'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎503] (562/714)

INSTITUTIONS AND EEFORMS
503
an emanation from that source, into which it will ultimately again be
resolved. According to the Babi view, God is not a person, as in
the Bible or in the Koran, but a spiritual essence, perpetually
•communicating and reproducing itself. Man is compounded of
this essence, subject to the defilements of the flesh, but by reason
of his origin is essentially divine. To whatever extent the average
Babi has imbibed or holds these doctrines, he appears to have
absolutely cut himself adrift from Mohammed and the Koran. He
believes in the divinity of Beha, and, it may be added, of Christ, as
several incarnations of the Deity; and his scriptures may be de
scribed as a curious amalgam of the Bible, Sufiism, and the Koran.
Mr. Browne thinks it an error to credit the Babis with a belief in
the transmigration of souls.
Among other properties claimed or observances pursued by the
Babis, may be mentioned the gift of clairvoyance, or foresight, of
Observ- which instances are related that appertain to the mi radi
ances lous. They have also a peculiar sort of handwriting,
very little in vogue, a seal with a peculiar device, a particular
form of salutation, and an elaborate burial service.
If Babism continues to grow at its present rate of progression,
a time may conceivably come when it will oust Mohammedanism
Future of f 1 ' 0 ™ the field in Persia. This, I think, it would be un-
Babism likely to do, did it appear upon the ground under the
flao- of a hostile faith. But since its recruits are won from the
best soldiers of the garrison whom it is attacking, there is greater
reason to believe that it may ultimately prevail. To those who
know anything of the Persian character, so extraordinarily sus
ceptible of religious influences as it is, it will be obvious to how
many classes in that country the new creed makes successful
appeal. The Sufis, or mystics, have long held that there must
always be a Pir, or Prophet, visible in the flesh, and are very
easily absorbed into the Babi fold. Even the orthodox Mussulman,
whose mind's eye has ever been turned in eager anticipation upon
the vanished Imam, is amenable to the cogent reasoning, by which
it is sought to prove that either the Bab, or Beha, is the Mahdi,
according to all the predictions of the Koran and the traditions.
The pure and suffering life of the Bab, his ignominious death, the
heroism and martyrdom of his followers, will appeal to many others
who can find no similar phenomena in the contemporaneous records
of Islam. Finally, all those who secretly rebel against the tyranny