Adrianople
From Bahaikipedia
Bahá'u'lláh and his family, along with a small group of Bábís, stayed in Constantinople for only four months. (One source [1] states there were seventy-five people all together.) During this time the Persian Ambassador in the court of the Sultan mounted a systematic campaign against Bahá'u'lláh. He was thus exiled to Adrianople (now Edirne), but before leaving He wrote a Tablet to the Sultan, the contents of which are unknown, but Shamsi Big, who delivered the letter, gave the following report:
- “I know not what that letter contained, for no sooner had the Grand Vizir perused it than he turned the color of a corpse, and remarked: ‘It is as if the King of Kings were issuing his behest to his humblest vassal king and regulating his conduct.’”[2]
[edit] Adrianople (Edirne)
During the month of December 1863, Bahá'u'lláh and his family embarked on a twelve-day journey to Adrianople. Bahá'u'lláh stayed in Adrianople for four and a half years. Mirza Yahya, upon hearing Bahá'u'lláh's words in a Tablet read to him, challenging him to accept Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation, offered a counter-claim that he was the one whom the Báb had prophesied about. This caused a break within the Bábí community, and the followers of Bahá'u'lláh became known as Bahá'ís, while the followers of Mirza Yahya, also known as Subh-i-Azal ("Morning of Eternity") became known as Azalís. While in Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh was poisoned and nearly died. His hand was left shaking for the rest of his life. Bahá'í historical texts, and contemporary accounts, report that Subh-i-Azal was directly behind the poisoning.[3] [4] Later, followers of Azal made the counter-claim that Bahá'u'lláh had accidentally poisoned himself while trying to poison others. [5]
[edit] Letters to the Leaders of the World
Also, while in Adrianople, Bahá'u'lláh proclaimed the Bahá'í Faith further by addressing Tablets to the kings and rulers of the world asking them to accept his revelation, renounce their material possessions, work together to settle disputes, and endeavor towards the betterment of the world and its peoples. Below are links to the text of those messages:
- Pope Pius IX
- Emperor Napoleon III of France
- Czar Alexander II of Russia
- King Wilhelm I of Prussia
- Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland
- Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary
- Sultan ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz of the Ottoman Empire
- Násiri’d-Dín Sháh of the Persian Empire
- Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein
[edit] References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Quoted in Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By, p. 160.
- ↑ Mírzá Muhammad Jawád of Qazvín (1904). An epitome of Bábí and Bahá'í history to A.D. 1898.
- ↑ Cole, Juan R.I.. "Baha'u'llah's Surah of God: Text, Translation, Commentary". Retrieved on 2006-11-24.
- ↑ Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani made this claim later in his Hasht-Bihisht. This book is abstracted in part by E.G. Browne in "Note W" of his translation of A Traveller's Narrative,(Browne, E.G. (1891). A Traveller's Narrative, An epitome of Bábí and Bahá'í history to A.D. 1898, p. 359. ). However, contemporary historians recognize that: "The Azali Babis and in particular Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani and Shaykh Ahmad Ruhi showed little hesitation in alteration and falsification of Babi teachings and history in their works." (Manuchehri, Sepehr (September, 1999). "The Practice of Taqiyyah (Dissimulation) in the Babi and Bahai Religions". Research Notes in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i Studies Vol. 3 (no. 3). Retrieved on 2007-11-27. )
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