We should remember the suffering that occurred at this prison - the prison designated by Him as the Most Great Prison, which is deeply significant considering the conditions under which He suffered in the ‘Black-Pit’, the Siyah-Chal, in Tehran. He had just arrived when he was forced to sell His carpet, the carpet He used to sleep on, to pay for the funeral expenses of one of the members of His entourage. Even after paying the expenses, the body was still treated very disrespectfully, but He had to make the attempt. It was while confined to this Cell that He sacrificed His son. Many, many other afflictions were faced by Him there.
Many events of note also took place in this Cell, one of which was His giving the Tablet to the Shah of Persia to Badi for its delivery. Baha’u’llah had written the Tablet prior to His arrival in Acco, but there was not a believer at that time who exhibited the necessary levels of devotion and sacrifice. So to give the Tablet to Badi, He bound the eyes of the guards so that Badi could be smuggled into His presence and safely back out again. The second Tablet to Napoleon and the Tablet to Queen Victoria were also written from this Cell.
The significance of the line “Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace” is
one that needs to be understood (from a Tablet to the kings of the earth
written in the Cell, Baha’u’llah, Proclamation of Baha’u’llah, p. 12). During
that time period, the kings and rulers of the earth had the power to accept His
Cause and have their people accept it as well. Imagine for a minute that had
they accepted Him the world could have changed in an instant - the Most Great
Peace would have come into being immediately. Because of their refusal,
however, and even worse the refusal of the heads of the various religions of
the time, the power of the kings and rulers will be greatly diminished in the
future and never again will humanity have a priesthood. The power and authority
could have stayed with them, but they denied Him and so they have lost it
forever. Continuing the line, “hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that
haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your
dependents.” is telling us that the power to rule has now been given to the
common believer.
All of this happened in the Cell - what a very special privilege it is to visit
there.
- Hartmut Grossman (Excerpts from a talk given by Universal House of
Justice Member Hartmut Grossman to the first group of Baha’i Pilgrims to enter
the Cell of Baha’u’llah after a break of eight years. This talk was given on
the evening of October 30th, 2003)
...read
the entire talk