The Prayer Ali-Kuli Khan Was Given

Before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived, Ali-Kuli Khan considered what questions he would ask Him upon His arrival. Dr. Khan realized that the one thing he wanted most to know was some prayer he might utter quickly and from deep within his heart, when the moment came when, as the representative of his country (then Persia) in Washington he must make some instant diplomatic decision. When these moments came, as they did frequently, Dr. Khan felt that while he always sincerely did his best, his wisdom was very limited and finite. If only he might have a prayer that would draw to him a greater wisdom. Ah, if he only might have such a prayer.

So the day came when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was to arrive and Dr. Khan, accompanied by the Washington believers, drove to the station to meet Him. The greeting was warm and deeply moving, and Khan's heart was still filled with this one question he wanted most to ask the Master. And they were perhaps halfway back, driving up Pennsylvania Avenue, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suddenly told Khan this story: it had happened when Bahá’u’lláh had been gone from Baghdad for some two years. At that time no one knew where He was and all hearts were sick with the fear that they would never see Him again. At this time ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a small boy, and the continued absence of His Beloved Father had become unendurable. So, one night, all night long, the little boy (whom, even then, Bahá’u’lláh referred to as the Master) paced restlessly up and down saying, shouting, beseeching, Yá Allah el Mustaghas! Yá Allah el Mustaghas! all night long. And in the morning, when dawn was breaking, a messenger came to the door to say a stranger was at the city gate and had sent word to the family that He wished them to bring to Him fresh raiment and water to bathe in . . . So ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knew His Beloved Father had returned.

And Dr. Khan knew the cry that he, too, might utter in his moments of need: Yá Allah el Mustaghas! (which means “O Thou, help me in my extremity!”)

Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, pp. 92–93.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: prayer).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/prayer