Mullá Muḥammad-`Alí of Zanján, who, like Siyyid Yaḥyá of Dáráb, was destined to become a brilliant star in the Bábí firmament, was a practitioner of the Akhbárí school,[19] and that had placed him oftentimes at odds with other divines of his rank and station. Beyond that variance Mullá Muḥammad-`Alí was always very forceful and emphatic in the expression of his views. That forthrightness, sustained by his vast knowledge and lucid speech, had led to serious disputations with his peers. Time and again the mediation of no less a person than the monarch himself had saved the situation from deterioration into violence. He had once before been summoned to Ṭihrán, where, in the presence of Muḥammad Sháh, he had worsted his opponents. As the common parlance has it, he was not a man to mince his words.
There were a number of Bábís in Karbilá eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Báb. The news that the Báb had changed His route shook the faith of a few of them. As instructed by the Báb Himself, these Bábís left Karbilá for Iṣfahán. At Kangávar, situated between Kirmánsháh and Hamadán, they encountered Mullá Ḥusayn, the Bábu'l-Báb, and his brother and nephew, whose destination was Karbilá. But, hearing what had happened, Mullá Ḥusayn decided to accompany them to Iṣfahán. There he received the news from Shíráz that the Báb was under constraint. He determined to continue on to Shíráz, accompanied, as before, by his brother and nephew. He took off his turban and clerical robes and put on the accoutrements of a horseman of the Hizárih tribe in Khurásán. Thus he entered the gate of Shíráz and reached the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. Some days later Mírzá Muḥammad-`Alíy-i-Nahrí with his brother Mírzá Hádí, and Mullá `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Qazvíní arrived at Shíráz, and with them were Mullá `Abdu'l-`Alíy-i-Hirátí and Mullá Javád-i-Baraghání, who were fickle and deeply jealous of Mullá Ḥusayn. In spite of Mullá Ḥusayn's disguise, the enemies of the Báb soon recognized him, and the cry went up denouncing his presence in Shíráz. Then the Báb directed Mullá Ḥusayn to Yazd, whence he was to proceed to Khurásán. Others He also told to leave; only Mullá `Abdu'l-Karím remained to be His scribe. Those who had professed the Faith of the Báb to gain their own ends, such as Mullá `Abdu'l-`Alíy-i-Hirátí, went to Kirmán and attached themselves to Ḥájí Muḥammad-Karím Khán-i-Kirmání, who, by this date, had assumed the leadership of the Shaykhí community.
A number of other Bábís, as previously mentioned, also repaired to Shíráz and attained the presence of the Báb. One of them was Mullá Shaykh `Alí of Khurásán, whom the Báb designated as `Aẓím[CK] (Great). He was still in Shíráz when Siyyid Yaḥyáy-i-Dárábí came to make his investigation. Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí was another. Moreover, Shíráz itself had by this time a group of native Bábís. Ḥájí Abu'l-Ḥasan, the Báb's fellow-pilgrim, was one; another was a nephew of Shaykh Abú-Turáb, the Imám-Jum`ih, a youth named Shaykh-`Alí Mírzá; yet another, Ḥájí Muḥammad-Bisát, a close friend of the same Imám-Jum`ih; and to name a few more: Mírzá-Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz (Stirrup-maker), destined to fall a martyr, one of the very few who quaffed the cup of martyrdom in Shíráz itself; Luṭf-`Alí Mírzá, a descendant of the Afshár kings (1736-95), whom we shall meet in a subsequent chapter; Áqá Muḥammad-Karím, a merchant, who was eventually compelled by continued persecution to abandon his native city; Mírzá Raḥím, a baker, who became an ardent teacher of the Faith; Mírzá `Abdu'l-Karím, who had the office of key-holder to the shrine known as Sháh-Chirágh[CL] (King of the Lamp) where Mír Aḥmad, a brother of the eighth Imám, is buried; Mashhadí Abu'l-Qásim-i-Labbáf (Quilt-maker), whose son Ḥishmat achieved fame as a poet; Mírzá Mihdí, a poet of note, whose soubriquet was Ṣábir (Patient), and his son, Mírzá `Alí-Akbar. Most of these native Bábís of Shíráz embraced the Faith after hearing the Báb from the pulpit of the Mosque of Vakíl.
By the summer of 1846, the Báb had cleared the way for another chapter in the progress of His Ministry. He bequeathed all His property jointly to His mother and to His wife, who was to inherit subsequently the whole estate.[CM] Then He took up His residence in the house of His uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. That was the house where He was born and where He had spent much of His childhood. At the time of this move, He told those of His followers who had come to make their home in Shíráz to go to Iṣfahán. Included in that group were Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Yazdí, one of the Letters of the Living, who later became the amanuensis of the Báb, Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí and Mullá `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Qazvíní, the scribe.
One evening it was reported to the Governor that a large number of Bábís had gathered in the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. Ḥusayn Khán ordered `Abdu'l-Ḥamíd Khán, the Dárúghih (chief constable) of Shíráz, to rush the house of the uncle of the Báb, surprise its occupants and arrest everyone he found there. According to Nicolas, Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí had instructed the Governor to put the Báb to death in secret. It was apparently Ḥusayn Khán's intention to carry out the orders of the Grand Vizier that night. However, that very night a severe cholera epidemic swept the city,[CN] and Ḥusayn Khán fled precipitately. The chief constable and his men entered Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí's house by way of the roof-top, but found no one with the Báb, except His uncle and one disciple, Siyyid Káẓim-i-Zanjání. With the Governor gone, the chief constable decided to take the Báb to his own house. Reaching his home, `Abdu'l-Ḥamíd Khán found, to his horror and distress, that within the few hours of his absence his sons had been struck by cholera. He pleaded with the Báb for their recovery. It was now the hour of dawn and the Báb was preparing to say His morning prayer. He gave `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán some of the water with which He was making His ablutions and told him to take it to his sons to drink; they would recover, the Báb assured the chief constable. They recovered indeed, and `Abdu'l-Hamíd Khán was so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that he sought out the Governor and begged Ḥusayn Khán to permit him to release the Báb. `Abdu'l-Bahá states in A Traveller's Narrative that Ḥusayn Khán consented on condition that the Báb agreed to depart from Shíráz.[20]
NOTE
When this book had reached the stage of paginated proofs, the writer received a number of very important documents, one of which is a historical find of prime importance. It is a letter from the Báb to His uncle, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, written at Kunár-Takhtih, a stage further from Dálakí, on the Búshihr-Shíráz road. It was at Dálakí that He encountered the horsemen sent to arrest Him. He mentions the esteem shown to Him by those horsemen. But the importance of this letter lies in the fact that it is precisely dated: 24th of the 2nd Jamádí 1261, which corresponds to June 30th 1845. The date of the Báb's departure from Búshihr had nowhere been recorded and had remained unknown. It must have taken Him another week, at least, to reach Shíráz. Departing for Iṣfahán in the last days of September 1846, His sojurn in His native city was, thus, less than fifteen months.