Babi account of the night-action, ordered on his arrival at Sheykh
Tabarsi by Kuddus, we learn that some Babis, including those of
Mazandaran, took the first opportunity of plundering the enemy's
camp. For this, the Deputy reproved them, but they persisted, and the
whole army was punished (as we are told) by a wound dealt to Kuddus,
which shattered one side of his face. [Footnote: _NH_, 68
_f_.] It was with reference to this that the Deputy said at last
to his disfigured friend, 'I can no longer bear to look upon the wound
which mars your glorious visage. Suffer me, I pray you, to lay down my
life this night, that I may be delivered alike from my shame and my
anxiety.' So there was another night-encounter, and the Deputy knew
full well that it would be his last battle. And he 'said to one who
was beside him, "Mount behind me on my horse, and when I say, 'Bear me
to the Castle,' turn back with all speed." So now, overcome with
faintness, he said, "Bear me to the Castle." Thereupon his companion
turned the horse's head, and brought him back to the entrance of the
Castle; and there he straightway yielded up his spirit to the Lord and
Giver of life.' Frail of form, but a gallant soldier and an
impassioned lover of God, he combined qualities and characteristics
which even in the spiritual aristocracy of Persia are seldom found
united in the same person.


MULLA MUHAMMAD 'ALI OF BARFURUSH

He was a man of Mazandaran, but was converted at Shiraz. He was one of
the earliest to cast in his lot with God's prophet. No sooner had he
beheld and conversed with the Bab, than, 'because of the purity of his
heart, he at once believed without seeking further sign or proof.'
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 39.] After the Council of Badasht he received