Copying the Tablets of the Báb

Bahíyyih Khánum, the sister of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, recalled the time after Bahá’u’lláh withdrew from Baghdád:

“I have stated that my brother was deeply attached to His father; this attachment seemed to strengthen with His growth. After our father's departure He fell into great despondency. He would go away by Himself, and, when sought for, be found weeping, often falling into such paroxysms of grief that no one could console Him. His chief occupation at this time was copying and committing to memory the tablets of the Báb. The childhood and youth of my brother was, in fact, in all respects unusual. He did not care for play or for amusement like other children. He would not go to school, nor would He apply Himself to study. Horseback riding was the only diversion of which He was fond; in that He became proficient, being reputed to be a very skilful horseman.”

Asked by Madame Canavarro what He had been most fond of as a child, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: “I cared more for hearing the tablets of the Báb recited than anything else. I used to commit them to memory and repeat them. This was the greatest pleasure I knew in my childhood—my play and amusement. I was not fond of study, nor did I care for books.”

Source: Bahíyyih Khánum's account in Myron H. Phelps, Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi (1903), p. 20, and its footnote.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: abdul-baha-childhood).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/abdul-baha-childhood