A Traveler's Narrative

page 9

At all events, this news being disseminated through all parts and regions of Persia, and several proselytes arriving in Fárs, the doctors perceived that the matter had acquired importance, that the power to deal with it had escaped from their hands, and that imprisonment, beating, tormenting, and contumely were fruitless. So they signified to the governor of Fárs, Husayn Khán, "If thou desirest the extinction of this fire, or seekest a firm stopper for this rent and disruption, an immediate cure and decisive remedy is to kill the Báb. And the Báb has assembled a great host and meditates a rising."

So Husayn Khán ordered `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán the high constable to attack the house of the Báb's's maternal uncle at midnight on all sides, and to bring Him and all His followers handcuffed. But `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán and his hosts found no one in the house save the Báb, His maternal uncle, and Siyyid Kázim of Zanján; and as it chanced that on that night the sickness of the plague and the extreme heat of the weather had compelled Husayn Khán to flee, he released the Báb on condition of His quitting the city.

On the morning after that night the Báb with Siyyid Kázim of Zanján set out from Shíráz for Isfahán. Before reaching Isfahán He wrote a letter to the Mu'tamídu'd-Dawlih, the governor of the province, requesting a lodging in some suitable place with the sanction of the government. The governor appointed the mansion of the Imám-Jum'ih. There He abode forty days; and one day, agreeably to the request of the Imám, He wrote without reflection a commentary on [the Súrih of] V'al-`Asr before the company. (7) When this news reached the