When… We went to Ámul, [December
1848] such was the turmoil which the people had raised that above four thousand
persons had congregated in the masjid and had crowded onto the roofs of their
houses. The leading mullá of the town denounced Us bitterly… We informed him
that, although We had never met Him face to face, yet We cherished, none the
less, a great affection for Him. We expressed Our profound conviction that He
had, under no circumstances, acted contrary to the Faith of Islám.
The mullá and his
followers, however refused to believe Us, and rejected Our testimony as a
perversion of the truth. They eventually placed Us in confinement, and forbade
Our friends to meet Us. The acting governor of Ámul
succeeded in effecting Our release from captivity. Through an opening in the
wall that he ordered his men to make, he enabled Us to leave that room, and
conducted Us to his house. No sooner were the inhabitants informed of this act
than they arose against Us, besieged the governor’s residence, pelted Us with
stones, and hurled in Our face the foulest invectives.
- Baha’u’llah (Quoted in
‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
