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The Báb was informed He could select one companion and one attendant from among His followers for the trip and to stay with Him in Máh-Kú. He chose Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdí [one of His three amanuenses and a Letter of the Living] and his brother, Siyyid Hasan. The Báb was given government funds for the expense of the journey, but He had that money distributed to the poor in the area and used His own limited funds to cover His expenses and those of His companions. With this they set out for Tabríz.
The first major city en route was Qazvín , but as they were not allowed to enter the city, the group stayed in a nearby village, called Síyáh-Dihán .Qazvín was the home of Táhirih, but she was not there at that time. She was still in Karbalá’.
Memoirs record that while in Síyáh-Dihán, in the neighborhood of Qazvín, the Báb wrote tablets to several leading ‘ulamá in Qazvín calling on them with His Message. From here He also addressed His epistle to the Grand Vazír. 103ACT5 All these high-ranking individuals were challenged by the Báb to recognize His claim. Their various responses did not depend on learning or social standing. In His tablet to Sulaymán Khán of Afshár, who was a highly ranked among the ‘ulamá in Qazvín and a great admirer of Siyyid Kázim, the Báb wrote:
He whose virtues the late Siyyid unceasingly extolled, and to the approach of whose Revelation he continually alluded, is now revealed. I am that promised One. Arise and deliver Me from the hand of the oppressor.
104ACT5
Sulaymán Khán was in Zanján at that time, and the letter got to him in three days, but he failed to respond to the call of the Báb. But for all those who remained in the dark, many chose to be part of the light of the dawn. The person who delivered the letter to Sulaymán Khán in Zanján, was Mullá Iskandar. He was the one who had been delegated by Hujjat of Zanján to visit the Báb in Shíráz and investigate His Cause. The lack of response of people like Sulaymán Khán was of no importance to souls like Mullá Iskandar, whose insight stood in sharp contrast to the blindness of people like Sulaymán Khán.
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