As to the Imám-Jum’ih, from the very first day, he was so enamoured by the Báb, that, according to Nabíl:
[A]ssuming the functions of an attendant, he [the Imám-Jum’ih] undertook to minister to the needs and wants of his beloved Guest. Seizing the ewer from the hand of the chief steward and utterly ignoring the customary dignity of his rank, he proceeded to pour out the water over the hands of the Báb. 29ACT5
The Commentary on the Súrih of Va’l-‘Asr
One night, after supper, the Imám-Jum’ih ventured to request his youthful Guest to write a commentary on the
Súrih 30ACT5 of
Va’l-‘Asr [
Chapter of the Afternoon] of the
Qur’án. Nabíl recounts what happened:
His request was readily granted. Calling for pen and paper, the Báb, with astonishing rapidity and without the least premeditation, began to reveal, in the presence of His host, a most illuminating interpretation of the aforementioned súrih. It was nearing midnight when the Bab found Himself engaged in the exposition of the manifold implications involved in the first letter of that súrih. That letter, the letter`váv’ upon which Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsa’I had already laid such emphasis in his writings, symbolized for the Bab the advent of a new cycle of Divine Revelation 32ACT5 … … The Bab soon after began to chant, in the presence of His host and his companions, the homily with which He had prefaced His commentary on the súrih. Those words of power confounded His hearers with wonder.