The first period (1844–1853), centers around the gentle, the
youthful and irresistible person of the Báb, matchless in His meekness, imperturbable
in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance, unrivaled in the dramatic episodes
of His swift and tragic ministry. It begins with the Declaration of His
Mission, culminates in His martyrdom, and ends in a veritable orgy of religious
massacre revolting in its hideousness. It is characterized by nine years of
fierce and relentless contest, whose theatre was the whole of Persia, in which
above ten thousand heroes laid down their lives, in which two sovereigns of the
Qájár dynasty and their wicked ministers participated, and which was supported
by the entire Shi‘ah ecclesiastical hierarchy, by the military resources of the
state, and by the implacable hostility of the masses.
- Shoghi Effendi (Preface
to ‘God Passes By’)