Five Coats for the Price of One
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When in Bahá'í history
'Akká (today: Acre, Israel)
For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá inexpensive clothes were sufficient. One day He was to entertain the Governor of ‘Akká. His wife felt that His coat was hardly worthy of the occasion. Well ahead of time she went to the tailor where she ordered a fine coat, thinking that, with His lack of self-consciousness, He would surely not notice that His old coat was missing. He desired, after all, only to be scrupulously clean. The new garment was laid out at the proper time, but the Master went searching for His own coat. He asked for it, insisting that the one laid out was not His. His wife attempted to explain the new coat, but He would have none of it, and He told her why: “But think of this! … For the price of this coat you can buy five such as I ordinarily use, and do you think I would spend so much money upon a coat which only I shall wear? If you think I need a new one, very well, but send this back and have the tailor make Me for this price five such as I usually have. Then you see, I shall not only have a new one, but I shall also have four to give to others!”
Source: Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), no. 46, “Coat, too expensive,” p. 74.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: generosity).
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