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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
London, UK
72 stories took place here — most often featuring 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh and Lady Blomfield.
London (today: London, UK)
In London ‘Abdu’l-Bahá heard laughter from the kitchen and went to share the joke between a Persian servant and an English housekeeper. He laughed heartily and gave each of them a small gold coin for being happy.
As His party waited to leave London by train, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá went on calmly writing. Then a man arrived with a garland and, in the name of the disciples of Zoroaster, hailed Him as the promised Sháh Bahrám.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá never sought publicity and disliked being photographed, saying a picture of oneself emphasizes the personality; in London He at first refused, then consented to make the reporters and the friends happy.
Lady Blomfield told of seeing broad rays of golden light pour from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá over a London congregation as He spoke, flooding some people and avoiding others completely.
At a Christmas party for the poor in London in 1912, some children took ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for Father Christmas. At East Sheen three little children sat quietly on His knee while He spoke of the purity of children’s hearts.
“One year before ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd was dethroned, he sent an extremely overbearing, treacherous and insulting committee of investigation. The chairman was one of the governor’s staff, Árif Bey, and with him were three army commanders…
During 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to London in 1911, a painter asked Him whether art was a worthy vocation, and an actor raised the subject of the drama. His answers are recorded in 'Abdu'l-Bahá in London.
“After two years of the strictest confinement permission was granted me to find a house so that we could live outside the prison walls but still within the fortifications. Many believers came from Persia to join us but they were not…
Some referred to the teaching of Buddha. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ.
On 13 September 1911, nine days after arriving in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at the home of Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper and described the meeting as a reflection of the heavenly concourse.
God has created the world as one—the boundaries are marked out by man.
Question.—What is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teaching concerning the different Divine manifestations?
How can one increase in faith? You must strive. A child does not know, in learning he obtains knowledge. search for Truth.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: Disease is of two kinds: material and spiritual.
The magnet of your love brought me to this country.
To man, the Essence of God is incomprehensible, so also are the worlds beyond this, and their condition.
During the last six thousand years nations have hated one another, it is now time to stop.
Someone asked if the Humanitarian Society was good.—Yes all societies, all organizations, working for the betterment of the human race are good, very good.
The Universal Races Congress was good, for it was intended for the furtherance and progress of unity among all nations and a better international understanding.
To most men who have not heard the message of this teaching, religion seems an outward form, a pretence, merely a seal of respectability.
In an apartment in Cadogan Gardens sits a spiritually illumined Oriental, whose recent advent in London marks the latest junction of the East and West.
We have met together to bid farewell to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and to thank God for his example and teaching, and for the power of his prayers to bring Light into confused thought, Hope into the place of dread, Faith where doubt was …
“We had no communication whatever with the out-side world. Each loaf of bread was cut open by the guard to see that it contained no message. All who believed in the Bahá’í manifestation, children, men and women, were imprisoned with us.”
“With the advent of the Young Turks’ supremacy, realized through the Society of Union and Progress, all the political prisoners of the Ottoman Empire were set free. Events took the chains from my neck and placed them about Hamíd’s;…
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was asked if he recognized the good which the Theosophical Society has done.
A homeless man who had resolved to end his life saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s picture in a newspaper and walked thirty miles to find Him; the Master welcomed and comforted him, and he left with a new purpose.
On Christmas night 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to about a thousand homeless men at a Salvation Army shelter in Westminster. He left money for another dinner on New Year’s night, and the men rose to cheer Him.
During my visit to London and Paris last year I had many talks with the materialistic philosophers of Europe.
This recent war has proved to the world and the people that war is destruction while Universal Peace is construction; war is death while peace is life; war is rapacity and bloodthirstiness while peace is beneficence and humaneness …
At Cadogan Gardens, before leaving London in 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that teaching the Cause called for undivided attention; for six months He had not written even to His sister and daughters, because He must teach.
Before leaving London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá married a young Persian couple, asking each whether they loved the other with all their heart and soul. The writer recalls the simplicity of His own wedding and His words on the holiness of marriage.
One of the social principles to which Bahá’u’lláh attaches great importance is that women should be regarded as the equals of men and should enjoy equal rights and privileges, equal education and equal opportunities.
When asked on one occasion: “What is a Bahá’í?” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied: “To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.”
In London in September 1911 a journalist asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá about His prison life. He told of exile, the first terrible summer in ‘Akká, the Sultan’s hostile committee and His release, and said that freedom is not a matter of place.
Lady Blomfield recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, arriving home very tired after a crowded meeting, suddenly ran up the stairs to the flat and told the astonished friends that through the power of Bahá’u’lláh all things can be done.
At dinner on Christmas Eve 1912 in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said playfully that two despotic monarchs of the East had not been able to command Him, but the ladies of America and Europe, because they were free, gave Him orders.
In London on 22 December 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told how Mary Magdalene went to the emperor of Rome on behalf of the Christians and asked that no one exact vengeance for the death of Christ.
Gran'pa tells George and Ann how, as a homeless man with no purpose, he walked thirty miles to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and how the Master's loving welcome gave him a new life of work and service.
Visitors from far countries who stayed on while the Master taught were invited to lunch with Him. So often were there nineteen at table that Lady Blomfield's household came to expect it, and He often served the guests with His own hands.
On 17 September 1911, at the invitation of Archdeacon Wilberforce, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed the congregation of St. John the Divine, Westminster, and the congregation knelt to receive His blessing.
At Lady Blomfield's table in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the blessings of freedom and wished the courses could be shared with the poor and hungry. His hosts at once resolved to simplify their dinners.
Even amid crowded days in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stayed calm and clear about His purpose. Before leaving in 1913 He told the friends that teaching the Cause called for undivided attention.
A man twice prevented from seeing 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a heartbreaking letter showing that he thought himself rebuffed. When it was translated, the Master at once put on His coat and, deeply grieved, went out alone.
In London, inquirers who stayed on at mealtimes were invited to dine. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá led the humblest guest to the seat at His right and put each one at ease, and as many as eighteen might be served by the Master Himself.
On Christmas Day 1912 in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called on Lord Lamington, then spoke to some five hundred people at a Salvation Army hostel and paid for their meal and another night’s lodging, as His guests.
On 10 September 1911, His first Sunday in England, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke from the pulpit of the City Temple in London at the invitation of its pastor, R. J. Campbell. It was the first public address of His life.
In London in 1911 the journalist Isabel Fraser asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá how He had felt in prison. He told her the story of His exile and imprisonment and said He had been happy all that time, for the prison of self is the greater prison.
Lady Blomfield recalls meals with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in her London home: He served guests with His own hands, shared a poor workman’s gift of dry bread, and seated the humblest guests at His right hand.
On Christmas night 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to a thousand homeless men at a Salvation Army shelter in London and left money to buy them a similar dinner on New Year’s night.
At His first dinner in Lady Blomfield's London home, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gently wished the many courses could be shared with the hungry, and afterwards the dinners were greatly simplified.
When a London reporter remarked on His good English pronunciation, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá paced the room reciting complicated English words such as "hippopotamus", then laughingly said they were very difficult.
In London 'Abdu'l-Bahá joined the laughter in the kitchen, where a Persian servant and an English housekeeper were joking about the lot of women in East and West.
Out driving in London, Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá whether He longed to be back with His family in Haifa. He told her and Lady Blomfield that they were as beloved to Him as His own.
In London a woman without an appointment was turned away from 'Abdu'l-Bahá's door. As she went down the stairs, He sent a messenger after her.
In London 'Abdu'l-Bahá described how people have always complained that the Prophets took away their pleasures, and how the Prophets have always answered them.
A man who had resolved to end his life saw 'Abdu'l-Bahá's picture in a shop window and walked thirty miles to find Him in London. The Master welcomed him and gave him new hope.
Sunday, January 12th, 1913 About one thousand years ago a society was formed in Persia called the Society of the Friends, who gathered together for silent communion with the Almighty.
97 Cadogan Gardens, London, December 26th, 1912 ‘Should Prayer take the form of action?’
97 Cadogan Gardens, London, Saturday, January 4th, 1913 What a power is love!
On 1 October 1911 in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá performed the marriage of Mírzá Yuhanna Dáwúd and Núr Mahal Khánum, telling them He had never before united anyone in marriage except His own daughters.
O ye sons and daughters of the Kingdom! Your letter, which was surely inspired of heaven, hath been received. Its contents were most pleasing, its sentiments arising out of luminous hearts.
O ye concourse of the Kingdom of Abhá!
Soon after reaching London in 1911, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warmly greeted the Rev. R. J. Campbell; on 10 September He gave His first public address in the West from the City Temple pulpit and wrote a tribute in its Bible.
In 1911 Louis G. Gregory spent four days in London on his way home from visiting 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The London Bahá'ís wrote that a few such men, aflame with God's Word, could change the problems between the races.
In London a woman without an appointment was turned away from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s door, but before she reached the bottom of the steps He sent a messenger to bring her back.
On His last afternoon in London, a reporter was surprised by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s English pronunciation; laughing, He strode about the drawing room reciting elaborate English words, then turned in a moment to earnest matters.
'Abdu'l-Bahá accepted no money or costly gifts; when a lady offered a friend's cheque to buy Him a motor-car, He thanked her, held it as though blessing it, and returned it to be used for gifts to the poor.
In a 1911 report, Wellesley Tudor Pole described ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s days in London: correspondence from about 5 a.m., interviews until midday, drives and visits in the afternoon, and gatherings of friends nearly every evening.
When a reporter burst in on two Scottish visitors’ evening with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London, the Master led him away to His room, then explained that their wish for his absence had made the man uncomfortable.
Housed in comfort in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was saddened by the hunger of people living nearby, as in New York, and foretold a time when the wealthy would spend their riches to improve their communities.
While in London in the autumn of 1957, Shoghi Effendi fell ill with Asiatic influenza, kept working on his last map, and died in his sleep early on 4 November. He was buried near London on 9 November.
In November 1921 Shoghi Effendi, a student at Oxford, learned from a cable in a London office that 'Abdu'l-Bahá had passed away; back in Haifa, the Master's Will told him he had been appointed Guardian.