Baghdád's Farewell to Bahá'u'lláh

*A retelling based on **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi (chapters 8 and 9), which quotes eyewitnesses of these days, among them Nabíl-i-A'ẓam. Words in quotation marks are from God Passes By.*

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When it became known in 1863 that Bahá'u'lláh was to leave Baghdád for Constantinople, friends and acquaintances "of every class and denomination" came to pay Him farewell visits. The letter from the Ottoman government, handed to Him by the deputy governor, invited Him to travel to Constantinople as its guest, with a mounted escort for His protection and a sum of money for His use. He agreed at once to go but declined the money. When the deputy urged that a refusal would offend the authorities, He reluctantly accepted it, and that same day distributed it among the poor.

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On 22 April, the day He left His house for the Najíbíyyih Garden across the Tigris, a great crowd thronged the approaches of His house: "friends and strangers, Arabs, Kurds and Persians, notables and clerics, officials and merchants, as well as many of the lower classes, the poor, the orphaned, the outcast." On His way to the river He gave a last alms to the poor and spoke words of comfort to those who pressed around Him.

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For the twelve days He spent in the garden, His friends and companions came in successive waves to take their leave. One visitor was the renowned Álúsí, the Muftí of Baghdád, who "with eyes dimmed with tears" blamed Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh for so unmerited a banishment.

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"Another distinguished visitor was the governor himself, Námiq Páshá." He expressed his regret at what had happened, offered to help in any way he could, and gave the officer who was to accompany Bahá'u'lláh a written order telling the governors of the provinces along the route to show the exiles the utmost consideration. "Whatever you require," he told Bahá'u'lláh, "you have but to command. We are ready to carry it out."

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"Extend thy consideration to Our loved ones," Bahá'u'lláh replied, "and deal with them with kindness." The governor readily agreed. In a letter written from the garden, 'Abdu'l-Bahá recorded what Námiq Páshá had said on the day he called: "Formerly they insisted upon your departure. Now, however, they are even more insistent that you should remain."

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At noon on 3 May 1863 Bahá'u'lláh left the garden. An eyewitness wrote that believers and unbelievers alike sobbed and lamented, and that "the chiefs and notables who had congregated were struck with wonder." Mounted on a red roan stallion, the best His followers could buy for Him, He rode out on the first stage of the journey to Constantinople. Nabíl, who was there, recalled the scene:

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> Numerous were the heads which, on every side, bowed to the dust at the feet of > His horse, and kissed its hoofs, and countless were those who pressed forward > to embrace His stirrups.

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Bahá'u'lláh Himself wrote: "He (God) it was Who enabled Me to depart out of the city (Baghdád), clothed with such majesty as none, except the denier and the malicious, can fail to acknowledge."

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*This is a retelling. For the full account, see **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi.*

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