suffering insults, which to us are barely credible, Mukaddas and his
friend found shelter for three days in Shiraz in the Bab's house.

It should be noted that I here employ the symbolic name 'the Bab.'
There is a traditional saying of the prophet Muhammad, 'I am the
city of knowledge, and 'Ali is its Gate.' It seems, however, that
there is little, if any, difference between 'Gate' (_Bab_) and
'Point' (_nukta_), or between either of these and 'he who shall
arise' (_ka'im_) and 'the Imam Mahdi.' But to this we shall
return presently.

But safety was not long to be had by the Bab or by his disciples
either in Shiraz or in Bushire (where the Bab then was). A fortnight
afterwards twelve horsemen were sent by the governor of Fars to
Bushire to arrest the Bab and bring him back to Shiraz. Such at
least is one tradition, [Footnote: _AMB_, p. 226.] but some
Babis, according to Nicolas, energetically deny it. Certainly it
is not improbable that the governor, who had already taken action
against the Babi missionaries, should wish to observe the Bab
within a nearer range, and inflict a blow on his growing
popularity. Unwisely enough, the governor left the field open to the
mullas, who thought by placing the pulpit of the great mosque at his
disposal to be able to find material for ecclesiastical censure. But
they had left one thing out of their account--the ardour of the
Bab's temperament and the depth of his conviction. And so great was
the impression produced by the Bab's sermon that the Shah
Muhammad, who heard of it, sent a royal commissioner to study the
circumstances on the spot. This step, however, was a complete
failure. One may doubt indeed whether the Sayyid Yahya was ever a
politician or a courtier. See below, p. 90.