Those who had “assumed the title of “Him Whom God shall make manifest” sought Bahá’u’lláh’s “presence, confess their error and supplicate His forgiveness”

Even those who, in their folly and temerity had, in Baghdád, in Karbilá, in Qum, in Káshán, in Tabríz and in Ṭihrán, arrogated to themselves the rights, and assumed the title of “Him Whom God shall make manifest” were for the most part instinctively led to seek His presence, confess their error and supplicate His forgiveness. 

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

“among the visitors and fellow-disciples who crossed His [Bahá’u’lláh] threshold, caught a glimpse of the splendor of His majesty, and communicated far and wide the creative influences instilled into them through their contact with His spirit.”

• Four of the Báb’s cousins and His maternal uncle, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad;
• a grand-daughter of Fatḥ-‘Alí Sháh and fervent admirer of Ṭáhirih, surnamed Varaqatu’r-Ridván;
• the erudite Mullá Muhammad-i-Qá’iní, surnamed Nabíl-i-Akbar;
• the already famous Mullá Sádiq-i-Khurásání, surnamed Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq, who with Quddús had been ignominiously persecuted in Shíráz;
• Mullá Báqir, one of the Letters of the Living;
• Siyyid Asadu’lláh, surnamed Dayyán;
• the revered Siyyid Javád-i-Karbilá’í;
• Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan and Mírzá Muhammad-Husayn, later immortalized by the titles of Suitánu’sh-Shuhadá and Maḥbúbu’sh-Shuhadá (King of Martyrs and Beloved of Martyrs) respectively;
• Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i-Nahrí, whose daughter, at a later date, was joined in wedlock to ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá;
• the immortal Siyyid Ismá‘íl-i-Zavári’í;
• Hájí Shaykh Muhammad, surnamed Nabíl by the Báb;
• the accomplished Mírzá Áqáy-i-Munír, surnamed Ismu’lláhu’l-Muníb;
• the long-suffering Hájí Muhammad-Taqí, surnamed Ayyúb;
• Mullá Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu’l-Muqarrabín, who had ranked as a highly esteemed mujtahid—

all these were numbered among the visitors and fellow-disciples who crossed His threshold, caught a glimpse of the splendor of His majesty, and communicated far and wide the creative influences instilled into them through their contact with His spirit.

• Mullá Muḥammad-i-Zarandí, surnamed Nabíl-i-A‘ẓam, who may well rank as His Poet-Laureate, His chronicler and His indefatigable disciple, had already joined the exiles, and had launched out on his long and arduous series of journeys to Persia in furtherance of the Cause of his Beloved.

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

The “influx of Persian Bábís…to attain the presence of Bahá’u’lláh… Carrying back, on their return to their native country, innumerable testimonies”

At the same time an influx of Persian Bábís, whose sole object was to attain the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, swelled the stream of visitors that poured through His hospitable doors. Carrying back, on their return to their native country, innumerable testimonies, both oral and written, to His steadily rising power and glory, they could not fail to contribute, in a vast measure, to the expansion and progress of a newly-reborn Faith. 

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

The house of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad became “the focal center of a great number of seekers, visitors and pilgrims, including Kurds, Persians, Arabs and Turks”

Within a few years after Bahá’u’lláh’s return from Sulaymáníyyih the situation had been completely reversed. The house of Sulaymán-i-Ghannám, on which the official designation of the Bayt-i-A‘ẓam (the Most Great House) was later conferred, known, at that time, as the house of Mírzá Músá, the Bábí, an extremely modest residence, situated in the Karkh quarter, in the neighborhood of the western bank of the river, to which Bahá’u’lláh’s family had moved prior to His return from Kurdistán, had now become the focal center of a great number of seekers, visitors and pilgrims, including Kurds, Persians, Arabs and Turks, and derived from the Muslim, the Jewish and Christian Faiths. It had, moreover, become a veritable sanctuary to which the victims of the injustice of the official representative of the Persian government were wont to flee, in the hope of securing redress for the wrongs they had suffered. 

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

A major positive change in attitude and behavior of Iraqi residents towards Bahá’u’lláh and His companions

Those who, during Bahá’u’lláh’s two years’ absence from Baghdád, had so persistently reviled and loudly derided His companions and kindred were, by now, for the most part, silenced. Not an inconsiderable number among them feigned respect and esteem for Him, a few claimed to be His defenders and supporters, while others professed to share His beliefs, and actually joined the ranks of the community to which He belonged. Such was the extent of the reaction that had set in that one of them was even heard to boast that, as far back as the year 1250 A.H.—a decade before the Báb’s Declaration—he had already perceived and embraced the truth of His Faith! 

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

Some “Princes of the royal blood” were also drawn to Bahá’u’lláh’s “circle of…associates and acquaintances”

Princes of the royal blood, amongst whom were such personages as the Ná’ibu’l-Íyálih, the Shujá‘u’d-Dawlih, the Sayfu’d-Dawlih, and Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín Khán, the Fakhru’d-Dawlih, were, likewise, irresistibly drawn into the ever-widening circle of His associates and acquaintances. 

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

Certain “distinguished Persians, who either lived in Baghdád and its environs” also became attracted to Bahá’u’lláh

Nor could those distinguished Persians, who either lived in Baghdád and its environs or visited as pilgrims the holy places, remain impervious to the spell of His charm.

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