The prestige of the community, and particularly that of
Bahá’u’lláh, now began from its first inception in Kurdistán to mount in a
steadily rising crescendo. Bahá’u’lláh had scarcely gathered up again the reins
of the authority he had relinquished when the devout admirers He had left
behind in Sulaymáníyyih started to flock to Baghdád, with the name of “Darvísh
Muhammad” on their lips, and the “house of Mírzá Músá the Bábí” as their goal.
Astonished at the sight of so many ‘ulamás and Súfís of Kurdish origin…
thronging the house of Bahá’u’lláh, and impelled by racial and sectarian
rivalry, the religious leaders of the city… began to seek His presence, and,
having obtained completely satisfying answers to their several queries,
enrolled themselves among the band of His earliest admirers. The unqualified
recognition by these outstanding leaders of those traits that distinguished the
character and conduct of Bahá’u’lláh stimulated the curiosity, and later evoked
the unstinted praise, of a great many observers of less conspicuous position,
among whom figured poets, mystics and notables, who either resided in, or
visited, the city.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
