Three Kinds of Persecution

In Volume 4, Number 5 of the Star of the West, dated June 5, 1913, the editors printed a short piece titled "Three Kinds of Persecution," described as words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá delivered during His sojourn in America.

It opened with counsel. All who stand up in the Cause of God, the Master said, will be persecuted and misunderstood; it has always been so, and it always will be. His hearers were to let neither enemy nor friend disturb their peace, and to fix their souls upon God; then persecution and slander would make them the more radiant. "Oppression is the wind which fans the fire of the Love of God."

Then He spoke of His own experience. When He was sent to 'Akká, He had known three kinds of persecution, and two of them had been easy to bear.

The first was the chains. On His arrival in 'Akká chains were placed on His limbs and rings of steel locked around His ankles and knees, and while the guards did this He laughed and sang. Astonished, they asked why; prisoners in irons usually wept and lamented. He answered that they were doing Him a great kindness: for a long time He had wished to know the feelings of a prisoner in irons, to experience what other men had been subjected to. In time the guards became like loving brothers to Him, and to spare Him the jeers of the street they wrapped the chains around His waist beneath His clothing. One day, on the way to the public bath, He took the chains from His waist, flung the loose ends over His shoulders in full view, and walked on, followed by a crowd of hooting, jeering people. The guards were most unhappy, the account says, but He was in supreme joy at this opportunity to walk in the freedom of the pathway of God.

The second kind came from spies and enemies who kept telling the authorities that He was plotting against the government. It brought restriction and personal discomfort, threats of death and of confinement in another prison fortress, but nothing that could lessen His happiness. This too was easy to bear.

Of the third kind, the account says:

But there was a third kind of persecution which brought Abdul-Baha sorrow and unhappiness, a persecution difficult to bear: the bitter words and criticisms of the friends.

Where love was expected, it continues, hatred and jealousy were found; instead of harmony, dissension; in place of assistance and appreciation, calumny, falsehood and slander. "This is hard to bear."

The talk closed by turning back to the listeners. They were to devote all their powers to the Divine Covenant. Unless a servant in the Cause of God was subjected to all these persecutions, He said, he was not fitted to spread the Heavenly Message. "Let nothing hinder or defeat you. God is your helper and God is invincible."

A retelling based on the Star of the West, Volume 4, No. 5 (June 5, 1913), "Three Kinds of Persecution." For the fuller account, see the original.

Editors, S. O. T. W.. (1913). *Star of the West*. Bahai News Service. https://bahai.works/Star_of_the_West/Volume_4/Issue_5/Text