A Study of Baha’u’llah’s
Kitab-i-Iqan, The Book of Certitude
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The story of Haji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan Kermani is fascinating and instructive. He has the unique distinction of being named in person, according to Baha’u’llah’s own interpretation, in the Qur’an, the Iqan, and the Aqdas as a symbol of foolishness masquerading as knowledge. The following extracts give parts of the story. – F.A.
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169
O concourse of divines! Beware lest ye be the cause of strife in the land, even as ye were the cause of the repudiation of the Faith in its early days. Gather the people around this Word that hath made the pebbles to cry out: "The Kingdom is God's, the Dawning-place of all signs!" Thus doth your Lord admonish you, as a bounty on His part; He, of a truth, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.
170
Call ye to mind Karim, and how, when We summoned him unto God, he waxed disdainful, prompted by his own desires; yet We had sent him that which was a solace to the eye of proof in the world of being and the fulfilment of God's testimony to all the denizens of earth and heaven. As a token of the grace of Him Who is the All-Possessing, the Most High, We bade him embrace the Truth. But he turned away until, as an act of justice from God, angels of wrath laid hold upon him. Unto this We truly were a witness.
171
Tear the veils asunder in such wise that the inmates of the Kingdom will hear them being rent. This is the command of God, in days gone by and for those to come. Blessed the man that observeth that whereunto he was bidden, and woe betide the negligent.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 81 )
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182. Call ye to mind Karim # 170
Haji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan-i-Kirmani (1810- circa 1873) was the self-appointed leader of the Shaykhi community after the death of Siyyid Kazim, who was the appointed successor to Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i (see notes 171 and 172). He dedicated himself to the promotion of the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad. The opinions he expressed became the subject of controversy among his supporters and opponents alike. Regarded as one of the leading savants and prolific authors of his age, he composed numerous books and epistles in the various fields of learning that were cultivated in those times. He actively opposed both the Bab and Baha'u'llah, and used his treatises to attack the Bab and His Teachings. In the Kitab-i-Iqan, Baha'u'llah condemns the tone and content of his writings and singles out for criticism one of his works which contains negative allusions to the Bab. Shoghi Effendi describes him as "inordinately ambitious and hypocritical" and describes how he "at the special request of the Shah had in a treatise viciously attacked the new Faith and its doctrines".
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 244 )
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Aqa Muhammad-Baqir and Aqa Muhammad-Isma'il, the Tailor
These were two brothers who, in the path of God, captives along with the rest, were shut in the Akka fortress. They were brothers of the late Pahlavan Rida. They left Persia and emigrated to Adrianople, hastening to the loving-kindness of Baha'u'llah; and under His protection, they came to Akka.
Pahlavan Rida -- God's mercy and blessings and splendors be upon him; praise and salutations be unto him -- was a man to outward seeming untutored, devoid of learning. He was a tradesman, and like the others who came in at the start, he cast everything away out of love for God, attaining in one leap the highest reaches of knowledge. He is of those from the earlier time. So eloquent did he suddenly become that the people of Kashan were astounded. For example this man, to all appearances unschooled, betook himself to Haji Muhammad-Karim Khan in Kashan and propounded this question:
"Sir, are you the Fourth Pillar? I am a man who thirsts after spiritual truth and I yearn to know of the Fourth Pillar."[1]
[1 In Shaykhi terminology, the Fourth Support or Fourth Pillar was the perfect man or channel of grace, always to be sought. Haji Muhammad-Karim Khan regarded himself as such. Cf. Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), p. 184, and Abdu'l-Baha, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 4. ]
Since a number of political and military leaders were present, the Haji replied: "Perish the thought! I shun all those who consider me the Fourth Pillar. Never have I made such a claim. Whoever says I have, speaks falsehood; may God's curse be on him!"
A few days later Pahlavan Rida again sought out the Haji and told him: "Sir, I have just finished your book, Irshadu'l-'Avam (Guidance unto the Ignorant); I have read it from cover to cover; in it you say that one is obligated to know the Fourth Pillar or Fourth Support; indeed, you account him a fellow knight of the Lord of the Age.[1] Therefore I long to recognize and know him. I am certain that you are informed of him. Show him to me, I beg of you."
[1 The promised Twelfth Imam.]
The Haji was wrathful. He said: "The Fourth Pillar is no figment. He is a being plainly visible to all. Like me, he has a turban on his head, he wears an aba, and carries a cane in his hand." Pahlavan Rida smiled at him. "Meaning no discourtesy," he said, "there is, then, a contradiction in Your Honor's teaching. First you say one thing, then you say another."
Furious, the Haji replied: "I am busy now. Let us discuss this matter some other time. Today I must ask to be excused."
The point is that Rida, a man considered to be unlettered, was able, in an argument, to best such an erudite "Fourth Pillar." In the phrase of Allamiy-i-Hilli, he downed him with the Fourth Support.[1]
[1 Allamiy-i-Hilli, "the Very Erudite Doctor," title of the famed Shi'ih theologian, Jamalu'd-Din Hasan ibn-i-Yusuf ibn-i-'Ali of Hilla (1250-1325 A.D.).
Whenever that lionhearted champion of knowledge began to speak, his listeners marveled; and he remained, till his last breath, the protector and helper of all seekers after truth. Ultimately he became known far and wide as a Baha'i, was turned into a vagrant, and ascended to the Abha Kingdom.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Memorials of the Faithful, p. 167 )
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I have heard Shaykh Abu-Turab [1] recount the following:
"I, together with a number of the disciples of Siyyid Kazim, regarded the
allusions to these deficiencies, from which the Siyyid declared the promised
One to be free, as specifically directed toward three individuals amongst our
fellow-disciples. We even designated them by such appellations as indicated
their bodily defects. One of them was Haji Mirza Karim Khan,[2] son of Ibrahim
Khan-i-Qajar-i-Kirmani, who was both one-eyed and sparsely bearded. Another was
Mirza Hasan-i-Gawhar, an exceptionally corpulent man. The third was Mirza
Muhit-i-Sha'ir-i-Kirmani, who was extraordinarily lean and tall. We felt
convinced that these were none other than those to whom the Siyyid constantly
alluded as those vain and faithless people who would eventually reveal their
real selves, and betray their ingratitude and folly. As to Haji Mirza Karim
Khan, who for years sat at the feet of Siyyid Kazim and acquired from him all
his so-called learning, in the end he obtained leave from his master to settle
in Kirman, and there engage in the promotion of the interests of Islam and the
dissemination of those traditions that clustered round the sacred memory of the
Imams of the Faith.
[1 According to
Samandar (p. 32), Shaykh Abu-Turab was a native of Ishhtihad, and ranked among
the leading disciples of Siyyid Kazim. He married the sister of Mulla Husayn.
He died while in prison in Tihran.]
[2 "The Bab
wrote to Haji Muhammad-Karim Khan ... and invited him to acknowledge his
authority. This the latter not only entirely refused to do, but further wrote a
treatise against the Bab and his doctrines." (P. 910.) "At least two
such treatises were written by Haji Muhammad-Karim Khan. One of them was
composed at a later date than this, probably after the Bab's death, at the
special request of Nasiri'd-Din Shah. Of these two one has been printed, and is
called 'the crushing of falsehood' (Izhaqu'l-Batil)." (Footnote 1, p.
910.) (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1889, article 12.)
"I was
present in the library of Siyyid Kazim when, one day, an attendant of Haji
Mirza Karim Khan arrived, holding a book in his hand, which he presented to the
Siyyid on behalf of his master, requesting him to peruse it and to signify in
his own handwriting his approval of its contents. The Siyyid read portions of
that book, and returned it to the attendant with this message: 'Tell your
master that he, better than anyone else, can estimate the value of his own
book.' The attendant had retired when the Siyyid, with sorrowful voice,
remarked: 'Accursed be he! For years he has been associated with me, and now
that he intends to depart, his one aim, after so many years of study and
companionship, is to diffuse, through his book, such heretical and atheistic
doctrines as he now wishes me to endorse. He has covenanted with a number of
self-seeking hypocrites with the view of establishing himself in Kirman, and in
order to assume, after my departure from this world, the reins of undisputed
leadership. How grievously he erred in his judgment! For the breeze of divine
Revelation, wafted from the Day-Spring of guidance, will assuredly quench his
light and destroy his influence. The tree of his endeavour will eventually
yield naught but the fruit of bitter disillusion and gnawing remorse. Verily I
say, you shall behold this with your own eyes. My prayer for you is that you
may be protected from the mischievous influence which he, the antichrist of the
promised Revelation, will in future exercise.' He bade me conceal this
prediction until the Day of Resurrection, the Day when the Hand of Omnipotence
will have disclosed the secrets which are now hidden within the breasts of men.
'On that Day,' he exhorted me, 'arise with unswerving purpose and determination
for the triumph of the Faith of God. Publish far and wide all that you have
heard and witnessed.'" This same Shaykh Abu-Turab, who in the early days
of the Dispensation proclaimed by the Bab thought it wiser and better not to identify
himself with His Cause, cherished in his heart the fondest love for the
revealed Manifestation, and in his faith remained firm and immovable as the
rock. Eventually that smouldering fire blazed forth in his soul and was
responsible for such behaviour on his part as to cause him to suffer
imprisonment in Tihran, in the same dungeon within which Baha'u'llah was
confined. He remained steadfast to the very end, and crowned a life of loving
sacrifice with the glory of martyrdom.
(Shoghi
Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 39 )
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[4 "Here ends the history of the establishment of Shaykhism, or at least of its unity, for, after the death of Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti, it became divided into two branches. One branch, under the name of Babism, flowered as foreshadowed by the strength of the movement created by Shaykh Ahmad, thus fulfilling the expectations of the two masters, if one may believe their predictions. The other, under the leadership of Karim Khan-i-Qajar-i-Kirmani, will continue its struggles against the Shiite sect, but will always seek security in affecting the outer appearance Ithna-'Asharisme. If, according to Karim Khan, the Bab and his followers are infamous and impious, for the Babis, Karim Khan is the Anti-Christ or Dajjal foretold by Muhammad." (A. L. M. Nicolas' "Essai sur le Shaykhisme," II, p. 31.) ]
(Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 46 )
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We have, in the preceding pages, referred to the expulsion
of Quddus and of Mulla Sadiq from Shiraz, and have attempted to describe,
however inadequately, the chastisement inflicted upon them by the tyrannical
and rapacious Husayn Khan. A word should now be said regarding the nature of
their activities after their expulsion from that city. For a few days they
continued to journey together, after which they separated, Quddus departing for
Kirman in order to interview Haji Mirza Karim Khan, and Mulla Sadiq directing
his steps towards Yazd with the intention of pursuing among the ulamas of that
province the work which he had been so cruelly forced to abandon in Fars.
Quddus was received, upon his arrival, at the home of Haji Siyyid
Javad-i-Kirmani, whom he had known in Karbila and whose scholarship, skill, and
competence were universally recognised by the people of Kirman. At all the
gatherings held in his home, he invariably assigned to his youthful guest the
seat of honour and treated him with extreme deference and courtesy. So marked a
preference for so young and seemingly mediocre a person kindled the envy of the
disciples of Haji Mirza Karim Khan, who, describing in vivid and exaggerated
language the honours which were being lavished upon Quddus, sought to excite
the dormant hostility of their chief. "Behold," they whispered in his
ears, "he who is the best beloved, the trusted and most intimate companion
of the Siyyid-i-Bab, is now the honoured guest of one who is admittedly the
most powerful inhabitant of Kirman. If he be allowed to live in close
companionship with Haji Siyyid Javad, he will no doubt instil his poison into
his soul, and will fashion him as the instrument whereby he will succeed in
disrupting your authority and in extinguishing your fame." Alarmed by
these evil whisperings, the cowardly Haji Mirza Karim Khan appealed to the
governor and induced him to call in person upon Haji Siyyid Javad and demand
that he terminate that dangerous association. The representations of the
governor inflamed the wrath of the intemperate Haji Siyyid Javad. "How
often," he violently protested, "have I advised you to ignore the
whisperings of this evil plotter! My forbearance has emboldened him. Let him
beware lest he overstep his bounds. Does he desire to usurp my position? Is he
not the man who receives into his home thousands of abject and ignoble people
and overwhelms them with servile flattery? Has he not, again and again, striven
to exalt the ungodly and to silence the innocent? Has he not, year after year, by
reinforcing the hand of the evil-doer, sought to ally himself with him and
gratify his carnal desires? Does he not until this day persist in uttering his
blasphemies against all that is pure and holy in Islam? My silence seems to
have added to his temerity and insolence. He gives himself the liberty of
committing the foulest deeds, and refuses to allow me to receive and honour in
my own home a man of such integrity, such learning and nobleness. Should he
refuse to desist from his practice, let him be warned that the worst elements
of the city will, at my instigation, expel him from Kirman." Disconcerted
by such vehement denunciations, the governor apologised for his action. Ere he
retired, he assured Haji Siyyid Javad that he need entertain no fear, that he
himself would endeavour to awaken Haji Mirza Karim Khan to the folly of his
behaviour, and would induce him to repent.
The
siyyid's message stung Haji Mirza Karim Khan. Convulsed by a feeling of intense
resentment which he could neither suppress nor gratify, he relinquished all
hopes of acquiring the undisputed leadership of the people of Kirman. That open
challenge sounded the death-knell of his cherished ambitions.
In the
privacy of his home, Haji Siyyid Javad heard Quddus recount all the details of
his activities from the day of his departure from Karbila until his arrival at
Kirman. The circumstances of his conversion and his subsequent pilgrimage with
the Bab stirred the imagination and kindled the flame of faith in the heart of
his host, who preferred, however, to conceal his belief, in the hope of being
able to guard more effectively the interests of the newly established
community. "Your noble resolve," Quddus lovingly assured him,
"will in itself be regarded as a notable service rendered to the Cause of
God. The Almighty will reinforce your efforts and will establish for all time
your ascendancy over your opponents."
The
incident was related to me by a certain Mirza Abdu'llah-i-Ghawgka, who, while
in Kirman, had heard it from the lips of Haji Siyyid Javad himself. The
sincerity of the expressed intentions of the siyyid has been fully vindicated
by the splendid manner in which, as a result of his endeavours, he succeeded in
resisting the encroachments of the insidious Haji Mirza Karim Khan, who, had he
remained unchallenged, would have caused incalculable harm to the Faith.
(Shoghi
Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 179 )
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When Mulla Sadiq and Mulla Yusuf-i-Ardibili arrived at
Kirman, they again had to submit to similar indignities and to suffer similar
afflictions at the hands of Haji Mirza Karim Khan and his associates.[1] Haji
Siyyid Javad's persistent exertions freed them eventually from the grasp of
their persecutors, and enabled them to proceed to Khurasan.
[1 "A bitter
struggle broke out between the Muqaddas and Karim Khan who, as it is known, had
taken the rank of chief of the Shaykhi sect, after the death of Kazim. The
discussion took place in the presence of many people and Karim challenged his
opponent to prove the truth of the mission of the Bab. 'If you succeed,' he
said to him, 'I will be converted and my pupils with me; but if you fail, I
shall have it proclaimed in the bazaars: "Behold the one who tramples
under foot the Holy Law of Islam!'" 'I know who you are, Karim,' replied
Muqaddas to him. 'Do you not remember your Master Siyyid Kazim and that which
he told you: "Dog, do you not wish that I should die that, after me, may
appear the absolute truth?" Witness how today, urged on by your passion
for riches and for glory, you lie to yourself!' "Begun in this vein, the
discussion was bound to be brief. Instantly, the pupils of Karim drew their
knives and threw themselves upon him who was insulting their chief.
Fortunately, the governor of the city interposed; Muqaddas arrested and brought
to his house where he kept him for a while and, when the excitement had
subsided, he sent him away by night, escorted for several miles by ten mounted
men." (A. L. M. Nicolas' "Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Bab," pp.
228-229.)]
(Shoghi
Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 187 )
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Mulla Yusuf-i-Ardibili, one of the Letters of the Living, noted for his learning, his enthusiasm and eloquence. It was he who had aroused the apprehensions of Haji Karim Khan on his arrival at Kirman, and who struck terror to the hearts of his adversaries. "This man," Haji Karim Khan was heard to say to his congregation, "must needs be expelled from this town, for if he be allowed to remain, he will assuredly cause the same tumult in Kirman as he has already done in Shiraz. The injury he will inflict will be irreparable. The magic of his eloquence and the force of his personality, if they do not already excel those of Mulla Husayn, are certainly not inferior to them." By this means he was able to force him to curtail his stay in Kirman and to prevent him from addressing the people from the pulpit.
(Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 423 )