Ibn-i-Mihriyar? Where are the Men of the Unseen, who are to traverse, in a
week, the whole surface of the earth? What of the conquest of the East and
West which the Qa'im is to effect on His appearance? Where is the one-eyed
Anti-Christ and the ass on which he is to mount? What of Sufyan and his
dominion?" "Are we," they noisily remonstrated, "are we to account as a
dead letter the indubitable, the unnumbered traditions of our holy Imams,
or are we to extinguish with fire and sword this brazen heresy that has
dared to lift its head in our land?"

To these defamations, threats and protestations the learned and resolute
champions of a misrepresented Faith, following the example of their
Leader, opposed unhesitatingly treatises, commentaries and refutations,
assiduously written, cogent in their argument, replete with testimonies,
lucid, eloquent and convincing, affirming their belief in the Prophethood
of Muhammad, in the legitimacy of the Imams, in the spiritual sovereignty
of the Sahibu'z-Zaman (the Lord of the Age), interpreting in a masterly
fashion the obscure, the designedly allegorical and abstruse traditions,
verses and prophecies in the Islamic holy Writ, and adducing, in support
of their contention, the meekness and apparent helplessness of the Imam
Husayn who, despite his defeat, his discomfiture and ignominious
martyrdom, had been hailed by their antagonists as the very embodiment and
the matchless symbol of God's all-conquering sovereignty and power.

This fierce, nation-wide controversy had assumed alarming proportions when
Muhammad _Sh_ah finally succumbed to his illness, precipitating by his
death the downfall of his favorite and all-powerful minister, Haji Mirza
Aqasi, who, soon stripped of the treasures he had amassed, fell into
disgrace, was expelled from the capital, and sought refuge in Karbila. The
seventeen year old Nasiri'd-Din Mirza ascended the throne, leaving the
direction of affairs to the obdurate, the iron-hearted Amir-Nizam, Mirza
Taqi _Kh_an, who, without consulting his fellow-ministers, decreed that
immediate and condign punishment be inflicted on the hapless Babis.
Governors, magistrates and civil servants, throughout the provinces,
instigated by the monstrous campaign of vilification conducted by the
clergy, and prompted by their lust for pecuniary rewards, vied in their
respective spheres with each other in hounding and heaping indignities on
the adherents of an outlawed Faith. For the fi