Table of Contents
Mullá Sádiq had been an ardent young disciple of Siyyid Kázim and studied with him for several years in Karbalá’. In 1839, about five years before this visit of Mullá Husayn to Isfáhán, Mullá Sádiq had been told by Siyyid Kázim to go to Isfáhán and prepare for the advent of the Promised One. Mullá Sádiq followed what he was told by Siyyid Kázim, and patiently waited in Isfáhán, always alert for any sign of the advent. Years passed, but now suddenly Mullá Sádiq heard about the arrival of Mullá Husayn in Isfáhán. Mullá Sádiq’s spiritual radar immediately sensed that something was up. He right away arranged to meet Mullá Husayn at the house of Muhammad-‘Alí of Nahrí. Mullá Sádiq himself gave this account of that meeting:
I asked Mullá Husayn to divulge the name of Him who claimed to be the promised Manifestation. He replied: “To enquire about that name and to divulge it are alike forbidden.” “Would it, then, be possible,” I asked, “for me, even as the Letters of the Living, to seek independently the grace of the All-Merciful and, through prayer, to discover His identity?” “The door of His grace,” he replied, “is never closed before the face of him who seeks to find Him.” I immediately retired from his presence, and requested his host to allow me the privacy of a room in his house where, alone and undisturbed, I could commune with God. In the midst of my contemplation, I suddenly remembered the face of a Youth whom I had often observed while in Karbilá, standing in an attitude of prayer, with His face bathed in tears at the entrance of the shrine of the Imám Husayn. That same countenance now reappeared before my eyes. In my vision I seemed to behold that same face, those same features, expressive of such joy as I could never describe. He smiled as He gazed at me. I went towards Him, ready to throw myself at His