Dear Scott:
Now you are confusing me. First you said that the bab was the return of the spirit of the Mahdi, then you said that it was not the spirit, but the essence. Then you said that it was not the essence, but transmigration. Now you are telling me that there was no transmigration, but Bab was a prophet.
I agree with you that no human soul returns to this earth in a human body - unless Allah wills it so. Mind you, I am not suggesting that any person did come back in human form - but only saying that if Allah wanted, He could do it. In fact I cannot even remember any one example where any person came back in his own, leave alone some person else's body.
But that is where the confusion arises. Was the Bab the Mahdi? His words do not seem to suggest that. In fact, his words seem to suggest that it was Mohammed Ibnil Hasan who was the Mahdi. And he gives us no clue about the theory of spirit, essence etc. Bab was Bab and Mahdi was Mahdi. In fact in Sahifae Adaliyah, he prays to Mohammed Ibnil Hasan and seeks help from him.
Again and again at different points of time in his life (at the start, middle and end), in his books he says that Mohammed Ibnil Hasan is the Qaem, Mahdi, Sahebal Amr, Sahebazzaman. He talks about his occultation, titles, geneology; he refers to traditions about him etc. Mohammed Ibnil Hasan was in occultation at the time of the Bab. The Bab himself said that he saw some person whom he thought was Mohammed Ibnil Hasan? Could it be that the Bab was preparing the world for the coming of Mohammed Ibnil Hasan - by whose arrival, as per traditions, Allah will fill the earth with justice and equality, just as it will be full of tyranny and opression? Just a thought, why would the Bab be so crystal clear about the Mahdi? And if he is then who is the Bab?
And once again, I request if you could bring any quotation from the Bab that he was the essence, spirit of the Mahdi.
Regards,
I never used the term "transmigration" until you did.
Let me tell a tale from Mr. H. M. Balyuzi's book:
"It was noised abroad that the Governor, by
the request of the divines, had ordered that the people of
Shiraz, of all classes, should gather in the Masjid-i-Vakil,
as the Siyyid-i-Báb was going to renounce His claim. I too
went to the mosque to find a place near [the pulpit] so that 97
I might hear well all that He had to say. From the morning
onwards, people, group by group, thronged the mosque.
Three hours before sunset there was such a press of people
in the mosque that the cloisters and the courtyard and the
roofs, even the minarets, were fully crowded. The Governor,
the divines, the merchants and the notables were sitting
in the cloisters, near the stone pulpit. (This is a pulpit
carved out of one piece of marble. It has fourteen steps.)
I was also sitting near it. Voices were heard in the courtyard,
saying: 'He is coming.' He came through the gate, accompanied
by ten footmen and 'Abdu'l-Hamid Khan-i-Darughih
[chief of police], and approached the pulpit. He had His
turban on and an 'aba on His shoulders. He displayed such
power and dignity and His bearing was so sublime that I
cannot describe it adequately. That vast gathering seemed
as naught to Him. He paid no heed to that assemblage of
the people. He addressed Husayn Khan and the divines:
'What is your intention in asking Me to come here?' They
answered: 'The intention is that you should ascend this
pulpit and repudiate your false claim so that this commotion
and unrest will subside.' He said nothing and went up to the
third step of the pulpit. Shaykh Husayn, the Tyrant, said
with utmost vehemence: 'Go to the top of the pulpit so
that all may see and hear you.' The Báb ascended the pulpit
and sat down at the top. All of a sudden, silence fell upon
that assemblage. It seemed as if there was not a soul in the
mosque. The whole concourse of people strained their ears.
He began to recite at the start a homily in Arabic on Divine
Unity. It was delivered with utmost eloquence, with
majesty and power. It lasted about half an hour, and the
concourse of people, high and low, learned and illiterate
alike, listened attentively and were fascinated. The people's
silence infuriated Shaykh Husayn, who turned to the Governor
and said: 'Did you bring this Siyyid here, into the presence
of all these people, to prove His Cause, or did you 98
bring Him to recant and renounce His false claim? He will
soon with these words Will over all these people to His side.
Tell Him to say what He has to say. What are all these idle
tales?' Husayn Khan, the Sahib-Ikhtiyar, told the Bab:
'O Siyyid! say what you have been told to say. What is this
idle chatter?' The Báb was silent for a moment and then He
addressed the crowd: 'O people! Know this well that I
speak what My Grandfather, the Messenger of God, spoke
twelve hundred and sixty years ago, and I do not speak
what My Grandfather did not.
"What Muhammad made
lawful remains lawful unto the Day of Resurrection and what
He forbade remains forbidden unto the Day of Resurrection",[1]
and according to the Tradition that has come down
from the Imams, "Whenever the Qá'im arises that will be
the Day of Resurrection".' The Báb, having spoken those
words, descended from the pulpit. Some of the people,
who had been inimical and hostile, that day foreswore their
antagonism. But when the Báb came face to face with
Shaykh Husayn, that enemy raised his walking-stick to
strike Him. The late Mirza Abu'l-Hasan Khan, the
Mushiru'l-Mulk,[2] who was then a young man, brought
forward his shoulder to ward off the attack, and it was his
shoulder that was hit.""
[1 The Báb was quoting a Muslim Tradition.]
[2 He and his father, Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, the first Mushiru'l-Mulk, were the Viziers of Fars, in succession, over a period of forty years.]
(H.M. Balyuzi, The Bab - The Herald of the Day of Days, p. 96)
