While on pilgrimage in Haifa in 1909, Alice Breed asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Haifa (today: Haifa, Israel)
While on pilgrimage in Haifa in 1909, Alice Breed asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: if we build the Temple (the American House of Worship) quickly and send a ship for You, will You come to America? Qbdul-Bahá responded: I will come of my own volition to America if they build the Mashriqu'l Adhkar quickly. But (sadly, and very gently) they will not build it quickly. Then in April of 1911, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote the American Bahá’ís: if the friends and the maid-servants of the Merciful long for the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they must immediately remove from their midst differences of opinion and be engaged in the practice of infinite love and unity...if ye are yearning for my meeting, and if in reality ye are seeking my visit, ye must close the doors of differences, and open the gates of affection, love and friendship . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, were it not for this difference among you, the inhabitants of America . . . would have, by now, been attracted to the Kingdom of God . . . Is it meet that you sacrifice this most glorious bounty for worthless imaginations?
Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 7
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: abdul-bahas-travels).
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/abdul-bahas-travels
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
The Egyptian Baha’i merchant who wanted to see Baha’u’llah
Abdu’l-Karim was an Egyptian merchant of considerable wealth, who had heard the story of the new Revelation, and accepted it with the ardor of his eager temperament.
The story of the Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude)
In the whole range of Bahá'u'lláh's Writings, the Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude) has most importance, with the exception of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book).
A Book Made of Questions: Laura Barney at the Table in 'Akká
A young American woman came to 'Akká with a notebook and a head full of questions — about God and the soul, evil and free will, the prophets and the life to come — and over visits stretching across the years 1904 to 1906 she laid them, one by one, before 'Abdu'l-Bahá at the lunch table. The answers He gave her, recorded and reviewed, became one of the best-loved books of the Faith: Some Answered Questions.
Louis George Gregory
Gregory was instrumental in arranging for two major speaking engagements for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Washington DC to an audience of more than a thousand in Rankin Chapel at Howard University, and that evening to a large gathering of the Bethel…