in the hope of
angering him, had submitted for his consideration, that he invariably
refused to enter His presence without first removing his shoes, as a token
of his respect for Him. It was even bruited about that his favored
counselors were those very exiles who were the followers of the Prisoner
in his custody. His own son he was wont to send to 'Abdu'l-Baha for
instruction and enlightenment. It was on the occasion of a long-sought
audience with Baha'u'llah that, in response to a request for permission to
render Him some service, the suggestion was made to him to restore the
aqueduct which for thirty years had been allowed to fall into disuse--a
suggestion which he immediately arose to carry out. To the inflow of
pilgrims, among whom were numbered the devout and venerable Mulla
Sadiq-i-_Kh_urasani and the father of Badi, both survivors of the struggle
of Tabarsi, he offered scarcely any opposition, though the text of the
imperial farman forbade their admission into the city. Mustafa Diya
Pa_sh_a, who became governor a few years later, had even gone so far as to
intimate that his Prisoner was free to pass through its gates whenever He
pleased, a suggestion which Baha'u'llah declined. Even the Mufti of Akka,
_Sh_ay_kh_ Mahmud, a man notorious for his bigotry, had been converted to
the Faith, and, fired by his newborn enthusiasm, made a compilation of the
Muhammadan traditions related to Akka. Nor were the occasionally
unsympathetic governors, despatched to that city, able, despite the
arbitrary power they wielded, to check the forces which were carrying the
Author of the Faith towards His virtual emancipation and the ultimate
accomplishment of His purpose. Men of letters, and even 'ulamas residing
in Syria, were moved, as the years rolled by, to voice their recognition
of Baha'u'llah's rising greatness and power. Aziz Pa_sh_a, who, in
Adrianople, had evinced a profound attachment to 'Abdu'l-Baha, and had in
the meantime been promoted to the rank of Vali, twice visited Akka for the
express purpose of paying his respects to Baha'u'llah, and to renew his
friendship with One Whom he had learned to admire and revere.

Though Baha'u'llah Himself practically never granted personal interviews,
as He had been used to do in Ba_gh_dad, yet such was the influence He now
wielded that the inhabitants openly asserted that the noticeable
improvement in the climate and water of their city was directly
attributable to His continued prese