A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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Letters to Kings |
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About this time Bahá’u’lláh wrote His famous letter to the
Sulṭán of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the
Pope, and the Sháh of Persia. Later, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas
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He
addressed other sovereigns, the rulers and Presidents of
America, the leaders of religion in general and the generality
of mankind. To all, He announced His mission and called upon
them to bend their energies to the establishment of true religion,
just government and international peace. In His letter
to the Sháh He powerfully pleaded the cause of the oppressed
Bábís and asked to be brought face to face with those who had
instigated their persecution. Needless to say, this request was
not complied with; Badí, the young and devoted Bahá’í who
delivered the letter of Bahá’u’lláh, was seized and martyred
with fearful tortures, hot bricks being pressed on his flesh!
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O King, I have seen in the way of God what no eye hath
seen and no ear hath heard. Friends have disclaimed me;
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ways are straitened unto me; the pool of safety is dried
up; the plain of ease is [scorched] yellow. How many
calamities have descended, and how many will descend!
I walk advancing toward the Mighty, the Bounteous,
while behind me glides the serpent. My eyes rain down
tears until my bed is drenched; but my sorrow is not for
myself. By God, my head longeth for the spears for the
love of its Lord, and I never pass by a tree but my heart
addresseth it [saying], “O would that thou wert cut down
in my name and my body were crucified upon thee in
the way of my Lord;” yea, because I see mankind going
astray in their intoxication, and they know it not: they
have exalted their lusts, and put aside their God, as though
they took the command of God for a mockery, a sport,
and a plaything; and they think that they do well, and
that they are harboured in the citadel of security. The
matter is not as they suppose: to-morrow they shall see
what they [now] deny.
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We are about to shift from this most remote place of
banishment [Adrianople] unto the prison of Acre. And,
according to what they say, it is assuredly the most
desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of
them in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and
the foulest in water; it is as though it were the metropolis
of the owl; there is not heard from its regions aught save the
sound of its hooting. And in it they intend to imprison the
servant, and to shut in our faces the doors of leniency
and take away from us the good things of the life of the
world during what remaineth of our days. By God,
though weariness should weaken me, and hunger should
destroy me, though my couch should be made of the
hard rock and my associates of the beasts of the desert, I
will not blench, but will be patient, as the resolute and
determined are patient, in the strength of God, the King
of Pre-existence, the Creator of the nations; and under
all circumstances I give thanks unto God. And we hope
of His graciousness (exalted is He) … that He will
render [all men’s] faces sincere toward Him, the Mighty,
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the Bounteous. Verily He answereth him who prayeth
unto Him, and is near unto him who calleth on Him. And
we ask Him to make this dark calamity a buckler for
the body of His saints, and to protect them thereby from
sharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction
hath His light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly:
this hath been His method through past ages and
bygone times. A Traveller’s Narrative (Episode of the
Báb), pp. 145–147.
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The Aqdas, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Book of Aqdas, and The Most Holy Book all refer to the same book.
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