A Knight at the Guardian's Table
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Hand of the Cause of God Leroy Ioas, in a talk given in Johannesburg in 1958 about his days with the Guardian in Haifa, described “the spiritual insight of Shoghi Effendi”:
He wasn’t interested in the man. He wasn’t interested in his clothes. All he was interested in was his character and his devotion to the Cause. Someone knocked on the door of the Western pilgrim house, and I opened the door, and a man arrived very poorly dressed and rather a nondescript appearance, and I said, “Yes, what can we do for you? Is there anything that we can do for you?” And he said, “I am Charles Dunning. I am the pioneer from the Orkney Islands.” “Well, come right in.” And I welcomed the man, showed him to his room and made sure that he was comfortable and had one thing and another, and then he was busy during the day and it became time for the Guardian to come over for dinner. It was usual at dinner time to receive the new pilgrims that had come, to have dinner with them and to talk with them and, so, for us it was a very important event . . .
“Well, I said to Charles, we are getting ready to go down to have dinner with the Guardian, and do you think maybe you want to change your clothes and clean up a little bit for the Guardian.” And he says, “Yes, I will. I will.” So he went down and he was wearing the same clothes, which was all right, but when he came in the Guardian put his arms around him and kissed him. Now the Guardian very seldom kissed anyone. He embraced everyone, but he very seldom kissed anyone. And he sat him down at the table next to him, and he said, “You’re a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, and you deserve to be at the head of this table.” The spiritual insight! The Guardian saw in that man, the sacrifice for the Cause, his devotion for the Cause, his service in those difficult Orkney Islands. . . . He was there singly and alone serving in that cold, bleak place . . . and the Guardian realized it. The Guardian said that, after he left, he is one of God’s heroes of the present time. I mention this so you can see how Shoghi Effendi had an insight into everyone; his tenderness, his love.
Source: Leroy Ioas, “In the Days of the Guardian”, talk given in Johannesburg, South Africa, 31 October 1958 (transcript at bahai-library.com).
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: appearances).
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/appearances
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
A Day in the Guardian’s Life
Leroy Ioas describes Shoghi Effendi’s day in Haifa: prayer from 5:30 in the morning, his vast mail, the pilgrims from East and West and the International Bahá’í Council, until late at night, every day of the week.
The Victories Won Through the Friends
Leroy Ioas recalls the evening Shoghi Effendi shared news that a discouraged pioneer on a Pacific island, whom he had urged again and again to stay, now had two spiritual assemblies.
The Guardian's Gift to Corinne True
Leroy Ioas recalls how Shoghi Effendi gave the aged Corinne True a purse once used by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, with a gold coin inside bearing the year of her first visit to the Master.
Attar of Rose for the Far North
A Canadian pilgrim asked whether translators could replace the nightingale and the rose for readers in the Arctic; Shoghi Effendi said the sacred texts must be translated exactly, then gave her attar of rose for the friends in Canada and for the Inuit.