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.

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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.

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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.

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"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.'

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