CHAPTER XXV BAHÁ'U'LLÁH'S JOURNEY TO KARBILA |
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1 | Upon the termination of the description of the struggle of Zanján, I was ushered into His presence, and received, together with a number of other believers, the blessings which on two occasions He deigned to confer upon us. Both visits took place during the four days which Bahá'u'lláh chose to tarry in the home of Aqáy-i-Kalím. On the second and fourth nights after His arrival at His brother's house, which fell on the seventh day of the month of Jamádiyu'l-Avval, in the year 1306 A.H., [1] I, together with a number of pilgrims from Sarvistan and Faran, as well as a few resident believers, was admitted into His presence. The words He spoke to us lie for ever engraved upon my heart, and I feel it my duty to my readers to share with them the gist of His talk. |
2 |
"Praise be to God," He said, "that whatever is essential
for the believers in this Revelation to be told has been revealed.
Their duties have been clearly defined, and the deeds
they are expected to perform have been plainly set forth in
Our Book. Now is the time for them to arise and fulfil
their duty. Let them translate into deeds the exhortations
We have given them. Let them beware lest the love they
bear God, a love that glows so brightly in their hearts, cause
them to transgress the bounds of moderation, and to overstep
the limits We have set for them. In regard to this matter,
We wrote thus, while in `Iráq, to |
3 | "God knows that at no time did We attempt to conceal Ourself or hide the Cause which We have been bidden to proclaim. Though not wearing the garb of the people of learning, We have again and again faced and reasoned with men of great scholarship in both Núr and Mazindarán, and have succeeded in persuading them of the truth of this Revelation. We never flinched in Our determination; We never hesitated to accept the challenge from whatever direction it came. To whomsoever We spoke in those days, We found him receptive to our Call and ready to identify himself with its precepts. But for the shameful behaviour of the people of Bayán, who sullied by their deeds the work We had accomplished, Núr and Mazindarán would have been entirely won to this Cause and would have been accounted by this time among its leading strongholds. |
4 | At a time when the forces of Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá had besieged the fort of Tabarsí, We resolved to depart from Núr and lend Our assistance to its heroic defenders. We had intended to send Abdu'l-Vahhab, one of Our companions, in advance of Us, and to request him to announce Our approach to the besieged. Though encompassed by the forces of the enemy, We had decided to throw in Our lot with those steadfast companions, and to risk the dangers with which they were confronted. This, however, was not to be. The hand of Omnipotence spared Us from their fate and preserved Us for the work We were destined to accomplish. In pursuance of God's inscrutable wisdom, the intention We had formed was, before Our arrival at the fort, communicated by certain inhabitants of Núr to Mírzá Taqí, the governor of Ámul, who sent his men to intercept Us. While We were resting and taking Our tea, We found Ourselves suddenly surrounded by a number of horsemen, who seized Our belongings and captured Our steeds. We were given, in exchange for Our own horse, a poorly saddled animal which We found it extremely uncomfortable to ride. The rest of Our companions were conducted, handcuffed, to Ámul. Mírzá Taqí succeeded, in spite of the tumult Our arrival had raised, and in the face of the opposition of the `ulamás, in releasing Us from their grasp and in conducting Us to his own house. He extended to Us the warmest hospitality. Occasionally he yielded to the pressure which the `ulamás were continuously bringing to bear upon him, and felt himself powerless to defeat their attempts to harm Us. We were still in his house when the Sardár, who had joined the army in Mazindarán, returned to Ámul. No sooner was he informed of the indignities We had suffered than he rebuked Mírzá Taqí for the weakness he had shown in protecting Us from Our enemies. `Of what importance,' he indignantly demanded, `are the denunciations of this ignorant people? Why is it that you have allowed yourself to be swayed by their clamour? You should have been satisfied with preventing the party from reaching their destination and, instead of detaining them in this house, you should have arranged for their safe and immediate return to Tihrán.' |
5 | "Whilst in Sarí, We were again exposed to the insults of the people. Though the notables of that town were, for the most part, Our friends and had on several occasions met Us in Tihrán, no sooner had the townspeople recognised Us, as We walked with Quddús in the streets, than they began to hurl their invectives at Us. The cry `Babi! Bábí!' greeted Us wherever We went. We were unable to escape their bitter denunciations. |
6 | "In Tihrán We were twice imprisoned as a result of Our having risen to defend the cause of the innocent against a ruthless oppressor. The first confinement to which We were subjected followed the slaying of Mullá Taqiy-i-Qazvini, and was occasioned by the assistance We were moved to extend to those upon whom a severe punishment had been undeservedly inflicted. Our second imprisonment, infinitely more severe, was precipitated by the attempt which irresponsible followers of the Faith made on the life of the Sháh. That event led to Our banishment to Baghdád. Soon after Our arrival, We betook Ourself to the mountains of Kurdistán, where We led for a time a life of complete solitude. We sought shelter upon the summit of a remote mountain which lay at some three days' distance from the nearest human habitation. The comforts of life were completely lacking. We remained entirely isolated from Our fellow men until a certain Shaykh Ismá'íl discovered Our abode and brought Us the food We needed. |
7 | `Upon Our return to Baghdád, We found, to Our great astonishment, that the Cause of the Báb had been sorely neglected, that its influence had waned, that its very name had almost sunk into oblivion. We arose to revive His Cause and to save it from decay and corruption. At the time when ear and perplexity had taken fast hold of Our companions, We reasserted, with fearlessness and determination, its essential verities, and summoned all those who had become lukewarm to espouse with enthusiasm the Faith they had so grievously neglected. We sent forth Our appeal to the peoples of the world, and invited them to fix their gaze upon the light of His Revelation. |
8 |
"After Our departure from Adrianople, a discussion arose
among the government officials in Constantinople as to
whether We and Our companions should not be thrown into
the sea. The report of such a discussion reached Persia, and
gave rise to a rumour that We had actually suffered that fate.
In Khurásán particularly, Our friends were greatly perturbed.
Mírzá |
9 | "From Our Most Great Prison We were moved to address to the several rulers and crowned heads of the world Epistles in which We summoned them to arise and embrace the Cause of God. To the Sháh of Persia We sent Our messenger Badí, into whose hands We entrusted the Tablet. It was he who raised it aloft before the eyes of the multitude and, with uplifted voice, appealed to his sovereign to heed the words that Tablet contained. The rest of the Epistles likewise reached their destination. To the Tablet We addressed to the Emperor of France, an answer was received from his minister, the original of which is now in the possession of the Most Great Branch. [2] To him We addressed these words: `Bid the high priest, O Monarch of France, to cease ringing his bells, for, lo! the Most Great Bell, which the hands of the will of the Lord thy God are ringing, is made manifest in the person of His chosen One.' The Epistle We addressed to the Czar of Russia, alone failed to reach it destination. Other Tablets, however, have reached him, and that Epistle will eventually be delivered into his hands. |
10 | "Be thankful to God for having enabled you to recognise His Cause. Whoever has received this blessing must, prior to his acceptance, have performed some deed which, though he himself was unaware of its character, was ordained by God as a means whereby he has been guided to find and embrace the Truth. As to those who have remained deprived of such a blessing, their acts alone have hindered them from recognising the truth of this Revelation. We cherish the hope that you, who have attained to this light, will exert your utmost to banish the darkness of superstition and unbelief from the midst of the people. May your deeds proclaim your faith and enable you to lead the erring into the paths of eternal salvation. The memory of this night will never be forgotten. May it never be effaced by the passage of time, and may its mention linger for ever on the lips of men." |
11 |
The seventh Naw-Rúz after the Declaration of the Báb
fell on the sixteenth day of the month of Jamádiyu'l-Avval
in the year 1267 A.H.,
[3]
a month and a half after the termination
of the struggle of Zanján. That same year, towards the end
of spring, in the early days of the month of Sha'bán,
[4]
Bahá'u'lláh
left the capital for Kárbilá. I was, at that time, dwelling
in Kirmansháh, in the company of Mírzá |
12 |
A few days after my arrival, Mírzá |
13 |
On my return, I received from Mírzá |
14 | It would be appropriate at this juncture to deviate from the course of our narrative and refer briefly to the circumstances of this martyr's conversion and death. Among the disciples whom the Báb had instructed, in the early days of His Mission, to disperse and teach His Cause, was a certain Shaykh Sa'id-i-Hindi, one of the Letters of the Living, who had been directed by his Master to journey throughout India and proclaim to its people the precepts of His Revelation. Shaykh Sa'íd, in the course of his travels, visited the town of Mooltan, where he met this Siyyid Basir,+Fl who, though blind, was able to perceive immediately, with his inner eye, the significance of the message Shaykh Sa'íd had brought him. The vast learning he had acquired, far from hindering him from appreciating the value of the Cause to which he was summoned, enabled him to grasp its meaning and understand the greatness of its power. Casting behind him the trappings of leadership, and severing himself from his friends and kinsmen, he arose with a fixed resolve to render his share of service to the Cause he had embraced. His first act was to undertake a pilgrimage to Shíráz, in the hope of meeting his Beloved. Arriving in that city, he was informed, to his surprise and grief, that the Báb had been banished to the mountains of Ádhirbayján, where He was leading a life of unrelieved solitude. He straightway proceeded to Tihrán, and from thence departed for Núr, where he met Bahá'u'lláh. This meeting relieved his heart from the burden of sorrow caused by his failure to meet his Master. To those he subsequently met, of whatever class or creed, he imparted the joys and blessings he had so abundantly received from the hands of Bahá'u'lláh, and was able to endow them with a measure of the power with which his intercourse with Him had invested his innermost being. |
15 | I have heard Shaykh Shahid-i-Mazkan relate the following: "I was privileged to meet Siyyid Basir at the height of summer during his passage through Qamsar, whither the leading men of Káshán go to escape the heat of that town. Day and night, I found him engaged in arguing with the leading `ulamás who had congregated in that village. With ability and insight, he discussed with them the subtleties of their Faith, expounded without fear or reservation the fundamental teachings of the Cause, and absolutely confuted their arguments. No one, however great his learning and experience, was able to reject the evidences he set forth in support of his claims. Such were his insight and his knowledge of the teachings and ordinances of Islám that his adversaries conceived him to be a sorcerer, whose baneful influence they feared would ere long rob them of their position." |
16 |
I have similarly heard Mullá Ibráhím, surnamed Mullá-Báshí,
who was martyred in |
17 |
From |
18 |
Bahá'u'lláh spent the entire month of Ramadán in Kirmansháh.
Shukru'llah-i-Nuri, one of His kinsmen, and
Mírzá |
19 |
Ere Bahá'u'lláh's departure from Kirmansháh, He summoned
Mírzá |
20 |
Mírzá |
21 |
The month of Shavval, in the year 1267 A.H.,
[7]
witnessed
the arrival of Bahá'u'lláh at Kárbilá. On His way to that
holy city, He tarried a few days in Baghdád, that place which
He was soon to visit again and where His Cause was destined
to mature and unfold itself to the world. When He arrived
at Kárbilá, He found that a number of its leading residents,
among whom were Shaykh |
22 |
It was during that visit to Kárbilá that Bahá'u'lláh encountered,
as He was walking through the streets, Shaykh
Hasan-i-Zunúzí, to whom He confided the secret He was
destined to reveal at a later time in Baghdád. He found him
eagerly searching after the promised |
23 |
Among those who were made to feel that power was
Mírzá Muhammad-'Aliy-i-Tabib-i-Zanjani, in whose heart
was implanted a seed that was destined to grow and blossom
into a faith of such tenacity that the fires of persecution were
powerless to quench it. To his devotion, his high-mindedness
and singleness of purpose Bahá'u'lláh Himself testified. That
faith carried him eventually to the field of martyrdom.
The same fate was shared by Mírzá Abdu'l-Vahhab-i-Shirazi,
son of |
24 | Shaykh Ali-Mirzay-i-Shirazi was likewise attracted to, and remained to his last breath a staunch supporter of, the Cause to which he had been called and which he served with a selflessness and devotion beyond all praise. To friend and stranger alike he recounted his experiences of the marvellous influence the presence of Bahá'u'lláh had had upon him, and enthusiastically described the signs and wonders he had witnessed during and after the days of his conversion. |
3. [1851 A.D.]
5. [One of the Báb's best-known works. . "From his childhood, Siyyid Basir showed signs of the wonderful faculties which he afterwards manifested. For seven years he enjoyed the blessings of sight, but then, even as the vision of his soul became clear, a veil of darkness fell on his outward eyes. From his infancy, he had displayed his good disposition and amiable character both in word and deed, he now added to this a singular piety and soberness of life. At length, at the age of twenty-one, he set out with great pomp and state (for he had much wealth in India) to perform the pilgrimage; and, on reaching Persia, began to associate with every sect and party (for he was well acquainted with the doctrines and tenets of all), and to give away large religious discipline. And since his ancestors had foretold that in those days a Perfect Man should appear in Persia, was continually engaged in making enquiries. He visited Mecca and, after performing the rites of the pilgrimage, proceeded to the holy shrines of Kárbilá and Najaf, where he met the late
6. [Compilations of
7. [July 30-August 28, 1851 A.D.]