Dear friends! Enough has been said to portray the
tribulations which, for so long a time, overwhelmed the Founders of so
preeminent a Revelation, and which the world has so disastrously ignored.
Sufficient attention has also been directed to the Messages addressed to those
sovereign rulers who, either in the exercise of their unconditioned authority,
have deliberately provoked these sufferings, or could have, in the plenitude of
their power, arisen to mitigate their effect or deflect their tragic course.
Let us now consider the consequences that have ensued. The reaction of these
monarchs was, as already stated, varied and unmistakable and, as the march of
events has gradually unfolded, disastrous in its consequences. One of the most
outstanding amongst these sovereigns treated the Divine Summons with gross
disrespect, dismissing it with a curt and insolent reply, written by one of his
ministers. Another laid violent hold on the bearer of the Message, tortured,
branded, and brutally slew him. Others preferred to maintain a contemptuous
silence. All failed completely in their duty to arise and extend their
assistance. Two of them, in particular, prompted by the dual impulse of fear
and anger, tightened their grip on the Cause they had jointly resolved to
uproot. The one condemned his Divine Prisoner to yet another banishment, to
“the most unsightly of cities in appearance, the most detestable in climate,
and the foulest in water,” whilst the other, powerless to lay hands on the
Prime Mover of a hated Faith, subjected its adherents under his sway to abject
and savage cruelties. The recital of Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings, embodied in
those Messages, failed to evoke compassion in their hearts. His appeals, the
like of which neither the annals of Christianity nor even those of Islám have
recorded, were disdainfully rejected. The dark warnings He uttered were
haughtily scorned. The bold challenges He issued were ignored. The
chastisements He predicted they derisively brushed aside.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The
Promised Day Is Come’)
