Re: Photo of the Bab


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Posted by Nima Hazini on September 15, 2000 at 23:21:09:

In Reply to: Re: Photo of the Bab posted by Iraj Ayman on September 15, 2000 at 23:13:22:

(note from editor: the following email was edited to merge three emails into one. -J.W.)
For some reason this picture has somehow ended up being a hot topic among some people in the BWC. Unfortunately the reasons given by Dr. Ayman stand unconvincing and any cursory comparison of the "authenticated" picture Siyyid Kazim Rashti in Momen's Introduction to Shi'i Islam should prove this immediately. The reasons as to why "Hazrate Nuqta" is written on the left hand side of the picture (and by whom) are not given by Dr. Ayman. The reason as to why both the Azalis as well as non-Babi/non-Baha'i Iranian scholars have long established this picture as being that of the Bab has not been provided, either. I am quite aware of the controversy surrounding this and other portraits of the Bab, but it is obvious that the picture in Momen's Introduction to Shi'i Islam demonstrates the ethnicity and features of a person from Gilan while that of SBBH vol. 1 shows the features of one from Fars.

There is more than meets the eye to things and Baha'is are not exactly known for addressing the obvious. There is no portrait/picture of Siyyid Kazim Rashti as a youth, for starters. Furthermore, no one seems to want to address the obvious, i.e. 1) why "Hazrate Nuqta" written on the left hand side of the picture, and 2) why this picture has been widely recognized by Azalis and non-Babi/Baha'i Iranians as being a portarit of the Bab for about a hundred years now and 3) why this picture bears absolutely no resemlance whatsoever to the well known picture of Rashti. Look up the entries on the Bab in Mo'in and Dehkhoda.

Kindly convey to Robert Stauffer that the Research Deprtment's findings are evidently inconclusive, and it still does not explain the marker on the left hand side of the picture which says "Hazrate Nuqta", or that the portrait-drawing bares absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the well known portrait of Siyyid Kazim Rashti. Just because certain pictures have appeared in a covenant-breaker source does not automatically designate them as spurious. The reasoning behind such statements should be even more suspect, IMO.

cheers,
Nima



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