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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
192 stories on this theme.
A servant who had accompanied my brother overheard a part of this despatch read and misunderstood it. Without waiting to inquire whether he had heard aright, he returned to us with the report that the first order was not to be rescinded;…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá learned well the meaning of Bahá’u’lláh’s words: ‘Beware, lest thou allow anything whatsoever to grieve thee.’ Acquainted with sorrow, He was known to shed tears when He spoke of the hardships endured by Bahá’u’lláh, His…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then only eight years old, was broken-hearted at the ruthless treatment of His adored Father. The child suffered agonies, as a description of the tortures was related in His hearing - the cruel scourging of the feet, the long…
‘Abdu’l-Ghaffar [one of the four companions condemned to go with Mirza Yahyá to Cyprus] was a close and agreeable companion. He served as interpreter for the entire company, for he spoke excellent Turkish, a language in which none of the…
In an apartment in Cadogan Gardens sits a spiritually illumined Oriental, whose recent advent in London marks the latest junction of the East and…
“With the advent of the Young Turks’ supremacy, realized through the Society of Union and Progress, all the political prisoners of the Ottoman Empire were set free. Events took the chains from my neck and placed them about Hamíd’s;…
‘An American friend who had enjoyed the privilege of more than one visit to ‘Akka during the days of the exile of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, related an incident that took place at His table. With her sat persons of varied races, some of them…
At Gallipoli the German, Russian, and English Consuls called upon the Blessed Perfection and offered to intercede in his behalf with the Turkish government, assuring him that they could procure, for him and his family, permission to go to…
AT last came a day, four months after the death of the Purest Branch, when the movement of troops in the Ottoman domain compelled the authorities to have access to and make use of the barracks of 'Akká. The gates were flung open and the…
At the time my father was invited by the Guardian to come and live with us in the Holy Land, after my mother's unexpected death in Argentina in March 1940, Shoghi Effendi decided, for reasons of his own, to go to England. For those who…
The greatest bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion; for assuredly the divine teachings of religion are above all other sources of instruction and development to man. Religion confers upon man eternal life and guides his…
Today there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the “Most Great Peace.” Peace is light whereas war is darkness. Peace is life; war is death. Peace is guidance; war is error. Peace is the foundation of God;…
What is real unity? When we observe the human world we find various collective expressions of unity therein. For instance, man is distinguished from the animal by his degree or kingdom. This comprehensive distinction includes all the…
In the estimation of historians this radiant century is equivalent to one hundred centuries of the past. If comparison be made with the sum total of all former human achievements it will be found that the discoveries, scientific…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent His early years in an environment of privilege, wealth, and love. ** ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
Aqa Husayn-i-Ashchi (Ashchi in Farsi means cook or maker of broth) was Baha'u'llah's cook. His father died on his way to ask for the hand of his brother's daughter to wed 'Abdu'l-Baha. Aqa Husayn-i-Ashchi's uncle Ustad Ismail raised him…
They needed no teacher, then; by themselves, they saw through the veils that had blinded them before, and won the supreme desire of their hearts. ** Áqá Ibráhím-i-Iṣfahání And His…
Áqá Muḥammad had a fine poetic gift, and he would create verses like stringed pearls. **…
"I beseech you," he tearfully entreated Mulla Ali, "to allow me to accompany you on your journey. Perplexities oppress my heart; I pray you to guide my steps in the way of Truth. Last night, in my dream, I heard the crier announce in the…
He became a candle burning with the love of God, a goodly tree in the Abhá gardens. He led all his household, his other kindred and his friends to the Faith, and successfully rendered many services. ** Hájí…
Ḥájí Faraju’lláh, he lived on in that city, until the day when merciless oppressors banished Bahá’u’lláh to ‘Akká, and in His company the Ḥájí came here to the Most Great Prison. **…
On the friends’ final journey he went to Ádhirbáyján, and there, throwing caution to the winds, he roared out the Greatest Name: “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!” The unbelievers there joined forces with his relatives, and they lured that innocent, that…
He wished neither rank nor office, and had no worldly aims at all. His one supreme desire was to serve Bahá’u’lláh, and for this reason he was never separated from his Brother’s presence. ** His Eminence Kalím (Mírzá…
During the years when Bahá’u’lláh resided in Iraq, Jináb-i-Muníb left Káshán and hastened to His presence. He went to live in a small and humble house, barely managed to subsist, and set about committing to writing the words of God…
They were pure souls who took the great step in their own country: they freed themselves from friend and stranger alike, escaped from the superstitions that had blinded them before, strengthened their resolve, and bowed themselves down…
Mírzá Ja‘far was patient and long-suffering, a faithful attendant at the Holy Threshold. He was a servant to all the friends, working day and night. A quiet man, sparing of speech, in all things relying entirely upon God. ** Mírzá…
"he that was created by the light of Bahá" L: Mirza Mihdi with his brother ‘Abdu’l-Baha **Mírzá…
He was singled out from his fellows, head and shoulders above the rest. When still a child, he learned of the Lord’s Advent, caught fire with love, and became one of those who “gave their all to purchase Joseph.” ** Mírzá…
He was a princely individual known for his lavish openhandedness not only in Persia and Iraq but as far away as India. To begin with he had been a Persian vazír; but when he saw how the late Fath-‘Alí Sháh eyed worldly riches, particularly…
He was detached from every selfish thought, averse to every mention except to whatever concerned the Holy Cause. ** Mírzá…
He spent a considerable time in the Most Great Prison, after which Bahá’u’lláh desired him to leave for Sidon, where he engaged in trade. ** Muḥammad-‘Alí Ṣabbáq of…
Muḥammad showed a keen interest to learn and master this language. He moved to Qazvín, the birth place of Táhiríh, to teach at Tavakkul Bahá’í School in 1914. In 1916, he was nominated as the official representative of the World Esperanto…
Mullá ‘Alí set out according to the Bab’s special instructions. He went first to Bushehr, where he met with the Báb’s uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, who years later accepted both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. By the late summer of 1844,…
He was young, far away from his loving father, and Mullá Muḥammad-‘Alí was his tutor and guardian. Bahá’u’lláh would refer to him with infinite grace and loving-kindness, and revealed a number of Tablets in his name. The Blessed Beauty…
Shaykh Hasan recognized in the Báb all those attributes his master had predicted, and he became His devoted disciple, travelling far and wide to be close to the newest Manifestation of God on earth. When the ulama of Isfahan issued the…
Táhirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mullá Javád violently objected, telling her: “Your father is an enemy of the Twin Luminous Lights, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. **…
Exceptionally skilled in his craft, Ustád produced highly ingenious work, fashioning carpentry that, for intricacy and precision, resembled mosaic inlay. He was expert in mathematics as well, solving and explaining difficult problems.…
While in his thirties, he became acquainted with a musician named Haji Khán who was in the entourage of the Governor of Isfahán and was a Bahá’i. Ustád Nasru’lláh was fond of music and wanted to learn to play an instrument. He took music…
89 The Guardian of the Cause of God has received your letter of 21 July 1932, telling of your and the other friends’ profound distress on receiving word of this calamity, this dire ordeal, that is, the ascension of the Most Exalted…
101 Surely no matter what we say about her still we have not done justice to the abounding love she had and the services she rendered to Bahá’u’lláh and the Master. Her life was full of events, full of sacrifices in the path of God.…
67 His68 nine-year-old son, later surnamed the ‘Most Great Branch’, destined to become the Centre of His Covenant and authorized Interpreter of His teachings, together with His seven-year-old sister, known in later years by the same…
166 Indeed, you have adorned yourself with the qualifications of faithfulness and are striving to fulfil the requirements of servitude to the Abhá Threshold. You have been inebriated with the wine of the love of God, have quaffed your…
34 O ye who burn in the flames of bereavement! By the Day-star of the World, my bereaved and longing heart is afire with a grief that is beyond my description. The sudden, the grievous and calamitous news that the Most Exalted, the…
180 The letter that you wrote in your burning grief, on the passing of the world’s Beloved, the Orb of the Covenant—wrote with weeping eyes and a heart afire, has come. Once again, it brings back the full force of this calamity, and…
38 Brethren and fellow-mourners in the Faith of…
205 The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so decreed that this house of sorrows should be encompassed by unending calamity and pain. Even before the dark clouds of one disaster are scattered, the lowering storm of yet a new grief takes…
83 The letter from that spiritual friend has reached the beloved Guardian, and he is aware of your bitter grieving over the calamitous news that a most glorious fruit of the Holy Tree, the Most Exalted Leaf, the Remnant of Bahá, has…
Shoghi Effendi's tribute to Bahíyyih Khánum records the cost of the Adrianople exile to her own body — a winter of exceptional severity, a poor and unhealthy lodging, and dire financial distress that left her, as a young woman, with a permanent loss of vitality and a shadow on her face that would remain until the end of her life.
The journey to Constantinople lasted between three and four months, the party consisting of Bahá’u’lláh with members of His family and twenty-six disciples. Arrived in Constantinople they found themselves prisoners in a small house in…
One of the social principles to which Bahá’u’lláh attaches great importance is that women should be regarded as the equals of men and should enjoy equal rights and privileges, equal education and equal…
This terrible imprisonment lasted four months, but Bahá’u’lláh and His companions remained zealous and enthusiastic, in the greatest of happiness. Almost every day one or more of them was tortured or put to death and the others…
Bahá’u’lláh’s mission in the world is to bring about Unity—Unity of all mankind in and through God. He says:—“Of the Tree of Knowledge the All-glorious fruit is this exalted word: Of one Tree are all ye the fruits and of one Bough the…
Bahá’u’lláh also advocated the establishment of an international court of arbitration, so that differences arising between nations might be settled in accordance with justice and reason, instead of by appeal to the ordeal of…
About this time Bahá’u’lláh wrote His famous letter to the Sulṭán of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the Pope, and the Sháh of Persia. Later, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas16 He addressed other sovereigns, the rulers and Presidents…
Having in His earlier years of hardship shown how to glorify God in a state of poverty and ignominy, Bahá’u’lláh in His later years at Bahjí showed how to glorify God in a state of honor and affluence. The offering of hundreds of…
After His return from this retirement, His fame became greater than ever and people flocked to Baghdád from far and near to see Him and hear His teachings. Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, as well as Muḥammadans, became interested in…
The great Prophets of religion have always been, at Their coming, despised and rejected of men. Both They and Their early followers have given their backs to the smiters and sacrificed their possessions and their lives in the path of…
The title “Bahá’u’lláh” is the Arabic for “Glory of God,” and this very title is frequently used by the Hebrew prophets for the Promised One Who is to appear in the last days. Thus in the 40th chapter of Isaiah we read:— Comfort ye,…
Christ and His apostles mentioned many signs which would distinguish the times of the “Return” of the Son of Man in the glory of the Father. Christ said:— And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the…
In a talk on the right method of treating criminals, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke as follows:— ... the most essential thing is that the people must be educated in such a way ... that they will avoid and shrink from perpetrating crimes, so that…
In 1904 and 1907 commissions were appointed by the Turkish Government to inquire into the charges against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and lying witnesses gave evidence against Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, while refuting the charges, expressed His entire…
A remarkable instance of the foresight of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was supplied during the months immediately preceding the war. During peacetimes there was usually a large number of pilgrims at Haifa, from Persia and other regions of the globe.…
It was during Bahá’u’lláh’s nine-month exile to Karbilá in 1851, on the order of the Persian Prime Minister, that He “encountered, as He was walking through the streets, Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí, to…
North-west building of prison complex Akka 1922 The dear friends in this city [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1912] engaged an apartment on the seventh floor of the Schenley Hotel and were…
(‘Abdu’l-Baha entered. With one impulse we arose, paying unconscious homage to the majesty of the station of servitude. Surely there can be no greater station than this!
During the time that Bahá'u'lláh resided in the house of 'Abbud, His fellow exiles had fully settled down in the city of 'Akká, and most of them were successful in their humble professions.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was about twenty-four years old, the most terrible crisis which Bahá'u'lláh and His family ever had to meet, developed in Adrianople, when once again they were on the eve of…
When Bahá’u’lláh was nearly eighteen years old, His older sister requested their father's permission for her Brother to marry her husband's sister, Ásíyih Khánúm.
The King of the Martyrs and Beloved of the Martyrs were born to a noble family in Isfahan. They were nine and ten years of age respectively when the Declaration of the Báb took place in 1844.
Tihran, circa 1808 A remarkable event, which may be unique in religious history, took place in the very early years of the Bábí-Bahá’í Faith.
Jináb-i-Mírzá Músá was the true brother of Bahá’u’lláh, and from earliest childhood he was reared in the sheltering embrace of the Most Great Name.
Bahá'u'lláh intended to give His niece, Shahr-Banu Khanum, in marriage to His eldest Son, ‘Abdu’l-Baha. She was the daughter of His faithful older half-brother, Mirza Muhammad-Hasan.
The life of 'Abdu'l-Baha is very significant among the lives of the past heavenly educators.
Resting place of Ásíyih Khánum and son Mirza Mihdi Many people loved Bahá'u'lláh when He was alive. Pilgrims traveled far distances just to look at His face.
Baha'u'llah lived in Persia. He was a wonderful person. His hair was black and His beard was black. He had happy, laughing eyes, and He made everybody happy because He loved them so much.
Mansion of Baha'u'llah's father This story is about a boy Who grew to be the latest Prophet of God.
In September 1846, after being banished from His home in Shíráz, Persia (now Iran), the Báb set out for Isfahán, a city known for its wise religious leaders.
"Grandpa, tell me how the Kitáb-i-Iqán was written," Justice Ray said to his grandfather one afternoon during his grandfather's visit.
In *The Chosen Highway* the Greatest Holy Leaf recounts the bitter winter journey, in early 1853, by which the family was exiled from Tihrán to Baghdád — three months on horseback through deep snow, the children weeping with cold, and the small graves of those who did not survive the road.
For two years the family of Bahá'u'lláh did not know where He was. His young daughter, the future Greatest Holy Leaf, lived those years in poverty and longing — until a rumor of a holy dervish in the mountains brought Him home. A retelling from Lady Blomfield's The Chosen Highway.
Released from the Black Pit but broken by it, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled in the dead of winter. His wife sold her last jewels to fund the journey and washed clothes with her own chapped hands — and once, trying to make Him a sweet cake, reached for sugar and found salt. A retelling from Lady Blomfield's The Chosen Highway.
Nabíl's chronicle records the Báb's removal from Iṣfáhán in 1847 to the remote frontier prisons of Máh-Kú and Chihríq, in the bleak mountains of north-western Persia. The intent of the authorities was to silence Him by isolation; the effect was the opposite — the journey itself became a teaching, the remote fortresses became places of pilgrimage, and from the cells the Persian Bayán was revealed.
During our sojourn in Adrianople, Bahá’u’lláh's custom was to walk only in the garden of the house, which was also His prison. Here the friends crowded, weeping and wailing, refusing to be comforted. They determined to resist the…
On May 3, 1863 — the twelfth day of His sojourn in the Garden of Riḍván — Bahá'u'lláh mounted His horse and set out from Baghdád toward Constantinople. Esslemont records the strange, joyful character of those last days, when even the Governor of Baghdád came to honor the departing prisoner.
How could this Prisoner give to the needy of 'Akká every Friday morning? Had not His exiled family's wealth and property been almost totally confiscated? One pilgrim found that, 'All that the Master gives is a real sacrifice, and is…
I remember when I was a girl the news came to Isfahan from Nabil that Jamal-i-Mubarak [Bahá’u’lláh] was imprisoned in the fortress town of `Akká, shut in behind iron doors, never going out! As I thought of Him in that poisonous climate -…
In 1907 Corinne True was in 'Akká with the Master. She was one of many who were deeply touched by the love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, demonstrated so clearly in His customary Friday morning acts of charity. From her window she 'saw between two and…
A young man named Faraju'lláh wanted to be near Bahá'u'lláh more than anything — so when hard times came, he chose to follow Him even to a faraway prison.
Mírzá Músá wanted nothing for himself — only to be near his Brother, Bahá'u'lláh, and to serve Him through every hardship from beginning to end.
A gentle young man who loved comfort gave up everything — his home, his ease, even his health — just to stay close to Bahá'u'lláh on a long and difficult road.
Two friends from a cold country gave up everything they knew to be near Bahá'u'lláh, and stayed faithful and grateful even when things became very hard.
A wise man gave up his books to become a humble carpenter and a servant to everyone — and one day, when even the doctor had given up on him, something astonishing happened.
A quiet man who loved Bahá'u'lláh so much that he poured the tea, pitched the tents, and stayed faithful through every hard journey, never asking for a single thing for himself.
A young man who could not read or write loved Bahá'u'lláh so much that he followed Him from city to city, through loneliness and even prison, staying faithful to the very end.
One winter long ago, a family had to leave their home and travel for three months through deep snow — and a little girl never forgot how brave they all had to be.
A little girl waited two long years, not knowing where her father had gone — until a story about a holy stranger in the mountains brought Him back to her door.
Bahá'u'lláh was being sent far away from the city of Baghdád — but instead of being sad, He was full of joy, and the whole city came to honor Him as He left.
On a freezing journey into exile, a little girl watched her mother do everything she could to care for the family — including one small, loving mistake nobody ever forgot.
Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou seest me in this day shut up in my prison, and fallen into the hands of Thine adversaries, and beholdest my son (The Purest Branch) lying on the dust before Thy face. He is Thy servant, O my Lord,…
Another of those who left their homeland to become our neighbors and fellow prisoners was ‘Abdu’l-Ghaffár of Iṣfáhán. He was a highly perceptive individual who, on commercial business, had traveled about Asia Minor for many years. He…
This was a patient and long-enduring man, a native of Káshán. He was one of the very earliest believers. The down was not yet upon his cheek when he drank of the love of God, saw with his own eyes the heavenly table spread out before…
Also among the emigrants and near neighbors was Áqá ‘Alí Najaf-Ábádí. When this spiritual young man first listened to the call of God he set his lips to the holy cup and beheld the glory of the Speaker on the Mount. And when, by grace…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Áqá Ḥusayn-i-Áshchí — the household cook of Bahá'u'lláh through the long years of exile, whose patient service in the kitchen sustained the daily life of the prophetic Household for decades.
Two brothers from Káshán who emigrated to Adrianople with the community of believers, were arrested with the exiles and brought to 'Akká, and there both fell ill and died on the same night. Without permission for proper burial, the friends sold a prayer carpet to pay for their interment, and the two brothers were laid in a single grave, beneath the earth as in life embraced.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Áqá Riḍá of Shíráz — the steadfast companion who served the household of Bahá'u'lláh through the years of exile from Baghdád to 'Akká, never failing in his attendance on his Lord.
1.For the author of The Dawn-Breakers, see Nabíl-i-Zarandí.2.Cf. Nabíl, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 395, note 1.3.Cf. Qur’án 19:98.4.Qur’án 3:91.5.Qur’án 54:55.6.1849–1850.7.1853; 1892.8.Áqá Ján. Cf. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p.…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's portrait of Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí — the great teacher of Iṣfáhán whose lifetime of imprisonment, exile, and patient teaching across three Sudanese cities earned him the title *the Angel of Carmel.*
Mírzá Áqá of Káshán — known to the Bahá'í community as Jináb-i-Muníb — was a calligrapher, poet, and singer who left his daughter and his livelihood to walk on foot beside Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdád to Constantinople. He died, ill, in a Smyrna hospital during the exile to 'Akká, his last act being to drag himself to Bahá'u'lláh's feet and weep.
Two pure souls of Ádhirbáyján who freed themselves from the superstitions that had blinded them, left their province for Adrianople, and at length followed the exiles to 'Akká, where they died together of the fever that took so many of the early prisoners. Their two luminous tombs are in 'Akká.
Among the exiles, neighbors, and prisoners there was also a second Mír Imád,57 the eminent calligrapher, Mishkín-Qalam.58 He wielded a musk-black pen, and his brows shone with faith. He was among the most noted of mystics, and had a…
Sulaymán Khán was the emigrant and settler who was given the title of Jamálí’d-Dín. He was born in Tunúkábán, into an old family of that region. He was cradled in wealth, bred to ease, reared in the comfortable ways of luxury. From his…
This distinguished man was one of the greatest of all the Báb’s companions and all the loved ones of Bahá’u’lláh. When he lived under Islám, he was already famed for his purity and holiness of life. He was talented and highly…
Munirih Khánum, wife of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who was the Greatest Branch of the Tree of Life had this to say: Five of my children died in the poisonous climate of `Akká. The bad air was, in truth, only the outside material reason. The inner…
Na'im was a truly devoted servant of Bahá’u’lláh. As a result of embracing the Faith, he suffered great persecutions in his native village of Sidih near Isfahan. By order of the clergy, he and four other believers had their arms tied to…
Mishkín-Qalam was the most celebrated calligrapher of Persia, honoured at the royal court and famed across Asia — a man whose art alone could have brought him every comfort. He left all of it to follow Bahá'u'lláh, was imprisoned for years on the island of Cyprus, and remained, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words, "detached from the world," joyous and steadfast in the Covenant to the end.
For years Bahá'u'lláh was a prisoner within the barred gates of 'Akká. Yet His earthly life ended not behind those walls but in a green and gracious house in the countryside beyond — the Mansion of Bahjí. Adib Taherzadeh recounts how the prison terms eased, how 'Abdu'l-Bahá secured the Mansion for His Father, and how the closing years unfolded in a place that fulfilled a prophecy spoken long before.
Bahá'u'lláh's loyal full brother, Mírzá Músá, shared in His every exile and carried, in silence, the burdens no one else would bear. The title by which the believers knew him — Áqáy-i-Kalím, drawn from the ancient name of Moses, "He Who conversed with God" — honoured a man who sought no rank and shone, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words, like a bright lamp within the holy Household.
A respected jurist of Najaf-Ábád gave up rank and safety to follow Bahá'u'lláh, and devoted the rest of his life to copying out the sacred Writings in a hand so exact that his transcriptions became the standard by which others are verified to this day. Bahá'u'lláh named him Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín — the Ornament of the Near Ones.
For ten years in Baghdád Bahá'u'lláh had carried His station in silence. Then, in the spring of 1863, on the eve of a new banishment, He entered a rose-filled garden on the bank of the Tigris and, for twelve days, declared openly to His companions that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb. Bahá'ís remember those days as the King of Festivals — the hour the long-hidden Glory of God was at last unveiled.
Exiled and dispossessed, Bahá'u'lláh spent ten years in Baghdád showering kindness upon all who came to Him — the poor, the lowly, the learned, and even those who had wished Him harm. By the time a fresh banishment drove Him on to Constantinople, the whole city had come to love Him; and on the day He rode away, men and women of every rank wept in the streets and pressed forward to embrace His stirrups.
Mishkín-Qalam was the foremost calligrapher of Persia, his pen "the wonder of all calligraphers." He could have kept his comfort, his fame, and the favour of princes. Instead he crossed deserts and seas to find Bahá'u'lláh, and turned his perfected art into an act of worship — writing the Most Great Name in countless beautiful forms even from prison, until 'Abdu'l-Bahá called him "a compendium of perfections."
Ustád Báqir and Ustád Aḥmad were two carpenter-brothers from Káshán who followed Bahá'u'lláh into exile and imprisonment. In the Most Great Prison of 'Akká they kept faithfully at their craft — tranquil, dignified, and joyful — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembered them with a single luminous testimony: through all those long prison years they were "never neglectful of duty, never at fault."
Mírzá Muḥammad-Qulí, a loyal younger brother of Bahá'u'lláh, spent his whole life within the shelter of the Blessed Beauty — and shared every stage of His exile from Persia to the prison-fortress of 'Akká. In 'Abdu'l-Bahá's own reminiscence, he accepted all that came his way — comfort and torment, hardship and respite, sickness and health — in one and the same spirit, returning thanks with a free heart and a face that shone like the sun.
Jamshíd-i-Gurjí, a valiant believer who came from Georgia and grew up in Káshán, was falsely denounced, chained, and dragged toward the Persian frontier to be handed over for execution. Thrown one night into a pit, he did not lament but proclaimed that the very depths into which his enemies had cast him were the heights of the Lord — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that he lived out his days tranquil and at peace, well-pleased with God and answering the call to return with a glad "Yea, verily!"
Mírzá Maḥmúd of Káshán and Áqá Riḍá of Shíráz walked on foot beside the howdah of Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdád to Constantinople, through famine and exhaustion, cooking and serving the believers far into each night and rising again at dawn. In poverty so deep that seven of them once dined on a single handful of dates, they counted themselves in Heaven — for, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's account, their sole desire was to please Bahá'u'lláh, and they were perfectly content with whatever the will of God sent them.
Shaykh Ṣádiq of Yazd, a man as righteous as his name, lived in Baghdád wholly absorbed in the remembrance of God. When the convoy of Bahá'u'lláh departed from the city, Shaykh Ṣádiq submitted to the bidding that he stay behind — yet his longing burned so fiercely that, after Bahá'u'lláh reached Mosul, he could bear the separation no more, and shoeless and hatless he ran out across the barren plain after Him and fell to his rest with mercy all about him.
Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, shared every exile, imprisonment, and bereavement that fell upon the Holy Family across nearly eighty years — the loss of her childhood home, the death of her little brother in the prison of 'Akká, the passing of her Father and then of her beloved Brother. Through all of it she remained, in the testimony of those who knew her, the very emblem of radiant submission to the will of God.
Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí, the beloved teacher of Iṣfáhán, was banished by the authorities to the remote Sudan and held in exile at Khartoum for some nine years. He bore the sentence not as a calamity but as the will of God — turning it into a teaching mission — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that he came at last into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh wearing the very same smiling face with which he had first set out upon the road of exile.
Ásíyih Khánum — the lady Bahá'u'lláh named Navváb — was born to wealth and rank, a Persian noblewoman of such beauty she was called the Daughter of the Beautiful. When the storms of persecution stripped her household of everything, she let it all go without complaint and embraced a lifetime of poverty, exile, and loss at her Husband's side, accepting each stage of the descent as the will of God.
Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí was a wandering Sufi, free and detached, who roamed the path of the mystics in search of God. When he found Him in Baghdád in the person of Bahá'u'lláh, he laid down his old independent life at once and begged only to walk beside the caravan of exile as a humble groom — tending the horses by night, singing his Lord's praises by day, and counting that lowly service the highest sovereignty.
When Bahá'u'lláh crossed the Tigris on the afternoon of 22 April 1863 to enter the Garden of Riḍván, the river ran so high that His wife and household could not follow Him. For nine days they waited on the far bank; then, on the Ninth Day, they crossed at last and were reunited with Him among the roses. The Ninth Day of Riḍván commemorates that homecoming of the Holy Family.
Ásíyih Khánum — the noble lady Bahá'u'lláh named Navváb — had shared with Him the loss of their home, the winter exile from Persia, and ten years in Baghdád. When He entered the Garden of Riḍván in 1863 the flooded Tigris kept her on the far bank; on the Ninth Day she crossed at last to join Him. The Ninth Day of Riḍván honours that reunion of the wife and mother of the Holy Family with the One whose every exile she had shared.
The family that joined Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden of Riḍván on the Ninth Day was no ordinary household. They had shared His imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál, the plundering of their home, banishment from Persia, and ten years of exile in Baghdád. Esslemont's account of those sufferings sets in relief the joy of their reunion in the Garden — and explains why the Faith keeps that reunion as a holy day.
When Bahá'u'lláh returned to Baghdád from the mountains of Kurdistan, He found the exiled Bábí community in ruins — leaderless, demoralized, fallen into disrepute, its very name a byword for lawlessness. Within a few years, by no worldly means whatever, He had transformed that broken remnant into a community renowned for its dignity, its purity, and its love.
'Abdu'l-Bahá spent forty years a prisoner in the fortress-city of 'Akká — exiled as a child, freed only as an old Man when the empire that held Him at last fell. Asked in London how He had borne it, He answered that He had been happy the whole time; that prison had been freedom to Him; and that there is no prison anywhere but the prison of the self.
Through the years of His exile in Baghdád, Bahá'u'lláh transformed a place of banishment into a haven. Though His own household often had little, He became the friend and refuge of the poor, the orphan, and the wronged of the city — so beloved that high and low alike sought His door, and His departure cast the whole community into grief.
Withdrawing alone into the mountains of Kurdistán to spare His companions from discord, Bahá'u'lláh lived for two years among proud and warlike tribes and the learned of Sulaymáníyyih as a nameless stranger. He asked nothing of them and pressed His claims on no one; yet His gentleness, wisdom, and unfailing kindness so won their hearts that the whole region came to revere Him — and grieved to lose Him when at last He was called back.
Mishkín-Qalam was the foremost calligrapher of Persia, welcomed in the courts of Ṭihrán and famed across Asia. He laid all of it down for the love of Bahá'u'lláh, was slandered as a dangerous agitator, and spent nine years a prisoner in the citadel of Famagusta — yet remained, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words, mild and submissive, peerless for sincerity and loyalty. His was an honour the world could neither give him nor take away.
In His own history of the Cause, 'Abdu'l-Bahá records a fact that astonished even the believers' enemies: through years of slaughter and plunder in Persia, with their numbers larger than ever, the followers of Bahá'u'lláh kept perfect order — none transgressed his bounds, none assailed anyone, all bore their afflictions patiently, looking unto God. It is one of history's quiet portraits of honour: dignity kept by the wronged who refused to become wrongdoers.
Bahá'u'lláh and His companions were banished to 'Akká as the worst of criminals, shut in a foul barracks where nearly all fell sick and several died. The empire meant to strip them of every dignity and let the Cause rot behind those walls. Instead, as Shoghi Effendi recounts in God Passes By, the exiles bore their degradation with such serenity that the prison itself became a place of honour, and the city that had cursed them came at last to revere them.
Robbed of his small stock of goods in exile, Ḥájí ʻAlí-ʻAskar-i-Tabrízí was pressed by a powerful consul to inflate the loss and share in the spoils. With prison and banishment threatened against him, the impoverished old believer would not speak a single false word — and Bahá'u'lláh said of him simply, "I am pleased with him."
Ustád Ismá'íl was a master builder of high standing in Ṭihrán, prosperous and well regarded by all. For the love of Bahá'u'lláh he lost his work, his wealth, and even his bride, and ended his days peddling trinkets from a cave outside Haifa — counting himself, in that poverty, more honoured than he had ever been in his prosperity.
Two empires shut Bahá'u'lláh inside the prison-city of 'Akká, meaning to bury His Cause behind stone. Yet within those very walls a sovereignty shone that no decree could touch: governors and generals came humbly to His door, pilgrims crossed the world to reach Him, and from His captivity He addressed the emperors who held Him as a King addresses His subjects. Esslemont's account shows that the Captive of 'Akká was, in reality, no prisoner at all, but a King of Kings.
Brought as an exile to Constantinople, the seat of the Ottoman Sultan, Bahá'u'lláh did the one thing that astonished the whole capital — He sought no favour. Contrary to the universal custom of the city, He refused to call upon its ministers or beg the help of the powerful, choosing instead a dignity that rested on God alone rather than on the patronage of any throne.
When Bahá'u'lláh rode out of the Garden of Riḍván on the twelfth day, He did not step into freedom but onto a road — more than a thousand miles of mountain and plain, north and then west, to the Ottoman capital. With His family and twenty-six companions He set out on a march of more than three months, and at every stage along the way the people met Him not as a banished prisoner but as an honored guest.
Not everyone could follow Bahá'u'lláh onto the road of exile. When the convoy of the Beloved left Baghdád for Constantinople, believers remained behind in a city now empty of His presence and full of His enemies. In His memorial to Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá Baghdádí, 'Abdu'l-Bahá preserves what faithfulness looked like in those who stayed — loyal, staunch, and openly teaching the Faith after the great separation.
When the convoy left Baghdád on the twelfth day of Riḍván, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was a young Man of eighteen, already beloved by the people of the city and wholly devoted to His Father. In the spoken chronicle gathered in The Chosen Highway, the years of exile are remembered through the family who lived them — and the eldest Son stands out as the one who carried the burdens, comforted the household, and gave Himself entirely to Bahá'u'lláh.
The banishment that began on the twelfth day of Riḍván was meant to humble Bahá'u'lláh, yet the long road north became a procession of homage. Town after town received Him with reverence, recalling the love of the people of Baghdád; and as the caravan neared the Black Sea, He revealed the Tablet of the Howdah, in which the majesty of His Cause shone out over the very road of His exile.
At noon on the twelfth and last day in the Garden of Riḍván — May 3, 1863 — Bahá'u'lláh mounted a red roan stallion, the finest His lovers could buy for Him, and rode out toward the long exile to Constantinople. The crowds bowed to the dust at His horse's feet and pressed forward to embrace His stirrups; what the empire had decreed as banishment looked, to all who watched, like the riding-forth of a King.
On the twelfth day of Riḍván the long-prepared caravan finally moved. With members of His family and twenty-six of His disciples, Bahá'u'lláh set out from the Garden on a march that would last between three and four months, over a thousand miles to Constantinople. The Cause that had grown in the quiet of Baghdád was now openly upon the road of history.
As the day of His banishment approached, Bahá'u'lláh showed neither sorrow nor fear. In the Garden, on the eve of His departure for Constantinople, He showed the greatest joy, dignity, and power; His followers grew happy and enthusiastic; and all the notables of Baghdád, even the Governor himself, came to honor the departing prisoner. The Twelfth Day of Riḍván seals that strange reversal in which an exile looked like a triumph.
When Bahá'u'lláh rode out of the Garden of Riḍván on the twelfth day, the grief knew no party and no creed. Believers and unbelievers alike sobbed and lamented; the chiefs and notables who had gathered were struck with wonder. The departure laid bare what ten years of His presence had done to a whole city's heart — and what His presence does to any heart it touches.
The supreme festival of the Bahá'í year does not close on a day of arrival but on a day of departure. The Twelfth Day of Riḍván seals the twelve days Shoghi Effendi calls the holiest and most significant of all Bahá'í festivals — the Most Great Festival, the King of Festivals, the Festival of God — by sending the newly unveiled Glory of God out from the Garden and onto the road of His Cause.
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