ho had ushered it in, in the potentialities with which it had been
from the outset so thoroughly impregnated, in the forces to which it
eventually gave birth, this nine-year period may well rank as unique in
the whole range of man's religious experience. We behold, as we survey the
episodes of this first act of a sublime drama, the figure of its Master
Hero, the Bab, arise meteor-like above the horizon of _Sh_iraz, traverse
the sombre sky of Persia from south to north, decline with tragic
swiftness, and perish in a blaze of glory. We see His satellites, a galaxy
of God-intoxicated heroes, mount above that same horizon, irradiate that
same incandescent light, burn themselves out with that self-same
swiftness, and impart in their turn an added impetus to the steadily
gathering momentum of God's nascent Faith.

He Who communicated the original impulse to so incalculable a Movement was
none other than the promised Qa'im (He who ariseth), the Sahibu'z-Zaman
(the Lord of the Age), Who assumed the exclusive right of annulling the
whole Qur'anic Dispensation, Who styled Himself "the Primal Point from
which have been generated all created things ... the Countenance of God
Whose splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can
never fade." The people among whom He appeared were the most decadent race
in the civilized world, grossly ignorant, savage, cruel, steeped in
prejudice, servile in their submission to an almost deified hierarchy,
recalling in their abjectness the Israelites of Egypt in the days of
Moses, in their fanaticism the Jews in the days of Jesus, and in their
perversity the idolators of Arabia in the days of Muhammad. The arch-enemy
who repudiated His claim, challenged His authority, persecuted His Cause,
succeeded in almost quenching His light, and who eventually became
disintegrated under the impact of His Revelation was the _Sh_i'ah
priesthood. Fiercely fanatic, unspeakably corrupt, enjoying unlimited
ascendancy over the masses, jealous of their position, and irreconcilably
opposed to all liberal ideas, the members of this caste had for one
thousand years invoked the name of the Hidden Imam, their breasts had
glowed with the expectation of His advent, their pulpits had rung with the
praises of His world-embracing dominion, their lips were still devoutly
and perpetually murmuring prayers for the hastening of His coming. The
willing tools who prostituted their high office for the accomplishment of