The Condition for the Master's Visit
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When in Bahá'í history
'Akká (today: Acre, Israel)
While on pilgrimage in 1909, Alice Beede, seated beside ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at a meal in 'Akká, asked Him: "If we build the Temple quickly, and send a ship for You, will You come to America?" ‘Abdu’l-Bahá responded: "I will come of My own volition to America if they build the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár quickly. But," (sadly and very gently) "they will not build it quickly."
Then in 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 difference and open the gates of affection, love and friendship . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, were it not for this difference amongst you, the inhabitants of America in all those regions would have, by now, been attracted to the Kingdom of God . . . Is it meet that you sacrifice this most glorious Bounty for worthless imaginations?"
Sources: The Diary of Juliet Thompson, 9 July 1909 ('Akká); Tablet to the American friends, Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 4 (17 May 1911), pp. 6–7. Retold in Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 7.
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