Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/410

 390 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of unbelievers. They asserted that the time had come when Mahomedanism must fall, and that to them had been assigned the task of bringing about the decree of fate. In their opinion the restrictions imposed upon men by the Koran were too heavy to be borne. Accord- ing to their creed all men were alike ; none were impure, since all human beings, with all other created objects, whether animate or inanimate, formed so many portions of one all-pervading and everlasting God. It was pro- bably when in possession of this idea, that the Bab had startled his disciples by the sudden announcement that he was God. The followers of the Bab were to have all their possessions, including their women, in common : marriage being one of the puerile observances of the Mahomedan code which it was now time to abolish. The Babis admitted of no hereditary claims to high rank ; nor did they see the necessity of any formal election of rulers or teachers : they admitted only such superiority as was conferred by the force of intellect, and that force, they held, would make itself felt without the adventitious aid of human laws. Hell was no longer a source of terror to men who had been enlightened by the teaching of the Bab. Their master had explained to them that there was to be no hereafter beyond this enduring world ; he had laughed to scorn alike the Moslem prophet's description of the terror- striking bridge of Al-Sirath and of the black-eyed virgins who repose on green cushions and beautiful carpets, hidden from public view in the pavilions of paradise. This terrestrial globe was to be everlasting, and men need not fear what people falsely term death, since in truth they could not die. These opinions explain the reckless bravery with