Bahá'í Holy Places in Turkey

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Istanbul (Constantinople)

16th of August, 1863, marks the arrival of Baha'u'llah and His companions to Istanbul, then the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. He and his family had stayed here for a period of four months. It was during His residence here that, because of the false accusations made by the Iranian Ambassador, the agreeable attitude of the authorities changed to that of animosity and bitterness.

The house of Veysi Pasha (not original) During this same eventful period, however, marks a "significant milestone in the enfoldment of His Mission" in a sense that the "initial phase of the proclamation of the Message of Baha'u'llah to the kings and rulers of the world was ushered in by the revelation of a Tablet addressed to Sultan 'Abdu'l-Aziz and his ministers sternly rebuking them for their actions against the new-born Faith of God and its Leader."

Baha'u'llah arrived in Istanbul in a perceptible majesty and was received by the authorities with great honor as He disembarked from the ship. He was driven with all the members of His family to the residences of Semsi Bey (Shamsi Big), an official who was present at the port and who was appointed by the Government to entertain its guests.

The residence of Semsi Bey was a two storey building located in the area of Hirka-yi Serif mosque. This house, because of the size of Baha'u'llah and His fifty-four companions, proved to be small. As a result, He was soon moved to a more spacious house - the three-storey residence of Veysi Pasha near the Fatih (Sultan Mehmed II) mosque. Neither of these houses, unfortunately, is today in its original form.

Many of the high-ranking authorities that visited Baha'u'llah during this time had expected Him to supplicate their help in obtaining support of the Government for Himself and His Cause. They soon, however, noticed that not only was He not remotely interested, but was "far removed from the expedient practices current among men, and that His standards were exalted above human statesmanship."

One of the well-known works which Baha'u'llah revealed in Constantinople is the Mathnaviy-i-Mubarak. It has been stated that this work is "a masterpiece of Persian poetry, noted for the beauty and power of its composition, and acclaimed as one of the most soul-stirring among His Poems" and that in it Baha'u'llah has "unveiled the mysteries of a vast and limitless Revelation, disclosed some of the realities of the world of man, and indicated how he can achieve the summit of glory."

Edirne (Adrianople)

Now that Baha'u'llah was in Istanbul, the Persian Ambassador was making every attempt misrepresent and falsely accuse Him to the authorities to gain their support to banish Him even further. The situation of Baha'u'llah's exile was tragic as well as humiliating. The officials did not even give sufficient time to Baha'u'llah and His companions for this long and extremely dangerous journey. The Guardian Shoghi Effendi, in regards to this journey, writes: "Travelling through rain and storm, at times even taking night marches, the weary travellers, after brief halts ... arrived at their destination, on the first of Rajab 1280 A.H. (December 12, 1863), and were lodged in the Khan-i-'Arab, a two-storey caravanserai, near the house of 'Izzat Aqa."

The inhabitants, shortly after Baha'u'llah's arrival in Adrianople, noticed His greatness and were deeply impressed by His genuine love and exalted character. Even the high-ranking city officials and men of culture and learning were attracted to Him and discovered for themselves that Baha'u'llah was "the source of all knowledge and embodiment of all virtues," and that "such was were the marks of honour and esteem shown to Baha'u'llah that on occasions when He walked in the streets and bazaars the people spontaneously stood and bowed before Him."

Despite the extreme difficulties faced from another exile, the outpourings of Baha'u'llah's Revelation continued in Adrianople. "From the tone of these Tablets it became clear that the Revelation of Baha'u'llah had entered a new phase and that He was now openly summoning the believers to Himself as the supreme Manifestation of God."

Suriy-i-Ashab (Surih of Companions) was one of the early Tablets revealed in Adrianople. This lengthy Tablet in Arabic "played a significant role in the unveiling of the station of Baha'u'llah to the Babis of Persia." Another of the wellknown Tablets that was revealed during this time is the Tablet of Ahmad, both the Arabic and Persian. The Tablet" of Ahmad (Arabic) was revealed around 1282 A.H. (1865) in honour of Ahmad, native of Yazd.

The activities of Baha'u'llah's enemies, who intended to impose upon Him the strictest of confinements, gathered momentum in early 1868. The most glorious, yet the most turbulent period in Baha'u'llah's ministry, from 1863 to· 1868, was drawing to a close, and those mainly responsible for Baha'u'llah's final banishment, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, succeeded in their efforts to banish Baha'u'llah to 'Akka, and impose on Him life imprisonment within the walls of that prison city.