permission, visited the holy and luminous resting-places of the Imáms, may
the blessings of God be upon them! Upon Our return, We proceeded to
Lavásán 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
Níyávarán, 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
Ṭihrán. 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 Bábís, 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