Mustayqath (The Wakeful)
Subh-i Azal wrote the Mustayghath in Arabic in Baghdad. It is a commentary
and explanation of the Point’s First Book (Kitab-i-Awwal). The book is intended
to prove the falsity of the pretensions of a number of pretenders, including
Dayyan. Towards the end of the book Subh-i Azal quotes a number of the Point’s
documents addressed to him as well as to prominent Bayanis in support of his
claim to be the Point’s successor. Most of the originals of these documents
which were available at the time of the composition of the book, pp.348-349,
“were carried off by Baha. T.A Note U, PP.335-343.
In the Mustayghath Subh-i Azal condemns Dayyan for his vain claim and censures a
certain Sayyid Ibrahim for his subservience to him. He calls them Father of
Evils and the Father Calamities respectively.
Dayyan
Mirza Asadullah of Khuy surnamed Dayyan, who had been appointed by the Point as
amanuensis to Subh-i Azal declared that he was He-Whom-God-Shall-Make-Manifest
and demanded that all obey him. Dayyan was one of the second group of “Letters
of the Living” or “Second Unity”. The author of Seven Paradise (Hasht Bihisht)
refers to him as the Judas Iscariot of his people’. He was learned in the Hebrew
and Syriac languages.
Mirza Husayn Ali Baha had a long dissension with him, but he remained obstinate.
One Mirza Ibrahim believed in him. Mirza Hussein Ali commonly called Bahaullah
had a protracted discussion with him. Later Baha instructed his servant Mirza
Muhammad of Mazandaran to slay him, which was accordingly done. PP. 302, 303,
the Hasht-Bihisht.
According to Baha, the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp.175-176, “Dayyan
suffered martyrdom through the decree pronounced by Mirza Yahya [Subh-i Azal].”
According to Shoghi Effendi, god passes by, p.124 and p.165, “Subh-i Azal cased
the murder of Dayyan.”
Baha admits to have met with Dayyan in Baghdad after the former’s return from
Kurdistan. The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. P.177.
This is confirmed by Shoghi Effendi in god passes by, p.130, that the murder
took place in Baghdad upon Baha’s return from Kurdistan is also confirmed by Aqa
Muhammad Ali in Isfahan in his Risala-i Badi quoting Baha as his authority.
The author of the Risala admits that the murder was committed by Mirza Muhammad
of Mazandaran.
According to T.A note W. P.357, which quotes the Hasht Bihisht as authority,
“Mirza Hussein Ali [Baha], after a protracted discussion with him [i.e. Mirza
Asadullah Dayyan] instructed his servant Mirza Muhammad of Mazandaran to slay
him, which was accordingly done.”
Both parties are therefore agreed that the murderer was Mirza Muhammad of
Mazandaran.
Mirza Asadullah of Khuy in Azarbayjan was surnamed Dayyan as the word Asad and
Dayyan have the same numerical value and equivalent, viz. 65.
“We have made thee an angel”, the Point says to Dayyan, “to rehearse that which
the Mirror of Eternity [i.e. Subh-i Azal] speaks of his illuminator [i.e. the
Point].” The collection containing some of the autograph Epistles of the Primal
Point and of his amanuensis Aqa Sayyid Hussein of Yazd, p.10.
Sometime after the execution of the Point, Dayyan advanced a vain claim that he
was He-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest.
He had a certain following known as “Dayyaniyya” or “Asadiyyun.” One of his
followers Sayyid Ibrahim surnamed Khalid and Rahim. He was instructed by the
Point to ‘compile’ the mass literature emanating from the Point, which is known
collectively as “the-Bayan” for publication by “the name of the One [Wahid], 28,
Yahya, Subh-i Azal’s name] if the time should be propitious for the “believers.”
Old BءBi manuscripts and Subh-i Azal’s Mustayqath, printed, pp.382-382.
As regards Dayyan, Mustayghath P.15:
“You keep mute in your seats and do not bring this accrued one down with your
arrows.”
The text runs as follows:
« و انتم صامتون فی مقاعدکم و
لا تمون هذا انلعون برماحکم »
which passage he explains in ibid, p.44 as follows: “you do not cut the tongues
of his bowels from your hands and do not bring him down with the arrows of your
lips of dominance.”
The text runs as follows:
« و لا تقطعون السته امعآئه
من ایدیکم و لا ترمونه برماح شفاه قهاریتکم »
Similar metaphor is used in these passages. “To cut the tongues of his bowels”
means that Dayyan should be reduced to silence and routed by dealing with him
not by physical means but by “the arrows of the lips of dominance”, namely by
discussion and argument in the armory of moral suasion to flow from the mouth,
as organ of speech.
In fact the Mustayghath contains no decree of murder in respect of any of the
pretenders. The translation of the relevant passage as appearing in the
Materials For The Study of Babi Religion, P.218, is faulty, incomplete and
misleading.
In his Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Shoghi Effendi’s translation Baha refers
to Dayyan and Sayyid Ibrahim and says that they were “surnamed by him [Subh-i
Azal] Father of Inequities and Father of Calamities.” Therefore the addressee of
Baha’s letter marked no 60 is identical with Sayyid Ibrahim surnamed Khalid and
Rahim. The internal evidence contained in the letter itself confirms this.
Excerpts from Baha’s Letter addressed to Sayyid Ibrahim
After a short preamble Baha addresses himself to Sayyid Ibrahim and says:
“Consider bygone ages and reflect upon what god had inflicted on their peoples
for having contended amongst themselves, for having turned aside from His
Countenance, for having strayed away from His path, for having done wrong to His
Cause, and for having associated any creature with the Sovereign of His Unity,
for which they were of the perished. Have you ever heard religion of god to
exist before it is confirmed, or commandment of god to be abrogated before it
becomes manifest? ….. Nay, by my lord, the lord of heavens, no one can abrogate
one letter from that which has been revealed in the Bayan …..
O Friend be fair by god, have you compiled the Bayan as you were commanded by
God? … No, by your life, you have not compiled it, you have not obeyed him for
which you were commanded by him and you are of such as tarry. Nay, you have
sought to cause people to stray away from his injunctions and to be of such as
stray.
Have you submitted to him [i.e. Dayyan] who mocked god, turned aside from His
Holiness, strayed away from his path, neglected to make mention of him and is of
such as have turned aside. Say: are you not eschewed of god, who created you,
brought you up and made you an angel to make mention to people if the days of
god and to be of such as make mention. You have followed that which your soul
desires and have turned your back on the commandment of god, my lord, your lord,
the lord of the worlds …. By the lord of the Heavens and the Earth, if all in
the Heavens were to agree on divinity and all on the earth on lordship, they are
not able, and never shall they be able, to reveal one letter of that which god
has revealed in the Book …. Now, in these days it is his god pleasure that is
beloved, and all are held captive in his grasp.
No place is there for anyone to flee to, think not of the god to be a thing
lightly taken, in which anyone can display his fancy.
In various quarters a number of souls have, at the present time, set up this
pretension. Before long, they will behold that the Tree of Independence has been
from everlasting, and will everlastingly continue to be. The Ever-Abiding in its
sovereign majesty and regal beauty, and every one of them will have perished and
been lost, nay will have come to naught and became a thing un-remembered, even
as the dust itself.
Verily, we are god’s and unto Him shall we return.”
Awakening of The Sleepers
According to Tanbihun-Naimin (Awakening of The Sleepers), PP 87-90, the
authoress takes her nephew Abdul Baha Abbas to severe task for his violent
campaign against Subh-i Azal to involve the latter in the murder of Dayyan and
quotes a passage from a letter written by Baha, addressed to Aqa Mirza Muhammad
Hadi wherin Baha takes full credit for having carried into effect the judgment
of god to dispose of Dayyan, from which the authoress comes to the conclusion
that either the father or the son is a liar, the former for his admission to
have killed Dayyan and the latter for his attempt to contradict and whitewash
him.
More Conflicting Bahai accusations against Subh-i Azal
In his Risala of A.H. 1286 (1869-1870), manuscript, p. 68, Baha speaks of the
assassination of Dayyan only. In the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, which he
wrote about one year before his death at Acre in 1892, pp. 173-176, Baha alleges
that “Dayyan together with Mirza Ali Akbar, one of the relatives of the Primal
Point, and Abul-Qasim-i Kashi and several others suffered martyrdom through the
decree pronounced by Mirza Yahya.”
In god passes by, p.125, Shoghi Effendi alleges that “Mirza Yahya ordered that
the cousin of the Point, Mirza Ali Akbar, a fervent admirer of Dayyan, be
secretly put to death, a command which was carried out.” In ibid, p.165, Shoghi
Effendi repeats this allegation “as attested by Aqay-i-Kalim [Baha’s full
brother Mirza Musa named Interlocutor because he talked with Baha] and repeated
by Nabil in his narrative. Shoghi Effendi makes no mention of
“Abul-Qasim-i-Kashi and several others” referred to by Baha.
No information is available about this man, reference is made to one Sayyid Ali
Akbar of Shiraz in T.A. P.411. Mirza Ali Akbar apparently hailed from Shiraz.
Abul Qasim-i-Kashi is identical with Aqa Abul Qasim of Kashan who accompanied
Subh-i-Azal from Kermanshah to Baghdad and for whom Subh-i-Azal wrote the
Akhlaq-al-Ruhaniyyin in Baghdad. He was murdered by Baha’s men in Baghdad after
Baha’s return from Suleymaniyya to Baghdad (see section 12.4.4). Dr. Browne’s
Persian Introduction to the Nuqta-al-Kaf. P.43.
Other Claimants to the Office of He-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest
Alphabetical list of some of the pretenders who had prior pretensions to be
Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest and/or the return of the Imam Husayn is
subjoined:
1. Abd-al-Karim-i-Tabrizi
2. Abdullah Gawhar
3. Ali Akbar-i-Shirazi
4. Hashim-i-Kashi-Haji Mulla
5. Husayn-Ali Nuri (Baha)
6. Husayn-i-Hindiyani or Hindigani
7. Husayn-i-Milani known as Husayn Jan
8. Ismail-i-Isfahani
9. Mahdi Ardastani
10. Muhammad Karawi
11. Muhammad Nabil Zarandi, author of Nabil's Narrative
12. Musa Sumi, Haji
13. Sayyid Ama
14. Sayyid Ama-i-Hindi Known as Basir
15. Sayyid Uluv
Please click here to visit 'The Wakeful' by Subh-i Azal'.