The Rise of Baha
10. Baha’s Sudden Flight to Suleymaniyya
Baha arrived in Baghdad upon expulsion from Iran, on “Jamad Thani 28, 1269 A.H. (April 8, 1853), Shoghi Effendi’s god passes by, P. 109.
Baha’s activities in Iraq from the time of his arrival in Baghdad till his removal to Istanbul on “Dhil Qa’da 14, 1279 A.H. May 3rd, 1863”, ibid, P. 133.
10.7 The Bayani’s Account on Baha’s Sudden Departure to Suleymaniyya
Let us now examine the other side of the picture, what the Bayanis have to say about Baha’s sudden flight to Kurdistan and return to Baghdad.
10.7.3. Subh-i Azal’s Account
In his epistle addressed from Edirne to the Mutawali Bashi of Qum (see section 9.10.7.1), Subh-i Azal states that having witnessed “the malevolent purpose of my brothers” ([i.e. Baha, Mirza Musa and Mirza Muhammad–Quli] he separated himself from them and lived by himself.
“When my brother Husayn [i.e. Mirza Husayn Ali Baha]”, Subh-i-Azal goes on, “realized that I would not purpose his own idle fancy in his desire to be the One to be followed, and to become cynosure among men given to self-indulgence, he went away without my permission. He would not return aside from his lust.”
“Moved to compassion through the lamentation of his womenfolk, and the pleading of his son, I despatched two messengers, and brought him back to Baghdad.”
“I invested him,” Subh-i-Azal adds, “with the mantle of guidance, appointed him to act for me, and commanded all to follow him in my cause, as I had found him at the time to have become a lover of god, and to have turned aside from being of the people void of god’s grace.”
“Little by little,” Subh-i-Azal concludes, “he waxed high, and, desired to devour and bite me. I was ever-watchful. I did not want him to be exposed in public, inasmuch as I had pardoned him for god, and had forgiven his sin. In the meanwhile there came the order for exodus [to Istanbul.”
Confirmation of the delegation of authority with Baha’s attempt to usurp Subh-i Azal’s rights is inherent in the following passage from Professor Browne’s Introduction to the Tarikh-i Jadid (The New History) composed by Mirza Husayn of Hamadan, pp xxi-xxii :
“ …………….. Subh-i Azal, a peace-loving, contemplative, gentle soul, wholly devoted to the memory of his beloved Master [i.e. the Point], caring little for authority … Even while at Baghdad, he lived a life of almost complete seclusion, leaving the direction of affairs in the hands of his half-brother Bahaullah, a man of much more resolute and ambitious character, who thus gradually became the most prominent figure and the moving spirit of the sect. For a considerable time Bahaullah continued to do what he did in the name, and ostensibly by the instructions, of Subh-i Azal, but after a while, that at what precise date is still uncertain, the idea seems to have entered his mind that he might as well become actually, as he allegedly was virtually the pontiff of the church whose doctrines he controlled.
It was not however, till the BÁBis had been for two or three years at Adrianopole that, most probably in the summer of 1866, he threw of all disguise, publicly proclaimed himself to be “Him Whom God Shall Manifest”, and called upon Subh-i Azal and all ……… to acknowledge his supreme authority and to accept him as god’s word the revelations which he forthwith began to promulgate.”
To read more about Baha's members of family, got to the main page, select 'Bahaism -> The Rise of Baha' and navigate through the index.