The attempt on the life of Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah, as stated in a previous
chapter, was made on the 28th of the month of _Sh_avval, 1268 A.H.,
corresponding to the 15th of August, 1852. Immediately after, Baha'u'llah
was arrested in Niyavaran, was conducted with the greatest ignominy to
Tihran and cast into the Siyah-_Ch_al. His imprisonment lasted for a
period of no less than four months, in the middle of which the "year nine"
(1269), anticipated in such glowing terms by the Bab, and alluded to as
the year "after Hin" by _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad-i-Ahsa'i, was ushered in,
endowing with undreamt-of potentialities the whole world. Two months after
that year was born, Baha'u'llah, the purpose of His imprisonment now
accomplished, was released from His confinement, and set out, a month
later, for Ba_gh_dad, on the first stage of a memorable and life-long
exile which was to carry Him, in the course of years, as far as Adrianople
in European Turkey, and which was to end with His twenty-four years'
incarceration in Akka.
Now that He had been invested, in consequence of that potent dream, with
the power and sovereign authority associated with His Divine mission, His
deliverance from a confinement that had achieved its purpose, and which if
prolonged would have completely fettered Him in the exercise of His
newly-bestowed functions, became not only inevitable, but imperative and
urgent. Nor were the means and instruments lacking whereby his
emancipation from the shackles that restrained Him could be effected. The
persistent and decisive intervention of the Russian Minister, Prince
Dolgorouki, who left no stone unturned to establish the innocence of
Baha'u'llah; the public confession of Mulla _Sh_ay_kh_ 'Aliy-i-Tur_sh_izi,
surnamed Azim, who, in the Siyah-_Ch_al, in the presence of the
Hajibu'd-Dawlih and the Russian Minister's interpreter and of the
government's representative, emphatically exonerated Him, and acknowledged
his own complicity; the indisputable testimony established by competent
tribunals; the unrelaxing efforts exerted by His own brothers, sisters and
kindred,--all these combined to effect His ultimate deliverance from the
hands of His rapacious enemies. Another potent if less evident influence
which must be acknowledged as having had a share in His liberation was the
fate suffered by so large a number of His self-sacrificing
fellow-disciples who languished with Him in that same prison. For, as
Nabil truly remarks, "the blood, shed in the course of that fateful year
in Tihran by that heroic band with whom Baha'u'llah had been imprisoned,
was the ransom paid for His deliverance from the hand of a foe that sought
to prevent Him from achieving the purpose for which God had destined Him."
With such overwhelming testimonies establishing beyond the shadow of a
doubt the non-complicity of Baha'u'llah, the Grand Vizir, after having
secured the reluctant consent of his sovereign to set free his Captive,
was now in a position to dispatch his trusted representative, Haji 'Ali,
to the Siyah-_Ch_al, instructing him to deliver to Baha'u'llah the order
for His release. The sight which that emissary beheld upon his arrival
evoked in him such anger that he cursed his master for the shameful
treatment of a man of such high position and stainless renown. Removing
his mantle from his shoulders he presented it to Baha'u'llah, entreating
Him to wear it when in the presence of the Minister and his counsellors, a
request which He emphatically refused, preferring to appear, attired in
the garb of a prisoner, before the members of the Imperial government.
No sooner had He presented Himself before them than the Grand Vizir
addressed Him saying: "Had you chosen to take my advice, and had you
dissociated yourself from the Faith of the Siyyid-i-Bab, you would never
have suffered the pains and indignities that have been heaped upon you."
"Had you, in your turn," Baha'u'llah retorted, "followed My counsels, the
affairs of the government would not have reached so critical a stage."
Mirza Aqa _Kh_an was thereupon reminded of the conversation he had had
with Him on the occasion of the Bab's martyrdom, when he had been warned
that "the flame that has been kindled will blaze forth more fiercely than
ever." "What is it that you advise me now to do?" he inquired from
Baha'u'llah. "Command the governors of the realm," was the instant reply,
"to cease shedding the blood of the innocent, to cease plundering their
property, to cease dishonoring their women, and injuring their children."
That same day the Grand Vizir acted on the advice thus given him; but any
effect it had, as the course of subsequent events amply demonstrated,
proved to be momentary and negligible.
The relative peace and tranquillity accorded Baha'u'llah after His tragic
and cruel imprisonment was destined, by the dictates of an unerring
Wisdom, to be of an extremely short duration. He had hardly rejoined His
family and kindred when a decree from Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah was communicated
to Him, bidding Him leave the territory of Persia, fixing a time-limit of
one month for His departure and allowing Him the right to choose the land
of His exile.
The Russian Minister, as soon as he was informed of the Imperial decision,
expressed the desire to take Baha'u'llah under the protection of his
government, and offered to extend every facility for His removal to
Russia. This invitation, so spontaneously extended, Baha'u'llah declined,
preferring, in pursuance of an unerring instinct, to establish His abode
in Turkish territory, in the city of Ba_gh_dad. "Whilst I lay chained and
fettered in the prison," He Himself, years after, testified in His Epistle
addressed to the Czar of Russia, Nicolaevitch Alexander II, "one of thy
ministers extended Me his aid. Whereupon God hath ordained for thee a
station which the knowledge of none can comprehend except His knowledge.
Beware lest thou barter away this sublime station." "In the days," is yet
another illuminating testimony revealed by His pen, "when this Wronged One
was sore-afflicted in prison, the minister of the highly esteemed
government (of Russia)--may God, glorified and exalted be He, assist
him!--exerted his utmost endeavor to compass My deliverance. Several times
permission for My release was granted. Some of the 'ulamas of the city,
however, would prevent it. Finally, My freedom was gained through the
solicitude and the endeavor of His Excellency the Minister. ...His
Imperial Majesty, the Most Great Emperor--may God, exalted and glorified be
He, assist him!--extended to Me for the sake of God his protection--a
protection which has excited the envy and enmity of the foolish ones of
the earth."
The _Sh_ah's edict, equivalent to an order for the immediate expulsion of
Baha'u'llah from Persian territory, opens a new and glorious chapter in
the history of the first Baha'i century. Viewed in its proper perspective
it will be even recognized to have ushered in one of the most eventful and
momentous epochs in the world's religious history. It coincides with the
inauguration of a ministry extending over a period of almost forty years--a
ministry which, by virtue of its creative power, its cleansing force, its
healing influences, and the irresistible operation of the world-directing,
world-shaping forces it released, stands unparalleled in the religious
annals of the entire human race. It marks the opening phase in a series of
banishments, ranging over a period of four decades, and terminating only
with the death of Him Who was the Object of that cruel edict. The process
which it set in motion, gradually progressing and unfolding, began by
establishing His Cause for a time in the very midst of the
jealously-guarded stronghold of _Sh_i'ah Islam, and brought Him in
personal contact with its highest and most illustrious exponents; then, at
a later stage, it confronted Him, at the seat of the Caliphate, with the
civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm and the representatives
of the Sultan of Turkey, the most powerful potentate in the Islamic world;
and finally carried Him as far as the shores of the Holy Land, thereby
fulfilling the prophecies recorded in both the Old and the New Testaments,
redeeming the pledge enshrined in various traditions attributed to the
Apostle of God and the Imams who succeeded Him, and ushering in the
long-awaited restoration of Israel to the ancient cradle of its Faith.
With it, may be said to have begun the last and most fruitful of the four
stages of a life, the first twenty-seven years of which were characterized
by the care-free enjoyment of all the advantages conferred by high birth
and riches, and by an unfailing solicitude for the interests of the poor,
the sick and the down-trodden; followed by nine years of active and
exemplary discipleship in the service of the Bab; and finally by an
imprisonment of four months' duration, overshadowed throughout by mortal
peril, embittered by agonizing sorrows, and immortalized, as it drew to a
close, by the sudden eruption of the forces released by an overpowering,
soul-revolutionizing Revelation.
This enforced and hurried departure of Baha'u'llah from His native land,
accompanied by some of His relatives, recalls in some of its aspects, the
precipitate flight of the Holy Family into Egypt; the sudden migration of
Muhammad, soon after His assumption of the prophetic office, from Mecca to
Medina; the exodus of Moses, His brother and His followers from the land
of their birth, in response to the Divine summons, and above all the
banishment of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to the Promised Land--a
banishment which, in the multitudinous benefits it conferred upon so many
divers peoples, faiths and nations, constitutes the nearest historical
approach to the incalculable blessings destined to be vouchsafed, in this
day, and in future ages, to the whole human race, in direct consequence of
the exile suffered by Him Whose Cause is the flower and fruit of all
previous Revelations.
'Abdu'l-Baha, after enumerating in His "Some Answered Questions" the
far-reaching consequences of Abraham's banishment, significantly affirms
that "since the exile of Abraham from Ur to Aleppo in Syria produced this
result, we must consider what will be the effect of the exile of
Baha'u'llah in His several removes from Tihran to Ba_gh_dad, from thence
to Constantinople, to Rumelia and to the Holy Land."
On the first day of the month of Rabi'u'_th_-_Th_ani, of the year 1269
A.H., (January 12, 1853), nine months after His return from Karbila,
Baha'u'llah, together with some of the members of His family, and escorted
by an officer of the Imperial body-guard and an official representing the
Russian Legation, set out on His three months' journey to Ba_gh_dad. Among
those who shared His exile was His wife, the saintly Navvab, entitled by
Him the "Most Exalted Leaf," who, during almost forty years, continued to
evince a fortitude, a piety, a devotion and a nobility of soul which
earned her from the pen of her Lord the posthumous and unrivalled tribute
of having been made His "perpetual consort in all the worlds of God." His
nine-year-old son, later surnamed the "Most Great Branch," destined to
become the Center of His Covenant and authorized Interpreter of His
teachings, together with His seven-year-old sister, known in later years
by the same title as that of her illustrious mother, and whose services
until the ripe old age of four score years and six, no less than her
exalted parentage, entitle her to the distinction of ranking as the
outstanding heroine of the Baha'i Dispensation, were also included among
the exiles who were now bidding their last farewell to their native
country. Of the two brothers who accompanied Him on that journey the first
was Mirza Musa, commonly called Aqay-i-Kalim, His staunch and valued
supporter, the ablest and most distinguished among His brothers and
sisters, and one of the "only two persons who," according to Baha'u'llah's
testimony, "were adequately informed of the origins" of His Faith. The
other was Mirza Muhammad-Quli, a half-brother, who, in spite of the
defection of some of his relatives, remained to the end loyal to the Cause
he had espoused.
The journey, undertaken in the depth of an exceptionally severe winter,
carrying the little band of exiles, so inadequately equipped, across the
snow-bound mountains of Western Persia, though long and perilous, was
uneventful except for the warm and enthusiastic reception accorded the
travelers during their brief stay in Karand by its governor Hayat-Quli
_Kh_an, of the Alliyu'llahi sect. He was shown, in return, such kindness
by Baha'u'llah that the people of the entire village were affected, and
continued, long after, to extend such hospitality to His followers on
their way to Ba_gh_dad that they gained the reputation of being known as
Babis.
In a prayer revealed by Him at that time, Baha'u'llah, expatiating upon
the woes and trials He had endured in the Siyah-_Ch_al, thus bears witness
to the hardships undergone in the course of that "terrible journey": "My
God, My Master, My Desire!... Thou hast created this atom of dust through
the consummate power of Thy might, and nurtured Him with Thine hands which
none can chain up.... Thou hast destined for Him trials and tribulations
which no tongue can describe, nor any of Thy Tablets adequately recount.
The throat Thou didst accustom to the touch of silk Thou hast, in the end,
clasped with strong chains, and the body Thou didst ease with brocades and
velvets Thou hast at last subjected to the abasement of a dungeon. Thy
decree hath shackled Me with unnumbered fetters, and cast about My neck
chains that none can sunder. A number of years have passed during which
afflictions have, like showers of mercy, rained upon Me.... How many the
nights during which the weight of chains and fetters allowed Me no rest,
and how numerous the days during which peace and tranquillity were denied
Me, by reason of that wherewith the hands and tongues of men have
afflicted Me! Both bread and water which Thou hast, through Thy
all-embracing mercy, allowed unto the beasts of the field, they have, for
a time, forbidden unto this servant, and the things they refused to
inflict upon such as have seceded from Thy Cause, the same have they
suffered to be inflicted upon Me, until, finally, Thy decree was
irrevocably fixed, and Thy behest summoned this servant to depart out of
Persia, accompanied by a number of frail-bodied men and children of tender
age, at this time when the cold is so intense that one cannot even speak,
and ice and snow so abundant that it is impossible to move."
Finally, on the 28th of Jamadiyu'_th_-_Th_ani 1269 A.H. (April 8, 1853),
Baha'u'llah arrived in Ba_gh_dad, the capital city of what was then the
Turkish province of 'Iraq. From there He proceeded, a few days after, to
Kazimayn, about three miles north of the city, a town inhabited chiefly by
Persians, and where the two Kazims, the seventh and the ninth Imams, are
buried. Soon after His arrival the representative of the _Sh_ah's
government, stationed in Ba_gh_dad, called on Him, and suggested that it
would be advisable for Him, in view of the many visitors crowding that
center of pilgrimage, to establish His residence in Old Ba_gh_dad, a
suggestion with which He readily concurred. A month later, towards the end
of Rajab, He rented the house of Haji 'Ali Madad, in an old quarter of the
city, into which He moved with His family.
In that city, described in Islamic traditions as "Zahru'l-Kufih,"
designated for centuries as the "Abode of Peace," and immortalized by
Baha'u'llah as the "City of God," He, except for His two year retirement
to the mountains of Kurdistan and His occasional visits to Najaf, Karbila
and Kazimayn, continued to reside until His banishment to Constantinople.
To that city the Qur'an had alluded as the "Abode of Peace" to which God
Himself "calleth." To it, in that same Book, further allusion had been
made in the verse "For them is a Dwelling of Peace with their Lord ... on
the Day whereon God shall gather them all together." From it radiated,
wave after wave, a power, a radiance and a glory which insensibly
reanimated a languishing Faith, sorely-stricken, sinking into obscurity,
threatened with oblivion. From it were diffused, day and night, and with
ever-increasing energy, the first emanations of a Revelation which, in its
scope, its copiousness, its driving force and the volume and variety of
its literature, was destined to excel that of the Bab Himself. Above its
horizon burst forth the rays of the Sun of Truth, Whose rising glory had
for ten long years been overshadowed by the inky clouds of a consuming
hatred, an ineradicable jealousy, an unrelenting malice. In it the
Tabernacle of the promised "Lord of Hosts" was first erected, and the
foundations of the long-awaited Kingdom of the "Father" unassailably
established. Out of it went forth the earliest tidings of the Message of
Salvation which, as prophesied by Daniel, was to mark, after the lapse of
"a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (1290 A.H.), the end of "the
abomination that maketh desolate." Within its walls the "Most Great House
of God," His "Footstool" and the "Throne of His Glory," "the Cynosure of
an adoring world," the "Lamp of Salvation between earth and heaven," the
"Sign of His remembrance to all who are in heaven and on earth,"
enshrining the "Jewel whose glory hath irradiated all creation," the
"Standard" of His Kingdom, the "Shrine round which will circle the
concourse of the faithful" was irrevocably founded and permanently
consecrated. Upon it, by virtue of its sanctity as Baha'u'llah's "Most
Holy Habitation" and "Seat of His transcendent glory," was conferred the
honor of being regarded as a center of pilgrimage second to none except
the city of Akka, His "Most Great Prison," in whose immediate vicinity His
holy Sepulcher, the Qiblih of the Baha'i world, is enshrined. Around the
heavenly Table, spread in its very heart, clergy and laity, Sunnis and
_Sh_i'ahs, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians, princes and nobles, peasants and
dervishes, gathered in increasing numbers from far and near, all
partaking, according to their needs and capacities, of a measure of that
Divine sustenance which was to enable them, in the course of time, to
noise abroad the fame of that bountiful Giver, swell the ranks of His
admirers, scatter far and wide His writings, enlarge the limits of His
congregation, and lay a firm foundation for the future erection of the
institutions of His Faith. And finally, before the gaze of the diversified
communities that dwelt within its gates, the first phase in the gradual
unfoldment of a newborn Revelation was ushered in, the first effusions
from the inspired pen of its Author were recorded, the first principles of
His slowly crystallizing doctrine were formulated, the first implications
of His august station were apprehended, the first attacks aiming at the
disruption of His Faith from within were launched, the first victories
over its internal enemies were registered, and the first pilgrimages to
the Door of His Presence were undertaken.
This life-long exile to which the Bearer of so precious a Message was now
providentially condemned did not, and indeed could not, manifest, either
suddenly or rapidly, the potentialities latent within it. The process
whereby its unsuspected benefits were to be manifested to the eyes of men
was slow, painfully slow, and was characterized, as indeed the history of
His Faith from its inception to the present day demonstrates, by a number
of crises which at times threatened to arrest its unfoldment and blast all
the hopes which its progress had engendered.
One such crisis which, as it deepened, threatened to jeopardize His
newborn Faith and to subvert its earliest foundations, overshadowed the
first years of His sojourn in 'Iraq, the initial stage in His life-long
exile, and imparted to them a special significance. Unlike those which
preceded it, this crisis was purely internal in character, and was
occasioned solely by the acts, the ambitions and follies of those who were
numbered among His recognized fellow-disciples.
The external enemies of the Faith, whether civil or ecclesiastical, who
had thus far been chiefly responsible for the reverses and humiliations it
had suffered, were by now relatively quiescent. The public appetite for
revenge, which had seemed insatiable, had now, to some extent, in
consequence of the torrents of blood that had flowed, abated. A feeling,
bordering on exhaustion and despair, had, moreover, settled on some of its
most inveterate enemies, who were astute enough to perceive that though
the Faith had bent beneath the grievous blows their hands had dealt it,
its structure had remained essentially unimpaired and its spirit unbroken.
The orders issued to the governors of the provinces by the Grand Vizir had
had, furthermore, a sobering effect on the local authorities, who were now
dissuaded from venting their fury upon, and from indulging in their
sadistic cruelties against, a hated adversary.
A lull had, in consequence, momentarily ensued, which was destined to be
broken, at a later stage, by a further wave of repressive measures in
which the Sultan of Turkey and his ministers, as well as the Sunni
sacerdotal order, were to join hands with the _Sh_ah and the _Sh_i'ah
clericals of Persia and 'Iraq in an endeavor to stamp out, once and for
all, the Faith and all it stood for. While this lull persisted the initial
manifestations of the internal crisis, already mentioned, were beginning
to reveal themselves--a crisis which, though less spectacular in the public
eye, proved itself, as it moved to its climax, to be one of unprecedented
gravity, reducing the numerical strength of the infant community,
imperiling its unity, causing immense damage to its prestige, and
tarnishing for a considerable period of time its glory.
This crisis had already been brewing in the days immediately following the
execution of the Bab, was intensified during the months when the
controlling hand of Baha'u'llah was suddenly withdrawn as a result of His
confinement in the Siyah-_Ch_al of Tihran, was further aggravated by His
precipitate banishment from Persia, and began to protrude its disturbing
features during the first years of His sojourn in Ba_gh_dad. Its
devastating force gathered momentum during His two year retirement to the
mountains of Kurdistan, and though it was checked, for a time, after His
return from Sulaymaniyyih, under the overmastering influences exerted
preparatory to the Declaration of His Mission, it broke out later, with
still greater violence, and reached its climax in Adrianople, only to
receive finally its death-blow under the impact of the irresistible forces
released through the proclamation of that Mission to all mankind.
Its central figure was no less a person than the nominee of the Bab
Himself, the credulous and cowardly Mirza Yahya, to certain traits of
whose character reference has already been made in the foregoing pages.
The black-hearted scoundrel who befooled and manipulated this vain and
flaccid man with consummate skill and unyielding persistence was a certain
Siyyid Muhammad, a native of Isfahan, notorious for his inordinate
ambition, his blind obstinacy and uncontrollable jealousy. To him
Baha'u'llah had later referred in the Kitab-i-Aqdas as the one who had
"led astray" Mirza Yahya, and stigmatized him, in one of His Tablets, as
the "source of envy and the quintessence of mischief," while 'Abdu'l-Baha
had described the relationship existing between these two as that of "the
sucking child" to the "much-prized breast" of its mother. Forced to
abandon his studies in the madrisiyi-i-Sadr of Isfahan, this Siyyid had
migrated, in shame and remorse, to Karbila, had there joined the ranks of
the Bab's followers, and shown, after His martyrdom, signs of vacillation
which exposed the shallowness of his faith and the fundamental weakness of
his convictions. Baha'u'llah's first visit to Karbila and the marks of
undisguised reverence, love and admiration shown Him by some of the most
distinguished among the former disciples and companions of Siyyid Kazim,
had aroused in this calculating and unscrupulous schemer an envy, and bred
in his soul an animosity, which the forbearance and patience shown him by
Baha'u'llah had served only to inflame. His deluded helpers, willing tools
of his diabolical designs, were the not inconsiderable number of Babis
who, baffled, disillusioned and leaderless, were already predisposed to be
beguiled by him into pursuing a path diametrically opposed to the tenets
and counsels of a departed Leader.
For, with the Bab no longer in the midst of His followers; with His
nominee, either seeking a safe hiding place in the mountains of
Mazindaran, or wearing the disguise of a dervish or of an Arab wandering
from town to town; with Baha'u'llah imprisoned and subsequently banished
beyond the limits of His native country; with the flower of the Faith mown
down in a seemingly unending series of slaughters, the remnants of that
persecuted community were sunk in a distress that appalled and paralyzed
them, that stifled their spirit, confused their minds and strained to the
utmost their loyalty. Reduced to this extremity they could no longer rely
on any voice that commanded sufficient authority to still their
forebodings, resolve their problems, or prescribe to them their duties and
obligations.
Nabil, traveling at that time through the province of _Kh_urasan, the
scene of the tumultuous early victories of a rising Faith, had himself
summed up his impressions of the prevailing condition. "The fire of the
Cause of God," he testifies in his narrative, "had been well-nigh quenched
in every place. I could detect no trace of warmth anywhere." In Qazvin,
according to the same testimony, the remnant of the community had split
into four factions, bitterly opposed to one another, and a prey to the
most absurd doctrines and fancies. Baha'u'llah upon His arrival in
Ba_gh_dad, a city which had witnessed the glowing evidences of the
indefatigable zeal of Tahirih, found among His countrymen residing in that
city no more than a single Babi, while in Kazimayn inhabited chiefly by
Persians, a mere handful of His compatriots remained who still professed,
in fear and obscurity, their faith in the Bab.
The morals of the members of this dwindling community, no less than their
numbers, had sharply declined. Such was their "waywardness and folly," to
quote Baha'u'llah's own words, that upon His release from prison, His
first decision was "to arise ... and undertake, with the utmost vigor, the
task of regenerating this people."
As the character of the professed adherents of the Bab declined and as
proofs of the deepening confusion that afflicted them multiplied, the
mischief-makers, who were lying in wait, and whose sole aim was to exploit
the progressive deterioration in the situation for their own benefit, grew
ever more and more audacious. The conduct of Mirza Yahya, who claimed to
be the successor of the Bab, and who prided himself on his high sounding
titles of Mir'atu'l-Azaliyyih (Everlasting Mirror), of Subh-i-Azal
(Morning of Eternity), and of Ismu'l-Azal (Name of Eternity), and
particularly the machinations of Siyyid Muhammad, exalted by him to the
rank of the first among the "Witnesses" of the Bayan, were by now assuming
such a character that the prestige of the Faith was becoming directly
involved, and its future security seriously imperiled.
The former had, after the execution of the Bab, sustained such a violent
shock that his faith almost forsook him. Wandering for a time, in the
guise of a dervish, in the mountains of Mazindaran, he, by his behavior,
had so severely tested the loyalty of his fellow-believers in Nur, most of
whom had been converted through the indefatigable zeal of Baha'u'llah,
that they too wavered in their convictions, some of them going so far as
to throw in their lot with the enemy. He subsequently proceeded to
Ra_sh_t, and remained concealed in the province of Gilan until his
departure for Kirman_sh_ah, where in order the better to screen himself he
entered the service of a certain 'Abdu'llah-i-Qazvini, a maker of shrouds,
and became a vendor of his goods. He was still there when Baha'u'llah
passed through that city on His way to Ba_gh_dad, and expressing a desire
to live in close proximity to Baha'u'llah but in a house by himself where
he could ply some trade incognito, he succeeded in obtaining from Him a
sum of money with which he purchased several bales of cotton and then
proceeded, in the garb of an Arab, by way of Mandalij to Ba_gh_dad. He
established himself there in the street of the Charcoal Dealers, situated
in a dilapidated quarter of the city, and placing a turban upon his head,
and assuming the name of Haji 'Aliy-i-Las-Furu_sh_, embarked on his
newly-chosen occupation. Siyyid Muhammad had meanwhile settled in Karbila,
and was busily engaged, with Mirza Yahya as his lever, in kindling
dissensions and in deranging the life of the exiles and of the community
that had gathered about them.
Little wonder that from the pen of Baha'u'llah, Who was as yet unable to
divulge the Secret that stirred within His bosom, these words of warning,
of counsel and of assurance should, at a time when the shadows were
beginning to deepen around Him, have proceeded: "The days of tests are now
come. Oceans of dissension and tribulation are surging, and the Banners of
Doubt are, in every nook and corner, occupied in stirring up mischief and
in leading men to perdition. ...Suffer not the voice of some of the
soldiers of negation to cast doubt into your midst, neither allow
yourselves to become heedless of Him Who is the Truth, inasmuch as in
every Dispensation such contentions have been raised. God, however, will
establish His Faith, and manifest His light albeit the stirrers of
sedition abhor it. ...Watch ye every day for the Cause of God.... All are
held captive in His grasp. No place is there for any one to flee to. Think
not the Cause of God to be a thing lightly taken, in which any one can
gratify his whims. In various quarters a number of souls have, at the
present time, advanced this same claim. The time is approaching when ...
every one of them will have perished and been lost, nay will have come to
naught and become a thing unremembered, even as the dust itself."
To Mirza Aqa Jan, "the first to believe" in Him, designated later as
_Kh_adimu'-llah (Servant of God)--a Babi youth, aflame with devotion, who,
under the influence of a dream he had of the Bab, and as a result of the
perusal of certain writings of Baha'u'llah, had precipitately forsaken his
home in Ka_sh_an and traveled to 'Iraq, in the hope of attaining His
presence, and who from then on served Him assiduously for a period of
forty years in his triple function of amanuensis, companion and
attendant--to him Baha'u'llah, more than to any one else, was moved to
disclose, at this critical juncture, a glimpse of the as yet unrevealed
glory of His station. This same Mirza Aqa Jan, recounting to Nabil his
experiences, on that first and never to be forgotten night spent in
Karbila, in the presence of his newly-found Beloved, Who was then a guest
of Haji Mirza Hasan-i-Hakim-Ba_sh_i, had given the following testimony:
"As it was summer-time Baha'u'llah was in the habit of passing His
evenings and of sleeping on the roof of the House.... That night, when He
had gone to sleep, I, according to His directions, lay down for a brief
rest, at a distance of a few feet from Him. No sooner had I risen, and ...
started to offer my prayers, in a corner of the roof which adjoined a
wall, than I beheld His blessed Person rise and walk towards me. When He
reached me He said: 'You, too, are awake.' Whereupon He began to chant and
pace back and forth. How shall I ever describe that voice and the verses
it intoned, and His gait, as He strode before me! Methinks, with every
step He took and every word He uttered thousands of oceans of light surged
before my face, and thousands of worlds of incomparable splendor were
unveiled to my eyes, and thousands of suns blazed their light upon me! In
the moonlight that streamed upon Him, He thus continued to walk and to
chant. Every time He approached me He would pause, and, in a tone so
wondrous that no tongue can describe it, would say: 'Hear Me, My son. By
God, the True One! This Cause will assuredly be made manifest. Heed thou
not the idle talk of the people of the Bayan, who pervert the meaning of
every word.' In this manner He continued to walk and chant, and to address
me these words until the first streaks of dawn appeared.... Afterwards I
removed His bedding to His room, and, having prepared His tea for Him, was
dismissed from His presence."
The confidence instilled in Mirza Aqa Jan by this unexpected and sudden
contact with the spirit and directing genius of a new-born Revelation
stirred his soul to its depths--a soul already afire with a consuming love
born of his recognition of the ascendancy which his newly-found Master had
already achieved over His fellow-disciples in both 'Iraq and Persia. This
intense adoration that informed his whole being, and which could neither
be suppressed nor concealed, was instantly detected by both Mirza Yahya
and his fellow-conspirator Siyyid Muhammad. The circumstances leading to
the revelation of the Tablet of Kullu't-Ta'am, written during that period,
at the request of Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din-i-Naraqi, a Babi of honorable
rank and high culture, could not but aggravate a situation that had
already become serious and menacing. Impelled by a desire to receive
illumination from Mirza Yahya concerning the meaning of the Qur'anic verse
"All food was allowed to the children of Israel," Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din
had requested him to write a commentary upon it--a request which was
granted, but with reluctance and in a manner which showed such
incompetence and superficiality as to disillusion Haji Mirza Kamalu'd-Din,
and to destroy his confidence in its author. Turning to Baha'u'llah and
repeating his request, he was honored by a Tablet, in which Israel and his
children were identified with the Bab and His followers respectively--a
Tablet which by reason of the allusions it contained, the beauty of its
language and the cogency of its argument, so enraptured the soul of its
recipient that he would have, but for the restraining hand of Baha'u'llah,
proclaimed forthwith his discovery of God's hidden Secret in the person of
the One Who had revealed it.
To these evidences of an ever deepening veneration for Baha'u'llah and of
a passionate attachment to His person were now being added further grounds
for the outbreak of the pent-up jealousies which His mounting prestige
evoked in the breasts of His ill-wishers and enemies. The steady extension
of the circle of His acquaintances and admirers; His friendly intercourse
with officials including the governor of the city; the unfeigned homage
offered Him, on so many occasions and so spontaneously, by men who had
once been distinguished companions of Siyyid Kazim; the disillusionment
which the persistent concealment of Mirza Yahya, and the unflattering
reports circulated regarding his character and abilities, had engendered;
the signs of increasing independence, of innate sagacity and inherent
superiority and capacity for leadership unmistakably exhibited by
Baha'u'llah Himself--all combined to widen the breach which the infamous
and crafty Siyyid Muhammad had sedulously contrived to create.
A clandestine opposition, whose aim was to nullify every effort exerted,
and frustrate every design conceived, by Baha'u'llah for the
rehabilitation of a distracted community, could now be clearly discerned.
Insinuations, whose purpose was to sow the seeds of doubt and suspicion
and to represent Him as a usurper, as the subverter of the laws instituted
by the Bab, and the wrecker of His Cause, were being incessantly
circulated. His Epistles, interpretations, invocations and commentaries
were being covertly and indirectly criticized, challenged and
misrepresented. An attempt to injure His person was even set afoot but
failed to materialize.
The cup of Baha'u'llah's sorrows was now running over. All His
exhortations, all His efforts to remedy a rapidly deteriorating situation,
had remained fruitless. The velocity of His manifold woes was hourly and
visibly increasing. Upon the sadness that filled His soul and the gravity
of the situation confronting Him, His writings, revealed during that
somber period, throw abundant light. In some of His prayers He poignantly
confesses that "tribulation upon tribulation" had gathered about Him, that
"adversaries with one consent" had fallen upon Him, that "wretchedness"
had grievously touched Him, and that "woes at their blackest" had befallen
Him. God Himself He calls upon as a Witness to His "sighs and
lamentations," His "powerlessness, poverty and destitution," to the
"injuries" He sustained, and the "abasement" He suffered. "So grievous
hath been My weeping," He, in one of these prayers, avows, "that I have
been prevented from making mention of Thee and singing Thy praises." "So
loud hath been the voice of My lamentation," He, in another passage,
avers, "that every mother mourning for her child would be amazed, and
would still her weeping and her grief." "The wrongs which I suffer," He,
in His Lawh-i-Maryam, laments, "have blotted out the wrongs suffered by My
First Name (the Bab) from the Tablet of creation." "O Maryam!" He
continues, "From the Land of Ta (Tihran), after countless afflictions, We
reached 'Iraq, at the bidding of the Tyrant of Persia, where, after the
fetters of Our foes, We were afflicted with the perfidy of Our friends.
God knoweth what befell Me thereafter!" And again: "I have borne what no
man, be he of the past or of the future, hath borne or will bear." "Oceans
of sadness," He testifies in the Tablet of Qullu't-Ta'am, "have surged
over Me, a drop of which no soul could bear to drink. Such is My grief
that My soul hath well nigh departed from My body." "Give ear, O Kamal!"
He, in that same Tablet, depicting His plight, exclaims, "to the voice of
this lowly, this forsaken ant, that hath hid itself in its hole, and whose
desire is to depart from your midst, and vanish from your sight, by reason
of that which the hands of men have wrought. God, verily, hath been
witness between Me and His servants." And again: "Woe is Me, woe is Me!...
All that I have seen from the day on which I first drank the pure milk
from the breast of My mother until this moment hath been effaced from My
memory, in consequence of that which the hands of the people have
committed." Furthermore, in His Qasidiy-i-Varqa'iyyih, an ode revealed
during the days of His retirement to the mountains of Kurdistan, in praise
of the Maiden personifying the Spirit of God recently descended upon Him,
He thus gives vent to the agonies of His sorrow-laden heart: "Noah's flood
is but the measure of the tears I have shed, and Abraham's fire an
ebullition of My soul. Jacob's grief is but a reflection of My sorrows,
and Job's afflictions a fraction of my calamity." "Pour out patience upon
Me, O My Lord!"--such is His supplication in one of His prayers, "and
render Me victorious over the transgressors." "In these days," He,
describing in the Kitab-i-Iqan the virulence of the jealousy which, at
that time, was beginning to bare its venomous fangs, has written, "such
odors of jealousy are diffused, that ... from the beginning of the
foundation of the world ... until the present day, such malice, envy and
hate have in no wise appeared, nor will they ever be witnessed in the
future." "For two years or rather less," He, likewise, in another Tablet,
declares, "I shunned all else but God, and closed Mine eyes to all except
Him, that haply the fire of hatred may die down and the heat of jealousy
abate."
Mirza Aqa Jan himself has testified: "That Blessed Beauty evinced such
sadness that the limbs of my body trembled." He has, likewise, related, as
reported by Nabil in his narrative, that, shortly before Baha'u'llah's
retirement, he had on one occasion seen Him, between dawn and sunrise,
suddenly come out from His house, His night-cap still on His head, showing
such signs of perturbation that he was powerless to gaze into His face,
and while walking, angrily remark: "These creatures are the same creatures
who for three thousand years have worshipped idols, and bowed down before
the Golden Calf. Now, too, they are fit for nothing better. What relation
can there be between this people and Him Who is the Countenance of Glory?
What ties can bind them to the One Who is the supreme embodiment of all
that is lovable?" "I stood," declared Mirza Aqa Jan, "rooted to the spot,
lifeless, dried up as a dead tree, ready to fall under the impact of the
stunning power of His words. Finally, He said: 'Bid them recite: "Is there
any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All
are His servants, and all abide by His bidding!" Tell them to repeat it
five hundred times, nay, a thousand times, by day and by night, sleeping
and waking, that haply the Countenance of Glory may be unveiled to their
eyes, and tiers of light descend upon them.' He Himself, I was
subsequently informed, recited this same verse, His face betraying the
utmost sadness. ...Several times during those days, He was heard to
remark: 'We have, for a while, tarried amongst this people, and failed to
discern the slightest response on their part.' Oftentimes He alluded to
His disappearance from our midst, yet none of us understood His meaning."
Finally, discerning, as He Himself testifies in the Kitab-i-Iqan, "the
signs of impending events," He decided that before they happened He would
retire. "The one object of Our retirement," He, in that same Book affirms,
"was to avoid becoming a subject of discord among the faithful, a source
of disturbance unto Our companions, the means of injury to any soul, or
the cause of sorrow to any heart." "Our withdrawal," He, moreover, in that
same passage emphatically asserts, "contemplated no return, and Our
separation hoped for no reunion."
Suddenly, and without informing any one even among the members of His own
family, on the 12th of Rajab 1270 A.H. (April 10, 1854), He departed,
accompanied by an attendant, a Muhammadan named Abu'l-Qasim-i-Hamadani, to
whom He gave a sum of money, instructing him to act as a merchant and use
it for his own purposes. Shortly after, that servant was attacked by
thieves and killed, and Baha'u'llah was left entirely alone in His
wanderings through the wastes of Kurdistan, a region whose sturdy and
warlike people were known for their age-long hostility to the Persians,
whom they regarded as seceders from the Faith of Islam, and from whom they
differed in their outlook, race and language.
Attired in the garb of a traveler, coarsely clad, taking with Him nothing
but his ka_sh_kul (alms-bowl) and a change of clothes, and assuming the
name of Darvi_sh_ Muhammad, Baha'u'llah retired to the wilderness, and
lived for a time on a mountain named Sar-Galu, so far removed from human
habitations that only twice a year, at seed sowing and harvest time, it
was visited by the peasants of that region. Alone and undisturbed, He
passed a considerable part of His retirement on the top of that mountain
in a rude structure, made of stone, which served those peasants as a
shelter against the extremities of the weather. At times His
dwelling-place was a cave to which He refers in His Tablets addressed to
the famous _Sh_ay_kh_ 'Abdu'r-Rahman and to Maryam, a kinswoman of His. "I
roamed the wilderness of resignation" He thus depicts, in the
Lawh-i-Maryam, the rigors of His austere solitude, "traveling in such wise
that in My exile every eye wept sore over Me, and all created things shed
tears of blood because of My anguish. The birds of the air were My
companions and the beasts of the field My associates." "From My eyes," He,
referring in the Kitab-i-Iqan to those days, testifies, "there rained
tears of anguish, and in My bleeding heart surged an ocean of agonizing
pain. Many a night I had no food for sustenance, and many a day My body
found no rest.... Alone I communed with My spirit, oblivious of the world
and all that is therein."
In the odes He revealed, whilst wrapped in His devotions during those days
of utter seclusion, and in the prayers and soliloquies which, in verse and
prose, both in Arabic and Persian, poured from His sorrow-laden soul, many
of which He was wont to chant aloud to Himself, at dawn and during the
watches of the night, He lauded the names and attributes of His Creator,
extolled the glories and mysteries of His own Revelation, sang the praises
of that Maiden that personified the Spirit of God within Him, dwelt on His
loneliness and His past and future tribulations, expatiated upon the
blindness of His generation, the perfidy of His friends and the perversity
of His enemies, affirmed His determination to arise and, if needs be,
offer up His life for the vindication of His Cause, stressed those
essential pre-requisites which every seeker after Truth must possess, and
recalled, in anticipation of the lot that was to be His, the tragedy of
the Imam Husayn in Karbila, the plight of Muhammad in Mecca, the
sufferings of Jesus at the hands of the Jews, the trials of Moses
inflicted by Pharaoh and his people and the ordeal of Joseph as He
languished in a pit by reason of the treachery of His brothers. These
initial and impassioned outpourings of a Soul struggling to unburden
itself, in the solitude of a self-imposed exile (many of them, alas lost
to posterity) are, with the Tablet of Kullu't-Ta'am and the poem entitled
Ra_sh_h-i-'Ama, revealed in Tihran, the first fruits of His Divine Pen.
They are the forerunners of those immortal works--the Kitab-i-Iqan, the
Hidden Words and the Seven Valleys--which in the years preceding His
Declaration in Ba_gh_dad, were to enrich so vastly the steadily swelling
volume of His writings, and which paved the way for a further flowering of
His prophetic genius in His epoch-making Proclamation to the world,
couched in the form of mighty Epistles to the kings and rulers of mankind,
and finally for the last fruition of His Mission in the Laws and
Ordinances of His Dispensation formulated during His confinement in the
Most Great Prison of Akka.
Baha'u'llah was still pursuing His solitary existence on that mountain
when a certain _Sh_ay_kh_, a resident of Sulaymaniyyih, who owned a
property in that neighborhood, sought Him out, as directed in a dream he
had of the Prophet Muhammad. Shortly after this contact was established,
_Sh_ay_kh_ Isma'il, the leader of the _Kh_alidiyyih Order, who lived in
Sulaymaniyyih, visited Him, and succeeded, after repeated requests, in
obtaining His consent to transfer His residence to that town. Meantime His
friends in Ba_gh_dad had discovered His whereabouts, and had dispatched
_Sh_ay_kh_ Sultan, the father-in-law of Aqay-i-Kalim, to beg Him to
return; and it was now while He was living in Sulaymaniyyih, in a room
belonging to the Takyiy-i-Mawlana _Kh_alid (theological seminary) that
their messenger arrived. "I found," this same _Sh_ay_kh_ Sultan,
recounting his experiences to Nabil, has stated, "all those who lived with
Him in that place, from their Master down to the humblest neophyte, so
enamoured of, and carried away by their love for Baha'u'llah, and so
unprepared to contemplate the possibility of His departure that I felt
certain that were I to inform them of the purpose of my visit, they would
not have hesitated to put an end to my life."
Not long after Baha'u'llah's arrival in Kurdistan, _Sh_ay_kh_ Sultan has
related, He was able, through His personal contacts with _Sh_ay_kh_
U_th_man, _Sh_ay_kh_ 'Abdu'r-Rahman, and _Sh_ay_kh_ Isma'il, the honored
and undisputed leaders of the Naq_sh_bandiyyih, the Qadiriyyih and the
_Kh_alidiyyih Orders respectively, to win their hearts completely and
establish His ascendancy over them. The first of these, _Sh_ay_kh_
U_th_man, included no less a person than the Sultan himself and his
entourage among his adherents. The second, in reply to whose query the
"Four Valleys" was later revealed, commanded the unwavering allegiance of
at least a hundred thousand devout followers, while the third was held in
such veneration by his supporters that they regarded him as co-equal with
_Kh_alid himself, the founder of the Order.
When Baha'u'llah arrived in Sulaymaniyyih none at first, owing to the
strict silence and reserve He maintained, suspected Him of being possessed
of any learning or wisdom. It was only accidentally, through seeing a
specimen of His exquisite penmanship shown to them by one of the students
who waited upon Him, that the curiosity of the learned instructors and
students of that seminary was aroused, and they were impelled to approach
Him and test the degree of His knowledge and the extent of His familiarity
with the arts and sciences current amongst them. That seat of learning had
been renowned for its vast endowments, its numerous takyihs, and its
association with Salahi'd-Din-i-Ayyubi and his descendants; from it some
of the most illustrious exponents of Sunni Islam had gone forth to teach
its precepts, and now a delegation, headed by _Sh_ay_kh_ Isma'il himself,
and consisting of its most eminent doctors and most distinguished
students, called upon Baha'u'llah, and, finding Him willing to reply to
any questions they might wish to address Him, they requested Him to
elucidate for them, in the course of several interviews, the abstruse
passages contained in the Futuhat-i-Makkiyyih, the celebrated work of the
famous _Sh_ay_kh_ Muhyi'd-Din-i-'Arabi. "God is My witness," was
Baha'u'llah's instant reply to the learned delegation, "that I have never
seen the book you refer to. I regard, however, through the power of God,
... whatever you wish me to do as easy of accomplishment." Directing one
of them to read aloud to Him, every day, a page of that book, He was able
to resolve their perplexities in so amazing a fashion that they were lost
in admiration. Not contenting Himself with a mere clarification of the
obscure passages of the text, He would interpret for them the mind of its
author, and expound his doctrine, and unfold his purpose. At times He
would even go so far as to question the soundness of certain views
propounded in that book, and would Himself vouchsafe a correct
presentation of the issues that had been misunderstood, and would support
it with proofs and evidences that were wholly convincing to His listeners.
Amazed by the profundity of His insight and the compass of His
understanding, they were impelled to seek from Him what they considered to
be a conclusive and final evidence of the unique power and knowledge which
He now appeared in their eyes to possess. "No one among the mystics, the
wise, and the learned," they claimed, while requesting this further favor
from Him, "has hitherto proved himself capable of writing a poem in a
rhyme and meter identical with that of the longer of the two odes,
entitled Qasidiy-i-Ta'iyyih composed by Ibn-i-Farid. We beg you to write
for us a poem in that same meter and rhyme." This request was complied
with, and no less than two thousand verses, in exactly the manner they had
specified, were dictated by Him, out of which He selected one hundred and
twenty-seven, which He permitted them to keep, deeming the subject matter
of the rest premature and unsuitable to the needs of the times. It is
these same one hundred and twenty-seven verses that constitute the
Qasidiy-i-Varqa'iyyih, so familiar to, and widely circulated amongst, His
Arabic speaking followers.
Such was their reaction to this marvelous demonstration of the sagacity
and genius of Baha'u'llah that they unanimously acknowledged every single
verse of that poem to be endowed with a force, beauty and power far
surpassing anything contained in either the major or minor odes composed
by that celebrated poet.
This episode, by far the most outstanding among the events that transpired
during the two years of Baha'u'llah's absence from Ba_gh_dad, immensely
stimulated the interest with which an increasing number of the 'ulamas,
the scholars, the _sh_ay_kh_s, the doctors, the holy men and princes who
had congregated in the seminaries of Sulaymaniyyih and Karkuk, were now
following His daily activities. Through His numerous discourses and
epistles He disclosed new vistas to their eyes, resolved the perplexities
that agitated their minds, unfolded the inner meaning of many hitherto
obscure passages in the writings of various commentators, poets and
theologians, of which they had remained unaware, and reconciled the
seemingly contradictory assertions which abounded in these dissertations,
poems and treatises. Such was the esteem and respect entertained for Him
that some held Him as One of the "Men of the Unseen," others accounted Him
an adept in alchemy and the science of divination, still others designated
Him "a pivot of the universe," whilst a not inconsiderable number among
His admirers went so far as to believe that His station was no less than
that of a prophet. Kurds, Arabs, and Persians, learned and illiterate,
both high and low, young and old, who had come to know Him, regarded Him
with equal reverence, and not a few among them with genuine and profound
affection, and this despite certain assertions and allusions to His
station He had made in public, which, had they fallen from the lips of any
other member of His race, would have provoked such fury as to endanger His
life. Small wonder that Baha'u'llah Himself should have, in the
Lawh-i-Maryam, pronounced the period of His retirement as "the mightiest
testimony" to, and "the most perfect and conclusive evidence" of, the
truth of His Revelation. "In a short time," is 'Abdu'l-Baha's own
testimony, "Kurdistan was magnetized with His love. During this period
Baha'u'llah lived in poverty. His garments were those of the poor and
needy. His food was that of the indigent and lowly. An atmosphere of
majesty haloed Him as the sun at midday. Everywhere He was greatly revered
and loved."
While the foundations of Baha'u'llah's future greatness were being laid in
a strange land and amidst a strange people, the situation of the Babi
community was rapidly going from bad to worse. Pleased and emboldened by
His unexpected and prolonged withdrawal from the scene of His labors, the
stirrers of mischief with their deluded associates were busily engaged in
extending the range of their nefarious activities. Mirza Yahya, closeted
most of the time in his house, was secretly directing, through his
correspondence with those Babis whom he completely trusted, a campaign
designed to utterly discredit Baha'u'llah. In his fear of any potential
adversary he had dispatched Mirza Muhammad-i-Mazindarani, one of his
supporters, to A_dh_irbayjan for the express purpose of murdering Dayyan,
the "repository of the knowledge of God," whom he surnamed "Father of
Iniquities" and stigmatized as "Ta_gh_ut," and whom the Bab had extolled
as the "Third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest." In
his folly he had, furthermore, induced Mirza Aqa Jan to proceed to Nur,
and there await a propitious moment when he could make a successful
attempt on the life of the sovereign. His shamelessness and effrontery had
waxed so great as to lead him to perpetrate himself, and permit Siyyid
Muhammad to repeat after him, an act so odious that Baha'u'llah
characterized it as "a most grievous betrayal," inflicting dishonor upon
the Bab, 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 Bab, Mirza 'Ali-Akbar, a fervent admirer of Dayyan, be secretly put to
death--a command which was carried out in all its iniquity. As to Siyyid
Muhammad, now given free rein by his master, Mirza Yahya, he had
surrounded himself, as Nabil who was at that time with him in Karbila
categorically asserts, with a band of ruffians, whom he allowed, and even
encouraged, to snatch at night the turbans from the heads of wealthy
pilgrims who had congregated in Karbila, to steal their shoes, to rob the
shrine of the Imam Husayn of its divans and candles, and seize the
drinking cups from the public fountains. The depths of degradation to
which these so-called adherents of the Faith of the Bab had sunk could not
but evoke in Nabil the memory of the sublime renunciation shown by the
conduct of the companions of Mulla Husayn, who, at the suggestion of their
leader, had scornfully cast by the wayside the gold, the silver and
turquoise in their possession, or shown by the behavior of Vahid who
refused to allow even the least valuable amongst the treasures which his
sumptuously furnished house in Yazd contained to be removed ere it was
pillaged by the mob, or shown by the decision of Hujjat not to permit his
companions, who were on the brink of starvation, to lay hands on the
property of others, even though it were to save their own lives.
Such was the audacity and effrontery of these demoralized and misguided
Babis that no less than twenty-five persons, according to 'Abdu'l-Baha's
testimony, had the presumption to declare themselves to be the Promised
One foretold by the Bab! Such was the decline in their fortunes that they
hardly dared show themselves in public. Kurds and Persians vied with each
other, when confronting them in the streets, in heaping abuse upon them,
and in vilifying openly the Cause which they professed. Little wonder that
on His return to Ba_gh_dad Baha'u'llah should have described the situation
then existing in these words: "We found no more than a handful of souls,
faint and dispirited, nay utterly lost and dead. The Cause of God had
ceased to be on any one's lips, nor was any heart receptive to its
message." Such was the sadness that overwhelmed Him on His arrival that He
refused for some time to leave His house, except for His visits to
Kazimayn and for His occasional meeting with a few of His friends who
resided in that town and in Ba_gh_dad.
The tragic situation that had developed in the course of His two years'
absence now imperatively demanded His return. "From the Mystic Source," He
Himself explains in the Kitab-i-Iqan, "there came the summons bidding Us
return whence We came. Surrendering Our will to His, We submitted to His
injunction." "By God besides Whom there is none other God!" is His
emphatic assertion to _Sh_ay_kh_ Sultan, as reported by Nabil in his
narrative, "But for My recognition of the fact that the blessed Cause of
the Primal Point was on the verge of being completely obliterated, and all
the sacred blood poured out in the path of God would have been shed in
vain, I would in no wise have consented to return to the people of the
Bayan, and would have abandoned them to the worship of the idols their
imaginations had fashioned."
Mirza Yahya, realizing full well to what a pass his unrestrained
leadership of the Faith had brought him, had, moreover, insistently and in
writing, besought Him to return. No less urgent were the pleadings of His
own kindred and friends, particularly His twelve-year old Son,
'Abdu'l-Baha, Whose grief and loneliness had so consumed His soul that, in
a conversation recorded by Nabil in his narrative, He had avowed that
subsequent to the departure of Baha'u'llah He had in His boyhood grown
old.
Deciding to terminate the period of His retirement Baha'u'llah bade
farewell to the _sh_ay_kh_s of Sulaymaniyyih, who now numbered among His
most ardent and, as their future conduct demonstrated, staunchest
admirers. Accompanied by _Sh_ay_kh_ Sultan, He retraced His steps to
Ba_gh_dad, on "the banks of the River of Tribulations," as He Himself
termed it, proceeding by slow stages, realizing, as He declared to His
fellow-traveler, that these last days of His retirement would be "the only
days of peace and tranquillity" left to Him, "days which will never again
fall to My lot."
On the 12th of Rajab 1272 A.H. (March 19, 1856) He arrived in Ba_gh_dad,
exactly two lunar years after His departure for Kurdistan.