Weigh It with the Revealed Teachings

In 1901 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent ‘Alí-Kuli Khán to America, where he was joined in Chicago by the scholar Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl. Khán’s recollections were written down by his daughter, Marzieh Gail.

What had happened in Chicago was this: the Syrian, Khayru'llah, had been teaching the Cause, adding to the Faith many beliefs of his own, such as reincarnation, dream interpretation, occultism and the like. He had written a book incorporating these beliefs with the Teachings, and had gone to ‘Akká and asked permission to publish it. The Master told him to abandon his superstitious beliefs, saying further that he would become a leading teacher if he would give them up and spread the Faith. But he returned to America and published his book. A rift resulted among the believers; Mirza Abu'l-Fadl and I were sent to heal the rift.

In Chicago we found Asadu'llah, who had come to America with the two devoted Bahá’í merchants of Egypt, Ḥájí ‘Abdu’l-Karím and Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥasan-i-Khurásání; although still a recognized teacher he was busily interpreting dreams for the believers and hemming them in with superstition. After listening to Mirza [Abu'l-Fadl] for awhile, some of the believers said he was ‘cold and intellectual’. They said Asadu'llah was 'spiritual', because he interpreted their dreams. They would walk down the hall, past Mirza's door, and go on to Asadu'llah. They would come and tell us that they were personally led by the spirit, or had had a vision warning them against a fellow-believer, and so forth. (Mirza's name for them was jinn-gír—‘spook chasers’.)

We saw that all this occult confusion would lead to divisions among the friends, especially as many of them were not yet well grounded in the Cause. We talked the matter over and decided on the following procedure: when anyone came to us, saying he was guided by the spirit to do thus and so, we would answer, ‘The Universal Spirit is manifested today in Bahá’u’lláh. If you have visions or experiences urging you to some action, weigh this action with the revealed Teachings. If the act conforms with the Teachings, it is true guidance. If not, your experience has been only a dream.’

Source: Marzieh Gail, Dawn over Mount Hira, “Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl in America”, pp. 101–102 (first printed in The Bahá’í World, vol. IX)

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: dreams).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/dreams