Ye [1] have plundered and unjustly despoiled a group of
people who have never rebelled in your domains, nor disobeyed your government,
but rather kept to themselves and engaged day and night in the remembrance of
God. Later, when the order was issued to
banish this Youth, all were filled with dismay.
The officials in charge of My expulsion declared, however: “These others
have not been charged with any offence and have not been expelled by the
government. Should they desire to
accompany you, no one will oppose them.”
These hapless souls therefore paid their own expenses, forsook all their
possessions, and, contenting themselves with Our presence and placing their
whole trust in God, journeyed once again with Him until the fortress of ‘Akká
became the prison of Bahá.
Upon our arrival, we were surrounded by guards and confined
together, men and women, young and old alike, in the army barracks. The first night all were deprived of either
food or drink, for the sentries were guarding the gate of the barracks and
permitted no one to leave. No one gave a
thought to the plight of these wronged ones.
They even begged for water, and were refused.
- Baha’u’llah (From Lawḥ-i-Ra’ís, ‘Summons of the Lord of
Hosts’)
[1] A second Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh addressed to ‘Álí Páshá,
the Ottoman Prime Minister, referred to here as Ra’ís (Chief or Ruler);
revealed in Persian shortly after Bahá’u’lláh’s arrival and confinement in
‘Akká.
