunní divine cannot deviate. The [_Sh_]í`ah divine, on the other hand, relies exclusively on the text of the Qur'án and the Traditions ascribed to the Prophet and the Imáms, all of which are wide open to interpretation. Moreover, the [_Sh_]í`ah mujtahid--the divine who pronounces _ex cathedra_--does so, it is understood, as the deputy of the Ṣáḥibu'z-Zamán, the Lord of the Age.