“Government officials… lent their share in noising abroad His [Bahá’u’lláh] fast-spreading fame”

Government officials, foremost among whom were ‘Abdu’lláh Páshá and his lieutenant Maḥmúd Áqá, and Mullá ‘Alí Mardán, a Kurd well-known in those circles, were gradually brought into contact with Him, and lent their share in noising abroad His fast-spreading fame. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

“poets, mystics and notables, who either resided in, or visited, the city” started praising Bahá’u’lláh

The unqualified recognition by these outstanding leaders of those traits that distinguished the character and conduct of Bahá’u’lláh stimulated the curiosity, and later evoked the unstinted praise, of a great many observers of less conspicuous position, among whom figured poets, mystics and notables, who either resided in, or visited, the city. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Some “religious leaders” of Baghdád “enrolled themselves among the band of His [Bahá’u’lláh] earliest admirers”

Astonished at the sight of so many ‘ulamás and Súfís of Kurdish origin, of both the Qádiríyyih and Khálidíyyih Orders, thronging the house of Bahá’u’lláh, and impelled by racial and sectarian rivalry, the religious leaders of the city, such as the renowned Ibn-i-Álúsí, the Muftí of Baghdád, together with Shaykh ‘Abdu’s-Salám, Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Qádir and Siyyid Dáwúdí, began to seek His presence, and, having obtained completely satisfying answers to their several queries, enrolled themselves among the band of His earliest admirers. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

1856-1863: “the Bahá’í community, under the name and in the shape of a re-arisen Bábí community was born and was slowly taking shape”

During the seven years that elapsed between the resumption of His labors and the declaration of His prophetic mission—years to which we now direct our attention—it would be no exaggeration to say that the Bahá’í community, under the name and in the shape of a re-arisen Bábí community was born and was slowly taking shape, though its Creator still appeared in the guise of, and continued to labor as, one of the foremost disciples of the Báb.

• It was a period during which the prestige of the community’s nominal head steadily faded from the scene, paling before the rising splendor of Him Who was its actual Leader and Deliverer.
• It was a period in the course of which the first fruits of an exile, endowed with incalculable potentialities, ripened and were garnered.
• It was a period that will go down in history as one during which
• the prestige of a recreated community was immensely enhanced,
• its morals entirely reformed,
• its recognition of Him who rehabilitated its fortunes enthusiastically affirmed,
• its literature enormously enriched, and
• its victories over its new adversaries universally acknowledged.

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

After March 1856: The “turning“ of the tide that had ebbed in so alarming a measure”

Now, however, the tide that had ebbed in so alarming a measure was turning, bearing with it, as it rose to flood point, those inestimable benefits that were to herald the announcement of the Revelation already secretly disclosed to Bahá’u’lláh. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Before March 1856: “The Faith of the Báb…had… reached the verge of extinction”; “Bahá’u’lláh’s prolonged retirement to Kurdistán seemed to have set the seal on its complete dissolution.”

The Faith of the Báb, as already observed, had, in consequence of the successive and formidable blows it had received, reached the verge of extinction. Nor was the momentous Revelation vouchsafed to Bahá’u’lláh in the Síyáh-Chál productive at once of any tangible results of a nature that would exercise a stabilizing influence on a well-nigh disrupted community. Bahá’u’lláh’s unexpected banishment had been a further blow to its members, who had learned to place their reliance upon Him. Mírzá Yaḥyá’s seclusion and inactivity further accelerated the process of disintegration that had set in. Bahá’u’lláh’s prolonged retirement to Kurdistán seemed to have set the seal on its complete dissolution. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

March 1856: Bahá’u’lláh becomes the “center” around Whom “the Bábís found themselves able to center both their hopes and their movements”

Now at last, in spite of Bahá’u’lláh’s reluctance to unravel the mystery surrounding His own position, the Bábís found themselves able to center both their hopes and their movements round One Whom they believed (whatever their views as to His station) capable of insuring the stability and integrity of their Faith. The orientation which the Faith had thus acquired and the fixity of the center towards which it now gravitated continued, in one form or another, to be its outstanding features, of which it was never again to be deprived. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)