When the Blessed Beauty returned from Kurdistan, only a small band of believers had remained in Persia, and those in Iraq had grown dispirited and had sunk into apathy. Not a murmur was heard anywhere, nor a single sound. Any believers who were still present were in the depths of apprehension, fear, and despair. Upon His arrival in Baghdad, however, the Most Great Name flung open the doors and issued a universal summons. The call of God was raised and the fame of His Cause noised abroad. Day and night, the leaders and the learned from amongst all peoples attained His holy presence. The flow of questions and answers was constant, and one and all testified to the sufficiency of His replies.
As a result, fear and dread caused Násiri’d-Dín Sháh to grow impatient and agitated. He resorted to every measure, and wrote a letter in his own hand to Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz requesting the banishment of the Blessed Beauty beyond Baghdad. He claimed that Persia was in danger, that the government was greatly alarmed, and that harm would ultimately befall both governments. Thereupon, ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz issued his decree for the departure of the Blessed Beauty. Yet, although subject to banishment and exile, Bahá’u’lláh nevertheless moved with the utmost dominion to the garden of Najíb Páshá, where for twelve days the Cause of God was exalted to such an extent that the Governor, Námiq Páshá; all the high-ranking officers of the army and the province; the country’s religious dignitaries; and the nation’s notables came by day and by night to attain His presence. All this, notwithstanding the fact that He was, to outward seeming, an exile! Yet the pervading influence of the Cause of God, the sublimity of His Word, and the diffusion of the divine fragrances were such that those few days were passed in intense joy and delight, and the Riḍván Festival was inaugurated. Bahá’u’lláh then departed with the utmost sovereignty, and to this all the people of Iraq bear witness and testify.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; ‘Light of the World’)
