Interviews with 'Abdu'l-Baha
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters.
Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Lovell Bearse Pemberton,
Interviews with 'Abdu'l-Baha, bahai-library.com.
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to

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DORRANCE                      AND                  COMPANY
PUBLISHERS             PHILADELPHIA                              MCMXXV
COPYRIGHT 1928
DORRANCE Ok COMPANY INC

MANUFACTURED IN THE   UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
CHAPTER                                                  PAGE

I    The First Step                                  13
II    London in February                              22
III     In Gay Paree                                    27
IV     Through Switzerland                             33
V     Impressions of Italy                            40
VI      On the Mediterranean                            49
VII     In the Land of the Pharaohs                     56
VIII     From Egypt to Palestine                         66
IX     The New Bahai Temple                            74
X     What the Bahai Movement Is                      82
XI     Haifa to Tiberias                               90
XII     Interviews With Abdul Baha                      97
XIII     Snapshots on the Sea of Galilee                 105
XIV      From the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem            110
XV      In Jerusalem                                    117
XVI      Jerusalem Continued                             130
XVII      Mosque of Omar and the Via Dolorosa             137
XVIII      A Day at Bethlehem                              143
XIX      From the Mount of Olives to Mount Zion   ...    150
XX      Last Days in Jerusalem                          155
XXI      From Jerusalem to Cairo                         161
XXII      Here and There in Cairo                         166
XXIII      Cairo to Alexandria                             172
XXIV       How the Pyramids Were Built                     178
XXV      Woman's Sphere in the Orient                    184
XXVI      The Future of Bahaism                           190
XXVII      On the Good Ship Esperia                        198
XXVIII     From Naples to Paris                            202
XXIX     A Glimpse of Paris                              209
XXX      Playgrounds of Children and Kings              218
XXXI     From Paris to New York                          225
XXXII      Hints to Travelers                             230
XXXIII     Transportation Problems                         240
XXXIV      Dress, Tips and Guides                          252
XXXV      The End of the Trail                            260
ICfst of Uttustratfons
Model of the Bahai Temple at Chicago, Illinois.   .
.Frontispiece
PACING PAGE

Looking Down From the Ruins of the Palaces of the
Caesars                                                     44

Garden of Rizwan, Near Haifa                                    92
Abdul Baha                                                     100

The Garden of Gethsemane                                       121

Statue of Joan of Arc in The Madeleine, Paris                  205
XII

Interviews With Abdul Baha

Before   going further it might be well to explain that
the three outstanding figures in the Bahai world are
Ali Muhammad, known as the Bab (meaning the Door
or Gate) ; Huseyn Ali of Nur, afterwards called Baha

Ullah (pronounced Buh-hah Oo-lah, accented on the
second and fourth syllables and meaning the "Glory of
God"), and Abdul Baha (pronounced Ahb-dool Buh-hah,
accented on the first and last syllables, and meaning
literally "Slave or Servant of the Glory"). The latter
is the son of Baha Ullah, and is the present head of the
movement.

Among the Bahais these three personages are regarded
respectively as the Messenger, the Manifestation and the
Expounder of the cause. Of these, the first was martyred
in 1850 at the age of thirty, in the public square at
Tabriz; the second, Beha Ullah, after being persecuted
and imprisoned for nearly forty years, finally departed
this life in May, 1892, at Behje, near Acca, where he is
buried.    Before his death he appointed his son, Abdul
Baha to be the "Center of the Covenant," and author
ized Expounder of his writings. The only claim that
Abdul   Baha   makes   for himself is that he   is   a   great
educator, and the Servant of God in this Revelation.
Sir Abdul Baha Abbas (as he was recently knighted
by  the English government), was born in Teheran,

[97]
A Modern Pilgrimage

Persia, May 23, 1844, and is consequently in the seventyeighth year of his
age. He is a genial, kindly man of
medium size, somewhat stooped, with long, snow-white
hair and beard.   His face is browned and seamed with
many lines that at first would seem to indicate a man
of more advanced age ; but in his movements he is active
and alert, while his majestic bearing gives one the im
pression that he is a person of prominence and power.
You   are  immediately attracted by his large grey eyes
that have a kindly, but searching look, and seem to take
in everything at a glance.      His mental and physical
faculties are in full vigor. He wears a long, brown robe
of silk and camel's wool, with wide, flowing sleeves, and
his massive head is crowned with a pure white turban.
In speech he is ready and apt; his expressions concise
and exact, and his genial talks lead up to a point and
convey a lesson, which his
hearers cannot fail to grasp.

During the early stages of our trip I had entertained
see this important person (as
vague hopes that I might
I had not yet received permission to visit him), and
often wondered if I would really meet him. You can
inter
imagine my surprise when I was invited to daily
views with him during  our short  stay in Tiberias, and

the honor I felt in being accorded a private interview
of three-quarters of an hour's duration.
When ushered into his presence, you are greeted with
are you ?" in English, strongly
a kindly smile and "How

accented on the second word.      If you reply, "Very

well!" he laughingly repeats it in Persian, which is very
like the English expression, and invites you to be seated;

{98 1
Interviews With Abdul Bahai

after which he usually inquires of each one, "Are you
well and happy?" Then, after a few preliminary remarks,
he     begins      his
talk, which lasts from twenty to thirty
minutes.    You listen, or answer the questions directed
to you, until he has finished, when he rises, shakes hands
all around, and ends the interview.      As he speaks very
little English, his talks are in Persian, and translated by
his secretary, Azizullah, who has a ready command of
English as well as Persian, Arabic and other languages.
In the first interview, which was given in his room
in the tower of the hotel at Tiberias, he commented on
the beauty of the scenery of Palestine, and related how
the Lord told Abraham that it                   was    the finest in the
world and if there          was   anything better He would have
given it      to    him.   He then likened it to            California, its
climate, the contour of the hills, its flowers and foliage
being much the same, and in this respect he called
California "the          Holy Land of America."             He concluded
his talk with the story of the             man        who wanted to be
come a Bahai.

Some years ago, he said, he was traveling through
Persia, in company with several others, one of whom
was     a   merchant       known    to    him    as    a   man   of   rather
questionable reputation.            The   caravan      stopped   at   a   cer

tain town, and numbers of the people flocked out to
meet Abdul   Baha.  From there they proceeded to
another town, where more people came out to meet him; then
to   another town, where the same thing was repeated.                 After
this    had     occurred     a    number        of    times,   and    every
where crowds of            people   had   invariably       rushed out to

[99]
A Modern Pilgrimage

meet       him, the merchant called him aside and told him
he wished to become           a   Bahai.   On   being asked why,
he said, "You are a Bahai, and wherever you go great
crowds of people flock out to meet you, while no one
comes to meet me ; so I wish to become a Bahai." Asked

if that      was   the real reason, he replied, "I also think it
will   help       my business, as I will have all these people
come       to meet me."     Then Abdul Baha told him, "Do not
become        a    Bahai.   It is better for you to remain    as

you are."
The moral to this little story was too obvious to need
any    explanation.
The next day Abdul Baha spoke of the essential and
non-essential things of life and illustrated his remarks
with the story of the young Arab woman who preferred
not to live in thecity. It seems that a wealthy man
who was traveling through the desert happened to meet
a young Arab woman, and being struck
with her youth
and beauty, begged her to accompany him to the city,
other
offering her many inducements to do so. Among
adorn her         with  silk  and
things, he offered to            person
should   have   the
costly raiment, promising that she
beautiful
daintiest and most expensive morsels to eat; a
to wait      her. After
palace to live in, and servants         upon
he had       exhausted his glowing arguments, the young
Arab       woman          at him and said, "Why should I
laughed
be    a                              your expensive
prisoner, and shut myself up
in

walls? Why should   I worry with  your silks and fine
have all that I need.
raiment? Here I am happy and
and I have the pure
The whole blue sky is above me,

[100]
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ABUL'I. BAHA
Interviews With Abdul Bahai

air to breathe.   Why should I give up my freedom?"
Early one morning I visited Magdala, and returning
at about      eleven o'clock I noticed that Abdul Baha            was

seated alone in the       parlor   of the hotel.   As I    passed,
he   came    to the door and beckoned     me   to enter.      While
he    was    saying, "Come    in!" his gestures indicated the
opposite direction;      but as I had been informed before
hand of this lack of co-ordination in his          signals,   I   en

tered.      After the usual salutations, he called in his secre
tary and said, "You have been    to Magdala!    How did
you like it?               expressed the desire, I would
If you had
have placed my carriage at your disposal."      He mar
veled that I had walked so far; but I explained that on
the steamer we had made it a practice to walk twenty
miles each day, in order to keep in good condition. He
took a handful of shells which I had just picked up on
the beach near Magdala, and commented on their beauty
and then inquired if I would like to hear the history of
Mary Magdalene. On being assured that I would, espe
cially from him, he proceeded to relate the history,
which in substance is as follows:
Magdala, the little village I had just visited, was the
birthplace of Mary, known as the Magdalene. She was
a beautiful girl in the habit of coming often to Tiberias,

where at that time many Roman soldiers were located.
Here she attracted the attention of a young Roman
officer, with whom she later lived on terms of intimacy.
In the course of time, this officer was transferred to
Rome, and was advanced to a position of trust in the
affairs of the Roman       Empire     being well liked and en-

[101]
A Modern Pilgrimage

joying the favor of the Emperor.             After his   departure
from    Tiberias, the well-known           events   occurred   that
changed            Mary. She forsook her former life,
the life of
embraced the faith and became an ardent Christian.
In those      days, immediately following the crucifixion,
the Jews were being severely persecuted by the Romans,
and Mary was chosen to go to Rome and intercede for
them. On her arrival at Rome, one of the first persons
she met was the young officer who had been her lover
in Tiberias, and who was overjoyed at seeing her think
ing that her great love for him had induced her to make
the    long journey.       He lost    inviting her to
no   time in
come with him; but she refused, saying that she was

not    the   same    woman     he had known at Tiberias.  He
then inquired why          she had come to Rome if not to see

him? To which she              replied, "To see the Roman Em
peror!" This somewhat astounded the young officer,
who thought she was making sport with him. Finally
all
she convinced him of her sincerity by telling him
that had happened in the Holy Land since his departure,
how she had            of her former life and become a
repented
Christian.   The young man was so touched by her
for her
recital that he offered to secure an interview
his high posi
with the Emperor. This, on account of
and  in   few  days   she entered
tion, he was able to do,
a

the presence of the Emperor, who
met  her   kindly and
for her.   To   which   she re
inquired what he could do
Somewhat per
plied "For myself, I want nothing."
had  sought      interview with
plexed, he asked why she
an

and she answered, "I have  come  to ask   you in the
him,

[102]
Interviews With Abdul Bahai

name    of the Christians to stop the            persecutions of the
Jews   in Palestine."   The Emperor              exclaimed, "I have
been  doing   this   as    a   favor to the Christians    to   punish
the Jews for crucifying your Christ !"             But Mary assured
him    that the Christians did not want this; that their
religion was based on love              not revenge.

This idea   was     so       new   to the   Emperor that he asked
her to explain to him more about this strange new creed,
and in the end agreed to comply with her request. At
the close of the interview, the Emperor ordered her to
be well cared for, and showed her many honors during
her stay in Rome.
"This," said Abdul Baha, in closing, "shows the power
of the  Spirit. Here was a poor and ignorant woman,
who in her youth had been a girl of the street and re
spected by no one, but whose life had been transformed
and illumined by the Spirit.  From a lowly station she
had been elevated by  the power of the Spirit, until she
was received and honored by an Emperor.    Other things
pass away,    but the power  of the Spirit is sure and
eternal !"
His talk the   following day was on the folly of devot
ing one's life simply to the accumulation of money. As
an illustration he cited an incident that occurred during

his visit to New York City in 1912:
A noted banker had been making a collection of rare
Persian and Oriental manuscripts and invited Abdul
Baha to come at a certain hour and give him an opinion
as to whether or not they were genuine.       At the ap
time he  was conducted to the banker's library
pointed

[103]
A Modem Pilgrimage

and soon after his arrival was informed by a messenger
that his host     was    detained, but would arrive presently.
After some time, a second messenger arrived, expressing
his regrets that an urgent business meeting had prevented
the banker from         arriving on time, but that he would
come  very        Then Abdul Baha said that he was
soon.

sorry he  could not remain longer, as he, too, was a
busy man.
"Thus," he said, "a man who is spending his time
trying to amass great riches, is not a free man, but is a
slave to his wealth. After all, if wealth was the prin
cipal thing, then Christ would have devoted His life
to money-getting, as He had a brain undoubtedly equal
to the task; but He realized that other things are of
more consequence, and that the things of the Spirit are

the only ones that are eternal."
In our final interview the next morning, he spoke of
the pleasure our visit had given him.   He wished us
success  in our work and promised to pray for us in the
with
silent hours of the night. He urged us to go forth
of
renewed courage, and a determination to live a life
of color, race
service; to be kind to everyone regardless
or condition; to be "a cause
of healing for every sick

one,   a    comforter for every sorrowful one, a pleasant
for every
water      forevery        one, a heavenly table
thirsty
to everyone who yearns for
hungry one, and a herald
the Kingdom of God."

[104]
    — Interviews with 'Abdu'l-Baha (Used by permission of the curator)