" they
reported. "He is not, as he seems, a man of Bu_kh_ara. He has come here to
seek for news of Baha'u'llah." The authorities expelled him at once.

Nabil, despairing, withdrew to the town of Safad. Later he came on to
Haifa, where he made his home in a cave on Mount Carmel. He lived apart
from friend and stranger alike, lamenting night and day, moaning and
chanting prayers. There he remained as a recluse, and waited for the doors
to open. When the predestined time of captivity was over, and the gates
were flung wide, and the Wronged One issued forth in beauty, in majesty
and glory, Nabil hastened to Him with a joyful heart. Then he used himself
up like a candle, burning away with the love of God. Day and night he sang
the praises of the one Beloved of both worlds and of those about His
threshold, writing verses in the pentameter and hexameter forms, composing
lyrics and long odes. Almost daily, he was admitted to the presence of the
Manifestation.(19)

This went on until the day Baha'u'llah ascended. At that supreme
affliction, that shattering calamity, Nabil sobbed and trembled and cried
out to Heaven. He found that the numerical value of the word
"_sh_idad"--year of stress--was 309, and it thus became evident that
Baha'u'llah foretold what had now come to pass.(20)

Utterly cast down, hopeless at being separated from Baha'u'llah, fevered,
shedding tears, Nabil was in such anguish that anyone seeing him was
bewildered. He struggled on, but the only desire he had was to lay down
his life. He could suffer no longer; his longing was aflame in him; he
could stand the fiery pain no more. And so he became king of the cohorts
of love, and he rushed into the sea.

Before that day when he offered himself up, he wrote out the year of his
death in the one word: "Drowned."(21) Then he threw down his life for the
Well-Beloved, and was released from his despair, and no longer shut away.

This distinguished man was erudite, wise, and eloquent of speech. His
native genius was pure inspiration, his poetic gift like a crystal stream.
In particular his ode "Baha, Baha!" was written in sheer ecstasy.
Throughout all his life, from earliest youth till he was feeble and old,
he spent his time serving and worshiping the Lord. He bore hardships, he
lived through misfortunes, he suffered afflictions. From the lips of the
Manifestation he heard marvelous things. He was shown the lights of
Paradise; he won his dearest wish. And at the end