In His almost off-hand brushing aside of a cruelty, in the ineffable sweetness

In His almost off-hand brushing aside of a cruelty, in the ineffable sweetness with which He ignored it, it was as though He said: Forgiveness belongs only to God. 'An example of this was His memorable meeting with the royal prince, Zillah Sultan, brother of the Shah of Persia, Muhammad 'Ali Shah. Not only ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but a great number of His followers, band after band of Bahá’í martyrs, had suffered worse than death at the hands of these two princes . . . One day Zillah Sultan came to him. In describing the scene later, the European said: "If you could have heard the wretch mumbling his miserable excuses!" But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá took the prince in His arms. "All that is of the past," He answered. "Never think of it again. Send your two sons to see me. I want to meet your sons." 'They came, one at a time. Each spent a day with the Master. The first, though an immature boy, nevertheless showed Him great deference. The second, older and more sensitive, left the room of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, where he had been received alone, weeping uncontrollably. "If only I could be born again," he said, "into any other family than mine." 'For not only had many Bahá’ís been martyred during his uncle's reign (upwards of a hundred by his father's instigation), and the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá threatened again and again, but his grandfather, Nasiri'd-Din Shah, had ordered the execution of the Báb, as well as the torture and death of thousands of Bábís. 'The young prince was "born again" -- a Bahá’í.'

Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 51

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: forgiveness-gods).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/forgiveness-gods