Leaving for the last time, amidst weeping and lamentation,
His “Most Holy Habitation,” out of which had “gone forth the breath of the
All-Glorious,” and from which had poured forth, in “ceaseless strains,” the
“melody of the All-Merciful,” and dispensing on His way with a lavish hand a
last alms to the poor He had so faithfully befriended, and uttering words of
comfort to the disconsolate who besought Him on every side, He, at length,
reached the banks of the river, and was ferried across, accompanied by His sons
and amanuensis, to the Najíbíyyih Garden, situated on the opposite shore. “O My
companions,” He thus addressed the faithful band that surrounded Him before He
embarked, “I entrust to your keeping this city of Baghdád, in the state
ye now behold it, when from the eyes of friends and strangers alike, crowding
its housetops, its streets and markets, tears like the rain of spring are
flowing down, and I depart. With you it now rests to watch lest your deeds and
conduct dim the flame of love that gloweth within the breasts of its
inhabitants.”
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
