d to 'Iraq. To these
tribulations He Himself has referred as "afflictions" that "rained" upon
Him, whilst the blood shed by His companions and lovers He characterized
as the blood which "impregnated" the earth with the "wondrous revelation"
of God's "might."

Nor should the momentous character of the unique event, that may be
regarded as the climax and consummation of this tragic period, be
overlooked or underestimated, inasmuch as its centenary synchronizes with
the termination of the sixteen-month interval separating the American
Baha'i Community from the conclusion of its present Plan. This unique
event, the centenary of which is to be befittingly celebrated, not only in
the American continent but throughout the Baha'i world, and is destined to
be regarded as the culmination of the Second Seven Year Plan, is none
other than the "Year Nine," anticipated 2,000 years ago as the "third woe"
by St. John the Divine, alluded to by both _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad and Siyyid
Kazim--the twin luminaries that heralded the advent of the Faith of the
Bab--specifically mentioned and extolled by the Herald of the Baha'i
Dispensation in His Writings, and eulogized by both the Founder of our
Faith and the Center of His Covenant. In that year, the year "after Hin"
(68), mentioned by _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad, the year that witnessed the birth of
the Mission of the promised "Qayyum," specifically referred to by Siyyid
Kazim, the "requisite number" in the words of Baha'u'llah "of pure, of
wholly consecrated and sanctified souls" had been "most secretly
consummated." In that year, as testified by the pen of the Bab, the
"realities of the created things" were "made manifest," "a new creation
was born" and the seed of His Faith revealed its "ultimate perfection." In
that year, as borne witness by 'Abdu'l-Baha, a hitherto "embryonic Faith"
was born. In that year, while the Blessed Beauty lay in chains and
fetters, in that dark and pestilential pit, "the breezes of the
All-Glorious," as He Himself described it, "were wafted" over Him. There,
whilst His neck was weighted down by the Qara-Guhar, His feet in stocks,
breathing the fetid air of the Siyah-_Ch_al, He dreamed His dream and
heard, "on every side," "exalted words," and His "tongue recited" words
that "no man could bear to hear."

There, as He Himself has recorded, under the impact of this dream, He
experienced the onrushing force of His newly revealed Mission, that
"flowed" even as "a mighty torrent" fr