[BD] Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá wrote in Arabic.
[BE] See [Prologue I].
[BF] Major Rawlinson nowhere mentions the name of the priest who is alleged to have been the possessor of a 'spurious' version of the Qur'án. It is obvious that the priest, about whom he was writing, could have been none other than Mullá `Alíy-i-Basṭámí, whom he wrongly designated as 'Shirazee' for the simple reason that he had come from Shíráz. His frequent references to the disciples of Siyyid Káẓim as 'Usúlí' indicate that his knowledge of the issue was meagre, for these disciples were known as Shaykhís. The term could have been more appropriately applied to the opponents of Siyyid Káẓim. They and their counterpart, the 'Akhbárís', followed different methods of interpretation within the Shí`ah fold. For a description of these schools of thought, see Browne, A Literary History of Persia, Vol. IV, pp. 374-6.
[BG] His province.
[BH] Rawlinson's letter to Sheil carries the statement that Mullá `Alí abjured his faith. Apart from the evidence of the devotion and heroism of the disciples of the Báb, which history amply provides, several factors must be considered. Major Rawlinson was not present at that meeting of the divines, which he termed 'the Court of Inquisition'. Therefore his information was secondhand. The emergence of Sunní-Shí`ah antagonism was another factor which would certainly have clouded the issue. The 'advent of the Imam' need not, necessarily, have troubled the Sunní conscience, because Sunnís have never believed in the Imámate and the occultation of the Twelfth Imám. Furthermore, that which Mullá `Alí is supposed to have rejected, according to Rawlinson, was a 'perverted copy of the Koran'. Would Mullá `Alí ever have an interpolated copy of the Qur'án to announce the message he had to give, or to prove it? And then the question must also be asked: if Mullá `Alí, the man who brought the news of the advent of the Báb, had recanted, how was it that 'considerable uneasiness' was becoming perceptible in Karbilá and Najaf, 'in regard to the expected manifestation of the Imam'?
[BI] Shí`ah divines.
[BJ] Official courier.
[BK] Mullá `Alí was before long caught up in a furore of agitation and oppression, was apprehended, put on trial and condemned to death. It has always been assumed that he was put to death somewhere in `Iráq (either in Mosul or beyond), while being taken to Istanbul, because nothing more was ever heard of him after he reached Mosul. But recent research in official archives has established the fact that he arrived in the Ottoman capital, was once again put on trial and was condemned to hard labour in the dockyards, where he died towards the end of 1846. (For most of this information the author is much indebted to Mr Sami Doktoroglu.)
[BL] The principal official responsible for public order in a town or city.
[BM] In Persia this Feast is usually called `Íd-i-Qurbán.