The Rug Given Away
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When in Bahá'í history
It is told that in the home of Bahá’u’lláh there was a beautiful rug upon which He used to sit. One day a poor Arab brought a load of wood to the house. He saw the rug and was very much attracted by its beauty. He handled it with great appreciation and exclaimed, “Oh, how wonderful it must be to have such a splendid rug to sit upon!”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá heard him and said, “If you like the rug, take it.”
The man could not believe it was really a gift. Fearing he would lose it, he put it over his shoulder and began to run, looking back to see if anyone was coming to take it from him.
With delicious humour ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “Go on, no one is going to take it away from you.”
Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, no. 41 “A rug to a poor Arab”, p. 70
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: generosity).
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