Bahá’í History Collection* 1892 Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh

During 40 years of imprisonment and exile, Bahá'is believe Bahá'u'lláh brought to humanity the latest guidance from God. His shrine and surrounding gardens, located on the outskirts of Akka, Israel, were listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2008 for their "profound spiritual meaning" -- see https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1220

The news of His ascension on the night of May 28-29 was instantly communicated to the Ottoman Empire's Sultan Abdu’l-Hamid in a telegram which began with the words “the Sun of Bahá has set”.

The sacred remains were interred within the precincts of His residence in Bahji, just outside the city walls of 'Akka (Israel), where He had arrived in 1868 as a prisoner. It is now the holiest place of pilgrimage for members of the Bahá'i Faith, and each day Bahá'is turn toward it in prayer.

For a full week after His passing, a vast number of mourners, rich and poor alike, tarried to grieve with the bereaved family, partaking day and night of the food that was dispensed by its members. Notables, among whom were Muslim Shi’ahs, Sunnis, Christians, Jews and Druzes, as well as poets, ulamas and government officials, all joined in lamenting the loss, and in magnifying the virtues and greatness of Bahá’u’lláh's life, character, and Revelation, many of them paying to Him their written tributes, in verse and in prose.

His eldest son, `Abdu’l-Bahá, wrote: "The world’s great Light, once resplendent upon all mankind, hath set, to shine everlastingly from the Abhá Horizon, His Kingdom of fadeless glory, shedding splendour upon His loved ones from on high and breathing into their hearts and souls the breath of eternal life."

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