…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 Sháh delegated a certain person
named Siyyid Yahyá of Daráb, 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 proceed to Shíráz and
personally investigate this matter[Muhammad Sháh died September 4,
1848; the English translation of A Traveler’s Narrative first appeared in 1891].
When the above-mentioned Siyyid arrived at Shíráz he
interviewed the Báb three times. In the first and second conferences
questioning and answering took place; in the third conference he requested a
commentary on the Súrih called Kawthar[Qur’án 108], and when the Báb,
without thought or reflection, wrote an elaborate commentary on the Kawthar
in his presence, the above-mentioned Siyyid was charmed and enraptured with
Him, and straightway, without consideration for the future or anxiety about the
results of this affection, hastened to Burújird to his father Siyyid Ja’far,
known as Kashfí, and acquainted him with the matter. And, although he
was wise and prudent and was wont to have regard to the requirements of the
time, he wrote without fear or care a detailed account of his observations to
Mírzá Lutf-‘Alí the chamberlain in order that the latter might submit it to the
notice of the late king, while he himself journeyed to all parts of Persia, and
in every town and station summoned the people from the pulpit-tops in such wise
that other learned doctors decided that he must be mad, accounting it a sure
case of bewitchment. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)
