Restraint and the Meaning of Victory

A retelling based on A Traveller's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's history of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, which quotes passages from Bahá'u'lláh's letter to the Sháh of Persia. Words in quotation marks are from Edward G. Browne's English translation of that book; square brackets are his.

During His last days in Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh wrote a long letter to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh of Persia. A Traveller's Narrative says that in it He "unfolded and expounded the main principles of the sect," and "declared the good intent, loyalty, and sincerity of the sect." A youth from Khurásán named Mírzá Badí' carried the letter to the Sháh, and for this he was tortured and put to death. The book then sets out several passages from the letter.

In one of them Bahá'u'lláh describes His years in 'Iráq. He had lived there for twelve years, He writes, until an official arrived who began to persecute the believers, though nothing harmful had been found in them. He then writes: "The Royal Personage can bear witness and testify to this, that in whatever land there were some few of this sect the fire of war and conflict was wont to be kindled by reason of the aggression of certain governors. But this Transient One after His arrival in 'Iráq withheld all from sedition and strife; and the witness of this Servant is His action, for all are aware and will testify that the multitude of this faction in Persia at that time was more than [it had been] before, yet, notwithstanding this, none transgressed his proper bounds nor assailed anyone. It is nigh on fifteen years that all continue tranquil, looking unto God and relying on Him, and bear patiently what hath come upon them, casting it on God."

After He reached Adrianople, some of the believers asked Him what "victory" meant. He included one of His answers in the letter, so that the Sháh could see that He had "in view naught save peace and reform." In it He wrote that the meaning of victory "is not this, that anyone should fight or strive with anyone." What God desires for Himself, He explained, is the hearts of His servants: "Everyone, then, who desireth 'victory' must first subdue the city of his own heart with the sword of spiritual truth and of the Word, and must protect it from remembering aught beside God: afterwards let him turn his regards towards the cities of [others'] hearts."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see A Traveller's Narrative by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1886). *A Traveler's Narrative*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19300/pg19300-images.html