It has gladdened our hearts that His Honour the Ḥájí [the Báb] has arrived safely and is in good health. I am at His service and honoured to be in His company. It is deemed advisable that He should stay here for a while. God willing, He will, before long, honour those parts with His presence, be assured.... His blessed Person is our glory. Be certain of His Cause and do not let people's idle talk cause doubts to creep into your hearts. And have no fear whatsoever. The Lord of the world is His Protector and gives Him victory....
At the end of his letter Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad sent a message, on behalf of his wife, to the mother of the wife of the Báb: 'You have a son-in-law who is peerless in the world. All the peoples of the world ought to obey Him.'[3]
And in a letter written shortly after, to Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-`Ali, one of his sons, the same Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad quoted the Báb as saying: My proof is My Book—let him who can, produce the like of these verses.
Similarly, Muḥammad had said in the Qur'án:[4]
Say: 'Bring a Book from God that gives
better guidance than these, and follow it,
if you speak truly.'
Then if they do not answer thee, know that
they are only following their caprices;
and who is further astray than he who
follows his caprice without guidance from
God? Surely God guides not the people
of the evildoers.
—xxviii, 49-50.
Those are the signs of God that We recite to thee in truth;
in what manner of discourse then, after God and His signs,
will they believe?
—xlv, 5.
The Báb's entry into Shíráz was truly majestic. It bore no resemblance to the condition envisaged by the Governor. He had ordered the Báb to be brought to Shíráz in chains. Instead, there was the Báb riding, calm and serene, at the head of the horsemen. They went straight to the citadel where the Governor resided. Ḥusayn Khán received the Báb with overbearing insolence: 'Do you realise what a great mischief you have kindled? Are you aware what a disgrace you have become to the holy Faith of Islám and to the august person of our sovereign? Are you not the man who claims to be the author of a new revelation which annuls the sacred precepts of the Qur'án?'[5] The Báb spoke in reply these words from the Qur'án:[6]
O believers, if an ungodly man
comes to you with a tiding, make
clear,[CB] lest you afflict a people
unwittingly, and then repent of
what you have done.
—xlix, 6.