Gradually and with unyielding persistence, through lies, half-truths, calumnies and gross exaggerations, this "Prime Mover of sedition" succeeded in ranging on his side almost the entire family of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as a considerable number of those who had formed his immediate entourage. Bahá’u’lláh's two surviving wives, His two sons, the vacillating Mírzá Díya'u'lláh and the treacherous Mírzá Badí'u'lláh, with their sister and half-sister and their husbands, one of them the infamous Siyyid `Alí, a kinsman of the Báb, the other the crafty Mírzá Majdi'd-Dín, together with his sister and half-brothers--the children of the noble, the faithful and now deceased Aqáy-i-Kalím--all united in a determined effort to subvert the foundations of the Covenant which the newly proclaimed Will had laid.
Covenant Breakers - Children of Central Figures
In January he wrote to Hussein Afnan: "I presume you have gathered from past experience that I stand for absolute sincerity, scrupulous justice in all matters pertaining to the Cause, and an uncompromising attitude with regard to the enemies of the Movement, the Nakezeens, whose vile and unceasing efforts God alone shall frustrate." The man to whom this was written, a grandson of Bahá’u’lláh and a nephew of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, became himself a notorious Covenant-breaker not long afterwards; it was his three brothers who married three grand-daughters of the Master - two of them the two sisters of the Guardian himself - and thus wove such an inextricable web of family feeling, disloyalty and hatred that in the end the entire family of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was involved and Shoghi Effendi lost all his relatives.
There were some disciples of Bahá’u’lláh whose faith and devotion had carried them to great heights. They were very close to His person and had become renowned among the believers. Yet, when the winds of test blew, the flame of faith was extinguished within their hearts because of their pride and ambition. As a result, they fell from grace and died spiritually. Among them were some of Bahá’u’lláh's own family. His half-brother, Mirza Yahya, rebelled against Him, and after His ascension three of His sons and two daughters, together with several relatives and a number of outstanding teachers of the Cause who all hitherto had served the Faith assiduously, broke His Covenant, opposed its appointed Centre ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and arose unitedly to extinguish His Cause.
Within a brief period of time Mirza Muhammad-'Ali won over to himself the entire body of the family of Bahá’u’lláh, save for Bahá’íyyih Khanum, the sister of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Mirza Muhammad-Quli, a devout and loyal half-brother of Bahá’u’lláh who had shared His exiles and tribulations and now, in the hour of severe testing, stood firm with his wife and children in adherence to the Covenant. Sons and daughters of Bahá’u’lláh with their wives and husbands chose to be violators. So did the sons and daughters of Mirza Musa.
