among the Babis the title of Jenab-i-Kuddus, i.e. 'His Highness the
Sacred,' by which it was meant that he was, for this age, what the
sacred prophet Muhammad was to an earlier age, or, speaking loosely,
that holy prophet's 're-incarnation.' It is interesting to learn that
that heroic woman Kurratu'l 'Ayn was regarded as the 'reincarnation'
of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad. Certainly Kuddus had
enormous influence with small as well as great. Certainly, too, both
he and his greatest friend had prophetic gifts and a sense of oneness
with God, which go far to excuse the extravagant form of their claims,
or at least the claims of others on their behalf. Extravagance of
form, at any rate, lies on the surface of their titles. There must be
a large element of fancy when Muhammad 'Ali of Barfurush (i.e.
Kuddus) claims to be a 'return' of the great Arabian prophet and even
to be the Ka'im (i.e. the Imam Mahdi), who was expected to bring in
the Kingdom of Righteousness. There is no exaggeration, however, in
saying that, together with the Bab, Kuddus ranked highest (or equal to
the highest) in the new community. [Footnote: In _NH_, pp. 359, 399,
Kuddus is represented as the 'last to enter,' and as 'the name of the
last.']

We call him here Kuddus, i.e. holy, sacred, because this was his
Babi name, and his Babi period was to him the only part of his
life that was worth living. True, in his youth, he (like 'the Deputy')
had Sheykhite instruction, [Footnote: We may infer this from the
inclusion of both persons in the list of those who went through the
same spiritual exercises in the sacred city of Kufa (_NH_, p. 33).]
but as long as he was nourished on this imperfect food, he must have
had the sense of not having yet 'attained.' He was also like his
colleague 'the Deputy' in that he came to know the Bab before the
young Shirazite made his Arabian pilgrimage; indeed (according to our