The 1260/1844
"Declaration"
of
Bābiyya, (proto-)
Qā'imiyya
and the
revelation of the
Sūrat al-mulk
According to the Bāb himself, the Qayyūm al-asmā'
was written over
a "forty day" period, during the months following the Bāb's confiding
something of his messianic claims in Shiraz (Iran), to the young Persian Shaykhī, Mullā Ḥusayn Bushrū'ī
(d.1265 /1849). According to the Bāb himself this event took place precisely
two hours and eleven minutes after sunset on the
evening of May 22 1844 (= 5th Jamād al-Awwal, 1260 AH; Per. Bayān
II:7 cf. VI:13). At this time the Bāb was 25 years old. Some historical or
hagiographical details about this semi-secret messianic "declaration" of the Bāb in mid. 1844/1260 are registered
in various Bābī and Bahā'ī sources a few of which can now be
mentioned.
The Tārīkh-i Mullā Ja`far-i Qazvīnī
Among the significant early sources narrating the
circumstances surrounding the Bāb's earliest, semi-secret disclosure of his messianic role
is, for example, the Persian Tārīkh-i Mullā Ja`far-i Qazvīnī written
about 20 years before the completion of the final recension of the
Dawn-Breakers of Mullā Muhammad, Nabīl-i Zarandī (d.1892) on 29th Rabi I 1308 ( = 12th January, 1890 CE).
TO BE ADDED
The Tārīkh-i
Muhammad-i Zarandī ("The Dawn-Breakers")
Best known to modern Bahā'īs is the
narrative
contained in a recension of the history of Mullā Muhammad known as Nabīl-i Zarandī (1247/1831-1319/1892)
known as the Tārīkh-i Zarandī. This massive
Persian and Arabic historical and theological compendium was partially redacted into English by Shoghi Effendi
(the Guardian of the Bahā'ī religion, 1921-1957). Its English
recreation was published under the title The
Dawn-Breakers
(1st ed. 1932). Therein we read:
"`That night, that memorable night, was the eve preceding
the fifth day of Jamádiyu'l-Avval,
in the year 1260 A.H.
It was about an
hour after sunset when my youthful Host [the Bab]
began to
converse with me.
"Whom, after Siyyid
Káẓim," He asked me,
"do you regard as his successor and your
leader?"
"At the hour of his death," I replied,
"our departed
teacher [Sayyid Kazim] insistently exhorted us [Shaykhis]
to forsake our
homes,
to scatter far and wide, in quest
of the promised Beloved [the messianic Qā'im].
I have, accordingly, journeyed to Persia
[from Iraq],
have arisen to accomplish his will, and
am still engaged in my quest."
"Has your teacher," He [the Bab] further
enquired,
"given you any
detailed indications as to the distinguishing features
of the promised
One?"
"Yes," I replied,
"He [the expected Qa'im] is of a pure
lineage,
is of illustrious descent, and of the
seed of Fáṭimih.
As to His age, He is more than twenty
and less than thirty.
He is endowed with innate knowledge.
He is of medium height, abstains from
smoking,
and is free from bodily deficiency."
He [the Bab] paused for a while and then
with vibrant voice declared:
"Behold, all these signs are manifest in
Me!"
He then considered each of the
above-mentioned signs separately, and conclusively demonstrated that each
and all were applicable to His person. I was greatly surprised, and politely
observed:
"He whose advent we await is a Man of
unsurpassed holiness, and the Cause He is to reveal, a Cause of tremendous
power. Many and diverse are the requirements which He who claims to be its
visible embodiment must needs fulfil. How often has Siyyid Káẓim referred to
the vastness of the knowledge of the promised One! How often did he say: `My
own knowledge is but a drop compared with that with which He has been
endowed. All my attainments are but a speck of dust in the face of the
immensity of His knowledge. Nay, immeasurable is the difference!'" No sooner
had those words dropped from my lips than I found myself seized with fear
and remorse, such as I could neither conceal nor explain. I bitterly
reproved myself, and resolved at that very moment to alter my attitude and
to soften my tone. I vowed to God that should my Host again refer to the
subject, I would, with the utmost humility, answer and say: "If you be
willing to substantiate your claim, you will most assuredly deliver me from
the anxiety and suspense which so heavily oppress my soul. I shall truly be
indebted to you for such deliverance."
When I [Mulla Husayn] first
started upon my quest, I determined to regard
the two following standards as those whereby
I could ascertain the truth of whosoever might claim to be the promised
Qá'im.
The first was a treatise which I had
myself composed, bearing upon the abstruse and hidden teachings propounded
by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Káẓim.
Whoever seemed to me capable of unravelling the mysterious allusions made in
that treatise, to him
I would next submit my
second request,
and would ask him to
reveal, without the least hesitation or reflection,
a commentary on the
Súrih of Joseph,
in a style and language
entirely different from the prevailing standards of the time.
I had previously
requested Siyyid Káẓim, in private,
to write a commentary on
that same Súrih, which he refused, saying:
"This is, verily, beyond me.
He,
that great One, who comes after me will, unasked, reveal it for you.
That commentary will
constitute one of the weightiest testimonies of His truth,
and one of the clearest
evidences of the loftiness of His position."
"`I [Mulla Husayn] was revolving
these things in my mind,
when my
distinguished Host [ the Bāb] again remarked:
"Observe attentively.
Might not the Person intended by Siyyid
Káẓim be none other than I?"
I thereupon felt impelled to present to
Him a copy of the treatise which I had with me. "Will you," I asked Him,
"read this book of mine and look at its pages with indulgent eyes? I pray
you to overlook my weaknesses and failings." He graciously complied with my
wish. He opened the book, glanced at certain passages, closed it, and began
to address me. Within a few minutes He had, with characteristic vigour and
charm, unravelled all its mysteries and resolved all its problems. Having to
my entire satisfaction accomplished, within so short a time, the task I had
expected Him to perform, He further expounded to me certain truths which
could be found neither in the reported sayings of the imáms of the Faith nor
in the writings of Shaykh Aḥmad and
Siyyid Káẓim. These truths, which I had never heard before, seemed to be
endowed with refreshing vividness and power. "Had you not been My guest," He
afterwards
observed, "your position would indeed have
been a grievous one. The all-encompassing grace of God has saved you. It is
for God to test His servants, and not for His servants to judge Him in
accordance with their deficient standards. Were I to fail to resolve your
perplexities, could the Reality that shines within Me be regarded as
powerless, or My knowledge be accused as faulty? Nay, by the righteousness
of God! it behoves, in this day, the peoples and nations of both the East
and the West to hasten to this threshold, and here seek to obtain the
reviving grace of the Merciful. Whoso hesitates will indeed be in grievous
loss. Do not the peoples of the earth testify that the fundamental purpose
of their creation is the knowledge and adoration of God? It behoves them to
arise, as earnestly and spontaneously as you have arisen, and to seek with
determination and constancy their promised Beloved."
He then proceeded to
say:
"Now is the time to
reveal the commentary on the Súrih of Joseph."
He took up His pen
and with incredible rapidity revealed the entire Súrih of Mulk,
the first chapter of His
commentary on the Súrih of Joseph.
The overpowering effect
of the manner in which He wrote was heightened by the gentle intonation of
His voice which accompanied His writing. Not for one moment did He interrupt
the flow of the verses which streamed from His pen. Not once did He pause
till the Súrih of Mulk was finished. I sat enraptured by the magic of
His voice and the sweeping force of His revelation.
At last I reluctantly arose from my
seat and begged leave to depart. He smilingly bade me be seated, and said:
"If you leave in such a state, whoever sees you will assuredly say: `This
poor youth has lost his mind.'" At that moment the clock registered two
hours and eleven minutes after sunset. That night, the eve of the
fifth day of Jamádiyu'l-Avval, in the year 1260 A.H., corresponded with the
eve preceding the sixty-fifth day after Naw-ruz, which was also the eve of
the sixth day of Khurdad, of the year Nahang. "This night," He declared,
"this very hour will, in the days to come, be celebrated as one of the
greatest and most significant of all festivals. Render thanks to God for
having graciously assisted you to attain your heart's desire, and for having
quaffed from the sealed wine of His utterance. `Well is it with them that
attain thereunto.'" (Zarandi, Dawn-Breakers, 56-62 [format slightly altered]).
The claims of
the Bāb in the
Qayyūm al-asmā'
Within the text of the
Qayyūm al-asmā' itself, diverse claims of the Bāb are directly or indirectly voiced. At
this time of his semi-secret messianic disclosure
("declaration") to Mullā (May 22nd 1844), the Bāb held
something a 'messianic secret' This for a period of
around four years (1844-1848). Subsequently to May 22nd
1844 he only obliquely indicated his
messianic or very
exalted status. This is mentioned by the Bāb himself in
the Persian Bayan:
Claims to
`ubudiyya ("Servitude").
As in QA1:1,9 the Bāb sometimes represented himself as a servant
('abd) of the occulted or hidden 12th Imam, often called the
Ḥujjat-Allāh ("Proof of God") or Dhikr-Allāh
Claims to
Bābiyya (Gatehood)
In his early writings the Bab often
represents himself as a "gate" (bāb) to the
hidden Imam
Claims to Dhikriyya (Remembrance).
At other
times in his first major work the Bab is allusively or directly presented
as the Dhikr ("Remembrance") Dhikr-Allah
(the "Remembrance of God"), or on
occasion as the "Greatest" (al-akbar) or Most Great
Remembrance" (dhikr al-akbar / al-a`ẓam).
In its various forms this title
is again one of the numerous titles of the
messianic 12th Imam. Worth noting here is the fact that
the quasi-messianic figure of the "Most
Great Remembrance" is seen by Bahā'īs as a predictive allusion to the person of Baha'-Allah
(GPB:XX).
Direct claims to
be the Qā'im (Qā'imiyya or Mahdiyya)
Other Elevated
Claims and claims to
subordinate divinity
يا اهل الارض اسمعوا ندائی من لدی الذّكر
انّ اللّه قد اوحی الیّ انّی انا اللّه لا اله الاّ
انا
و هذا الذّكر لدی صراط علیّ
هذا قد كان فی امّ الكتاب مكتوباً
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