The Báb’s captivity in a remote corner of Ádhirbáyján,
immortalized by the proceedings of the Conference of Badasht, and distinguished
by such notable developments as the public declaration of His mission, the
formulation of the laws of His Dispensation and the establishment of His
Covenant, was to acquire added significance through the dire convulsions that
sprang from the acts of both His adversaries and His disciples. The commotions
that ensued, as the years of that captivity drew to a close, and that
culminated in His own martyrdom, called forth a degree of heroism on the part
of His followers and a fierceness of hostility on the part of His enemies which
had never been witnessed during the first three years of His ministry. Indeed,
this brief but most turbulent period may be rightly regarded as the bloodiest
and most dramatic of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era. - Shoghi Effendi (Chapter
3, ‘God Passes By’)
