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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."
70 stories on this theme.
In ‘Akká, where there was no hospital, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá quietly paid a doctor to treat the poor. When a crippled woman named Na'um caught measles and was shunned, He gave her a room, His own bedding and every care.
When war came in 1914, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá moved the Bahá’ís of Haifa to the Druze village of Abú-Sinán, where vegetables He had taught them to grow and corn from ‘Adasíyyih kept many from hunger.
Throughout His travels ‘Abdu’l-Bahá paid His own costs and declined offers of money; in Washington He asked Mrs Parsons to give her gift to the poor instead.
Before speaking at New York’s Bowery Mission in April 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had two thousand-franc notes changed into quarters, and He pressed a gift of silver into the hand of each man there.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s family dressed simply, as an example to the rich and an encouragement to the poor. When one of His daughters married in a clean dress, He explained that what she did not need He would give to the poor.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited the sick, sent daily to ask after them, and quietly paid a doctor to care for the poor of ‘Akká. When a poor, crippled woman with measles was shunned, He arranged her care and, at the last, her funeral.
In Dublin, New Hampshire, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called back a ragged old man passing the inn, stepped into a shadow, and gave him His own trousers with a blessing.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá would not accept money for Himself. He returned a cheque meant to buy Him a motor-car so that it could go to the poor, and asked an American lady to educate two motherless girls instead of giving to Him.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraged the Save the Children Fund and twice gave fifty Egyptian pounds to the Haifa Relief Fund. The Military Governor wrote to thank Him for His well-known generosity and care of the poor.
On Christmas night 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to a thousand homeless men at a Salvation Army shelter in London; at New York’s Bowery Mission He spoke to the men and gave each the price of a bed.
A homeless man who had resolved to end his life saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s picture in a newspaper and walked thirty miles to find Him; the Master welcomed and comforted him, and he left with a new purpose.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave a fine wool cloak to a poor man who asked for a garment. The man complained that it was cotton and not good; the Master reproved him, then had him given a coin as well.
On Christmas night 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to about a thousand homeless men at a Salvation Army shelter in Westminster. He left money for another dinner on New Year’s night, and the men rose to cheer Him.
You have questioned me about strikes. This question is and will be for a long time the subject of great difficulties.
Thou hast asked regarding the means of livelihood. Trust in God and engage in your work and practice economy; the confirmations of God shall descend and you will be enabled to pay off your debts.
After his father’s death, Áqá Ḥusayn-i-Áshchí was taken into Bahá’u’lláh’s household and became its cook; he recalled the meagre meals in Adrianople and how Bahá’u’lláh smiled on learning that he counted the coal for each brazier.
A prosperous builder in Ṭihrán left his work and possessions for the Faith, lost even his bride, walked on foot to the Most Great Prison singing an ode Bahá’u’lláh had written down for him, and ended his days content in a cave near Haifa.
In April 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to several hundred men at the Bowery Mission and placed coins in each hand. The quarters left over He gave to a chambermaid, who later came to thank Him and to ask Him to pray for her.
In the Book of Aqdas Bahá’u’lláh forbids slavery, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has explained that not only chattel slavery, but also industrial slavery, is contrary to the law of God.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá suggests that each town and village or district should be entrusted as far as possible with the administration of fiscal matters within its own area and should contribute its due proportion for the expenses of the general government.
In consequence of this and other equally unfounded charges, in 1901, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His family, who for more than twenty years had been allowed the freedom of the country for some miles around Akká, were again, for over seven years …
A remarkable instance of the foresight of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was supplied during the months immediately preceding the war.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalled how, at nine years old, while Bahá’u’lláh was in prison, He was sent through the streets of Ṭihrán to fetch money from His aunt and was chased home by boys throwing stones.
In Baghdád Bahá’u’lláh sent gifts to the poor of His neighbourhood, stopped each day to greet an eighty-year-old woman who waited for Him in the road, and arranged a daily allowance for her when He left the city.
In 1835 Bahá’u’lláh married Ásíyih Khánum. Known as the Father of the Poor and the Mother of Consolation, they cared for the needy while His father's fortunes collapsed and the family moved to a rented house in Tehrán.
Speaking at the Bowery Mission in New York in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told of a rainy night when Jesus, with no shelter, called Himself the richest man on earth because God had given Him the poor.
Unable to give money for the Temple, the Chicago seamstress Nettie Tobin hauled a discarded building stone to the Temple site in 1908; on May 1, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá used it when He dedicated the ground.
Early one morning at an inn in Dublin, New Hampshire, 'Abdu'l-Bahá called in a ragged old man, cheered him, and gave him His own trousers, then went back to His dictation as if nothing had happened.
Born to wealth, Bahá'u'lláh and Ásíyih Khánum chose to care for the poor and became known as the Father of the Poor and the Mother of Consolation. As a boy, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave away all His Father's sheep.
Sent by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to care for a poor, sick friend in 'Akká, Lua Getsinger fled from the filthy house. The Master sternly sent her back to serve him, as He Himself had done many times.
'Abdu'l-Bahá walked rather than rode to visit His Father, saying He would not ride where Christ had walked. Later He insisted on the ordinary stagecoach, asking why He should travel in a carriage when the poor need money.
Gran'pa tells George and Ann how, as a homeless man with no purpose, he walked thirty miles to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and how the Master's loving welcome gave him a new life of work and service.
At Lady Blomfield's table in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the blessings of freedom and wished the courses could be shared with the poor and hungry. His hosts at once resolved to simplify their dinners.
Resting in a Montclair park in June 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá recalled days in Baghdád without fifteen paras for a bath. Back at the hotel, two wealthy ladies remarked that He seemed very rich, and He told them what His riches were.
Myron Phelps, a visitor to ‘Akká, describes a crowd of the poor, blind and aged waiting in the street, and the Master coming out to give each of them coins and a kindly word.
In 1907 Corinne True watched from her window as the Master gave money and words of kindness to two or three hundred of the poor of ‘Akká, as He did every Friday morning.
In ‘Akká the Master kept giving His own bed to feverish people He found lying on bare ground, sleeping on the floor or the roof Himself until His situation was discovered and a kind friend gave Him another.
'Abdu'l-Bahá visited about four hundred poor men at the Bowery Mission, called them His friends and companions, and placed a coin in every hand.
In April 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at the Bowery Mission in New York to about four hundred poor men, telling them that Jesus Himself had been poor and that the poor are very dear to God. Then He stood at the door and gave each man a coin.
Na'ím was beaten, imprisoned and exiled from his village near Iṣfahán for his faith. In Ṭihrán he copied the Writings in poverty, later prospered as a teacher, and served the Cause devotedly all his life.
Pidar-Ján, a poor old believer in Baghdád, sold socks for a living but was so absorbed in prayer that thieves took them from his outstretched hands. The friends called him Father Dear.
On the Friday before His passing in November 1921, 'Abdu'l-Bahá went to the noonday prayer and afterward, despite great fatigue, gave alms to the poor of Haifa as was His custom.
In 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá sent Lua Getsinger to care for a poor, sick friend of His. She fled the filthy house, and He sent her back to clean it and to bathe and feed the man, telling her to see in him the image and likeness of God.
On Christmas night 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to about a thousand homeless men at the Salvation Army shelter in Westminster, and left money so that they could have another dinner on New Year's night.
On the exile journey from Baghdád to Constantinople, Mírzá Maḥmúd and Áqá Riḍá walked ahead of Bahá'u'lláh's howdah each day, then cooked and washed up for the believers until midnight. 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers their humility and contentment.
Ásíyih Khánum, whom Bahá'u'lláh called Navváb, came to her marriage with forty mule-loads of wedding treasures. Her daughter remembered how she sold them for the family's exile, did the hardest work in poverty and prison, and never uttered a word of complaint.
In 'Akká 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave coins to the poor in the street, a warm garment each winter to every poor person in the town, and help to the sick of every faith. During the First World War He saved the civilians of Haifa from starvation.
During the First World War 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself cooked the Naw-Rúz feast for the friends at Bahjí. On feast days He gathered the poor children of 'Akká for sweets and sharbat.
In Baghdád Bahá'u'lláh sent gifts to the poor, the disabled and the orphans of His neighbourhood. He stopped each day for an old woman who waited for Him, and when He left the city He provided for her for the rest of her life.
During His years of strict confinement in 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited the sick in their homes, brought doctors and medicine to the poor, and gave the city's poor warm clothing each winter, whatever their religion.
During His nine weeks in Paris in 1911, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to a poor congregation in a mission hall, walked through a rowdy crowd that parted for Him, and comforted a weeping widow whose son faced a dangerous operation.
Bahíyyih Khánum, daughter of Bahá'u'lláh, knew poverty and exile from early childhood. Shoghi Effendi recalls her kindness in 'Akká, her care for the hungry who came to 'Abdu'l-Bahá's house during the First World War, and the support she gave him after 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing.
On Christmas night 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to a thousand homeless men at a Salvation Army shelter in London and left money to buy them a similar dinner on New Year’s night.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalled walking twelve miles in the Baghdád heat to a poor thorn-picker’s hut, where the wife burnt the little cake she made for Him, and called it the best reception He ever attended.
Travelling from ‘Akká to Haifa, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá took a seat in the stage coach rather than a private carriage, and gave five francs to a fisherwoman whose family was hungry.
4 Avenue de Camöens, Paris One of the most important principles of the Teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is: The right of every human being to the daily bread whereby they exist, or the equalization of the means of livelihood.
On April 19, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to several hundred poor and homeless men at the Bowery Mission in New York, called them His friends and comrades, and afterwards placed silver coins in each man's hand.
On April 30, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at Hull House, the Chicago settlement house founded by Jane Addams in 1889. With Miss Addams presiding, He spoke to a crowded hall of white and Black listeners on the unity of the races, whose differences of color He likened to the flowers of one garden.
O respected personage! I have read your work, The Gospel of Wealth, and noted therein truly apposite and sound recommendations for easing the lot of humankind.
O thou who art turning thy face to God! Thy letter was received. From its contents it became known that thy wish is to serve the poor.
Those souls who during the war have served the poor and have been in the Red Cross Mission work, their services are accepted at the Kingdom of God and are the cause of their everlasting life.
Juliet Thompson's diary records how, in April 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá had her change a thousand-franc note into quarters for the men of New York's Bowery Mission, and how He gave the coins that were left to a hotel chambermaid.
O thou who art directed unto God! Thy revered wife, Mrs. ........, is indeed confirmed by the fragrances of the spirit and rendered victorious by the hosts of the Kingdom.
O thou who art ignited through the brilliant Flame which is blazing in this Blessed Spot!
During the First World War, when the breadwinners of ‘Akká and Haifa had been taken for the army, the Master kept the poor from starvation, opened a dispensary at Abú-Sinán and arranged schools for the children.
At the Bowery Mission in New York, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke on the station of poverty, then stood by the door and gave coins to each of some four hundred men, with money left over for others.
Early one morning in Dublin, New Hampshire, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called over a ragged old man passing the inn, stepped into the shadow of the porch, and gave him His own trousers.
Housed in comfort in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was saddened by the hunger of people living nearby, as in New York, and foretold a time when the wealthy would spend their riches to improve their communities.
Speaking at the Bowery Mission in New York, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told how Bahá'u'lláh, though wealthy, left all He had in Baghdad and lived two years among the poor, choosing the title The Poor One.
On Riverside Drive in New York, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met a poor man whose trousers were in rags, took him behind some shrubbery and gave him His own, then came back laughing with His aba wrapped around Him.