Laura Barney's Questions in 'Akká

A retelling based on Some Answered Questions, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's answers to the questions of Laura Clifford Barney, first published in 1908, with details of how the book was gathered from H. M. Balyuzi's 'Abdu'l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant. Words in quotation marks are quoted from those books.

Laura Clifford Barney came from an American family settled in Paris. She accepted the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh at the beginning of the twentieth century, taught by May Bolles, and soon afterwards made a pilgrimage to 'Akká, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá was still a prisoner of the Ottoman government. She returned a second time, and in 1904 a third time, with Ethel Rosenberg. In the autumn of 1905 she was in 'Akká again, and her stay lasted into 1906.

Over those months she put her questions to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and He answered them, often at the midday meal. The Persian text of the book carries the subtitle "Talks During Luncheon." Laura Barney remembered Him saying, as He rose from the table after answering one of her questions: "I have given to you my tired moments." Balyuzi notes that these were perilous years in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry, when hostile officials had been sent from Constantinople as a commission of enquiry against Him.

The questions ranged widely: proofs of the existence of God; the Prophets from Abraham to Bahá'u'lláh; Christian subjects such as baptism, the Trinity and the resurrection of Christ; the soul and its immortality; fate, free will and predestination; the nonexistence of evil.

In her introduction Laura Barney explained that "these answers were written down in Persian while 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke, not with a view to publication, but simply that I might have them for future study." She asked His permission to publish them, believing "that what has been so valuable to me may be of use to others." Permission was given in 1906, and the English edition appeared in 1908. Shoghi Effendi described this work of gathering and passing on the talks as her "imperishable service."

One short chapter asks how anything can be known with certainty. "There are only four accepted methods of comprehension," 'Abdu'l-Bahá said, "that is to say, the realities of things are understood by these four methods."

The first is the senses, which "all the European philosophers" of the day considered the most perfect method. Yet the senses err: "The sight sees the mirage as water," and "believes the earth to be motionless and sees the sun in motion." "Therefore," He said, "we cannot trust it."

The second is reason, the method "of the ancient philosophers, the pillars of wisdom." They "proved things by reason and held firmly to logical proofs," yet "they differed greatly, and their opinions were contradictory." They would argue for a thing for twenty years and then argue against it. "For if it were perfect," He said, "all ought to be united in their ideas and agreed in their opinions."

The third is tradition, the text of the Holy Scriptures, "for people say, 'In the Old and New Testaments, God spoke thus.'" This too is imperfect, "because the traditions are understood by the reason," and reason can err. "The reason is like a balance," He explained, "and the meanings contained in the text of the Holy Books are like the thing which is weighed. If the balance is untrue, how can the weight be ascertained?"

"Therefore," He concluded, "there is no standard in the hands of people upon which we can rely. But the bounty of the Holy Spirit gives the true method of comprehension which is infallible and indubitable. This is through the help of the Holy Spirit which comes to man, and this is the condition in which certainty can alone be attained."

This is a retelling. For the full text, see chapter 83 of Some Answered Questions by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, collected and translated from the Persian by Laura Clifford Barney.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1908). *Some Answered Questions*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/