Bahá’u’lláh’s visit to Núr had produced the most
far-reaching results, and had lent a remarkable impetus to the spread of the
new-born Revelation. By His magnetic eloquence, by the purity of His life, by
the dignity of His bearing, by the unanswerable logic of His argument, and by
the many evidences of His loving-kindness, Bahá’u’lláh had won the hearts of
the people of Núr, had stirred their souls, and had enrolled them under the
standard of the Faith. Such was the effect of words and deeds, as He went about
preaching the Cause and revealing its glory to His countrymen in Núr, that the
very stones and trees of that district seemed to have been quickened by the
waves of spiritual power which emanated from His person. All things seemed to
be endowed with a new and more abundant life, all things seemed to be
proclaiming aloud: “Behold, the Beauty of God has been made manifest! Arise,
for He has come in all His glory.” The people of Núr, when Bahá’u’lláh had
departed from out their midst, continued to propagate the Cause and to
consolidate its foundations. A number of them endured the severest afflictions
for His sake; others quaffed with gladness the cup of martyrdom in His path.
Mázindarán in general, and Núr in particular, were thus distinguished from the
other provinces and districts of Persia, as being the first to have eagerly
embraced the Divine Message. The district of Núr, literally meaning “light,”
which lay embedded within the mountains of Mázindarán, was the first to catch
the rays of the Sun that had arisen in Shíráz, the first to proclaim to the
rest of Persia, which still lay enveloped in the shadow of the vale of
heedlessness, that the Day-Star of heavenly guidance had at length arisen to
warm and illuminate the whole land.
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and
edited by Shoghi Effendi)
