…he [the governor of Isfahan] succeeded in insuring for Him
[the Báb] a brief respite of four months in the privacy of the Imárat-i-Khurshíd,
the governor’s private residence in Isfáhán. It was in those days that the host
expressed the desire to consecrate all his possessions, evaluated by his
contemporaries at no less than forty million francs, to the furtherance of the
interests of the new Faith, declared his intention of converting Muhammad Sháh,
of inducing him to rid himself of a shameful and profligate minister, [Hájí
Mírzá Aqásí] and of obtaining his royal assent to the marriage of one of his
sisters with the Báb. The sudden death of the Mu’tamíd, [the governor] however,
foretold by the Báb Himself, accelerated the course of the approaching crisis.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
