|
|
  |
| p.
1
2
3
4
Footnotes |
Nicolas in the same statement goes on to describe how his interest in the
subject grew:
I was helped in my work by a young Persian, and each day we would
go in the afternoon for a walk outside the town, leaving by the
Shimran gate. The purity of the air, the serenity, the
mildness of the temperature, and in certain seasons, the perfume of
the acacias, predisposed my soul to peace and gentleness. My
reflections on the strange book [The Seven Proofs by the Báb] that
I had translated, filled me with a kind of intoxication and I
became, little by little, profoundly and uniquely a Bábi. The more
I immersed myself in these reflections, the more I admired the
greatness of the genius of him who, born in Shiraz, had
dreamt of uplifting the Muslim world...78
In his early works, Nicolas steered clear of the barren ground over which
Browne was wandering - the claims of Mirza Yahya, Subh-i-Azal. In a letter to
Browne in March 1902, he wrote concerning the documents which he had collected:
"Only those which are directly related to the Báb interest me at this time;
whether they concern the history or the dogma. I consider that task sufficient
for the moment, and I will concern myself later with the Imamate of Subh-i-Azal
and the second divine Manifestation in the person of Bahá."79
The Bábi and Bahá'í Religions, 1844-1944 : Some Contemporary Western Accounts.
edited by Moojan Momen (Oxford : George Ronald, 1981), pages 36-40.
|
|
|
|
