arim, considered it
as expedient that, in face of the agitation amongst the doctors, the
aggressiveness of the greater part of [the people of] Persia, and the
irresistible power of the Amir-Nizam, whereby both the Bab and Baha'u'llah
were in great danger and liable to incur severe punishment, some measure
should be adopted to direct the thoughts of men towards some absent
person, by which means Baha'u'llah would remain protected from the
interference of all men. And since further, having regard to sundry
considerations, they did not consider an outsider as suitable, they cast
the lot of this augury to the name of Baha'u'llah's brother Mirza Yahya.

By the assistance and instruction of Baha'u'llah, therefore, they made him
notorious and famous on the tongues of friends and foes, and wrote
letters, ostensibly at his dictation, to the Bab. And since secret
correspondences were in process the Bab highly approved of this scheme. So
Mirza Yahya was concealed and hidden while mention of him was on the
tongues and in the mouths of men. And this mighty plan was of wondrous
efficacy, for Baha'u'llah, though He was known and seen, remained safe and
secure, and this veil was the cause that no one outside [the sect]
fathomed the matter or fell into the idea of molestation, until
Baha'u'llah quitted Tihran at the permission of the King and was permitted
to withdraw to the Supreme Shrines.

When He reached Ba_gh_dad and the crescent moon of the month of Muharram
of the year [A.H. one thousand two hundred and] sixty-nine (which was
termed in the books of the Bab "the year of 'after a while'" and wherein
He had promised the disclosure of the true nature of His religion and its
mysteries) shone forth from the horizon of the world, this covert secret,
as is related, became apparent amongst all within and without [the
society]. Baha'u'llah with mighty steadfastness became a target for the
arrows of all amongst mankind, while Mirza Yahya in disguise passed his
time, now in the environs and vicinity of Ba_gh_dad engaged for better
concealment in various trades, now in Ba_gh_dad itself in the garb of the
Arabs.

Now Baha'u'llah so acted that the hearts of this sect were drawn towards
Him, while most of the inhabitants of 'Iraq were reduced to silence and
speechlessness, some being amazed and others angered. After remaining
there for one year He withdrew His hand from all things, abandoned
relatives and connections, and, without the knowledg