"Alarmed at the growing number of Baha'u'llah's followers and admirers, the Sultan of Turkey banished Him, together with most of His close followers, to the city of Akka, in what was then Syria but is now part of Israel. There He was expected to die since it was well known that hardly anyone ever left Akka alive. Akka was a prison city which housed not only the worst criminals, but was exceptionally dirty. It was infested with vermin and plagued by the most terrible diseases. In spite of Baha'u'llah's warning, about seventy of His family and friends went with Him of their own free will. After having spent almost five years in Adrianople, Baha'u'llah left on 12 August 1868 for Akka. Immediately on arrival, they were taken to the barracks and locked up. Soon everyone had become ill and three of the party died within a few days. Baha'u'llah Himself was imprisoned in a separate cell, and only His immediate family were allowed to visit Him there..." >>>
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a vivid description of the suffering of the exiles to Akka.
by faryarm on Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:48 PM PDT"All the townspeople had assembled to see the arrival of the prisoners. Having been told that we were infidels, criminals, and sowers of sedition, the attitude of the crowd was threatening. Their yelling of curses and execrations filled us with fresh misery. We were terrified of the unknown! We knew not what the fate of our party, the friends and ourselves would be.
"When we had entered the barracks the massive door was closed upon us and the great iron bolts thrown home. I cannot find words to describe the filth and stench of that vile place. We were nearly up to our ankles in mud in the room into which we were led. The damp, close air and the excretions of the soldiers combined to produce horrible odours....
"The followers [of Bahá'u'lláh] were all brought to the barracks together and lodged on the ground floor. Among them were the women and children, almost dying with hunger and parched with thirst. My brother [`Abdu'l-Bahá] begged to be permitted to go out for food and water. The soldiers replied: "You cannot put a foot outside of this room. If you do, we will kill you....' Then he asked permission to send out a servant guarded by soldiers. This was refused....
"The season was summer...and the temperature was very high. All our people were huddled together on the damp earth floor of the barracks; with little water to drink, and that very bad, with no water with which to bathe, and scarcely enough for washing their faces. Typhoid fever and dysentery broke out among them. Every one in our company fell sick excepting my brother, my mother, an aunt, and two others of the believers. We were not allowed a physician; we could not procure medicine. My brother had in his baggage some quinine and bismuth. With these two drugs and his nursing, he brought us all through with the exception of four, who died. These were two months of such awful horror as words cannot picture. Imagine it, if you can. Some seventy men, women and children packed together, hot summer weather, no proper food, bad water, the most offensive odours from purging and excretions, and a general attack of the terrible diseases of dysentery and typhoid.
Bahíyyih Khánum quoted in Myron H. Phelps, Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi, pp. 57-63
To Retro Richard in China: Amazing!
by scb (not verified) on Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:31 AM PDTDear Retro Richard:
Amazing! I am an afficiando of all things in Baha'i history, but didn't know that there were native Chinese Baha'is with a history in the Faith of 160 years! Considering that the Baha'i calendar ( Badi Calendar) began 165 years old in 1260 A.H. or 1844 B.C.E., that amazes me! This Faith is a cornucopia of astonishment . . .
Do you have details you can share about how the Baha'i Faith first arrived in China?
(BTW, I am with you; Iranian.com is an awesome site.)
Cheers to China!
scb
Dear anonymously:
by Tahirih on Mon Jun 02, 2008 07:43 AM PDTTo answer your questions , I have to say that Bahai faith is not a branch of Islam ,it is an independent religion. It's relation to Islam is like judaism and Christianity. Christ was a Jew , and Bahaullah a Muslim.
Bahais believe in Mohammad, Christ, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster and Ibrahim.
As for your last question , please to be fair to Muslims ask it from a Muslim sculler. You do not expect a christian to defend Moses ? Do you?
Regards,
Tahirih
The articles on Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i Faith
by Retro Richard (not verified) on Sun Jun 01, 2008 07:27 PM PDTI am a Baha'i...well, I try to be. Because of the teachings of Baha'u'llah I have become a number of things that would have amazed me before I made this commitment. A lover of Persia, for instance...I'd love to visit Iran, and someday hopefully....
A lover of China, which I now call home. The future import of China to the planet is spoken of in the Baha'i Writings and there have been Baha'is here for well over 160 years...native Baha'is not visitors!
And a fan of iranian.com and her readers.
The very best for the future to all.
Can somebody explain it to me?
by Anonymously (not verified) on Sun Jun 01, 2008 07:19 PM PDTIs Bahai religion a modification of Islam?
Do the Bahai believe in Mohammad? Do they know that he (Mohammad) slept(having sex) with a 8-9 years girl?
Do they know what pedophilia is?
What a wonderful quote from
by scb (not verified) on Fri May 30, 2008 01:00 PM PDTWhat a wonderful quote from The Tablet Baha'u'llah wrote to Napolean III. I recommend the book, "Summons of the Lord of Hosts" for perusal of the Tablets written by Baha'u'llah to the monarchs of His day.
The Súriy-i-Haykal or "Tablet of the Temple", is a composite work which consists of a tablet followed by five messages addressed to Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, Czar Alexander II, Queen Victoria, and Nasiri'd-Dín Shah. The Tablet He addressed to Queen Victoria is still kept in the British Museum.
Baha'u'llah also addressed Kaiser Wilhelm in which He hinted strongly at coming conflagrations, later to be known as the two world wars.
The heroic bearer of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the Nasiri'd-Dín Shah is remembered by all Baha'is. He was given the name Badi (Wonderful). Though fully warned that his life would be made forfeit for his act of delivery, he proudly approached the Shah conducting a hunting party, alone, prclaiming "O King! I bear thee tidings from Sheba"
He was put to death by the Shah's men.
The Most Great Prison
by Mona 19 on Fri May 30, 2008 05:12 AM PDT...More grievous became Our plight from day to day, nay, from hour to hour, until they took Us forth from Our prison and made Us, with glaring injustice, enter the Most Great Prison. And if anyone ask them: ‘For what crime were they imprisoned?’ they would answer and say: ‘They, verily, sought to supplant the Faith with a new religion!
... If this be My crime, then Muhammad, the Apostle of God, committed it before Me, and before Him He Who was the Spirit of God (Jesus Christ), and yet earlier He Who conversed with God (Moses). And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause, then indeed am I the greatest of sinners!!!
~ Baha'u'llah
Kindest Regards,Mona :)
What if...
by BeeTaraf on Fri May 30, 2008 12:17 AM PDTWhat if all people could respect one another?
From what little that I have read about this man it appears
that he was a noble and knowledgeable person.
The fact that he was a threat to the establishment both inside and
outside of Iran shows that he was telling the truth and was trying to help the
impoverished people. Also the severity
of his follower’s punishment even today, shows that the powers in charge are
really afraid of his teachings.
It is really a shame on all of humanity that such brave,
knowledgeable and passionate people are tortured and abused. In a perfect world such a person would have
been free to preach his message of kindness and compassion! On the other hand when the issues of
eliminating or re-distributing extreme wealth surfaces then those who are in
power are afraid that they might lose their power and consequently their
accumulated wealth and therefore would do incredible cruelty to protect their
position!
It reminds me of how Jesus paid the ultimate price for his
ideas and actions.
Even though I do not believe in and don’t see the need for
organized religion, it is not very beneficial to destroy anyone for his or her
ideas and teachings. If we keep on this
same path and punish those rare individuals who can offer new ideas to improve
our miserable existence then what would happen to “progress”? How could we improve our condition? That is the question.
Obviously we do not gain any benefit in imprisoning and
killing innocent people because of their religious beliefs! A good example would be a gardener who would
be cutting down his best producing apple trees because the apples happen to be
red in lieu of green…
Baha’u’llah as son of a nobleman
by nema on Thu May 29, 2008 09:39 PM PDTBaha’u’llah as son of a nobleman, a Minister in Naseradin Shah administration who sacrificed every thing he could have had and put up with jail, torture, loss of wealth and status and banishment for the rest of his life until he died in a far distance land, far away from Iran he loved dearly. The land was part of Ottoman Empire at that time, (there was no Israel at that time so don’t argue the old fashion of Zionist argument with me). Baha’u’llah is the one who talks of “equality of man and woman”, “children education”, “eradication of extreme wealth and poverty” and many many other noble ideas we desperately need these day. Shame on us Iranian who bash him, because he is now buried in a foreign land that Islamic Republic calls the enemy, shame on us for not recognizing his station, shame for us who are a witness of Bahai prosecution in Iran, my dear fellow countrymen.
Dear Farad I respect your opinion .
by Tahirih on Thu May 29, 2008 09:16 PM PDTBut remember , just because you can not see oxygen it does not mean it does not exist.
Bahaullah , was this nobleman from a Nobel family in Iran why do you think he sacrificed his life to be in jail all his life? Just to deceit people?
usually when someone does that they get some sort of gain!! isn't it ? so why would he does it with no prospect of any earthly gain?
Just think about it.
Tahirih
I respect anyone's religious beliefs!
by farrad02 on Thu May 29, 2008 06:31 PM PDTAnd I have to tell you respectfully that all religions, their books and their teachings are man-made. Islam, Christianity, Bahaiism; all of them! They are just systems for controlling people and often using and manipulating the masses to serve humanly interests!!! And the masters of religion often don't want people to know this deception!
I haven't seen anything or anyone that can convince me otherwise!
Have a nice day! Bahaii or otherwise!
And if this comment gets censored and removed; it will prove my argument!
Good for Iranian.com
by Ali P. on Thu May 29, 2008 02:52 PM PDTWhen I think of it, I do not remember reading about "Baha'u'llah" and Bahaii's, in any other Persian publication, other than in their own publication. In the ones that do mention Bahaii's, they are usually associated with Zionism, or branded with other accusations.
This article was very informative. Thank you.
I guess now, on top of being the mouth piece of "IRI", "Pahlavichis", "MKO","Zionists","Bush", Iranian.com is going to be labeled with secretly promoting Bahaiiat!
:-)
Hats off to JJ
Ali P.
"He is the King, the
by scb (not verified) on Thu May 29, 2008 10:44 AM PDT"He is the King, the All-Knowing, the Wise!
Lo, the Nightingale of Paradise singeth upon the twigs of the Tree of Eternity, with holy and sweet melodies, proclaiming to the sincere ones the glad tidings of the nearness of God, calling the believers in the Divine Unity to the court of the Presence of the Generous One, informing the severed ones of the message which hath been revealed by God, the King, the Glorious, the Peerless, guiding the lovers to the seat of sanctity and to this resplendent Beauty.
Verily this is that Most Great Beauty, foretold in the Books of the Messengers, through Whom truth shall be distinguished from error and the wisdom of every command shall be tested. Verily He is the Tree of Life that bringeth forth the fruits of God, the Exalted, the Powerful, the Great. . .
. . .Thus doth the Nightingale utter His call unto you from this prison. He hath but to deliver this clear message. Whosoever desireth, let him turn aside from this counsel and whosoever desireth let him choose the path to his Lord. . ."
- Baha'u'llah
From Tablet of Ahmad
(In Honor of this Holy Day which is the 116th anniversary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah and ever mindful of our Beloved Friends in Iran.)