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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."
24 stories on this theme.
In New York on 13 April 1912 a young single-taxer asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá what message to take to his friends. The Master laughed and told him that in the Kingdom of God there is plenty of land and no taxes.
In London ‘Abdu’l-Bahá heard laughter from the kitchen and went to share the joke between a Persian servant and an English housekeeper. He laughed heartily and gave each of them a small gold coin for being happy.
With a smile, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told a group in America of a wife who had her husband wipe the dust from her shoes but did not do the same for him, and urged the ladies sometimes to stand up for the rights of men.
At the Pumpellys’ home in Dublin, New Hampshire, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told a tale with a moral and then a lively Arabian story that filled the room with laughter. On the way home He asked, with a child’s simplicity, whether they were pleased.
On his 1901 pilgrimage to 'Akká, young William Dodge knocked soup onto the whiskers of a Persian believer at dinner. 'Abdu'l-Bahá laughed and told him not to worry: it was a blessing.
Lady Blomfield recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, arriving home very tired after a crowded meeting, suddenly ran up the stairs to the flat and told the astonished friends that through the power of Bahá’u’lláh all things can be done.
At dinner on Christmas Eve 1912 in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said playfully that two despotic monarchs of the East had not been able to command Him, but the ladies of America and Europe, because they were free, gave Him orders.
On her first pilgrimage in 1923, the twelve-year-old Mary Maxwell stood guard at the door of her sleeping mother, May Maxwell, only to learn that the visitor she had challenged was Shoghi Effendi.
Dr J. E. Esslemont, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's guest in Haifa in the winter of 1919–20, recalled how the Master charmed pilgrims at His table with humorous stories and gathered people of every race and religion in friendship.
At their first meeting in New York in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá sat knee to knee with Howard Colby Ives, wiped away his tears, told him one must always be happy, and laughed.
In New York a young supporter of tax reform asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá what message to take back to friends. Laughing, the Master said to invite them into the Kingdom of God, where there is plenty of land and no taxes on it.
At Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in 1912, Saichiro Fujita brought a big watermelon back to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Master began eating it at once with His hand, declining a knife and fork, and it was shared with all the Bahá’ís.
At a Washington reception in April 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá congratulated Admiral Peary on reaching the North Pole and gently observed that, having found nothing there, he had relieved the public mind. Juliet Thompson recorded the scene.
At Lake Mohonk in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told some young people the fable of the mice who could not decide who would bell the cat, and likened it to the peace conferences of the day.
At a luncheon where His hostess hoped He would speak on Immortality, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told humorous stories instead and recalled how, in prison, He and His companions laughed together each evening. A hush of reverence settled over the group.
Horace Holley recalled a cheerful dinner with 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva, where the Master answered questions, spoke of religion in the West and laughed heartily.
When Agnes Parsons asked whether the spirit could heal even broken bones, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laughed that all the spirits in the air could not create a salad, yet the spirit of man can do far greater things.
Whether life was relaxed or arduous, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá found humor: in a purring cat, a polar bear in the Paris Zoo, a man reluctant to be seen carrying his own basket, and a letter asking where He was.
In London 'Abdu'l-Bahá joined the laughter in the kitchen, where a Persian servant and an English housekeeper were joking about the lot of women in East and West.
'Abdu'l-Bahá told Harlan Ober he was to go to India, and a few days later told him to go to America instead. When Ober protested, the Master answered with a joke.
At lunch in Haifa in November 1919, a dish called "the mouthful of the judge" was served, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá told the story behind its name: a judge who reversed a verdict for a better dinner.
On His last afternoon in London, a reporter was surprised by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s English pronunciation; laughing, He strode about the drawing room reciting elaborate English words, then turned in a moment to earnest matters.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was once held in chains, His jailers were amazed to hear Him sing and laugh; He told them they were doing Him a kindness.
Confined in the home of Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí in Sárí, Quddús spoke to him boldly about the Báb's Revelation, yet so courteously and with such humour that no one took offence, and his host even protected him.