Bahá’u’lláh and the Old Woman of Baghdád
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When in Bahá'í history
Baghdád (today: Baghdad, Iraq)
Nabil tells us that in the district [of Baghdad] where Bahá’u’lláh lived, people of the entire neighbourhood, particularly the poor, the disabled and the orphans, were sent gifts by Him. And as He went about, whenever He came upon the needy, He showered His bounties on them. There was an old woman, eighty years of age, who lived in a ruined house. Every day, at the time when Bahá’u’lláh was going to the coffee-house by the bridge, she would be standing in the roadway awaiting Him. Bahá’u’lláh would stop, enquire after her health and give her some money. She would kiss His hands, and sometimes wanted to kiss His face but, being short of stature, she could not reach Him, and He would bend down His face towards her. He used to say, ‘She knows that I like her, that is why she likes Me.’ When He left Baghdad, He arranged a daily allowance to be given to her, to the end of her days.
- Hand of the Cause Balyuzi (‘Baha’u’llah, The King of Glory’)
Source: H. M. Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh, The King of Glory, p. 151, drawing on the narrative of Nabíl-i-A‘ẓam.
Found via the Baha'i Stories Blog (https://bahaistories.blogspot.com/2024/09/an-example-of-bahaullahs-kindness-to.html).
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