When Bahá’u’lláh arrived at Akká, through the power of God
He was able to hoist His banner. His light at first had been a star; now it
became a mighty sun, and the illumination of His Cause expanded from the East
to the West. Inside prison walls He wrote Epistles to all the kings and rulers
of nations, summoning them to arbitration and universal peace. Some of the
kings received His words with disdain and contempt. One of these was the Sulṭán of the Ottoman kingdom.
Napoleon III of France did not reply. A second Epistle was addressed to him. It
stated, “I have written you an Epistle before this, summoning you to the Cause of
God, but you are of the heedless. You have proclaimed that you were the
defender of the oppressed; now it hath become evident that you are not. Nor are
you kind to your own suffering and oppressed people. Your actions are contrary
to your own interests, and your kingly pride must fall. Because of your
arrogance God shortly will destroy your sovereignty. France will flee away from
you, and you will be overwhelmed by a great conquest. There will be lamentation
and mourning, women bemoaning the loss of their sons.” This arraignment of
Napoleon III was published and spread.
Read it and consider: one prisoner, single and solitary,
without assistant or defender, a foreigner and stranger imprisoned in the
fortress of Akká, writing such letters to the Emperor of France and Sulṭán of Turkey. Reflect upon
this: how Bahá’u’lláh upraised the standard of His Cause in prison. Refer to
history. It is without parallel. No such thing has happened before that time
nor since—a prisoner and an exile advancing His Cause and spreading His
teachings broadcast so that eventually He became powerful enough to conquer the
very king who banished Him. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a talk, 18 April, 1912, New
York; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by Abdu'l-Bahá
during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)
