Not long before his death, Manúchihr Khán offered the Báb all his immense fortune,[CT] and the resources of his army which were considerable, that they might march to Ṭihrán and approach the person of Muḥammad Sháh. Manúchihr Khán was certain that the monarch, who trusted him completely, would listen to his plea, recognize the truth of the Revelation of the Báb, and whole-heartedly lend his support to the promotion of the new Faith. And Manúchihr Khán looked even beyond the frontiers of Írán, for he told the Báb: '... I hope to be enabled to incline the hearts of the rulers and kings of the earth to this most wondrous Cause...' To this the Báb replied:
May God requite you for your noble intentions. So lofty a purpose is to Me even more precious than the act itself. Your days and Mine are numbered, however; they are too short to enable Me to witness, and allow you to achieve, the realisation of your hopes. Not by the means which you fondly imagine will an almighty Providence accomplish the triumph of His Faith. Through the poor and lowly of this land, by the blood which these shall have shed in His path, will the omnipotent Sovereign ensure the preservation and consolidate the foundation of His Cause. That same God will, in the world to come, place upon your head the crown of immortal glory, and will shower upon you His inestimable blessings. Of the span of your earthly life there remain only three months and nine days, after which you shall, with faith and certitude, hasten to your eternal abode.[12]
The Báb, in His Tablet addressed to Muḥammad Sháh, states that He foretold, in a letter to two divines in Yazd, the date of the death of Manúchihr Khán, eighty-seven days before it occurred. And He mentions that Manúchihr Khán had offered Him all that he possessed, even taking off his rings and placing them before Him.
Manúchihr Khán had come to realize that his wealth was the product of oppression. The Báb accepted both his repentance and his wealth, then returned to him his riches for his use until his death, which occurred in the month of Rabí`u'l-Avval 1263 A.H. (February-March 1847 A.D.)
Even though in his will Manúchihr Khán left all his property to the Báb, his nephew and successor, Gurgín Khán, appropriated everything after his death, and informed Muḥammad Sháh that the Báb was in Iṣfahán, having been kept, well-protected, by the late Governor in the seclusion of `Imárat-i-Khurshíd. Muḥammad Sháh's trust in Manúchihr Khán was not shaken. He felt certain that that wise man and faithful servant had guarded the Báb against all possible harm until an opportune time when a meeting between himself and the Báb could be arranged. He issued orders for the removal of the Báb to the capital in such wise that He should not be recognized en route.
Those four months in the private residence of the Governor of Iṣfahán were the calmest that the Báb was to experience throughout His Ministry.[13]
CHAPTER 9
THE ANTICHRIST OF THE BÁBÍ REVELATION
No! by heav'n, which He
Holds, and the abyss and the immensity
Of worlds and life, which I hold with Him—No!
I have a victor, true, but no superior.
Homage he has from all, but none from me.
I battle it against Him, as I battled
In highest heav'n. Through all eternity
And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades
And the interminable realms of space
And the infinity of endless ages,
All, all, will I dispute. And world by world
And star by star and universe by universe
Shall tremble in the balance, till the great
Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease....
—Lucifer in Cain by Lord Byron