Sayyid Kazim Rashti - Successorship

Successorship

On the death of Sayyid Kazim on 31 December 1843, some Shaykhis went on to become Bahais and the rest split into three factions. It is reported that before dying, instead of appointing a successor, he sent his disciples out to find the Promised One. One of his most noted followers, Mullá Husayn said:

"Our departed teacher insistently exhorted us to forsake our homes, to scatter far and wide, in quest of the promised Beloved... Regarding the features of the Promised One, he told us that He is of a pure lineage, is of illustrious descent, and of the seed of Fatimah. As to His age, He is more than twenty and less than thirty. He is endowed with innate knowledge. He is of medium height, abstains from smoking, and is free from bodily deficiency."

(quoted in Nabil-i-A'zam's The Dawn-Breakers",or "Nabil's Narrative", translated by Shoghi Effendi, p. 57)

In 1844 Mullá Husayn, after meeting the Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad (the Báb) in Shiraz accepted him as the Mahdi.