The Book in the Pond

A retelling based on The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam. Short phrases in quotation marks are words preserved in that account.

Mírzá Aḥmad-i-Azghandí was the first in Khurásán to embrace the Faith of the Báb. Nabíl calls him "the most learned, the wisest, and the most eminent among the ‘ulamas" of that province. In whatever gathering of divines he appeared, however many were present, he alone was the chief speaker, and his character and devoutness had ennobled a reputation already won by his erudition.

When the believer Mullá Ṣádiq reached Yazd, he asked a trusted friend from Khurásán what had become of Mírzá Aḥmad. He was surprised at the seeming inactivity of a man who, before the new Faith had been made known, had shown such zeal in preparing people for it.

The friend explained. Mírzá Aḥmad had "secluded himself for a considerable period of time in his own home" to prepare "a learned and voluminous compilation of Islamic traditions and prophecies" about the time and character of the promised Revelation. He had collected "more than twelve thousand traditions of the most explicit character," all of recognised authenticity, and meant to have the book copied and spread, so that his fellow believers could quote from it in every gathering and clear away obstacles to the Cause.

He had intended to go on to Shíráz. But in Yazd lived his maternal uncle, Siyyid Ḥusayn-i-Azghandí, the foremost mujtahid of the city, who had written urging him to come quickly and help him against Ḥájí Mírzá Karím Khán, a man the uncle regarded as a dangerous enemy of Islam. The uncle wanted his nephew to settle in Yazd for good. Mírzá Aḥmad kept his plan to go to Shíráz to himself and stayed.

He showed his uncle the book and shared its contents with the ‘ulamas, who came to him from every quarter of the city. All of them, Nabíl says, were greatly impressed by "the industry, the erudition, and the zeal" of its compiler.

Among the visitors was a certain Mírzá Taqí, newly returned from Najaf, where he had completed his studies and been raised to the rank of mujtahid. Nabíl calls him "wicked, ambitious, and haughty." He asked to borrow the book for a few days so that he might understand it more fully, and Siyyid Ḥusayn and his nephew agreed. He did not return it.

Mírzá Aḥmad, who had already suspected that Mírzá Taqí was not sincere, urged his uncle to remind him of his promise, and a messenger was sent to claim the book. The reply came back: "Tell your master that after having satisfied myself as to the mischievous character of that compilation, I decided to destroy it. Last night I threw it into the pond, thereby obliterating its pages."

Siyyid Ḥusayn was moved, Nabíl writes, by "deep and determined indignation at such deceitfulness and impertinence," and resolved to take revenge. Mírzá Aḥmad talked him out of it. Punishing Mírzá Taqí, he told his uncle, would stir up the people and breed mischief and sedition. It would also undo the work his uncle wanted him to do against Karím Khán, who would seize the occasion to denounce Siyyid Ḥusayn as a Bábí and blame Mírzá Aḥmad for his conversion, undermining the uncle's authority and winning the people's gratitude for himself.

"Leave him in the hands of God," he said.

His counsel calmed his uncle's anger. When Mullá Ṣádiq heard the story, he was pleased to learn that Mírzá Aḥmad was living in Yazd, and went straight to the masjid where the uncle led the congregational prayer and the nephew gave the sermon.

Mírzá Aḥmad appears once more in The Dawn-Breakers, in words of Bahá'u'lláh Himself about events some two decades later. After Bahá'u'lláh's departure from Adrianople, officials in Constantinople discussed whether He and His companions should be thrown into the sea. Word of the discussion reached Persia and grew into a rumour that it had actually been done, and the believers of Khurásán were greatly troubled. Mírzá Aḥmad, as soon as he heard the report, is said to have declared that he could not credit it. If it were true, he said, the Revelation of the Báb would have to be regarded as "utterly devoid of foundation."

The news of Bahá'u'lláh's safe arrival in the prison-city of 'Akká, Bahá'u'lláh recalls, deepened the admiration of the believers of Khurásán for the faith of Mírzá Aḥmad and increased their confidence in him.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-A'ẓam.

Nabíl-i-A'ẓam. *The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation*.