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CHAPTER IV
Constantinople and Adrianople
Subh-i-Azal, always in fear for his own safety, left Baghdad about a fortnight before our departure, and joined our party on the way, having discovered our whereabouts.
He, therefore, had heard nothing of the Declaration in the Ridvan.
When we arrived at Constantinople, our band, being augmented by the way, numbered over seventy persons. We were taken by the Governor to an inn, where we were crowded together into the small space allotted to us. The Master asked the Governor to let Baha’u’llah and His family have a house apart. The house was given, but Subh-i-Azal and his family were invited by my father to share this house with us.
Amongst the Babis were members of all classes, simple tradesmen, mullas, and nobles. The latter, as disguise, described themselves as tailors, cooks, confectioners, bakers, etc., so that they might be permitted to remain near Him they revered.
The Persian Consul-General became a friend of Baha’u’llah, and ‘was a great help to the Baha’is. He suggested to my father that He should pay a visit to the court officials.
The reply was: “I have no wish to ask favour from them. I have come here at the Sultan’s command. Whatsoever additional commands he may issue, I am ready to obey. My work is not of their world; it is of another realm, far removed from their province. Why, therefore, should I seek these people?”’
This Consul was full of respect for such a majestic mind, and described this occurrence on his return to Tihran, saying:
“I was extremely proud of my august compatriot. Frequently I feel ashamed of my fellow-countrymen, with good reason, for their almost invariable custom is to pursue high officials, begging for favours. The dignified aloofness of Baha’u’llah was a very refreshing experience.”
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After the return to Tihran of this Consul he met Mirza Rida-Quli, to whom he said, “Mirza Husayn-‘Ali Nuri is a wonderful and great man; you are his brother I believe.”
To which Mirza Rida-Quli replied: ‘No indeed, Oh no! I am not his brother!’
Such was the attitude of Baha’u’llah’s kindred, and His own father’s house; that is when they were not actively vindictive, like Subh-i-Azal.
Whilst at Constantinople, the fame of the wisdom of Baha’u’llah had gone abroad, and many noble-minded people were anxious to come into His Presence. Such a profound impression was made on these visitors, that they spoke of the majesty of His person, and the holiness of His teaching to their friends. This made His enemies again uneasy, and they plotted on some pretext or another to get Him removed from Constantinople. This plan was successful, and our Beloved One was sent to Adrianople.
When we arrived at Adrianople we were at first in an inn, but we were permitted at length to abide in a hired house.
Baha’u'llah at this time made a fuller Declaration of Himself as the expected “Him Whom God shall make Manifest,”’ and Who had been heralded by the Bab. He wrote the Tablet of Declaration (Lawh-i-Amr), directing His amanuensis to take it to Subh-i-Azal, who, when he had read this, became very angry and “‘jealous fire consumed him.”
He invited Baha’u’llah to a feast and shared a dish with Him, one half of which he had mixed with poison. For twenty-one days Baha’u’llah was seriously ill from the effects of this attempt.
Incensed at this failure, Subh-i-Azal tried another plan. He asked the bath attendant (for a bribe) to assassinate Baha’u’llah whilst he should be taking His bath, suggesting how easily it could be done without fear of detection.
This man was so shocked and horrified that he rushed out into the street unclothed.
- 2 *
Mirza Asadu’ll4h Kashani related to the writer, that when the friends brought the Tablet from Adrianople to Baghdad,
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they spoke of the nefarious conduct of Subh-i-Azal, and that he had been forbidden all intercourse with the Holy Family.
The friends were so enraged with him, that only the express command of Baha’u’lla4h prevented them from ridding the world of “so perjured a traitor.”
Siyyid ‘Ali Yazdi narrated how Mirza Ja‘far brought the wonderful Tablet to Yazd, telling that Jamal-i-Mubdrak (Baha’w’llah) had, at Adrianople, made the Great Public Declaration, that He was “Him Whom God shall make Manifest.”
And so we, too, heard the soul-stirring news.
We had always known in our hearts that Subh-i-Azal was not, could not be, the Promised One; he showed none of the signs; on the other hand, he had many faults, well known to the friends.
“But Mirza Husayn-‘Ali Nuri,” they said, “He shows forth the Heavenly Attributes.”
Therefore it was that when the blessed Tablet came, we were ready and well prepared to recognize Him.
Subh-i-Azal’s high claims were proven to be absurd as well as false, and the friends, when not enraged at his teaching, laughed him to scorn.
At this time the trouble Subh-i-Azal caused, and the mischief he made, was so constant that the authorities lost patience, and it was decided to exile the Beloved One and His family yet again.
Subh-i-Azal’s conduct was, however, not the only cause of this further exile. Our ever-watchful enemies, fearing the great influence of Baha’u’llah, made use of the persistent annoyance of the traitorous half-brother as a pretext to induce the Government to banish the august prisoner to a place where no learned and important people would have access to Him.
Subh-i-Azal’s libels were amplified, and the Government officials were induced to believe them—with this result:
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We were sitting one day in our house, when we heard discordant music, loud, insistent! We wondered what could be causing this uproar. Looking from the windows we found that we were surrounded by many soldiers.
The Governor was reluctant to tell Baha’u’llah that the order had come for still another banishment. He explained this to Sarkar-i-Aqa* (‘Abdu’l-Baha), and we were told that we had three days to prepare for the journey to ‘Akka. Then we learnt that we were all to be separated. Baha’u’llah to one place, the Master to another, and the friends to still another place.
I well remember, as though it were only yesterday, the fresh misery into which we were plunged; to be separated from our Beloved; and He, what new grief was in store for Him?
He accepted all vicissitudes with His calm, beautiful smile, cheering us with wonderful words.
One of the friends, Karbila’i Ja‘far, in despair at the threatened separation, attempted to kill himself; he was saved, but was too ill to travel. Baha’u’llah refused to leave him unless the Governor of Adrianople undertook to have him well cared for, and sent after us when he should be recovered. This was done, and forty days after we arrived at ‘Akka, Karbila’i Ja‘far joined us.
During our sojourn in Adrianople, Baha’u’llah’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 separation; great was the tumult. Many telegrams were sent to the Government at Constantinople. At length we all started together on the journey to Gallipoli, and in three days we arrived, having travelled in carts and wagons.
Here the Governor announced that he had received orders for our separation. He came to see Baha’u’llah and the Master, and becoming friendly, he tried to help us in our distress. Again many telegrams were sent to Constantinople; we stayed for a week waiting for the replies.
At last permission was given for us all to embark together in
- A title given to ‘Abdu’l-Baha by Bahda’u’llah. It is translated ‘His Highness
the Master.”’
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a Turkish boat. In this small boat we, seventy-two persons, were crowded together in unspeakable conditions, for eleven days of horror. Ten soldiers and two officers were our escort.
There was an appalling smell in the boat, and most of us were very ill indeed.
At Adrianople were written some of the Epistles to the Kings and Queens of the earth, in which Baha’u’llah called upon them as “Servants of the Most High God and Guardians under Him of the people entrusted to their guidance,” to join with Him, Baha’u’llah, to form an International Arbitration Council, that humanity should never again suffer the disgrace and misery of war.
He proclaimed now more publicly that His authority was Divine, being directly given to Him by God—that He was the Chosen One, Whom, under various names, all the religions of the earth were awaiting.
The turmoil was great; the sacred influence radiating from Him reached a wider and still wider circle.
The fanatics, fearing anew this wonderful Personage, and foreseeing the loss of their prestige, and the end of their acquisition of worldly power and wealth if His teachings were accepted, that holy things were not to be sold to mankind, but must be given untarnished “without money and without price,” decided to renew their attacks upon Him.
Of course this teaching appealed to the unself-seeking, the noble-minded and the pure in heart only; to all the rest the Message was as foolishness and a menace to every scheme in which figured the worship of the Golden Calf.
A material, greedy, and parochial-minded people turned away from such simple and pure counsel, uncomprehending, and with scornful derision.
These persons took counsel together, and aided by the treacherous half-brother, they agreed to bring new charges against Him.
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The result was the further exile to ‘Akka, that unhealthy town, the penal convict city, where Turkey sent the most hardened criminals. The idea was that Baha’u’llah’s influence could not radiate from that pestilential city, where He would be closely guarded, also there was hope that He would not be able to live long in that place, where the air was so poisonous that “Ifa bird flies over ‘Akka it dies!” became the proverb.
Therefore it was that the Great One, with the band of exiles who refused to be separated from Him, set forth on this fourth and last journey of banishment; they were, thanks to the traitor brother and bigoted religious enemies, labelled as malefactors, sowers of sedition, hardened criminals, enemies of the pure religion of God and of man. The faithful were commanded to shun these outcasts.
Such was the character which preceded Baha’u’llah and His disciples to ‘Akka.
The list of false charges was, moreover, directed to be read to the worshippers in the Mosques, so that all who injured the captives might flatter themselves that they “‘did God service.”
In this way was manufactured the atmosphere of hatred which awaited the ‘Followers of the Light” when they arrived at the prison fortress city of ‘Akka ‘“‘by way of the sea beyond Jordan—the valley of Achor, which should be given as a door of hope.”
Thus, the world unknowing, were the prophecies being daily fulfilled.
Arriving at ‘Akka, Baha’u’llah said to the Master: “Now I concentrate on My work of writing commands and counsels for the world of the future, to thee I leave the province of talking with and ministering to the people. Servitude is the essence of worship. I have finished with the outer world, henceforth I meet only the disciples.”
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