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Abstract: Translation of source documents preserved from the 1848 trial. Notes: This document is an appendix to MacEoin's Trial of the Báb: Shi'ite Orthodoxy Confronts its Mirror Image. See also:
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Trial of the Báb:
Questions, rebukes, statements made during the interrogation of the Bab
compiled by Denis MacEoin1997-05
Key to sources:
RS: Rawdat al-safa-yi Nasiri (Hidayat) NT: Nasikh al-tawarikh (Sipihr) MBA: Miftah bab al-abwab (Za`im al-Dawla) FB: Fitna-yi Bab/al-Mutanabbi'in (I`tidad al-Saltana) AKh: Letter of Mirza Aslan Khan NK: Nuqtat al-kaf (Kashani) AH: Abwab al-huda (Hashtrudi in Mu`in al-Saltana) DB: Nabil's Narrative/Dawnbreakers (Zarandi) |
# Question etc. NN RS NT MBA FB AKh NK AH DB Totl
1 `Are these your x x x x x x 6
writings?'
2 `Who gave you the x x x x x x 6
title Bab?'
3 `When did God bestow x x1 x2 3
this title?'
4 `What are you the x x3 x 3
gate of?'
5 `Did you call x x 2
yourself/your tongue
is like Tree of
Sinai?'4
6 Quotes `Ask me before x x 2
I am gone....'
7 `Are you the hidden x x5 x6 x7 x 5
Imam in person?'
8 `The Imam we await is x x x x x 5
so-and-so. You are
someone else.'
9 `Why did you not x x 2
bring the heirlooms
of the Prophet?'
10 `Go and get x x 2
permission (to bring
heirlooms)'
11 `Turn your staff into x 1
a dragon'
12 `Do you have a verse X x x 3
for your staff?'
13 `I can reveal a x x x x 4
better verse than
that' (Aslan Khan)
14 `It is not a x 1
tradition, but from
Ibn al-`Arabi '
15 `A jackal in Basra' x 1
16 `Pray for Muhammad x x x x x 5
Shah's health'
17 `Restore Nizam x x x x x 5
al-`Ulama to youth'
18 `O Thou through Whom x 1
the knot of the
deceiver is untied'
19 `How can we speak x 1
with one in his
cradle?'8
20 `Does the Quranic x x x x9 x 5
decree on booty still
stand?'
21 `How many fractions x 1
are there in
arithmetic?'10
22 `We have sent a x 1
revelation to you as
to Muhammad'11
23 `We have caused you x 1
to be raised up a
station...'12
24 `How many kinds of x 1
divorce are there in
fiqh?'
25 `A question on x13 x14 x15 x16 x17 5
medicine'
26 `Queries claim that x x18 x19 x20 x 5
first to believe in
Bab was Muhammad'
27 `You refer to x 1
yourself as "Lord".
Why?'
28 `Whatever takes its x x x x x22 5
plural in ta' and
alif....'21
29 `Explain the figures x x x 3
on this sphere of the
heavens'23
30 Quotes `Allama x x x x x 5
al-Hilli on
hermaphrodite.
31 Quotes question of x x x x x x 6
Ma'mun to Imam Rida
32 `He it is Who causes x x x x x 5
you to behold the
lightning....'
33 `May God curse the x x x x x 5
eyes....'
34 `You claim that men x 1
and jinn cannot
produce a word...'24
35 On remark of the x x x x x 5
father of `Amr
36 Claim to have drunk x 1
drops of blood of
Husayn25
37 Bab's hypocrisy x 1
regarding al-Ahsa'i
and Rashti
38 `If a man is x x x x x 5
uncertain between two
and three (rak`as)
39 `What tense is x x26 x 3
qulna?/Decline qala'
40 `When did I send you x x x 3
as an Imam?'
41 Quotes `If it is x x x 3
allowed for a tree to
say "I am the Truth"'
42 `Are you content with x 2
this name?'
43 `Are you the Gate of x x 2
the City of
Knowledge?'
44 `I have waited 40 x x 2
years to meet one of
the abwab'
45 `I shall give this x x x x 4
throne to you'27
46 `Are knowledge, x x 2
hearing etc. of the
Essence?'
47 `Religious sciences x x x x 4
depend on sarf etc.'
48 `Show the mutation of x x 2
the defective letter
in qala'
49 `What is grammatical x x 2
form of qawluhu?'
50 `I`jaz, fasaha, and x x x x 4
balagha'
51 `Engaging in an x x28 2
indubitable duty....'
52 `What are the x x 2
fractions of nine?'
53 Quotes `How long x x 2
these words...?'
54 `Show me a miracle' x x x x 4
55 `What needs improving x29 1
in Islam? How do you
improve it?'
56 `On the true nature x30 1
of Christ's ascension
to heaven.'
57 `Be quiet, be quiet'31 x 1
58 `What were the names x 1
of your father and
mother...?'
59 Trouble in Khurasan x x 2
etc. on account of
writings
60 `What is this x 2
affair... truth of
matter... nature of
claim?'
61 `Light from Burning x 1
Bush was your light
-- is that so?'
62 `Why should that x32 x33 x34 3
Shi`i be you?'
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Notes
2 'Where?' 3 'What is the meaning of "Bab"?' 4 Some other sources have the reference to the Tree on Sinai as a statement of the Bab's. 5 'In person or in type?' (shakhsi ya naw`i) 6 'In person or in type?' (naw`i buda'i ya shakhsi mibashi) 7 'In person or in type?' 8 Asked by Mamaqani 9 This is the only source to attribute this question to a certain Mirza `Abd al-Karim Mullabashi. The others say it was asked by `Alam al-Huda. 10 Asked by Mamaqani 11 Asked by `Alam al-Huda. 12 Asked by `Alam al-Huda. 13 Asked by Mamaqani. Mamaqani's son did not remember what this was. 14 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama. 15 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama. 16 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama. 17 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama. 18 'The Light of Muhammad'. 19 'The Light of Muhammad'. 20 'The Light of Muhammad'. 21 Quoted by Nasir al-Din Mirza 22 Attributed to 'one of those present'. 23 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza. 24 Said by `Alam al-Huda. 25 Said by `Alam al-Huda. 26 The Bab is asked to decline qala and cannot. Nizam al-`Ulama declines as far as qulna and asks him to finish. 27 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza. 28 This comment is dropped in the text of al-Mutanabbi'in. 29 Asked by Za`im al-Dawla's grandfather. 30 Ditto. 31 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza. 32 Attributed to Nasir al-Din Mirza. 33 Attributed to unnamed individual(s). 34 Attributed to Amir Aslan Khan. |
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