Traveller’s Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb-Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás

section zero of a traveller's narrative written to illustrate the episode of the bab recording by nicholas james bridgewater a traveller's narrative written to illustrate the episode of the bab by abdul baha abbas translated by edward granville brown introduction by edward granville brown this book is the history of a proscribed and persecuted sect written by one of themselves after suffering

in silence for nigh upon half a century they at length find voice to tell their

tale and offer their apology of this voice i am the interpreter so many persian works of universally acknowledged and incontrovertible merit remain unpublished

not only in europe but in the east that one who offers to the public as the result of his study and labour the translation

and text of a quite recent compilation whereof the authorship must remain unknown and which must therefore rely solely

on whatever intrinsic interest and merit it may possess may reasonably be expected to state the considerations

which have led him to select for publication such a work this book is as i have said recent in composition for as appears from a passage which will be found on page sixty seven it was written probably during the year eighteen eighty six it is also anonymous this could not well be otherwise for what persian could with ordinary prudence acknowledge a work written

in defence of a faith whereof the name is scarce mentioned in persia without fear and trembling so that these two things which some might incline to account grave defects in the book and reasons against its publication are in truth inherent in its very nature and character it is of quite modern origin because it treats of a recent movement of which the first beginnings are remembered by many still living it is anonymous because every promoter of that movement is in the country which gave it birth as a man sitting beneath a sword suspended by a single hair who knoweth not when it shall descend upon him whether it shall descend instantly or after a while if then the subject treated of in this book be of sufficient interest and importance to merit careful study and if the book itself notwithstanding our ignorance of its authorship can be shown to proceed from a trustworthy source i am sufficiently justified in having decided to edit and translate this traveller's narrative now it appears to me that the history of the babi movement must be interesting in different ways to others besides those who are directly engaged in the study of persian to the student of religious thought it will afford no little matter for reflection for here he may contemplate such personalities as by lapse of time pass into heroes and demi-gods still unobscured by myth and fable he may examine by the light of concurrent and independent testimony one of those strange outbursts of enthusiasm faith fervent devotion and indomitable heroism or fanaticism if you will which we are accustomed to associate with the earlier history of the human race he may witness in a word the birth of a faith which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the world to the ethnologist also it may yield food for thought as to the character of a people who stigmatized as they often have been as selfish mercenary avaricious egotistical sordid and cowardly are yet capable of exhibiting under the influence of a strong religious impulse a degree of devotion disinterestedness generosity unselfishness nobility and courage which may be paralleled in history but can scarcely be surpassed to the politician too the matter is not devoid of importance for what changes may not be effected in a country now reckoned almost as a cipher in the balance of national forces by a religion capable of evoking so mighty a spirit let those who know what muhammad made the arabs consider well what the bab may yet make the persians but to myself and i believe to most others who have been or shall be brought to consider this matter the paramount interest thereof lies in this that here is something whether wise or unwise whether tending towards the amelioration of mankind or the reverse which seem to many hundreds if not thousands of our fellow-creatures worth suffering and dying for and which on this ground alone must be accounted worthy of our most attentive study end of section zero Section 1 of A Traveller's Narrative Written to illustrate the episode of the Bob This is a LibriVox recording.

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