Claimants to The Office of He Whom God Will Make Manifest
Baha's Claim
The Allegation of Subh-i-Azal's Serving As A Screen
Nabil's Account
4. The Allegation of Subh-i-Azal's Serving As A Screen
Subh-i-Azal's serving as a screen behind which Baha sought shelter to work with impunity devoid of historical foundation.
4.2 Nabil's Account
Says Nabil in the Dawn-Breakers Nabil's Narrative: (PP. 431-432) In his prison in Chihriq the BÂB received "Mulla Adi-Guzal" commonly known as "Mirza Ali Sayyah" of Marragheh "and instructed him to visit the graves of Mulla Husayn and Quddus and bring back to him a handful of holy earth which covers their remains. Sayyah carried out his instructions, reached his destination on Rabi' Awal 1, A.H. 1264(January 15, 1850), and by the ninth day of that same month (January 23, 1850) he had performed his visit. From thence he proceeded to Teheran."
"Sayyah comes to visit Baha .. "(P. 433) Ere the departure of Sayyah from Teheran, Baha entrusted him with an epistle, the text of which he had dictated to Mirza Yahya [Subh-i-Azal, ibid footnote 1], and sent it in his name. Shortly after, a reply penned in the BÂB's own handwriting, in which he commits Mirza Yahya to the care of Baha and urges that attention be paid to his education and training, was received. That communication the people of the Bayan [Followers of Subh-i-Azal, ibid, footnote 2] have misconstrued as an evidence of the exaggerated claims which they have advanced in favour of their leader. Although the text of that reply is absolutely devoid of such pretensions, and does not, beyond the praise it bestows upon Baha and the request it makes for the upbringing of Mirza Yahya, contain any reference to his alleged position, yet his followers have idly imagined that letter castigates an assertion of the authority with which they have invested him."
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