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192. God hath laid hold on him who led thee astray. # 184 |
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A reference to Siyyid Muḥammad-i-Iṣfahání, who is
described by Shoghi Effendi as the “Antichrist of the Bahá’í
Revelation”. He was a man of corrupt character and great
personal ambition who induced Mírzá Yaḥyá to oppose
Bahá’u’lláh and to claim prophethood for himself (see note
190). Although he was an adherent of Mírzá Yaḥyá, Siyyid
Muḥammad was exiled with Bahá’u’lláh to ‘Akká. He
continued to agitate and plot against Bahá’u’lláh. In
describing the circumstances of his death, Shoghi Effendi
has written in God Passes By:
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A fresh danger now clearly threatened the life of
Bahá’u’lláh. Though He Himself had stringently forbidden
His followers, on several occasions, both verbally and
in writing, any retaliatory acts against their tormentors,
and had even sent back to Beirut an irresponsible Arab
convert, who had meditated avenging the wrongs
suffered by his beloved Leader, seven of the companions
clandestinely sought out and slew three of their
persecutors, among whom were Siyyid Muḥammad and
Áqá Ján.
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The consternation that seized an already oppressed
community was indescribable. Bahá’u’lláh’s indignation
knew no bounds. “Were We”, He thus voices His
emotions, in a Tablet revealed shortly after this act had
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been committed, “to make mention of what befell Us, the
heavens would be rent asunder and the mountains would
crumble.” “My captivity”, He wrote on another occasion,
“cannot harm Me. That which can harm Me is the conduct of
those who love Me, who claim to be related to Me, and yet
perpetrate what causeth My heart and My pen to groan.”
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