The Name He Chose

A retelling based on God Passes By by Shoghi Effendi. The words in quotation marks are 'Abdu'l-Bahá's own, as Shoghi Effendi recorded them.

In the late spring of 1892, the Holy Family at Bahjí was wrapped in grief. Bahá'u'lláh had passed from this world, and to the believers who loved Him it seemed the sun itself had set.

But Bahá'u'lláh had not left them without a guide. In His own hand He had written a testament — the Book of the Covenant — and in it He had named His eldest Son as the One to whom everyone should turn: the Centre of His Covenant, the authorized interpreter of His Word, the perfect Exemplar of all He had taught.

Now, a Son so designated might have been given any title the friends could imagine. They loved Him so dearly that they longed to exalt Him, to crown His name with every honour. And He had borne honoured names before — the believers had long called Him simply "the Master."

Yet when the moment came for Him to say how He wished to be known, He set every grand title aside. He chose for Himself one name only, and it was the humblest name He could find. He asked to be called 'Abdu'l-Bahá — the Servant of Bahá, the Servant of Glory.

He meant it with His whole being. "My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá," He wrote. "My qualification is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My reality is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My praise is 'Abdu'l-Bahá." Servitude to God and loving service to the whole human race, He said, was His religion; to be a servant at His Father's threshold was the only crown He would ever wear.

And He lived that name to the last day of His life — rising before dawn to write for the friends, emptying His purse for the poor of 'Akká, sitting at the bedside of the sick, washing, in spirit, the feet of everyone who came to His door.

Of all the names a person can be given, He reached for the lowest — and by the way He carried it, He made it one of the most beloved names on earth. On the Feast of Names, when we remember that every name of God is a quality we are meant to reflect, His life puts one quiet question to us: of all that we might be called, which name are we truly trying to earn? He answered it in a single word — servant — and spent His whole life making that word beautiful.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see God Passes By by Shoghi Effendi.

Effendi, S.. (1944). *God Passes By*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/god-passes-by/