today in conspicuous
glory."

Collapse of Islam

The collapse of the power of the _Sh_i'ih hierarchy, in a land which had
for centuries been one of the impregnable strongholds of Muslim
fanaticism, was the inevitable consequence of that wave of secularization
which, at a later time, was to invade some of the most powerful and
conservative ecclesiastical institutions in both the European and American
continents. Though not the direct outcome of the last war, this sudden
trembling which had seized this hitherto immovable pillar of Islamic
orthodoxy accentuated the problems and deepened the restlessness with
which a war-weary world was being afflicted. _Sh_i'ih Islam had lost once
for all, in Baha'u'llah's native land and as the direct consequence of its
implacable hostility to His Faith, its combative power, had forfeited its
rights and privileges, had been degraded and demoralized, and was being
condemned to hopeless obscurity and ultimate extinction. No less than
twenty thousand martyrs, however, had to sacrifice their lives ere the
Cause for which they had stood and died could register this initial
victory over those who were the first to repudiate its claims and mow down
its gallant warriors. "Vileness and poverty were stamped upon them, and
they returned with wrath from God."

"Behold," writes Baha'u'llah, commenting on the decline of a fallen
people, "how the sayings and doings of _Sh_i'ih Islam have dulled the joy
and fervor of its early days, and tarnished the pristine brilliancy of its
light. In its primitive days, whilst they still adhered to the precepts
associated with the name of their Prophet, the Lord of mankind, their
career was marked by an unbroken chain of victories and triumphs. As they
gradually strayed from the path of their Ideal Leader and Master, as they
turned away from the light of God and corrupted the principle of His
Divine unity, and as they increasingly centered their attention upon them
who were only the revealers of the potency of His Word, their power was
turned into weakness, their glory into shame, their courage into fear.
Thou dost witness to what a pass they have come."

The downfall of the Qajar Dynasty, the avowed defender and the willing
instrument of a decaying clergy, almost synchronized with the humiliation
which the _Sh_i'ih ecclesiastical leaders had suffered. From Muhammad
_Sh_ah down to the last and feeble monarch of that dynasty, the Faith of
Baha'u'llah was de