33 Yazid (son of Mu'aviyyih), Ummayad Caliph by whose order the Imam
Husayn was martyred. Proverbial for cruelty. Cf. S. Haim, New
Persian-English Dictionary, s.v.
34 The rebellion of Mirza Yahya, who had been named provisional chief
of the Babi community. The Bab had never appointed a successor or
viceregent, instead referring His disciples to the imminent advent
of His Promised One. In the interim a virtual unknown was, for
security reasons, made the ostensible leader. Following His
declaration in 1863 as the Promised One of the Bab, Baha'u'llah
withdrew for a time, in Adrianople, to allow the exiles a free
choice as between Him and this unworthy half brother, whose crimes
and follies had threatened to destroy the infant Faith. Terrified at
being challenged to face Baha'u'llah in a public debate, Mirza Yahya
refused, and was completely discredited. As Baha'i history has
repeatedly demonstrated, this crisis too, however grievous, resulted
in still greater victories for the Faith--including the rallying of
prominent disciples to Baha'u'llah, and the global proclamation of
Baha'u'llah's mission, in His Tablets to the Pope and Kings. Cf. God
Passes By, p. 28, Chapter X and passim.
35 Mirza Yahya had not been banished from Persia. Now, however, he was
being exiled from Adrianople to Cyprus, and 'Abdu'l-_Gh_affar was
one of the four companions condemned to go with him. Cf.
Baha'u'llah's Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 166, and God Passes
By, p. 182.