The Master's Wedding Day
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When in Bahá'í history
'Akká (today: Acre, Israel)
Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, described to Myron Phelps the wedding of her brother, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in ‘Akká:
The occasion of the wedding had one peculiar feature so characteristic of my brother that I will mention it. Our marriage service is very simple, consisting of the reading of a tablet and the exchange of promises by the contracting parties. It is usually followed by feasting and the entertainment of friends until late at night.
Our Master had made, personally and with great care, all the preparations for receiving and entertaining the guests. The ceremony was performed by the Blessed Perfection about two P.M. My brother then quietly withdrew without speaking to any one, and did not return until after the guests had dispersed.
It was not from want of consideration for the solemnity of the occasion or for His bride that He did this, for the tender affection which He has always shown for her disproves this; or for His guests, for His minute attention to the arrangements for their pleasure disproves this also. But it was His habit to spend this part of the day and the evening in visiting the poor and sick and explaining the Koran, He being frequently thus occupied until a late hour. He never permitted His own affairs to interfere with the discharge of these duties, and was unwilling to neglect them even on this occasion.
Source: Myron H. Phelps, Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi, pp. 91–92 (recollections of Bahíyyih Khánum); republished as The Master in ‘Akká.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: wedding-abdul-baha).
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