[3] Translated by H. M. Balyuzi.
[4] Shaykh Muḥammad was known as Shaykh `Ábid, and also as Shaykhuná and Shaykh-i-Anám. That his real name was Muḥammad is attested by this verse in the Arabic Bayán, one of the last works of the Báb: 'Say O Muḥammad, My teacher, do not beat me ere my years have gone beyond five.'
His school was in the quarter called Bázár-i-Murgh (Poultry Market), housed in a mosque-like structure which went by the name of Qahviy-i-Awlíyá'. It was close to the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, the uncle-guardian of the Báb. In its courtyard were a number of graves: three were particularly revered as those of saintly personages, one of whom was called Awlíyá'—though no one really knew whose were the graves.
It is known that Shaykh `Ábid wrote a monograph on the childhood of the Báb, but the manuscript has always been in the possession of people not well-disposed to the Faith of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, and they have persistently refused to give it up or to divulge its contents. Shaykh `Ábid was also destined in later years to accept the Faith proclaimed by his former Pupil.
[5] Account taken from Mírzá Abu'l Faḍl's unpublished writings.
[6] Nicolas, Seyyèd Ali Mohammed Dit le Bâb, pp. 189-90.
[7] Written in several volumes during the reign of Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh by Lisánu'l-Mulk of Káshán, whose soubriquet was Sipihr.
[8] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 20-2 (Brit.), pp. 25-9 (U.S.).
[9] ibid., pp. 22-3 (Brit.), p. 30 (U.S.).
[10] Ḥájí Mírzá `Alí's father was named Mírzá `Ábid.