bystanders withdraw, ... then he said to me, "I know full well that
all that I have gained I have gotten by violence, and that belongs to
the Lord of the Age. I give it therefore entirely to thee, for thou
art the Master of Truth, and I ask thy permission to become its
possessor." He even took off a ring which he had on his finger, and
gave it to me. I took the ring and restored it to him, and sent him
away in possession of all his goods.... I will not have a dinar of
those goods, but it is for you to ordain as shall seem good to
you.... [As witnesses] send for Sayyid Yahya [Footnote: See above,
p. 47.] and Mulla Abdu'l-Khalik.... [Footnote: A disciple of
Sheykh Ahmad. He became a Babi, but grew lukewarm in the faith
(_NH_, pp. 231, 342 n.1).] The one became acquainted with me
before the Manifestation, the other after. Both know me right well;
this is why I have chosen them.' [Footnote: _AMB_, pp. 372,
373.]

It was not likely, however, that the legal heir would waive his claim,
nor yet that the Shah or his minister would be prepared with a scheme
for distributing the ill-gotten riches of the governor among the poor,
which was probably what the Bab himself wished. It should be added
(but not, of course, from this letter) that Minuchihr Khan also
offered the Bab more than 5000 horsemen and footmen of the tribes
devoted to his interests, with whom he said that he would with all
speed march upon the capital, to enforce the Shah's acceptance of the
Bab's mission. This offer, too, the Bab rejected, observing that
the diffusion of God's truth could not be effected by such means. But
he was truly grateful to the governor who so often saved him from the
wrath of the mullas. 'God reward him,' he would say, 'for what he
did for me.'