When … We went to Ámul, such was the turmoil which the
people had raised that above four thousand persons had congregated in the
masjid [mosque] and had crowded onto the roofs of their houses. The leading
mullá of the town denounced Us bitterly. “You have perverted the Faith of
Islám,” he cried in his Mázindarání dialect, “and sullied its fame! Last night
I saw you in a dream enter the masjid, which was thronged by an eager multitude
that had gathered to witness your arrival. As the crowd pressed round you, I
beheld, and, lo, the Qá’im [1] was standing in a corner with His gaze fixed
upon your countenance, His features betraying great surprise. This dream I
regard as evidence of your having deviated from the path of Truth.”
We assured him that the expression of surprise on that
countenance was a sign of the Qá’im’s strong disapproval of the treatment he and
his fellow-townsmen had accorded Us. He questioned Us regarding the Mission of
the Báb. We informed him that, although We had never met Him face to face, yet
We cherished, none the less, a great affection for Him. We expressed Our
profound conviction that He had, under no circumstances, acted contrary to the
Faith of Islám.
The mullá and his followers, however refused to believe Us,
and rejected Our testimony as a perversion of the truth. They eventually placed
Us in confinement, and forbade Our friends to meet Us.
- Bahá’u’lláh (Cited in
‘The Dawn-Breakers’, by Nabil)
That which hath touched this Wronged One is beyond compare
or equal. We have borne it all with the utmost willingness and resignation, so
that the souls of men may be edified, and the Word of God be exalted. While
confined in the prison of the Land of Mím (Mázindarán) We were one day
delivered into the hands of the divines. Thou canst well imagine what befell
Us.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
[1] He who shall arise; the Twelfth Imám, or Mihdí, awaited
by Shí‘ah Muslims and expected to inaugurate a new era of righteousness in the
world. The Báb declared Himself to be the Qá’im and the Gate to another divine
Messenger, “Him Whom God shall make manifest.”
