In those days, [1817] there was born a Child in an ancient
and noble family of Núr, whose father was Mírzá Abbás, better known as Mírzá
Buzurg, a favoured minister of the Crown. That Child was Bahá’u’lláh. At the hour of dawn, on the second day of
Muharram, in the year 1233 A.H. the world, unaware of its significance,
witnessed the birth of Him who was destined to confer upon it such incalculable
blessings. Shaykh Ahmad, who recognised in its full measure the meaning of this
auspicious event, yearned to spend the remaining days of his life within the
precincts of the court of this Divine, this new-born King. But this was not to
be. His thirst unallayed, and his yearning unsatisfied, he felt compelled to
submit to God’s irrevocable decree, and, turning his face away from the city of
his Beloved, proceeded to Kirmansháh.
(Chapter 1, ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
