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In 1844 a Siyyid from Shiraz raised the call that the Day of God had appeared. He proclaimed that the promised divine Teacher, awaited by humanity throughout the ages, and Whom he referred to as "Him Whom God shall make manifest" , was soon to appear. At the time this call was proclaimed, Mirza Husayn Ali was in the heyday of His life. Every opportunity was open to Him; by every standard His future appeared enviable. Yet from the moment He was informed of the new message, "flinging aside every consideration of earthly fame, wealth and position, careless of danger, and risking the obloquy of His caste" He arose to promote, as He alone could, this obscure and radical Message (155:5) He was unaware that He, Himself, had been chosen by God to receive the mighty revelation that was to redeem all mankind; that He, Himself was the Promised One. During the ensuing years, a few of the followers of the new Faith who were acquainted with Him had suspected His true station, but this was to be revealed to Him, only four years later, under the most stirring and heroic circumstances (155:6) At the time He was arrested and brought to Amul, He was increasingly viewed as the most eminent disciple of the new Faith. His knowledge was formidable, and seemed to spring from an unlimited source; His discourse, though He was unschooled, was matchless; and His modesty and virtue, despite His exceeding capacity was genuine and disarming. None could challenge Him; His enemies even feared confrontation. And these qualities, combined with His fearless nature and piercing insight, gradually revealed to the eyes of those who were straining every nerve to trample the new Faith, that He alone held the key to its ultimate life or death
(155:7)
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