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TAGS: Bab, Life of (documents); Bab, Trial of
LOCATIONS: Iran (documents); Tabriz
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Abstract:
Translation of source documents preserved from the 1848 trial.
Notes:

Trial of the Báb:
Questions, rebukes, statements made during the interrogation of the Bab

compiled by Denis MacEoin
1997-05
Key to sources:
    NN: Namus-i Nasiri (Mamaqani)
    RS: Rawdat al-safa-yi Nasiri (Hidayat)
    NT: Nasikh al-tawarikh (Sipihr)
    MBA: Miftah bab al-abwab (Za`im al-Dawla)
    FB: Fitna-yi Bab/al-Mutanabbi'in (I`tidad al-Saltana)
    AKh: Letter of Mirza Aslan Khan
    NK: Nuqtat al-kaf (Kashani)
    AH: Abwab al-huda (Hashtrudi  in Mu`in al-Saltana)
    DB: Nabil's Narrative/Dawnbreakers (Zarandi)
#     Question etc.           NN    RS    NT    MBA   FB    AKh   NK    AH    DB    Totl 
1     `Are these your         x     x     x     x     x           x                 6       
      writings?'                                                                            
2     `Who gave you the       x     x     x     x     x           x                 6       
      title Bab?'                                                                           
3     `When did God bestow    x     x1                x2                            3       
      this title?'                                                                          
4     `What are you the       x     x3                x                             3       
      gate of?'                                                                             
5     `Did you call                 x           x                                   2       
      yourself/your tongue                                                                  
      is like Tree of                                                                       
      Sinai?'4                                                                              
6     Quotes `Ask me before               x     x                                   2       
      I am gone....'                                                                        
7     `Are you the hidden     x     x5    x6    x7    x                             5       
      Imam in person?'                                                                      
8     `The Imam we await is   x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      so-and-so. You are                                                                    
      someone else.'                                                                        
9     `Why did you not        x                             x                       2       
      bring the heirlooms                                                                   
      of the Prophet?'                                                                      
10    `Go and get             x                             x                       2       
      permission (to bring                                                                  
      heirlooms)'                                                                           
11    `Turn your staff into   x                                                     1       
      a dragon'                                                                             
12    `Do you have a verse    X                       x           x                 3       
      for your staff?'                                                                      
13    `I can reveal a         x                       x     x     x                 4       
      better verse than                                                                     
      that' (Aslan Khan)                                                                    
14    `It is not a            x                                                     1       
      tradition, but from                                                                   
      Ibn al-`Arabi '                                                                       
15    `A jackal in Basra'     x                                                     1       
16    `Pray for Muhammad      x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      Shah's health'                                                                        
17    `Restore Nizam          x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      al-`Ulama to youth'                                                                   
18    `O Thou through Whom    x                                                     1       
      the knot of the                                                                       
      deceiver is untied'                                                                   
19    `How can we speak       x                                                     1       
      with one in his                                                                       
      cradle?'8                                                                             
20    `Does the Quranic       x     x     x     x9    x                             5       
      decree on booty still                                                                 
      stand?'                                                                               
21    `How many fractions     x                                                     1       
      are there in                                                                          
      arithmetic?'10                                                                        
22    `We have sent a         x                                                     1       
      revelation to you as                                                                  
      to Muhammad'11                                                                        
23    `We have caused you     x                                                     1       
      to be raised up a                                                                     
      station...'12                                                                         
24    `How many kinds of      x                                                     1       
      divorce are there in                                                                  
      fiqh?'                                                                                
25    `A question on          x13   x14   x15   x16   x17                           5       
      medicine'                                                                             
26    `Queries claim that     x     x18   x19   x20   x                             5       
      first to believe in                                                                   
      Bab was Muhammad'                                                                     
27    `You refer to           x                                                     1       
      yourself as "Lord".                                                                   
      Why?'                                                                                 
28    `Whatever takes its     x     x     x     x     x22                           5       
      plural in ta' and                                                                     
      alif....'21                                                                           
29    `Explain the figures    x                                   x     x           3       
      on this sphere of the                                                                 
      heavens'23                                                                            
30    Quotes `Allama          x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      al-Hilli  on                                                                          
      hermaphrodite.                                                                        
31    Quotes question of      x     x     x     x     x     x                       6       
      Ma'mun to Imam Rida                                                                   
32    `He it is Who causes    x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      you to behold the                                                                     
      lightning....'                                                                        
33    `May God curse the      x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      eyes....'                                                                             
34    `You claim that men     x                                                     1       
      and jinn cannot                                                                       
      produce a word...'24                                                                  
35    On remark of the        x     x     x     x     x                             5       
      father of `Amr                                                                        
36    Claim to have drunk     x                                                     1       
      drops of blood of                                                                     
      Husayn25                                                                              
37    Bab's hypocrisy         x                                                     1       
      regarding al-Ahsa'i                                                                   
      and Rashti                                                                            
38    `If a man is            x     x                 x     x     x                 5       
      uncertain between two                                                                 
      and three (rak`as)                                                                    
39    `What tense is          x     x26               x                             3       
      qulna?/Decline qala'                                                                  
40    `When did I send you    x     x                 x                             3       
      as an Imam?'                                                                          
41    Quotes `If it is              x                 x     x                       3       
      allowed for a tree to                                                                 
      say "I am the Truth"'                                                                 
42    `Are you content with         x                                               2       
      this name?'                                                                           
43    `Are you the Gate of          x                 x                             2       
      the City of                                                                           
      Knowledge?'                                                                           
44    `I have waited 40             x                 x                             2       
      years to meet one of                                                                  
      the abwab'                                                                            
45    `I shall give this            x     x     x     x                             4       
      throne to you'27                                                                      
46    `Are knowledge,               x                 x                             2       
      hearing etc. of the                                                                   
      Essence?'                                                                             
47    `Religious sciences           x     x     x     x                             4       
      depend on sarf etc.'                                                                  
48    `Show the mutation of         x                 x                             2       
      the defective letter                                                                  
      in qala'                                                                              
49    `What is grammatical                                        x     x           2       
      form of qawluhu?'                                                                     
50    `I`jaz, fasaha, and           x     x     x     x                             4       
      balagha'                                                                              
51    `Engaging in an         x     x28                                             2       
      indubitable duty....'                                                                 
52    `What are the                 x                 x                             2       
      fractions of nine?'                                                                   
53    Quotes `How long              x                 x                             2       
      these words...?'                                                                      
54    `Show me a miracle'           x     x     x     x                             4       
55    `What needs improving                     x29                                 1       
      in Islam? How do you                                                                  
      improve it?'                                                                          
56    `On the true nature                       x30                                 1       
      of Christ's ascension                                                                 
      to heaven.'                                                                           
57    `Be quiet, be quiet'31                    x                                   1       
58    `What were the names                      x                                   1       
      of your father and                                                                    
      mother...?'                                                                           
59    Trouble in Khurasan                 x     x                                   2       
      etc. on account of                                                                    
      writings                                                                              
60    `What is this                                                     x           2       
      affair... truth of                                                                    
      matter... nature of                                                                   
      claim?'                                                                               
61    `Light from Burning     x                                                     1       
      Bush was your light                                                                   
      -- is that so?'                                                                       
62    `Why should that        x32                     x33   x34                     3       
      Shi`i  be you?'                                                                       

Notes
    1 'Where?'
    2 'Where?'
    3 'What is the meaning of "Bab"?'
    4 Some other sources have the reference to the Tree on Sinai as a statement of the Bab's.
    5 'In person or in type?' (shakhsi ya naw`i)
    6 'In person or in type?' (naw`i buda'i ya shakhsi mibashi)
    7 'In person or in type?'
    8 Asked by Mamaqani
    9 This is the only source to attribute this question to a certain Mirza `Abd al-Karim Mullabashi. The others say it was asked by `Alam al-Huda.
    10 Asked by Mamaqani
    11 Asked by `Alam al-Huda.
    12 Asked by `Alam al-Huda.
    13 Asked by Mamaqani. Mamaqani's son did not remember what this was.
    14 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama.
    15 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama.
    16 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama.
    17 Asked by Nizam al-`Ulama.
    18 'The Light of Muhammad'.
    19 'The Light of Muhammad'.
    20 'The Light of Muhammad'.
    21 Quoted by Nasir al-Din Mirza
    22 Attributed to 'one of those present'.
    23 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza.
    24 Said by `Alam al-Huda.
    25 Said by `Alam al-Huda.
    26 The Bab is asked to decline qala and cannot. Nizam al-`Ulama declines as far as qulna and asks him to finish.
    27 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza.
    28 This comment is dropped in the text of al-Mutanabbi'in.
    29 Asked by Za`im al-Dawla's grandfather.
    30 Ditto.
    31 Said by Nasir al-Din Mirza.
    32 Attributed to Nasir al-Din Mirza.
    33 Attributed to unnamed individual(s).
    34 Attributed to Amir Aslan Khan.


See Table of the answers given by the Báb.
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