to an official who had reported to Him that, because of
the devotion to His person which an evildoer had professed, he had
hesitated to inflict upon that criminal the punishment he deserved: "Tell
him, no one in this world can claim any relationship to Me except those
who, in all their deeds and in their conduct, follow My example, in such
wise that all the peoples of the earth would be powerless to prevent them
from doing and saying that which is meet and seemly." "This brother of
Mine," He further declared to that official, "this Mirza Musa, who is from
the same mother and father as Myself, and who from his earliest childhood
has kept Me company, should he perpetrate an act contrary to the interests
of either the state or religion, and his guilt be established in your
sight, I would be pleased and appreciate your action were you to bind his
hands and cast him into the river to drown, and refuse to consider the
intercession of any one on his behalf." In another connection He, wishing
to stress His strong condemnation of all acts of violence, had written:
"It would be more acceptable in My sight for a person to harm one of My
own sons or relatives rather than inflict injury upon any soul."

"Most of those who surrounded Baha'u'llah," wrote Nabil, describing the
spirit that animated the reformed Babi community in Ba_gh_dad, "exercised
such care in sanctifying and purifying their souls, that they would suffer
no word to cross their lips that might not conform to the will of God, nor
would they take a single step that might be contrary to His
good-pleasure." "Each one," he relates, "had entered into a pact with one
of his fellow-disciples, in which they agreed to admonish one another,
and, if necessary, chastise one another with a number of blows on the
soles of the feet, proportioning the number of strokes to the gravity of
the offense against the lofty standards they had sworn to observe."
Describing the fervor of their zeal, he states that "not until the
offender had suffered the punishment he had solicited, would he consent to
either eat or drink."

The complete transformation which the written and spoken word of
Baha'u'llah had effected in the outlook and character of His companions
was equalled by the burning devotion which His love had kindled in their
souls. A passionate zeal and fervor, that rivalled the enthusiasm that had
glowed so fiercely in the breasts of the Bab's disciples in their moments
of greatest exal