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In Persia the early believers in this revelation met with the utmost opposition, persecution and cruelty at the hands of their fellow countrymen, but they faced all calamities and ordeals with sublime heroism, firmness and patience. Their baptism was in their own blood, for many thousands of them perished as martyrs; while thousands more were beaten, imprisoned, stripped of their possessions, driven from their homes or otherwise ill-treated. For sixty years or more anyone in Persia who dared to own allegiance to the Bab or Baha'u'llah did so at the risk of his property, his freedom and even his life. Yet this determined and ferocious opposition could not more check the progress of the Movement than a cloud of dust could keep the sun from rising.
(160:4)
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