Islam From a Brooklyn Pulpit

A retelling based on Mahmúd's Diary by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, with words from The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Words in quotation marks are preserved in those accounts.

One evening in New York in mid-June 1912, His companion Mírzá Mahmúd recorded, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave an account of His many addresses in churches and public gatherings in America. He said: "What I have spoken is according to the capacity of the people and the exigency of the time." And He quoted a line of the poet Rúmí: "The father makes gurgling sounds for the newborn infant, although his wisdom can measure the universe."

On Sunday, 16 June, He had been invited to two large churches in Brooklyn. He left New York at ten in the morning with some of the Persian and American friends, and at eleven He spoke at the Unitarian Church on the degrees of oneness and unity. At the close He chanted, with hands uplifted, a prayer in Arabic, which was translated sentence by sentence. At the pastor's request He then visited the church's school, where the children sang for Him and He spoke to them about their education. He lunched at the home of Mr MacNutt and spoke to the friends there about being thankful for the bestowals and favours of God.

Later that day He went to the Central Congregational Church. The gathering and the setting, Mahmúd wrote, were "impressive and magnificent and the breaths of the Holy Spirit were felt by all." He recorded that 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke "with authority and majesty on the freedom of conscience, the unity of religions, dogmatic imitations, the deprivation of people and the reality of Islam."

The notes of that talk, published in The Promulgation of Universal Peace, show how He approached Islam with a Christian congregation. "For more than a thousand years there has been enmity and strife between Muslims and Christians, owing to misunderstanding and spiritual blindness," He said. "I wish now to call your attention to a most important point."

The point was what the Qur'án says about Christ. All Islam, He told them, considers the Qur'án the Word of God, and in it are explicit texts stating that Christ was the Word of God and the Spirit of God, that He came into the world through the quickening breaths of the Holy Spirit, and that Mary His mother was holy and sanctified. A whole chapter, He said, is devoted to the story of Jesus. "In brief, in the Qur'án there is eulogy and commendation of Christ such as you do not find in the Gospel."

He told them that when Muhammad proclaimed His mission, His first objection to His own followers was: "Why have you not believed on Jesus Christ? Why have you not accepted the Gospel? Why have you not believed in Moses?" Of these words of Muhammad, He said: "This is an explicit text of the Qur'án; it is not a story or tradition but from the Qur'án itself, which is in the hands of the people." Ignorance and misunderstanding, He said, had caused the warfare and strife between Christians and Muslims.

According to Mahmúd, He "concluded by declaring the appearance of the Greatest Name and by explaining the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh." Then: "Notwithstanding that the address was primarily about the truth of Islam, everyone came to Him to express their gratitude and thankfulness." Pastors and professors, rich and poor, men and women, and especially the representatives of the press praised Him. "No one offered a single objection." The pastor repeatedly asked Him to promise another visit, but His many engagements left no time. The next day the Brooklyn Eagle published the address with a description of the gathering.

The following morning 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the meeting at the church in Brooklyn. "This is how we establish the truth of Islam in synagogues, churches and great temples. And see what the Muslims say about us?"

In those days, Mahmúd noted, He often encouraged the friends to teach the Cause and to travel. "You must teach the Cause of God," He said, "with great humility. Just as I feel myself humble before all, even before children, so must you be."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see Mahmúd's Diary by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání and The Promulgation of Universal Peace.

Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, M.. (1998). *Mahmúd's Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání*.