Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎367r] (736/1814)

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INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
499
ato three
e Poc} ls
ter
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ipor “ j ^ „
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bee “»«,,
Quarters to B a „
uccessor 0 f th e ^
■ MirzaHusein^'
hls Period wrote
16 truth of the i,
G3 ) at Baghdad, J
ent, first to Constiat,.
5 while at the latter
egiance to his step .
tod shall manifest-
tie Bab had foretell,
A bloody dissension
prophets, which was
deha to Acre and of
have ever since re-
Babi Church. Bela,
mfinement at
with a disciple
aped unhurt, and disap
td killed, is well known
; little doubt but that
Arsia, and that Babism
Sab composed the void-
it embody his doctrines
and slaughter of Babis
like fiends against the
38 , since known as the
szd and elsewhere, and
made upon the life«
as made by four ^
1 he inquisition and af
here. Since that ^
re, and the persecute
d. but
have gi^n
however, has a great superiority ; for whereas his rival has never
pretended to be more than the successor and vicegerent of the Bab,
Beha claims to have altogether superseded the Bab, who is now no
more than a martyr John the Baptist to a subsequent Messiah,
and whose scriptures are of inferior holiness to the revelations that
come from Acre. Of these the principal is the Lawh-i-Akdas, or
most holy Tablet, which is an enunciation of the precepts of Babism
as revised and remodelled by Beha. Under these circumstances it
is not surprising that the Behais have rapidly outnumbered the
Ezelis, and are now believed to comprise nineteen twentieths of the
Babi persuasion. The rival prophets still survive, he of Acre being
an old man of seventy-six years of age, while his younger brother
of Cyprus is only sixty-three and is in receipt of a pension from,
the British Government. Though the movement is still popularly
known as the Babi movement, the followers of neither leader now
acknowledge the name. They are the Mahr-el-Beha, or the Mahr-
el-Beyan, according as they subscribe to Beha or to the scriptures
of the original Bab. Even the latter is no longer known by that
title, but is designated Hazret-i-Ala, His Highness the Supreme.
It will thus be seen that, in its external organisation, Babism
has undergone great and radical changes since it first appeared as
Modern a proselytising force half a century ago. These changes,
however, have in no wise impaired, but appear, on the
contrary, to have stimulated its propaganda, which has
advanced with a rapidity inexplicable to those who can only see
therein a crude form of political or even of metaphysical fermenta
tion. The lowest estimate places the present number of Babis in
Persia at half a million. I am disposed to think, from conversations
with persons well qualified to judge, that the total is nearer one
million. They are to be found in every walk of life, from the
ministers and nobles of the Court to the scavenger or the groom,
not the least arena of their activity being the Mussulman priest
hood itself. It will have been noticed that the movement was
initiated hyseyids, hajis, and mullahs —i.e. persons who, either by
descent, from pious inclination, or by profession, were intimately
concerned with the Mohammedan creed ; and it is among even the
professed votaries of the faith that they continue to make their
converts. Many Babis are well known to be such, but, as long as
they walk circumspectly, are free from intrusion or persecution.
In the poorer walks of life the fact is, as a rule, concealed for fear
K K 2
prose-
lytism