assuming the highest of these titles (Nukta). He knew that there
was one whose fervent energy enabled him to fight for the Cause as he
himself could not. He can hardly, I think, have gone so far as to
'abdicate' in favour of Kuddus, or as to affirm with Mirza Jani
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 336.] that 'in this (the present) cycle the
original "Point" was Hazrat-i-Kuddus.' He may, however, have
sanctioned Muhammad 'Ali's assumption of the title of 'Point' on
some particular occasion, such as the Assembly of Badasht. It is true,
Muhammad 'Ali's usual title was Kuddus, but Muhammad 'Ali
himself, we know, considered this title to imply that in himself there
was virtually a 'return' of the great prophet Muhammad. [Footnote:
_Ibid_. p. 359.] We may also, perhaps, believe on the authority of
Mirza Jani that the Bab 'refrained from writing or circulating
anything during the period of the "Manifestation" of Hazrat-i-Kuddus,
and only after his death claimed to be himself the Ka'im.'
[Footnote: _Ibid_. p. 368.] It is further stated that, in the list of
the nineteen (?) Letters of the Living, Kuddus stood next to the
Bab himself, and the reader has seen how, in the defence of Tabarsi,
Kuddus took precedence even of that gallant knight, known among the
Babis as 'the Gate's Gate.'

On the whole, there can hardly be a doubt that Muhammad 'Ali, called
Kuddus, was (as I have suggested already) the most conspicuous
Babi next to the Bab himself, however hard we may find it to
understand him on certain occasions indicated by Prof. Browne. He
seems, for instance, to have lacked that tender sense of life
characteristic of the Buddhists, and to have indulged a spiritual
ambition which Jesus would not have approved. But it is unimportant to
pick holes in such a genuine saint. I would rather lay stress on his
unwillingness to think evil even of his worst foes. And how abominable