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CHAPTER XI
THE BAB'S STAY IN KASHAN
N THE eve of the Bab's arrival at Kashan, Haji Mirza Jani, surnamed
Parpa, a noted resident of that city, dreamed that he was standing at a late hour
in the afternoon at the gate of Attar, one of the gates of the city, when his
eyes suddenly beheld the Bab on horseback wearing, instead of His customary turban,
the kulah(1) usually
worn by the merchants of Persia. Before Him, as well as behind Him, marched a
number of horsemen into whose custody He seemed to have been delivered. As they
approached the gate, the Bab saluted him and said: " Haji Mirza Jani, We are to
be your Guest for three nights. Prepare yourself to receive Us."
When he awoke, the vividness of his dream
convinced him of the reality of his vision. This unexpected apparition constituted
in his eyes a providential warning which he felt it his duty to heed and observe.
He accordingly set out to prepare his house for the reception of the Visitor,
and to provide whatever seemed necessary for His comfort. As soon as he had completed
the preliminary arrangements for the banquet which he had decided to offer the
Bab that night, Haji Mirza Jani proceeded to the gate of Attar, and there waited
for the signs of the Bab's expected arrival. At the appointed hour, as he was
scanning the horizon, he descried in the distance what seemed to him a company
of horsemen
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approaching the gate of the
city. As he hastened to meet them, his eyes recognised the Bab surrounded by His
escort dressed in the same clothes and wearing the same expression as he had seen
the night before in his dream. Haji Mirza Jani joyously approached Him and bent
to kiss His stirrups. The Bab prevented him, saying: "We are to be your Guest
for three nights. To-morrow is the day of Naw-Ruz; we shall celebrate it together
in your home." Muhammad Big, who had been riding close to the Bab, thought Him
to be
an intimate acquaintance of
Haji Mirza Jani. Turning to him, he said: "I am ready to abide by whatever is
the desire of the Siyyid-i-Bab. I would ask you, however, to obtain the approval
of my colleague who shares with me the charge of conducting the Siyyid-i-Bab to
Tihran." Haji Mirza Jani submitted his request and was met with a flat refusal.
"I decline your suggestion," he was told. "I have been most emphatically instructed
not to allow this youth to enter any city until his arrival at the capital. I
have been particularly commanded to spend the night outside the gate of the city,
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to break my march at the
hour of sunset, and to resume it the next day at the hour of dawn. I cannot depart
from the orders that have been given to me." This gave rise to
a heated altercation which was eventually settled in favour of Muhammad Big, who
succeeded in inducing his opponent to deliver the Bab into the custody of Haji
Mirza Jani with the express understanding that on the third morning he should
safely deliver back his Guest into their hands. Haji Mirza Jani, who had intended
to invite to his home the entire escort of the Bab, was advised by Him to abandon
this intention. "No one but you," He urged, "should accompany Me to your home."
Haji Mirza Jani requested to be allowed to defray the expense of the horsemen's
three days' stay in Kashan. "It is unnecessary," observed the Bab; "but for My
will, nothing whatever could have induced them to deliver Me into your hands.
All things lie prisoned within the grasp of His might. Nothing is impossible to
Him. He removes every difficulty and surmounts every obstacle." The horsemen were
lodged in a caravanserai in the immediate neighbourhood of the gate of the city.
Muhammad Big, following the instructions of the Bab, accompanied Him until they
drew near the house of Haji Mirza Jani. Having ascertained the actual situation
of the house, he returned and joined his companions.
The night the Bab arrived at Kashan coincided
with the eve preceding the third Naw-Ruz, after the declaration of His Mission,
which fell on the second day of the month of Rabi'u'th-Thani, in the year 1263
A.H.(1) On that same night,
Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdi, who had previously, in accordance with the directions of
the Bab, come to Kashan, was invited to the house of Haji Mirza Jani and introduced
into the presence of his Master. The Bab was dictating to him a Tablet in honour
of His host, when a friend of the latter, a certain Siyyid Abdu'l-Baqi, who was
noted in Kashan for his learning, arrived. The Bab invited him to enter, permitted
him to hear the verses which He was revealing, but refused to disclose His identity.
In the concluding passages of the Tablet which He was addressing to Haji Mirza
Jani, He prayed in his behalf, supplicated the Almighty to illumine
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his heart with the light
of Divine knowledge, and to unloose his tongue for the service and proclamation
of His Cause. Unschooled and unlettered though he was, Haji Mirza Jani was able,
by virtue of this prayer, to impress with his speech even the most accomplished
divine of Kashan. He became endowed with such power that he was able to silence
every idle pretender who dared to challenge the precepts of his Faith. Even the
haughty and imperious Mulla Ja'far-i-Naraqi was unable, despite his consummate
eloquence, to resist the force of his argument, and was compelled to acknowledge
outwardly the merits of the Cause of his adversary, though at heart he refused
to believe in its truth.
Siyyid Abdu'l-Baqi sat and
listened to the Bab. He heard His voice, watched His movements, looked upon the
expression of His face, and noted the words which streamed unceasingly from His
lips, and yet failed to be moved by their majesty and power. Wrapt in the veils
of his own idle fancy and learning, he was powerless to appreciate the meaning
of the utterances of the Bab. He did not even trouble to enquire the name or the
character of the Guest into whose presence he had been introduced. Unmoved by
the things he had heard and seen, he retired from that presence, unaware of the
unique opportunity which, through his apathy, he had irretrievably lost. A few
days later, when informed of the name of the Youth whom he had treated with such
careless indifference, he was filled with chagrin and remorse. It was too late,
however, for him to seek His presence and atone for his conduct, for the Bab had
already departed from Kashan. In his grief, he renounced the society of his fellowmen,
and led, to the end of his days, a life of unrelieved seclusion.
Among those who were privileged
to meet the Bab in the home of Haji Mirza Jani was a man named Mihdi, who was
destined at a later time, in the year 1268 A.H.,(1)
to suffer martyrdom in Tihran. He and a few others were, during those three days,
affectionately entertained by Haji Mirza Jani, whose lavish hospitality earned
him the praise and commendation of his Master. To even the members of the Bab's
escort he extended the same loving-kindness, and, by
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his liberality and charm
of manner, won their lasting gratitude. On the morning of the second day after
Naw-Ruz, he, mindful of his pledge, delivered the Prisoner into their hands, and,
with a heart overflowing with grief, bade Him a last and touching farewell.
