Loading…
"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
Loading…
"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
73 stories on this theme.
On His first morning in Washington, amid many interviews, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent half an hour with Agnes Parsons’ young son Jeffrey, looking at his toys, books and pictures before they went up to the roof to see the view.
Leroy Ioas recalls how Shoghi Effendi praised even the gardeners, looked at people's good deeds rather than their shortcomings, and bore with great forgiveness the suffering caused by relatives who had turned away from the Cause.
O thou son of the Kingdom! If one possesses the love of God, everything that he undertakes is useful, but if the undertaking is without the love of God, then it is hurtful and the cause of veiling one’s self from the Lord of the Kingdom.
Siyyid Ismá‘íl of Zavárih swept the doorstep of Bahá'u'lláh's house in Baghdad with his own turban each dawn. Transformed by His words, he at last gave up his life beside the river, an act Bahá'u'lláh recalls in the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf.
To know the Manifestation of God means also to love Him. One is impossible without the other. According to Bahá’u’lláh, the purpose of man’s creation is that he may know God and adore Him.
Esslemont records that Persian believers who walked to 'Akká to see Bahá'u'lláh were refused entry to the city, and stood on the plain outside the third moat, from where they could see the windows of His quarters.
To someone who asked whether prayer was necessary, since presumably God knows the wishes of all hearts, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied:— If one friend loves another, is it not natural that he should wish to say so?
As the Báb approached Tabríz under guard, one youth ran barefoot from the city to meet Him. The guards let him through, and the Báb dismounted, embraced him and wiped away his tears.
Tommy, a poor boy with no money for a gift, asks God to help him. He rakes an old lady's leaves and asks for her roses instead of pay, so that he can give them to the teacher he loves.
A cleaning woman, ashamed of her rough, work-worn hands, meant only to touch 'Abdu'l-Bahá's robe and slip away. He took her hand, raised her up, looked at it with deep love, and said one word: “Sacrifice!”
When some of His Persian companions remarked that there was better tea than the one Corinne True served in Chicago, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá drank it and said it was very good because it had been prepared with love.
Juliet Thompson, a painter with debts and a mother to care for, offered the proceeds of photographs of her 1912 portrait of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the House of Worship. The day before He sailed from New York, He told her to keep the money.
In New York in 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá praised Juliet Thompson again and again for her truthfulness, and in November He tested whether her heart was still in the same state.
Gloria Faizi explains the Master's wide love through an example He once gave: a crushed letter from a beloved is no less precious for its condition, and so we can love anyone as God's creature.
When a group of boys came to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in New York, He greeted the only Black boy among them as “a black rose,” and the other boys looked at him with new eyes.
The third Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's word that the human soul was created out of His love, engraved with His image and shown His beauty.
The fifth Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's brief reciprocal of love between God and the soul.
The third Hidden Word in Persian — Bahá'u'lláh's tender injunction that the believer plant naught but the rose of love in the garden of the heart, hold fast to the nightingale of affection and desire, and treasure the companionship of the righteous.
The ninth Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's image of His love as a stronghold: he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he that turneth away shall surely stray and perish.
On pilgrimage in 1909, Ethel Rosenberg asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá how the friends could increase their numbers. He answered that they should love each other very much, for love is the foundation of everything.
Besides His own family, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s household included orphan children and widows of martyrs, and Mary Lucas saw in it a home where everything was done in the spirit of love.
A man in ‘Akká hated ‘Abdu’l-Bahá so much that he turned his back whenever they met. When a narrow street forced them face to face, the Master told him his hatred could never be as strong as His love.
A floor maid came out of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s suite with her arms full of roses He had given her, and showed them to Ella Quant, exclaiming, “See what He gave me!”
With four months left in the Nine Year Plan, Dr Muhájir sent Jenabe Caldwell to Germany. A letter from the National Assembly drew forty-five German volunteers, who joined fifteen Alaskans in street teaching that succeeded once they prayed for loving hearts.
Nine days before His passing, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed a talk in Haifa to John Bosch, the only Westerner present, explaining that hearts can speak without words and that real love shows itself in self-sacrifice.
In April 1912 John Bosch hurried from California to New York to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. When he said he had come three thousand miles to see Him, the Master laughed and answered that He had come eight thousand miles to see John.
In Chicago, as John Bosch was paying his hotel bill before leaving for the West Coast, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá took his hand, brought him up to His room, and sent him off with a big cake and armfuls of fruit.
In city after city on His journey across America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá met the children, hugged and blessed them, and gave them flowers and sweets.
A few days before 'Abdu'l-Bahá sailed from America, Howard Colby Ives sat close to Him as He gave His last instructions to His friends, and later put all of the words into his book.
During her 1909 pilgrimage, Juliet Thompson, held back by shyness, was called to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s room. As she wept, He wiped away her tears and said to her, “Speak. Speak to Me!”
In Washington, Chicago, Kenosha, St. Paul, San Francisco and New York, Mahmúd's Diary records 'Abdu'l-Bahá meeting children during His 1912 journey: embracing and kissing them, taking them on His lap, and giving them flowers and sweets.
Munírih Khánum writes that the fifty years of her married life with 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and His love, mercy and bounty, could never be adequately described.
Howard Colby Ives, a minister who had long searched for God without finding Him, met 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York in 1912. His doubts did not end that day; certainty came months later, after the Master had left America.
On 5 May 1912 in Chicago, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called each of some 35 children to Him with great tenderness, told them they were His spiritual children, and invited them all to Lincoln Park for a photograph.
While ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was staying at the Maxwell home in Montreal in 1912, little Mary Maxwell slipped into His room as He rested, pushed up His eyelids, and He took her in His arms.
Fred Mortensen, a former street tough, rode under and on top of railway trains to reach Green Acre and meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who, on hearing how he had come, kissed his cheeks and his dirty hat.
When May Maxwell fell ill on pilgrimage, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá cancelled the pilgrims’ meeting on Mount Carmel, saying none of them could be happy unless all the beloved were happy.
Asked why His guests always came away with shining faces, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá smiled and said that in everyone He looked upon He saw only His Father’s Face.
Asked what a Bahá’í is, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá answered that it means to love all the world, to love and serve humanity, and to work for universal peace and brotherhood.
When Howard Colby Ives, then a Unitarian minister, impatiently disputed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretation of Christ’s words, the Master looked at him with love and said softly that Ives should try his way and He would try His.
Asked how one should live, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá answered, “Be kind to everyone.” He told Juliet Thompson never to let anyone speak unkindly of another in her presence.
Out driving in London, Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá whether He longed to be back with His family in Haifa. He told her and Lady Blomfield that they were as beloved to Him as His own.
On December 2, 1912, three days before He sailed from America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave His last instructions to a group of friends in New York. Howard Colby Ives, sitting close to Him, later quoted the talk in full.
November 15th ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: You are all very welcome, and I love you all most dearly.
97 Cadogan Gardens, London, Saturday, January 4th, 1913 What a power is love!
November 11th I spoke yesterday of the first principle of the Teaching of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘The Search for Truth’; how it is necessary for a man to put aside all in the nature of superstition, and every tradition which would blind his eyes to the existence of truth in all religions.
November 9th In the Gospel according to St John, Christ has said: ‘Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’
October 24th An Indian said to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: ‘My aim in life is to transmit as far as in me lies the message of Krishna to the world.’
November 26th I am deeply touched by the sympathetic words which have been addressed to me, and I hope that day by day true love and affection may grow among us.
At Green Acre on 16 August 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá described four ways of reaching knowledge and showed that none is reliable alone, spoke on love and the immortality of the spirit, and prayed for the recovery of Sarah Farmer.
Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God’s holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings.
O thou who hast sought illumination from the light of guidance!
O thou dear handmaid of God! Thy letter hath been received, and its contents were noted.
O thou whose heart overfloweth with love for the Lord!
At his last meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the United States, Stanwood Cobb was embraced and told three times, “Be on fire with the love of the Kingdom!” He later reflected that these nine words summed up the Master’s teaching.
Stanwood Cobb took his elderly father to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Boston and was shocked when his father spent the interview expounding his own spiritual views. The Master smiled and listened, and the father came away feeling he had had a wonderful interview.
O my dear friend!
O my dear, intimate friend!
O my tender friend! Verily, the union between myself and thee is on a solid foundation and a well made basis. Neither the winds can remove it nor the events of time annihilate it.
O thou dear friend! The maid-servant of God ........ hath remembered thee in her letter and hath thus made my heart busy with thy thought.
O thou at whose mention I am rejoiced! By God, the True One, verily pure hearts are as clear and brilliant mirrors which imprint the one on the other, and hearts discover the secrets of hearts.
O thou favored maid-servant of God! Thy letter was received. Thou hast expressed joy on account of thy visit to the friends of Chicago.
O thou who art kindled by the fire of the Love of God! Rejoice through the fragrance of God and be attracted by the melodies of the holy birds in the garden of the gifts of God!
O thou who art longing for the Heavenly Kingdom! Mrs. ......... became the guide and directed thee to the path of the Kingdom and informed thee of my love.
In Julia Grundy's pilgrim notes from 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá is asked how we can love someone whose personality is unpleasant. His answer points to Christ, who loved even those who crucified Him, and to the tree whose fruit is love.
“How can we love another whose personality is unpleasant?” “See how the enemies of Christ persecuted and crucified Him, yet He loved them all. Man is like a tree. The tree lives to produce fruit. The fruit of man is love. It is easy for…
'Abdu'l-Bahá, who felt children were nearer to the Kingdom of God than adults, listened attentively as a granddaughter of about two chanted a Tablet, gently chanting any word she missed.
Speaking to Mary Hanford Ford of the confinement of His family’s life in ‘Akká, the Master explained that a heart full of the love of God knows no prison.
Annamarie Honnold describes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s love for every human being, and records His counsel to the pilgrim Anna Kunz and her husband in 1921 to be affectionate to all, like a shepherd with his sheep.
A coal miner who had walked many miles to hear ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in California grew impatient with the interpreter, insisting that nothing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said needed translating.
In a parable from The Seven Valleys, a lover fleeing a watchman scales a garden wall and finds his beloved there, and sees that what seemed tyranny was a hidden mercy.
At his first meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Howard Colby Ives could not speak; after a long silence the Master placed His hand upon his breast, saying that it was the heart that speaks.
Dr Yúnis Khán recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, sensing a fragrance from one sealed envelope, had it opened first; it held a violet picked from Thomas Breakwell's grave, and the Master wept.