that the material body of Muhammad did not ascend during the Mi'raj, and that the expected Resurrection of the Dead was spiritual in nature. Shaykh Ahmad came into conflict with the orthodox Shia theologians of the time and was denounced as an infidel in 1824. After Shaykh Ahmad's death, leadership passed to Kazim Rashti (1793–1843), and emphasis was placed on the year 1260 AH (1844 CE), one thousand years lunar years after the twelfth Imam went into occultation. In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and stayed for seven months mostly in and around Karbala, where he attended lectures of Kazim Rashti. As of his death in December 1843, Kazim Rashti counselled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear. One of these followers, Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for 40 days in a mosque, travelled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb. Personality and appearance Sources commonly describe the Báb as gentle, precocious, or gifted with great intelligence. One of his contemporary followers described him as, An Irish physician described him as "a very mild and delicate-looking man, rather small in stature and very fair for a Persian, with a melodious soft voice, which struck me much". Shoghi Effendi notes "the gentle, the youthful and irresistible person of the Báb" and praises him as being "matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance" This personality has been described as having "captivated many of those who met him". Life as a religious leader The Báb's mission as a religious leader began with a dream in which he drank seven drops of blood dripping from the lacerated throat of Imam Husayn — a significant martyr and symbol of sacrifice in Shia Islam. Although previously inclined toward sharing the Qur'an, it was after this dream that he was able to write his own verses and prayers, claiming divine inspiration. In April, 1844, his wife Khadijih became the first to believe in his revelation. Declaration to Mullá Husayn The Báb's first religiously inspired experience, claimed and witnessed by his wife, is dated to about the evening of 3 April 1844. The Báb's first public connection with his sense of a mission came with the arrival of Mullá Husayn in Shiraz. On the night of 22 May Mullá Husayn was invited by the Báb to his home where