The people
of Shíráz were by that time [1845] wild with excitement. [1] A violent
controversy was raging in the masjids, the madrisihs, the bazaars, and other
public places. Peace and security were gravely imperiled. Fearful, envious,
thoroughly angered, the mullás were beginning to perceive the seriousness of
their position. The governor, greatly alarmed, ordered the Báb to be arrested.
He was brought to Shíráz under escort, and, in the presence of Husayn Khán,
was severely rebuked, and so violently struck in the face that His turban fell
to the ground. Upon the intervention of the Imám-Jum’ih He was released on
parole, and entrusted to the custody of His maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid
‘Alí. A brief lull ensued, enabling the captive Youth to celebrate the Naw-Rúz
of that and the succeeding year in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity in
the company of His mother, His wife, and His uncle. Meanwhile the fever that
had seized His followers was communicating itself to the members of the clergy
and to the merchant classes, and was invading the higher circles of society.
Indeed, a wave of passionate inquiry had swept the whole country, and
unnumbered congregations were listening with wonder to the testimonies
eloquently and fearlessly related by the Báb’s itinerant messengers.
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
[1] Due to the action by one of the followers of the Báb who
impelled by His injunction in one of His Tablets “to alter the sacrosanct formula”
of the call to prayer.
