`Abdu'l-Bahá. Memorials of the Faithful. Translated from the original Persian text and annotated by Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971.
Arberry, Arthur J. The Koran Interpreted. Vol. One, Suras I-XX; Vol. Two, Suras XXI-CXIV. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955; 2nd imp. 1963.
Arnold, Arthur. Through Persia by Caravan. Vol. II. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1877.
Bahá'í World, The. An International Record. Vol. VIII, 1938-1940. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1942.
Bahá'u'lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Trans, by Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1935; rev. ed. 1952; repr. 1969. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1949.
---- The Kitáb-i-Íqán. The Book of Certitude. Trans. by Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1931; 2nd ed. 1950; 3rd repr. 1960. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 2nd ed. 1961.
Balyuzi, H. M. `Abdu'l-Bahá. The Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. London: George Ronald, 1971; 2nd repr. 1972 (Oxford).
---- Bahá'u'lláh, a brief life, followed by an essay entitled The Word Made Flesh. London: George Ronald, 1963; 4th repr. 1973 (Oxford).
---- Edward Granville Browne and the Bahá'í Faith. London: George Ronald, 1970.
Benjamin, S. G. W. Persia and the Persians. London: John Murray, 1887.
Browne, E. G. A Literary History of Persia. In four volumes. Vol. IV: Persian Literature in Modern Times. Cambridge University Press, 1924.
---- (ed.) Materials for the Study of the Bábí Religion. Cambridge University Press, 1918; repr. 1961.
---- (ed.) The Táríkh-i-Jadíd or New History of Mírzá `Alí Muḥammad the Báb, by Mírzá Ḥuseyn of Hamadán, trans. from the Persian, with an Introduction, Illustrations, and Appendices. Cambridge University Press, 1893.
---- (ed.) A Traveller's Narrative written to illustrate the Episode of the Báb. Edited in the original Persian, and translated into English, with an Introduction and Explanatory Notes. Vol. I, Persian Text. Vol. II, English Translation and Notes. Cambridge University Press, 1891.
---- A Year Amongst the Persians: Impressions as to the Life, Character and Thought of the People of Persia, received during twelve months' residence in that country in the years 1887-8. London: A. & C. Black, 1893. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1926. 3rd ed. London: A. & C. Black, 1959.
Cheyne, T. K. The Reconciliation of Races and Religions. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1914.
Curzon, G. N. Persia and the Persian Question. In two volumes. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1892. Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1966.
Flandin, Eugène-Napoléon and Coste, Pascal. Voyage en Perse pendant les années 1840 et 1841. Paris, 1851.
Gobineau, M. le Comte de. Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale. Paris, 1865 and 1866.
Gordon, Sir Thomas Edward. Persia Revisited (1895). London: Edward Arnold, 1896.
Kazemzadeh, Firuz. Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864-1914. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1968.
Kelly, J. B. Britain and the Persian Gulf. 1795-1880. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1968.
Layard, Sir Henry. Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia. In two volumes. London: John Murray, 1887.
Lorimer, J. G. Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 'Oman, and Central Arabia. In two volumes. Calcutta, 1915 and 1908. Repr. Farnborough, Hants. and Shannon, Ireland: Gregg International Publishers Ltd and Irish University Press, 1970.
Nabíl-i-A`ẓam (Muḥammad-i-Zarandí). The Dawn-Breakers. Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1932; Repr. 1953. London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1953.
Nicolas, A.-L.-M. Seyyèd Ali Mohammed dit le Bâb. Paris: Dujarric & Cie., 1905.
Sale, George (ed.) The Korân. Trans. into English from the Original Arabic, with Explanatory Notes. London: Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd., 1927.
Sheil, Lady Mary Leonora. Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. London: John Murray, 1856.
Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944; 5th repr. 1965.
---- The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1938; rev. 1955; 2nd imp. 1965.
Sohráb, Aḥmad. Risáliy-i-Tis`a-`Asharíyyih. Nineteen Discourses on the Báb and His two heralds: Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í and Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí. Cairo, 1919.
The reader is also referred to bibliographies contained in the following works (listed above):
Full details of authors and titles are given in the bibliography. Page numbers are given for the American and British editions of Nabíl-i-A`ẓam, The Dawn-Breakers. All Foreign Office documents (reference F.O.) are held by the Public Record Office, London. They are Crown copyright and appear verbatim by kind permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
[1] See Sohráb, Risáliy-i-Tis`a-`Asharíyyih, p. 13, for an account of Shaykh Aḥmad's discourses. (This source is discussed in Balyuzi, `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 417.)
[2] ibid., p. 14.
[3] See note 1 above, pp. 19-20.
[4] F.O. 248/108 of May 15th 1843, enclosed in letter of May 20th 1843 to Sheil.
[5] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 33 (Brit.), p. 45 (U.S.).
[6] Sheil served as the British Minister in Ṭihrán from August 1842 to February 1853, except for a period of leave from October 1847 to November 1849, when Col. Farrant deputised for him. Sheil was knighted in 1855.
[7] F.O. 248/113.
[8] The other pretenders were Ḥusayn-`Alí Mírzá, the Farmán-Farmá, Governor-General of Fárs, and Ḥasan-`Alí Mírzá, the Shujá`u's-Salṭanih, Governor General of Kirmán, both sons of Fatḥ-`Alí Sháh. Three of the sons of the Farmán-Farmá managed to take themselves to London.
[9] Sir Henry Layard (1817-1894) was the discoverer of the ancient city of Nineveh. He was elected to the British parliament as a Liberal, and served a term as the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In 1877 he was appointed Ambassador in Constantinople. His account is taken from Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, Vol. I, pp. 257-61.
[10] The Ambassador recalled was Sir John MacNeill and the quarrel between Írán and Britain was over the city of Hirát. This beautiful city had always been considered an integral part of the province of Khurásán, but since the assassination of Nádir Sháh, the Afshár king, in 1747, Hirát had passed into possession of Afghán rulers. Muḥammad Sháh was intent on regaining Ḥirát, but Anglo-Russian rivalry and the British fear of Russian designs on India, hitherto almost non-existent, had become dominant factors in the international scene, bound to shadow the destiny of Írán; the British believed that the acquisition of Hirát by the Persians would, in the main, benefit Russia. They took counter-measures in the Persian Gulf and occupied the island of Khárg, close to Búshihr.
[11] F.O. 60/95 of February 14th 1843.
[12] ibid.
Opening quotation: Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, Wm. Heinemann Ltd., London, 1897, No. xxx.
[1] Browne, A Year Amongst the Persians, (1926 ed.), p. 284.
[2] Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, Vol. I, p. 497, n. 2.
[3] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 309.
[4] Since they originated from the small town of Baraghán, they were known as Baraghání.
[5] Qurratu'l-`Ayn's words are quoted in The Dawn-Breakers, p. 56 (Brit.), pp. 81-2 (U.S.); and in verse form in A Persian Anthology, trans. by E. G. Browne, ed. by E. Denison Ross, Methuen & Co., London, 1927, p. 72.
Opening quotation: T. K. Cheyne, The Reconciliation of Races and Religions, p. 74.
[1] Mír Muḥammad-Riḍá's father was named Mír Naṣru'lláh, his grandfather Mír Fatḥu'lláh, and his great-grandfather Mír Ibráhím.
[2] For details of this unedifying transaction, see Kazemzadeh, Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864-1914, ch. 4. The contract was signed on March 8th 1890.
[3] Translated by H. M. Balyuzi.
[4] Shaykh Muḥammad was known as Shaykh `Ábid, and also as Shaykhuná and Shaykh-i-Anám. That his real name was Muḥammad is attested by this verse in the Arabic Bayán, one of the last works of the Báb: 'Say O Muḥammad, My teacher, do not beat me ere my years have gone beyond five.'
His school was in the quarter called Bázár-i-Murgh (Poultry Market), housed in a mosque-like structure which went by the name of Qahviy-i-Awlíyá'. It was close to the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí, the uncle-guardian of the Báb. In its courtyard were a number of graves: three were particularly revered as those of saintly personages, one of whom was called Awlíyá'—though no one really knew whose were the graves.
It is known that Shaykh `Ábid wrote a monograph on the childhood of the Báb, but the manuscript has always been in the possession of people not well-disposed to the Faith of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, and they have persistently refused to give it up or to divulge its contents. Shaykh `Ábid was also destined in later years to accept the Faith proclaimed by his former Pupil.
[5] Account taken from Mírzá Abu'l Faḍl's unpublished writings.
[6] Nicolas, Seyyèd Ali Mohammed Dit le Bâb, pp. 189-90.
[7] Written in several volumes during the reign of Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh by Lisánu'l-Mulk of Káshán, whose soubriquet was Sipihr.
[8] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 20-2 (Brit.), pp. 25-9 (U.S.).
[9] ibid., pp. 22-3 (Brit.), p. 30 (U.S.).
[10] Ḥájí Mírzá `Alí's father was named Mírzá `Ábid.
[11] By Dhikr, he means Himself. Repeatedly in the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', the Báb refers to Himself as Dhikr, and was known to His followers as Dhikru'lláh-al-A`ẓam (Mention of God, the Most Great), or Dhikru'lláh-al-Akbar (Mention of God, the Greatest), and sometimes as Ḥaḍrat-i-Dhikr. 'Ḥaḍrat' prefixed to the name of a Manifestation of God has been translated as 'His Holiness'. But this English rendering is totally inadequate, for 'Ḥaḍrat' has no English equivalent when placed prior to the name of a Manifestation of God. It conveys also the sense of His Honour, His Eminence, His Excellency, and the like.
[12] From the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', translated by H. M. Balyuzi.
Opening quotations: Bahá'u'lláh, (1) Gleanings, LVI (2) Kitáb-i-Íqán, p. 161 (Brit.), p. 252 (U.S.).
[1] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 58 (Brit.), pp. 86-7 (U.S.).
[2] ibid., p. 66 (Brit.), p. 96 (U.S.).
[3] Two works of the Báb are entitled Bayán (Utterance): the larger one is in Persian, and the other which is much shorter is in Arabic.
[4] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 69 (Brit.), p. 99 (U.S.).
[5] ibid., p. 70 (Brit.), pp. 100-1 (U.S.).
[6] ibid., pp. 71-4 (Brit.), pp. 104-8 (U.S.).
[7] See Foreword, paragraph 4.
[8] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 9.
Opening quotation: T. S. Eliot, 'Choruses from The Rock', I. 'The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven'. Collected Poems 1909-1962, Faber & Faber Ltd., London, 1963.
[1] London 1856, p. 177.
[2] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 61-2 (Brit.), pp. 90-1 (U.S.).
[3] Throughout his life Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá served the Faith which he had embraced, with zeal and distinction. He spent many years in Beirut where he attended to the needs and requirements of pilgrims. His son, Áqá Ḥusayn Iqbál, did the same in subsequent years, with great devotion. Another son, Dr. Zia Bagdadi (Dr. Ḍíyá Baghdádí) resided in the United States, where his services were inestimable.
[4] 'There gathered Shaykh Najaf, the son of Shaykh Ja`far, and Shaykh Músá from Najaf; Siyyid Ibráhím al-Qazvíní from Karbilá; Shaykh Muḥammad-Ḥasan Yásín and Shaykh Ḥasan Asadu'lláh from Káẓimíyyah; Siyyid Muḥammad al-Álúsí and Siyyid `Alí, the Naqíb-al-Ashráf, and Muḥammad-Amín al-Wá`iz and Shaykh Muḥammad-Sa`íd, the Sháfi`í Muftí from Baghdád. There were others also besides these.' (Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafáy-i-Baghdádí.)
[5] Translated by H. M. Balyuzi. Áqá Muḥammad-Muṣṭafáy-i-Baghdádí's autobiography is no more than 24 pages long. It is the second of two booklets printed together in Cairo. There is no publication date.
[6] Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson (1810-95) was one of the outstanding European figures in the nineteenth century. It was he who transcribed the cuneiform inscriptions on the rocks of Bísitún in Western Írán, which record the achievements of the great Darius. He discovered the key to decipher them. Like Sir John Malcolm, he entered the service of the East India Company at the age of seventeen. Six years later, he went with two other British officers to train the Persian army, but after two years he was dismissed because Muḥammad Sháh had begun to quarrel with the British. Next he served in Qandahár. By his own wish he was transferred to `Iráq, because he wanted to be close to Western Írán and continue his research. He also continued the unfinished work of Layard at Nineveh. The British Museum has a wealth of archaeological finds donated by him. From 1859-60, he briefly occupied the post of British Minister in Ṭihrán. Then to the end of his life he served on the India Council in London and devoted his time to writing and to scientific pursuits. From 1870-84, the Trustees of the British Museum issued four volumes of cuneiform inscriptions under his close supervision.
[7] F.O. 248/114 of January 8th 1845, enclosed in Rawlinson's letter to Sheil of January 16th 1845.
[8] ibid.
[9] ibid.
[10] F.O. 248/114 of January 16th 1845.
[11] F.O. 248/114 (undated). Translation by Rawlinson, enclosed in his letter to Sheil of January 16th 1845.
[12] F.O. 195/237 of April 15th 1845.
[13] F.O. 195/237 of April 30th 1845.
[14] F.O. 195/237 of February 18th 1845.
[15] F.O. 248/114 of February 28th 1845.
Opening quotation: translation by H. M. Balyuzi.
[1] His son, Ḥájí Shaykh Yaḥyá, succeeded him as Imám-Jum`ih, and lived till 1919 to an advanced age. He extended his protection to the Bahá'ís on every possible occasion.
[2] Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥabíbu'lláh's narrative.
[3] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 91 (Brit.), p. 131 (U.S.).
[4] ibid., pp. 90-1 (Brit.), p. 130 (U.S.).
[5] ibid., p. 92 (Brit.), pp. 132-3 (U.S.).
[6] ibid., pp. 93-5 (Brit.), pp. 134-6 (U.S.).
[7] ibid., pp. 96-7 (Brit.), pp. 138-40 (U.S.).
[8] ibid., p. 97 (Brit.), p. 140 (U.S.).
Opening quotation: Isabella in Measure for Measure, Act II, sc. ii.
[1] Published by Leavitt, Trow & Co., New York & Philadelphia.
[2] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 99 (Brit.), p. 142 (U.S.).
[3] ibid., pp. 100-1 (Brit.), p. 144 (U.S.).
[4] Cited Kelly, Britain and the Persian Gulf, p. 310.
[5] Eugène-Napoléon Flandin (1809-76) was an archaeologist and painter of note. He and Coste, an architect, were members of the suite of M. de Sercey, Louis-Philippe's envoy to the Court of Muḥammad-Sháh. They stayed in Írán, after the envoy's departure, to draw her ancient monuments. The result of their labours, Voyage en Perse, was published in 1851 by the French Government.
[6] Early Adventures in Persia, Vol. I, pp. 326-8.
[7] Father of Mírzá Ḥusayn Khán, the Mushíru'd-Dawlih and Sipahsálár, who was the Persian ambassador in Constantinople in 1863, at the time of Bahá'u'lláh's exile to Adrianople. Mírzá Ḥusayn Khán later rose to be the Ṣadr-i-A`ẓam (Grand Vizier).
[8] Ḥájí Mírzá `Alí-Akbar, the Qavámu'l-Mulk, was a younger son of Ḥájí Ibráhím Khán, the Grand Vizier who concluded a treaty with Sir John Malcolm, and later fell into disgrace and was barbarously put to death by Fatḥ-`Alí Sháh. Most of his family perished with him. However, the young Mírzá `Alí-Akbar survived to be restored to favour in later years and given the title of Qavámu'l-Mulk. He and his descendants, over several generations, greatly influenced the destinies of the inhabitants of Fárs.
[9] Sartíp was a high rank in those days both in the civil and the military establishment; today it means brigadier. The Farmán (Firman) was to be read in the Masjid-i-Naw. Quarters of a city either belonged to the Ni`matí-Khánih or the Haydarí-Khánih.
[10] F.O. 248/113 of August 7th 1844, enclosed in a letter of August 14th 1844, from Hennell to Sheil.
[11] F.O. 248/113 of November 24th 1844, enclosed in Hennell's letter to Sheil of December 11th 1844.
[12] F.O. 248/113 of December 24th 1844, enclosed in Hennell's letter to Sheil of January 4th 1845.
[13] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 104 (Brit.), pp. 148-9 (U.S.).
Opening quotation: An Essay on Man, Epistle II.
[1] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 105 (Brit.), pp. 149-50 (U.S.).
[2] Arberry (ed.), The Koran Interpreted.
[3] See Foreword, paragraph 4.
[4] Arberry (ed.), The Koran Interpreted. Verse numbers for the first extract are 49-50, although Arberry gives 50-1.
[5] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 105-6 (Brit.), p. 150 (U.S.).
[6] Arberry (ed.), The Koran Interpreted.
[7] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 125-6 (Brit.), pp. 174-6 (U.S.).
[8] ibid., p. 126 (Brit.), p. 176 (U.S.).
[9] ibid., pp. 126-7 (Brit.), p. 176 (U.S.).
[10] ibid., p. 127 (Brit.), p. 177 (U.S.).
[11] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 8.
[12] Masjid-i-Vakíl: built by Karím Khán-i-Vakíl, the founder of the Zand dynasty.
[13] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 107-9 (Brit.), pp. 153-4 (U.S.).
[14] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 7.
[15] `Andalíb (Nightingale) was the soubriquet of Mírzá `Alí-Ashraf of Láhíján in the Caspian province of Gílán. `Andalíb was a poet of superb accomplishment and an eloquent teacher. He met Edward Granville Browne in Yazd in the year 1888. A very long letter exists, in his handwriting, addressed to Edward Browne, in which he cites proofs from the Bible, in support of the Bahá'í Faith, and encourages Browne to visit Bahá'u'lláh in `Akká. It is not known whether a copy of the letter ever reached Browne.
[16] Nicolas, Seyyèd Ali Mohammed dit le Bâb, p. 233.
[17] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, pp. 9-10.
[18] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 128-9 (Brit.), p. 179 (U.S.).
[19] See footnote ch. 4, p. 62.
[20] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 11.
Opening quotation: The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses, 1659.
[1] It has been stated by one writer that Áqá Muḥammad-Ḥusayn-i-Ardistání was also with the Báb on this journey.
[2] Layard, Early Adventures in Persia, Vol. I, pp. 311-12.
[3] Arberry (ed.), The Koran Interpreted.
[4] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 145 (Brit.), p. 202 (U.S.).
[5] ibid., p. 146 (Brit.), p. 204 (U.S.).
[6] ibid., p. 148 (Brit.), pp. 205-7 (U.S.).
[7] Ṣadru'd-Dín Muḥammad of Shíráz, who died in the year A.H. 1050 (A.D. 1640-1) is generally known as Mullá Ṣadrá. Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í wrote commentaries on two of his works: Ḥikmatu'l-`Arshíyyah (Divine Philosophy) and Mashá`ir (Faculties).
[8] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 150 (Brit.), p. 209 (U.S.).
[9] ibid., pp. 150-1 (Brit.), pp. 209-11 (U.S.).
[10] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 13.
[11] Nicolas, Seyyèd Ali Mohammed Dit le Bâb, p. 242, n. 192.
[12] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 152-3 (Brit.), p. 213 (U.S.).
[13] `Abdu'l-Bahá states in A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 13, that the Báb's sojourn in the private residence of Manúchihr Khán lasted four months.
Opening quotation: Act II, sc. ii.
[1] See Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 164.
[2] In the early days of Islám, these people were ranked with those groups of zealots who had earned the generic term of Ghulát (Extremists, or 'those who exaggerate'). They identified `Alí, the first Imám, with the Godhead. `Abdu'lláh Ibn-Sabá, a Jewish convert to Islám who originated this doctrine, was put to death by `Alí himself. '`Alí is not God but is not separate from Him either' is the statement attributed to them today.
[3] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 156 (Brit.), p. 217 (U.S.).
[4] ibid., p. 161 (Brit.), pp. 224-5 (U.S.).
[5] The account of this journey is given in The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 156-62 (Brit.), pp. 217-27 (U.S.).
[6] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 14.
[7] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 162-3 (Brit.), pp. 228-9 (U.S.).
[8] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, pp. 14-15.
[9] ibid., pp. 15-16.
[10] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 163 (Brit.), pp. 230-1 (U.S.).
Opening quotation: translation by H. M. Balyuzi.
[1] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 165-6 (Brit.), p. 235 (U.S.).
[2] ibid., p. 166 (Brit.), p. 236 (U.S.).
[3] ibid.
[4] Browne (ed.), The Táríkh-i-Jadíd, pp. 220-1.
[5] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 167 (Brit.), p. 238 (U.S.).
[6] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 16.
[7] The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 173-4 (Brit.), p. 247 (U.S.).
[8] ibid., p. 174 (Brit.), pp. 247-8 (U.S.).
[9] Dossier No. 177, Ṭihrán, 1848, pp. 49-50 and p. 360. See Appendix 5, n. 2.
[10] See Foreword, paragraph 4.
[11] Browne (ed.), A Traveller's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 16.
[12] The Dawn-Breakers, p. 175 (Brit.), p. 249 (U.S.).
Opening quotation: In Memoriam A.H.H. (Prologue, v. 5.)