A Letter of the Bab to the leading Shaykhi Mullā Ḥasan Gawhar (d. 1266/1849).
Text from Afnan, 2000: 89.
Mullā Ḥasan Gawhar [Jawhar] (d. 1849 CE) is actually Shaykh Ḥasan ibn `Alī al-Tabrizi of the village of Qarāja Dāghī near Tabriz, hence he has the designations al-Qarāja al-Dāghī al-Tabrīzī. He had studied in Najaf with some of the leading `ulama of the time including Shaykh Musa ibn Shaykh Ja`far Najafi and is credited with a wide and impressive range of learning. He eventually became a leading Shaykhī with an ijāza ("certificate of competency") from Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i (d. 1826 CE). Among his writings, which include aspects of Tafsir, Hadith, Usul al-fiqh, Shaykhi apologetics and more besides, the following largely Arabic (and a few Persian) works, one or two of which have been printed in the 19th-21st centuries (see mani Web page). For biographical and bibliogarphical notes see Sayyid Muhammad Hasan Taliqani, al-Shaykhiyya... (Beirut 1420/1999), pp.183-6 and the `Abd al-Rasūl al-Iḥqāqī introduction to the 2nd 2002 Kuwayti edition of Sharh ḥayāt al-arwāḥ (pp. 3-10).
Mulla Hasan Gawhar and the Bab
Mulla Hasan Gawhar and the Bab made something of an unsuccessful leadership bid after the passing of Sayyid Kazim Rashti in 1259/1843 and opposed his rival claimants to Shaykhi leadership and authority Hajji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani (d. 1871 CE) and the Bab. An early opponent of the Bab he was present at the gathering convened for the trial of Mulla `Ali Bastami (d. Istanbul 184? CE) by the Ottoman official Najib Pasha.
Mulla Hasan Gawhar is mentioned a number of times in the Tarikh-i Zarandi known in the redaction of Shoghi Effendi as `The Dawn-Breakers':
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Translation of the Letter of the Bab to Mulla Hasan Gawhar
Trans. Stephen N. Lambden, UC-Merced 2011+15.
Text from Afnan 2000 page 89.
From a ms. in the hand (script, khaṭṭ) of the Bab to Mulla Hasan entitled Gawhar.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Ṭā'-Hā' ("Ṭ"-"H").
We did not send down the Book aforetime except it was a memorial (tadhkirat) for whomsoever He wills that he should believe in the verses of thy Lord and be numbered among those who prostrate (al-sājidīn) themselves. Recite then the Book of thy Lord!
