Tahirih believed that the Bab was the new Messenger from God sent with a new Revelation and that these days were an ‘in-between’ time: the Shari’a and the law of prayer were now replaced by the new Law of the Bab.
But other Babis had not understood it this way.
So it was that one day, Quddus, one of the most respected of the Bab's Disciples, and several others were meeting in the tent of Mirza Husayn Ali. Suddenly Tahirih entered their gathering showing her face without the covering of a veil and proclaimed that that “the Trumpet is sounding! The great Trump is blown! The universal Advent is now proclaimed!” These were words from the Qur’an and the Book of Isaiah.
She, Tahirih, a woman, was that trumpet blast.
The Babis were shocked by this display. They regarded Tahirih as the holy Fatimih, Muhammad’s daughter, and to look upon her face was blasphemous. They also may have remembered the Islamic tradition in which Fatimih appears unveiled on the Day of Judgement. Could this be the Day of Judgement for them?
Quddus sat with a furious expression on his face. One Babi even cut his own throat as a gesture of atonement.
They looked to Mirza Husayn Ali for guidance. He told them to read the Surih of the Inevitable from the Qur’an:
“When the Day that must come shall have come suddenly…Day that shall abase! Day that shall exalt….”
Tahirih appeared radiant and peaceful even in the face and concluded by looking at Mirza Husayn Ali and Quddus and saying:
“‘Verily, amid gardens and rivers shall the pious dwell in the seat of truth, in the presence of the potent King.”
She was the word of this revelation:
“I am the word that the Qa’im will utter, the word that shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth.”
This was the day to celebrate:
“This day is the day of festivity and universal rejoicing, the day on which the fetters of the past are burst asunder. Let those who have shared in this great achievement arise and embrace each other.”
Tahirih’s actions divided the Babis. Some now doubted the truth of the Bab, and a few even left the Faith...
Click below for a discussion on the Baha'i Faith as a new religion from the perspective of Shi'a Islam: