The gifted woman before us had her own characteristic solution of the
problem. So, doubtless, had the other Babi leaders who were
present, such as Kuddus and Baha-'ullah, the one against, the other
in favour of social reforms.

It is said, in one form of tradition, that Kurratu'l 'Ayn herself
attended the conference with a veil on. If so, she lost no time in
discarding it, and broke out (we are told) into the fervid
exclamation, 'I am the blast of the trumpet, I am the call of the
bugle,' i.e. 'Like Gabriel, I would awaken sleeping souls.' It
is said, too, that this short speech of the brave woman was followed
by the recitation by Baha-'ullah of the Sura of the Resurrection
(lxxv.). Such recitations often have an overpowering effect.

The inner meaning of this was that mankind was about to pass into a
new cosmic cycle, for which a new set of laws and customs would be
indispensable.

There is also a somewhat fuller tradition. Kurratu'l 'Ayn was in
Mazandaran, and so was also Baha'ullah. The latter was taken ill, and
Kurratu'l 'Ayn, who was an intimate friend of his, was greatly
concerned at this. For two days she saw nothing of him, and on the
third sent a message to him to the effect that she could keep away no
longer, but must come to see him, not, however, as hitherto, but with
her head uncovered. If her friend disapproved of this, let him
censure her conduct. He did not disapprove, and on the way to see him,
she proclaimed herself the trumpet blast.

At any rate, it was this bold act of Kurratu'l 'Ayn which shook the