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The Persian Ambassador promptly informed the Persian consuls in Iraq and Egypt that the Turkish government had withdrawn its protection from the Babis, and that they were free to treat them as they pleased. Several pilgrims, among whom was Haji Muhammad Isma'il- i- Kashani, surnamed Anis in the Lawh- i- Ra'is, had, in the meantime, arrived in Adrianople, and had to depart to Gallipoli, without even beholding the face of their Master. Two of the companions were forced to divorce their wives, as their relatives refused to allow them to go into exile. Khurshid Pasha, who had already several times categorically denied the written accusations sent him by the authorities in Constantinople, and had interceded vigorously on behalf of Baha'u'llah, was so embarrassed by the action of his government that he decided to absent himself when informed of His immediate departure from the city, and instructed the Registrar to convey to Him the purport of the Sultan's edict. Haji Ja'far- i- Tabrizi, one of the believers, finding that his name had been omitted from the list of the exiles who might accompany Baha'u'llah, cut his throat with a razor, but was prevented in time from ending his life-- an act which Baha'u'llah, in the Suriy- i- Ra'is, characterizes as "unheard of in bygone centuries," and which "God hath set apart for this Revelation, as an evidence of the power of His might."
(180:1)
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