Yazíd (son of Mu’ávíyyih), Ummayad Caliph by whose order the Imám Ḥusayn was martyred. Proverbial for cruelty. Cf. S. Haím, New Persian-English Dictionary, s.v.
The rebellion of Mírzá Yaḥyá, who had been named provisional chief of the Bábí community. The Báb had never appointed a successor or viceregent, instead referring His disciples to the imminent advent of His Promised One. In the interim a virtual unknown was, for security reasons, made the ostensible leader. Following His declaration in 1863 as the Promised One of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh withdrew for a time, in Adrianople, to allow the exiles a free choice as between Him and this unworthy half brother, whose crimes and follies had threatened to destroy the infant Faith. Terrified at being challenged to face Bahá’u’lláh in a public debate, Mírzá Yaḥyá refused, and was completely discredited. As Bahá’í history has repeatedly demonstrated, this crisis too, however grievous, resulted in still greater victories for the Faith—including the rallying of prominent disciples to Bahá’u’lláh, and the global proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission, in His Tablets to the Pope and Kings. Cf. God Passes By, p. 28, Chapter X and passim.
Mírzá Yaḥyá had not been banished from Persia. Now, however, he was being exiled from Adrianople to Cyprus, and ‘Abdu’l-Ghaffár was one of the four companions condemned to go with him. Cf. Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 166, and God Passes By, p. 182.
Cf. Qur’án 11:101; 11:100; 76:5; 76:22; 17:20.
Cf. God Passes By, p. 108.
Cf. God Passes By, pp. 186; 193; 196.
Qur’án 54:55.
This reference to two worlds, du jihán, may indicate the saying: Iṣfáhán is half the world—Isfahan nisf-i-jihán.
For this definition of the Manifestation of God, see God Passes By, p. 119.
These “twin shining lights” were two brothers, famous merchants of Iṣfáhán. Because he owed them a large sum of money, the leading priest—Imam Jum’ih—of the city brought about their martyrdom. See Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, and God Passes By, pp. 200–201 and 219.