The days of your companionship with Me are drawing to a close. The hour of separation has struck, a separation which no reunion will follow except in the Kingdom of God, in the presence of the King of Glory.[2]
Quddús left for Shíráz and took with him a letter from the Báb addressed to His uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. Meeting Quddús and hearing all he had to impart convinced Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí of the truth of the Cause of his Nephew, and he immediately pledged Him his unqualified allegiance.
Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas now reached Shíráz, accompanied by Mullá `Alí-Akbar-i-Ardistání, who had once been his pupil in Iṣfahán. Mullá Ṣádiq established himself in a mosque known as Báqir-Ábád, where he led the congregation in prayer. But as soon as he received a Tablet from the Báb, sent from Búshihr, he moved to the mosque adjoining His house. There he carried out the specific instruction of the Báb to include in the traditional Islamic Call to Prayer—the Adhán—these additional words: 'I bear witness that He whose name is `Alí Qabl-i-Muḥammad [`Alí preceding Muḥammad, the Báb] is the servant of Baqíyyatu'lláh [the Remnant of God, Bahá'u'lláh].'[3]
Then the storm broke. Shaykh Abú-Háshim, notorious for his behaviour on the pilgrim boat, had already written to his compatriots in Shíráz to arouse their fury. Now the divines of that city, led by Shaykh Ḥusayn-i-`Arab,[BQ] Ḥájí Shaykh Mihdíy-i-Kujúrí and Mullá Muḥammad-`Alíy-i-Maḥallátí, were demanding blood. Quddús, Muqaddas and Mullá `Alí-Akbar were arrested, hauled before the Governor-General, and mercilessly beaten, after which they suffered the punishments and indignities described in the London report already quoted (see p. [76]). But there were three of them, not four.[BR]
The Governor-General of the province of Fárs was Ḥusayn Khán, who was called Ájúdán-Báshí (the adjutant-major), and had also the titles of Ṣáḥib-Ikhtíyár and Niẓámu'd-Dawlih. Ḥusayn Khán was a native of Marághih in Ádharbáyján, and had served as Persian envoy both to London and Paris. In London, in June 1839, Lord Palmerston was at first inclined not to meet him, but then decided to receive him unofficially. At that time relations between Britain and Írán had reached a low point. Captain Hennell, the British Political Agent, had been forced to withdraw from Búshihr, and at the same time a British naval force had occupied the island of Khárg (Karrack). Palmerston thundered at Ḥusayn Khán: 'Had the Admiral on arriving on board turned his guns upon the town [Búshihr] and knocked it about their ears, in my opinion he would have been justified in so doing'.[4] When the envoy returned home, Muḥammad Sháh was so displeased that he had him severely bastinadoed. Nor had Ḥusayn Khán's mission to France, it would seem, been any more successful, although some obscurity surrounds his dealings with the French. In Paris he engaged a number of officers to train the Persian army, and there were irregularities in the matter of their travelling expenses. But more serious issues were involved, which are described by Sir Henry Layard[BS] in the following passage:
M. Boré,[BT] with all his learning and enlightenment, was a religious fanatic and profoundly intolerant of heretics. After residing with him for a fortnight, and having been treated by him with great kindness and hospitality, I found myself compelled, to my great sorrow, to leave his house [in 1840] under the following circumstances. The Embassy which the King of the French[BU] had sent to the Shah had not succeeded in obtaining the object of its mission, and had left Persia much irritated at its failure, which was mainly attributed by it and the French Government to English intrigues. The truth was, I believe, that they had been duped by Hussein Khan, who had been sent as ambassador to Paris. The subject was an unpleasant one for me to discuss, and I avoided it in conversation with my host. One day, however, at dinner, it was raised by M. Flandin,[5] the French artist, who denounced my country and countrymen in very offensive terms, M. Boré himself joining in the abuse. They accused the English Government and English agents of having had recourse to poison to prevent Frenchmen from establishing themselves and gaining influence in Persia, and of having actually engaged assassins to murder M. Outray, when on his way on a diplomatic mission to Tehran. I denied, with indignation, these ridiculous and calumnious charges, and high words having ensued, I moved from M. Boré's house to a ruined building occupied by Mr. Burgess.[BV][6]
Failure in London and tortuosity in Paris did not commend themselves to Muḥammad Sháh; and so, for the next few years, Ḥusayn Khán lived under a cloud. But in 1845 we find him riding high in the province of Fárs. He had been given that governorship because he was reputed to be a man stern in his judgments, and Fárs needed an iron hand.
Indeed Fárs had been in a terrifying plight. The people of Shíráz, high and low alike, had effectively played cat and mouse with the governors sent from Ṭihrán to rule over them. Firaydún Mírzá, the Farmán-Farmá, Muḥammad Sháh's own brother, much favoured by Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí and much detested by the Shírázís, was ousted by a combination of the grandees and the mob.
Mírzá Nabí Khán-i-Qazvíní, the Amír-i-Díván,[7] was also forced out, not once, but twice. On the second occasion many leading citizens—headed by Ḥájí Qavámu'l-Mulk[8] and Muḥammad-Qulí Khán-i-Ílbagí, a powerful chieftain of the Qashqá'í tribe—went to Ṭihrán, to demand the reinstatement of Firaydún Mírzá, whom they had previously challenged and maligned. Muḥammad Sháh kept them waiting in the capital. Mírzá Riḍá (Meerza Reza), the acting British Agent in Shíráz, reported on August 7th 1844 to Captain Hennell in Búshihr:
On the Evening of the 11th Rajab [July 28th] one of the King's Chapurs [couriers] arrived at Shiraz, bringing two Royal Firmans [edicts] which had been issued at the instance of His Excellency Colonel Sheil, to be published at Shiraz and Bushire....
One day the people, consisting of the principal and respectable Inhabitants and Merchants, were assembled in the Mosque, in order to hear the Firman from the Pulpit, when the turbulent and evil [sic] disposed tumultuously rushed in to prevent its being read, because addressed to the Ameer [Amír, the Governor]; These were of the followers of the Hajee Kuwaum [Ḥájí Qavám]. The Ameer then gave the Shiraz Firman into the hands of Resheed Khan, Surteep [Rashíd Khán-i-Sartíp], who took it to the New Mosque in the Naamutee [Ni`matí-Khánih] Quarter,[9] where it was published from the Reading Desks to the assembled Moollahs, respectable Inhabitants, and Merchants.
On the following day when the Ameer directed that the Firman should be read in the Dewan Khaneh [Díván-Khánih—the Court], the rioters fully armed again rushed in impetuously. Syed Hussein Khan and Resheed Khan then assembled their followers and topchees [túpchí: gunner], and complaining bitterly, requested permission to meet them ... nor was it without difficulty and much persuasion that the Ameer could induce them to desist pending instructions from the Capital.
The several Quarters of Shiraz are for the most part at feud—Thieving and disturbance are on the increase—The Ameer has not been dismissed nor has a new Governor been appointed.[10]