On the morning …the Báb with Siyyid Kázim of Zanján set out
from Shíráz for Isfáhán. Before reaching Isfáhán He wrote a letter to
the Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih, the governor of the province, requesting a lodging in
some suitable place with the sanction of the government. The governor appointed
the mansion of the Imám-Jum’ih[the leading clergy]. There He abode forty days;
and one day, agreeably to the request of the Imám, He wrote without reflection
a commentary on [the Súrih of] V’al-‘Asr before the company. [Qur’án 103] When
this news reached the Mu’tamíd he sought an interview with Him and questioned
Him concerning the “Special Mission.” At that same interview an answer proving
the “Special Mission” was written.
The Mu’tamíd[the governor] then gave orders that all the
doctors should assemble and dispute with Him in one conclave, and that the
discussion should be faithfully recorded without alteration by the
instrumentality of his private secretary, in order that it might be sent to Tihrán,
and that whatever the royal edict and decree should ordain might be carried
out.
The doctors, however, considering this arrangement as a
weakening of the Law, did not agree, but held a conclave and wrote, “If there
be doubt in the matter there is need of assembly and discussion, but as this
person’s disagreement with the most luminous Law is clearer than the sun
therefore the best possible thing is to put in practice the sentence of the
Law.” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)
