Translation of French Foot-Notes of the Dawn-Breakers/Chapter IX

Translation of French Foot-Notes of the Dawn-Breakers by Emily Périgord

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Page 170, Note 1

"Bábism had many adepts in all classes of society, and many among them were of important standing; great lords, members of the clergy, military men and merchants had accepted this doctrine." (Journal Asiatique, 1866, tome 8, p. 251.)

Pages 171-172, Note 2

✶ ✶ ✶ "This personage was, as his name indicates, born at Dáráb near Shíráz; his father, Siyyid Ja’far, surnamed Kashfi, was one of the greatest and most celebrated ‘Ulamás of that period. His high moral character, his righteous ways had attracted to him universal esteem and consideration. His science had won for him the glorious name of Kashfi, that is to say, one who discovers and explains the divine secrets. Brought up by him, his son was not slow to equal him in every way and he enjoyed the public favor [Page 22]bestowed on his father. When he went to Ṭihrán, he was preceded by his fame and popularity. He became the regular guest of Prince Tahmásp Mírzá, Mu’ayyadu’d-Dawlih, grandson of Fatḥ-‘Alí Sháh by his father Muḥammad-‘Alí Mírzá. The government itself paid homage to his science and to his merit and he was consulted more than once in trying circumstances. It was of him that Muḥammad Sháh and Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí thought when they wished to find an honest emissary whose faithfulness could not be questioned.” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” p. 233.)

“While these events were taking place in the north of Persia, the central and southern provinces were deeply roused by the fiery eloquence of the missionaries of the new doctrine. The people, light, credulous, ignorant, superstitious in the extreme, were struck dumb by the incessant miracles which they heard related every moment; the anxious priests, feeling their flock quivering with impatience and ready to escape their control, redoubled their slanders and infamous imputations; the grossest lies, the most bloody fictions were spread among the bewildered populace, torn between horror and admiration. . . . Siyyid Ja‘far was unacquainted with the doctrine of the Shaykhís as he was with those of Mullá Ṣadrá. Nevertheless, his burning zeal and his ardent imagination had carried him, towards the end of his life, out of the ways of the orthodox Shiite. He interpreted the ‘ḥadíths’ differently from his colleagues and claimed even, so they said, to have fathomed the seventy inner meanings of the Qur’án. His son, who was to outdo these oddities, was at that time about thirty-five years of age. After the completion of his studies, he came to Ṭihrán where he became intimately associated with all that the court counted of great personages and distinguished men. It was upon him that the choice of His Majesty fell. He was, therefore, commissioned to go to Shíráz to make contact with the Báb and to inform the central authority, as exactly as possible, of the political consequences which would result from a reform which seemed likely to unsettle the heart of the country.” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” pp. 387–388.)

Page 175, Note 1

• * * “Within five hours’ time he revealed two thousand verses, that is, he spoke as fast as the scribe could write. One can judge thereby that, if he had been left free, how many of his works from the beginning of his manifestation until today would have been spread abroad among men.” (“Le Bayán Persan,” vol. I, p. 43.)

“God had given him such power and such fluency of expression that, if a scribe wrote with the most extreme rapidity during two days and two [Page 23]

TRANSLATION OF FRENCH FOOT-NOTES

nights without interruption, he would reveal, out of this mine of eloquence, the equivalent of the Qur’án.” (Ibid., vol. 2, p. 132.)

Page 175, Note 2 “Certainly the fact of writing, currente calamo, a new commentary on a súrih whose meaning is so obscure, should deeply astonish the Siyyid Yahyá, but that which surprised him even more was to find, in this commentary, the explanation that he, himself, had found in his meditation on these three verses. Thus he found himself in agreement with the Reformer in the interpretation that he had believed himself to be the only one to have reached and that he had not made known to anyone.” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” p. 234.)

Page 187, Note 2 “A bitter struggle broke out between the Muqaddas and Karím Khán who, as it is known, had taken the rank of chief of the Shaykhí sect, after the death of Kázim. The discussion took place in the presence of many people and Karím challenged his opponent to prove the truth of the mission of the Báb. ‘If you succeed,’ he said to him, ‘I will be converted and my pupils with me; but if you fail, I shall have it proclaimed in the bazaars: “Behold the one who tramples under foot the Holy Law of Islám!”’ ‘I know who you are, Karím,’ replied Muqaddas to him. ‘Do you not remember your Master Siyyid Kázim and that which he told you: “Dog, do you not wish that I should die that, after me, may appear the absolute truth?”’ Witness how today, urged on by your passion for riches and for glory, you lie to yourself!’

“Begun in this vein, the discussion was bound to be brief. Instantly, the pupils of Karím drew their knives and threw themselves upon him who was insulting their chief. Fortunately, the Governor of the city interposed; he had Muqaddas arrested and brought to his house where he kept him for a while and, when the excitement had subsided, he sent him away by night, escorted for several miles by ten mounted men.” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” pp. 228–229.)

Page 193, Note 1 ‘Meanwhile the turmoil, the intense discussions, the scandal continued in Shíráz, so much so that, annoyed by all this uproar and fearful of the outcome, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí ordered Ḥusayn Khán Nizámu’d-Dawlih to be done with the Reformer and to have him killed immediately and secretly.” (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Siyyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad dit le Báb,” p. 235.) [Page 24]

Page 194, Note I

"Extremely irritated, discontented and worried, the Mullás of Fárs, unable to foresee the heights that popular indignation against them might reach were not the only ones to be perplexed. The authorities of the town and of the province understood only too well that the people, who were under their care but who were never very much under their control, this time were quite independent of it. The men of Shíráz, superficial, mockers, noisome, quarrelsome, rebellious, insolent in the extreme, perfectly indifferent toward the Qájár dynasty, were never easy to govern and their administrators often passed wearisome days. What then would be the position of these administrators if the real chief of the city and of the country, the arbiter of their thoughts, their idol, were to be a young man who, undaunted, with no ties whatsoever, and no love of personal gain, made a pedestal of his independence and took advantage of it by impudently and publicly attacking every day all that which, until now, had been considered as strong and respected in the city?

"In truth, the court, the government and its policies had not as yet been the object of any of the violent denunciations of the Innovator, but, in view of the fact that he was so rigid in his habits, so unrelenting against intellectual dishonesty and the plundering practices of the clergy, it was unlikely that he would approve the same rapaciousness so flagrant in the public officials. One could well believe that the day when they would fall under his scrutiny, he would not fail to see and violently condemn the abuses which could no longer be concealed." (Comte de Gobineau’s “Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l’Asie Centrale,” pp. 122-123.)

Page 196, Note 2

The Báb refers to this incident in the “Dalá’il-i-Sab’ih” in the following terms: “Recall the first days of the Manifestation, how many people died of cholera! That was one of the wonders of the Manifestation yet no one understood it. During four years the scourge raged among the Muḥammadan Shiites without anyone grasping its true significance.” (“Le Livre des Sept Preuves,” translated by A. L. M. Nicolas, pp. 61-62.)