Tabríz8 – Dawn Breakers

“I am, I am, I am, the promised One!”

When everyone was seated, the stillness was broken by the Nizamu’l-‘Ulamá, who got to the point right away. He asked the Báb:

Whom do you claim to be, and what is the message which you have brought?

Without hesitation, with unparalleled majesty, the Báb exclaimed:

I am, 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.

A feeling of awe seized all those who were present. They dropped their heads in silent confusion. No one ventured to say anything, except for one person, the Shaykhí leader Mullá Muhammad-i-Mámáqání

A note on Mullá Muhammad-i-Mámáqání

As can be deduced from his name, Mullá Muhammad-i-Mámáqání came from the village of Mámáqán which is very close to Tabríz [about 50 km / 30 miles southwest of Tabríz]. He had become the leader of the Shaykhí’s in that region, which is why he was there for the interrogation of the Báb. And like all the other Shaykhí’s who had not followed Siyyid Kázim’s explicit instructions to arise with a pure heart and search for the promised One, he was spiritually blind and doomed. When Mullá Husayn had come to Tabríz, he had attempted to open Mullá Muhammad-i-Mámáqání’s eyes, but it was useless. The depth of his blindness can be surmised from the ridiculous reasoning he gave for not accepting the Báb. He is reported to have said:

I take God as my witness! Had this claim which the Siyyid-i-Báb has made been advanced by this same Mullá Husayn I would, in view of his remarkable traits of character and breadth of knowledge, have been the first to champion his cause and to proclaim it to all people. As he, however, has

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