We deem it advisable, in this connection, to recount briefly some past events, that perchance they may be the means of vindicating the cause of equity and justice.  At the time when His Majesty the Shah, may God, his Lord, the Most Merciful, aid him through His strengthening grace, was planning a journey to Isfahan, this Wronged One, having obtained his permission, visited the holy and luminous resting-places of the Imams, may the blessings of God be upon them!  Upon Our return, We proceeded to Lavasan on account of the excessive heat prevailing in the capital.  Following Our departure, there occurred the attempt upon the life of His Majesty, may God, exalted and glorified be He, assist him.  Those days were troublous days, and the fires of hatred burned high.  Many were arrested, among them this Wronged One.  By the righteousness of God!  We were in no wise connected with that evil deed, and Our innocence was indisputably established by the tribunals.  Nevertheless, they apprehended Us, and from Niyavaran, which was then the residence of His Majesty, conducted Us, on foot and in chains, with bared head and bare feet, to the dungeon of Tihran.  A brutal man, accompanying Us on horseback, snatched off Our hat, whilst We were being hurried along by a troop of executioners and officials.  We were consigned for four months to a place foul beyond comparison.  As to the dungeon in which this Wronged One and others similarly wronged were confined, a dark and narrow pit were preferable.  Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to the place of confinement assigned to Us.  The dungeon was wrapped in thick darkness, and Our fellow prisoners numbered nearly a hundred and fifty souls:  thieves, assassins and highwaymen.  Though crowded, it had no other outlet than the passage by which We entered.  No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell.  Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on.  God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!

Day and night, while confined in that dungeon, We meditated upon the deeds, the condition, and the conduct of the Babis, wondering what could have led a people so high-minded, so noble, and of such intelligence, to perpetrate such an audacious and outrageous act against the person of His Majesty.  This Wronged One, thereupon, decided to arise, after His release from prison, and undertake, with the utmost vigor, the task of regenerating this people.

One night, in a dream, these exalted words were heard on every side:  “Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy Pen.  Grieve Thou not for that which hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in safety.  Erelong will God raise up the treasures of the earth—­ men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as have recognized Him.”