The period of the Báb’s banishment to the mountains of
Ádhirbayján, lasting no less than three years, constitutes the saddest, the
most dramatic, and in a sense the most pregnant phase of His six year ministry.
It comprises His nine months’ unbroken confinement in the fortress of Máh-Kú,
and His subsequent incarceration in the fortress of Chihríq, which was
interrupted only by a brief yet memorable visit to Tabríz. It was overshadowed
throughout by the implacable and mounting hostility of the two most powerful
adversaries of the Faith, the Grand Vizir of Muhammad Sháh, Hájí Mírzá Aqásí,
and the Amír-Nizám, the Grand Vizir of Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh. It corresponds to the
most critical stage of the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, during His exile to
Adrianople, when confronted with the despotic Sulṭán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz and his
ministers, ‘Alí Páshá and Fu’ád Páshá, and is paralleled by the darkest days of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry in the Holy Land, under the oppressive rule of the
tyrannical ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd and the equally tyrannical Jamál Páshá.
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
