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.
10.9 Merits of the Accounts
10.9.4. Baha’s Letters on Submission to Subh-i Azal
Baha’s declaration in the garden of Ridvan in 1863 was preceded by a campaign (see assassinations). Baha’s declaration in 1866 was followed by ha further campaign of murders (see assassinations). In these campaigns most of the prominent Bayanis who withstood Baha’s pretensions were sought out and slain wherever the chance to be.
To prominent Bayanis who became alive to Baha’s underhand activities in Baghdad and arraigned him as a wrecker of the Point’s cause, a subversion, and, and instigation of mischief, Baha promulgated circular letters in categorical denial of the charges preferred against him and in reaffirmation of his allegiance to the Primal Point and to his vicegerent Subh-i-Azal.
Facsimile of those letters appear in section 12.4.1, from which the following excerpts are given:
Baha’s Baghdad letter marked No. 1, written by him nine years after his arrival in Baghdad upon expulsion from Iran.
“My tongue, my mind, my heart, my spirit, my flesh, my body, my brains, my bones, and my skin hereby testify that in truth there is no god but He, that Ali before Muhammad [i.e. Sayyid Ali Muhammad] is the manifestation of His self, the manifestation of His verses, and the Revealer of His Word, thereunto bear witness denizens of the Supreme concourse and beyond then the Invisible and Essence with Its tongue, and in truth we all prostrate ourselves before His Face [i.e. Subh-i-Azal] …”
“I swear by god that if any one of the people of the Bayan was to mention that the Book [i.e. the Bayan] is abrogated may god break the mouth of the speaker and the culminator ….”
Baha’s Baghdad letter marked No. 46
“He [i.e. Subh-i-Azal] is the pride of dispensation … all souls are quiescent, and this body [i.e. Baha] is grovelling in the earth of abasements on the watch for his graces ….”
Baha’s Will and Testament of the Baghdad period:
“In truth god has decreed in the Book, after the Reminder [i.e. the Primal Point], to turn [refer] to the Face of god [i.e. Subh-i-Azal] in these days whoso turns aside from the injunction of his lord has in fact turned his back in the path of god … the Reminder [i.e. the Primal Point] rest upon you and upon those who prostrate themselves before the Face of god [i.e. Subh-i-Azal]. These papers are proofs of my servitude to His Face …”
“The Mirror of God and His Face” was one of the titles bestowed upon Subh-i-Azal by the Primal Point, see Facsimile of the Primal Point’s autograph epistle addressed to Mulla Abd al Karim of Qazwin:
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In his “pre-declaration” Iqan of 1892, Shoghi Effendi’s translation, PP. 198-199, Baha speaks of “the Word of God” as “a City”, “Once in about a thousand years shall this city be re-adorned. That city is none other than the Word of God revealed in every age and dispensation. In the days of Moses it was the Pentateuch, in the days of Jesus the Gospel; in the days of Muhammad the Messenger of god the Quran; in this day [text ‘Asr', namely, in this age] the Bayan] and in the dispensation of Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest his own Book.”
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.