On the promised morning the Child arrived followed by a
servant carrying a small [copper-tray] filled with sweets and a student’s
version of the Qur’an, which is customary for the new pupil to read from in
schools in Shiraz.
Because of Aqa Mirza Muhammad-Rida’s [the father of the Báb]
descriptions of Him, the Shaykh, several of students who had reached the age of
maturity, and I were thoroughly enthralled in watching Him. He came in, greeted
[every one] and sat before Shaykh Anam [His teacher]. Soon after, His maternal
uncle, Haji Mirza Siyyid Ali, arrived as well and sat next to the Shaykh. After
the exchange of formal pleasantries, the Shaykh took the Qur’an from the tray
of sweet-meats, opened it, and said [to the young Pupil], “Come Aqa, read.” He
smiled and said, “As you please.” As was customary, the Shaykh told Him to
read, “He is the Deliverer, the All-Knowing.” His Holiness remained silent. The
Shaykh repeated the verse, but He kept His silence. The Shaykh persisted. He
[the Bab] asked, “Who is ‘He’. Can you explain?” The Shaykh responded, “’He’ is
God. You are still a child, and what concern of Yours is the meaning of ‘He’?”
The Pupil responded, “I am the Deliverer, the All-Knowing!” The Shaykh was
deeply enraged and picked up his stick and said to Him, “Do not utter such
things here!” His Holiness commenced reading, and His maternal uncle smiled and
ordered certain arrangements and then left.
- ‘Mirza Habibu’llah Afnan (‘Tarikh Amr-i-Fars va Shiraz’,
translated and annotated as ‘The Genesis of the Bábi-Baha’i Faiths in Shiraz
and Fars’, by Ahang Rabbani)
