The revelation of the Qasídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) greatly increased the fascination and interest of those who had “congregated in the seminaries of Sulaymáníyyih and Karkúk”

This episode, by far the most outstanding among the events that transpired during the two years of Bahá’u’lláh’s absence from Baghdád, immensely stimulated the interest with which an increasing number of the ‘ulamás, the scholars, the shaykhs, the doctors, the holy men and princes who had congregated in the seminaries of Sulaymáníyyih and Karkúk, were now following His daily activities. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 7)

At the request of some of the “most eminent doctors and most distinguished students” in Kurdistan Bahá’u’lláh revealed a poem containing “no less than two thousand verses”, “out of which He selected one hundred and twenty-seven, which He permitted them to keep” – this constitute the Qasídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove)

Amazed by the profundity of His insight and the compass of His understanding, they were impelled to seek from Him what they considered to be a conclusive and final evidence of the unique power and knowledge which He now appeared in their eyes to possess. “No one among the mystics, the wise, and the learned,” they claimed, while requesting this further favor from Him, “has hitherto proved himself capable of writing a poem in a rhyme and meter identical with that of the longer of the two odes, entitled Qasídiy-i-Tá’íyyih composed by Ibn-i-Fárid. We beg you to write for us a poem in that same meter and rhyme.” This request was complied with, and no less than two thousand verses, in exactly the manner they had specified, were dictated by Him, out of which He selected one hundred and twenty-seven, which He permitted them to keep, deeming the subject matter of the rest premature and unsuitable to the needs of the times. It is these same one hundred and twenty-seven verses that constitute the Qasídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih, so familiar to, and widely circulated amongst, His Arabic speaking followers.

Such was their reaction to this marvelous demonstration of the sagacity and genius of Bahá’u’lláh that they unanimously acknowledged every single verse of that poem to be endowed with a force, beauty and power far surpassing anything contained in either the major or minor odes composed by that celebrated poet. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 7)