he adversaries. The regions of Nur were filled with excitement and
commotion at these events, and the noise of this mischief and trouble
smote the ears of the citizens of Barfuru_sh_. The chief divine of Nur,
Mulla Muhammad, was in Qi_sh_laq. When he heard of these occurrences he
sent two of the most distinguished and profound of the doctors, who were
possessed of wondrous eloquence, effective oratorical talent,
conclusiveness of argument, and brilliant powers of demonstration, to
quench this fire, and to subdue and overcome this Young Man by force of
argument, either reducing Him to penitence, or causing Him to despair of
the successful issue of His projects. Glory be to God for His wondrous
decrees! When those two doctors entered the presence of that Young Man,
saw the waves of His utterance, and heard the force of His arguments, they
unfolded like the rose and were stirred like the multitude, and,
abandoning altar and chair, pulpit and preferment, wealth and luxury, and
evening and morning congregations, they applied themselves to the
furtherance of the objects of this Person, even inviting the chief divine
to tender his allegiance. So when this Young Man with a faculty of speech
like a rushing torrent set out for Amul and Sari He met with that
experienced doctor and that illustrious divine in Qi_sh_laq of Nur. And
the people assembled from all quarters awaiting the result. His
accomplished reverence the divine, although he was of universally
acknowledged excellence, and in science the most learned of his
contemporaries, nevertheless decided to have recourse to augury as to
[whether he should engage in] discussion and disputation. This did not
prove favorable and he therefore excused himself, deferring [the
discussion] until some other time. His incompetency and shortcoming
thereby became known and suspected, and this caused the adherence,
confirmation, and edification of many.

In brief outline the narrative is this. For some while He wandered about
in those districts. After the death of the late prince Muhammad _Sh_ah He
returned to Tihran, having in His mind [the intention of] corresponding
and entering into relations with the Bab. The medium of this
correspondence was the celebrated Mulla 'Abdu'l-Karim of Qazvin, who was
the Bab's mainstay and trusted intimate. Now since a great celebrity had
been attained for Baha'u'llah in Tihran, and the hearts of men were
disposed towards Him, He, together with Mulla 'Abdu'l-K