| 1863 Dec |
Prelude to the exile from Constantinople:
It was during Bahá'u'lláh's stay in Constantinople that the conciliatory attitude of the authorities changed to that of hostility as a direct consequence of the intrigues and misrepresentations of the Persian Ambassador. [ALM16]
News was brought to Bahá'u'lláh by Shamsí Big of the possibility that He would be transferred to Adrianople. [BKG199]
Bahá'u'lláh refused to leave, on pain of martyrdom, but Mírzá Yahyá and his comrades, cowardly and fearful, persuaded Him to go. [BKG201–3]
Sultán 'Abdu'l-'Azíz issued an edict banishing Bahá'u'lláh to Adrianople. It was issued "less than four months after the arrival of the exiles." [GPB159–60; RB2:57]
The decision was taken to further exile Bahá'u'lláh in part due to the machinations of the Persian Ambassador Mírzá Husayn Khán and his accomplice, Hájí Mírzá Hasan-i-Safá whose government was continually pressing the Turkish forces to arouse hostility against HIm. [GPB159]
See BBIC:34, note 68, BKG201 and GPB159 for reasons for the edict.
On the same day Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Lawh-i-'Abdu'l-'Azíz-Va-Vukalá, a Tablet addressed to the Sultán. When the Grand Vizier perused it he turned pale. The text of this Tablet has been lost. [BKG206; GPB160]
"...Sultán 'Abdu'l-'Azíz, the self-styled vicar of the Prophet of Islám and the absolute ruler of a mighty empire. So potent, so august a personage was the first among the sovereigns of the world to receive the Divine Summons, and the first among Oriental monarchs to sustain the impact of God's retributive justice." [GPB158] |
* Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Lawh-i-`Abdu'l-Aziz-Va-Vukala (Tablet to the Sultan); Mírzá Husayn Khan; Hájí Mírzá Hasan-i-Safa; Mírzá Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Sultán `Abdu'l-Azíz; - Missing, lost or destroyed Writings; Istanbul, Turkey; Edirne (Adrianople), Turkey; Turkey |
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