hammad. The circumstances leading to
the revelation of the Tablet of Kullu't-Ta'am, written during that period,
at the request of Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din-i-Naraqi, a Babi of honorable
rank and high culture, could not but aggravate a situation that had
already become serious and menacing. Impelled by a desire to receive
illumination from Mirza Yahya concerning the meaning of the Qur'anic verse
"All food was allowed to the children of Israel," Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din
had requested him to write a commentary upon it--a request which was
granted, but with reluctance and in a manner which showed such
incompetence and superficiality as to disillusion Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din,
and to destroy his confidence in its author. Turning to Baha'u'llah and
repeating his request, he was honored by a Tablet, in which Israel and his
children were identified with the Bab and His followers respectively--a
Tablet which by reason of the allusions it contained, the beauty of its
language and the cogency of its argument, so enraptured the soul of its
recipient that he would have, but for the restraining hand of Baha'u'llah,
proclaimed forthwith his discovery of God's hidden Secret in the person of
the One Who had revealed it.

To these evidences of an ever deepening veneration for Baha'u'llah and of
a passionate attachment to His person were now being added further grounds
for the outbreak of the pent-up jealousies which His mounting prestige
evoked in the breasts of His ill-wishers and enemies. The steady extension
of the circle of His acquaintances and admirers; His friendly intercourse
with officials including the governor of the city; the unfeigned homage
offered Him, on so many occasions and so spontaneously, by men who had
once been distinguished companions of Siyyid Kazim; the disillusionment
which the persistent concealment of Mirza Yahya, and the unflattering
reports circulated regarding his character and abilities, had engendered;
the signs of increasing independence, of innate sagacity and inherent
superiority and capacity for leadership unmistakably exhibited by
Baha'u'llah Himself--all combined to widen the breach which the infamous
and crafty Siyyid Muhammad had sedulously contrived to create.

A clandestine opposition, whose aim was to nullify every effort exerted,
and frustrate every design conceived, by Baha'u'llah for the
rehabilitation of a distracted community, could now be clearly discerned.
Insinuations, whose purpose was to