THE
KHUṬBAH
AL-JIDDAH
خطبة
الجدة
THE ORATION AT JEDDAH
OF SAYYID `ALI
MUHAMMAD SHIRAZI,
THE BĀB
(1819-1850)
TRANSLATION AND
INTRODUCTION STEPHEN N. LAMBDEN 2006-7
Last corrected
5th October 2006
Introductory Note
-- under revision 2006-7.
The
roughly ten page Arabic
Khuṭba al-Jidda
("Sermon at Jeddah") of Sayyid
`Ali Muhammad the Bāb (d. 1850 CE), is a "sermon"
associated with
or delivered at the
Arabian port town of Jiddah (now in Saudi Arabia)
where the Bab spent at least three days during the course of
his post-pilgrimage return journey from his in all nine-ten (lunar) month
(CHECK) pilgrimage trip to and from Mecca and Medina. This
pilgrimage commenced from Shiraz-Bushire on
September 10th1844 and ended on his return to this same
location in March, 1845. As will be evident, the
Khuṭba al-Jidda
is much more than an
ordinary oral delivery, oration, homily or sermon as the
Arabic word khuṭba
might ordinarily be taken to imply. It is at times a deeply theological
composition with
almost biblical and qur'ānic undertones. At least at its outset, It echoes the cosmological
opening of the Hebrew Bible (especially Genesis 1:2b and related passages
in the Qur'ān (see Q. ADD cf. the `Sermon on the
Mount'). As will be demonstrated the opening of the Khutba al-Jiddah is also closely
related to key cosmological paragraphs of the opening Khuṭba in the
renowned Nahj al-Balagha and is at times also reflective of the great quasi-ghuluww ("extremist")
Khuṭba al-ṭutunjiyya
("Sermon of the Gulf")
again ascribed to the
first Shī`ī
Imam, `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d.
40/661), a work which was well-known to the Bāb from the earliest period.
For the Bab the
divinely revealed literary form of the Khuṭbah
("Sermon") was centrally important. He used it quite
frequently throughout his six year religious ministry (1844-1850).
During the course of his pilgrimage (1844-1845) he composed or
delivered at least XX Khutbas as can be learned
from his Kitāb al-Fihrist where the following are listed:
The Khuṭba jiddah is a fairly
short (15 or so page) Arabic work dating to around the time of the
Bab's pilgrimage to Mecca and Medinah. It is specifically mentioned
in the early Kitab al-fihrist ("Book of the Index", written Bushire
June, 21st 1845) of the Bab along with another eight (actually 9 +3 =12) other khuṭbas ("Orations"). These works all date to this early period and were largely composed during the course of the
pilgrimage journey; they are (1) two Khuṭbas from Bushire, (2) the Khuṭba from
Banakān, (3) the Khuṭba from Kanakān, (4) the Khuṭba on the `Īd al-Fiṭr
(= 1st Shawwal 1260 at end of Ramadan = 1st October 1844?) (5) the Khuṭba from Jiddah, (6) the Khuṭba on
the sufferings of Imam Ḥusayn (d.61/680) (7)
three Khuṭbas associated with the journey to Mecca (8) the Khuṭba for Mullā Ḥusayn Bushrū'ī written on board the ship and
(9) the Khuṭba on the `ilm al-ḥurūf ("the science of
letters").
This may well be rooted an early fascination with the
important
and well-known Shi`i compilation the Nahj al-Balagha
("Path of Eloquence") which was put together in the 10th-11th
century CE by Abu'l-Ḥasan Muhammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mūsāwī, Sharīf al-Raḍī ( d.406/ 1015) and contains no less than XXX Khutbas (sermons) some on
deeply theological lines.
In his later years as is
evident, for example, in his Persian Bayan ("Exposition") and
Kitab-i Panj Sha`n ("Book of the Five Categories of Revelation") the
Khutbah did not lose its important place in the modes or categories
into which he divided his revealed writings
and the
challenging Khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya cited above and
frequently alluded to in the Qayyūm al-asmā' and other early writings.
At least
four mss. of the Khuṭba jiddah
are known including, (1) INBA Mss. 5006C, pp.330-335, (2) INBA 3036C
p. 404f (MacEoin, Sources, 187) and (3) INBMC vol. 91 pp. 60-73.
Important variant readings can on occasion be found in a number of
Babi-Baha'i mss. and printed texts including,
The title
خطبة
الجدة
Khuṭba jiddah
of the Bāb
describes the "Sermon", "Oration" or "Discourse"
which he delivered at or nigh Jeddah (in
Saudi Arabia), a major port on the Red Sea in the course of his 10 month
pilgrimage journeying from Iran (Shiraz, Bushihr) to and from Mecca and Medina (left
Shiraz 26th Sha`ban 1260 = 10th Sept. 1844, then Bushire 19th Ramadan 1260 = 2nd
October 1844 : arrived Mecca 1st Dhu'l-Hijjah = 12th December 1844: *Performed
the pilgrimage* : left Mecca 27th Dhu'l-Hijjah 1260 = 7th January 1845 : ...
arrived Jiddah 16th Safar / 24th February 1845 left Jiddah 19 Safar/ 27
February 1845 then 15th May 1845 = 10 months) (see Ishraq
Khavari, Muhadarat 2: ; MacEoin, Sources,
48ff; Afnan, `Ahd-i A`lā, 78, 453,474).
The Bāb was
thus in Jeddah for 7-8 days in late Feb. early May 1845 where he most
likely composed or revealed his Khuṭba jiddah -- though
there appears to be a mss. associating this (or another? ) work with Bushire (Afnan, `Ahd, 474 fn. 18).
If composed at Jeddah
this would have been a little less than
a year after the Bab's Shiraz declaration before Mulla Ḥusayn on May 22-3rd 1844.
For the Bāb the khuṭba
is reckoned one of the 5 or more categories into which he divided his writings:
(1) Āyāt = qur’anic
style verses
(2) Munājāt =
Devotional pieces; prayers, supplications...
(3) Khuṭba = Sermons,
Orations, Homilies -- alternatively,
(3) Suwar-i
`ilmiyya (“Surahs expressive of divine knowledge”)
(4) Tafāsīr [sing.
Tafsīr] “Exegetical commentaries”) and
(5) Fārsī (Persian
language revelations).
The literay form of the Khuṭba was
especially significant during the earliest period of
the Bab's revelations (1844-1846) though it continued to have a significant
place in such late works as his Kitāb-i panj sha`n (Book of the Five [Revelational]
Modes) composed during the
latter period of the Bab's life in Adhirbayjan (1848-1850). Among the later
Khuṭbas composed by the Bāb was his Khuṭba-yi qahriyya
(the "Sermon of Wrath") written admonishing the prime minister of Fath `Alī Shāh
(r. 1797-1834), the fickle and corrupt Ḥajjī Mīrzā Āqasī
Erivanī (d. 1848).
The خطبةliterary
form is important in both Shi`ism and the Bābī religion often
indicating an Arabic `oration'
which is more than just a sermonic, homiletic type discourse in being a
weighty composition, something of
theological magnitude. Among the important Shi`i Khuṭbas known to
the Bab and influential upon his early claims is the doctrinally weighty Khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya (Sermon of the Gulf). This quasi- ghuluww ("extremist") sermon
is believed to have been delivered between Kufa and Medina by the first
Imam `Alī b. Abi Ṭālib (d. 40/66)(Rajab al-Bursī, Mashāriq , 166). It
commences as follows:
الحمد
لله
الذى فتق
الاجواء
وخرق
الهواء وعلق الارجاء
واضاء
الضياء
واحيى
الموتى وامات الاحياء
Praise be to God!
Who hath cleft the firmaments
asunder (cf. Q 21:30), split up the atmosphere, suspended the margins of the heavens
(Q. 69:17),
caused the solar luminary
[sun] (ḍiyā') to shine forth,
quickened the dead and made the living to
die....
These opening lines of the Khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya ("Sermon of the Gulf") echo portions
of the first Khutbah of `Ali in the Nahj al-Balagha (Path of Eloquence) compiled
in about 400/1009-10 by Sharīf al-Radī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mūsawī (d.406/1015) and are similar to those
of the
خطبة
الجدة
Khuṭba jiddah
of the Bāb
where we read:
Praised be to God! who raised up the Celestial
Throne (al-`arsh) upon the Watery
Expanse
(al-mā')
and the Atmosphere
(al-hawā')
upon the Face of
the Watery Expanse (al-mā').
THE KHUṬBAH
AL-JIDDAH
The Arabic
text
At least three mss. texts
of the Khutbah al-Jiddah are known to exist: (1) INBA mss. 5006C:
332-3; (2) 3036C:494-6 and (3) INBMC 91: 60-73 (cf. Ishrāq Khavarī, Muḥāḍirāt,
Vol.2 :729-31 and Taqwīm-i Tārīkh-i Amr ... (Tehran: Mu`assasah-i Milli-yi
Maṭbū`āt-i Amrī, BPT., 126 BE/ 1970, see p. 24) as well as Abu'l-Qasim Afnan's Ahd-i A`la... (Oneworld,
2000) pp. 86-87 ). The text reproduced
and translated here largely comes from a reading of INBMC
91: 60-73, an electronic copy of which sent in to me in
199X from the BWC Haifa (Israel). I have here and there corrected this
occasionally faulty text in the light of better alternative readings and
citations of the Khutba Jiddah in a number of Babi-Baha'i printed
sources and mss. including Ishraq Khavari's Muḥāḍirāt
(rep. 2 vols. Hofheim-Langenhain: Baha'i Verlag 143 BE/1987, see vol.2
pp. 729-31) where this writer insightfully interprets the difficult
dating schemata within the Khuṭba jiddah and
his own chronological work Taqwīm-i Tārīkh-i Amr ... (Tehran: Mu`assasah-i Milli-yi
Maṭbū`āt-i Amrī, BPT., 126 BE/ 1970, see p.24) as well as Abu'l-Qasim Afnan's Ahd-i A`la (Oneworld,
2000) (see the unreliable citation on pp. 86-87) (see further
bibliography below). All these texts have obvious errors and a number of
variant readings generated by obvious attempts to read original
mss. in a sometimes difficult, unpointed cursive Arabic text. This is
not to say that the text typed out below constitutes an assured text. As
yet there is no critical edition of the Khuta al-Jiddah. Orignal Mss.
are uncommon and difficult to obtain. In the typed text below what seem to be textual
problems, uncertainties or better variant readings in the recension of the mss.
included in INBMC
92: 60-73 are indicted by red asterisks (*)
which will be explained in footnotes.
FOR THE ARABIC TEXT AND REVISED
TRANSLATION REFER:
http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/03-THE%20BAB/KHUTBAS%20BAB/KHUTBA%20JIDDAH-TEXT%20AND%20TRANS.htm
SELECT
NOTES
"Jeddah in the last quarter of
the twentieth (Gregorian) century - or the first quarter of the
fifteenth Hijra century - is a phenomenon. It is an ancient Arabian
city, and the core of it is, to this day, traditionally Arab : a highly
compact complex of fine nineteenth century merchants' houses, mosques,
schools and humbler dwellings, deep shaded alleys and a labyrinth of
markets and walkways, with the history of its indigenous inhabitants
written on every fanlight and corbel, lattice and balcony, dome and
minaret. Jeddah has traditionally been the commercial centre of Saudi
Arabia. At the same time, ever since the foundation of Islam fourteen
Hijra centuries ago, it has been the arrival and assembly point every
year for Muslims from all over the world closing in upon Holy Mecca on
the greatest journey of their lives, the hajj pilgrimage.
These attributes remain with Jeddah. Yet today it is also a modern city
growing at an unprecedented rate, whose 1980 population of about one
million, having doubled in the previous six years, is expected to have
more than doubled again in the following twenty years. It has grown,
remarkably, with a grace and controlled purpose that does much credit to
those who preside over its extraordinary expansionist energy.
It is a city, therefore, with a strikingly modern face, sophisticated in
its infrastructure and services, with an ancient heart which - as its
guardians recognise - it cannot "live" without.
This work is a record of Jeddah, "Bride of the Red Sea" - Arab, Islamic,
and cosmopolitan, Old and New : a unique seat of civilisation at a
unique moment in its history." (From Jeddah 1982: cover).
JEDDAH is a city-port of great
age: the gateway to Holy Mecca and western Arabia, "Bride of the Red
Sea". Confined for several centuries by its desert hinterland and an
uncertain water supply within massive walls of bleached coral,
Jeddah doubled in size between 1974 and 1980.
A generation earlier the walls were torn down. With them went
Jeddah's old identity, as the town began to advance across sand,
saltmarsh and coral reef into a sprawling modern city. It is still
growing as Saudi Arabians pour in from the hinterland to settle in
modern homes, and as foreigners take up temporary residence to play
their part in the country's dynamic growth.
Jeddah today is thus a city of striking variety: seascape and
cityscape, the ancient amid the modern, the elegant amid the garish
; a city of alleys and boulevards, of an aspect sometimes
utilitarian and sometimes aesthetic. Despite the contrasts, Jeddah
held to a distinctive Arab character—and in faithfulness to this
Arab essence, displays a living green against the parched dun of the
surrounding landscape.
To manage Jeddah is an awesome, costly task.
The city is situated about half way along the Red Sea's eastern
coast. Jeddah owes its existence to the presence of a gap in the
triple line of coral reefs fringing the Red Sea shore and to another
gap in the Great Arabian Massif barrier which allowed communications
—via the Wadi Fatima—inland to Mecca. Arab geographers report
legends that Eve began her search for Adam at Jeddah (or, according
to some, returned to the town from Paradise), and that she is buried
there.
The nucleus of the city began to form at the north end of a bay so
encumbered with banks of reefs that it seems strange that such an
inhospitable anchorage on the coast of Arabia should have become a
busy seaport. To be sure, a small settlement existed from the very
earliest times, but it was when the cities of the Mediterranean
gained a taste for incense from South Arabia and ship-borne spices
and luxuries from the East that the town started to grow. The
ancient town's Persian masters were obliged to dig three hundred or
more wells and cisterns in the sixth century C.E. With the
coming of Islam at the beginning of the seventh century, the port's
significance was assured for all time.
Yet even as the principal port for pilgrims to Mecca—a mere
forty-seven miles inland in a bowl of barren hills—Jeddah does not
appear to have been first choice. The landing for Mecca was at
Shuaiba, at the south of the bay, until the Caliph Uthman was called
in to find a harbour safer from pirates in the twenty-sixth year of
the Islamic era (646-647). Qutb Ai-Din tells that the Caliph bathed
in the sea at Jeddah and liked it. Nowadays, well over one million
pilgrims arrive through Jeddah's airport and harbour every year,
from every corner of the Islamic world.
At first, Jeddah found itself the main port for the expanding Arab
empire. With the transfer of the Caliphate northwards—to Baghdad and
Damascus—Jeddah retained a hold on the profitable Red Sea spice
trade. The Persian poet, Naser Khusrow, visited the town in 1050 and
left the first written account. He describes a thriving place:
"Jeddah is a great city surrounded by a strong wall, with a
population of some five thousand males. The bazaars are fine. There
are no trees or any vegetation at all, but all that is necessary for
life is brought in from surrounding villages."
The mounting sea power of Europe threatened this prosperity. The
circumnavigation of Africa by Vasco da Gama in the later fifteenth
century turned Portuguese eyes to the rich opportunities of the
eastern trade. A former dependant of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt,
Hussein Al-Kurdi, styled himself governor of Jeddah and rebuilt the
walls of the town. They withstood a Portuguese attack and blockade.
But in 1517, the town fell under the power of the Ottoman Turks, as
part of the domain of the Sharif of Mecca.
As the Portuguese, Dutch and English began to monopolize
trade, Jeddah ceased to be a commercial entrepot of importance and
subsided into its traditional role as a pilgrim port. It continued
to act as a transit point for commerce between Egypt and India, but
it was in a dilapidated state when visited by the Danish expedition
under Carsten Niebuhr in 1761:
"The
walls are still standing but are now so ruinous that a person
may, in many places, enter over them on horseback. In the city,
however, there are several fine buildings of coral stone. The
city is entirely destitute of water. The inhabitants have none
to drink but what is collected by Arabs in reservoirs among the
hills and brought thence on camels."
In the
early nineteenth century, Turkish rule was interrupted, first by the
Saudis of Central Arabia and then by the Egyptians, but the Turks
were back in partnership with the Sharif by 1840. As the India trade
expanded, the European powers established consulates in a special
quarter just inside the northern gates. Jacob Burckhardt, the Swiss
traveller, describes the arrival of the India fleet on the May
monsoon as a time of intense excitement. The Jeddah merchants
"having collected as many dollars and sequins as their
circumstances... (from Jeddah Old and New 1982:ADD).
Extract from MAKKAH A HUNDRED YEARS
AGO OR C. SNOUCK HURGRONJE'S REMARKABLE ALBUMS EDITED, WITH A NEW
INTRODUCTION, BY ANGELO PESCE, LONDON 1986 :
"Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje was
an extraordinarily prolific scholar in the fields of philology,
literature, history, jurisprudence and sociology, both Arab and
Indonesian. An exhaustive bibliography of his work has not been so far
compiled, and it is not our aim to provide one, even in consideration of
the fact that most of his miscellaneous papers have been collected in
two of the publications listed below (6 and 8).
-
1. Het Mekkaansche Feest.
Leiden, 1880.
Snouck Hurgronje's doctoral thesis on the Pilgrimage.
-
2. Mekka (mit Bilder-Atlas).
Den Haag, 1888-1889.
His opus prínceps in two volumes, with an album of photographs and
drawings on Makkah.
-
3. Bilder aus
Mekka. Leiden, 1889.
An album of a supplementary set of photographs on Makkah and the
Pilgrimage.
-
4. De Atjehers. Vol. I,
Leiden, 1893; Vol. II, Leiden, 1894.
A fundamental ethnographic work in two volumes on the Atjehnese of
northwestern Sumatra.
-
5. The Achehnese, tr. by
A.W.S. C T Sullivan. Leiden and London, 1906. An English translation
of De Atjehers, also in two volumes.
-
6. Verspreide Geschriften (Gesammelte
Schriften) Vol. I-V, Bonn-Leipzig 1923-1925; Vol. VI, Leiden, 1927.
A collection of all but the most marginal articles, papers and
essays, covering the period from 1880 to 1926, excluding 2 to 5
above.
-
7. Mekka in the Latter Part
of the 19th Century, tr. by J.H. Monahan. Leiden and London, 1931.
A somewhat abridged English translation of Vol. II of Mekka.
-
8. Oeuvres Choisies -
Selected Works. Edited in English and French by G. - H. Bousquet and
J. Schacht. Leiden, 1957.
A volume published on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of
Snouck Hurgronje, with English or French translations of articles
which had already appeared, and texts for the first time translated
into either language.
Works published in the decade
between 1926 (the last one covered by the Verspreide Geschriften) and
Snouck Hurgronje's death in 1936 remain uncollected, consisting mainly
of book reviews and obituaries. Of the assiduous correspondence he
maintained up to his last days with other Oriental scholars and Muslim
personalities, two volumes have been recently published, namely:
Snouck Hurgronje, C
-
Trans. J. H. Monahan.
MEKKA in the Latter Part of the
19™ Cent. DAILY LIFE, CUSTOMS AND LEARNING THE MOSLIMS OF THE
EAST-INDIAN-ARCHIPELAGO C. SNOUCK HURGRONJE LITT. D. PROFESSOR AT THE
LEYDEN UNIVERSITY TRANSLATED BY J. H. MONAHAN FORMERLY H. B. M. CONSUL
AT JEDDAH (WITH 20 PLATES AND 3 MAPS) PHOTOMECHANICAL REPRINT. This an
abridged trans. of vol. 2 of the 2 vol.
Mekka (mit Bilder-Atlas). Den
Haag, 1888-1889.. It was
first printed in Leiden: E.
J. Brill + London: Luzac and Co., 1931. and reprinted, Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1970.
Pesce, Angelo ,
-
MAKKAH A HUNDRED YEARS AGO OR C.
SNOUCK HURGRONJE'S REMARKABLE ALBUMS EDITED, WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION, BY
ANGELO PESCE, LONDON 1986
Jeddah and the
prilgrimage of the Bab in the Tarikh-i Zarandi
Upon His arrival in Jaddih, the Báb
donned the pilgrim's garb, mounted a camel, and set out on His journey to
Mecca. Quddus, however, notwithstanding the repeatedly expressed desire of
his Master, preferred to accompany Him on foot all the way from Jaddih to
that holy city. Holding in his hand the bridle of the camel upon which the
Báb was riding, he walked along joyously and prayerfully, ministering to his
Master's needs, wholly indifferent to the fatigues of his arduous march.
Every night, from eventide until the break of day, Quddus, sacrificing
comfort and sleep, would continue with unrelaxing vigilance to watch beside
his Beloved, ready to provide for His wants and to ensure the means of His
protection and safety.
One day, when the Báb had dismounted close to a well in order to offer His
morning prayer, a roving Bedouin suddenly appeared on the horizon, drew near
to Him, and, snatching the saddlebag that had been lying on the ground
beside Him, and which contained His writings and papers, vanished into the
unknown desert. His Ethiopian servant set out to pursue him, but was
prevented by his Master, who, as He was praying, motioned to him with His
hand to give up his pursuit. "Had I allowed you," the Báb later on
affectionately assured him, "you would surely have overtaken and punished
him. But this was not to be. The papers and writings which that bag
contained are destined to reach, through the instrumentality of this Arab,
such places as we could never have succeeded in attaining. Grieve not,
therefore, at his action, for this was decreed by God, the Ordainer, the
Almighty." Many a time afterwards did the Báb on similar occasions seek to
comfort His friends by such reflections. By words such as these He turned
the bitterness of regret and of resentment into radiant acquiescence in the
Divine purpose and into joyous submission to God's will.
On the day of Arafat,[1] the Báb, seeking the quiet seclusion of His cell,
devoted His whole time to meditation and worship. On the following day, the
day of Nahr, after He had offered the feast-day prayer, He proceeded to Muna,
where, according to ancient custom, He purchased nineteen lambs of the
choicest breed, of which He sacrificed nine in 133 His own name, seven in
the name of Quddus, and three in the name of His Ethiopian servant. He
refused to partake of the meat of this consecrated sacrifice, preferring
instead to distribute it freely among the poor and needy of that
neighbourhood.
[1 The day preceding the festival.]
Although the month of Dhi'l-Hijjih,[1] the month of pilgrimage to Mecca and
Medina, coincided in that year with the first month of the winter season,
yet so intense was the heat in that region that the pilgrims who made the
circuit of 134 the sacred shrine were unable to perform that rite in their
usual garments. Draped in a light, loose-fitting tunic, they joined in the
celebration of the festival. The Báb, however, refused, as a mark of
deference, to discard either His turban or cloak. Dressed in His usual
attire, He, with the utmost dignity and calm, and with extreme simplicity
and reverence, compassed the Ka'bih and performed all the prescribed rites
of worship.
[1 December, 1844 A.D.]
On the last day of His pilgrimage to Mecca, the Báb met Mirza
Muhit-i-Kirmani. He stood facing the Black Stone, when the Báb approached
him and, taking his hand in His, addressed him in these words: "O Muhit! You
regard yourself as one of the most outstanding figures of the shaykhi
community and a distinguished exponent of its teachings. In your heart you
even claim to be one of the direct successors and rightful inheritors of
those twin great Lights, those Stars that have heralded the morn of Divine
guidance. Behold, we are both now standing within this most sacred shrine.
Within its hallowed precincts, He whose Spirit dwells in this place can
cause Truth immediately to be known and distinguished from falsehood, and
righteousness from error. Verily I declare, none besides Me in this day,
whether in the East or in the West, can claim to be the Gate that leads men
to the knowledge of God. My proof is none other than that proof whereby the
truth of the Prophet Muhammad was established. Ask Me whatsoever you please;
now, at this very moment, I pledge Myself to reveal such verses as can
demonstrate the truth of My mission. You must choose either to submit
yourself unreservedly to My Cause or to repudiate it entirely. You have no
other alternative. If you choose to reject My message, I will not let go
your hand until you pledge your word to declare publicly your repudiation
135 of the Truth which I have proclaimed. Thus shall He who speaks the
Truth be made known, and he that speaks falsely shall be condemned to
eternal misery and shame. Then shall the way of Truth be revealed and made
manifest to all men."
This peremptory challenge, thrust so unexpectedly by the Báb upon Mirza
Muhit-i-Kirmani, profoundly distressed him. He was overpowered by its
directness, its compelling 136 majesty and force. In the presence of that
Youth, he, notwithstanding his age, his authority and learning, felt as a
helpless bird prisoned in the grasp of a mighty eagle. Confused and full of
fear, he replied: "My Lord, my Master! Ever since the day on which my eyes
beheld You in Karbila, I seemed at last to have found and recognized Him who
had been the object of my quest. I renounce whosoever has failed to
recognize You, and despise him in whose heart may yet linger the faintest
misgivings as to Your purity and holiness. I pray You to overlook my
weakness, and entreat You to answer me in my perplexity. Please God I may,
at this very place, within the precincts of this hallowed shrine, swear my
fealty to You, and arise for the triumph of Your Cause. If I be insincere in
what I declare, if in my heart I should disbelieve what my lips proclaim, I
would deem myself utterly unworthy of the grace of the Prophet of God, and
regard my action as an act of manifest disloyalty to Ali, His chosen
successor."
The Báb, who listened attentively to his words, and who was well aware of
his helplessness and poverty of soul, answered and said: "Verily I say, the
Truth is even now known and distinguished from falsehood. O shrine of the
Prophet of God, and you, O Quddus, who have believed in Me! I take you both,
in this hour, as My witnesses. You have seen and heard that which has come
to pass between Me and him. I call upon you to testify thereunto, and God,
verily, is, beyond and above you, My sure and ultimate Witness. He is the
All-Seeing, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. O Muhit! Set forth whatsoever
perplexes your mind, and I will, by the aid of God, unloose My tongue and
undertake to resolve your problems, so that you may testify to the
excellence of My utterance and realise that no one besides Me is able to
manifest My wisdom."
Mirza Muhit responded to the invitation of the Báb and submitted to Him his
questions. Pleading the necessity of his immediate departure for Medina, he
expressed the hope of receiving, ere his departure from that city, the text
of the promised reply. "I will grant your request," the Báb assured him. On
My way to Medina I shall, with the assistance of God, reveal My answer to
your questions. If I meet you 137 not in that city, My reply will surely
reach you immediately after your arrival at Karbila. Whatever justice and
fairness may dictate, the same shall I expect you to fulfil. 'If ye do well,
to your own behoof will ye do well: and if ye do evil, against yourselves
will ye do it.' 'God is verily independent of all His creatures.'"[1]
[1 Verses of the Qur'án.]
Mirza Muhit, ere his departure, again expressed his firm resolve to redeem
his solemn pledge. "I shall never depart from Medina," he assured the Báb,
"whatever may betide, until I have fulfilled my covenant with You." As the
mote which is driven before the gale, he, unable to withstand the sweeping
majesty of the Revelation proclaimed by the Báb, fled in terror from before
His face. He tarried awhile in Medina and, faithless to his pledge and
disregardful of the admonitions of his conscience, left for Karbila.
The Báb, faithful to His promise, revealed, on His way from Mecca to Medina,
His written reply to the questions that had perplexed the mind of Mirza
Muhit, and gave it the name of Sahifiyi-i-Baynu'l-Haramayn.[1] Mirza Muhit,
who received it in the early days of his arrival in Karbila, remained
unmoved by its tone and refused to recognize the precepts which it
inculcated. His attitude towards the Faith was one of concealed and
persistent opposition. At times he professed to be a follower and supporter
of that notorious adversary of the Báb, Haji Mirza Karim Khan, and
occasionally claimed for himself the station of an independent leader.
Nearing the end of his days, whilst residing in Iraq, he, feigning
submission to Bahá'u'lláh, expressed, through one of the Persian princes who
dwelt in Baghdad, a desire to meet Him. He requested that his proposed
interview be regarded as strictly confidential. "Tell him," was
Bahá'u'lláh's reply, "that in the days of My retirement in the mountains of
Sulaymaniyyih, I, in a certain ode which I composed, set forth the essential
requirements from every wayfarer who treads the path of search in his quest
of Truth. Share with him this verse from that ode: 'If thine aim be to
cherish thy life, approach not our court; but if sacrifice be thy heart's
desire, come and let others come with thee. For such is the way of Faith, if
in 138 thy heart thou seekest reunion with Baha; shouldst thou refuse to
tread this path, why trouble us? Begone!' If he be willing, he will openly
and unreservedly hasten to meet Me; if not, I refuse to see him."
Bahá'u'lláh's unequivocal answer disconcerted Mirza Muhit. Unable to resist
and unwilling to comply, he departed for his home in Karbila the very day he
received that message. As soon as he arrived, he sickened, and, three days
later, he died.
[1 "The Epistle between the Two Shrines."]
No sooner had the Báb performed the last of the observances in connection
with His pilgrimage to Mecca than he addressed an epistle to the Sherif of
that holy city, wherein He set forth, in clear and unmistakable terms, the
distinguishing features of His mission, and called upon him to arise and
embrace His Cause. This epistle, together with selections from His other
writings, He delivered to Quddus, and instructed him to present them to the
Sherif. The latter, however, too absorbed in his own material pursuits to
incline his ear to the words which had been addressed to him by the Báb,
failed to respond to the call of the Divine Message. Haji Niyaz-i-Baghdadi
has been heard to relate the following: "In the year 1267 A.H.,[1] I
undertook a pilgrimage to that holy city, where I was privileged to meet the
Sherif. In the course of his conversation with me, he said: 'I recollect
that in the year '60, during the season of pilgrimage, a youth came to visit
me. He presented to me a sealed book which I readily accepted but was too
much occupied at that time to read. A few days later I met again that same
youth, who asked me whether I had any reply to make to his offer. Pressure
of work had again detained me from considering the contents of that book. I
was therefore unable to give him a satisfactory reply. When the season of
pilgrimage was over, one day, as I was sorting out my letters, my eyes fell
accidentally upon that book. I opened it and found, in its introductory
pages, a moving and exquisitely written homily which was followed by verses
the tone and language of which bore a striking resemblance to the Qur'án.
All that I gathered from the perusal of the book was that among the people
of Persia a man of the seed of Fatimih and descendant of the family of
Hashim, had raised a new call, and was announcing 139 to all people the
appearance of the promised Qá'im. I remained, however, ignorant of the name
of the author of that book, nor was I informed of the circumstances
attending that call.' 'A great commotion,' I remarked, 'has indeed seized
that land during the last few years. A Youth, a descendant of the Prophet
and a merchant by profession, has claimed that His utterance was the Voice
of Divine inspiration. He has publicly asserted that, within the space of a
few days, there could stream from His tongue verses of such number and
excellence as would surpass in volume and beauty the Qur'án itself -- a work
which it took Muhammad no less than twenty-three years to reveal. A
multitude of people, both high and low, civil and ecclesiastical, among the
inhabitants of Persia, have rallied round His standard and have willingly
sacrificed themselves in His path. That Youth has, during the past year, in
the last days of the month of Sha'ban,[2] suffered martyrdom in Tabriz, in
the province of Adhirbayjan. They who persecuted Him sought by this means to
extinguish the light which He kindled in that land. Since His martyrdom,
however, His influence has pervaded all classes of people.' The Sherif, who
was listening attentively, expressed his indignation at the behaviour of
those 140 who had persecuted the Báb. 'The malediction of God be upon
these evil people,' he exclaimed, 'a people who, in days past, treated in
the same manner our holy and illustrious ancestors!' With these words the
Sherif concluded his conversation with me."
[1 1850-51 A.D.]
[2 July, 1850 A.D.]
From Mecca the Báb proceeded to Medina. It was the first day of the month of
Muharram, in the year 1261 A.H.,[1] when He found Himself on the way to that
holy city. As He approached it, He called to mind the stirring events that
had immortalised the name of Him who had lived and died within its walls.
Those scenes which bore eloquent testimony to the creative power of that
immortal Genius seemed to be re-enacted, with undiminished splendour, before
His eyes. He prayed as He drew nigh unto that holy sepulchre which enshrined
the mortal remains of the Prophet of God. He also remembered, as He trod
that holy ground, that shining Herald of His own Dispensation. He knew that
in the cemetery of Baqi', in a place not far distant from the shrine of
Muhammad, there had been laid to rest Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Ahsa'i, the harbinger
of His own Revelation, who, after a life of onerous service, had decided to
spend the evening of his days within the precincts of that hallowed shrine.
There came to Him also the vision of those holy men, those pioneers and
martyrs of the Faith, who had fallen gloriously on the field of battle, and
who, with their life-blood, had sealed the triumph of the Cause of God.
Their sacred dust seemed as if reanimated by the gentle tread of His feet.
Their shades seemed to have been stirred by the reviving breath of His
presence. They looked to Him as if they had arisen at His approach, were
hastening towards Him, and were voicing their welcome. They seemed to be
addressing to Him this fervent plea: 'Repair not unto Thy native land, we
beseech Thee, O Thou Beloved of our hearts! Abide Thou in our midst, for
here, far from the tumult of Thine enemies who are lying in wait for Thee,
Thou shalt be safe and secure. We are fearful for Thee. We dread the
plottings and machinations of Thy foes. We tremble at the thought that their
deeds might bring eternal damnation to their souls." "Fear not," the Báb's
indomitable Spirit replied: "I am come into this 141 world to bear witness
to the glory of sacrifice. You are aware of the intensity of My longing; you
realise the degree of My renunciation. Nay, beseech the Lord your God to
hasten the hour of My martyrdom and to accept My sacrifice. Rejoice, for
both I and Quddus will be slain on the altar of our devotion to the King of
Glory. The blood which we are destined to shed in His path will water and
revive the garden of our immortal felicity. The drops of this consecrated
blood will be the seed out of which will arise the mighty Tree of God, the
Tree that will gather beneath its all-embracing shadow the peoples and
kindreds of the earth. Grieve not, therefore, if I depart from this land,
for I am hastening to fulfil My destiny." 142
[1 Friday, January 30, 1845 A.D.]
CHAPTER VIII, THE BÁB'S STAY IN SHIRAZ AFTER THE PILGRIMAGE
THE visit of the Báb to Medina marked the concluding stage of His pilgrimage
to Hijaz. From thence He returned to Jaddih, and by way of the sea regained
His native land. He landed at Bushihr nine lunar months after He had
embarked on His pilgrimage from that port. In the same khan [1] which He had
previously occupied, He received His friends and relatives, who had come to
greet and welcome Him. ... 144.
[1 Similar to a caravanserai.]
[2 Literally meaning "The Seven Qualifications.]
(Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 131)
SELECT
NOTES
2:4 "triplicity [trinitarian
threefoldness] (ṭamṭām al-tathlīth)" + "the oceans the
crucifix [Cross] (abḥār al-ṣalīb)"....
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a) Babi-Baha'i
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Afnan, Mirza Habib-Allah Afnan.
`Alī
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al-Ḥusayn (comp.
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Khutba al-Safinah
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to Mecca' .Not extant?
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on board ship' (?= 'a khuṭba revealed in Jidda at the time of his
embarkation on the ship') 1. Tehran, IΝΒΑ 4011C, pp. 348-51 2.
Tehran, IΝΒΑ 5006C, pp. 339-40
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Kh- Huruf = Khuṭba on `ilm al-ḥurūf
: Mss. = (1) Tehran, INBA 5006C, pp. 315-17 (2) Tehran, INBA 6004C,
pp. 209-213 (3) Tehran, INBMC 67, pp. 228-33
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Khuṭba on gematria' 1.
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Khuṭba revealed one stage from
Medina' 1. Tehran, INBA 5006C, pp. 322-24
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(xi) Two khuṭbas revealed near
the staging-post of al-Safra' 1. Tehran, ΓΝΒΑ 5006C, pp. 320-22 and
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Duncan, George + Engineer Zaki Farsi
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Jeddah Old and New, London:
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905743 22 9
Mirza Mohammad Hosayn Farâhâni
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A SHIÌTE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA
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contain materials pertaining to 19th century Jeddah and its earlier history.
Hartmann, P [Phoebe Ann Marr]
al-Yāqūt al-Rūmī, Shihāb al-Dīn
Abi `Abd-Allah Yāqūt ibn `Abd-Allāh al-Ḥamwarī al-Rūmī al-Baghdadi (
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'Uthmān b. Bişhr, 'Unwān al-madjd, Mecca 1349
Husayn b. Muhammad Naşîf, Madī al-Hidjāz wa-hãdiruh, 1349
Muhammad Labīb al-Batanūnī, al-Rıhla al-Hidlaçiyya, Cairo 1329
Hafız Wahba, Ķhamsūn 'amßDjazirat al֊ Arab, Cairo 1960
British Admiralty,
C. A. Nallino,
Isabel Burton,
Hopper
H. St. J. Philby,
Snouck Hurgronje,
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Mekka, ii, 1888
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in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-
en volkenkunde van NederlandschTndiee, 5th series, ii, 381 ff, 399 ff.
-
in Verhandl. der Gesell für
Erdkunde, xiv, 141
`Abd al-Ķuddūs al-Ansārī,
For the Ottoman period see
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Istanbul 1265, ii, 6 ff.
Ewliya Celebi, Seyahatname, ix, 794 ff.
Hādjdjī Khalīfa.
I. H. Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı tarihi,
iii/2, Ankara 1934, 44-5
G. W. F. Stripling,
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