178. Call ye to mind the shaykh whose name was Muhammad-Hasan # 166Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan, one of the leading exponents of Shi'ih Islam, rejected the Bab. The author of voluminous writings on Shi'ih jurisprudence, he is reported to have died around 1850.
Nabil, in The Dawn-Breakers, describes the encounter that took place in Najaf between Mulla Aliy-i-Bastami, one of the Letters of the Living, and Shaykh Muhammad-Hasan. During the meeting, Mulla Ali announced the manifestation of the Bab and extolled the potency of His Revelation. At the instigation of the shaykh, Mulla Ali was forthwith pronounced a heretic and expelled from the assembly. He was put on trial, transported to Istanbul, and condemned to hard labour.
179. a sifter of wheat and barley # 166This is an allusion to Mulla Muhammad Ja'far Gandum-Pak-Kun, the first person in Isfahan to accept the Faith of the Bab. He is mentioned in the Persian Bayan and praised as one who "donned the robe of discipleship". In The Dawn- Breakers, Nabil describes the unreserved acceptance of the Message by the "sifter of wheat" and his zealous advocacy of the new Revelation. He joined the company of the defenders of the Fort of Shaykh Tabarsi and perished during that siege.