The Russian Consul in Tehran offered protection and assistance

On His [Bahá’u’lláh’s] release, [from the Siyah-Chal] the Russian Consul is reported to have offered “immediately the protection of his government and every assistance for Baha’u’llah and His family to settle in Russia. Baha’u’llah graciously declined and chose to settle in Baghdad.” 

- David Hofman  ('Baha’u’llah the Prince of Peace')

“Bahá’u’lláh should… never to be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself”

That Bahá’u’lláh should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one of these Manifestations of God, never to be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith—a belief which should never be obscured and the integrity of which no one of its followers should allow to be compromised.

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah; included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

Baha’u’llah “was a refuge for every weak one; a shelter for every fearing one; kind to every indigent one; most lenient to all creatures. He became well known in regard to these qualities before His Holiness the Báb appeared”

Until the father of Baha’u’llah passed away He did not seek after position or political station. All were surprised at this. Notwithstanding His connection with the government, He would not accept any position. They remarked: "How is it that a young man so intelligent, so keen, so perceptive, so subtle, is not a candidate for lucrative appointments; as a matter of fact, every position is open to Him." The people of Persia are witnesses to this historical fact.

He was most generous; giving abundantly to the poor. He did not refuse any who asked Him. The doors of His house were open to all. He always had many guests. This generosity was conduce to greater astonishment from the fact that He did not seek position or prominence. In commenting upon this His friends said that all His wealth would be given away, for His expenses were many, while His wealth was becoming limited. All were amazed at His conduct and greatly astonished at His doings. Some remarked, "Why is He not thinking of His own affairs?" Some who were wise declared: “This Personage is connected with another world. He has something sublime within Him that is not evident row, but the day will come when that shall be manifested."

In short, the Blessed Perfection was a refuge for every weak one; a shelter for every fearing one; kind to every indigent one; most lenient to all creatures. He became well known in regard to these qualities before His Holiness the Báb, appeared. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk, 15 April, 1912, at a gathering of Baha’i friends at the home of Mrs. Emor, New York; Star of the West vol. 3, no. 9, August 20, 1912)

Baha’u’llah rented a house in Baghdad: - in the mainly Persian-speaking quarters on the west bank of the Tigris river

Baha'u'llah arrived in Baghdad on 8 April 1853. The journey from Tehran had been very difficult and had lasted three months. After a few days in Baghdad, Baha'u'llah moved to Kazimayn, a Shi'i shrine city which at that time was some five kilometers north-west of Baghdad (it has since become incorporated into the city). The Iranian consul suggested to him that since Kazimayn tended to be full of rather fanatical elements, it would be safer for Baha'u'llah if he lived in Baghdad itself in the mainly Persian-speaking quarters on the west bank of the Tigris river. Baha'u'llah consented to this and rented a house there.

- Moojan Momen  ('Baha’u’llah A Short Biography')

Baha’u’llah visited Haifa four times

The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith states that Bahá'u'lláh visited Haifa four times. The first visit was of short duration, when He disembarked in 1868 from the Lloyd-Triestino steamer. The second visit was for just a few days, and He stayed in Bayt-i-Fanduq, a house in the German colony, part of which still stands today. There is a dated Tablet, in the handwriting of Mirza Aqa Jan, which indicates that Bahá'u'lláh was in Haifa in August 1883, probably the date of this second visit. The third visit was in 1890, and when Edward Granville Browne reached 'Akká, Bahá'u'lláh was in Haifa. In the course of this visit, He stayed, at first, near Bayt-i-Zahlan, near the town, and then He moved to a house in the German colony which was known as the Oliphant house. His tent was pitched on a piece of land opposite that house. His fourth and last visit was in the year 1891. This sojourn was the longest, and it was here in Haifa that members of the Afnan family met him when they came in July, as described in a later chapter. Bahá'u'lláh was then in Haifa for three months, staying in the house of Ilyas Abyad near the German colony, and His tent stood nearby.

- Balyuzi  (‘Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory’)

Baha’u’llah’s time in the Holy Land: August 1868 to May 1892

The journey of Bahá'u'lláh and His companions from Gallipoli to Haifa took place between August 21 to 31, 1968, lasting 11 days.

• Bahá'u'lláh and His party were then transferred from the steamer carrying them to Haifa, to a sailing vessel, which arrived in 'Akká on the afternoon of August 31, 1868. The time they spent in Haifa was a few hours.
• Baha’u’llah spent 2 years, 2 months and 5 days in the Prison Barracks of Akka.
• From the Prison, Bahá'u'lláh was transferred directly to the House of Málik, thence to the Houses of Khavvám and Rabí'ih. This lasted 10 months.
• The final House in Baha’u’llah was transferred to was the House of 'Abbúd where He stayed for approximately 7 years. During that time He made occasional visits to the Garden of Ridvan.
• Baha’u’llah then moved to the Mansion of Mazra'ih and stayed there for about 2 years.
• The last 12 years of Baha’u’llah’s earthly life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí.
• Towards the end of this period Bahá'u'lláh visited Haifa four times. His last visit to Haifa lasted three months.
• The total period of the sojourn of Bahá'u'lláh in the Holy Land was 24 years: from August 31, 1868 to May 29, 1892.

(Adapted from compilation: ‘Holy Places at the Baha’i World Centre’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

The “incomparable figure” of Baha’u’llah

Let us fix our gaze in adoration upon that figure, so inimitably delineated by the Guardian: "the incomparable figure of Baha'u'llah, transcendent in His majesty, serene, awe-inspiring, unapproachably glorious." He Whom, He Himself testifies, the Prophets and Messengers addressed, on the eve of His Declaration as "O Most Great Mystery, O Tabernacle of Immortality!" He, but for Whom, in His own words, "no Divine Messenger would have been invested with the robe of prophethood, nor would any of the Sacred Scriptures have been revealed." Let us call to mind, in His own words, the period of His declaration in Baghdad, the centenary of which is so close upon us: "Arise, and proclaim unto the entire creation the tidings that He Who is the All-Merciful hath directed His steps towards the Ridvan and entered it. Guide, then, the people unto the Garden of Delight which God hath made the Throne of His Paradise . . ." "Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, O people of Baha! as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the entire creation the splendors of His Name, the All-Merciful."

"The mere contemplation," 'Abdu'l-Baha testified, "of the Dispensation inaugurated by the Blessed Beauty would have sufficed to overwhelm the saints of bygone ages -- saints who longed to partake for one moment of its great glory." "How thankful must we be for having been made in this Day the recipients of so overwhelming a favor! Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so priceless a bounty!" "The holy ones of past ages and centuries have, each and all, yearned with tearful eyes to live, though for one moment, in the Day of God. Their longings unsatisfied, they repaired to the Great Beyond. How great, therefore, is the bounty of the Abha Beauty Who, notwithstanding our utter unworthiness, hath through His grace and mercy breathed into us in this divinely-illumined century the spirit of life, hath gathered us beneath the standard of the Beloved of the world, and chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of bygone ages had craved in vain."

(Excerpt from a message of the Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land to the believers of East and West, Insert December 1962 Baha’i News)

“in this greatest prison, His holy body was extremely weakened from the intense sufferings and His beautiful person became as weak as a web from this continual hardship.”

In short, all the time of the sojourn of the Blessed Perfection (Baha’u’llah)—May the souls of all existence be a ransom to His forbearance! —in this mortal world, He was either restrained with chains or kept under hanging swords, enduring the most painful afflictions. At last, in this greatest prison, His holy body was extremely weakened from the intense sufferings and His beautiful person became as weak as a web from this continual hardship. His main purpose in bearing this heavy burden and all these troubles, which gave forth their waves like an ocean, accepting the chains and fetters and showing forth the greatest forbearance, was for the sake of harmony, concord and union among all the people of the world and for the establishment of the signs of the real unity among all nations, until the essential Unity (of God) might (at last) appear in the existing realities, and the light of the saying: "Thou seest no difference among the creatures of God" might shine forth upon the whole world. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 7, no. 5, June 5, 1916)

Bahá’u’lláh is a descendant of Abraham, Zoroaster, Jesse, and King Yazdigird

He derived His descent, on the one hand, from Abraham (the Father of the Faithful) through his wife Katurah, and on the other from Zoroaster, as well as from Yazdigird, the last king of the Sasaniyan dynasty. He was moreover a descendant of Jesse, and belonged, through His father, Mirza Abbas, better known as Mirza Buzurg -- a nobleman closely associated with the ministerial circles of the Court of Fath-'Ali Shah -- to one of the most ancient and renowned families of Mazindaran.

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’) 

During His time in Baghdad Baha’u’llah “sat down and consorted with all classes”

The waves of the ocean of divine mercy appear at the utmost height, and the showers of the clouds of His grace and favor descend every moment. During the days of sojourn in ‘Iráq this Oppressed One sat down and consorted with all classes without veil or disguise. How many of the denizens of the horizons entered in enmity and went forth in sympathy! The door of grace was open before the faces of all. With rebellious and obedient did We outwardly converse after one fashion, that perchance the evildoers might win their way to the ocean of boundless forgiveness. The splendors of the Name of the Concealer were in such wise manifested that the evildoer imagined that he was accounted of the good. No messenger was disappointed and no inquirer was turned back.

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in ‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)

“the culmination of a cycle…beginning with Adam and ending with the Báb”

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh should indeed be regarded, if we wish to be faithful to the tremendous implications of its message, as the culmination of a cycle, the final stage in a series of successive, of preliminary and progressive revelations. These, beginning with Adam and ending with the Báb, have paved the way and anticipated with an ever-increasing emphasis the advent of that Day of Days in which He Who is the Promise of All Ages should be made manifest. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah; included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

Comparing the early days of Christ and Baha’u’llah

Christ was not widely known among the people—most would not recognize Him—and He would travel from village to village and from wilderness to wilderness; and so it was that when they set out to arrest Him they knew not where to find Him or how to recognize Him. Judas Iscariot came to them and said: “I will show Him to you.” They said: “When we enter that place, how will we know who is Christ?” Judas said: “The one whom I will kiss is Christ.” Bahá’u’lláh, however, was standing visibly and openly before His foes, was known to all, and withstood the onslaught of a mighty nation. The enemy arrayed against Christ was the feeble Jewish nation which suffered under Roman rule and which, like the present-day Jews of Tiberias and Safed, was a subjugated people. Bahá’u’lláh’s enemies, however, were the adherents of one of the most powerful nations of the world. When Christ was taken before the court, He was asked: “Art thou the King of the Jews?” And He replied in all meekness: “Thou sayest it.” [1] But, in the great assemblage of Tihrán, the voice of Bahá’u’lláh was raised in address to the highest heaven. [2]

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre) 

[1] Matt. 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3.

[2] Cf. The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 648–49.

An illumined Seal of Baha'u'llah

The “teachings and instructions of Baha'u'llah” – summarized by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

Thou hast inquired regarding the teachings and instructions of Baha'u'llah! Thou must instruct the people of the world in the Love of God, that they may eradicate the foundation of warfare and strife, be attracted by the Glad-tidings of the kingdom of Abha, lay the basis of love and amity, raise the melody of affinity, and the oneness of the Kingdom of humanity; transmute tyranny and persecution into love and faithfulness, efface the traces of bloodshed and carnage; construct the edifice of reconciliation, dispel the darkness of estrangement, diffuse the light of unity; change the poison of animosity into the honey of sympathetic affection; destroy the religious, national and social prejudices from the individuals of humanity; live and act, with and toward each other as though they were from one race, one country, one religion, and one kind. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet, Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 6, June 24, 1911)

“to speak with ease about the Person of Bahá’u’lláh and His Revelation”

We feel moved, as we take pause on this festive occasion, [“raising the total number worldwide over the 1,500” intensive programmes of growth] to make clear that what evokes such a deep sense of pride and gratitude in our hearts is not so much the numerical feat you have achieved, remarkable as it is, but a combination of developments at the more profound level of culture, to which this accomplishment attests. Chief among them is the rise we have observed in the capacity of the friends to converse with others on spiritual matters and to speak with ease about the Person of Bahá’u’lláh and His Revelation. They have understood well that teaching is a basic requirement of a life of generous giving. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridvan 2010 message; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

Baha’u’llah’s childhood and youth

The Blessed Perfection Baha’u’llah belonged to the royal family of Persia. From His earliest childhood He became distinguished among His relatives and friends. "This child," they said, "has extraordinary power." Not only in wisdom, but in the realm of new knowledge He was superior to His age and time. All were astonished. Some remarked, "Such a precocious child will not survive," for it has been believed that children who are precocious cannot live very long.

Until the Blessed Perfection reached the age of maturity He had not entered any school. He was not willing to be taught by any teacher. This fact is well known among the Persians of Tehran. Nevertheless He solved the difficult problems of all who came and inquired. In short whatever the meeting, whether scientific gathering or theological discussion, He always explained the abstruse problems presented to Him. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk, 15 April, 1912, at a gathering of Baha’i friends at the home of Mrs. Emor New York, Star of the West vol. 3, no. 9, August 20, 1912)

“the supernatural feats of Bahá’u’lláh”

I will not mention the miracles of Bahá’u’lláh, for the hearer might say that these are merely traditions which may or may not be true. Such, too, is the case with the Gospel, where the accounts of the miracles of Christ come down to us from the Apostles and not from other observers, and are denied by the Jews. Were I nonetheless to mention the supernatural feats of Bahá’u’lláh, they are numerous and unequivocally acknowledged in the East, even by some of the non-believers. But these accounts cannot be a decisive proof and testimony for all, since the hearer might say that they are not factually true, as the followers of other denominations also recount miracles from their leaders. For instance, Hindus recount certain miracles of Brahma. How can we know that those are false and that these are true? If these are reported accounts, so too are those; if these are widely attested, then the same holds true of those. Thus such accounts do not constitute a sufficient proof. Of course, a miracle may be a proof for the eyewitness, but even then he might not be sure whether what he beheld was a true miracle or mere sorcery. Indeed, extraordinary feats have also been attributed to certain magicians.

In brief, our meaning is that many marvellous things appeared from Bahá’u’lláh, but we do not recount them, for not only do they not constitute a proof and testimony for all mankind, but they are not even a decisive proof for those who witnessed them and who may ascribe them to magic.

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

November 12, 1817: Bahá'u'lláh is born

There was born a Child in an ancient and noble family of Núr, whose father was Mirzá Abbás, better known as Mirzá Buzurg, a favoured minister of the Crown. That Child was Bahá'u'lláh. At the hour of dawn, on the second day of Muharram, in the year 1233 A.H.[12 November 1817 A.D.] the world, unaware of its significance, witnessed the birth of Him who was destined to confer upon it such incalculable blessings.

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated. and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

Book: 'Christ and Baha'u'llah’ by George Townshend: - “outlines clearly the relationship of Christ and Baha'u'llah, and presents the manners in which the Baha'is are setting up the Kingdom of God for which the Christians are praying”

The beloved Guardian has been very impressed with the latest book written by our dear departed coworker, George Townshend 'Christ and Baha'u'llah. This book outlines clearly the relationship of Christ and Baha'u'llah, and presents the manners in which the Baha'is are setting up the Kingdom of God for which the Christians are praying. It is challenging, and surely will affect many religious leaders. The Guardian feels your Assembly should make this book the basis of a very active teaching campaign. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, April 19, 1957: Baha’i News, No. 316, p. 5, June 1957; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)