On His way to that fortress [Máh-Kú] the Báb passed a number
of days in Tabríz, days that were marked by such an intense excitement on the
part of the populace that, except for a few persons, neither the public nor His
followers were allowed to meet Him. As He was escorted through the streets of
the city the shout of “Alláh-u-Akbar” resounded on every side. So great,
indeed, became the clamor that the town crier was ordered to warn the
inhabitants that any one who ventured to seek the Báb’s presence would forfeit
all his possessions and be imprisoned. Upon His arrival in Máh-Kú, surnamed by
Him Jabál-i-Basít (the Open Mountain) no one was allowed to see Him for the
first two weeks except His amanuensis, Siyyid Ḥusayn, and his brother. So
grievous was His plight while in that fortress that, in the Persian Bayán, He
Himself has stated that at night-time He did not even have a lighted lamp, and
that His solitary chamber, constructed of sun-baked bricks, lacked even a door,
while, in His Tablet to Muhammad Sháh, He has complained that the inmates of
the fortress were confined to two guards and four dogs.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God
Passes By’)
