Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Marzieh Gail, The Sheltering Branch, bahai-library.com.
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The Sheltering Branch
by

Marzieh Gail, M.A.

“… This Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought
His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow.” Bahá’u’lláh.

George Ronald
First published by George Ronald
46 High Street, Kidlington, Oxford

All rights reserved

First edition 1959
Reprinted 1968, 1974 and 1978

Printed in Great Britain by
Fletcher & Son Ltd, Norwich

Contents

The unity of East & West ................................................................................4
The manuscript of Florence Khánum ........................................................... 11
The Master in ‘Akká ...................................................................................... 14
The attainable perfections of man ................................................................23
How to kill prejudice ..................................................................................... 35
Man, the preoccupied ................................................................................... 37
The development of love ...............................................................................39
Love is not enough ....................................................................................... 42
The trap of imitation .....................................................................................45
Mankind is one people .................................................................................. 55
Show forth true economics ...........................................................................56
The assassin’s prisoner ................................................................................ 58
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s birthday ............................................................................... 62
The gift of health ...........................................................................................65
Death, the welcome messenger ................................................................... 69
Science a pathway to God ............................................................................. 72
Men and women are equal ............................................................................ 74
The struggle for the tomb ............................................................................. 79
God the Unknowable .................................................................................... 81
The coming of the Glory .............................................................................. 84

The unity of East & West
A member of the Académie Française is reported as saying that
the most interesting life of the nineteenth century was Benjamin
Disraeli’s.
This statement reminds us, if we need to be reminded again,
that even to European intellectuals the nineteenth is still the
unknown century. At a certain point in time two thousand years ago
there was only one pivotal fact in the world: the life of Christ. And
the nineteenth century in its turn, saw only one pivotal fact:
intertwined lives of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh; the life and martyrdom
of the Báb, and then, “after the lapse of a few years”, the “Beauty of
the Báb … arrayed in a new raiment …”1
As another aspect of this central fact, the nineteenth century saw
the birth, and the first fifty–six years of the life, of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; of
Him Who “forms together with them … the Three Central Figures of
a Faith that stands unapproached in the world’s spiritual history.”2
For the Father, in the nineteenth century, brought down the bread
from heaven once again; and it is man himself who has preferred a
stone.
To study a man’s life is to live in his presence, through his words
and the words of those who saw

1 Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section
LXXVII, p. 147.
2 Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 131.

him or who have thought about him; and especially it is to see him in
the lives of those he has influenced. Now that His pen is stilled, His
voice hushed, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words are the Bahá’ís; they are His
message to the world; His conversation with mankind; and they
reflect, however tentatively at this early stage of apprenticeship in
Bahá’í living, the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—of Him Who is “the Master”,
“the Centre of the Covenant”, “the Mystery of God”, “the Limb of the
Law of God”, “the Interpreter” of the mind of Bahá’u’lláh, “the
Architect of His World Order”, “the Exemplar of His faith”, and “the
Ensign of His Most Great Peace”.1
After Bahá’u’lláh ascended, a prisoner and exile, near ‘Akká in
1892, a telegram was sent to the Sultan whose prisoner He was. It
read: “The Sun of Bahá has set.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was left then, almost
alone in the world, to face the enemies who were massed against
Him—enemies from within and without the Cause, some His Own
blood relatives, others as close at hand, others in faraway countries
where renown of this Faith had even then penetrated.
Even before Bahá’u’lláh had declared His mission in 1863,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as a child of eight, had recognized His Father’s station
and had thrown Himself down and asked to die for His sake.
Bahá’u’lláh addressed Him:
“O Thou Who art the apple of Mine eye!”2
and wrote:

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 242, 245
2 Bahá’u’lláh quoted in Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
p. 135.

“We have made Thee a shelter for all mankind, a shield unto all
who are in heaven and on earth, a stronghold for whosoever
hath believed in God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing.”1
And once when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was on a visit to Beirut, Bahá’u’lláh
in ‘Akká, said of His departure:
“Sorrow, thereby, hath enveloped this Prison-city, whilst
another land rejoiceth. … Blessed, doubly blessed, is the
ground which His footsteps have trodden, the eye that hath
been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that
hath been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that
hath tasted the sweetness of His love, the breast that hath
dilated through His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His
praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of His
writings.”2
He was the beautiful, the brilliant, the adoring eldest Son to
Whom Bahá’u’lláh, in His Will, entrusted His Faith; Whom He
singled out for honours and blessings on account of His sheer merit—
and Whose perfections aroused, Shoghi Effendi tells us, an envy as
deadly as that of Joseph’s brothers, as deep as that in the heart of
Cain.3
The Muslims have a holy tradition to the effect that in the latter
days, the sun will rise in the West. It was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Who, in the
black time after His Father left Him, directed His thoughts westward
and began to focus the light of the Faith on North America. The
result was that sixty years after the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, the
Guardian of

1 Bahá’u’lláh quoted in Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
p. 135.
2 ibid., p. 136.
3 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 246.

the Cause could draw a map tracing the development of the newlylaunched ten-year Bahá’í crusade for the spiritual conquest of the
planet; and this map, which shows the directional movements of the
crusade, features great rays radiating out across the world from
North America. For a remarkable thing had taken place; there had
been a swing outward from Persia, where the light of God first struck,
and (to borrow from Fitzgerald’s phrase) a noose of light had caught
the towers of the West; a mysterious agency had linked Chicago and
Shíráz.
“The establishment of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the Western
Hemisphere”
was, the Guardian writes,
“the most outstanding achievement that will forever be
associated with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry ….”1
The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh had been Prisoners.
“For the first time since the inception of the Faith, sixty–six
years previously, its Head and supreme Representative burst
asunder the shackles ….”2
the Guardian tells us, saying too that the Master’s three years of
travel (to Egypt, Europe and America)
“mark … a turning point of the utmost significance in the history
of the century.”3
“‘Abdu’l-Bahá was at this time broken in health. He suffered
from several maladies brought on by the strains and stresses of a
tragic life spent almost wholly in exile and imprisonment. He

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 279.
2 ibid., p. 280.
3 ibid., pp. 279–80.

was on the threshold of three-score years and ten. Yet as soon
as He was released from His forty-year long captivity, as soon as
He had laid the Báb’s body in a safe and permanent restingplace, and His mind was free of grievous anxieties connected
with the execution of that priceless Trust, He arose with sublime
courage, confidence and resolution to consecrate what little
strength remained to Him, in the evening of His life, to a service
of such heroic proportions that no parallel to it is to be found in
the annals of the first Bahá’í century.”1 “Inflexibly resolved to
undertake this arduous voyage, at whatever cost to His strength,
at whatever risk to His life, He, quietly and without any previous
warning, on a September afternoon, of the year 1910, … sailed
for Egypt …”2
The first time that the Master set out for the West, He had to
abandon the voyage. He had remained about a month in Port Said,
“and from thence embarked with the intention of proceeding to
Europe, only to discover that the condition of His health necessitated
His landing again at Alexandria and postponing His voyage.”3 And
these Western journeys “called forth,” the Guardian further says, “the
last ounce of His ebbing strength ….”4
Perhaps this is one reason why, when very old and ailing
believers arise in these days to leave their homes and emigrate for the
Cause, the Guardian

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 279.
2 ibid., p. 280.
3 ibid.
4 ibid., p. 309.

encourages their going. Certainly this exodus of young and old from
their countries is an echo of the travels of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This mass
pioneer movement of Bahá’ís, in respect of the distances traversed
and the complexity of the problems faced, has no precedent in
history. Thousands of Bahá’í families and individuals have left their
homes, not for war or pilgrimage or travel, not as fugitives, not as an
employment or to seek their health or fortune, but for the sole sake of
spreading Bahá’u’lláh’s Cause around the world. Such journeys
however arduous, bring a special consolation to those privileged to
take part in them; the Master compares them to the departures of the
disciples of Christ … God says in the Qur’án: “And they who have
fled their country and quitted their homes and suffered in My Cause,
and have fought and fallen, I will blot out their sins from them, and I
will bring them into gardens beneath which the streams do flow. …
They shall abide therein forever.”1
‘Abdu’l-Bahá travelled through the United States (and to
Canada) for nine months, sowing a harvest so vast that time will
never be able to gather it all. In a published letter, He is reported as
saying of these travels that He had “breathed on the souls and spirits
of all the Bahá’ís in such a way that had it been upon bone, it would
have taken on flesh ….”2 And America became the “cradle of the
Administrative Order”,3 as Persia is the cradle of the Faith; of that

1 Qur’án 3:194, 197.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Star of the West, 8 September 1912, Vol. III:10,
p. 16.
3 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 329.

Administrative Order which is “the nucleus [and] very pattern of the
New World Order”,1 so that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament,
proclaiming and formally establishing the Administrative Order,2 is
at the same time the “Charter of a future world civilization”.3
In Bahá’í history, then, Persia and America are indissolubly
linked; “the seed of the Divinely-appointed Administration” lay, the
Guardian writes, “In the blood of the unnumbered martyrs of
Persia”.4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá desired “a perfect bond between Persia and
America ….”5 He told the Orient-Occident Unity Conference in
Washington:
“For the Persians there is no government better fitted to
contribute to the development of their natural resources and
the helping of their national needs in a reciprocal alliance than
the United States of America, and for the Americans there
could be no better industrial outlet and market than … Persia.
The mineral wealth of Persia is still latent and untouched. It is
my hope that the great American democracy may be
instrumental in developing these hidden resources …. May the
material civilization of America find complete efficacy and
establishment in Persia, and may the spiritual civilization of
Persia find acceptance and response in America.”6
From such a connection, He said, there would be “great harvests
of results”.7 He prophesied that

1 Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 144.
2 ibid., p. 147.
3 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 328.
4 Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 52.
5 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 35.
6 ibid.
7 ibid., p. 36.

the time would come when the East and the West would embrace
“like unto two lovers”.1

The manuscript of Florence Khánum
In the days when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was still a prisoner in ‘Akká, a
young Bahá’í woman, nursing her first baby, left New England with
husband and child and went on a pilgrimage to see Him. She was the
first American Bahá’í to marry a Persian, and the Master had written,
“This is the first conjugal union between East and West.” He had
named her little son Rah.ím (the youngest pilgrim who had come to
Him from the Occident), “the first fruits of the spiritual union
between East and West.” Half a century has now gone by since that
pilgrimage. The young woman grew old and died, and when her
papers were opened the manuscript was found of a book that she had
written, called Wanderers (taking this title from the marriage Tablet
revealed for her husband and herself by the Master which said:
“They are wanderers in Thy domain, and enamoured of Thy
beauty.”) Some sections of this manuscript will be given here; the
account has only the status of all other pilgrims’ reports, but it helps
to recapture a time long gone (as human lives are measured), and it
gives an impression of the Master as seen through Western eyes, and
focuses attention on this central theme of His ministry: the unity of
East and West. The writer’s name was Florence Breed. She was
called Florence Khánum. I knew her very well; she was my mother.

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá section in Bahá’í World Faith, p. 356.

Fifty years ago the average young American gentlewoman did
not venture far into the East; and if there, she went gingerly, carefully
insulated. Florence begins by describing her first visit to
Constantinople, where her own mother had taken her on what was
known as the Grand Tour. She then proceeds to contrast this with
her second visit to the Turkish capital, on her way to ‘Akká as the
wife of a Persian Bahá’í:
“On my first visit to Constantinople as a girl of seventeen with
my dear mother and younger sister Alice, when we visited the
Stamboul bazaars Mother always cautioned us upon entering
the dim, arched interior, ‘Turn right, to the European bazaar,
where we shall be perfectly safe ….’ I remember how we walked
demurely along following our dear mother—and how the
Eastern merchants seeing apparently ‘rich Americans’ strolling
by, rushed out of their ‘boutiques’ with articles in their hands,
vociferously imploring us to buy—following us with pleadings,
until our mother’s final decisive ‘No’s!’ dismissed them in the
end.
“So when Khán1 said, ‘Today we lunch with the jewellers to the
Sultan, they are Bahá’ís,’ and I asked, ‘Where is the luncheon?’
and he replied, ‘We go into the bazaars to their office’, I recalled
the earlier visit in my girlhood. Arriving at the

1 ‘Alí-Kuli Khán, Nabíl-i-Dawlih, Florence’s husband, the author’s father.
Qulí (Kuli) means “son of”.

bazaars we entered, and instead of turning right towards the
prosperous-looking, better-lighted, European section, we turned
left and walked into the dimmer less—frequented ‘Oriental’
bazaar. Following my husband (who was wearing a Turkish fez
to facilitate our movements in Turkey), and with some
trepidation of heart, I recalled my dear mother’s warning, which
hardly allowed our glances to look at the Oriental section, and
here was her daughter not only actually penetrating those dim
corridors, going towards an unknown, Eastern goal, but going as
the wife of an Easterner!
“‘Kismet!’ I murmured to myself. ‘Destiny! What am I
adventuring into? However, so far, so good. And it is
undeniable I dearly love and trust my husband. So here goes!’
On we went, hardly meeting anyone, and turned into a vast open
courtyard, also nearly deserted. My husband, with our son, led
the way to some steps, going down into a kind of cellar. Here
came forward the Bahá’í brothers hospitably greeting all three of
us as warmly as long lost, old, dear friends. We were at once
comfortably installed in the pleasant, underground room, and a
servant appeared, bearing goblets of delectable, cool Persian
sherbet, most welcome after our warm walk. … In such
kindness, and perfect atmosphere of loving brotherhood, all
strangeness disappeared. I felt completely safe. … ‘What a

Faith!’ I thought, ‘that can unite East and West! That can make
an American feel at one, in spiritual sympathy, with an
Easterner. Indeed, the Bahá’í Revelation is a key to unlock
hearts, to unite in fellowship and understanding the people of
the world, whatever the race, whatever the spiritual
background!’
“So, little by little, I was learning to modify my ignorances and
prejudices of the West—that burden of inheritance that the
people of Europe and America are born into, without realizing it,
ever since the Middle Ages!”

The Master in ‘Akká
It should not be surprising that the offer, with kindness, of a
cool drink should help to change a Westerner’s long-established
attitudes. World peace will be founded on small actions within the
reach of everyone, and given such actions no charts or scholarly
treatises to prove the oneness of mankind, or to solve the economic
question, are necessary. “Tender, loving care,” as Western
psychologists now say, is the only prerequisite. Those who think that
by love for humanity is meant an academic abstraction, who “love
humanity” but not one human being, have never studied ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá. The love He teaches is nothing else than the service embodied
in His name, ‘Abd—Servant. “He who serves (mankind) has already
entered the Kingdom and is seated at the right hand of his Lord.”1

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 186.

He says that Bahá’ís must be as kind to people as God is:
“We must consider none bad, none worthy of detestation, no
one as an enemy. …
“Bahá’u’lláh has clearly said … that if you have an enemy,
consider him not as an enemy. Do not simply be long-suffering;
nay, rather, love him. Your treatment of him should be that which
is becoming to lovers. Do not even say that he is your enemy. Do
not see any enemies. Though he be your murderer, see no enemy.
Look upon him with the eye of friendship. Be mindful that you do
not consider him as an enemy and simply tolerate him, for that is
but stratagem and hypocrisy. To consider a man your enemy and
love him is hypocrisy.”1
The present writer, after many years of thinking over this
statement (which in Christianity has remained only a counsel of
perfection for twenty centuries) has come to understand it in terms
of a statement attributed in the East to Plato: that Heaven is a bow,
and events are arrows; man is the target, and God the archer. … The
event is, it would seem then, to be loved, because it comes from the
Archer. In any case, if mankind will relinquish its hatreds and
deliberately substitute love—the love which results from the
performance of loving acts—’Abdu’l-Bahá offers this spectacular
promise:
“If you attain to such a capacity of love and unity, the Blessed
Perfection will shower infinite graces of the spiritual Kingdom
upon you, guide, protect and

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 267.

preserve you under the shadow of His Word, increase your
happiness in this world and uphold you through all difficulties.”1
Non-personal only in the sense of being impartially distributed,
the Master’s was a warm mother-love; each one felt that ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá’s love was especially for him, just as each one appropriates his
own place in the sun. This is how Florence Khánum describes the
first time she saw the Master:
“With what a thrill of the spirit, with what gratified joy of the
heart I silently mounted that long flight of stone steps—nearer
and nearer to the Heaven of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s presence! At the
top, we were led to the right, through a little stone vestibule into
a long and bare living-room, with many windows overlooking
the sunshine and colour of the blue Mediterranean. A divan,
Eastern fashion, ran along all the walls.
“The Master stood by the window facing our entrance. Khán in
extreme emotion advanced ahead to the Master, Whose loving
arms encircled him as they embraced, and Whose
strengthening, cheery, encouraging voice cried out in great
heartiness, ‘Marh.abá! Marh.abá! Welcome! Well done! Well
done!’ Khán, half weeping, and trembling in excessive love and
joy, overcome with the Master’s welcome and praise, brought
Rah.ím and me forward. ‘My wife and son!’ Again came the
glorious words, ‘Marh.abá’!

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 24.

Marh.abá! You went one to America, Khán, and you return
three!’”
Many people were overcome in the Master’s presence, because
the impact of His perfection was too hard to bear. As the days
passed, Florence was able more calmly to contemplate this Being,
Whom she calls the Archetypal Man of the great Bahá’í Era”. At His
table, where she, the only woman present, sat beside Him at
luncheon and dinner almost without exception (once He entertained
official guests in a big white tent, and again served two hundred
people on His birthday, so that the regular meals were interrupted)
during her thirty–three days’ visit, she watched and listened; when
He addressed her, Alí-Kuli Khán translated in a low voice.
“As I gazed at Him, I became aware of a kind of spiritual vision.
He seemed to be deeply breathing the airs of an upper ether, to
be inhaling the Breath of Life from a source and an atmosphere
far, far above the ken of men and angels. From a world higher
than our world and superior to it … [He is] in our world, in a
lower, an alien element, but draws His breath, life and
sustenance from the Higher Spheres. … In studying ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá in the first day or two (for after I had discerned His
perfections there was no more attempt to ‘study’ Him) I could
only gaze at Him in shyness and in awe. … ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wore a
snowy-white scarf wound about a café-au-lait soft, tassel-less
kind of fez. Over His white,

long over-dress, He wore a thin ‘abá, sometimes a ‘dust-’abá,’ of
black or brown thin material, oftener one of café-au-lait colour.
In the snowy scarf about His waist, I saw a pink rose
occasionally tucked, and on a devastatingly hot midsummer
noon, I was surprised to see the rose as fresh and dewy-looking
as if it were the dawn.
“At times, the prized, first odour of the East emanates from
Him—attar of roses—while there is ever a spiritual radiance and
fragrance which one perceives spiritually and which uplifts one’s
inner being and … brings one into the ‘garden of Abhá’.”
She tells of walking through the soft Eastern night, going across
the courtyard under the big white stars, on her way to the evening
meal, and saying to herself,
“‘I am on my way … and who am I? to take dinner with the
Divine Host of the world!’ … Upon entering the hall, we stood
about awaiting the arrival of the Master. Never was this ‘Rose of
the World’ alone! Always accompanying Him were a number of
faithful Eastern Bahá’í men, in the dress of their respective
countries—wearing the red fez, the black kuláh, the white
turban.”
She tells of seeing the Master in the bright moonlight. He
“raised His beloved face, and gazed upward lingeringly at the
glory of the full moon. I can

never forget those moments of beauty—the moon, a masterpiece
of God, shining in full glory in the high heavens, being
admiringly looked upon by a, masterpiece of God on earth:
‘Abdu’l-Baha!”
One night she had a strange, subjective experience:
“One evening, after sunset, Khán came in great enthusiasm and
excitement to our room. ‘Do you remember,’ he asked, ‘that
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said He would answer all the letters we brought to
Him from America before we left?’ ‘Yes, I do.’ ‘Then come
quickly. It is too wonderful! The Master is pacing to and fro, in
His sitting room—I cannot see the secretary—and He is replying
to those letters, as if He had known the inmost secret of the
writers’ hearts, from the cradle! Yet He has never met nor seen
one of them. You can see Him from the corridor beyond the
little room, each time He passes the open doorway!’ So, Rah.ím
being peacefully asleep, I returned with Khán, to his post,
outside the doorway which led to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s long room with
its many windows looking over the Bay of ‘Akká to the
Mediterranean beyond. I heard the dear Master’s beautiful
voice, and then saw Him, as He strode by the doorway of His
lighted room. We were in the dark, looking through the small
darkened antechamber. I recalled how, never, at the daily
luncheon table,

and never at the late evening dinner, and never at any time, had
I satisfied my longing to gaze more fully upon the Master’s
beautiful, noble and spiritual face. I used to glance admiringly
at the snowy, scarf-enfolded headdress, and at the beautiful,
silver-white hair falling softly to the shoulders; and at the lofty
arch of His forehead, at the expression of His eyes, indescribable
in human language; now they seemed blue—and now brown—
and again partly of each colour, or hazel—but always illumined,
loving and understanding; sometimes raised in holy reverence,
in silent prayer, sometimes gently smiling—but always kingly
and supreme. … Then, I could never get my fill, so to speak, of
the divine beauty of the lower part of His face. It expressed only
a perfect sweetness, a heavenly, Divine perfection of
spirituality—a gentleness—a holy patience—no sign whatsoever
in lines or expression of the lower traits of human nature, only a
Divine perfectness. It was astounding. I had never seen a face
like it. Selfless. The stamp of suffering upon it; alas for
humanity, which crucifies God’s messengers!1
“So, I thought exultingly, ‘Now if only the Master would pause a
moment in His doorway, as I am here in the dark, I could look
upon His

1 Florence Khánum is not implying that the Master was a Prophet. “…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá is not a Manifestation of God … though the successor of
His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station ….” (Shoghi Effendi:
The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, 132) M.G.

face to my heart’s content, and no one would notice me!’
“Instantly, the Master stopped in His doorway. Silhouetted
against the light, I clearly saw Him in His beauty, and I began a
sort of’ ‘visual devouring’ of that wonderful face! I looked, and I
looked, and I looked. After a few moments, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
withdrew, and resumed His pacing to and fro and revelation of
the Tablets.
“After watching for a while, half timorously the thought arose in
my heart, ‘Oh! if only He would stop once more in the doorway!’
“At once the Master stood in the doorway, silent, and seemed to
be looking upwards towards the stars. ‘Now, I will look!’ I
thought in breathless joy.
“This time as I gazed silently upon that matchless face, a golden
light shone forth from His entire figure. This light intensified,
and intensified, as I looked, and looked, until I began almost to
be afraid.
“I said to myself, ‘However bright it grows I am going to keep
my eyes open! What a wonderful sight! What a miraculous
opportunity!’
“The outline of light grew more and more intense, yet I looked,
and I looked, until it seemed to me, I must fall upon my knees.
Just as it seemed I could no longer bear such a vision, the
Master withdrew.

“‘Take me to my room,’ I said weakly, much overcome, to Khán.
‘I have just seen the transfiguration upon the Mount!’
“Later I asked Khán if he had seen anything unusual. ‘No,’ he
replied. ‘I noticed that the Master stopped twice in the doorway,
and that He looked very beautiful. That was all.’
“Then he advised me that whatever I saw, of the miraculous, at
‘Akká, I had best not teach it in America. ‘A Bahá’í is not
supposed to teach by relating the miraculous, if it come within
his experience,’ he said. ‘Because his listener has not seen it,
and much as he may believe the person who has, it may convey
nothing to him.’”
This scene of the Tablets reminds us that almost without
interruption, ever since 1844, thousands of Tablets, and in our times
of the Guardian’s letters, have been showered on the world. By the
mass of mankind unnoticed as the air, many of these are general
epistles to society, while others are highly personal, so that many an
individual life has been founded on one or another of them. In this
connection the writer cannot help remembering how a well-known
Christian evangelist, current model, answers his mail. According to
the magazine Match (8 June 1957), this man receives from ten to
fifteen thousand letters a week. In a locked room, seven young
women, working at top speed, open these letters, quantities of which
contain money gifts, and all of which ask for advice. The letters are
then

read by eight secretaries, who, using different-coloured pencils,
underline the key words. The words thus underlined determine the
answer which the seeker of advice is going to receive, since, in the
majority of cases, the answer is composed by a robot typewriter in
which has been placed a key corresponding to one of some forty
principal letter-topics: unbelieving husband, segregation, atomic
tests, recent conversion, baptism, military service, etc. It is certainly
appropriate that in our age of mechanization human beings should,
in their desperate hours, turn for solace to a machine.

The attainable perfections of man
For our present purposes we shall define ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
message as the affirmation of the perfectibility of man. “The greatest
bestowal of God to man,” He says, “is the capacity to attain human
virtues.”1 And elsewhere: “The purpose of the creation of man is the
attainment of the supreme virtues of humanity through descent of
the heavenly bestowals.”2 The goal He sets is the “happiness of
humanity” to be achieved by man’s accumulated perfections, as these
are realized by man’s own unceasing effort. In His farewell to a
group of Bahá’ís He told them:
“This is our last evening and I ask God that His confirmations
may encompass you … May you all be united, may you be
agreed, may you serve the solidarity of mankind. May you be
well-wishers of all humanity. May you be assistants of every
poor

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 378.
2 ibid., p. 4.

one. May you be nurses for the sick. May you be sources of
comfort to the broken in heart. May you be a refuge for the
wanderer. May you be a source of courage to the affrighted
one. Thus, through the favour and assistance of God may the
standard of the happiness of humanity be held aloft in the
centre of the world ….”1
When facing the mystery of any human being, even of this
“Mystery of God”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, one key to his nature is the words or
expressions that he often repeats. With the Master, one finds, over
and over, such words as “Arise, go forth, strive; advance, become,
attain.” Choosing at random the first thirty–five pages of the book
The Promulgation of Universal Peace (‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talks during
His nine-months’-long journeys in North America) one finds that,
while it is not possible to make an exact, objective count, ideas
connected with these words and their synonyms occur at least one
hundred and twenty–five times. Arise, go forth, strive; advance,
become, attain.
Humanity today has lived through two world wars. Adults living
today have been forced to look on scenes of horror that they can
never forget. Their hearts have been disfigured by grief. Avidly
enjoying a few years of respite now, many of them are pursuing the
things of this world as relentlessly as those unscathed materialists in
the so-far-untouched sections of the globe. When approached by a
Bahá’í their comment is: “You can’t change human

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 425.

nature.” An astronomical number of times, when you talk to the
average man, you get some such answer as: “I’m only the little
fellow. It’s the big fellows who make the wars. Nothing I do can
change anything.” They answer in this way first out of despair, then
as a convenient rationalization of their chosen way of life, but
fundamentally because they do not know what man is.
This modern phenomenon of despair, which has made suicide
so common in our times that every high bridge and building must
have some structural provision against it, is in Islamic prophecy one
of the signs of the Day of Resurrection; Muhammad foretold that on
that Day a man, passing by another’s grave, would say: “Would to
God I were in his place” (Sale, Preliminary Discourse).
Against this universal phenomenon of despair, speaks out
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Manifestations of God, He says, are sent
“… to uplift the human race from the abyss of despair ….”1
and again, “They liberate man from the darkness of the world of
nature, deliver him from despair ….”2 One of His prayers says:
“In the darksome night of despair, my eye turneth expectant
and full of hope to the morn of Thy boundless favour and at the
hour of dawn my drooping soul is refreshed and strengthened
in remembrance of Thy beauty and perfection. He whom the
grace of Thy mercy aideth, though he be but a drop, shall
become

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 405.
2 ibid., p. 466.

the boundless ocean, and the merest atom which the
outpouring of Thy loving-kindness assisteth, shall shine even as
the radiant star.”1
This theme is also stated in the only recording we have of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s voice.2
Modern man belittles himself and fritters away his days because
he does not know what he is. To awaken him before his moment in
the light is gone forever, the Master echoes around the world His
Father’s statement on the power of one righteous act:
“One righteous act is endowed with a potency that can so
elevate the dust as to cause it to pass beyond the heaven of
heavens. It can tear every bond asunder, and hath the power
to restore the force that hath spent itself and vanished ….”3
He urges man to read The Hidden Words, where Bahá’u’lláh
says to humanity:
“Thou art even as a finely tempered sword concealed in the
darkness of its sheath and its value hidden from the artificer’s
knowledge. Wherefore come forth from the sheath of self and
desire that thy worth may be made resplendent and manifest
unto all the world.”4
To prove man’s perfectibility, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains what man
is, and where man stands in relation to man, to the world, and to the
Lord of the world. Man, He says, is the world-tree’s fruit;5 man is to
the world what the spirit is to the body,6 what the head is to the
human form;

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Bahá’í Prayers (USA), p. 31.
2 Note. Since this [book] was written, a double-sided recording of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s voice has come to light, one side in Persian, the other in
Turkish. Mr Rustom Sabit informs us that through the good offices of
his father, this recording was made by Pathé of Paris. Copies are
preserved in the Bahá’í International Archives at Haifa.
3 Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 287.
4 Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 72.
5 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 201.
6 ibid.

“… we imagine a time when man belonged to the animal world,
or when he was merely an animal, we shall find that existence
would have been imperfect—that is to say, there would have
been no man, and this chief member, which in the body of the
world is like the brain and mind in man, would have been
missing. … for man is the greatest member of this world, and if
the body was without this chief member, surely it would be
imperfect.”1
He is the vital life of the world, and present-day man in his
foredoomed attempts to compete with the animal, to burrow down
and hide in the animal kingdom, is depriving this world of its
quintessential life.
“Man is the life of the world, and the life of man is the spirit.
The happiness of the world depends upon man, and the
happiness of man is dependent upon the spirit.”2
As He glances around the world, assigning to each phenomenon
its rank and place, the Master has much to say of the five divisions of
the spirit:
“The greatest power in the realm and range of human existence
is spirit—the divine breath which animates and pervades all
things. It is manifested throughout creation in different
degrees or kingdoms. In the vegetable kingdom it is the …
power of growth …. In this degree of its manifestation[,] spirit
is unconscious of the powers which qualify the kingdom of the
animal. The distinctive virtue or plus of the animal is sense
perception; it sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels but is

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 177.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 240.

incapable, in turn, of conscious ideation or reflection which
characterizes and differentiates the human kingdom. … From
the visible it cannot draw conclusions regarding the invisible …
this power is a distinctive attribute of the human spirit …. The
animal spirit cannot penetrate and discover the mysteries of
things. It is a captive of the senses. No amount of teaching, for
instance, would enable it to grasp the fact that the sun is
stationary, and the earth moves around it. Likewise, the
human spirit has its limitations. It cannot comprehend the
phenomena of the Kingdom transcending the human station,
for it is a captive of powers and life forces which have their
operation upon its own plane of existence, and it cannot go
beyond that boundary.
“There is, however, another Spirit, which may be termed the
Divine, to which Jesus Christ refers when He declares that man
must be born of its quickening and baptized with its living fire.
Souls deprived of that Spirit are accounted as dead, though
they are possessed of the human spirit. Jesus Christ … means
that souls, though alive in the human kingdom, are
nevertheless dead if devoid of this particular spirit of divine
quickening. They have not partaken of the divine life of the
higher Kingdom ….”1
This last, the “spirit of faith”, is spirit in the fourth degree2; it is
the light reflected back from the believing heart. And spirit in the
fifth degree is the Holy Spirit,
“… the luminous rays which emanate from the Manifestations
…”3

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 58.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 144; also Persian text.
3 ibid., p. 108.

Spirit in the fourth degree is
“the power which makes the earthly man heavenly, and the
imperfect man perfect. It makes the impure to be pure, the
silent eloquent; … it makes the ignorant wise.”1
Without the fifth category of spirit, the Holy Spirit which is
“… the mediator of the Holy Light from the Sun of Reality …”2,
man would be only as he was, let us say, when formed of dust, before
God had breathed into him the breath of life; for the spirit of faith is
brought to mankind by the Prophets of God;
“… it comes from the breath of the Holy Spirit, and by the
divine power it becomes the cause of eternal life.”3
To show what man is, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá often contrasts him with the
animal, with that phenomenon which manifests spirit only in the first
and second degrees.
“Verily God has created the animal in the image and likeness of
man, for though man outwardly is human, yet in nature he
possesses animal tendencies.”4 “Man is like the animal in
physical structure but otherwise immeasurably separated and
superior.”5
He does not disdain animals, He loves them, for Bahá’u’lláh has
established not only the rights of man, but the rights of animals as
well. He says that man can learn from animals, and describes such

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, pp. 144–5.
2 ibid., p. 145.
3 ibid., p. 144.
4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 263.
5 ibid., p. 67.

animal behaviour as man could emulate:
“Among the animals racial prejudice does not exist. Consider
the doves; there is no distinction as to whether it is an oriental
or an occidental dove.”1 “Throughout the kingdoms of living
organisms there is sex differentiation in function, but no
preference or distinction is made in favour of either male or
female. In the animal kingdom individual sex exists, but rights
are equal and without distinction.”2
He points out that in some ways the animal is superior to man:
“… the animal is often superior to man in sense perception.”3 It is
simply that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá does not wish man to be an animal; that he
who is free should enslave himself in the five senses, renouncing his
own peculiar powers—like a bird walking or an orator making
meaningless sounds.
Abdu’l-Bahá says that
“Manifestly the animal has been created for the life of this
world.”4
Animals can easily be happy here, not man:
“Consider how difficult for man is the attainment of pleasures
and happiness in this mortal world. How easy it is for the
animal. … The animal is nobler, more serene and confident,
because each hour is free from anxiety … but man, restless and
dissatisfied, runs from morn till eve ….
“His life is intended to be a life of spiritual enjoyment to which
the animal can never attain.”5

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 299.
2 ibid., pp. 280–1.
3 ibid., p. 241.
4 ibid., p. 303.
5 ibid., pp. 184–5.

Never, perhaps, has material civilization reached a higher point
and been more widespread than in the United States today, and yet
Americans are spending annually billions of dollars for alcohol,
psychiatrists and happiness pills to enable them to bear it.
The Master said:
“In cities like New York the people are submerged in the sea of
materialism. Their sensibilities are attuned to material forces,
their perceptions purely physical. The animal energies
predominate in their activities; all their thoughts are directed
to material things; day and night they are devoted to the
attractions of this world, without aspiration beyond the life
that is vanishing and mortal. In schools and temples of
learning[,] knowledge of the sciences acquired is based upon
material observations only; there is no realization of divinity in
their methods and conclusions—all have reference to the world
of matter. They are not interested in attaining knowledge of
the mysteries of God or understanding the secrets of the
heavenly kingdom; what they acquire is based altogether upon
visible and tangible evidences … they … are utterly out of touch
with God ….”1
He often laughingly said that the donkey and cow were far
superior to the materialistic philosophers of the day:
“All the animals are materialists. … They have no knowledge of
the divine Prophets and Holy Books—mere captives of nature
and the sense world. In reality

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 261–2.

they are like the great philosophers of this day who are not in
touch with God and the Holy Spirit—deniers of the Prophets,
ignorant of spiritual susceptibilities, deprived of the heavenly
bounties and without belief in the supernatural power. The
animal lives this kind of life blissfully and untroubled, whereas
the material philosophers labour and study for ten or twenty
years in schools and colleges, denying God, the Holy Spirit and
divine inspirations. The animal is even a greater philosopher,
for it attains the ability to do this without labour and study.
For instance, the cow denies God and the Holy Spirit, knows
nothing of divine inspirations, heavenly bounties or spiritual
emotions and is a stranger to the world of hearts. Like the
philosophers, the cow is a captive of nature and knows nothing
beyond the range of the senses. The philosophers, however,
glory in this, saying, ‘We are not captives of superstitions; we
have implicit faith in the impressions of the senses and know
nothing beyond the realm of nature, which contains and covers
everything.’ But the cow, without study or proficiency in the
sciences, modestly and quietly views life from the same
standpoint ….
“This is not the glory of man. The glory of man is in the
knowledge of God, spiritual susceptibilities, attainment to
transcendent powers and the bounties of the Holy Spirit. … Is
the intellect of these people greater than the intellect of Christ?
… He attached little importance to this material life, denying
Himself rest and composure, accepting trials and voluntarily
suffering vicissitudes because He was endowed with

spiritual susceptibilities and the power of the Holy Spirit.”1
The Qur’án says:
“Thou gavest them and their fathers their fill of good things, till
they forgat the remembrance of Thee, and became a lost
people.”2
And again:
“And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath
therefore caused to forget their own selves.”3
The Master teaches that only the Manifestations of God, the
focal centres of the Holy Spirit, can recall man to himself:
“The holy Manifestations of God come into the world to dispel
the darkness of the animal, or physical, nature of man, to
purify him from his imperfections in order that his heavenly
and spiritual nature may become quickened, his divine
qualities awakened … and [that] all the virtues of the world of
humanity latent within him may come to life. These holy
Manifestations of God are the Educators and Trainers of the
world of existence, the Teachers …. Men are ignorant; the
Manifestations of God make them wise. They are animalistic;
the Manifestations make them human. They are savage and
cruel; the Manifestations lead them into kingdoms of light and
love. They are unjust; the Manifestations cause them to
become just. Man is selfish; They sever him from self and
desire. Man is haughty; They make him meek, humble and
friendly. He is earthly; They make him heavenly.

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 311–2.
2 Qur’án 25:18.
3 ibid., 59:19.

Men are material; the Manifestations transform them into
divine semblance. They are immature children; the
Manifestations develop them into maturity. Man is poor; They
endow him with wealth. Man is base, treacherous and mean;
the Manifestations of God uplift him into dignity, nobility and
loftiness.”1
“… man,” further says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “is a reality which stands
between light and darkness.”2 He has a material body and a
“heavenly body”3 or inner reality.
“So to speak, the reality of man is clad in the outer garment of
the animal, the habiliments of the world of nature, the world of
darkness, imperfections and unlimited baseness.
“On the other hand, we find in him justice, sincerity,
faithfulness, knowledge, wisdom, illumination, mercy and pity,
coupled with intellect, comprehension, the power to grasp the
realities of things ….”4
Man attains to all good things through his “second birth”, that
is, through the orientation of his soul toward the Manifestation of
God, and
“Were it not for the coming of these holy Manifestations of God,
all mankind would be found on the plane of the animal.”5
To conclude these few allusions to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s infinite
teachings on man, there is this:
“The station of man is great, very great. God has created man
after His own image and likeness. He has endowed him with a
mighty power which is capable of

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 465–6.
2 ibid., p. 465.
3 ibid., p. 464.
4 ibid., p. 465.
5 ibid., p. 466.

discovering the mysteries of phenomena. … As he possesses
sense endowment in common with the animals, it is evident
that he is distinguished above them by his conscious power of
penetrating abstract realities. He acquires divine wisdom; he
searches out the mysteries of creation; he witnesses the
radiance of omnipotence; he attains the second birth—that is to
say, he is born out of the material world just as he is born of the
mother; he attains to everlasting life; he draws nearer to God;
his heart is replete with the love of God. This is the foundation
of the world of humanity; this is the image and likeness of God;
this is the reality of man; otherwise he is an animal.”1
And lastly,
“The reflection of the divine perfections appears in the reality of
man …. If man did not exist, the universe would be without
result, for the object of existence is the appearance of the
perfections of God.”2

How to kill prejudice
In spite of His own immaculate perfection, the Master never
turned away from the despised and the rejected, but rather
transformed them with His regal touch. Florence Khánum tells in
her book of her reaction to some of the people she saw in her travels.
(It must be remembered that she was Boston-educated, which means
that she took a rather conservative view of the rest of mankind). She
writes of a little servant:

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 262–3.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 196.

“I … discovered to my amazement and shock, that the
expression of her eyes was more wild and uncivilized than the
eyes of our domestic animals in America! Such as the eyes of
our horses, our dogs, our cats, which usually give back a
reflection of our love and affection, while this young girl’s eyes
did not!”
She grew somewhat afraid of the local people, and then one day
she saw a native woman coming along the roofed-over stone
corridor, and she wanted to run away. Just then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
approached with one of His daughters:
“I saw the woman pause, bow, and greet the Master. He replied
graciously, and spoke sweetly, and as He passed, pressed a coin
into her hand. She burst forth into phrases of evident joy and
gratitude, and went away. I lingered, to ask the Master’s
daughter: ‘ What did she say? Who is she?’
“‘She is the daughter of a desert chief, and she has suffered very
much.’
“‘Is she a Bahá’í?’
“‘No; but she loves the Master very much. He has been kind to
her.’
“‘What did she say to Him?’
“‘She said she would pray for Him.’
“‘And what did the Master say?’
“‘He thanked her.’
“In my American-trained mind, at first I thought: ‘How
presumptuous for that dirty-

looking, half-savage-looking woman to tell the Master she would
pray for Him!’ And then, as the sweetness and humility of His
reply astonished me, another experience of His spiritual
grandeur overwhelmed my soul.”
Abdu’l-Bahá was to say:
“… there is need of a superior power to overcome human
prejudices; a power which nothing in the world of mankind
can withstand and which will overshadow the effect of all other
forces at work in human conditions. That irresistible power is
the love of God.”1

Man, the preoccupied
The police, as this is being written, have, according to radio
reports, admitted that they are unable to stop the teenage gang
killings now taking place in the vast slums of New York City, where a
policeman’s son and an old cripple are among those murdered by
teenagers this week, and another recent victim was a fifteen-year-old
boy lamed by poliomyelitis. We would feel worse about this hideous
news, typical of reports from many countries, which show how the
social fabric is now rotting away, if we and our fellow-believers had
not spent almost our entire lives trying to tell of the advent of the
Manifestation; if five generations of Bahá’ís had not done so; if the
Báb’s young body had not been smashed by seven hundred Persian
bullets; if, to diffuse this message, 20,000 martyrs had not died; if
Bahá’u’lláh

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 68.

had not. spent His entire adulthood and age as a Prisoner, chained,
bastinadoed, banished; if ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had not sacrificed every
ounce of His strength, His whole life long, to this Cause; if the first
Guardian had not given to it all the days of his life.
We have tried, each in his degree, and the best way we knew, to
deliver this message for the regeneration of mankind. And every day
we have heard from the world (when it did not attack us and drive us
out) the same preoccupied, polite response:
“I must go to my church (or mosque, or synagogue)—I have my
own private religion: to do good—Sorry, no time now—Religion
is superstition—I know better than Jesus—No one can be saved
except in my religion—Foreigners are no good—Why are there
so few of you?—You can’t change human nature—Your teachings
are too good to be true.”
“For a whole century,” the Guardian writes, “God has respited
mankind, that it might acknowledge the Founder of such a
Revelation, espouse His Cause, proclaim His greatness, and establish
His Order.”1
In the same work, The Promised Day is Come, Shoghi Effendi
quotes Bahá’u’lláh’s dire prophecy:
“The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath
arrived.” “The hour is approaching when the most great
convulsion will have appeared.”2
“After Doom, what?” asked an American friend.

1 Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day is Come, p. 6.
2 ibid., p. 3.

After God has inflicted His great wound, He will heal it, and
then the restoring presence of the Master’s spirit will be felt around
the world.

The development of love
“Let not a man glory in this, that he can kill his fellow
creatures;” says the Master, “nay, rather, let him glory in this, that
he can love them.”1 His life was one long expression of love. In
America He said:
“I have come here to visit you. With the greatest longing I have
wished to see you. Realizing it was only with great difficulty
that you could come to me and that very few could make the
trip, I decided to come to you …. Praise be to God! I am here,
and I am looking into your faces—faces radiant with inner
beauty, hearts attracted to the Kingdom of Abhá, spirits
exhilarated through the glad tidings of God. Therefore, I have
experienced the greatest possible happiness. And surely this
happiness must be mutual, for the hearts are connected with
each other and are filled with the same vibration. … If we
should offer a hundred thousand thanksgivings every moment
to the threshold of God for this love which has blended the
Orient and Occident, we would fail to express our gratitude
sufficiently. If all the powers of earth should seek to bring
about this love between East and West, they would prove
incapable. If they wished to establish this unity, it would prove
impossible. But Bahá’u’lláh has accomplished both … and this
bond

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 75.

of unity through love is indissoluble. It shall continue unto time
everlasting, and day by day its power shall increase. Erelong
it shall enchain the world, and eventually the hearts of all the
nations of the world will be brought together by its
constraining clasp.”1
And later, at a Feast:
“Behold how the power of Bahá’u’lláh has brought the East and
West together. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is standing, serving you.
There is neither rod nor blow, whip nor sword; but the power
of the love of God has accomplished this.”2
Reading His introductory remarks to audiences, one has the
feeling that day after day He was addressing a superior order of
being; and yet they were just people, transformed by His own love:
“Although I am weary after my long journey, the light of the
spirit shining in your faces brings me rest and reward.”3
“Tonight I am very happy for I have come here to meet my
friends. I consider you my relatives, my companions ….”4 “… I
ask you to accept ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as your servant.”5
(This to the poor in New York’s Bowery.)
“Today I have been speaking from dawn until now, yet because
of love, fellowship and desire to be with you, I have come here to
speak again ….”6 A meeting where Negro and white were present
was “a beautiful bouquet of violets gathered together in varying
colours, dark and light.”7 To a children’s meeting: “You are all my
children, my spiritual children. Spiritual children are dearer than
physical children, for it is possible for physical

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 37.
2 ibid., p. 43.
3 ibid., p. 4.
4 ibid., p. 32.
5 ibid., p. 34.
6 ibid., p. 46.
7 ibid., p. 49.

children to turn away from the spirit of God …”1
“Praise be to God! It is with a deep realization of happiness
that I am present here this evening, for I am looking upon the
faces of those who are earnest in their search for reality and
who sincerely long to attain knowledge of truth.”2
One cannot help contrasting the way a current Protestant
evangelist addresses his audiences: “God looks at you … with His
magnifying glass and sees your faults …. You are guilty! You are
guilty! You are guilty!”3 Or Martin Luther, as quoted by R. H.
Bainton in Here I Stand:
“I understand that this is the week for the church collection and
many of you do not want to give a thing. You ungrateful people
should be ashamed of yourselves … now that you are asked to
give four miserable pennies you are up in arms. … I am not
saying this for myself. I receive nothing from you. I am the
prince’s beggar. But I am sorry I ever freed you from the tyrants
and the papists. You ungrateful beasts, you are not worthy of
the treasure of the gospel. If you don’t improve, I will stop
preaching rather than cast pearls before swine.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s love has not left the world simply because He is
now hidden from our eyes. Florence Khánum has this to say, of a
long-ago moment when she was in His presence, and was thinking of
those deprived of it not by time but by the curve of the planet: for no
believer living in those days could think of the world without ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá:

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 92.
2 ibid., p. 312.
3 Time, 6 May 1957.

“One noon, my heart overflowing with happiness and gratitude
for the great good fortune of such an experience in the Holy
household, I ventured to remark to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: ‘I wish all the
Bahá is in America could attain to ‘Akká. (In those days the
expression for a visit to ‘Akká was this: attaining to ‘Akká).
‘Abdu’l-Bahá paused a moment before answering and then
replied, ‘I am ever with those who love me.’”

Love is not enough
He teaches, however, that society must be founded on justice,
not love or forgiveness. Bahá’u’lláh has named our central
administrative institutions Houses of Justice, and these bodies,
called at present Spiritual Assemblies, relate particularly to the
Master; perhaps one reason for this is that they are the most effective
agency for the changing of human nature, and man’s perfectibility is
always the Master’s leit motif. Of them He has written:
“These Spiritual Assemblies are aided by the Spirit of God.
Their defender is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’. Over them He spreadeth His
wings.”1
From the Bahá’ís, functioning in these Assemblies according to
methods taught by the Master, the whole world will learn how to
discover, through unity, prayer and consultation, what is justice in
any given situation, and how to apply it.
“In this Cause,”

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 80.

He said, “consultation is of vital importance, but spiritual
conference and not the mere voicing of personal views is
intended.”1
Then He tells of a visit which He made to the Legislature of a
Western power:
“… the experience was not impressive. Parliamentary
procedure should have for its object the attainment of the light
of truth upon questions presented and not furnish a battle
ground for opposition and self-opinion. Antagonism and
contradiction are unfortunate and always destructive to truth.
In the parliamentary meeting mentioned, altercation and
useless quibbling were frequent; … even in one instance a
physical encounter took place between two members. It was
not consultation but comedy.”2
He has never, notwithstanding this statement, taught that
people during consultation must agree with one another; on the
contrary, He says, “The shining spark of truth cometh forth only
after the clash of differing opinions.”3 The word only is important in
this context. Agreement takes place following consultation, and the
decision will preferably be unanimous, but in any case the voice of
the majority must be wholeheartedly accepted. The Master always
stands for order, not anarchy. He says:
“The essence of the Bahá’í spirit is that, in order to establish a
better social order and economic condition,

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 72.
2 ibid.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 87.

there must be allegiance to the laws and principles of
government.”1
Criminals, He says, must not go unpunished; society must be
protected from them; personal vengeance is forbidden to Bahá’ís, but
“… the community has the right of defence and of self-protection; …
the community has no hatred nor animosity …”2 for the given
criminal. He says that if unresisted, Attila “would not have left a
single living man”3 and that “the continuance of mankind depends
upon justice and not upon forgiveness.”4 In explaining Christ’s
words about turning the other cheek (Luke 6:29) He says “it was for
the purpose of teaching men not to take personal revenge.”5
and continued,
“… what Christ meant by forgiveness and pardon is not that,
when nations attack you, burn your homes, plunder your
goods, assault your wives, children, and relatives, and violate
your honour, you should be submissive …. No, the words of
Christ refer to the conduct of two individuals towards each
other …. But the communities must protect the rights of man.
So if someone assaults, injures, oppresses, and wounds me, I
will offer no resistance, and I will forgive him. But a person
wishes to assault Siyyid Manshádí6 certainly I will prevent
him.”7
We read that when, in 1922, 5,000 Mennonites went down to
Mexico from Canada in order to continue living according to their
own interpretation of the Bible, and had purchased for their colony

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 238.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 269.
3 ibid., p. 270.
4 ibid.
5 ibid.
6 A Bahá’í sitting at the table with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
7 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 270–1.

200,00o acres from a vast ranch in Chihuahua, a revolutionary
named Pancho Villa held sway there, “and the surrounding hills
swarmed with his fierce Villistas, who learned soon that the
Mennonite men would not raise their fists in anger. Time after time
the Villistas forayed down from the hills to rape the blonde
Mennonite women while their men stood by and prayed in helpless
anguish.”1
Florence Khánum was taught by the early believers that each
action of the Master’s, each word, “has not only a literal meaning but
in it are wrapped up untold spiritual, future meanings.” He lived not
only in the moment but for all time. “His acts, His words, are as
when one throws a stone into the water, and the rings of water
continue on and on …. So do the Master’s deeds and words eternally
reveal their inner bounties throughout the life here, and hereafter!”
One day, she relates, “before we rose from the table, I saw the Master
look at some object on the floor. I followed His gaze, and saw a
strange black insect swiftly approaching my chair. The Master arose,
and putting His foot down firmly on it, killed the creature. ‘This
kind,’ He said, as He resumed His chair, ‘is poisonous.’”

The trap of imitation
The great weapon of every vested interest on earth is man’s
faculty of mindless imitation of his forebears. What he is taught in
his early years

1 Time, 8 April 1957.

operates throughout his life in the same way as post-hypnotic
suggestion; many an action of his, many an opinion, was put into his
mind beforehand, and as he carries it out, he offers an apparently
rational explanation of his behaviour. Certain religionists say, “Give
us the child in his first five years and we will keep him always.” This
blind imitation is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s main target; He spearheads His
attack against it; after all, the Faith He teaches can bear adult
investigation.
“Verily mind is the supreme gift of God”,1
the Master says, and again,
“… that the precious, priceless bestowal of God—the human
mind ….”2
He tells us,
“The human spirit which distinguishes man from the animal is
the rational soul, and these two names—the human spirit and
the rational soul—designate one thing.
“… the mind is the power of the human spirit. … Spirit is the
tree, and the mind is the fruit.”3 “How can man believe that
which he knows to be opposed to reason? Is this possible? Can
the heart accept that which reason denies? Reason is the first
faculty of man, and the religion of God is in harmony with it.”4
Because of blind imitation, the Jews crucified Jesus.
“Notwithstanding the fulfilment of all the prophetic signs in
Christ, the Jews denied Him and entered the period of their
deprivation because of their

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 361.
2 ibid., p. 28.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 208.
4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 231.

allegiance to imitations and ancestral forms.
“… In reality His Holiness Christ proclaimed and completed the
law of Moses. He was the very helper and assister of Moses.
He spread the Book of Moses throughout the world …. The
Jews did not comprehend this, and the cause of their ignorance
was blind and tenacious adherence to imitations of ancient
forms and teachings; therefore they finally sentenced Christ to
death.”1
“… the people of religion,”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches,
“are of two kinds: Some worship the sun, and some adore the
dawning points from which the sun rises. … When that Sun of
Reality with its divine bestowal, its heavenly glow and
effulgence transferred to the Messianic point of rising, the Jews
denied its appearance in Jesus, for they were not worshipers of
the Sun itself but adored its rising in Moses. …
“What was the reason of this deprivation? It was simply
because they were imitating fathers and ancestors in forms of
belief instead of turning towards the Sun of Divinity.”2
He refutes such Christian beliefs as original sin on the grounds
of their being unreasonable:
“Even if we should see a governor, an earthly ruler punishing a
son for the wrong-doing of his father, we would look upon that
ruler as an unjust man. … If the father of a thousand
generations [back] committed a sin, is it just to demand that
the present generation should suffer the consequences
thereof?”3

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 292.
2 ibid., p. 273.
3 ibid., p. 449.

The Catholic Church teaches that since Adam’s Fall, the soul is
born deprived of sanctifying grace, in a state of sin, which has to be
remitted by baptism; for this reason, when labour proves difficult, a
priest will baptize the infant in utero (see Philip Wylie, Generation of
Vipers), since unbaptized children are, the Church teaches, excluded
from heaven; in the case of a head presentation, baptism is
administered on the head, otherwise on the part presented. (For
such details the writer has consulted authorized Catholic sources as
found in all well-equipped public libraries). An aborted foetus must
also be baptized.
The Master says of children who die, after or before the
appointed time of birth:
“These infants are under the shadow of the favour of God; and
as they have not committed any sin and are not soiled with the
impurities of the world of nature, they are the centres of the
manifestation of bounty, and the Eye of Compassion will be
turned upon them.”1
Satan, who plays such an important role in various religions,
does not exist, the Master says:
“… Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower
nature in man. … God has never created an evil spirit; all such
ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere
human or earthly nature of man. It is an essential condition of
the soil of earth that thorns, weeds and fruitless trees may
grow from it. Relatively speaking, this is evil; it is simply the
lower state and baser product of nature.”2

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 240.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 294–5.

In explaining one meaning of the Adam and Eve story—and the
Master says there are many—He tells us that “Adam signifies the
spirit of Adam, and Eve His human soul”;1 the tree is this world, and
the serpent is “attachment to the human world.”2 “This attachment
of the soul and spirit to the human world, which is sin, was
inherited by the descendants of Adam, and is the serpent which is
always in the midst of, and at enmity with, the spirits of the
descendants of Adam.”3 Jesus died “to attain this object, the
remission of sins (that is, the detachment of spirits from the human
world, and their attraction to the divine world) ….”4
The Master does not mean that we should abandon our daily life
and the business of living; He says only that
“… the energies of the heart must not be attached to these
things; the soul must not be completely occupied with them.”5
Explaining Jesus’ statement “I am the bread which came down
from heaven”, the Master says:
“It was not the body of Christ which came from heaven. His
body came from the womb of Mary …. The Spirit of Christ and
not the body descended from heaven. The body of Christ was
but human. … Consequently, by saying He was the bread
which came from heaven He meant that the perfections which
He showed forth were divine perfections … He said, ‘If any

1 A closer translation of the original (nafs) as used here would be “self”.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 123.
3 ibid., p. 124.
4 ibid., p. 125.
5 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 187.

man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.’ That is to say,
whosoever assimilates these divine perfections which are
within me will never die; whosoever has a share and partakes
of these heavenly bounties I embody will find eternal life ….”1
Unless people investigating the Bahá’í Faith will oblige
themselves to become as neutral as a scientist making a laboratory
test; unless they will look at their own selves, their heredity and their
environment (for three factors are involved, the Master says, not
two—since the soul has individuality, personality),2 and deliberately
assess these influences on their judgement, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words on
blind imitation can never be meaningful to them. To form
mechanical words and gestures and thoughts, to keep on going
through the motions, to hold uninvestigated opinions, is to be what
the Prophets of God call dead.
He calls the Prophets “the first teachers”, “universal educators”,3
and continues:
“Forms and imitations which creep in afterward … are clouds
which obscure the Sun of Reality. If you reflect upon the
essential teachings of Jesus, you will realize that they are the
light of the world. Nobody can question their truth. … The
forms and superstitions which appeared and obscured the light
did not affect the reality of Christ. … Jesus Christ said, ‘Put up
thy sword into the sheath.’ The meaning is that warfare is
forbidden and abrogated; but consider the Christian

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 450–1.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 240.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 86.

wars which took place afterward. Christian hostility and
inquisition spared not even the learned; he who proclaimed the
revolution of the earth was imprisoned; he who announced the
new astronomical system was persecuted as a heretic; scholars
and scientists became objects of fanatical hatred, and many
were killed and tortured. How do these actions conform with
the teachings of Jesus Christ, and what relation do they bear to
His own example? … How can hatred, hostility and
persecution be reconciled with Christ and His teachings?”1
He wished every religionist to study the basic teachings of the
Prophets:
“The fundamental principles of the Prophets are correct and
true. The imitations and superstitions which have crept in are
at wide variance with the original precepts and commands.”2
This study will unify all religions, since “the religions are
essentially one and the same.”3 It is only the second division of
religion the “social laws and regulations”4 which change from one
dispensation to another; the food laws have changed; the marriage
laws; the law regarding interest on money; the Sabbath, and many
more; in the law of Moses, if a man stole his hand was cut off; if a
man cursed his father, he was put to death (Exodus 21:17); if a man
broke the law of the Sabbath he was put to death (Exodus 35:2); such
laws are for their time, not for all time; the following dispensation
changes or retains them, according

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 86.
2 ibid.
3 ibid., p. 365.
4 ibid.

to the world’s needs as determined by the Manifestation of God.1.
The Bahá’í Faith is the first in history to insist on the
independent investigation of truth; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches that
“Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear
through another’s ears nor comprehend with another’s brain.”2
Man “must not be an imitator or blind follower of any soul. He
must not rely implicitly upon the opinion of any man without
investigation; nay, each soul must seek intelligently and
independently … ignorance based upon blind imitation.”3
causes wars, hatreds, untold suffering. This does not mean that
having found truth in any given direction a man should keep on
seeking it; his act of seeking it would prove that he had not found it;
for example, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that
“… the outward is the expression of the inward; the earth is the
mirror of the Kingdom; the material world corresponds to the
spiritual world.”4
and that the sun is the symbol of the Manifestation of God:
“This Sun of Reality, this Centre of effulgences, is the Prophet or
Manifestation of God. Just as the phenomenal sun shines upon
the material world producing life and growth, likewise, the
spiritual or prophetic Sun confers illumination upon the human
world of thought and intelligence, and unless it rose

1 See ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 393ff.
2 ibid., p. 293.
3 ibid., p. 291.
4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 283.

upon the horizon of human existence, the kingdom of man
would become dark and extinguished.”1
Now, if a soul becomes convinced through his own
investigations that Bahá’u’lláh is the Manifestation of God for our
day, he should believe the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and not go looking
for another Manifestation before “the expiration of a full thousand
years”.2 He should believe the “central authoritative Personage”3
appointed by Bahá’u’lláh to protect His Faith from schism, and obey
him in the way a man, volunteering for the army, obeys an
authorized superior officer. If some people do not understand the
hidden secret of one of His commands and actions, they ought not to
oppose it, for the universal Manifestation does what He wishes.4 It is
only reasonable that if a soul believes these teachings, he should obey
them; before believing in them, he is asked to investigate them to his
heart’s content.
Christians are disturbed when they read in the Bahá’í writings
that Muhammad is a true Prophet of God. The Jews were deeply
troubled when, in the United States, the Master told them to
acknowledge Jesus Christ; any effort to go against the current of
imitation is painful. Among the things He said to them were these:
Christ did not invalidate the Torah, He spread it; Christians and
Muslims accept Moses;
“What harm could result to the Jewish people, then,

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 94.
2 Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section CLXVI,
p. 345.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 382.
4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 174.

if they in return should accept Christ acknowledge the validity
of the Prophethood of Muhammad?”1
To the Jews at Temple Emmanuel in San Francisco:
“Why do you not say that Christ was the Word of God? Why do
you not speak these few words that will do away with all this
difficulty? Then there will be no more hatred and fanaticism,
no more warfare and bloodshed in the Land of Promise.”2
He then solemnly declared His own belief in Moses as a most
noteworthy Prophet and Revealer of the Law of God, a Founder of
civilization, and asked, “Have I lost anything by saying this to you
and believing it as a Bahá’í? On the contrary, it benefits me ….”3)
Every nation is proud of its great men; “What harm, then, could
come from your declaration that Jesus of Nazareth was a great
man of Israelitish birth and, therefore, we love Him?”4 And He
warned, “The time may come when in Europe itself they will arise
against the Jews.”5 The Master Himself describes some of the
reaction to His addresses to the Jews: “The address delivered last
evening in the Jewish synagogue [Washington] evidently disturbed
some of the people, including the revered rabbi who called upon me
this afternoon. Together we went over the ground again ….”6 He
tells how, at the end of their meeting, the rabbi said, “‘I believe that
what you have said is perfectly true, but I must ask one thing of you.
Will you not tell the Christians to love us a little more?’”7 The

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 368.
2 ibid.
3 ibid.
4 ibid., p. 414.
5 ibid. Talk dated 9 November 1912.
6 ibid., p. 411.
7 ibid., p. 415.

Master replied, “We have advised them and will continue to do so.”1
The year was 1912 ; some twenty years more, and the Jewish people
were to see the massacre, in Europe, of an estimated five million
souls, perhaps one–third of their race.

Mankind is one people
The New Testament says that God “hath made of one blood all
nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth”,2 but it is
obvious that Christians do not believe this. If they did, they would
not practice racial segregation, crowd the people of this or that race
into separate parts of town or else banish them entirely, tell them
they are under a curse, or repudiate social intercourse and
intermarriage with them. This cruel and indeed suicidal behaviour,
perpetuated by imitation, is based on just one factor: ignorance. For
the oneness of mankind, the pivotal principle of Bahá’u’lláh, is not a
counsel of perfection but a laboratory fact; one does not have to beg
anybody to believe it.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches of the atom’s journeyings throughout
creation. He says the elemental atoms are in “the progressive and
perpetual motion … throughout the various degrees of phenomena
and the kingdoms of existence.”3 He traces the atoms’ journeyings
from mineral to vegetable to animal to man, and back to mineral
again, each atom sequentially “imbued with the powers and virtues
of the kingdoms it traverses … also reflects the attributes and
qualities

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 415.
2 Acts 17:26
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 284.

of the forms and organisms of those kingdoms.”1 “…all things
are involved in all things”, the Master quotes from the Arabian
philosophers. “It is evident that each material organism is an
aggregate expression of single and simple elements, and a given
cellular element or atom has its coursings or journeyings through …
myriad stages of life.”2 At death, the elements which composed the
body are dispersed, and although reincarnation cannot take place
since no identity occurs more than once in the world (in all the
world’s granaries no two grains of wheat are alike). “The sign of
singleness is visible and apparent in all things.”3 It can come about
“that one of the particles of the former individual has entered into
the composition of the succeeding individual ….”4 One asks oneself
how the racist is going to stop this perpetual journeying of the atoms,
and how he is going to shut the atoms out.

Show forth true economics
Of the Bahá’í Temple the Master teaches, “Its gates will be flung
wide open to mankind ….”5 This is how His own door was. People
always crowded around Him, unable to stay away. He said,
“The supreme need of humanity is co-operation and
reciprocity. … A tree can live solitary and alone, but this is
impossible for man without retrogression. Therefore, every cooperative attitude and activity of human life is praiseworthy
….”6

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 285.
2 ibid., p. 349.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 283.
4 ibid., p. 284.
5 Dr J. E. Esslemont: Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, Ch. 11, p. 188.
6 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 338.

At the time of Florence Khánum’s pilgrimage in 1906, He was
still a prisoner. She saw with indignation the heavy bars at the
window, the sentry pacing outside; and she watched, gratified and
exultant, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s kingly reception of a steady stream of people
of all ranks, from notables to the desperately poor—those poor who
always had first claim on Him and who, as He told them in the
Bowery, were His friends and family, and resembled Jesus more than
the rich.1 His extensive teachings on economics are summed up in
these words:
“Manifest true economics to the people. Show what love is,
what kindness is, what true severance is and generosity. … Act
in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. All His Books
will be translated. … Let your deeds be the real translation of
their meaning.”2
He has entrusted the have-nots to the haves; in future the rich
will “most willingly extend assistance to the poor and take steps to
establish these economic adjustments permanently”,3 unable to rest
while they know of anyone in want. Eleanor Roosevelt has described
how, as the President’s wife, she could not induce her powerful
friends to get out of their automobiles and accompany her into the
slum-dwellings of the poor. Bahá’u’lláh writes:
“If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away
disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth
over them and surroundeth them with

1 See ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 32–3.
2 ibid., p. 239.
3 ibid.

such tenderness as none can fathom …. O ye rich ones of the
earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust,
nay rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of
the woes with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him
to be afflicted. By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort
with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will
be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and
glorifying your action.”1
The Master teaches that the rich must go and look at poverty
face to face; and this was His way, all the days of His life.

The assassin’s prisoner
‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the prisoner of ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd. This Sultan, a
man pale under his rouge, emaciated, hollow-checked, hookednosed, with a badly-dyed reddish-brown beard, rickety legs, a thin
hand mechanically caressing the heavy, dyed moustache that hid the
mouth with its cruel, thin, upper lip, its sensual lower one—with a
bulging forehead under his enormous red fez, and heavy-lidded eyes
now vacant, now angry or terrified, had schemed his way to the
throne.2
“He is a skilful layer of traps, and capable of all kinds of
abjectness toward his enemies when he fears them and of the
greatest cruelty when he has them in his power, and he enjoys his
vengeance all the more for having patiently nourished it in secret.

1 Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section CXLV,
pp. 314–5.
2 See George Dorys: The Private Life of the Sultan of Turkey, 1901.

“Not only is the life of a man who is troublesome to him nothing to
him, but spilled blood seems to calm and soothe his shattered nerves,
always stretched to the snapping point. ‘At night, before going to
sleep,’ says one of his chamberlains, ‘he has someone read to him.
His favourite books are those giving detailed accounts of
assassinations and executions. The stories of crimes excite him and
prevent him from sleeping, but as soon as his reader reaches a
passage where blood flows, the Sultan immediately becomes calm
and falls asleep.’”1 ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd could never get warm, even
though he reportedly wore a suit of mail under his clothes. He
washed himself every few minutes at washstands placed in every
corner. In his kitchen, a small barred cell like a “huge safe”, his chef
worked always under the eye of a court official; when ready, the
dishes were brought to him covered with a black cloth, its ends sealed
with this official’s seal; even so, the Sultan would often make the
official taste the food first, or would try it out on a cat or dog. His
main pursuit in life was reading the reports of his spies—papers that
had to be passed through a disinfecting oven before he would touch
them. His main dread (an apt one: Gladstone called him “The Great
Assassin”) was of being murdered.2 His clothes were a web of secret
pockets to hold his spies’ reports, and his three revolvers. Above all,
he feared any sudden gesture in his direction, or rapid step. When
such happened, he

1 Op. cit., 77.
2 ibid., 158, 163, 184.

had been known to shoot and kill.
It was this man who had ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life in his cold hands. It
was to him that, as the Master records in His Will and Testament,
the breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, under the Arch-Breaker, the
Master’s half-brother, sent in their calumnies:. that He had hoisted
the flag of revolt, built a fortress and vast ammunition depot on
Mount Carmel, raised an army of 30,000 men, and conspired with
English and American supporters, who were flocking to Him in large
numbers and in disguise, to take over the surrounding provinces and
ultimately to usurp the power of the Sultan himself.1
Five years before Florence Khánum’s pilgrimage, ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd
had stringently reimposed the Master’s imprisonment, whose
restrictions had been gradually relaxed. Secret agents travelled back
and forth between ‘Akká and Constantinople, and spies watched
everywhere, while ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “alone and unaided”, was subjected
to prolonged interrogation by judges and officials. He refuted every
one of the charges, as absurd as they were infamous, and expressed
to the court His ardent wish to be put to death for the Faith, so that
He could share the sufferings of the beloved Báb.2
A year following her pilgrimage, another, notorious Commission
sailed into ‘Akká by order of the Sultan, took over the Telegraph and
Postal services, dismissed officials considered friendly to

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 266.
2 ibid.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and established themselves in the city. The Covenantbreakers were jubilant; the townspeople stood by to watch when the
Master should be carried away on the ship, and at this time even
some of the poor forsook Him.1 Then the Commission sailed down to
Haifa to inspect the Báb’s sepulchre which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was
constructing on Mount Carmel, and one day about sunset the ship
was seen heading up the coast again towards ‘Akká. As His family
and the believers wept, the Master walked, alone in the dusk, up and
down, up and down in the courtyard of His house. Suddenly the
lights of the ship swung round, and she changed her course and
sailed away in the direction of Constantinople.
Later on when the Commission’s report was submitted to
‘Abdu’l-Hamíd, it aroused little response: a bomb had just been
exploded in his path, on his way home from his Friday prayers at the
mosque. In 1908, the following year, the “Young Turk” Revolution
closed the case forever. Of his royal jailer, the Master says only this:
“[Bahá’u’lláh] was under the dominion of ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd. I,
too, was in the prison of ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd until the Committee of
Union and Progress hoisted the standard of liberty and my
fetters were removed.”2 “They lifted the chains from my neck
and threw them around the neck of Abdu’l-Hamíd. That which
he did to me was inflicted upon him. Now the position is
precisely reversed. His days are spent in

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 270.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 36.

prison just as I passed the days in prison at ‘Akká, with this
difference: that I was happy in imprisonment. … I was not a
criminal. They had imprisoned me in the path of God. … I was
happy that … I was a prisoner in the Cause of God, that my life
was not wasted …. Nobody who saw me imagined that I was
in prison.”1

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s birthday
Florence Khánum was in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s presence on two of His
birthdays, in 1906 and 1912. On the latter occasion He spoke at the
Cambridge2 home of her parents, Mr and Mrs Francis W. Breed.3
Writing of the 1906 birthday she says:
“Remembering birthday festivities in America, and how the one
for whom festivities were given, though host or hostess, was the
central figure, and guest of honour, I queried, ‘How will ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá act on His birthday? Will He, for once, lie in bed, late in
the morning, while His family and the house guests file by to …
offer any gift, and to wish Him the happy returns of the day? …
Won’t it seem strange to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá graciously accepting
our homage? The great Exemplar of Servitude … being served?
I could not envisage the picture; yet I hoped that the One Who
always served from earliest morning to late at night would rest
and enjoy leisure and let His loving friends and followers offer
Him their feeble services.

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 225.
2 Massachusetts.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 138.

“I saw a group of eight lambs or so, newly arrived in the
courtyard, and was told they would be sacrificed for the Feast of
the morrow, and that quite a large company or men and, women
Bahá’ís would assemble for the celebration. The following
morning I awoke late. … For once I had not been called as
usual, to the early morning prayers. … Soon after, Khán
appeared, and said, ‘Since early dawn, the Master has been busy.
… Over two hundred guests are expected for the Feast, and the
Master has been at work, since dawn.’ I exclaimed, ‘The Master
working on His birthday?’ ‘Oh! You should have seen Him! …
They tell me He has been kneading, with His own hands, dough
for the ovens. He has been in gay spirits, inspiring, uplifting,
cheering all His helpers.’ The picture I had envisioned, of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá reclining … all the morning, while we paid Him
homage, vanished in my astonishment! Later, Khán returned
radiant and enthusiastic to our room. He said that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
assisted in passing the platters … the rice … the lamb … the
fruits of the region (of such large size, such colour, and such
fragrance as only the sunshine of the East produces and paints).
Moving among His two hundred guests, He spoke to them as He
served them, such Divine words of love and spiritual import.
Khán particularly recalled His words to this effect:
“‘If one of you has been wounded in heart by the

words or deeds of another, during the past year, forgive him
now; that in purity of heart and loving pardon, you may feast
in happiness, and arise, renewed in spirit.’
“For Abdu’l-Bahá teaches that in whatever mood we sit down to
eat, that mood is actually strengthened within us by the physical
food of which we partake. He has said that is one reason why
the Bahá’í Feasts make us all so happy. United in love and
loving kindness, love is strengthened within us when Bahá’ís eat
together.”
She makes this special point as to the two birthdays:
“He said not a word about His own birthday! He spoke only of
the Báb, His mission and message.” (He was born during the
night of the Báb’s Declaration, 22 May 1844).
Florence speaks often of the Master’s bountiful table, and of the
food served her in ‘Akká. She was given such things as coffee scented
with rose water, and a peahen’s egg.
“One noon I apologized (Khán translating) to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for
eating so much. He replied, ‘Qurratu’l-’Ayn always ate a great
deal. She had little dishes of candy, or fruits and nuts beside
her, of which she continually partook.’ He then heaped up her
plate, saying that as a nursing mother she needed plenty of food,
and adding: ‘Rice is good. It makes more milk.’”

The gift of health
The Master continually healed the sick. He often instructed
physicians. Ramona Allen Brown tells how, in California, He
instructed and carried on medical conversations with her father, a
well-known Bay Area physician. He often spoke of what is now called
psychosomatic medicine (and indeed He describes in Some
Answered Questions four types of healing by spiritual means). To a
physician he wrote:
“The powers of the sympathetic nerve are neither entirely
physical nor spiritual, but are between the two.1 The nerve is
connected with both. Its phenomena shall be perfect when its
spiritual and physical relations are normal.
“When the material world and the divine world are well corelated, when the hearts become heavenly and the aspirations
grow pure and divine, perfect connection shall take place.”2
In Memorials of the Faithful He tells how a believer maintained
his health and peace through contentment:
“He spent his days in utter bliss. Here, too, he carried on a
small business, which occupied him from morning till noon. In
the afternoons he would take his samovar, wrap it in a darkcoloured pouch made from a saddlebag, and go off somewhere
to a garden or meadow, or out in a field, and have his tea.
Sometimes he would be found at the farm of Mazra’ih, or again
in the Rid.ván Garden; or, at the Mansion, he would have the
honour of attending upon Bahá’u’lláh.
“[He] … would carefully consider every blessing that came his
way. ‘How delicious my tea is today,’ he

1 Answer to question of a physician regarding the sympathetic nervous
system of the human organism.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, vol. II, p. 309.

would comment. ‘What perfume, what colour! How lovely this
meadow is, and the flowers so bright!’ He used to say that
everything, even air and water, had its own special fragrance.
For him the days passed in indescribable delight. Even kings
were not so happy as this old man, the people said.”1
‘Abdu’l-Bahá believes in healing through pleasant foods, by the
use of simple medicines and of hot or cold water. He says that “in
man both health and sickness are contagious”, but the contagion of
health “is extremely weak and slow.”2 He also teaches that a great
gain in health will be made by obedience to the Bahá’í law, which
discourages tobacco, and forbids alcohol. (Interestingly enough, if a
Catholic priest is unable to drink wine, this is called a “bodily defect”
comparable to blindness or maimedness or any other factor which
would interfere with saying Mass, and can only be forgiven by the
Holy See. Fortunately, the defect is very rare.)
Unity, prayer, kindness, and service are definite health factors in
any society. Jealousy and anger are to be fled, Bahá’u’lláh says, as
one would run from a lion.3 He tells us to avoid hatred deliberately:
“In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love …”4
and the Master says:
“Know ye the value of these passing days and vanishing nights.
Strive to attain a station of absolute

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Memorials of the Faithful, p. 25.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 254.
3 Dr J. E. Esslemont: Bahá’u’lláh and the new era, Ch. 7.
4 Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian No. 3.

love one toward another. By the absence of love, enmity
increases. By the exercise of love, love strengthens and
enmities dwindle away.”1 “Love is the source of all the
bestowals of God. Until love takes possession of the heart, no
other Divine bounty can be revealed in it.”2 “Never become
angry with one another. Let your eyes be directed toward the
kingdom of truth and not toward the world of creation. Love the
creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will
never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of
God. Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every
human being, and you will always become unhappy if you look
toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you
will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the
world of perfection and complete mercy. Therefore, do not look
at the shortcomings of anybody; see with the sight of
forgiveness. The imperfect eye beholds imperfections. … You
must love and be kind to everybody, care for the poor, protect
the weak, heal the sick, teach and educate the ignorant.”3
Continence, monogamy, moderation, discipline, hard work, are
other health factors, as is the annual nineteen-day daytime fast,
which tend to promote the vigour and longevity of Bahá’ís. ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá’s teachings on healing with foods and other simple means are
sometimes misinterpreted as endorsements of various health fads;
on the contrary, Bahá’u’lláh, says that when ill, Bahá’ís should
consult the “most skilled” (h.ádhiq) physician; these “simple”
methods are based on depths of know-

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 9.
2 ibid., p. 15.
3 ibid., p. 93.

ledge and intuition which will characterize the highly-trained, great
doctors of the future. In this connection it is interesting to note how
the growing complexity of our modern healing agencies never
outdistances modern illness; nor our ever-increasing criminology,
the always-gaining rate of crime.
Of that personal purity and cleanliness, which is still so rare in
many parts of the world, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the prime example, and it
too is obviously conducive to health. Florence Khánum writes that
He was
“dazzlingly, spotlessly … shining, from snowy turban-cloth, to
white, snowy hair falling upon His shoulders, to white snowy
beard and long snowy garment. … Although it was high noon, in
summer … His attire was crisp and fresh-looking, as though He
had not been visiting the sick, and in prison, and toiling for
mankind since early morning. Often a deliciously fresh rose was
tucked in His belt.”
In the days before he became Guardian, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was
still on earth, he who was to become the beloved Guardian visited
Paris. While there he gave to Florence Khánum and ‘Ali-Kuli Khán a
soft grey coat of the Master’s, which he said the Master had often
worn. One night it hung in the present writer’s room, when it was to
be brushed and refolded in the Persian raw silk cloth that Shoghi
Effendi had wrapped it in when he brought it. (This coat, in the same
raw silk wrapping, is now

in the Bahá’í Temple at Wilmette.) All night I was conscious of its
fragrance, even after the many long years since the Master had worn
it. The smell of Jacob’s raiment is mentioned in the Bible; it was “as
the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.”1 In Western
languages, we speak of the “odour of sanctity”, and the phrase is not
idle.

Death, the welcome messenger
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s most vital teaching about health is perhaps what
He tells us about death, since innumerable ailments are caused or
aggravated by fear of it: The soul is not in the body, it
“… is only connected with the body as the sun is with the
mirror.”2 “… the inner and essential reality of man is not
composed of elements and, therefore, cannot be decomposed.”3
“If the spirit of man belonged to the elemental existence, the eye
could see it, the ear hear it, the hand touch [it].”4 “Through his
ignorance man fears death; but the death he shrinks from is
imaginary ….”5 “The spirit or human soul, is the rider, and the
body is only the steed.”6 “This human body is purely animal in
type and, like the animal, it is subject only to the grosser
sensibilities. It is utterly bereft of ideation or intellection,
utterly incapable of the processes of reason. The animal
perceives what its eye sees and judges what the ear hears.”7
“The spirit can conduct its affairs without the body. In

1 Gen. 27:27.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 287.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 415.
4 ibid., p. 308.
5 ibid., p. 88.
6` ibid., p. 416.
7 ibid., p. 417.

the world of dreams it is precisely as this light without the
chimney glass. It can shine without the glass.”1
The Master makes many references to dreams, those mysterious
phenomena so little understood by current science and not at all by
the average modern man. For Bahá’u’lláh has written in the Seven
Valleys that God has deposited this sign in man so that philosophers
shall not deny the life beyond or disdain what has been promised
them. One day in New York the Master said:
“I have made you wait awhile, but as I was tired, I slept. While
I was sleeping, I was conversing with you as though speaking
at the top of my voice. Then through the effect of my own voice
I awoke. As I awoke, one word was upon my lips—the word
‘imtíyáz’ (“distinction”). So I will speak to you upon that
subject this morning.”2
He then proceeded to give His famous talk on distinction:
“I desire distinction for you. The Bahá’ís must be distinguished
from others of humanity.”3
He explained that He did not mean financial distinction, nor
scientific, nor commercial, nor industrial distinction.
“For you I desire spiritual distinction—that is, you must become
eminent and distinguished in morals. In the love of God you
must become distinguished from

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 416.
2 ibid., p. 189.
3 ibid., p. 190.

all else. You must become distinguished for loving humanity,
for unity and accord, for love and justice. In brief, you must
become distinguished in all the virtues of the human world—for
faithfulness and sincerity, … for firmness and steadfastness, for
philanthropic deeds and service to the human world, for love
toward every human being, … for removing prejudices and
promoting international peace. Finally, you must become
distinguished for heavenly illumination and for acquiring the
bestowals of God. I desire this distinction for you.”1
This dangerous journey of the soul which we call life, is
necessary.
“The personality of the rational soul is from its beginning; it is
not due to the instrumentality of the body, but the state and the
personality of the rational soul may be strengthened in this
world; it will make progress, and will attain to the degrees of
perfection, or it will remain in the lowest abyss of ignorance,
veiled and deprived from beholding the signs of God.”2 “The
wisdom of the appearance of the spirit in the body is this: the
human spirit is a Divine Trust, and it must traverse all
conditions, for its passage and movement through the
conditions of existence will be the means of its acquiring
perfections. So when a man travels and passes through
different regions … with system and method, it is certainly a
means of his acquiring perfection ….
“[Also] … if the perfections of the spirit did not appear in this
world, this world would be unenlightened and

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 190.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 239.

absolutely brutal.”1
Man must know that he will always be:
“The conception of annihilation is a factor in human
degradation …”2 “… and existence can never become nonexistence. This would be equivalent to saying that light can
become darkness …”3 “… it behoves man to abandon thoughts
of non-existence and death, which are absolutely imaginary,
and see himself ever-living … If he dwells upon the thought of
non-existence, he will become utterly incompetent; with
weakened willpower his ambition for progress will be lessened
and the acquisition of human virtues will cease.”4 “At first it is
very difficult to welcome death, but after attaining its new
condition the soul is grateful, for it has been released from the
bondage of the limited, to enjoy the liberties of the unlimited.”5

Science a pathway to God
The permanence of science, the fact that it belongs to the next
world, not this, gives intellectual activities the highest rank; indeed,
Bahá’u’lláh makes teachers one of the seven classes of heirs to whom
Bahá’ís are recommended to leave their property.
“The virtues of humanity are many, but science is the most
noble of them all. … It is a bestowal of God; it is not material;
it is divine. Science is an effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the
power of investigating and discovering the verities of the
universe, the means by which man finds a pathway to God. All
the powers and attributes of man are human and hereditary in
ori-

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, pp. 200–201.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 89.
3 ibid., p. 87.
4 ibid., p. 89.
5 ibid., p. 47.

gin—outcomes of nature’s processes—except the intellect, which
is supernatural. …
“… God has … deposited this love of reality in man. The
development and progress of a nation is according to the
measure and degree of that nation’s scientific attainments.
Through this means its greatness is continually increased, and
day by day the welfare and prosperity of its people are
assured.
“… this power of intellectual investigation and research … is an
eternal gift producing fruits of unending delight. … All other
blessings are temporary; this is an everlasting possession. … it
is an eternal blessing and divine bestowal, the supreme gift of
God to man. Therefore, you should put forward your most
earnest efforts toward the acquisition of science and arts. …
The man of science is perceiving and endowed with vision,
whereas he who is ignorant and neglectful of this development
is blind. The investigating mind is attentive, alive; the callous
and indifferent mind is deaf and dead. A scientific man is a
true index and representative of humanity, for through
processes of inductive reasoning and research he is informed of
all that appertains to humanity, its status, conditions and
happenings. He studies the human body politic, understands
social problems and weaves the web and texture of civilization.
…
“… science or the attribute of scientific penetration is
supernatural and that all other blessings of God are within the
boundary of nature. What is the proof of this? All created
things except man are captives of nature. …
“How shall we utilize these gifts and expend these bounties? By

directing our efforts toward the unification of the human
race.”1
Addressing Stanford, one of the great universities of the West,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:
“The dominion of kings has an ending … but the sovereignty of
science is everlasting and without end. … The Greek and
Roman kingdoms with all their grandeur passed away; the
ancient sovereignties of the Orient are but memories, whereas
the power and influence of Plato and Aristotle still continue.”2

Men and women are equal
In Judaism, Christianity, Islam, sex equality does not exist. The
Old Testament says (of the man, to the woman): “He shall rule over
thee.”3 And the New Testament: “let the woman learn in silence
with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence.”4 “Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”5 Of men and
women the Qur’án, which however gives women a higher place than
did previous Faiths, says: “Men are a degree above them.”6
Obviously, men would like this state of affairs to continue, since
it is greatly to their advantage. Today, for example, many an
American man, terrified of the growing power of the American
woman, has turned to Japan for a wife, because Japanese women are
traditionally reared with the object of waiting on

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 49–51.
2 ibid., p. 348.
3 Genesis 3:16.
4 I Timothy 2:11–12.
5 Ephesians 5:22.
6 Qur’án 2:228.

their men. Thanks to male opinion and the human propensity for
blind imitation, women’s role in most parts of the world is still
limited to “church, kitchen, and children”, but social evolution is
catching up, and man today is the ex-lord of creation.
The Master says,
“God does not inquire, ‘Art thou woman or art thou man?’ He
judges human actions.”1 “Science is praiseworthy—whether
investigated by the intellect of man or woman.”2 “… the
education of woman is more necessary and important than
that of man, for woman is the trainer of the child from its
infancy. If she be defective and imperfect herself, the child will
necessarily be deficient; therefore, imperfection of woman
implies a condition of imperfection in all mankind ….”3
He affirms that many a woman has proved superior to men:
“Victoria, Queen of England, was really superior to all the
kings of Europe in ability, justness and equitable
administration. During her long and brilliant reign the British
Empire was immensely extended and enriched, due to her
political sagacity, skill and foresight.”4
Although T.áhirih had unveiled and had died for it, becoming
“the first woman suffrage martyr”,5 the actual public emancipation of
Persia’s women from the veil was slow. Eighty–seven years went by
between the Conference at

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 133.
2 ibid., p. 281.
3 ibid., p. 133.
4 ibid., p. 282.
5 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 75.

Badasht (1848) where T.áhirih had proclaimed woman’s equality with
man, and the Government’s decree that the women of Írán should
put aside their veils. Emancipated as to their Bahá’í activities, the
Bahá’í women or Persia purposely did not, as a group, unveil in the
streets of Persia until it became law to do so; their unveiling would
have delayed the event, since one of the reaction’s strongest weapons
was to emphasize that freedom for women was a Bahá’í idea.
The veil was not a piece of cloth, it was an entire social system.
The Bahá’í way replaced the Muslim at an early stage, and Florence
Khánum’s being invited by the Master (in 1906) to sit at table with
His Eastern men guests, although she was a Persian’s wife, was one
symbol of this. It was however His wish that at that time, in the Holy
Land and Persia, she should veil. Her book shows clearly that hostile
Muslims were by no means her only enemies; another group was
opposed to her for coming out of the West and living as a Persian
among Persians; these were the Christian missionaries; partly
because they looked down on Persians; and partly, Florence Khánum
says, “because of their own lack of success.”
The Persian street-veil or chádur, usually of black satin or silk or
cotton, enveloped a woman completely, like a tent; the word means
tent. The face was covered by a separate, adjustable square of
horsehair or (in Turkey) black, silken material, and

the veil itself was clutched under the chin in one concealed hand.
The garment was not unattractive when worn by Easterners, but was
so alien to Western psychology that no Westerner looked right in
one. She writes:
“I was given a chádur, and taught how to wear it. … For a young,
athletic American woman to so dress … was, naturally, a
hardship. I never wore this dress gracefully, and always felt
clumsy in it and usually exasperated as well. However, it was an
adventure, and naturally I accepted the ordeal in good grace …
at all events, it was not too much a price to pay, for the
pleasurable hours with Eastern women it enabled me to enjoy …
once it was the cause of happiness. … The time at ‘Akká when I
was glad to be in chádur and veiled, occurred one afternoon, as I
was hurrying across the large, open prison-courtyard to join the
ladies outside, for a drive to Bahjí. Khán had taken Rah.ím
outside, and was waiting near the Master’s beach wagon, to give
Rah.ím to me for the drive. Suddenly I heard the Master’s voice
ring out commandingly, ‘Khán!’ Peering through my black veil,
I glanced all around, but saw not a soul at the windows above,
nor in the empty courtyard. ‘Oh dear!’ said I to myself, ‘the
Master wants Khán and Khán is not here. Whatever shall I do?’
I thought, ‘The only thing to do is to hurry faster, and to send
Khán back to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.’ So, clumsily (as usual) I

clutched a handful of chádur and with veil still down (I had been
instructed not to raise the veil if men were about) I hurried on.
Again came the Master’s loud command in a ringing voice,
‘Khán!’ ‘Oh dear,’ I thought, ‘the Master must need Khán
immediately!’ And peering again around most carefully,
through the obscuring veil, still I saw no sign of life anywhere! I
hurried forward. For the third time, the Master’s voice rang out
commandingly, ‘Khán!’ In desperation, I stopped—and this
time raising my veil, I saw the Master standing at the head of the
long flight of stone steps leading to His quarters. … ‘Khán?’ I
queried, and struggling for a few words in Persian, I replied:
‘Khán … míyáyand! Khán is coming.’ The Master saw it was I
and replied, ‘Oh, Khánum, Bifarmá’íd!’ (proceed, continue). I
then almost ran outside to Khán and breathlessly told him to go
at once to the Master, Who was calling him.
“In the evening when we returned from the beautiful drive,
Khán came to listen to the story of the afternoon’s experiences.
‘I must tell you,’ he said, smiling, ‘that I found the Master,
standing at the head of the steps and leaning against the wall,
laughing heartily.’ ‘Why, what was it?’ I asked. Khán answered,
‘The Master wanted me to come to Him, and seeing, He said,
apparently a woman of the household hurrying across the
courtyard, He called for me. He said He called

several times, wondering why the woman did not answer.
Finally, He said, ‘The woman stopped, and turning, raised her
veil. I saw it was Khánum. …’ Khán said he had hardly ever
heard the Master laugh so long, and so heartily. ‘Khánum,’
continued the Master, ‘wearing the chádur and veil, like an old
man with a beard too long for him, and not knowing what to do
with it.’”
My father then told her to be happy, that there was a saying
among the Persians that whoever brings laughter to one of the Holy
Ones is greatly blessed.

The struggle for the tomb
Among woman’s great functions will be the abolition of war.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:
“War and its ravages have blighted the world; the education of
woman will be a mighty step toward its abolition … for she will
use her whole influence against war. … She will refuse to give
her sons for sacrifice upon the field of battle. In truth, she will
be the greatest factor in establishing universal peace and
international arbitration. Assuredly, woman will abolish
warfare among mankind.”1
Of war He said,
“If a man steals one dollar, he is called a thief and put into
prison; if he rapes and pillages an innocent country by military
invasion, he is crowned a hero. How ignorant is humankind!
Ferocity does not belong to the kingdom of man. It is the
province of man to

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 108.

confer life, not death.”1
“We are all human … and all come from Mr Adam’s family.
Why, then, all these fallacious national and racial distinctions?
These boundary lines and artificial barriers have been created
by despots and conquerors who sought to attain dominion over
mankind, thereby engendering patriotic feeling and rousing
selfish devotion to merely local standards of government. As a
rule they themselves enjoyed luxuries in palaces, surrounded
by conditions of ease and affluence, while armies of soldiers,
civilians and tillers of the soil fought and died at their
command … shedding their innocent blood for a delusion such
as “we are Germans,” “our enemies are French,” etc., when, in
reality, all are humankind, all belong to the one family and
posterity of Adam, the original father. …
“God created one earth and one mankind to people it. Man has
no other habitation, but man himself has come forth and
proclaimed imaginary boundary lines and territorial
restrictions ….”2
And He asks this:
“We live upon this earth for a few days and then rest beneath it
forever. … Shall man fight for the tomb which devours him, for
his eternal sepulchre? What ignorance could be greater than
this? To fight over his grave, to kill another for his grave!”3
He particularly called upon the United States of America to lead
the way to world peace, and He warned, on 12 May 1912: “Just now
Europe is a battlefield of ammunition ready for a spark; and one

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 103.
2 ibid., pp. 354–5.
3 ibid., p. 355.

spark will set aflame the whole world.”1 “Before these …
cataclysmic events happen, take the step to prevent it.”2
The Master continually stressed the need of a world auxiliary
language in the building of peace. He says,
“… the function of language is to portray the mysteries and
secrets of human hearts. The heart is like a box, and language
is the key.”3
He emphasizes that Bahá’u’lláh has not named the universal
language, saying that it will be either an existing language or a new
one. He himself wrote, however,
“The Persian language shall become noteworthy in this cycle;
nay, rather, the people shall study it in all the world.”4
And again:
“… regarding the universal language: Ere long significant and
scientific discussions concerning this matter will arise among
the people of discernment and insight and it will produce the
desired result.”5

God the Unknowable
Man was created by the conscious will of God. The proof that
God is not a blind force is that man is not a blind force. “Man the
creature, has volition …”6 and his Creator is not less than he. The
universe has always existed, because God has always existed; “this
endless universe—has no beginning”;7 God’s name or attribute

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 122.
2 ibid.
3 ibid., p. 60.
4 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, Vol. II, p. 306.
5 ibid., Vol. III, p. 596.
6 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 82.
7 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 180.

the Creator presupposes creation. “… the existence of phenomena
implies composition ….”1 That composition of elements which
constitutes life is demonstrably “neither accidental nor
involuntary”2—if it were accidental, it would be an effect without a
cause; if it were involuntary, and the elements came together because
it was their nature to do so, “then it would be impossible for a
composite being … to be decomposed ….”3 The only remaining
possibility is that the process is voluntary, “which means that
composition is effected through a superior will … through the
eternal Will, the Will of the Living, Eternal, and Self-Subsistent ….”4
“Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth
therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained
and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique
distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a
capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating
impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of
creation.…”5 “And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse
to bind the one true God with His creation, and no resemblance
whatever can exist between the transient and the Eternal, the
contingent and the Absolute, He hath ordained that in every
age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be made
manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven.”6
The Manifestation of God is qualitatively different from man,
even such a man as Plato or Leonardo da Vinci: man possesses only
two stations or conditions,

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 423.
2 ibid., p. 424.
3 ibid.
4 ibid.
5 Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Section XXVII,
p. 65.
6 ibid., p. 66.

body and soul; the Manifestation possesses three: body, soul, and
the Holy Spirit.1
‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches that
“The worlds of God are in perfect harmony and
correspondence one with another. Each world in this limitless
universe, is as it were, a mirror reflecting the history and
nature of all the rest. The physical universe is, likewise, in
perfect correspondence with the spiritual or divine realm. The
world of matter is an outer expression or facsimile of the inner
Kingdom of spirit.”2 “… the earth is the mirror of the Kingdom;
the material world corresponds to the spiritual world.”3
Evidently, then, we tend to see things upside down, and what we
think is the reality is really the symbol: eyes are the symbol—insight
the reality; a lamp is the symbol, and guidance the reality. The sun in
the sky is often used by the Master as a symbol of the Manifestation
of God, the Sun of Truth. The Manifestation is like the sun, “which
by its essential nature produces light”. He is “luminous in Himself”,
while all other souls must borrow light from Him.4 He is a mirror,
blazing with the light of the sun.5
“In the inner world … the Sun of Reality is the Trainer ….”6
“When the phenomenal sun appears from the vernal point of
dawning in the zodiac, a wondrous and vibrant commotion is
set up in the body of the earthly world. The withered trees are
quickened

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 153.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 270.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 283.
4 ibid., p. 154.
5 See, ibid., pp. 113–4 and 2o6–7.
6 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 270–1.

with animation, the black soil becomes verdant with new
growth, fresh and fragrant flowers bloom, the world of dust is
refreshed, renewed life forces surge through the veins of every
animate being, and a new springtime carpets the meadows,
plains, mountains and valleys with wondrous forms of life.
That which was dead and desolate is revived and resuscitated;
that which was withered, faded and stricken is transformed by
the spirit of a new creation. In the same way the Sun of
Reality, when it illumines the horizon of the inner world,
animates, vivifies and quickens with a divine and wonderful
power.”1
The Master writes again:
“The station of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation, on the other hand, is
represented by the sign Leo, the sun’s mid-summer and highest
station. By this is meant that this holy Dispensation is illumined
with the light of the Sun of Truth shining from its most exalted
station, and in the plenitude of its resplendency, its heat and
glory.”2

The coming of the Glory
It was only for one purpose that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá travelled to the
West, to herald the rise of the Sun of Truth:
“Indifferent to the sights and curiosities which habitually invite
the attention of travellers and which the members of His
entourage often wished Him to visit; careless alike of His
comfort and His health; expending every ounce of His energy
day

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 271.
2 Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 127.

after day from dawn till late at night; consistently refusing any
gifts or contributions towards the expenses of His travels;
unfailing in His solicitude for the sick, the sorrowful and the
down-trodden; uncompromising in His championship of the
underprivileged races and classes; bountiful as the rain in His
generosity to the poor; contemptuous of the attacks launched
against Him by vigilant and fanatical exponents of orthodoxy
and sectarianism; marvellous in His frankness while
demonstrating, from platform and pulpit, the prophetic Mission
of Jesus Christ to the Jews, of the Divine origin of Islam in
churches and synagogues, or the truth of Divine Revelation and
the necessity of religion to materialists, atheists or agnostics;
unequivocal in His glorification of Bahá’u’lláh at all times and
within the sanctuaries of divers sects and denominations;
adamant in His refusal, on several occasions, to curry the favour
of people of title and wealth both in England and in the United
States; and last but not least incomparable in the spontaneity,
the genuineness and warmth of His sympathy and lovingkindness shown to friend and stranger alike, believer and
unbeliever, rich and poor, high and low, whom He met, either
intimately or casually, whether on board ship, or whilst pacing
the streets, in parks or public squares, at receptions or banquets,
in slums or mansions, in the gatherings of His followers or the
assemblage of the learned, He, the incarnation

of every Bahá’í virtue and the embodiment of every Bahá’í ideal,
continued for three crowded years to trumpet to a world sunk in
materialism and already in the shadow of war, the healing, the
God-given truths enshrined in His Father’s Revelation.”1
“I belong to him that loveth Me, that holdeth fast My
commandments …” Bahá’u’lláh has written.2 Above all, He belonged
to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Lingeringly, the Master would tell of His Father:
“… all the contemporaneous religious sects and systems rose
against Him. His enemies were kings. … These kings
represented some fifty million people, all of whom under their
influence and domination were opposed to Bahá’u’lláh.
Therefore, in effect Bahá’u’lláh, singly and alone, virtually
withstood fifty million enemies. … Although they were
determined upon extinguishing the light in that most brilliant
lantern, … day by day His splendour became more radiant. …
Surrounded by enemies who were seeking His life, He never
sought to conceal Himself, did nothing to protect Himself; on
the contrary, in His spiritual might and power He was at all
times visible before the faces of men, easy of access, serenely
withstanding the multitudes who were opposing Him.”3
“While addressing these powerful kings and rulers He was a
prisoner in a Turkish dungeon. Consider how marvellous it
was for a prisoner under the eye and control of the Turks to
arraign so boldly and severely the very king who was

1 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, pp. 282–3.
2 Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 25.
3 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 431–2.

responsible for His imprisonment. What power this is! What
greatness! … and so constant and firm was He that He caused
their banners to come down and His own standard to be
upraised. … Consider what a mighty power this is!”1
Again, the Master told how even Bahá’u’lláh’s enemies praised
Him; He was, they said, “truly great; his influence was mighty and
wonderful. This personage was glorious; his power was tremendous,
his speech most eloquent …” Then they would add: What a pity that
He was a “misleader of the people.”2 Some wrote satiric poems about
Him, since in any case, having encountered Him, they could not let
Him alone: they had to do something about Him. And even these
poems turned out to be praise. One wrote:
“Beware! lest ye approach this person, for he is possessed of
such power and of such an eloquent tongue that he is a sorcerer.
He charms men, He drugs them; He is a hypnotizer. Beware!
Beware! lest you read his book[,] follow his example and
associate with his companions because they are possessors of
tremendous power and they are misleaders.”3
These warnings influenced many in His favour.
“The more His enemies wrote against Him, the more the people
were attracted and the greater the number who came to
inquire about the truth. They would say ‘This is remarkable.
This is a great man, and we must investigate. We must look
into this

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 432.
2 ibid., p. 436.
3 ibid.

cause to find out what it all means, to discover its purpose,
examine its proofs ….’ … In Persia the mullás went so far as to
proclaim from the pulpits against the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh
casting their turbans upon the ground—a sign of great
agitation—and crying out, “O people! This Bahá’u’lláh is a
sorcerer …”1
The Master said of His Father’s forty years’ imprisonment,
“Observe how rarely human souls sacrifice their pleasure or
comfort for others … Yet all the divine Manifestations suffered,
offered Their lives and blood, sacrificed Their … comfort and
all They possessed for the sake of mankind. Therefore, consider
how much They love.”2
The struggle between good and evil will always go on, because it
is inherent in the human situation: man is a reality standing between
darkness and light.3 But it will now be conducted on a far higher
level, with millions of human beings consciously, deliberately
working for good. Up to now many a person has tried to reform
other people (the usual method was to go and live with the underprivileged—in that way, one had a head start); from now on many a
person will try to reform himself; not in a cave or desert but in his
relationships with other people. He had little hope of doing this in a
material world, since, under materialism, “good and evil advance
together and maintain the same pace.”4 Now the good is aided by a
mighty spiritual plus.

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 436.
2 ibid., p. 257.
3 ibid., p. 465.
4 ibid., p. 109.

Man is perfectible, but not perfection; only God is perfection.1
The human perfectibility which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches is not a vision
but a simple truth; the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh is not a utopia;
most human lives are ineffective today and the world is inevitably
going to be co-ordinated so that they can become effective; so that
each human being can “become expressive … of all the bounties of
life to mankind.”2 People who think this is a utopia would be amazed
to find how methodically it is being established in the world. ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá has “categorically asserted that the ‘banner of the unity of’
mankind would be hoisted, that the tabernacle of universal peace
would be raised and the world become another world.’”3
He Himself was the most methodical of beings. He said:
“In this world we judge a cause or movement by its progress
and development. Some movements appear, manifest a brief
period of activity, then discontinue. Others show forth a
greater measure of growth and strength, but before attaining
mature development, weaken, disintegrate and are lost in
oblivion. …
“There is still another kind of movement or cause which from a
very small, inconspicuous beginning goes forward with sure
and steady progress, gradually broadening and widening until
it has assumed universal dimensions. The Bahá’í Movement is
of this nature. For instance, when Bahá’u’lláh was exiled from
Persia with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the rest of His family,

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 113.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 16.
3 Shoghi Effendi: God Passes By, p. 282.

they travelled the long road from T.ihrán to Baghdád, passing
through many towns and villages. During the whole of that
journey and distance they did not meet a single believer in the
Cause for which they had been banished. At that time very
little was known about it in any part of the world. Even in
Baghdad there was but one believer who had been taught by
Bahá’u’lláh Himself in Persia. Later on, two or three others
appeared. You will see, therefore, that at the beginning the
Cause of Bahá’u’lláh was almost unknown, but on account of
being a divine Movement it grew and developed with
irresistible spiritual power …”1
Today,
“The number of territories included within the pale of the Faith,
embracing all the sovereign states and chief dependencies of the
planet, has … in consequence of this prodigious effort [the global
Crusade] been raised to two hundred and fifty–one …”2
One day in the United States He told this story:
“Many years ago in Baghdád I saw a certain officer sitting
upon the ground. Before him a large paper was placed into
which he was sticking needles tipped with small red and white
flags. First he would stick them into the paper, then
thoughtfully pull them out and change their position. I
watched him with curious interest for a long time, then asked,
‘What are you doing?’ He replied, ‘I have in mind something
which

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 43–4.
2 Shoghi Effendi: Messages to the Bahá’í World — 1950–1957, p. 105.

is historically related of Napoleon I during his war against
Austria. One day, it is said, his secretary found him sitting
upon the ground as I am now doing, sticking needles into a
paper before him. His secretary inquired what it meant.
Napoleon answered, “I am on the battlefield figuring out my
next victory. You see, Italy and Austria are defeated, and
France is triumphant.” In the great campaign which followed,
everything came out just as he said. His army carried his
plans to a complete success. Now, I am doing the same as
Napoleon, figuring out a great campaign of military conquest.’
I said, ‘Where is your army? Napoleon had an army already
equipped when he figured out his victory. You have no army.
Your forces exist only on paper. You have no power to conquer
countries. First get ready your army, then sit upon the ground
with your needles.’”1
People ask: Why, if He was so wonderful, did He have so many
enemies? The answer is, because He was so wonderful. Florence
Khánum relates that one day she and ‘Alí-Kuli Khán were alone with
the Master and He was conversing with them. Suddenly, powerfully,
with His two clenched fists, the Master beat upon His breast. And
then with great vigour and emphasis: “‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ has many
enemies!” He exclaimed. “Let there be more! ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is equal
to all of them!”
Articles against the Faith He called “the harmless twittering of
sparrows.” “Rest ye in the assurance of firmness.”2 “They will spread
the Message”3

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 250.
2 ibid., p. 428.
3 ibid., p. 430.

“All who stand up in the cause of God will be persecuted and
misunderstood. It hath ever been so, and will ever be. Let
neither enemy nor friend disturb your composure, destroy
your happiness, deter your accomplishment. Rely wholly upon
God. …
“… Let nothing defeat you. God is your helper. … Be firm in
the Heavenly Covenant. Pray for strength. It will be given to
you, no matter how difficult the conditions.”1
“When he [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] arrived in ‘Akká they placed chains
upon his limbs and circlets of steel were locked around his
ankles and knees. While the guards were doing this ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá laughed and sang. They were astonished and said, ‘How
is this? … When prisoners are ironed in this way, they usually
cry out, weep and lament.’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied, ‘I rejoice
because you are doing me a great kindness …. For a long time
I have wished to know the feelings of a prisoner in irons, to
experience what other men have been subjected to. I have
heard of this; now you have taught me what it is. You have
given me this opportunity. Therefore I sing and am very
happy. I am very thankful to you.’ After a time the men who
had been appointed to keep guard over me became as loving
brothers and companions. They strove to lighten my
imprisonment by acts of kindness. They said, ‘In order that
you may not be subjected to the jeers of the people when you
walk upon the streets we will arrange your clothing so these
chains are not visible.’ They took the chains which were upon
my limbs, gathered the ends together and wrapped them as a
girdle

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I (Crisis
and victory), p. 155–6. This is a revised translation of Star of the West,
Vol. 4:5 (5 June 1913), p. 88 - revised translation.

around my waist, then arranged my clothing so no chains were
visible. One day I wished to go to the hamman (public bath).
The guards said, ‘It will not be possible for you to go to the bath
unless these chains are removed; and furthermore it will
attract notice from the people in the streets.’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said,
‘I will go.’
“The guards then carefully gathered the hanging chains
around my waist, covered them with my clothing and we went
forth. As we passed through the streets, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá took the
chains from his waist, flung their loose, dangling ends over his
shoulders in full view and walked to the hamman, followed by
a great crowd of hooting, jeering people. The guards were
most unhappy, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in supreme joy because of
this opportunity to walk in the freedom of the Pathway of
God.”1
Because the Master is inseparable from His teachings, we have
tried in the foregoing to indicate some of the main lines of the vast
body of His work. We have tried to hint at His teaching methods,
since He is above all the great Teacher, making reality come alive,
instead of lying in the death of the abstraction. Often He taught by
indicating some person sitting near Him, or some object that was
there. For example, explaining the animal spirit, which is the second
category of the five into which spirit is divided, He said: “It may be
likened to this lamp: when the oil, wick and fire are combined, it is
lighted ….”2 And you think of the lamplight falling across the table;
you wonder why that

1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Star of the West, Vol. 4:5 (5 June 1913), p. 88.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, p. 208.

particular lamp was given immortality. You remember being told in
the Master’s household that He was very particular that guests
should always be honoured (He even placed this injunction in one of
the most solemn and tender of all Bahá’í prayers, the prayer revealed
by Him for the dead); and that once when there were guests and the
lamp chimney was not highly-enough polished, He sent for it to be
replaced. And you think of the lamplight falling across the table; you
see His face in the lamplight and inevitably you remember what
everything on earth makes you remember: that no lamp will ever
light up His face any more. You feel, for the thousandth time, that
pang of loss that inherent every day in every sunset, and you
understand what the Báb meant in telling of the death of a Prophet
when He said, “All sorrow is only the shadow of that sorrow.”1
If we had to choose one short sentence summing up His wishes
for man, it might be this:
“Array yourselves in the perfection of divine virtues.”2
One day in ‘Akká, writes Juliet Thompson in her diary, a
pilgrim, looking at a magnificent rose, said: “I wish I might be like
this rose and exhale such fragrances.” And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who often
immortally returned some casual remark, answered:
“One could be much more beautiful than this rose. For the rose
perishes. Its fragrance is just for a time. But no winter has
any effect upon such a Rose as Man.”3

1 Le Bayan Persan, translated by A. L. M. Nicolas, Vol. II, p. 118.
2 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 7.
3 The diary of Juliet Thompson, p. 33.

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