'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎498] (557/714)

498
PERSIA
proceed to give the latest information as to its present foothold and
probable future.
The Babi movement may be divided into three epochs—the
period of formation and persecution, the temporary recoil, and the
Later de- subsequent internal schism, with its consequences. After
velopments ^| ie savage outbreak—which has been most unfairly
mistaken for a revolutionary and anarchical conspiracy had beon
drowned in blood, the Babis shifted their headquarters to Baghdad,
where Mirza Yahia, known as Hazret-i-Ezel—i.e. His Highness the
Eternal—was recognised as the Khalifa, or successor of the Bab,
his chief subordinate being his half-brother, Mirza Husein Ali of
Mazanderan, known as Beha, who during this period wrote the
Ikan or argumentative demonstration of the truth of the Babi
doctrine. After a ten years' sojourn (1853—63) at Baghdad, the
Babis were removed by the Turkish Government, first to Constanti
nople, and afterwards to Adrianople. It was while at the latter
place that, in 18GG, Beha renounced his allegiance to his step
brother, and claimed himself to be 'He whom God shall manifest'—
i.e. the Mahdi, or veritable incarnation, whom the Bab had foretold,
and who superseded all other manifestations. A bloody dissension
at once arose between the followers of the two prophets, which 'was
only superficially healed by the despatch of Beha to Acre and of
the Hazret-i-Ezel to Cyprus, where the two have ever since re
mained, each claiming the sole headship of the Babi Church. Beha,
three years of his life, the greater part was spent in confinement at Maku and
Cherikin Azerbaijan ; and on July 9, 1850, he was led out with a disciple, and shot
in the citadel of Tabriz. How at the first volley he escaped unhurt, and disap
peared, but, taking the wrong direction, was recaptured and killed, is well known.
Had he evaded recapture on this occasion, there can be little doubt but that
Nasr-ed-Din Shah would not now be upon the throne of Persia, and that Babism
would be the religion of the land. While in prison, the Bab composed the volu
minous works, the principal of which was the Beyan, that embody his doctrines
and beliefs. In the same year occurred the terrific siege and slaughter of Babis
at Zinjan, where women and children fought in the streets like fiends against the
Royal troops, and the execution of seven leading sectaries, since known as the
Beven Martyrs, at Teheran. Babi rebellions occurred at Yezdand elsewhere, and
were put down with horrible cruelty, and an attempt was made upon the life of
the Amir-i-Nizam. Finally, in August 1852, an attempt was made by four Babis.
to assassinate the Shah while out riding near Teheran. The inquisition and ap
palling tortures that succeeded have been alluded to elsewhere. Since that time
there has been no formal outbreak of Babi hostility or revenge, and the persecution
of the ruling powers has been only intermittently revived. But sanguis mar-
tyrum semen Ecclesice, and the massacres of those five years have given Babism a
vitality which no other impulse could have secured.