The family first heard of the crisis when suddenly a servant came running to lady Ásíyih at the rented mansion in Teheran, crying out that the Master had been arrested and had walked many miles, that His clothes were torn, His feet bare and bleeding, and that He had been mistreated. Quickly the storm broke about their heads as the outcries against the Bábís began and were propagated so that, alarmed, all the Núrí relatives fled their houses in Teheran and were followed by their servants, save only faithful black Isfandíyár and a single black servant-woman. The houses of Bahá’u’lláh and His kindred were looted and stripped by plundering mobs, so that in a single day the family was reduced from wealth to poverty.
- David Ruhe (‘Robe of Light: The Persian Years of the Supreme Prophet Bahá’u’lláh 1817-1853)
