The Epistle of the Báb to The Greatest Uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí, Revealed in Isfahán

Abstract: This paper presents a provisional English rendering of an Arabic Epistle of the Báb, revealed in Isfahán in honour of His maternal uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid ʿAlí, the “Greatest Uncle.” The Báb departed from Shíráz in late September 1846, with the intention of proceeding ultimately to Ṭihrán to seek an audience with Muḥammad Sháh Qájár. On His way northward, He sojourned for approximately six months in Isfahán as the honoured guest of Manūchehr Khān Muʿtamid al-Dawlih, during which period He revealed several Tablets of exceptional theological and historical import, notably the Commentary on Sūrat al-ʿAṣr and the Tablet of Nabūwat-i Khāṣṣah (The Special Prophethood of Muḥammad). The present Epistle is particularly noteworthy in that the Báb designates its precise date — Friday, the seventh day of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah 1262 A.H. (27 November 1846 C.E.) — and alludes to an intended mubāhalah (mutual imprecation) with the divines of Isfahán, to be held publicly in the Masjid-i-Jāmiʿ on either the Day of ʿArafah or the Day of Sacrifice. The encounter, however, did not transpire, as the ʿulamāʾ refrained from appearing. The text followed in this study is based on the typed version published in Abú’l-Qásim Afnán’s Ādh-i-Aʿlá, p. 231, and corroborated with the version printed in ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn Āvárih’s al-Kawākib al-Durriyyah, vol. 1, p. 105, where the year is erroneously recorded as 1263 A.H