tirpate a mere handful of its
condemned subjects must, to every unbelieving observer, remain one of the
most intriguing and mysterious episodes of contemporary history.

The Cause of which Baha'u'llah was still the visible leader had, despite
the calculations of a short-sighted enemy, undeniably triumphed. No
unbiased mind, penetrating the surface of conditions surrounding the
Prisoner of Akka, could any longer mistake or deny it. Though the tension
which had been relaxed was, for a time, heightened after Baha'u'llah's
ascension and the perils of a still unsettled situation were revived, it
was becoming increasingly evident that the insidious forces of decay,
which for many a long year were eating into the vitals of a diseased
nation, were now moving towards a climax. A series of internal
convulsions, each more devastating than the previous one, had already been
unchained, destined to bring in their wake one of the most catastrophic
occurrences of modern times. The murder of that arrogant despot in the
year 1876; the Russo-Turkish conflict that soon followed in its wake; the
wars of liberation which succeeded it; the rise of the Young Turk
movement; the Turkish Revolution of 1909 that precipitated the downfall of
'Abdu'l-Hamid; the Balkan wars with their calamitous consequences; the
liberation of Palestine enshrining within its bosom the cities of Akka and
Haifa, the world center of an emancipated Faith; the further dismemberment
decreed by the Treaty of Versailles; the abolition of the Sultanate and
the downfall of the House of U_th_man; the extinction of the Caliphate;
the disestablishment of the State Religion; the annulment of the
_Sh_ari'ah Law and the promulgation of a universal Civil Code; the
suppression of various orders, beliefs, traditions and ceremonials
believed to be inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the Muslim
Faith--these followed with an ease and swiftness that no man had dared
envisage. In these devastating blows, administered by friend and foe
alike, by Christian nations and professing Muslims, every follower of the
persecuted Faith of Baha'u'llah recognized evidences of the directing Hand
of the departed Founder of his religion, Who, from the invisible Realm,
was unloosing a flood of well-deserved calamities upon a rebellious
religion and nation.

Compare the evidences of Divine visitation which befell the persecutors of
Jesus Christ with these historic retributions which, in the latter part