"Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts..."
The year was 1865.
The place was Adrianople, Turkey (now Edirne).
Bahá’u’lláh had been banished there (for religious and political reasons) from His native Persia.
This link will give you some fascinating detail about the prayer Bahá’u’lláh revealed in Adrianople for a man named Ahmad.
Today's excerpt comes from that prayer:
"Say: O people be obedient to the ordinances of God, which have been enjoined ... by the Glorious, the Wise One. Verily He is the King of the Messengers and His book is the Mother Book did ye but know.
"Thus doth the Nightingale utter His call unto you from this prison. He hath but to deliver this clear message. Whosoever desireth, let him turn aside from this counsel and whosoever desireth let him choose the path to his Lord.
"O people, if ye deny these verses, by what proof have ye believed in God? Produce it, O assemblage of false ones.
"Nay, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, they are not, and never shall be able to do this, even should they combine to assist one another.
"O Ahmad! Forget not My bounties while I am absent. Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee.
"Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones, and be not of those who doubt.
"And if thou art overtaken by affliction in My path, or degradation for My sake, be not thou troubled thereby.
"Rely upon God, thy God and the Lord of thy fathers. For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have We found them, as thou also dost witness.
"Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great."
