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For, with the Bab no longer in the midst of His followers; with His nominee, either seeking a safe hiding place in the mountains of Mazindaran, or wearing the disguise of a dervish or of an Arab wandering from town to town; with Baha'u'llah imprisoned and subsequently banished beyond the limits of His native country; with the flower of the Faith mown down in a seemingly unending series of slaughters, the remnants of that persecuted community were sunk in a distress that appalled and paralyzed them, that stifled their spirit, confused their minds and strained to the utmost their loyalty. Reduced to this extremity they could no longer rely on any voice that commanded sufficient authority to still their forebodings, resolve their problems, or prescribe to them their duties and obligations. (113:1) Nabil, traveling at that time through the province of Khurasan, the scene of the tumultuous early victories of a rising Faith, had himself summed up his impressions of the prevailing condition. "The fire of the Cause of God," he testifies in his narrative, "had been well- nigh quenched in every place. I could detect no trace of warmth anywhere." In Qasvin, according to the same testimony, the remnant of the community had split into four factions, bitterly opposed to one another, and a prey to the most absurd doctrines and fancies. Baha'u'llah upon His arrival in Baghdad, a city which had witnessed the glowing evidences of the indefatigable zeal of Tahirih, found among His countrymen residing in that city no more than a single Babi, while in Kazimayn inhabited chiefly by Persians, a mere handful of His compatriots remained who still professed, in fear and obscurity, their faith in the Bab.
(113:2)
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