On the twenty-second of the month of Rabí’u’_th_-_Th_ání 1285 A.H. (August
12, 1868) Bahá’u’lláh and His family, escorted by a Turkish captain, Ḥasan
Effendi by name, and other soldiers appointed by the local government, set
out on their four-day journey to Gallipoli, riding in carriages and
stopping on their way at Üzün-Küprü and Ká_sh_ánih, at which latter place
the Súriy-i-Ra’ís was revealed. “The inhabitants of the quarter in which
Bahá’u’lláh had been living, and the neighbors who had gathered to bid Him
farewell, came one after the other,” writes an eye-witness, “with the
utmost sadness and regret to kiss His hands and the hem of His robe,
expressing meanwhile their sorrow at His departure. That day, too, was a
strange day. Methinks the city, its walls and its gates bemoaned their
imminent separation from Him.” “On that day,” writes another eye-witness,
“there was a wonderful concourse of Muslims and Christians at the door of
our Master’s house. The hour of departure was a memorable one. Most of
those present were weeping and wailing, especially the Christians.” “Say,”
Bahá’u’lláh Himself declares in the Súriy-i-Ra’ís, “this Youth hath
departed out of this country and deposited beneath every tree and every
stone a trust, which God will erelong bring forth through the power of
truth.”
Several of the companions who had been brought from Constantinople were
awaiting them in Gallipoli. On his arrival Bahá’u’lláh made the following
pronouncement to Ḥasan Effendi, who, his duty discharged, was taking his
leave: “Tell the king that this territory will pass out of his hands, and
his affairs will be thrown into confusion.” “To this,” Áqá Riḍá, the
recorder of that scene has written, “Bahá’u’lláh furthermore added: ‘Not I
speak these words, but God speaketh them.’ In those moments He was
uttering verses which we, who were downstairs, could overhear. They were
spoken with such vehemence and power that, methinks, the foundations of
the house itself trembled.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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