orded Him the supreme opportunity of
His mission to assert in public, formally and without any reservation, the
claims inherent in His Revelation. In the official residence, and in the
presence, of the governor of A_dh_irbayjan, Nasiri'd-Din Mirza, the heir
to the throne; under the presidency of Haji Mulla Mahmud, the
Nizamu'l-'Ulama, the Prince's tutor; before the assembled ecclesiastical
dignitaries of Tabriz, the leaders of the _Sh_ay_kh_i community, the
_Sh_ay_kh_u'l-Islam, and the Imam-Jum'ih, the Bab, having seated Himself
in the chief place which had been reserved for the Vali-'Ahd (the heir to
the throne), gave, in ringing tones, His celebrated answer to the question
put to Him by the President of that assembly. "I am," He exclaimed, "I am,
I am the Promised One! I am the One Whose name you have for a thousand
years invoked, at Whose mention you have risen, Whose advent you have
longed to witness, and the hour of Whose Revelation you have prayed God to
hasten. Verily, I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East
and the West to obey My word, and to pledge allegiance to My person."

Awe-struck, those present momentarily dropped their heads in silent
confusion. Then Mulla Muhammad-i-Mamaqani, that one-eyed white-bearded
renegade, summoning sufficient courage, with characteristic insolence,
reprimanded Him as a perverse and contemptible follower of Satan; to which
the undaunted Youth retorted that He maintained what He had already
asserted. To the query subsequently addressed to Him by the
Nizamu'l-'Ulama the Bab affirmed that His words constituted the most
incontrovertible evidence of His mission, adduced verses from the Qur'an
to establish the truth of His assertion, and claimed to be able to reveal,
within the space of two days and two nights, verses equal to the whole of
that Book. In answer to a criticism calling His attention to an infraction
by Him of the rules of grammar, He cited certain passages from the Qur'an
as corroborative evidence, and, turning aside, with firmness and dignity,
a frivolous and irrelevant remark thrown at Him by one of those who were
present, summarily disbanded that gathering by Himself rising and quitting
the room. The convocation thereupon dispersed, its members confused,
divided among themselves, bitterly resentful and humiliated through their
failure to achieve their purpose. Far from daunting the spirit of their
Captive, far from inducing Him to recant or abandon His