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And likewise He addresseth Dayyán, who was wronged and suffered martyrdom, saying: "Thou shalt recognize thy worth through the words of Him Whom God shall make manifest." He, likewise, hath pronounced him to be the third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest, through these words: "O thou who art the third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest!"
Besides the rav and the dayyan there were other men whose callings were holy, the shohat, who knew how cattle and fowls should be killed; the hazzan and the other officers of the synagogue; the teachers of Hebrew, and their pupils. It did not matter how poor a man was, he was to be respected and set above other men, if he were learned in the Law.
It was to the date of His impending Revelation that the Lawḥ-i-Hurúfat, revealed in Chihríq by the Báb, in honor of Dayyán, abstrusely alluded, and in which the mystery of the “Mustagháth“ was unraveled. It was to the attainment of His presence that the attention of another disciple, Mullá Báqir, one of the Letters of the Living, was expressly directed by none other than the Báb Himself.
Great God! How could they have countenanced this most grievous betrayal? Briefly, We beseech God to aid the perpetrator of this deed to repent, and return unto Him. He, verily, is the Helper, the All-Wise. As to Dayyán—upon him be the glory of God and His mercy—he attained Our presence in accordance with that which had been revealed by the pen of the Primal Point.
In his fear of any potential adversary he had dispatched Mírzá Muḥammad-i-Mázindarání, one of his supporters, to Ádhirbayján for the express purpose of murdering Dayyán, the “repository of the knowledge of God,” whom he surnamed “Father of Iniquities” and stigmatized as “Tághút,” and whom the Báb had extolled as the “Third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest.” In his folly he had, furthermore, induced Mírzá Áqá Ján to proceed to Núr, and there await a propitious moment when he could make a successful attempt on the life of the sovereign.
Dayyán, who, according to the words of Him Who is the Point—may the souls of all else but Him be sacrificed for His sake—is the repository of the trust of the one true God—exalted be His glory—and the treasury of the pearls of His knowledge, was made by them to suffer so cruel a martyrdom that the Concourse on high wept and lamented. This is a hidden and preserved Knowledge.
The result was that with great public spirit he retired in favour of Baha. The news was soon spread abroad; it was not helpful to the cause of Ezel. So by Ezelite hands Dayyan was foully slain. It was on this occasion that Ezel vented curses and abusive language on his rival.
His shamelessness and effrontery had waxed so great as to lead him to perpetrate himself, and permit Siyyid Muḥammad to repeat after him, an act so odious that Bahá’u’lláh characterized it as “a most grievous betrayal,” inflicting dishonor upon the Báb, and which “overwhelmed all lands with sorrow.” He even, as a further evidence of the enormity of his crimes, ordered that the cousin of the Báb, Mírzá ‘Alí-Akbar, a fervent admirer of Dayyán, be secretly put to death—a command which was carried out in all its iniquity.
We have already been introduced to a prominent Bābī, variously called Asadu'llah and Dayyan; he was also a member of the hierarchy called 'the Letters of the Living. He may have been a man of capacity, but I must confess that the event to which his name is specially attached indisposes me to admit that he took part in the so-called 'Council of Tihran. To me he appears to have been one of those Bābīs who, even in critical periods, acted without consultation with others, and who imagined that they were absolutely infallible.
All that is known of the life of Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda is that he lived in Spain and had the office of "Dayyan," or judge of the Jewish community. Not even the exact time in which he lived is yet determined, though the most reliable recent investigations make it probable that he lived after Gabirol and was indebted to the latter for some of his views in philosophy as well as in Ethics.
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