Erelong shall the exponents of wealth and power banish Us
from the land of Adrianople to the city of ‘Akká. According to what they say,
it is the most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them
in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the foulest in water. It is
as though it were the metropolis of the owl, within whose precincts naught can
be heard save the echo of its cry. Therein have they resolved to imprison this
Youth, to shut against our faces the doors of ease and comfort, and to deprive
us of every worldly benefit throughout the remainder of our days.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Nasiri’d-Din Shah, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of
the Lord of Hosts’)
