thought that violence and interference would cause extinction and silence
and lead to suppression and oblivion; whereas interference in matters of
conscience causes stability and firmness and attracts the attention of
men's sight and souls; which fact has received experimental proof many
times and often. So this punishment caused notoriety, and most men fell to
making inquiry.

The governor of Fars, acting according to that which the doctors deemed
expedient, sent several horsemen, caused the Bab to be brought before him,
censured and blamed Him in the presence of the doctors and scholars, and
loosed his tongue in the demand for reparation. And when the Bab returned
his censure and withstood him greatly, at a sign from the president they
struck Him a violent blow, insulting and contemning Him, in such wise that
His turban fell from His head and the mark of the blow was apparent on His
face. At the conclusion of the meeting they decided to take counsel, and,
on receiving bail and surety from His maternal uncle Haji Siyyid 'Ali,
sent Him to His house forbidding Him to hold intercourse with relations or
strangers.

One day they summoned Him to the mosque urging and constraining Him to
recant, but He discoursed from the pulpit in such wise as to silence and
subdue those present and to stablish and strengthen His followers. It was
then supposed that He claimed to be the medium of grace from His Highness
the Lord of the Age (upon Him be peace); but afterwards it became known
and evident that His meaning was the Gatehood [Babiyyat] of another city
and the mediumship of the graces of another Person Whose qualities and
attributes were contained in His books and treatises.

At all events, as has been mentioned, by reason of the doctors' lack of
experience and skill in administrative science, and the continual
succession of their decisions, comment was rife; and their interference
with the Bab cast a clamor throughout Persia, causing increased ardor in
friends and the coming forward of the hesitating. For by reason of these
occurrences men's interest increased, and in all parts of Persia some [of
God's] servants inclined toward Him, until the matter acquired such
importance that the late king Muhammad _Sh_ah delegated a certain person
named Siyyid Yahya of Darab, who was one of the best known of doctors and
Siyyids as well as an object of veneration and confidence, giving him a
horse and money for the journey so that he might pr