Fifteen Paras

A retelling based on Mahmúd's Diary by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání. Words in quotation marks are quoted from that account.

In late June 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá was staying in Montclair, New Jersey. On His last full day there He spent the morning explaining religion to group after group of visitors. In the afternoon Mr Edsall and other friends asked Him to go to the park and rest for a while. As He stepped down from the tram at the park entrance He said: "What great changes have occurred! What waves have swept over us and brought us here! Let us see what waves are still to come."

In the centre of the park a gazebo stood on a small rise. The Master sat on a bench there and invited Mr Edsall, his son-in-law and His Persian companions, among them Mírzá Maḥmúd, who kept the diary, to sit near Him.

"The Committee of Union and Progress in Constantinople is very good," He said, "but both internal and external enemies are laying plans to imprison me again on my return to the Holy Land."

His companions said it might have been better if He had stayed in Egypt. He replied: "My beginning and my end, the place from which I start and the place to which I return is the Holy Threshold. What I have is from that Threshold and to it I shall return. Had it not been for His aid and assistance, would these people sitting on your right and left have any concern about you and me? We must be just and speak the truth. Who are we that we should be showered with these favors?"

He then spoke of verses of the Qur'án in which God addresses the Prophet Muḥammad at the height of His power and reminds Him of His dependence on God. Such verses, He said, are proofs of the truth and greatness of Muḥammad: "An imposter does not express weakness and ignorance when in a state of power and majesty."

He recalled something He had once said to Mírzá Muḥammad-Qulí: "Do you remember the days in Baghdád when we had not even fifteen paras to have a hot bath? We must now appreciate the favors of the Blessed Beauty and, in thankfulness, gird up our loins to serve Him. He has guided, assisted and made us victorious in this world as well as in His Kingdom." The para, the diary's editors explain, was the smallest coin of the Ottoman Empire at that time.

He spoke at length about the time when Bahá'u'lláh withdrew from Baghdád to Kurdistán: the prayers of the friends in His absence, the news of the bequest of Áqá Abu'l-Qásim-i-Hamadání, and how the friends at last traced Him to Sulaymáníyyih and sent Him a petition asking Him to return. The editors add that Abu'l-Qásim had been Bahá'u'lláh's only companion there; attacked on the road and mortally wounded, he left all he owned to "Darvísh Muḥammad-i-Írání", the name Bahá'u'lláh had taken.

Then the Master walked back to the hotel. Two wealthy ladies staying there were sitting in the lobby, and as soon as they saw Him they asked to be introduced. A little later He came back to the lobby and sat near them. They asked His purpose, and He gave them a brief history of the Cause and told them something of the prison of 'Akká and the spread of the fragrances of God.

They remarked that He appeared to be very wealthy. He replied: "My riches are of the Kingdom and not of this world." They said the signs of wealth were very evident. He answered: "Although I have nothing, yet I am richer than all the world."

He went on to speak of true wealth and of how quickly worldly things pass, citing passages from the Bible. A well-dressed couple passing through the lobby heard Him and stopped to listen. Maḥmúd writes that the two ladies and the couple were so moved that the believers watching were amazed at the change in them. The ladies gave their names and addresses to Mr Edsall so that they could meet the friends.

Maḥmúd noted that the Master had neither rest nor relaxation on this journey, and recorded something He used to say: "If my happiness and spirituality could come to the fore and my mind be at rest, then you would see how hearts could be attracted and souls set ablaze."

That evening, His last in Montclair, a large gathering of old and new friends from New York, Newark and Montclair was waiting for Him when He returned.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see Mahmúd's Diary by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání.

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