Upon His arrival in prison(21) He addressed an epistle to Napoleon,(22)
which He sent through the French ambassador. The gist of it was, “Ask what
is Our crime, and why We are confined in this prison and this dungeon.”
Napoleon made no reply. Then a second epistle was issued, which is
contained in the Súriy-i-Haykal.(23) The epitome of it is: “Oh Napoleon,
as thou hast not listened to My proclamation, and as thou hast not
answered it, thy dominion will before long be taken away from thee, and
thou wilt be utterly destroyed.” This epistle was sent to Napoleon by
post, through the care of Cesar Ketaphakou,(24) as was known to all the
companions of His exile. The text of this warning reached the whole of
Persia, for it was at that time that the Kitáb-i-Haykal was spread in
Persia, and this epistle was among the contents of this book. This
happened in A.D. 1869, and as this Súriy-i-Haykal was circulated in Persia
and India and was in the hands of all believers, they were waiting to see
what would come to pass. Not long after, in A.D. 1870, the war between
Germany and France broke out; and though no one at that time expected the
victory of Germany, Napoleon was defeated and dishonored; he surrendered
to his enemies, and his glory was changed into deep abasement.
Tablets(25) were also sent to other kings, and among them was the letter
to H. M. Náṣiri’d-Dín _Sh_áh. In that epistle Bahá’u’lláh said, “Have Me
summoned, gather the ‘ulamá, and ask for proofs and arguments, so that the
truth and falsehood may become known.” H. M. Náṣiri’d-Dín _Sh_áh sent the
blessed epistle to the ‘ulamá and proposed to them that they should
undertake this mission, but they dared not do so. Then he asked seven of
the most celebrated among them to write an answer to the challenge. After
some time they returned the blessed letter, saying, “This man is the
opposer of religion and the enemy of the _Sh_áh.” His majesty the _Sh_áh
of Persia was much vexed, and said, “This is a question for proofs and
arguments, and of truth or falsehood: what has it to do with enmity to the
government? Alas! how much we respected these ‘ulamá, who cannot even
reply to this epistle.”
Briefly, all that was recorded in the Tablets to the Kings is being
fulfilled: if from the year A.D. 1870 we compare the events that have
occurred, we will find everything that has happened has appeared as
predicted; only a few remain which will afterward become manifested.
So also foreign peoples, and other sects who were not believers,
attributed many wonderful things to Bahá’u’lláh. Some believed that He was
a saint,(26) and some even wrote treatises about Him. One of them, Siyyid
Dávúdí, a Sunnite savant of Ba_gh_dád, wrote a short treatise in which he
related certain supernatural acts of Bahá’u’lláh. Even now, in all parts
of the East, there are some people who, though they do not believe in His
manifestation, nevertheless believe Him to be a saint and relate miracles
attributed to Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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