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The Grand Vazír then remembered the discussion he had had with Bahá’u’lláh shortly after the government ordered execution of the Báb had taken place, when Bahá’u’lláh, had told him: “the flame that has been kindled will blaze forth more fiercely than ever”. 45_ACT16
‘“The warning you uttered,” he [the Grand Vazír] remarked, “has, alas been fulfilled. What is it that you advise me now to do?”
“Command the governors of the realm,” was the instant reply, “to cease shedding the blood of the innocent, to cease plundering their property, to cease dishonouring their women and injuring their children. Let them cease the persecution of the Faith of the Báb; let them abandon the idle hope of wiping out its followers.”
46_ACT16
The Grand Vazír did issue orders right away, which were sent to various governors of the provinces, that the persecution of the Bábís be halted. But alas, as history will show, that is not what happened.
Bahá’u’lláh returns to His Family
While Bahá’u’lláh had been taken to the Síyáh-Chál, His immediate family did not fare much better. The mob had attacked and ransacked His house in Tihrán. The immediate family [Ásíyih Khánum, and the three children, nine-year-old ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, seven-year-old Bahíyyih and three-year-old Mihdí] 47_ACT16 had escaped but were out on the streets with virtually nothing. The other extended family members were afraid to give them shelter in case they were labelled as Bábís and similarly attacked. Ásíyih Khánum with what little she had, managed to rent a small place [two little rooms] in an obscure quarter of the city. They had so little, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá describing that time said: “Life became so difficult that one day Mother put a little flour in my hand and I ate it like that.”
48_ACT16
When Bahá’u’lláh was first released, He went to stay with the family in those two little rooms, but He was physically in very poor condition. One of Bahá’u’lláh’s
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