Walking in Haifa with the Master

The bahaistories.com archive collects, from the household memoirs of the late 'Akká and Haifa years, a recurring small picture of the Master's daily evening walks.

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The walk was, in the Master's late life, an almost invariable part of the daily rhythm. He would leave the house in the late afternoon, in His simple white robe and the broad-brimmed hat He wore against the strong Levant sun, and would proceed along the slope of Mount Carmel above Haifa, often stopping at the modest unfinished structure of the Shrine of the Báb to chant a prayer, then continuing along the path toward the German Templer colony or returning by a different route to the house.

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The pattern was the same. The companions varied. On any given evening the Master might be joined by one or two of the resident Western pilgrims; by a senior member of the local Persian community; by a Jewish merchant from the lower town who had become a personal friend; by a Christian neighbour from one of the small Maronite households along the slope; by a Muslim shaykh of one of the local mosques. The Master greeted each by name.

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He inquired after their families. He listened to small reports of business or illness or family news. He answered the spiritual questions when they were asked.

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The bahaistories.com pieces preserve a sentence the Master gave to one of the household members who had asked Him why the daily walk took the same route every evening when His companions changed. *These are My neighbours; God has set them in My way.* The walk, in His own understanding, was a small daily survey of the people whose ordinary good opinion the Cause depended on, and whose ordinary good will He intended to earn by the steady habit of personal presence.

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