Baha'u'llah & the New Era 2006 - J. Esslemont
 <<   <-   >   >>
Page 18 of  180

Tomb on Mount Carmel
After the Bab's martyrdom, His remains, with those of His devoted companion, were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall. On the second night they were rescued at midnight by some of the Babis, and after being concealed for years in secret depositories in Persia, were ultimately brought, with great danger and difficulty, to the Holy Land. There they are now interred in a tomb beautifully situated on the slope of Mount Carmel, not far from the Cave of Elijah, and only a few miles from the spot where Baha'u'llah spent His last years and where His remains now lie. Among the thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world who come to pay homage at the Holy Tomb of Baha'u'llah, none omits to offer a prayer also at the shrine of His devoted lover and forerunner, the Bab (18:3)

Writings of Bab
The Writings of the Bab were voluminous, and the rapidity with which, without study or premeditation, He composed elaborate commentaries, profound expositions or eloquent prayers was regarded as one of the proofs of His divine inspiration (18:3)

The purport of His various Writings has been summarized as follows:
Some of these [the Bab's Writings] were commentaries on, and interpretations of the verses of the Qur'an; some were prayers, homilies, and hints of [the true significance of certain] passages; others were exhortations, admonitions, dissertations on the different branches of the doctrine of the Divine Unity .. encouragements to amendment of character, severance from worldly states, and dependence on the inspirations of God. But the essence and purport of his compositions were the praises and descriptions of that Reality soon to appear which was his only object and aim, his darling, and his desire. For he regarded his own appearance as that of a harbinger of good tidings, and considered his own real nature merely as a means for the manifestation of the greater perfections of that One. And indeed he ceased not from celebrating Him by night or day for a single instant, but used to signify to all his followers that they should expect His arising: in such wise that he declares in his writings, "I am a letter out of that most mighty book and a dew- drop from that limitless ocean, and, when He shall appear, my true nature, my mysteries, riddles, and intimations will become evident, and the embryo of this religion shall develop through the grades of its being and ascent, attain to the station of 'the most comely of forms,' and become adorned with the robe of 'blessed be God, the Best of Creators.'" .. and so inflamed was he with His flame that commemoration of Him was the bright candle of his dark nights in the fortress of Mah- Kú, and remembrance of Him was the best of companions in the straits of the prison of Chihriq. Thereby he obtained spiritual enlargements; with His wine was he inebriated; and at remembrance of Him did he rejoice. - A Traveler's Narrative (Episode of the Bab) (18:4)

Get Next Page

  Baha'u'llah & the New Era 2006
  Citation Source List
: see