djacent to the door of that
house, would collect the sweepings in the folds of his own cloak, and,
scorning to cast his burden for the feet of others to tread upon, would
carry it as far as the banks of the river and throw it into its waters.
Unable, at length, to contain the ocean of love that surged within his
soul, he, after having denied himself for forty days both sleep and
sustenance, and rendering for the last time the service so dear to his
heart, betook himself, one day, to the banks of the river, on the road to
Kazimayn, performed his ablutions, lay down on his back, with his face
turned towards Ba_gh_dad, severed his throat with a razor, laid the razor
upon his breast, and expired. (1275 A.H.)

Nor was he the only one who had meditated such an act and was determined
to carry it out. Others were ready to follow suit, had not Baha'u'llah
promptly intervened, and ordered the refugees living in Ba_gh_dad to
return immediately to their native land. Nor could the authorities, when
it was definitely established that _Dh_abih had died by his own hand,
remain indifferent to a Cause whose Leader could inspire so rare a
devotion in, and hold such absolute sway over, the hearts of His lovers.
Apprized of the apprehensions that episode had evoked in certain quarters
in Ba_gh_dad, Baha'u'llah is reported to have remarked: "Siyyid Isma'il
was possessed of such power and might that were he to be confronted by all
the peoples of the earth, he would, without doubt, be able to establish
his ascendancy over them." "No blood," He is reported to have said with
reference to this same _Dh_abih, whom He extolled as "King and Beloved of
Martyrs," "has, till now, been poured upon the earth as pure as the blood
he shed."

"So intoxicated were those who had quaffed from the cup of Baha'u'llah's
presence," is yet another testimony from the pen of Nabil, who was himself
an eye-witness of most of these stirring episodes, "that in their eyes the
palaces of kings appeared more ephemeral than a spider's web.... The
celebrations and festivities that were theirs were such as the kings of
the earth had never dreamt of." "I, myself with two others," he relates,
"lived in a room which was devoid of furniture. Baha'u'llah entered it one
day, and, looking about Him, remarked: 'Its emptiness pleases Me. In My
estimation it is preferable to many a spacious palace, inasmuch as the
beloved of God are occupied in it with the remembrance of the Incomparabl