# The Bab in the World of Images

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bijan Ma'sumian, The Bab in the World of Images, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> The Bab in the World of Images
> Bijan Masumian PhD
> Adib Masumian MA, BS
> (The original publication (print or PDF) may be ordered online from Ingenta Connect.)
> 
> From the Authors: Post-Publication Prefatory Note to the Paper
> The pre-publication version of this paper included eight artistic renderings of the Bab, including one from
> the scene of his execution in 1850. However, during the review process, the Review Office of the National
> Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom—who oversees the publication of the Baha'i
> Studies Review (BSR)—recommended that the authors remove all eight images, based on a 1972 letter
> from the Universal House of Justice that included the following: “Your understanding that the portrayal of
> the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh in works of art is forbidden, is correct. The Guardian made it clear that this
> prohibition refers to all the Manifestations of God...” The authors believed this guidance did not apply to
> the imaginary works of art by non-Baha'is, which Baha'is have no control over. They noted, moreover,
> that all of the depictions included in their research were in the public domain (they are, to this day,
> available online to anyone who wishes to find them). Eventually, both sides agreed that the case should
> be referred to the Universal House of Justice, who confirmed that the aforementioned directive applied to
> the authors’ case as well. They also noted that Baha'is should not disseminate artistic renditions of
> Manifestations—be they genuine or fictitious—even if the artists are or were not Baha’is. To abide by this
> guidance, the authors removed the eight images from the article.
> 
> Abstract
> This paper traces the history of the portraits drawn of the Bab, the founder of the Babi religion. The
> dramatic success of the Bab in attracting a large number of followers from different social strata
> generated a great deal of interest in him. His reformist ideas captured the imagination of Shi’ites and
> Europeans alike. His movement was soon a subject of enquiry by orientalists, academicians, politicians,
> missionaries, merchants and others alike. Over time, several artists – mostly unknown to date – decided
> to render portraits of him. Of these, only one actually met the Bab: Aqa Bala Bayg of Shishvan, the chief
> painter of Qajar Prince Malek-Qasim Mirza (1807–62), the governor of Urmia (Orumiyeh) who hosted the
> Bab for a brief period in 1848. While the works of other artists were based on imagination, Aqa Bala
> Bayg’s original sketch of the Babi leader was rendered through a series of face-to-face meetings with the
> young prophet. He later produced multiple other copies from his original. Thus, Aqa Bala Bayg’s work
> appears to be the only genuine images of the Bab left to posterity. Nonetheless, the story of the Bab, the
> artist from Shishvan, and the Qajar prince who hosted the Bab has not been fully examined. This will be a
> focus of the current research. We will also explore the intriguing possibility that one or more actual
> photographs of the Bab might exist. Additionally, we will attempt to reconcile the at times contradictory
> historical accounts of the various copies of the Bab’s portrait, drawn by Aqa Bala Bayg. Finally, we will
> briefly discuss the works of other unknown artists who have produced imaginary portraits of the Bab and
> conclude with suggestions for further inquiry.
> 
> ***
> The six-year ministry (1844–50) of Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad Shirazi (1819–50), the founder of the Babi
> religion, was eventful and tumultuous. His meteoric rise to fame caught the dual centres of power in 19th-
> century Persia – the government and the ecclesiastics – by surprise. The two soon joined forces in
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> suppressing the nascent movement. The imprisonment of the Bab in remote areas of northwest Persia
> was a pivotal piece in the government’s plan to isolate the Bab from the general populace, fearing mass
> conversions and widespread upheavals. However, the Bab’s captivity only added to his enigma and
> increased his popularity. The severe restrictions imposed on him meant that few people outside of the
> Bab’s inner circle of followers, certain government officials, and members of the clergy had personal
> access to him. Yet, this did not quell the desire of the masses to seek his presence. Among those who
> eventually succeeded in having a series of personal sessions with the Bab was an obscure artist from the
> village of Shishvan – located on the banks of Lake Urmia in northwest Persia – who eventually left to
> posterity what are, to this day, the only authenticated portraits of the young prophet of Shiraz.
> 
> There are other alleged images of the Bab in circulation today that the present article will address, but no
> actual photographs have surfaced. Interestingly, the question of whether any pictures of the Bab were
> ever taken remains open. The art of photography was introduced to Persia in the early 1840s. The first
> two cameras reached Persia as gifts to Muhammad Shah (1808–48), the King of Persia, a couple of
> years before the Bab declared his mission. One was sent to the King on behalf of Queen Victoria (1819–
> 1901) of the United Kingdom, the other from Tsar Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), reflecting the Anglo-
> Russian rivalry for influence in Persia.1 These cameras were daguerreotypes.2 However, other Qajar
> notables soon came to own daguerreotype cameras as well. They included Malek-Qasim Mirza (1807–
> 62), the governor of Azerbaijan, who later became the governor of Urmia and hosted the Bab for ten days
> in June–July 1848 before the Bab’s transfer to Tabriz for his trial. Malek-Qasim Mirza came to own his
> camera a year earlier in 1847.3 His obvious interest in photography is evident not only from a picture he
> took of himself with his own daguerreotype camera, but also from the fact that in 1850 – the year of the
> execution of the Bab – the Mirza actually became the first Persian in history to give a photographic album
> to someone. The recipient was his young nephew, Nasir’id-Din Shah, the new King of Persia who had
> succeeded Muhammad Shah in 1848.4
> 
> Thus, since the Mirza already owned his camera when he hosted the Bab and gave away an album of
> photographs in 1850, it is in the realm of possibility that he took one or more pictures of the Bab in 1848.5
> That scenario becomes even more likely when we consider the incredible popularity of the Bab, Malek-
> Qasim Mirza’s personal interest in photography, and the fact that the prince was among a handful of
> individuals in the entire country who owned a camera at the time.
> 
> Figure 1. Self-portrait of Malek-Qasim Mirza holding a watch in his hands to measure the exposure time.
> Copyright: Chahryar Adle.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> It was during the Bab’s ten-day sojourn in Urmia in June–July of 1848 that the artist from Shishvan was
> allowed to draw what eventually became the only authenticated portrait of the Bab. If the young prophet
> allowed a relatively unknown artist to draw a portrait of him over a period of three sessions, he likely
> would not have objected to his distinguished host taking one or more pictures of him. Persians had a long
> tradition of rendering human images, particularly in miniature form. In fact, they admired the miniature as
> a precious form of art and considered it to be of significant cultural value. Therefore, neither the Bab nor
> his host would have felt any cultural or religiously motivated aversion to photography, an art that
> approximated miniature paintings.
> 
> The Enlightened Governor
> The Qajar government’s initial plan was to transfer the Bab from the Chihriq Castle to Tabriz via the city of
> Khoy, but they were afraid of possible rescue plans by the Babis.6 Therefore, the officials changed the
> route to take the Bab to Tabriz through the smaller town of Urmia, about 80 miles northeast of Tabriz. The
> Bab arrived in Urmia sometime in June–July 1848.7 During these ten days, he was under the protection of
> Malek-Qasim Mirza – the governor of Urmia, the 24th son of Fath-‘Ali Shah (1772–1834), and paternal
> uncle of the former king, Muhammad Shah. The prince’s stars were on the rise as a promising politician.
> He soon struck a friendship with his nephew and the future king, Prince Nasir’id-Din Shah, as well.
> However, the suspicious prime minister, Haji Mirza Aqasi – who, following Muhammad Shah’s illness,
> ‘found himself in the midst of a power struggle with a number of officials and notables’, including Malek-
> Qasim Mirza – accused the young prince of conspiracy and banished him from the capital.8
> 
> In September 1848, the prince was appointed to the prestigious post of the governorship of Tabriz, the
> historical seat of Qajar heirs to the throne. However, nine months later in June 1849, another Qajar prince
> – Hamzeh Mirza – became the governor of Azerbaijan and effectively demoted Malek-Qasim Mirza to the
> governorship of Urmia.
> 
> Malek-Qasim Mirza had a European education and was very fond of European culture and customs. He
> was educated under the tutelage of the French Madame de la Mariniere. Persian and European sources
> are unanimous in their praise of the Mirza as a cultured and kind-hearted man. Iranian historian Homa
> Nategh provides the following description of Malek-Qasim Mirza, quoting European and Persian
> personalities who came to know the governor:
> 
> The other prince who was educated under the same woman [the French Madame de la
> Mariniere] was the Shah’s uncle, Malek-Qasim Mirza, the governor of Urmia. All testify that
> Malek-Qasim Mirza knew French to perfection. It was he who encouraged the opening of
> European-style schools in Persia, brought westerners to Urmia, and amazed Europeans with his
> western customs and behaviour. All Europeans who have passed through Iran during this period
> have made mention of his knowledge and his support for education. His fame spread beyond
> Persia into the Ottoman territories. Flandin wrote that the Mirza was ‘one of the most prominent
> men of the orient, from his noble thoughts and his vast knowledge to the attention he paid to
> European-style education. He knows six languages: French, in which he was fluent, as well as
> English, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi… He is one of the staunchest supporters of
> European-style educational institutions.’ 9
> 
> Comte de Sercey wrote, ‘incidentally, this Prince [Malek-Qasim Mirza] spoke French very well.10
> Like many other sons of Fath-‘Ali Shah, he too had learned French from the French woman
> [Madame de la Mariniere]. He had a lot of interest in anything western. What a good-natured and
> kind-hearted man he was. No matter how much I say of this kind, young Prince, I have not said
> enough. My memories of him are among the best ones that I will take with me from Iran.’
> 
> Haji Mu‘in as-Saltaneh Tabrizi [Baha’i historian] writes that Malek-Qasim Mirza had
> comprehensive knowledge of medicine and provided treatment to the poor for free.11 While riding
> on horseback in regions under his command, he was often stopped and asked to visit the sick.
> Without any concern for outward appearances or his position, he would go to visit the patient
> alone, comfort the family, and generously provide food and medicine for the patient.12
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> In his report about Malek-Qasim Mirza, Coste writes, ‘No Asian personality was as enamoured by
> our European arts, customs, and temperaments [as him].13 During his tenure as Urmia governor,
> he transformed the town into Iran’s paradise.14
> 
> The enlightened Mirza was also an ally of Manuchehr Khan Moʿtamed ad-Dawleh, the governor of
> Isfahan who himself had hosted the Bab from September 1846 to February 1847.15 Malek-Qasim Mirza
> lived in the nearby village of Shishvan on the eastern side of Lake Urmia with his family. When the Bab
> arrived in Urmia, the prince received him with respect and took him straight to the Governor’s Court
> (Persian: dār al-ḥokūmeh), which was known as the Four Towers Building (Persian: emārat-i chāhār burj)
> – a reference to the four large towers built in the four corners of the walled, rectangular building. Below is
> a view of a small part of the yard:
> 
> Figure 2: The Governor’s Court in Urmia; the ‘X’ on the top right shows the upper room (Persian: bālā-
> khāneh) occupied by the Bab during his stay16
> 
> Malek-Qasim Mirza’s liberal upbringing and the great respect he had for the Bab led the governor to be
> remarkably lax with his distinguished guest. He allowed complete freedom of association to the Bab
> during those ten days. This allowed the young prophet to receive and return visits of some of the Shi’i
> clerics and notables of the town, which included a small number of Babis including one of the local Letters
> of the Living, Mulla Jalil Urumehi, as well as Mulla Husayn Dakhil Maraghe’i, whose descendants later
> inherited copies of the genuine portrait of the Bab. See pages 177–178 below.17 Another person who
> succeeded in meeting the Bab was the governor’s chief painter.
> 
> The Painter from Shishvan
> The Four Towers building was decorated with paintings of Fath-‘Ali Shah and other Qajar nobles. Some
> or all of these paintings might have been rendered by Malek-Qasim Mirza’s chief painter, a local artist
> from his hometown of Shishvan, known as Aqa Bala Bayg.
> 
> Aqa Bala Bayg was allowed to have a series of three sessions with the Bab, who was around 28 years of
> age at the time.18 It is not entirely clear if the artist was already a Babi or even knew of the exact nature of
> the Bab’s claims when he first met him.19 It is also unclear whether the plan for an audience with the Babi
> leader was conceived by Aqa Bala Bayg, the governor or through another intermediary.20 When the
> meeting took place, apparently, it was the Bab who planted the seed of a painting in the mind of the artist.
> Balyuzi notes that over thirty years after those eventful days in Urmia, when Aqa Bala Bayg met Varqa in
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Tabriz and became a follower of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i religion, he revealed the details of
> his encounter with the Bab to Varqa:
> 
> On his [Áqá Bálá Bag’s [sic]] first visit, as soon as the Báb noticed him, he gathered his ‘aba
> around Him, as if sitting for His portrait. The next day He did the same [thing]. It was then that
> Áqá Bálá Bag [sic] understood it to be a signal to him to draw His portrait. On his third visit, he
> went to the residence of Malek-Qásim Mírzá with the equipment of his art. He made a rough
> sketch or two at the time, from which he later composed a full-scale portrait in black and white.21
> 
> On the surface, Varqa’s details quoted by Balyuzi appear to contradict other versions of the event. For
> instance, Mu‘in – who also met the artist when Aqa Bala Bayg was an elderly man – states that the
> painter told him he sought the Bab’s permission to draw him and the young prophet granted his wish.22
> Fadil Mazandarani and Ishraq-Khavari, another prominent Baha’i historian also quote Mu‘in’s version of
> the story.23,24 Other -historians Abu’l-Qasim Afnan and Muhammad-‘Ali Faizi agree with Mu‘in’s version
> without giving a source.25,26 However, a closer look reveals that Varqa’s version of the story is not
> necessarily in conflict with the other eyewitness account, namely Mu‘in’s, which other historians either use
> or confirm. Mu‘in’s reference to Aqa Bala Bayg seeking the Bab’s permission might simply be an
> indication of the sign of the artist’s respect for the Bab. In other words, even in Varqa’s version of the
> story where the Bab encourages the artist to draw him, Aqa Bala Bayg would likely still have sought the
> Bab’s permission as a sign of respect for the highly venerated guest of the governor.
> 
> Interestingly, while Faizi’s version confirms the artist’s three sessions with the Bab, his details of what
> went on during the sessions are somewhat different from Varqa’s:
> 
> In three sessions, he would gaze intently upon the Bab’s face in the latter’s room. Aqa Bala Bayg
> would then leave the room and gradually complete the sketch. Each time the artist entered the
> room, the Bab would put on his cloak, sit down, pull up his sleeves, and place his hands upon his
> knees.27
> 
> Varqa’s Great Discovery
> Sometime after the execution of the Bab, Aqa Bala Bayg completed the unfinished drawing into a full-
> scale black-and-white portrait and made several other sketches based on the first one.28 However, the
> violent execution of the Bab; the massacre of August 1852, which witnessed the fall of many notable Babi
> heroes and heroines, including the popular poet of Qazvin – Qurrat al-‘Ayn – and Sulayman Khan; and
> the ensuing bloodbath that engulfed the Persian Babi community must have forced Aqa Bala Bayg to
> keep the news of his precious relics a secret for some thirty years, until he came into contact with Mirza
> ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa (d. 1896). Varqa was a native of Yazd and a staunch follower of Baha’u’llah. In the
> early 1880s, Varqa decided to take up residence in Tabriz, where he eventually came to know Aqa Bala
> Bayg and succeeded in converting him to the Faith of Baha’u’llah. It was then that the artist revealed his
> great secret to Varqa. Excited by this incredible discovery, the latter wrote to Baha’u’llah and informed
> him of the existence of the portrait. Varqa also asked Baha’u’llah to verify whether or not Aqa Bala Bayg’s
> portrait was an accurate depiction of the Bab’s face, which he confirmed.29 Baha’u’llah also showed the
> portrait to Mirza Sayyid Hasan, ‘the Great Afnan‘ (Afnān-i Kabīr) – the brother of the wife of the Bab –
> who also confirmed the resemblance.
> 
> The discovery led to a number of communications between Baha’u’llah and Varqa, in which references to
> the painting exist. The initial one seems to have been made in 1882 where, according to Balyuzi,
> Baha’u’llah directed Varqa to instruct Aqa Bala Bayg to make two copies of the image in watercolour.30
> One was to stay with Varqa, and the other was to be sent to the Holy Land via Haji Mulla ‘Ali Akbar
> Shahmirzadi (1842–1910) – known as Haji Akhund – who was making a stop in Tabriz on the way to
> ‘Akka. The Haji obtained the copy and successfully delivered it to Baha’u’llah. Today, that copy is
> preserved in the International Baha’i Archives in Haifa, Israel.31
> 
> Sometime between 1882 and February 1888, Varqa sought Baha’u’llah’s permission to ask Aqa Bala
> Bayg to make seven additional copies for future Houses of Worship. Baha’u’llah must have agreed. In a
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> letter dated 16 February 1889 – written in Varqa’s own handwriting and evidently addressed to Aqa Bala
> Bayg – Varqa quotes Baha’u’llah’s consent and asks Aqa Bala Bayg to produce seven more copies of the
> portrait so they could be sent to seven cities in Persia.32 However, it appears that Aqa Bala Bayg started
> the renderings but passed away before he was able to finish all of them. See page 11 below.
> 
> Six years later, in 1895, Varqa and his son Ruhu’llah were both arrested outside Zanjan. All the writings
> and precious materials in their possession, including his watercolour copy of the Bab’s portrait, fell into
> the hands of the governor of Zanjan, ‘Ala’ud-Dawleh. Eventually, the governor decided to listen to advice
> from others and, instead of killing the Baha’i prisoners in Zanjan, he transferred them to Tehran along
> with their possessions that could be used as evidence against them. Therefore, Varqa was allowed to
> take an inventory of his possessions, box and lock everything and keep the key until he arrived in Tehran,
> escorted by government officials. This was in April 1896. There, Hajib’ud-Dawleh33 – the king’s head
> servant, who eventually killed his two Baha’i captives in a brutal manner – confiscated the Bab’s portrait
> and submitted it to Nasir’id-Din Shah. It is not known what the king did with the painting.34
> 
> Additional Copies from Aqa Bala Bayg
> Fadil Mazandarani notes that multiple copies from Aqa Bala Bayg’s second reproduction were produced,
> but they were all approximations and only the first two were the most accurate renditions.35 In 1902, six
> years after the execution of Varqa and his son, another copy of the drawing was found by Sayyid
> Assadu’llah Qumi, who later accompanied ‘Abdu’l-Baha during his western travels. Qumi found the copy
> in the household of the granddaughter of Dakhil-i Maraghe’i while visiting the city of Khoy in north-west
> Persia. This must be the same copy that Balyuzi refers to as the original black and white, which Qumi
> sent to ‘Abdu’l-Baha.36 However, Faizi believes that what Qumi found was simply another copy of the
> painting.37 According to him, this copy was given by Aqa Bala Bayg’s son, Mirza Mahmud, to Mirza ʿAli
> Asghar, the son of Mulla Husayn Dakhil-i Maraghe’i. It remained in Maraghe’i’s household until about
> 1902 or 1903, when Sayyid Asadu’llah Qumi found it and informed ‘Abdu’l-Baha. The latter instructed
> Qumi to ask for it from Dakhil Maraghe’i’s granddaughter. She consented and gave the copy to Qumi,
> who put it in a special box in the city of Khoy and sent it to ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Palestine via Mirza Yusef Khan
> Vahid-i Kashfi. Faizi’s account agrees with Mu‘in’s.38 Ishraq-Khavari also uses Mu‘in’s account for this
> story.39
> 
> Nonetheless, ‘Abdu’l-Baha seems to have paid special attention to this particular drawing, which raises
> the question as to whether the drawing was just another copy or the original black-and-white rendering by
> the artist, as claimed by Balyuzi. In two separate tablets sent to Dakhil’s granddaughter via his son,
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha profusely thanks her for the decision to send the drawing to him. Here is a provisional
> translation of the first tablet:
> 
> He is God!
> 
> O Handmaid of God, glad tidings! Your gift was accepted at the Holy Land and is with ‘Abdu’l-
> Baha. It brought boundless appreciation. We are very pleased with you for sending such a sacred
> gift to us. It was placed in the Holy Room [Baha’u’llah’s room] and ‘Abdu’l-Baha [often] looks upon
> that radiant portrait. Salutations and praise be upon your daughter, the steadfast leaf, and assure
> her of divine bounties.40
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha ‘Abbas
> 
> The second tablet was sent because, evidently, the first one was never received by Maraghe’i’s
> daughter.41 The following is a provisional translation of the second tablet:
> 
> He is God!
> 
> O steadfast leaf! Your great gift was received through Mirza Yusef Khan. Our eyes were illumined
> upon beholding that radiant portrait and our hands were honoured with receiving that magnificent
> present. I inhaled the fragrant odour of the drawing, kissed it, and placed it upon my brow. Upon
> receiving that distinguished gift, we immediately wrote and sent a letter to express our joy. It is
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> evident that you did not receive that letter. Know that if you had offered all that is on earth, along
> with its most precious gems, they would not have been received with as much pleasure. This
> servant cannot befittingly reciprocate your present; therefore, I entrusted your reward to the Lord
> of the world. God willing, His grace and bounty will compensate. My hope is that you will be
> abundantly rewarded for this righteous deed in the Abha Kingdom. Convey our greetings to your
> daughter, and tell her that you are the descendant of Dakhil, that renowned eulogist for the Prince
> of Martyrs.42 Now it is your turn to gain fame amongst women for your love of the advent of the
> Blessed Beauty as the return of Husayn. Praise and salutations be upon you.43
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha ‘Abbas
> 
> Faizi notes that after the passing of Aqa Bala Bayg, another completed drawing and one unfinished
> sketch were found among his possessions. The completed one was coloured by Mirza ‘Ali Ashraf, a
> skilled artist, and remained in the Maraghe’i household. Baha’is often used to visit Maraghe’i’s house to
> see the painting posted on a wall during Baha’i holy days until 1936, when Shoghi Effendi instructed the
> National Spiritual Assembly of Iran to ask for the drawing. Aqa Husayn – the grandson of Dakhil-i
> Maraghe’i – was asked to submit the painting to the Tabriz Local Spiritual Assembly, which at the time
> had jurisdiction over the small town of Maragheh. The Tabriz Assembly then sent the painting to Iran’s
> National Spiritual Assembly which, in turn, sent it to Shoghi Effendi. That copy, too, is now preserved at
> the International Baha’i Archives in Haifa, Israel.44 It is possible that these last two copies found in Aqa
> Bala Bayg’s possessions after his passing were among the seven that Varqa had asked him to draw for
> the future Houses of Worship. However, Aqa Bala Bayg might have died or become incapacitated before
> he was able to finish the second one. This would also explain why there are no records of the other five
> paintings requested by Varqa. The fate of the unfinished sketch is not yet clear.45
> 
> Other Images Purported to be of the Bab
> The rapid success of the Babi religion and its enormous potential for reform in the Muslim world quickly
> aroused the interest of many outside Persia. Western travellers, merchants, diplomats and missionaries
> took notice and began to write about the nascent movement. Within 18 months of the Bab’s prophetic
> announcement, on 1 November 1845, The Times of London became the first western newspaper to
> publish an article on the new religion.46 Early works on the movement were often erroneous and
> portrayed the Babis as revolutionary communists and anarchists. However, the publication of Arthur
> Comte de Gobineau’s book Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale in Paris in 1865 began
> to change that.47 His work was done so well that it attracted a number of other European intellectuals,
> including E. G. Browne of Cambridge, who eventually became the most prolific western writer and
> researcher of the Babi religion.
> 
> The oldest image found to date that is attributed to be that of the Bab is a line drawing by an unknown
> artist who rendered the image sometime before May 1873.48 There is a letter dated 6 May 1873 from M.
> Baumgarten, who appears to have served as the Russian consul in Shahrud, which makes a reference to
> this drawing.49 Baumgarten was in regular correspondence with another Russian official, F. A. Bakulin,
> who served as secretary-dragoman at Astarabad and Tabriz and eventually became consul at Astarabad,
> where he remained until his death in 1879. Bakulin kept an archive of materials related to the Bab and his
> movement, among them an album of drawings that included the aforementioned image. He likely
> obtained many of his archival materials, including the line drawing, from Baumgarten. In 1912, about 33
> years after his passing, Bakulin’s family decided to present his archival materials to the Russian orientalist
> Valentin Zhukovskii. Five years later in 1917, Zhukovskii published Bakulin’s materials in an article titled
> ‘Russian Imperial Consul F. A. Bakulin in the History of the Babi Studies’.50 The article included the
> aforementioned line drawing, which is a crude and grotesque depiction of the scene of the execution of
> the Bab and his follower, Mirza Muhammad-Ali Zunuzi, known as Anis The image has a French
> inscription, ‘The Remains of the Bab and His Disciple Shot at Tabriz’.51 However, the work is clearly a
> Muslim forgery and cannot be considered a serious work of art by a professional. It is also highly unlikely
> that this image is the artwork drawn by the artist who was taken to the execution scene by the Russian
> Consul in Tabriz, as it contradicts the detailed description of that painting by a Babi eyewitness – a certain
> Haji ‘Ali-‘Askar – who claims to have seen that painting:
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> An official of the Russian consulate, to whom I was related, showed me that same sketch on the
> very day it was drawn. It was such a faithful portrait of the Bab that I looked upon! No bullet had
> struck His forehead, His cheeks, or His lips. I gazed upon a smile which seemed to be still
> lingering upon His countenance. His body, however, had been severely mutilated. I could
> recognize the arms and head of His companion, who seemed to be holding Him in his embrace.
> As I gazed horror-struck upon that haunting picture, and saw how those noble traits had been
> disfigured, my heart sank within me. I turned away my face in anguish and, regaining my house,
> locked myself with my room. For three days and three nights, I could neither sleep nor eat, so
> overwhelmed was I with emotion. That short and tumultuous life, with all its sorrows, its turmoils,
> its banishments, and eventually the awe-inspiring martyrdom with which it had been crowned,
> seemed again to be re-enacted before my eyes. I tossed upon my bed, writhing in agony and
> pain.52
> 
> Zhukovskii himself considered the line drawing in the Bakulin papers to be a later rendition and a Muslim
> work. The style is clearly Persian, not European. The artist even confused the remains of the two bodies
> and mislabelled the supposed body of Anis as that of Sayyid Husayn, probably thinking that it was the
> Bab’s secretary and not Anis who was executed with him. The Bab’s name is also noted as Sayyid
> Muhammad-‘Ali instead of Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad. These types of errors are hardly expected of a
> professional artist who visited the scene of the execution shortly after the event, when the memories of
> the young prophet and his companion were still fresh in the minds of the general public. Additionally, the
> drawing depicts street dogs devouring the Bab's flesh, which – according to Zhukovskii, too – is the
> strongest evidence yet for its anti-Babi nature.
> 
> The explanatory note over the second dead body [in the drawing] says: ‘Siyyid Husayn, the son of
> Aqa Siyyid ‘Ali Zunuzi’. A person bearing such a name and executed with the Bab in Tabriz in fact
> never existed … Siyyid Husayn … was the Bab’s well-known amanuensis and secretary, who
> recanted his teacher [the Bab] right before the execution … Gobineau assures [the reader] that
> Siyyid Husayn’s recantation was feigned and sham … In view of such assurance one is justified
> to assume that in the explanatory note in question two different individuals are conflated – Siyyid
> Husayn and Aqa Muhammad, the son of Aqa Siyyid ‘Ali Zunuzi, both of whom were the Bab’s
> favorite disciples.
> 
> This fact may serve as an indirect indication that the drawing was made after a certain period of
> time had elapsed since the execution when a confusion of the names of the acting figures could
> have occurred in people’s minds. It [the drawing] was most likely made by an orthodox Shi‘ah and
> not by a Babi, since in the latter’s case such confusion as well as such presentation of the subject
> with the dogs seem highly incredible. Another important issue involved is the fact that in the
> explanatory note over the first dead body the Bab’s name is given as ‘Muhammad ‘Ali’ while in
> fact he was usually known as ‘‘Ali Muhammad’. All these factors coupled together should serve
> as strong evidence against considering our drawing to be a copy of the picture drawn by the artist
> brought by the Russian consul if he was Persian at all or if the information provided by the
> ‘Traveller’s Narrative’ in this regard is really true.53
> 
> Shi‘is believe that dogs would not eat the flesh of ‘holy imams‘ as their bodies are not composed of the
> same substance as that of ordinary people.54 By adding flesh-devouring dogs to the execution scene, the
> artist is attempting to discredit claims of holiness for the Bab. At the same time, the drawing is also trying
> to corroborate the accounts found in official court histories of the Qajar period that fabricated the story of
> dogs eating the remains in an attempt to explain away the missing bodies after the execution.
> 
> Some thirty years after the publication of Zhukovskii’s article containing the Muslim fake image, the
> Persian-born and raised A. L. M. Nicolas – who was both a French consul in Persia and an author –
> published the first professionally acceptable artwork purported to be that of the Bab. Like Browne, Nicolas
> was also impacted by Gobineau. His book Seyyed Ali dit le Bab (Paris, 1905) became the first work by a
> western author dedicated entirely to the Bab, his movement and his teachings. The preamble to his book
> has an image that is supposedly of the Bab, but the portrait does not seem to be an authentic
> representation.55 Close examination of Nicolas’s image and Aqa Bala Bayg’s rendition of the Bab reveals
> conspicuous differences in facial features, including the eyes, eyebrows and the mouth. Aqa Bala Bayg’s
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> portrait also shows the Bab to be closer to his actual age of 29 and clearly younger than the person
> depicted in Nicolas’s image. The artist and date of the image in Nicolas’s book remain unknown.
> 
> In 1923, eighteen years after the first edition of Nicolas’s work, a variation of that image decorated with
> roses and nightingales56 appeared in the first volume of Avareh’s Kawākib ad-Durrīyyah (Cairo, 1923). In
> the caption under the image, Avareh confirms that the portrait was shown to ‘Abdu’l-Baha who, after
> comparing it to the original drawing by Aqa Bala Bayg in Haifa, declared this was not the Bab.57 The
> motive behind Avareh’s inclusion of a variation of Nicolas’s image in his book was likely to dispel the
> rumours that this was a genuine portrait of the Bab.
> 
> Among other orientalists and scholars who were soon attracted to the Babi movement was Professor E.
> G. Browne of Cambridge University and the Persian-born Mirza Alexander Kazem-Beg, Professor of
> Persian Literature at St Petersburg University in Russia, who began to examine and publish on the new
> religion. Astounding acts of heroism and the exemplary fortitude of Babi martyrs who faced inhuman
> cruelty at the hands of their captors added further fuel to the fire of interest in the Bab and his movement.
> For an account of some of these acts of heroism, see the letter from Austrian officer, Captain Von
> Goumoens, who was in the employment of the Persian government in the 1850s and was an eyewitness
> to the Babi massacre of August 1852 in Tehran. The officer was so revolted by what he saw that he
> resigned his post and left Persia.58
> 
> A few years after Nicolas’s book, two publications by the Armenian author Sarkīs Mubāyjīyān (Atrpet)
> (1860–1937) appeared with significant materials on the Bab’s religion. Atrpet’s book Imamatʻ : Patmakan
> Hetaghōtutʻiwn [Imamat: An Historical Survey] was published in Armenian in 1906.59 The Russian version
> of the same book, Imamat: Strana Poklonnikov Imamov [Imamat: The Country of the Worshippers of the
> Imam], appeared three years later in 1909. The second half of this book was dedicated entirely to the
> Babis and Baha’is. This book has the distinction of being the oldest work containing a large number of
> photographs and drawings purported to be those of the Bab and some of the most prominent Babi
> figures, including Sulayman Khan, Tahereh, and Zaynab – known as Rustam-‘Ali – who dressed up as a
> man and fought in the Zanjan urban revolt of 1850. In 1910, Atrpet published another book titled Babizm i
> Bekhaizm: Opyt Nauchno-Religīoznago Izsli︠e︡dovanīi︠a︡ [Babism and Bahaism: An Experience in Scientific
> and Religious Studies] that included many of the same photographs and drawings. However, in all
> likelihood, these photographs and drawings are fabrications or imaginary artworks. The drawing from the
> scene of the Bab’s execution is of high quality but historically inaccurate..60 According to various
> chronicles, Anis was executed with him, but there is no sign of him in Atrpet’s alleged execution drawing.
> He must have obtained this particular drawing from its owner, N. V. Khanykov – the Russian consul-
> general in Tabriz who was at that post during the Bab’s execution in 1850 and took an artist with him to
> render a painting of the scene. Although this particular execution drawing is not the one described by Haji
> ‘Ali-‘Askar in Nabil’s account, it is possible that both works were done by the same professional artist that
> Khanykov took to the execution scene. Unlike the Muslim line drawing of Persian origin, this portrait –
> though historically inaccurate and drawn from imagination – is clearly European in style and of much
> higher artistic quality.
> 
> The exact details of how Atrpet obtained the other images are not known. Evidently, he had travelled to
> Tabriz to gather materials for his Babism and Bahaism and came to know Jalil Khu’i, an ally of Jamal
> Burujerdi. Burujerdi was an influential Baha’i teacher who by this time had broken ranks with ‘Abdu’l-Baha
> and joined forces with ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s arch-nemesis and half-brother, Mirza Muhammad-‘Ali. According to
> a letter from an ad hoc committee of the Research Department at the Baha’i World Centre, Jalil sold the
> photographs and drawings to Atrpet.61 It is not known how Jalil came to own these materials.62
> 
> More recently, other images based on the fabricated portrait of the Bab in Atrpet’s books have surfaced.
> For instance, in his ‘Early Shaykhí Reactions to the Báb and His Claims’, Denis MacEoin includes a
> portrait that seems to be loosely based on Atrpet’s image.63 A close examination of the two works shows
> a general resemblance, but differences in facial features are sufficiently pronounced to conclude that
> Atrpet’s and MacEoin’s images, while similar, are not identical. Also, whereas Atrpet’s portrait only shows
> the upper part of the body, MacEoin’s is a full-body image of the subject sitting in a traditional Middle
> Eastern posture.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Interestingly, MacEoin identifies the image in his work to be that of Sayyid Kazim Rashti (1793–1843), the
> Shaykhi leader and not that of the Bab.64 The caption to the left of the image labels the subject as ‘His
> Holiness the Point’, a title widely believed to be held by the Bab. Nonetheless, many Shaykhis felt the title
> also applied to their leaders, namely Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid Kazim, as the point of knowledge.65 The
> caption on MacEoin’s image appears to be a later addition, though.66 The subject’s posture in MacEoin’s
> image is similar to the one adopted by the Bab in Aqa Bala Bayg’s genuine rendition. However, the
> artistic styles of the two artworks are completely different. While Aqa Bala Bayg employs the old Persian
> miniature style, the artist rendering the MacEoin image uses a much more realistic style, so much so that
> even the lines on the hands of the subject can be seen. The same realistic style can be observed in
> Atrpet’s image. Most recently, two other portraits that are mirror images of each another have surfaced on
> the Internet. They appear to be based on MacEoin’s. The artist and date of these works also remain
> unknown.
> 
> Sculpture of the Bab in Baku, Azerbaijan
> The only known sculpture purported to be of the Bab that is prominently displayed at a public site is the
> one found in Baku, Azerbaijan. This artwork, which depicts the face of the Bab, decorates the Presidium
> of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences building in Baku. However, the sculpture hardly
> resembles the Bab, due to the Venetian-Gothic style adopted by the Polish architect I. K. Ploshko who
> constructed the building. The sponsor was Aqa Musa Naghiev (1849–1919), a Baha’i and an oil tycoon
> who gathered his riches quickly during Baku’s oil boom of the early 20th century. Initially built as a huge
> palace, the building has a striking resemblance to the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo in Venice. It
> subsequently became known as Isma‘iliah to commemorate Naghiev’s son, Isma‘il, who died prematurely
> of tuberculosis. In 1918, a year after the Bolshevik Revolution, the palace was burned down, but it was
> restored during the Soviet period. Today, it houses the Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of
> Azerbaijan.67 Additionally, Naghiev built the largest hospital in Baku in 1912 and was ‘a patron and
> guardian of one of the largest secondary technical schools for men’.68 He also had grand plans for
> funding a Baha’i House of Worship in Baku that was to be as magnificent as the one in ‘Ishqabad, but he
> never followed through.69
> 
> Conclusion
> The popularity and enigma of the Bab and his movement led several unknown artists to leave imaginary
> portraits of him to posterity. However, since none of them were contemporaries of the Bab or had
> personal encounters with him, their artworks resulted in approximations that did not entirely capture the
> characteristics of his figure. This becomes clear from a close examination of the only authentic portrait of
> the Bab with the other works. The Shishvani artist, Aqa Bala Bayg – who had a series of three personal
> encounters with the Bab – has the unique distinction of leaving to future generations the only genuine
> portraits of the young prophet. He appears to have been asked to produce anywhere from 12 to 14 copies
> of the portrait. Of these, five copies – four complete and one incomplete – have thus far been identified:
> 
> 1. Original sketch (June–July 1848): The black-and-white ink and pen drawing sketched out during
> face-to-face sessions with the Bab and completed later. More than likely, this is the artwork found in
> 1902–3 by Sayyid Assadu’llah Qumi in Khoy and sent to ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Haifa.
> 2. Watercolour copy one (early 1880s): Rendered at Baha’u’llah’s instruction via Varqa. Intended for
> Baha’u’llah and delivered to him through Haji Akhund.
> 3. Watercolour copy two (early 1880s): Done for Varqa at Baha’u’llah’s instruction. Confiscated by
> Qajar government officials in Tehran during Varqa’s captivity in 1896 and presented to Nasir’id-Din
> Shah shortly before his assassination. The fate of this copy remains unknown.
> 4. Copy four: Found among Aqa Bala Bayg’s possessions after his passing. Coloured by Mirza ʿAli
> Ashraf and preserved at the Maraghe’i household until 1936, when Shoghi Effendi asked for it. This
> copy is also currently preserved at the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel.
> 5. Copy five: Incomplete sketch found at the same time and place as copy four. No source clearly
> mentions the location of this copy – but it, too, is probably kept at the Baha’i World Centre.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Invitation to Further Inquiry
> The authors suggest further inquiry into the following areas:
> 
> Date of Aqa Bala Bayg’s passing: While we know the artist survived at least through 1887, finding the
> exact or approximate date and location of his passing could provide further clues as to where additional
> copies of these drawings might exist. This is assuming that the artist was able and engaged in
> reproducing more copies for future Houses of Worship, following Varqa’s request. If copies four and five
> in the above list proved to be different from the copies intended for ‘one or two chosen friends’ mentioned
> to Varqa by Baha’u’llah, then the artist could have drawn a total of seven images – assuming old age or
> death did not prevent him from continuing his work. However, if he was able to also draw the seven
> copies for the Houses of Worship prior to his passing, he could potentially have produced a total of 12 to
> 14 copies (depending on whether copies four and five in the above list were the same or different from
> the ones meant for ‘one or two chosen friends’).
> 
> Apparent discrepancy in the number of commissioned copies: We suggest a side-by-side
> comparison of Baha’u’llah’s tablet to Varqa dated March 1887 with Varqa’s letter dated 16 February 1889.
> Baha’u’llah’s tablet, which is quoted in Varqa’s letter, permits Aqa Bala Bayg to draw two to three
> additional copies: one for Varqa and one to two for ‘one or two chosen friends’. However, in the same
> letter, Varqa asks Aqa Bala Bayg for seven more copies, presumably for future Houses of Worship.
> Varqa, a dedicated follower, would clearly not go against Baha’u’llah’s instructions. Therefore, a close
> examination of the two documents could provide clues on the source of the discrepancy in the number of
> copies Varqa asks Aqa Bala Bayg to draw.
> 
> The location of copy 5: An inquiry should be put to the Research Department of the Universal House of
> Justice about this copy to ascertain its current whereabouts.
> 
> Acknowledgements
> The authors would like to express their deep appreciation to Dr Moojan Momen for his comments on an
> earlier draft of this paper. They are also grateful to Dr Youli Ioannesyan for sharing his 2009
> correspondence with the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice regarding Valentin
> Zhukovskii’s archival materials, his invaluable insights on the relationship between Bakulin and
> Baumgarten, and his translation of relevant Zhukovskii passages. They also wish to offer their gratitude to
> Dr Omid Ghaemmaghami for suggesting this research and for providing additional materials for the study
> and to Steve Cooney, BSR’s editor, who made numerous suggestions that led to significant
> improvements in the quality of this paper.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Figure 3. A visual history of Aqa Bala Bayg’s copies of the Bab’s image.
> 
> Suggested citation
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha'i Studies Review, 19, 2013, 171–90.
> http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/bsr.19.171/1.
> 
> Contributor details
> Bijan Masumian is manager of Global Learning Technologies at AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), a leading designer
> of microchips for computers, game consoles, and other electronic devices. He obtained a PhD in Instructional
> Systems Design and Technology from the University of Texas at Austin (1986). His research interests are in the
> areas of Babi–Baha’i studies and world religions. He co-authored Divine Educators (Oxford: George Ronald, 2005)
> with his wife Farnaz Masumian and has been published in the fields of Learning Technologies and Baha’i Studies.
> 
> E-mail: bmasumian@gmail.com
> 
> Adib Masumian has an MA in Learning Technologies (2015) and a BS in Corporate Communication (2013), both from
> the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Debunking the Myths: Conspiracy Theories on the Genesis and
> Mission of the Bahá'í Faith (Lulu Publishing, 2009) as well as several online articles.
> 
> E-mail: adibmasumian@gmail.com
> 
> Bijan and Adib Masumian have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be
> identified as the author of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Endnotes
> Chahryar Adle, ‘Daguerreotype’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, vol. 6, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1993,
> 577-8. Available online at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daguerreotype-the-first-practical-photographic-process-introduced-
> into-persia-in-the-early-1840s-shortly-after-its-officia.
> 
> Named after the French painter Jacques Daguerre (1787–1851), who developed the process and presented it to the French
> Academy of Science in 1839. The process involved exposing, through the lens of a camera, a silver-coated copper plate sensitized
> by iodine, then developing the image with vapour of mercury.
> 
> Chahryar Adle with Y. Zoka, ‘Notes et documents sur la photographie iranienne et son histoire I. Les premiers daguerréotypistes.
> C. 1844–1855/1260–1270’, Stud. Ir. 12/2, 1983, 262.
> 
> Adle, Daguerreotype.
> 
> After Urmia, the Bab was taken to Tabriz for his trial. Following the trial, he was returned to the Chihriq Castle. See p. xxix of
> Moojan Momen, The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions, 1844–1944: Some Contemporary Western Accounts, Oxford: George Ronald,
> 1981. In Ḥaḍrat-i Nuqṭeh Oūlā (Baha'i Verlag), Muhammad-ʿAli Faizi notes that the Bab’s stay in Urmia lasted ten days. See
> prominent Baha'i historian Mirza Assadu’llāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī’s Tārīkh-i Ẓuhūr al-Ḥaqq (2:228).
> 
> Mazandarani, Fadil. Ẓuhūr al-Ḥaqq, 2:228. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Michigan: H-Bahai, 2000 9 Vols.. http://www.h-
> net.org/~bahai/index/diglib/mazand1.htm Electronic resource Last access 21 March 2016
> 
> The exact date of his arrival in Urmia has not yet been determined. He arrived in Tabriz for his trial sometime in July 1848. Two
> years later, on 19 June 1850, the Bab was taken back to Tabriz, this time for execution.
> 
> Abbas Amanat, ‘ĀQĀSĪ, ḤĀJJĪ MĪRZĀ ABBĀS ĪRAVĀNĪ’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 2, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
> 1986, 183–8. Available at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aqasff-ujuli-mnsz-adras-ivxni-ca .
> 
> Jean-Baptiste Eugène Napoléon Flandin (1809-89), French orientalist, painter, archaeologist and politician, is famous for his
> paintings of Qajar-period monuments, landscapes and social life. He came to know Malek-Qasim Mirza during his Persian travels.
> Flandin and his partner, architect Pascal Coste, were made a laureate of the Institut de France and joined the embassy of Édouard
> Comte de Sercey to Persia (1839–41). In their travels through Persia, Coste and Flandin provided what can be regarded as the
> most comprehensive representations of architectural renderings and details, monumental plans, large tomb reliefs and picturesque
> views of the Qajar period (cf. Jean Calmard, ‘Flandin and Coste’, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, vol. 10, London:
> Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1999, 35–9. Available at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/flandin-and-coste-).
> 
> Comte de Sercey was sent to Persia as ambassador extraordinary by Louis Philippe in 1839–40.
> 
> Muhammad Mu‘in as-Saltaneh Tabrizi was a Baha’i historian whose Tārīkh-i Amr, completed in the 1920s, provides some fresh
> information on Azerbaijan. An online copy of this rare history is available here: http://www.h-
> net.org/~bahai/arabic/vol4/muin/muin.htm. Muhammad Mu`in al-Saltanih. Tarikh-i Amr. [History of the (Babi) Cause]. MS in private
> hands. Published in digital facsimile. Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2000
> 
> as-Saltaneh Tabrizi, Muhammad Mu‘in. Tārīkh-i Amr 187.
> 
> Pascal Coste, French architect and Flandin’s partner in their joint travels in Persia (see note 11 above).
> 
> Homa Nategh, Iran dar Rāhyābī-yi Farhangī: 1834–1848, Vincennes: Khavaran, 1990, 1–5, 106 (quoted in Abu’l-Qasim Afnan’s
> ʿAhd- Aʿlā, Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2000, 601–2).
> 
> Amanat, ‘ĀQĀSĪ’.
> 
> Zarandi, Nabil. The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation. New York, NY: Bahá'í Publishing
> 
> Committee, 1932, 310.
> 
> Mazandarani, Ẓuhūr 2:230. Later that year, Mulla Jalil was killed during the Shaykh Tabarsi upheaval.
> 
> Faizi, Muhammad-‘Ali. Ḥaḍrat-i Nuqṭay-i Úlá: The Life of the Báb. Hofheim-Langenhain: Baháʼí-Verlag, 1987, 368.
> 
> Mu‘in (189) – who met the artist – says that Aqa Bala Bayg was already a Babi when he met the Bab. Mazandarani also quotes
> Mu‘in’s version in his Tārīkh -i Ẓuhūr al-Ḥaqq 3:48. But Afnan notes that Aqa Bala Bayg was neither a Babi nor aware of the Bab’s
> revelation when he met the latter (cf. Afnan, ʿAhd- Aʿla 313). Here, Afnan might be quoting a later volume of Mazandarani’s Ẓuhūr
> (6:13) in which another eyewitness, Mirza Sayyid ‘Ali Oskoui – who also personally met Aqa Bala Bayg in Seysan in 1887 – is
> quoted as saying that the artist was not a Babi when he drew the Bab and later became a Baha’i via Varqa.
> 
> In a talk given by Darius Shahrokh, he notes that Aqa Bala Bayg was among the crowd who flooded the house of the governor to
> have a glance at the ‘miracle worker‘ [the Bab], after the latter had managed to tame and ride the governor’s unruly horse. Malek-
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Qasim Mirza had asked the Bab to ride his wild horse, evidently to test the Bab’s powers (Darius Shahrokh, Varqā and Son: The
> Heavenly Doves 11).The transcript of Shahrokh’s talk is available online at: http://bahai-library.com/shahrokh_varqa_son.
> 
> H.M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’í́s in the time of Baháʼuʼlláh: With Some Historical Background (Oxford: George Ronald, 1985), 87.
> The transliteration of diacriticals in this passage are as published in H.M. Balyuzi’s book.
> 
> Mu‘in, Tarikh-i Amr 189.
> 
> Mazandarani, Zuhur 3:48.
> 
> Ishraq-Khavari, Abdu’l-Hamid. Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif Bahā'ī 1:11. 16 vols. Digitally republished, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai,, 2001.
> Available online at: http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/arabic/vol5/dairih/1/1dair011.gif.
> 
> Afnan, ʿAhd- Aʿla 313.
> 
> Faizi, Nuqṭay-i Úlá 368.
> 
> Ibid. From this description, it appears that, during each session, the artist did simple line drawings in the presence of the Bab and
> completed the details later. He used a drawing technique known as siah-qalam, or ‘black pen’, which involved laying down a
> preliminary drawing in red or black ink that would later be painted over. (cf. Bernard O’Kane, ‘siāh-qalam’, Encyclopaedia Iranica,
> Online Edition, 2009, available at: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/siah-qalam.)
> 
> At this point, none of the drawings were in colour yet.
> 
> There appears to be some ambiguity as to whether Baha’u’llah and the Bab ever met. In Browne’s edition of Mirza Husayn
> Hamadani’s Tarikh-i Jadid (Cambridge University Press, 1893, 217), it is noted that Baha’u’llah was among many people who met
> the Bab at Khanluq near the village of Kulayn, some 30 kilometres south of Tehran. Thus, the supposed meeting would have taken
> place when the Bab was on his way from Kashan to Tehran (in March 1847) before Haji Mirza Aqasi, the prime minister, persuaded
> Muhammad Shah to redirect the Bab to the castle of Maku. In a tablet to Varqa, Baha’u’llah appears to confirm a meeting of some
> sort between the two at that time. Here is a provisional translation of the relevant passage found in Ishraq-Khavari’s Māʾideh-yi
> Āsmānī 4:154: ‘He who heralded the light of divine guidance, that is to say the Primal Point – may the souls of all else but him be
> sacrificed for his sake – in the days when he was journeying to Maku, attained to outward seeming the honour of meeting
> [Baha’u’llah], albeit concealed from all.’
> However, in a tablet to a believer from Shiraz, ‘Abdu’l-Baha clearly states that this meeting did not physically take place (see
> Nosratu’llah Muhammad-Husayni, Ḥaḍrat-i Bab 319). Baha’u’llah’s own reference that the meeting was ‘concealed from others‘
> appears to confirm this. Early Baha’i historian ‘Abdu’l-Husayn Āyati, known as Āvāreh, notes that the start of this rumour was
> attributed by some to Haji Mirza Jani, whereas in reality, Jani’s Nuqṭatu’l-Kāf is silent on this issue (cf. Kawākib ad-Durrīyyah 1:96).
> In the introduction to Nuqtatu’l-Kaf, Browne states that Baha’i historian Mirza Husayn Hamadani added the reference to this meeting
> in his Tarikh-i Jadid (217). According to Muhammad-Husayni (Bab 319), there is also a note in ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s own handwriting on
> vol. 1, p. 96 of the original copy of Avareh’s Kawākib ad-Durrīyyah where he reiterates that ‘there was definitely no physical meeting
> [between the Bab and Baha’u’llah]’ (provisional trans.).
> Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá‘ís 87. Balyuzi’s source for allowing only two watercolour copies is not clear. Faizi (Nuqṭay-i Úlá 369) and
> Afnan (ʿAhd- Aʿla 313–4) cite excerpts from a tablet of Baha’u’llah to Varqa that allows copies to be made for Varqa and ‘one or two
> of the chosen friends’. Provisional translation: ‘We allow a limited number of portraits of that beautiful personage to be drawn for you
> [Varqa] and one or two of the chosen friends.’
> 
> Here again, Mu‘in’s version (Tarikh-i Amr 189) of the details is somewhat different from Balyuzi’s. Mu‘in claims the original was
> already with Aqa Bala Bayg’s son, Mirza Mahmud in 1882, and that was the copy that Haji Akhund took to ‘Akka. Mirza Mahmud
> was a secretary and scribe for Imam Quli Mirza – the successor to Malik Qasim-Mirza. If this is true, the artist must have done so
> while still living. In 1887, Mirza ‘Ali Oskoui met him in Seysan (Mazandarani, Zuhur 6:13). Mazandarani (ibid., 3:48) also confirms
> that Haji Akhund took the original drawing, not a copy, to ‘Akka. However, his source for this is probably Mu‘in’s own history. Balyuzi
> (Eminent Bahá‘í́s 87) believes that Haji Akhund’s was a watercolour copy and that the black-and-white original was discovered later
> by Assadu’llah Qumi and sent to Haifa in 1902. The current color copy on display at the Baha'i International Archives in Haifa has
> the following inscription underneath it: ١٢۶۶ ‫“( عمل كمترين آقا باال در بلد اورمى كشيده شد سنه‬This work by the lowliest servant, Aqa Bala, was
> drawn in the city of Urmia in the year 1266 AH [1850 AD].”)
> 
> Faizi, Nuqṭay-i Úlá 369–70 and Afnan, ‘Ahd- A‘la 313–4. To protect believers, Varqa names the cities in the cryptic language
> prevalent among the early Babis and Baha'is that identified locations by a key letter or two in the name of the city. Thus, Tehran
> would be identified as ‘The Land of Tā‘ or Yazd would be ‘The Land of Yā’. The destinations for the additional copies were Qum,
> Tehran, Khorasan, Yazd, Iṣfahan, Shiraz and Kashan.
> 
> Arabic, lit. ‘Chamberlain of the State’. This was the title given to the Shah’s chief steward. The position was held by Jaʿfar Quli
> Khan from October 1892 and he lost it when Muzaffar ad-Dawleh came to the throne, i.e. shortly after the martyrdom of Varqa.
> Jaʿfar Quli Khan was then given the title of Muʿin us-Sultan.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá‘ís 92. Mazandarani (Zuhur 6:13) quotes Mirza Haydar-ʿAli Oskoui that Varqa’s copy of the Bab’s painting
> was confiscated by Nayeb as-Saltaneh. Without giving a source, Shahrokh (Varqā and Son 12) claims that ‘Abdu’l-Baha had
> predicted that Varqa’s copy will be found in the future and returned to his descendants.
> 
> Mazandarani, Zuhur 3:48.
> 
> Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís 87.
> 
> Faizi, Nuqṭay-i Úlá 370.
> Muʿin, Tarikh-i Amr, 190.
> 
> Ishraq-Khavari, Daʾirat al-Maʿarif 1:11.
> 
> Faizi, Nuqṭay-i Úlá 371.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha must have kept copies of his letters to believers. That would explain why a copy of a potentially lost tablet was still
> available to him and is extant today.
> 
> Imam Husayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and third in the line of Shi‘i imams. Dakhil’s poetic rendering of the
> sufferings of Imam Husayn in Turkish, Kitab-i Dakhīl (Kulliyāt al-Jadīd), was published in Tabriz in 1889 and was highly regarded. It
> was also the first publication by a follower of Baha’u’llah, excluding ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Thanks to Dr Moojan Momen for providing this
> reference.
> 
> Faizi, ‘Ahd- A‘la 371–2.
> 
> Ibid. 372. Faizi’s sources for his narrative were oral accounts by Varqa’s son, Mirza Valiyu’llah Khan, at the intercontinental
> Kampala conference held from 23–28 January 1958, as well as an unspecified written account by Dr Dakhili, the great-grandson of
> Dakhil-i Maraghe’i.
> 
> Copies of Aqa Bala Bayg’s portrait of the Bab are not available to the general public. The Universal House of Justice considers
> viewing the image a privilege. During pilgrimage, Baha’is can see a colour copy of the original in the Baha'i International Archives in
> Haifa. In addition, on rare occasions, copies may be seen by Baha'is outside of Haifa. In a letter dated 12 July 1973 by the Universal
> House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha’is to their National Spiritual Assembly in Panama, it is noted that ‘The
> portraits of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh should be shown infrequently and on very special occasions, such as a special observance
> connected with an event intimately associated with the Forerunner or Founder of our Faith … we feel that the privilege of displaying
> these very precious portraits should not be abused.’
> 
> For the text of the article, see Momen, The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions 69–70.
> 
> Moojan Momen, ‘Scholarship on the Bahá’í Faith‘,http://www.momen.org/relstud/schol.htm
> 
> V. A. Zhukovskii, Rossiiskii imperatorskii konsul F.A. Bakulin v istorii izuchenii︠a︡ babizma (Petrograd: Tip. Akademii nauk, 1917).
> Published in the periodical “Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniya (Imperatorskogo) Rossiĭskogo arkheologicheskogo obshchestva” 24, 1-
> 4, 33-90. (Proceedings of the Oriental Department of the [Imperial] Russian Archeological Society), henceforth abbreviated as
> ZVORAO. The authors are indebted to Dr Youli Ioannesyan for this reference and the line drawing. They are also grateful to
> Soussan Shahriari for obtaining copies of the pages containing Zhukovskii’s drawing and his discussion of the image, and similarly
> to Joshua Harris for translating portions of Zhukovskii’s account into English and to Charles Bonds for reviewing that translation.
> This letter was found by Dr Youli Ioannesyan.
> 
> ZVORAO, vol. 24, 33–90.
> 
> See Momen, The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions 43.
> 
> Zarandi,The Dawn-Breakers (trans. Shoghi Effendi) 518.
> 
> Zhukovskii, Bakulin, 46–7. Translation from the original Russian by Dr Youli Ioannesyan. Here, Zhukovskii is referring to ‘Abdu'l-
> Baha’s reference in A Traveler’s Narrative (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1980, 27) that the morning after the execution, the
> Russian consul took an artist with him to the execution scene so he could record a faithful rendition of what he saw.
> See Siyyid Kazim-i-Rashti, Risāliy-i Uṣūl-i ʿAqāyid, Tehran: Lajniy-i-Millīy-i-Maḥfaẓiy-i-Āthāri-i-Amrī, 133 B.E. (1976–7),
> 241–2. ‘Abdu’l-Baha refers to this Shi‘i belief in A Traveler’s Narrative 2:45. Note that Browne’s translation of the relevant passage is
> inaccurate. He has rendered ‘javareh‘ as ‘wounds‘, but it actually means ‘predatory birds or animals’. Authors’ note: These
> references are found in the letter of 17 June 2009 from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice to Dr Youli
> Ioannesyan.
> 
> Louis Alphonse Daniel (A. L. M.) Nicolas, Seyyed Ali Mohammed dit Le Bab. Les religions des Peuples Civilises, Paris: Dujarric &
> Cie, Editeurs, 1905 (original publication date).Digital copy is available on H-Bahai: Lansing, Michigan, 2004: http://www.h-
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> net.org/~bahai/diglib/books/K-O/N/LeBab/LeBab.htm.. William Miller also reproduced Nicolas’s image on page 17 of his polemical
> work, The Bahá'í Faith: Its History and Teachings (South Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1974).
> 
> The ‘rose and nightingale‘ (Persian: gol o bolbol) is a popular literary and decorative theme in Persian literature and art. Together,
> they represent the lover and beloved par excellence. ‘The rose is beautiful, proud, and often cruel, while the nightingale sings
> endlessly of his longing and devotion.’ Adding this theme to the purported image of the Bab is the artist’s way of representing the
> Bab as the rose – or the Beloved – and his followers as nightingales, or lovers. cf. Layla S. Diba, ‘Gol o Bolbol’, in Encyclopaedia
> Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, vol. 11, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2001, 52–7. Available online at
> http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gol-o-bolbol.
> 
> Provisional translation of the image caption on p. 36: ‘Some believed this portrait was that of the Bab, which was based on the
> black ink and pen drawing [by Aqa Bala Bayg]. However, after the black ink and pen drawing was seen in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-
> Baha, it became clear that this was not the Bab’s portrait, as the Bab would have been younger and better-looking and his turban
> would have been much smaller. More recently, it has been accepted that this is the portrait of Sayyid Kazim Rashti, the son of Aqa
> Sayyid Qasim Tajir Hariri who, according to oral accounts, was a merchant in Rasht.’
> 
> The captain’s letter to a European friend depicts, in gruesome details, the degree of savagery inflicted by Persians of different
> social strata on the Babi martyrs and the incredible fortitude exhibited by the followers of the Bab in the face of inordinate cruelty at
> the hands of their killers. A copy of this letter can be found in Peter Avery’s Modern Iran (New York: Fredrick A. Praeger, Publishers,
> 1965, 60–2) and H. M. Balyuzi’s Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory (Oxford: George Ronald, 1980, 84–6).
> 
> Thanks to Steve Cooney for pointing out this edition of Atrpet’s book to us.
> 
> A copy of this image appears in a Russian article titled Babidskiye Vosstaniya v Mazanderane, Zendzhane i Neyrize [Babi
> Uprisings in Mazandaran, Zanjan, and Nayriz], published in the sixth volume of the Russian encyclopedia Vsemirnaya Istoriya
> [World History] in 1959. The text of the article is available online here: http://historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000036/st355.shtml
> 
> Atrpet’s interactions with Jalil Khu’i might have contributed to his negative view of the Baha’is. For example, see a translation of
> his article that appeared in the Armenian periodical Sourhandag. It denied that the Baha’is played any significant role in the Persian
> Constitutional Revolution of 1905–11. A translation of this article can be found in ALM Nicolas,‘Le Club de la fraternite' Revue du
> Monde Musulman, vol. 13, Paris, 1911, 180–4 (quoted in Momen’s The Bábi and Bahá’í Religions 39). Additionally, there is also a
> tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Baha in which he is evidently referring to the fabricated image of the execution scene: “The photograph thou hast
> sent is not that of His Holiness, the Báb. A contemptible person hath given it to that hapless Russian author and even taken from
> him a sum of money in return for lies and slander. Announce this to all the friends” (With permission from the National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom, from private correspondence dated 10 May 2015 between them and the
> Department of the Secretariat).
> 
> Jalil Khu’i was the recipient of Baha’u’llah’s Ishrāqāt (Glad Tidings) tablet. ‘Abdu’l-Baha tried to dissuade him from association
> with Jamal and Mirza Muhammad-‘Ali, but to no avail. His Lawḥ-i Hizār Baytī (Tablet of One Thousand Verses) was addressed to
> Jalil and focused on the importance of the Baha’i covenant.
> 
> Denis MacEoin, ‘Early Shaykhí Reactions to the Báb and His Claims‘, In Moojan Momen (ed.), Studies in Bábí and Bahá’í History,
> Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1982) 1:2. In the same year, this image also appeared in M. S. Ivanov’s book, Antifeodalniye
> Vosstaniya v Irane v Seredine XIX Veka (Anti-Feudal Uprisings in Iran in the Mid-19th Century), Moscow: Nauka, 1982, 90.
> 
> The same image now appears as Sayyid Kazim in other sources, including the entry for him in Wikipedia: despite the fact that
> Shaykhis use a different image for him at the entrance to their Kermanshah religious centre: http://alabrar.info/images/mashayekh/-
> 2.jpg. The authors learned about this Shaykhi mosque through correspondence with a Baha’i who lives in Kermanshah. Another
> somewhat similar image of Sayyid Kazim is found in Moojan Momen’s An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of
> Twelver Shi’ism, Oxford: George Ronald, 1985, 191.
> 
> The concept of Point or Nuqteh is based on a Muslim tradition that says ‘Knowledge is a single point that the ignorant have
> multiplied‘ [Emphasis mine]. This tradition appears to be linked to another tradition attributed to Imam ’Ali, who is believed to have
> said, ‘All of the knowledge of all the holy books is in the Qur’an, and all of the knowledge of the Qur’an is in the Fatiha [the first sura],
> and all of the knowledge of the Fatiha is in the Basmala [i.e. the invocation Bismi’llāhi’r-Raḥmāni’r-Raḥīm], and all of the knowledge
> of the Basmala is in the letter ba, and all of the knowledge in the ba is in the point [Nuqteh] under the ba, and I am that point" [Italics
> mine]. Through the ages, many Muslim texts – including Isma’ili, Nuqtavi and Shaykhi texts – have discussed this concept. For an
> example of a Shaykhi text, see pp. 91–6 of Sayyid Kazim’s Sharh Qasida Lamiyya Li-‘Abd al-Baqi Effendi. Lithograph, n.p., Tabriz,
> n.d.
> The caption appears to have been written on a rectangular piece of paper and superimposed onto the image. If there was genuine
> intent to identify the person in the portrait, the artist could have done so on the image itself without needing to do it on a piece of
> paper. The addition could not also be considered an artistic style intended to enrich the artwork.
> 
> Igor S. Zonn, et al., The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia, London and New York: Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht, 2010, 317.
> 
> Ibid.
> Bijan Masumian and Adib Masumian, ‘The Bab in the World of Images’, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 19, June 2013, 171–90.
> 
> For references to Naghiev’s story in Persian Baha’i sources, see Dr Habib Mu‘ayyad, Khatirat-i Habib, vol. 1, Tehran:
> Mu’assasah-i Milli-i Matbu‘at-i Amri, 118 B.E. (1962), 6–7. Digitally republished, East Lansing, MI: H-Bahai, 2007 (http://www.h-
> net.org/~bahai/areprint/authors/muayyad/muayyad.htm) and Parivash Samandari Khoshbin, Taraz-i Elahi, vol. 1, Muʾassasah-i
> Maʿarif Bahaʾi, Ontario, 2002, 226–7. Digital copy available at: http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/o/TI1/ti1-252.html.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha believed Naghiev could have been a source of great accomplishments as a Baha’i. However, Naghiev’s
> procrastination prevented him from doing more. After the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, all his wealth was confiscated. For Persian
> references by ‘Abdu’l-Baha to Naghiev, see ‘Abdu’l-Hamid Ishraq-Khavari, Ganjineh-yi Hudud va Ahkam, Tehran: Muʾassasah-i
> Milli-i Matbuʿat-i Amri, 134 BE (1978), 104. Digital copy available at: http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/c/GHA/gha-113.html#pg104.
>
> — *The Bab in the World of Images (Used by permission of the curator)*