mobilization of Turkish troops necessitated the removal of Baha'u'llah and
all who bore Him company from the barracks. He and His family were
accordingly assigned the house of Malik, in the western quarter of the
city, whence, after a brief stay of three months, they were moved by the
authorities to the house of _Kh_avvam which faced it, and from which,
after a few months, they were again obliged to take up new quarters in the
house of Rabi'ih, being finally transferred, four months later, to the
house of Udi _Kh_ammar, which was so insufficient to their needs that in
one of its rooms no less than thirteen persons of both sexes had to
accommodate themselves. Some of the companions had to take up their
residence in other houses, while the remainder were consigned to a
caravanserai named the _Kh_an-i-'Avamid.

Their strict confinement had hardly been mitigated, and the guards who had
kept watch over them been dismissed, when an internal crisis, which had
been brewing in the midst of the community, was brought to a sudden and
catastrophic climax. Such had been the conduct of two of the exiles, who
had been included in the party that accompanied Baha'u'llah to Akka, that
He was eventually forced to expel them, an act of which Siyyid Muhammad
did not hesitate to take the fullest advantage. Reinforced by these
recruits, he, together with his old associates, acting as spies, embarked
on a campaign of abuse, calumny and intrigue, even more pernicious than
that which had been launched by him in Constantinople, calculated to
arouse an already prejudiced and suspicious populace to a new pitch of
animosity and excitement. A fresh danger now clearly threatened the life
of Baha'u'llah. Though He Himself had stringently forbidden His followers,
on several occasions, both verbally and in writing, any retaliatory acts
against their tormentors, and had even sent back to Beirut an
irresponsible Arab convert, who had meditated avenging the wrongs suffered
by his beloved Leader, seven of the companions clandestinely sought out
and slew three of their persecutors, among whom were Siyyid Muhammad and
Aqa Jan.

The consternation that seized an already oppressed community was
indescribable. Baha'u'llah's indignation knew no bounds. "Were We," He
thus voices His emotions, in a Tablet revealed shortly after this act had
been committed, "to make mention of what befell Us, the heavens would be
rent asunder and the mountains would crumble." "My ca