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The Banishment of the Lord of Lords, the Glory of God, Bahaullah 1/23/2008 9:28:57 AM
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Good Morning
I am glad to see that more readers than usual have shown interest at the last article. I am indeed very glad.
What does God want from us, He wants us to be happy. Then we have the power to do good things too.
The recent article about the prophesy of 1863 is just one of the proofs of the auhenticity of the great claim that Bahaullah , the Glory of God, makes.
I'd say:
If anybody has heard or read about any other divine declaration by somebody taking place in the year 1863, then that person has to pick out the aforementioned Biblical prophesy,then to step forward and try to prove that that somebodys revealed teachings eclipses the Revelation of Bahaullah, and tell out all the remaining prophesies of the world as well. (I haven't told all of them).That has never happened and will never be done, dear friends, rest assured. The Founder of the Bahai World Faith is the only Messenger of God Who has claimed He is the Promised one of all religions, fulfilled all their prophesies at the right time in history and given teachings that will teach men the lesson of peace.
The Christians should cease to expect that He Who is promised is just the return of Jesus Christ. The one who was to come is promised to all people on earth, this is supported by their verses about the latter days, in their holy scripts.
I am sure this is clear for all of you.
Today I will tell just a few more facts about the Ridvan happenings,as a reminder but also since this is such an important,- Biblical- event and then tell about the further journeys and quote from the 'Bahaullah and the New Era'.
"After much negotiation, at the request of the Persian Government, an order was issued by the Turkish Government summoning Bahaullah to Constantinople. On receipt of this news His followers were in consternation. They besieged the house of their beloved Leader to such an extent that the family encamped in the Garden of Najib Pasha outside the town for twelve days...It was on the first of these twelve days (April 22 to May 3, 1863, i.e., nineteen years after the Babs declaration) that Bahaullah announced to several of His followers the gladtidings that He was the One Whose coming had been foretold by the Bab - the Chosen of God, the Promised One of all the Prophets. The Garden where this memorable Declaration took place has become known as the 'Garden of Ridvan,' and the days spent there are commemorated in the 'Feast of Ridvan',...During those days Bahaullah, instead of being sad or depressed, showed the greatest joy, dignity and power. His followers became happy and enthusiastic, and great crowds came to pay their respects to Him. All the notables of Baghdad, even the governor himself, came to honor the departing prisoner.'"
You may wonder at this respectful behavior by the governor, but Bahaullah actually was only treated as an enemy by the highest authorities, that is the Persian government in alliance with the Persian clergy. These in turn were in alliance with the Turkish authorities and so Bahaullah remained a prisoner of state.
If anybody ever thought that Bahaullah "came by way of the east" (the Bible)destined to arrive to the Holy Land to fulfill the prophesies by His own will, we must remember that this journey was forced upon Him, being a prisoner. He was banished just like Abraham was. Therefore no one could ever claim that Bahaullah is a false prophet. His own will was actually to stay in His homeland and help restoring His own country, to lift up and spiritualise Persia, a land which at that time was much corrupted, and disordered through corrupted rulers. Bahaullah was especially concerned about the poor state of farming, a much neglected field in Persia and He has said that if He had been received by the Shah and if he had listened to Bahaullah, Persia would have been lifted up and out of its misery, its famines and chaos in about two years time. The poor state of 19th century's Persia is well documented by European writers, ambassadors and other dignitaires on duty there. It was indeed a great loss to Persia that He was received in such a shameful way by the state authorities, who in fact was afraid of Him.But Bahaullah never thought of seizing the reigns of governing. He had come to seize the hearts of men, just like Jesus and all of Gods Messengers.
Constantinople (Istanbul) and Adrianople (Edirne).
The journey to Constantinople lasted between three and four months the party consisting of Bahaullah with members of His family and twentysix disciples. Arrived in Constantinople they found themselves prisoners in a small house in which they were very much overcrowded. Later they got somewhat better quarters, but after four months they were again moved on, this time to Adrianople . The journey to Adrianople, although it lasted but a few days, was the most terrible they had yet undertaken. Snow fell heavily most of the time, and as they were destitute of proper clothing and food, their sufferings were extreme. For the first winter in Adrianople, Bahaullah and His family, numbering twelve persons, were accomodated in a small house of three rooms, comfortless and vermin infested. In the spring they were given a more comfortable abode. They remained in Adrianople for four and a half years. Here Bahaullah resumed His teaching and gathered about Him a large following. He publicly announced His Mission and was enthusiastically accepted by the majority of the Babis, who were known thereafter as Bahais. A minority, however, under the leadership of Bahaullahs halfbrother, Mirza Yahya, became violently opposed to Him and joined with their former enemies, the Shi'ihs, in plotting for His overthrow. Great troubles ensued, and at last the Turkish government banished both Babis and Bahais from Adrianople, exiling Bahaullah and His followers to Akka, in Palestine, where they arrived on August 31, 1868, while Mirza Yahya and his party were sent to Cyprus.
Letters to kings.
About this time Bahaullah wrote His famous letter to the Sultan of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the Pope, and the Shah of Persia. Later , in His Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book) He addressed other sovereigns, the rulers and Presidents of America, the leaders of religion in general and the generality of mankind. To all, He announced His Mission and called upon them to bend their energies to the establishment of true religion, just government and international peace. In His letter to the Shah He powerfully pleaded the cause of the oppressed Babis and asked to be brought face to face with those who had instigated their percecution. Needless to say, this request was not complied with; Badi', the young and devoted Bahai who delivered the letter of Bahaullah, was seized and martyred with fearful tortures, hot bricks being pressed on his flesh!
In the same letter Bahaullah gives a most moving account of His own sufferings and longings:-
O King, I have seen in the way of God what no eye hath seen
and no ear heard. Friends have disclaimed me; ways are straitened unto me; the pool of safety is dried up; the plain of ease is(scorched) yellow. How many calamities have descended, and how many will descend! I walk advancing toward the Mighty, the Bounteous, while behind me glides the serpent. My eyes rain down tears until my bed is drenched; but my sorrow is not for myself. By God, my head longeth for the spears for the love of its Lord, and I never pass by a tree but my heart addresseth it (saying), 'O would that thou art cut down in my name and my body were crucified upon thee in the way of my Lord;' yea, because I see mankind going astray in their intoxication, and they know it not: they have exalted their lusts, and put aside their God, as though they took the command of God for a mockery, a sport, and a plaything; and they think that they do well, and that they are harbored in the citadel of security. The matter is not as they suppose: tomorrow they shall see what they (now) deny.
We are about to shift this most remote place of banishment (Adrianople) unto the prison of Acre (Akka). And, according to what they say, it is assuredly the most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them in appearance, the most testable in climate, and the foulest in water; it is as though it were the metropolis of the owl; there is not heard from its regions aught save the the sound of its hooting. And in it they intend to imprison this servant, and to shut in our faces the doors of leniency and take away from us the good things of the life of the world during what remaineth of our days.
By God, though weariness should weaken me, and hunger destroy me, though my couch should be made of the hard rock and my associates of the beasts of the desert, I will not blench, but will be patient, as the resolute and determined are patient, in the strength of God, the King of Prexistence, the Creator of the nations; and under all circumstances I give thanks to God. And we hope of His graciousness (exalted is He)...that He will render (all men's) faces sincere toward Him, the Mighty, the Bounteous.Verily He answereth him who prayeth unto Him, and is near unto him who calleth on Him. And we ask Him to make this dark calamity a buckler for the body of His saints, and to protect them thereby from sharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction hath His light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: this hath been His method through past ages and bygone times."
Will the people of the earth ever learn to welcome their Redeemers.?
That is my only question.
Bye for now from
Laila
www.Bahai.org. www.Bahai.us
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bahaullah+and+the+bahai+faith&search=Search
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