It remained for Holy Night to hush the clamour of the crowd. The great square of Tabriz was purified from unholy sights and sounds. What, we ask, was done then to the holy bodies--that of Bab himself and that of his faithful follower? The enemies of the Bab, and even Count Gobineau, assert that the dead body of the Bab was cast out into the moat and devoured by the wild beasts. [Footnote: A similar fate is asserted by tradition for the dead body of the heroic Mulla Muhammad 'Ali of Zanjan.] We may be sure, however, that if the holy body were exposed at night, the loyal Babis of Tabriz would lose no time in rescuing it. The _New History_ makes this statement,--
'To be brief, two nights later, when they cast the most sacred body and that of Mirza Muhammad 'Ali into the moat, and set three sentries over them, Haji Suleyman Khan and three others, having provided themselves with arms, came to the sentries and said, "We will ungrudgingly give you any sum of money you ask, if you will not oppose our carrying away these bodies; but if you attempt to hinder us, we will kill you." The sentinels, fearing for their lives, and greedy for gain, consulted, and as the price of their complaisance received a large sum of money.
'So Haji Suleyman Khan bore those holy bodies to his house, shrouded them in white silk, placed them in a chest, and, after a while, transported them to Tihran, where they remained in trust till such time as instructions for their interment in a particular spot were issued by the Sources of the will of the Eternal Beauty. Now the believers who were entrusted with the duty of transporting the holy bodies were Mulla Huseyn of Khurasan and Aka Muhammad of Isfahan, [Footnote: _TN_, p. 110, n. 3; _NH_, p. 312, n. 1.] and the instructions were given by Baha-'ullah.' So far our authority. Different names, however, are given by Nicolas, _AMB_, p. 381.
The account here given from the _New History_ is in accordance with a letter purporting to be written by the Bab to Haji Suleyman Khan exactly six months before his martyrdom; and preserved in the _New History_, pp. 310, 311.
'Two nights after my martyrdom thou must go and, by some means or other, buy my body and the body of Mirza Muhammad 'Ali from the sentinels for 400 tumans, and keep them in thy house for six months. Afterwards lay Aka Muhammad 'Ali with his face upon my face the two (dead) bodies in a strong chest, and send it with a letter to Jenab-i-Baha (great is his majesty!). [Footnote: _TN_, p. 46, n. 1] Baha is, of course, the short for Baha-'ullah, and, as Prof. Browne remarks, the modest title Jenab-i-Baha was, even after the presumed date of this letter, the title commonly given to this personage.