# Prayer for Fathers

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Abdu'l-Bahá, Prayer for Fathers, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Prayer for Fathers
> 
> Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> Ahmad Sohrab, translator
> 
> published in Star of the West2:19, p. 319
> 
> 1921
> 
> The Prayer for Fathers was revealed by the Master
> to Albert Windust, and published in the pages of Star of the West. It
> appears that Mr. Windust's father passed away, that he then wrote to the
> Master and asked Him to pray for his father, and the Master revealed a
> Tablet containing this prayer in response. The senior Mr. Windust passed
> away in May, 1913 and the Tablet was revealed two months later.
> 
> By way of background, Albert Windust was one of the most important pillars
> of the American Bahá'í community from its earliest days. He was a member
> of the first Spiritual Assembly in Chicago and served on it until 1954.
> He was a printer by profession, and one of the founders of the Bahá'í
> Publishing Society which became the Bahá'í Publishing Trust. He was the
> first publisher of the Bahá'í Writings in America, and the founder of Star
> of the West. He collected and published the 3 volumes of Tablets of
> Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas, and he assisted Howard MacNutt in collecting and
> publishing The Promulgation of Universal Peace. There is a good deal
> written about him in Volume Two of Rob Stockman's The Bahá'í Faith in
> America. His full-page photograph is between pages 78-79 of that book.
> His story is included in the "In Memoriam" section of The Bahá'í World,
> Volume 13, where the cablegram from Shoghi Effendi marking his passing is
> included, and in which the Guardian refers to him as "Herald Covenant."
> 
> Here is the full text, from Volume II, No. 19, page 319 of Star of the
> West, dated March 2, 1921 (contained in George Ronald blue reprint volume
> #7). I have left the spelling and transliteration exactly as printed
> there. [-Brent Poirier, 1999]
> 
> "IN THIS GREAT DISPENSATION THOU DOST ACCEPT THE INTERCESSION
> OF THE SONS IN BEHALF OF THEIR FATHERS"
> 
> Tablet from Abdul-Baha to Albert R. Windust
> 
> To Mr. Albert R. Windust, Chicago, Ill. -- Upon him be Baha'o'llah
> El-Abha!
> 
> He is God!
> 
> O Thou Almighty! O Thou Forgiver!
> 
> The servant of Thy Threshold, Windust, turns his face toward the Kingdom
> of Abha and begs for his father[*] Thy Grace and bounty. O Thou
> Omnipotent Lord! In this Great Dispensation Thou dost accept the
> intercession of the sons in behalf of their fathers. This is one of the
> special infinite bestowals of this cycle. Therefore, O Thou kind
> Almighty! Accept the request of this thy servant at the Threshold of Thy
> Singleness and submerge his father in the ocean of Thy graces -- because
> this son is confirmed in the accomplishment of Thy services and is
> displaying the utmost of effort at all times in the pathway of Thy love!
> Verily Thou art the Giver, the Forgiver and the Kind!
> 
> O thou divine servant!
> 
> Be thou not unhappy on account of the death of thy father. All of us will
> hasten from this world to another world. This mundane life has no
> importance whatsoever. It is our hope that in the divine world we shall
> find eternal union and seek everlasting fellowship. Importance lies in
> this fact. This station is obtained through faith and self-sacrifice in
> the path of God. Consequently we must make an effort to obtain happiness
> and joyousness in the other world.
> 
> Convey the wonderful Abha greeting to the believers. Chicago, in
> comparison with the cities of America, was in advance and numerically
> contained more Bahais. But when the stench (vile odor) of the nakazeen
> was spread in that city there was stagnation. The Cause in other cities
> of America is progressing day unto day, but Chicago is stationary.
> Therefore, strive that the sweet fragrance of the Testament and the
> Covenant may become diffused, the nostrils of the spiritual ones become
> perfumed, the banner of "Ya-Baha-el-Abha!" be unfurled and the tent of the
> oneness of the world of humanity be pitched. Then ye shall observe that
> Chicago will become the Paradise of Abha. These few nakazeen cannot
> accomplish anything worth while. The utmost is this that they will be the
> means of the drooping of the believers of God in that city. A person
> deprived of the spirit of the Covenant is sentenced as dead. The dead
> surely disintegrate. Therefore, breathe the spirit of the Covenant and
> the Testament as much as ye can in the hearts, so that the souls may
> progress day unto day and obtain a new exhilaration.
> 
> Upon thee be Baha-el-Abha!
> 
> (Signed) Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas!
> 
> (Translated by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, July 4th, 1913, Port Said, Egypt.)
> 
> * Thomas Windust, printer, was born in London, England,
> November 12th, 1849. Died at Chicago, May 21st, 1913, and was buried in Mount Hope
> Cemetery, May 23rd.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views19964 views since posted 1999; last edit 2022-06-24 13:53 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../abdul-baha_prayer_fathers;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
> Inventory #
> AB02000
> Language
> English
> Permission
> public domain
> History
> Typed 1999 by Brent Poirier.
> Share
> 
> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/838
> Citation: ris/838
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> — *Prayer for Fathers (Used by permission of the curator)*