Whatever occurs is the cause of the
elevation of the Word of God and the victory of the divine Cause, even though
outwardly it may appear to be a great affliction and hardship. What hardship,
grief or affliction could be greater than that which occurred at the time when
the Blessed Beauty was exiled from Tihrán? Hearts of stone were melted. All the
relatives were weeping and lamenting. All were in utter despair. But that exile
became the cause of the raising of the Call and exalting the Word of God, of
fulfilling the prophecies of the Prophets and of guiding the people of the
world. Had it not been for this exile, these things would not have appeared and
these great events would not have occurred.
Consider the case of Abraham. Had He
not been exiled, He would not have received that greatest blessing; neither a
Jacob nor an Isaac would have risen; the fame of the beauty of Joseph would not
have been spread throughout the world. He would not have become the ruler of
Egypt; no Moses would have appeared; no Muhammad, the divine Messenger, would
have come. All these are a result of the blessings of that exile. It is the
same now. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a conversation, August 5, 1912, Dublin, USA;
‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
