The Reconciliation of Races and ReligionsCheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Religion
The Reconciliation of Races and Religions
Cheyne, T. K. (Thomas Kelly)
Bahais
The Ezelite historian, however, gives a different version of the
story. [Footnote: _TN_, pp. 359, 360.] According to him, it was
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel whose life was threatened. 'It was arranged that
Muḥammad Ali the barber should cut his throat while shaving him in
the bath. On the approach of the barber, however, Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel
divined his design, refused to allow him to come near, and, on leaving
the bath, instantly took another lodging in Adrianople, and separated
himself from Mirza Ḥuseyn 'Ali and his followers.'
Evidently there was great animosity between the parties, but, in spite
of the _Eight Paradises_, it appears to me that the Ezelites were
chiefly in fault. Who can believe that Baha-'ullah spread abroad his
brother's offences? [Footnote: _Ibid_.] On the other hand,
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel and his advisers were capable of almost anything from
poisoning and assassination to the forging of spurious letters. I do
not mean to say that they were by any means the first persons in
Persian history to venture on these abnormal actions.
It is again Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel who is responsible for the disturbance of
the community.
It was represented--no doubt by this bitter foe--to the Turkish
Government that Baha-'ullah and his followers were plotting against
the existing order of things, and that when their efforts had been
crowned with success, Baha-'ullah would be designated king.
[Footnote: For another form of the story, see Phelps, _Abbas
Effendi_, p. 46.] This may really have been a dream of the
Ezelites (we must substitute Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel for Baha-'ullah); the
Bahaites were of course horrified at the idea. But how should the
Sultan discriminate? So the punishment fell on the innocent as well as
the guilty, on the Bahaites as well as the Ezelites.
The punishment was the removal of Baha-'ullah and his party and
Ṣubḥ-i-Ezel and his handful of followers, the former to Akka
(Acre) on the coast of Syria, the latter to Famagusta in Cyprus. The
Bahaites were put on board ship at Gallipoli. A full account is given
by Abbas Effendi's sister of the preceding events. It gives one a most
touching idea of the deep devotion attracted by the magnetic
personalities of the Leader and his son.
I have used the expression 'Leader,' but in the course of his stay at
Adrianople Baha-'ullah had risen to a much higher rank than that of
'Leader.' We have seen that at an earlier period of his exile
Baha-'ullah had made known to five of his disciples that he was in
very deed the personage whom the Bāb had enigmatically promised. At
that time, however, Baha-'ullah had pledged those five disciples to
secrecy. But now the reasons for concealment did not exist, and
Baha-'ullah saw (in 1863) that the time had come for a public
declaration. This is what is stated by Abbas Effendi's sister:--
[Footnote: Phelps, pp. 44-46.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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