Montreal, May 28, 2024 - Friends from Saint-Laurent, Côte Saint-Luc, NDG, Outremont, Mascouche and French Guyana neighbourhoods gathered to commemorate the ascension of God's universal Messenger at dawn of this memorable morning! The immortal soul of God's Manifestation, Bahá'u'lláh, took flight for the eternal Kingdom at dawn on May 28, 1892, eight hours after sunset.
Nine months before His ascension Bahá’u’lláh, as attested by Abdu'l-Bahá, had voiced His desire to depart from this world. From that time onward it became increasingly evident, from the tone of His remarks to those who attained His presence, that the close of His earthly life was approaching, though He refrained from mentioning it openly to anyone. On the night preceding May 8, 1892, He contracted a slight fever which, though it mounted the following day, soon after subsided. He continued to grant interviews to certain of the friends and pilgrims, but it soon became evident that He was not well. His fever returned in a more acute form than before, His general condition grew steadily worse, complications ensued which at last culminated in His ascension, at the hour of dawn, on May 29, 1892, eight hours after sunset, in the 75th year of His age. His spirit, at long last released from the toils of a life crowded with tribulations, had winged its flight to His "other dominions," dominions "whereon the eyes of the people of names have never fallen."
Bahá’u’lláh was accordingly laid to rest in the northernmost room of the house which served as a dwelling-place for His son-in-law, the most northerly of the three houses lying to the west of, and adjacent to, the Mansion. His interment took place shortly after sunset, on the very day of His ascension.
With the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh draws to a close a period which, in many ways, is unparalleled in the world's religious history. The first century of the Baha'i Era had by now run half its course. An epoch, unsurpassed in its sublimity, its fecundity and duration by any previous Dispensation, and characterized, except for a short interval of three years, by half a century of continuous and progressive Revelation, had terminated. The Message proclaimed by the Bab had yielded its golden fruit. The most momentous, though not the most spectacular phase of the Heroic Age had ended. The Sun of Truth, the world's greatest Luminary, had risen in the Siyah-Chal (subterranean black pit prison) of Tihran, had broken through the clouds which enveloped it in Baghdad, had suffered a momentary eclipse whilst mounting to its zenith in Adrianople and had set finally in Akka, never to reappear ere the lapse of a full millennium.
An ocular witness writes:
Outwardly He was a Prisoner, condemned and wronged, but in reality, He was the Sun of Glory, the Manifestation of grandeur and majesty, the King of the Kingdom of poise and dignity. Although He showed much compassion and loving-kindness, and approached anyone who came to His presence with tender care and humbleness, and often used to make humorous remarks to put them at ease, yet in spite of these, no one, whether faithful or disbelieving, learned or unlettered, wise or foolish, was able to utter ten words in His presence in the usual everyday manner. Indeed, many would find themselves to be tremulous with an impediment in their speech.
Photo: Courtesy of BWC Archives - Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, Bahji, 'Akká, 1952
Réferences:
- God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi
- Haji Mirza Heydar Ali, quoted in Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh