ivest the Kingdom to whom thou pleasest and takest away thee Kingdom from whom Thou pleasesb. And there is a tradition that His Holiness wili interchange husbands and wives, like the master who give away his Own slave, and sureJy the right of
12 ownership of His Holiness among men is equal to the right of ownership of the master in his. handmaiden and slave, and the essence of the religion of His Holiness is unity and knowledge and love " A strong secret organization had existed from the very beginning to spread the movement ; and it carried on its propaganda, even after the execution of the Bab, under the direction of three well-known leaders, Mulla Hussain of Bushraweh (entitled the Bab-ulBab), Mulla Muhammad Ali of Barfurush iJanab-i-Oudduss, and Qurrat-ul-Ain (Tahira), the beautiful daughter of Mulla Salih of Qazwin,. Mirza Yahya (entitled Subh-i-Azal) succeeded the Bab ; and the Babis, two years after the execution of the Bab, made an attempt on the life of the Shah of Persia, Nasir-ud-Din, when he was outriding, but the shot miscarried. Subh-i-Azal fled to Baghdad, but his elder brother, Mirza Hasan Ali, later on Bahaullah, was arrested by the Persian Government and clamped behind the prison bars. The Bab had spoken of the advent of another spiritual luminary after him whom he called man yuzhirullah i.e. he whom God shall manifest. He would appear, the Bab said 1511 or 2001 years after him, and abrogate the
13 the previous law. But Bahaullah claimed in 1867 A. C. that he was the promised one, he whom God shall manifest. This caused a rupture between the two brothers, Subh.i-Azal and Bahaullah who tried to murder each other. The Government deported Bahaullah and his companions to Akka (Acre), and Subh-i-Azal to Cyprus, where he died on the 29th of April 1912. Bahaullah reached a good old age of 76 years, and had two wives and several ehildren. He wrote many books, the most important being Kitab al-Aqdas which is said to contain the new law which has abrogated the Bayan. Bab aullah saw with a keen eye that the Bab's claim as Mahdi had miserably failed; so he advanced the new claim that he was the one whose advent had been promised by the Bab, and his new dispensation abrogated the law of Bab altogether, but even under this guise the movement made no headway, and Bahaullah passed away in sorrow and sadness. After Bahaullah, his eldest son, Abbas Effendi, stepped into his shoes. He proclaimed in public in America that he was the Messiah, and the son of God, and in India he proclaimed himself to be the promised Bahram, the Saviour of the Zoroastrians. But Bahaullah
Bayan, as the Bayan abrogated
14 said in explicit words in the Kitab alAqdas: "Whoseover layeth claim to a Dispensation before the completion of a full thousand year is a liar and privaricator." So, another rupture arose in the ranks of the Babi movement. But people's love of the novel and Abbas Effendi's high-sounding claim to Divinity kept them around him. had It was in 1890 A. C. that a Syrian, named I brahim George Khairullah was converted to the Bahai creed. In 1892 when he went on a business trip first to Russia and then to New York that he found that the teaching of Bahaullah found ready acceptance among the Christians of America; so he established his nnssionary centre at Chicago. In 1897 the mission was extended to New York where regular classes were held to impart instruction in the new faith. Some converts were made in different towns, and the movement, in this way, gained a foothold on the American soil. In 1898, Khairullah along with some of these converts paid a visit to Akka to see the greatest Divine Manifestation, Abbas Effendi. In New York, Dr. Khairullah held regular classes for instruction in the Bahai creed. It will be interesting to know the methods employed by him. Professor Browne who had
15 instituted a thorough research in this movement, has published in the 'Materials for the study of the Babi Religion" letters of his American correspondent, Miss A.H. She writes in her first letter: The lecturer, Dr. Khairullah, has made the most as