Comparison of the ministry of the Báb to the most critical stages of Baha’u’llah’s and ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s

It corresponds to the most critical stage of the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, during His exile to Adrianople, when confronted with the despotic Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz and his ministers, ‘Álí Páshá and Fu‘ád Páshá, and is paralleled by the darkest days of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá’s ministry in the Holy Land, under the oppressive rule of the tyrannical ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd and the equally tyrannical Jamál Páshá. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 2, ‘God Passes By’)

The Báb’s “six year ministry”

It comprises His nine months’ unbroken confinement in the fortress of Máh-Kú, and His subsequent incarceration in the fortress of Chihríq, which was interrupted only by a brief yet memorable visit to Tabríz. It was overshadowed throughout by the implacable and mounting hostility of the two most powerful adversaries of the Faith, the Grand Vizir of Muhammad Sháh, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, and the Amír-Niẓám, the Grand Vizir of Násiri’d-Dín Sháh. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 2, ‘God Passes By’)

The “most dramatic, and in a sense the most pregnant phase” of the Báb’s ministry

The period of the Báb’s banishment to the mountains of Ádhirbáyján, lasting no less than three years, constitutes the saddest, the most dramatic, and in a sense the most pregnant phase of His six year ministry. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 2, ‘God Passes By’)

The pretext the Prime Minister used to not allow a planned meeting between the Báb and Muhammad Shah

All-powerful and crafty, that minister had, on the pretext of the necessity of his master’s concentrating his immediate attention on a recent rebellion in Khurásán and a revolt in Kirmán, succeeded in foiling a plan, which, had it materialized, would have had the most serious repercussions on his own fortunes, as well as on the immediate destinies of his government, its ruler and its people. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 1, ‘God Passes By’)

Muhammad Shah, under the influence of his Prime Minister, sent a courteous letter to the Báb and exiled Him to Máh-Kú

This was, shortly after, followed by a letter which the Sháh had himself addressed to the Báb, dated Rabí‘u’th-thání 1263 (March 19–April 17, 1847), and which, though couched in courteous terms, clearly indicated the extent of the baneful influence exercised by the Grand Vizir on his sovereign. The plans so fondly cherished by Manuchihr Khán were now utterly undone. The fortress of Máh-Kú, not far from the village of that same name, whose inhabitants had long enjoyed the patronage of the Grand Vizir, situated in the remotest northwestern corner of Ádhirbáyján, was the place of incarceration assigned by Muhammad Sháh, on the advice of his perfidious minister, for the Báb. No more than one companion and one attendant from among His followers were allowed to keep Him company in those bleak and inhospitable surroundings.  

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 1, ‘God Passes By’)