Baha-'ullah was for the present to take the private direction of
affairs and exercise his great gifts as a teacher, while
Subh-i-Ezel (a vain young man) gave his name as ostensible head,
especially with a view to outsiders and to agents of the government.

It may be this to which allusion is made in a tradition preserved by
Behiah Khanum, sister of Abbas Effendi Abdul Baha, that
Subh-i-Ezel claimed to be equal to his half-brother, and that he
rested this claim on a vision. The implication is that Baha-'ullah was
virtually the head of the Babi community, and that Subh-i-Ezel
was wrapt up in dreams, and was really only a figurehead. In fact,
from whatever point of view we compare the brothers (half-brothers),
we are struck by the all-round competence of the elder and the
incompetence of the younger. As leader, as teacher, and as writer he
was alike unsurpassed. It may be mentioned in passing that, not only
the _Hidden Words_ and the _Seven Valleys_, but the fine
though unconvincing apologetic arguments of the _Book of Ighan_
flowed from Baha-'ullah's pen at the Baghdad period. But we must now
make good a great omission. Let us turn back to our hero's origin and
childhood.

Huseyn 'Ali was half-brother of Yahya, i.e. they had the
same father but different mothers. The former was the elder, being
born in A.D. 1817, whereas the latter only entered on his melancholy
life in A.D. 1830. [Footnote: It is a singular fact that an Ezelite
source claims the name Baha-'ullah for Mirza Yahya. But one can
hardly venture to credit this. See _TN_, p. 373 n. 1.] Both
embraced the Babi faith, and were called respectively Baha-'ullah
(Splendour of God) and Subh-i-Ezel (Dawn of Eternity). Their
father was known as Buzurg (or, Abbas), of the district of Nur in