Vaḥíd's Three Interviews with the Báb

*A retelling based on Nabíl's **The Dawn-Breakers** (chapter IX), which preserves Vaḥíd's own account of his meetings with the Báb. 'Abdu'l-Bahá gives a shorter account in **A Traveller's Narrative**. Words in quotation marks are from The Dawn-Breakers.*

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As news of the Báb spread through Persia, Muḥammad Sháh decided to find out the truth for himself. He chose Siyyid Yaḥyá-i-Dárábí, later known as Vaḥíd, whom Nabíl calls "the most learned, the most eloquent, and the most influential of his subjects." 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote that he "had committed to memory no less than thirty thousand traditions." At whatever gathering he attended, however many divines were present, he was the chief speaker.

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Vaḥíd was then a guest of the Sháh in Ṭihrán. The Sháh asked him to go to Shíráz, "to enquire thoroughly into the episode of the Siyyid-i-Báb, and to inform us of the results of his investigations." Vaḥíd had long wanted to do this, and he set out at once. On the way he worked out the questions he would put to the Báb. On their answers, he believed, the truth of the claim would depend.

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In Shíráz he met an old friend from Khurásán, Mullá Shaykh 'Alí, called 'Azím, who had already met the Báb. 'Azím advised him to go and see for himself, and to be careful to treat the Báb with courtesy.

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**The first interview.** Vaḥíd met the Báb at the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid 'Alí, the Báb's uncle. For about two hours he raised the most difficult questions of Islamic learning: abstruse points of metaphysics, the obscurest passages of the Qur'án, the traditions and prophecies of the Imáms. The Báb listened, noted each question, and gave to each "a brief but persuasive reply." Afterwards Vaḥíd told 'Azím: "I have in His presence expatiated unduly upon my own learning.

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He was able in a few words to answer my questions and to resolve my perplexities. I felt so abased before Him that I hurriedly begged leave to retire."

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**The second interview.** When he returned, Vaḥíd found that all the questions he had meant to ask had gone from his memory. He talked of other things. Then he realized that the Báb was answering the very questions he had forgotten. "I seemed to have fallen fast asleep," he said later. "His words, His answers to questions which I had forgotten to ask, reawakened me." Still a voice kept asking whether it might have been a coincidence. He left again, and 'Azím told him plainly to pray that he might come into the Báb's presence "with becoming humility and detachment."

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**The third interview.** Vaḥíd now made a private resolve. He would ask, in his heart only, for a commentary on the Súrih of Kawthar, a short chapter of the Qur'án. He would not say it aloud. If the Báb revealed such a commentary unasked, and it stood apart from the usual commentaries, he would accept Him. If not, he would not.

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When he entered the Báb's presence he was seized by a fear he could not explain, and he could not stay on his feet. He had often stood before the Sháh without the least timidity. The Báb rose, took him by the hand and seated him beside Him. "Seek from Me," He said, "whatever is your heart's desire. I will readily reveal it to you." Vaḥíd could not answer.

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The Báb smiled and asked: "Were I to reveal for you the commentary on the Súrih of Kawthar, would you acknowledge that My words are born of the Spirit of God? Would you recognise that My utterance can in no wise be associated with sorcery or magic?" Vaḥíd wept, and could only recite a verse of the Qur'án asking God's forgiveness.

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It was early in the afternoon. The Báb called for pen and paper and began to write. "Verses streamed from His pen with a rapidity that was truly astounding," Vaḥíd recalled. He wrote without pausing until near sunset, when the whole commentary was finished, and then read it aloud. The Báb left Vaḥíd in the care of His uncle until he and Mullá 'Abdu'l-Karím had made a copy.

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The two men spent three days and three nights transcribing it and checked every tradition it cited. They found them all accurate. "Such was the state of certitude to which I had attained," Vaḥíd said, "that if all the powers of the earth were to be leagued against me they would be powerless to shake my confidence in the greatness of His Cause."

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**Afterwards.** Vaḥíd was lodging with Ḥusayn Khán, the governor of Fárs, who asked him whether he too had fallen under the Báb's spell. He answered: "No one but God, who alone can change the hearts of men, is able to captivate the heart of Siyyid Yaḥyá. Whoso can ensnare his heart is of God, and His word unquestionably the voice of Truth."

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According to 'Abdu'l-Bahá's account, Vaḥíd wrote a full report of what he had seen for the Sháh, and then travelled through Persia proclaiming the new Faith from the pulpits, so openly that other divines decided he must be mad. Nabíl records that the Sháh, hearing he had become a Bábí, told his minister that it was time to "cease belittling the cause of that siyyid." Vaḥíd remained a follower of the Báb for the rest of his life, and was killed with his companions at Nayríz in 1850.

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*This is a retelling. For the full account, see Nabíl's **The Dawn-Breakers**, chapter IX, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's **A Traveller's Narrative**.*

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