ct formula of the
a_dh_an, sounded it in its amended form before a scandalized congregation
in _Sh_iraz, and was instantly arrested, reviled, stripped of his
garments, and scourged with a thousand lashes. The villainous Husayn
_Kh_an, the Nizamu'd-Dawlih, the governor of Fars, who had read the
challenge thrown out in the Qayyumu'l-Asma, having ordered that Mulla
Sadiq together with Quddus and another believer be summarily and publicly
punished, caused their beards to be burned, their noses pierced, and
threaded with halters; then, having been led through the streets in this
disgraceful condition, they were expelled from the city.

The people of _Sh_iraz were by that time wild with excitement. A violent
controversy was raging in the masjids, the madrisihs, the bazaars, and
other public places. Peace and security were gravely imperiled. Fearful,
envious, thoroughly angered, the mullas were beginning to perceive the
seriousness of their position. The governor, greatly alarmed, ordered the
Bab to be arrested. He was brought to _Sh_iraz under escort, and, in the
presence of Husayn _Kh_an, was severely rebuked, and so violently struck
in the face that His turban fell to the ground. Upon the intervention of
the Imam-Jum'ih He was released on parole, and entrusted to the custody of
His maternal uncle Haji Mirza Siyyid 'Ali. A brief lull ensued, enabling
the captive Youth to celebrate the Naw-Ruz of that and the succeeding year
in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity in the company of His mother,
His wife, and His uncle. Meanwhile the fever that had seized His followers
was communicating itself to the members of the clergy and to the merchant
classes, and was invading the higher circles of society. Indeed, a wave of
passionate inquiry had swept the whole country, and unnumbered
congregations were listening with wonder to the testimonies eloquently and
fearlessly related by the Bab's itinerant messengers.

The commotion had assumed such proportions that the _Sh_ah, unable any
longer to ignore the situation, delegated the trusted Siyyid
Yahyay-i-Darabi, surnamed Vahid, one of the most erudite, eloquent and
influential of his subjects--a man who had committed to memory no less than
thirty thousand traditions--to investigate and report to him the true
situation. Broad-minded, highly imaginative, zealous by nature, intimately
associated with the court, he, in the course of three interviews, was
completely won over by the arguments