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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
46 stories on this theme.
Haji Mirza Haydar-'Ali tells of a man so afraid of being found with the Kitáb-i-Íqán that he hid it in a stable manger, until he reflected on the fearlessness of its Author and became a believer.
Before leaving for Minneapolis, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked Corinne True to speak about the Faith in public; when she protested that she had no training, He told her to turn her heart wholly toward Him.
In a time of danger in ‘Akká, the Spanish Consul offered ‘Abdu’l-Bahá an Italian ship on which to escape by night. He refused, sending word that the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh had not run away, and neither would He.
When the authorities in Adrianople planned to part Bahá'u'lláh from His family and followers, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pleaded, persisted and at last vehemently protested, until the governor declared that the exiles could not be separated.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá told of Mírzá Qurbán-‘Alí, a timid Bábí who, when the Prime Minister asked him to repudiate the Báb, answered with a question and went to his martyrdom with a serene face.
In July 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn raised the Black Standard and set out from Mashhad with his companions. Attacked near Bárfurúsh, he held back until the enemy had killed several of them, then charged, and a single stroke of his sword put the attackers to flight.
Confined in her father's house in Qazvín and blamed for her father-in-law's murder, Ṭáhirih foretells her deliverance within nine days. Before the time is up, Bahá'u'lláh has her brought secretly to His home in Ṭihrán.
The youth Buzurg of Nayshábúr walks to 'Akká, is named Badí by Bahá'u'lláh, and carries His Tablet on foot to Násiri'd-Dín Sháh, giving his life rather than betray his fellow believers.
Elizabeth tries so hard to be Good that she stops playing and exploring. Her Grandma Molly, watching a mother robin teach her babies to fly, shows her that we all need to take some chances.
In the summer of 1848 the Báb was brought from Chihríq to Tabríz and questioned before the Crown Prince and the leading divines. He declared Himself the promised One, and was afterwards beaten on the feet at the home of the Shaykhu'l-Islám.
During the First World War, when no one could be found to carry a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá from Haifa to Tihrán, Hájí Ramaḍán, an Arab believer of seventy-five and nearly blind, asked to go, walked there, and came back.
When war broke out, Shoghi Effendi advised Marion Jack, a pioneer in Sofia, to return to Canada. She begged to stay at her post, and he changed his instructions and wired: "Advise remain Sofia love."
After the martyrdom of the King of Martyrs, his mother-in-law Shamsu'd-Duha was hunted and beaten in Isfahan. Her brother, who was not a Baha'i, won her release by promising her silence, but she went on teaching.
Horsemen sent to bring the Báb to Shíráz in chains met Him on the road from Búshihr. Their captain hid their errand, but the Báb told them plainly who He was, refused the captain's offer of escape, and rode ahead of them to Shíráz.
In 1930 Queen Marie of Rumania sailed for Haifa, and the Greatest Holy Leaf waited hour after hour in the Master's house to receive her. The Queen was met at the boat and taken out of Palestine.
On His way to join the besieged Bábís at Shaykh Ṭabarsí, Bahá'u'lláh was arrested at Ámul. He offered Himself to be punished in place of His companions, was beaten until His feet bled, and was stoned by a mob.
At the conference of Badasht in 1848, Ṭáhirih appeared unveiled before the assembled Bábís and proclaimed that a new Dispensation had begun, breaking openly with the laws of the past.
When the Báb was brought to Tabríz to be questioned by the leading religious scholars, He told them plainly that He was the promised One, and He did not take back His words.
In Tabríz in 1850 a regiment fired at the Báb and His young follower Anís, but the bullets only cut their ropes. The Báb was found in His room, calmly finishing a conversation.
On His way to help Bábís trapped in a fort, Bahá'u'lláh was arrested in the town of Ámul. He asked to be punished in place of His companions, and He alone was beaten.
At a gathering of the Báb's followers in the village of Badasht, Ṭáhirih appeared without her veil and announced that a new age of religion had begun.
Mullá Ḥusayn, the first person to believe in the Báb, put on the turban the Báb had sent him and rode out of Fort Ṭabarsí against the army surrounding it. He was wounded and died in the fort beside Quddús.
In Haifa, where shootings were common, Yúnis Khán secretly followed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá home one night. Three shots rang out, yet the Master walked on at the same pace, quietly praying, and bade him goodbye at His gate.
The poet Varqá and his twelve-year-old son Rúḥu'lláh were imprisoned in Ṭihrán. After the Sháh's assassination in 1896, the Ḥájibu'd-Dawlih killed Varqá before the boy's eyes, then had Rúḥu'lláh strangled when he refused to recant.
During the siege of Zanján a village girl named Zaynab disguised herself as a man and fought at the barricades. Ḥujjat recognised her and granted her request. She fought for five months until she was killed.
In 1889 Ḥájí Muḥammad-Riḍáy-i-Iṣfahání was stabbed to death in the bazaar of ʻIshqábád. A Russian military court condemned his killers, and the Bahá'ís interceded for their lives, a deed Bahá'u'lláh praised.
Mullá ʻAlí-Akbar, known as Ḥájí Ákhúnd, taught the Faith so openly in Ṭihrán that he was the first to be arrested whenever trouble broke out. 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers his chains, his composure and his constancy: he was never vanquished.
Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl headed a religious college in Ṭihrán when he first met the Bahá'ís. After months of argument he accepted the Faith in 1876, lost his post, was twice imprisoned, and spent the rest of his life teaching and defending the Cause.
Badíʻ, a seventeen-year-old believer, asked Bahá'u'lláh for the honour of carrying His Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh. He walked alone to Ṭihrán, brought it to the king, and was tortured and killed. Bahá'u'lláh named him the Pride of Martyrs.
The Báb sent Mullá ʻAlíy-i-Bastámí, one of the Letters of the Living, to Najaf and Karbilá, telling him he would be the first to suffer for God's sake. He proclaimed the new Revelation, was denounced, chained, tried in Baghdád and sent away as a prisoner, never to be seen again.
Mírzá Qurbán-ʻAlí, a dervish revered by many, was arrested in Ṭihrán in 1850. Officials pleaded for his life and the Amír-Niẓám was loath to condemn him, but he would not deny the Báb, and he became one of the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán.
In 1904 and 1907 Ottoman commissions came to 'Akká to investigate false charges against 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He declared Himself ready for any sentence, refused an offer of escape, and went on with His daily life until the 1908 revolution set Him free.
Mullá Ṣádiq, later known as Ismu'lláhu'l-Asdaq, taught the new Faith so openly in Shíráz that a halter was hung on him and he was led through the streets and bázárs. 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that he kept on speaking to the people, composed and smiling.
When the believers in 'Iráq were hiding their faith, Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá Baghdádí openly served Bahá'u'lláh, later hosted pilgrims in Beirut, and stayed firm in the Covenant, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá recalls in Memorials of the Faithful.
Brought from Chihríq to Tabríz in 1848, the Báb appeared before the Crown Prince and the leading clergy of Ádhirbayján and openly declared Himself the Promised One. Afterwards He was beaten and sent back to Chihríq.
Attacked on the road to Bárfurúsh in 1848, Mullá Ḥusayn held his companions back until the enemy had killed seven of them. That evening, in the town's caravanserai, three youths in turn climbed to the roof to sound the call to prayer, and each was shot.
In Bahá'u'lláh's house in Ṭihrán, Táhirih listened from behind a curtain as the learned Vahíd spoke on the proofs of the new Revelation, then interrupted him with a call to deeds. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, then a child, was sitting on her lap.
Besieged and starving in the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the companions of Quddús listened each morning and evening to verses from his commentary on the Ṣád of Ṣamad. One of them later said the words made them forget their hunger.
In 1902, when Muẓaffari'd-Dín Sháh of Persia was in Paris, Lua Getsinger, received at first only by his Grand Vizier, persisted until she could hand the Sháh a petition asking him to protect the Bahá'ís of Persia.
After reading a single page of the Báb's writings, Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí of Zanján pledged his allegiance before the city's assembled clergy. Named Ḥujjat by the Báb and told to proclaim His teachings from the pulpit, he did so and was held in Tehran for it.
After the governor of Fárs had Him arrested and brought to Shíráz, the Báb was called by the Imám-Jum'ih, Shaykh Abú-Turáb, into the pulpit of the Masjid-i-Vakíl on a Friday to answer before the congregation the charges spread against Him.
Mullá Ḥusayn's companions drew their swords only to defend their lives. When some of them mistakenly caused the death of a villager's mother near Shaykh Ṭabarsí, they grieved and apologized, and her son became their friend.
Ḥusayn Khán, governor of Fárs, had two of the Báb's disciples tortured and ordered the Báb struck in his presence. Later, on the night he had the Báb arrested again, plague broke out in Shíráz and the governor fled.
When false accusations brought a Commission of enquiry and threats of exile or execution, 'Abdu'l-Bahá stayed serene, kept the work on the Báb's Shrine going, wrote tirelessly and planted trees and vines in His garden.
When the Governor of 'Akká read Him the Sultán's edict condemning the exiles to prison for ever, 'Abdu'l-Bahá called it meaningless, since sooner or later the captives would leave the prison, dead or alive.
Warned in Paris of danger if He visited a certain country, 'Abdu'l-Bahá smilingly told Lady Blomfield that He had never been a day out of danger, and that His enemies had no power over His life.