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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."
318 stories on this theme.
A ‘Mrs C’ was an early believer who went to ‘Akká. She belonged to a wealthy and fashionable group of people in New York. Her life had been conventional and rather unsatisfying. She had been a sincere Christian, but somehow had not…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá had such an easy way of leading into a meaningful conversation. He would begin ‘with some simple reference to a natural thing, the weather, food, a stone, tree, water, the prison, a garden or a bird, our coming, or some little…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá: How are you? I am very glad to see you. Mr. Tinsley: I am well excepting this broken leg which has kept me in bed a long time. I am impatient to be up and out to work for the [Bahá’í] Cause. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:You must not be…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells the story of one of the prisoner in 'Akká, who had been with Bahá’u’lláh in the Most Great Prison. He said that he had a small rug, a samovar, one cup and a teapot. He said that every afternoon he would sprinkle water…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then only eight years old, was broken-hearted at the ruthless treatment of His adored Father. The child suffered agonies, as a description of the tortures was related in His hearing - the cruel scourging of the feet, the long…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá told them a story which made them laugh. He Himself laughed heartily, and again with them when they, encouraged by the lead He had given, also told amusing stories. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and his guests were full of mirth throughout…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited Charles Tinsley, a black employee of Phoebe Hearst who probably came into the Faith through Robert Turner, Mrs. Hearst's longtime butler and the first African-American Bahá’í. Charles was laid up at home with a broken…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá was released from prison in 1908 because of the revolt of the Young Turks against the Ottoman Emperor ‘Abdu’l-Hamid. Almost immediately, Western believers began petitioning Him to visit their countries. The Americans, in…
‘Abdu’l-Ghaffar [one of the four companions condemned to go with Mirza Yahyá to Cyprus] was a close and agreeable companion. He served as interpreter for the entire company, for he spoke excellent Turkish, a language in which none of the…
After Bahá’u’lláh's confinement in the Most Great Prison in 'Akka had ended, but while He was yet residing in the town, an Egyptian merchant, ‘Abdu’l-Karim, afire with God's latest message, desired to visit Him. He wrote for permission to…
“After two years of the strictest confinement permission was granted me to find a house so that we could live outside the prison walls but still within the fortifications. Many believers came from Persia to join us but they were not…
Some referred to the teaching of Buddha. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ. The teachings of all the Prophets are the same in character. Now men have changed the teaching. If you…
To most men who have not heard the message of this teaching, religion seems an outward form, a pretence, merely a seal of respectability. Some priests are in holy office for no other reason than to gain their living. They themselves do…
In an apartment in Cadogan Gardens sits a spiritually illumined Oriental, whose recent advent in London marks the latest junction of the East and…
“We had no communication whatever with the out-side world. Each loaf of bread was cut open by the guard to see that it contained no message. All who believed in the Bahá’í manifestation, children, men and women, were imprisoned with us.…
“With the advent of the Young Turks’ supremacy, realized through the Society of Union and Progress, all the political prisoners of the Ottoman Empire were set free. Events took the chains from my neck and placed them about Hamíd’s;…
Among the women who came out of their homeland was the sorrowing Fatimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs. She was a holy leaf of the Tree of God. From her earliest youth she was beset with uncounted ordeals. First was the disaster…
Another governor of 'Akka was dismissed from his duties and sent to Beirut to a new post. He had been very unkind and had not permitted the Bahá’ís to visit their Master, but with characteristic big-heartedness, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, hearing of…
AT last came a day, four months after the death of the Purest Branch, when the movement of troops in the Ottoman domain compelled the authorities to have access to and make use of the barracks of 'Akká. The gates were flung open and the…
At one time enemies of the Master, Covenant-breakers who lived in the Mansion next to the Shrine, offered one of Bahá’u’lláh’s cloaks and a pair of His spectacles to the governor of Haifa. They encouraged him to go and visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
He is the All-Glorious. The world’s great Light, once resplendent upon all mankind, has set to shine everlastingly from the Abhá horizon, His Kingdom of fadeless glory, shedding splendor upon His loved ones from on high, and breathing into…
From the time of the creation of Adam to this day there have been two pathways in the world of humanity; one the natural or materialistic, the other the religious or spiritual. The pathway of nature is the pathway of the animal realm.…
When the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness concerning the realm of eternity and bereavement from the True One had encircled the universe, then the resplendent Luminary dawned and the brilliant Light illumined the horizon of the…
O ye friends of…
Today there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the “Most Great Peace.” Peace is light whereas war is darkness. Peace is life; war is death. Peace is guidance; war is error. Peace is the foundation of God;…
O maid-servant of God! This prison is indeed more precious and sweet than a garden to me, this fetter is greater than any liberty and the confinement is broader than the most spacious wilderness. Therefore, grieve not on this account.…
In the estimation of historians this radiant century is equivalent to one hundred centuries of the past. If comparison be made with the sum total of all former human achievements it will be found that the discoveries, scientific…
This recent war has proved to the world and the people that war is destruction while Universal Peace is construction; war is death while peace is life; war is rapacity and bloodthirstiness while peace is beneficence and humaneness; war…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent His early years in an environment of privilege, wealth, and love. ** ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
Over his mother's signature, but drafted by the Guardian, the following cable was sent to America: “Announce Assemblies celebration marriage beloved Guardian. Inestimable honour conferred upon handmaid of Baha'u'llah Ruhiyyih Khanum Miss…
From morning till dark he worked at his craft, and almost every night he entertained the friends at supper. ** Áqá…
Áqá Faraj and Abu’l-Qásim, who had gone into hiding, then hurried away to Adrianople, to fall, ultimately, with the others and with their Well-Beloved, into the ‘Akká prison. ** Áqá…
They needed no teacher, then; by themselves, they saw through the veils that had blinded them before, and won the supreme desire of their hearts. ** Áqá Ibráhím-i-Iṣfahání And His…
He was a tradesman, and like the others who came in at the start, he cast everything away out of love for God, attaining in one leap the highest reaches of knowledge. ** Áqá Muhammad-Báqir and Áqá Muhammad-Ismá‘íl, the…
He was a blessed person; he was like a cup filled with the red wine of faith. At the time when he was first made captive by the tender Loved One, he was in the flower of his youth. **…
Áqá Muḥammad had a fine poetic gift, and he would create verses like stringed pearls. **…
He became a candle burning with the love of God, a goodly tree in the Abhá gardens. He led all his household, his other kindred and his friends to the Faith, and successfully rendered many services. ** Hájí…
He lived for a time in Ádhirbáyján, enamored of the Lord. When he became widely known thereabouts as one bearing the name of God, the people ruined his life. ** Hájí…
Ḥájí Faraju’lláh, he lived on in that city, until the day when merciless oppressors banished Bahá’u’lláh to ‘Akká, and in His company the Ḥájí came here to the Most Great Prison. **…
On the friends’ final journey he went to Ádhirbáyján, and there, throwing caution to the winds, he roared out the Greatest Name: “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!” The unbelievers there joined forces with his relatives, and they lured that innocent, that…
Haji Abu'l-Hasan Ardikani known as Haji Amin or Amin-i-Ilahi (the trustee of God). He was one of the prominent Bahá'ís of Iran and was appointed the trustee (amin) of the Huququ'llah as well as acting as a courier for conveying the letters…
He took up a staff and wandered away; over the mountains he went, across the plains, seeking and finding the mystics, his friends. **…
He wished neither rank nor office, and had no worldly aims at all. His one supreme desire was to serve Bahá’u’lláh, and for this reason he was never separated from his Brother’s presence. ** His Eminence Kalím (Mírzá…
During all that time Husayn-Áqá never offended a soul, nor did anyone, where he was concerned, utter a single complaint. This was truly a miracle, and no one else could have established such a record of service. He was always smiling,…
When young, he joined the circle of the late Siyyid Kázim and became one of his disciples. He was known in Persia for his purity of life, winning fame as Mullá Ṣádiq the saintly. ** Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq (Mullá ****Ṣ****ádiq…
During the years when Bahá’u’lláh resided in Iraq, Jináb-i-Muníb left Káshán and hastened to His presence. He went to live in a small and humble house, barely managed to subsist, and set about committing to writing the words of God…
Mashhadí Faṭṭáḥ possessed some merchandise; this was all he owned in the world. He had entrusted it to persons in Adrianople, and later on those unrighteous people did away with the goods. ** Mashhadí…
Mirza Abu’l-Fadl was imprisioned on three different times.…
Mírzá Ja‘far was patient and long-suffering, a faithful attendant at the Holy Threshold. He was a servant to all the friends, working day and night. A quiet man, sparing of speech, in all things relying entirely upon God. ** Mírzá…
"he that was created by the light of Bahá" L: Mirza Mihdi with his brother ‘Abdu’l-Baha **Mírzá…
He was singled out from his fellows, head and shoulders above the rest. When still a child, he learned of the Lord’s Advent, caught fire with love, and became one of those who “gave their all to purchase Joseph.” ** Mírzá…
After he had received the endless bounties showered on him by Bahá’u’lláh, he was given leave to go, and he traveled to China. There, over a considerable period, he spent his days mindful of God and in a manner conformable to Divine good…
He was a princely individual known for his lavish openhandedness not only in Persia and Iraq but as far away as India. To begin with he had been a Persian vazír; but when he saw how the late Fath-‘Alí Sháh eyed worldly riches, particularly…
He who had been waited upon, now waited on others; he who had been the master was now the servant, he who had once been a leader was now a captive. He had no rest, no leisure, day or night. To the travelers he was a trusted refuge; to the…
In the afternoons he would take his samovar, wrap it in a dark-colored pouch made from a saddlebag, and go off somewhere to a garden or meadow, or out in a field, and have his tea. **…
He spent a considerable time in the Most Great Prison, after which Bahá’u’lláh desired him to leave for Sidon, where he engaged in trade. ** Muḥammad-‘Alí Ṣabbáq of…
He stationed himself by the Holy Threshold, carefully sweeping it and keeping watch. Through his constant efforts, the square in front of Bahá’u’lláh’s house was at all times swept, sprinkled and immaculate. **…
He guided a number of souls, remaining true and loyal to the great Cause. He endured terrible persecution and torment, but did not falter. Then he found favor in the eyes of the King of Martyrs and became a trusted attendant of the Beloved…
Muḥammad showed a keen interest to learn and master this language. He moved to Qazvín, the birth place of Táhiríh, to teach at Tavakkul Bahá’í School in 1914. In 1916, he was nominated as the official representative of the World Esperanto…
This honored man was successful in converting a multitude. For the sake of God he cast all caution aside, as he hastened along the ways of love. **Mu****lla`Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi (Haji…
He assisted Táhirih in Karbala, then traveled to Iran with her. He was present at the Conference of Badasht and later visited the Báb while He was in prison in Azerbaijan. ** Mullá Báqir-i-Tabrízí, Letter of the…
He was young, far away from his loving father, and Mullá Muḥammad-‘Alí was his tutor and guardian. Bahá’u’lláh would refer to him with infinite grace and loving-kindness, and revealed a number of Tablets in his name. The Blessed Beauty…
He was designated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha as the “Moon of Guidance” and his “appearance the Revelation of St. John the Divine anticipated as one of the two ‘Witnesses’ into whom, ere the ‘second woe is past,’ the ‘spirit of life from God’ must…
** Sháh Muḥammad-Amín aka Haji Shah Muhammad…
Shaykh Hasan recognized in the Báb all those attributes his master had predicted, and he became His devoted disciple, travelling far and wide to be close to the newest Manifestation of God on earth. When the ulama of Isfahan issued the…
He had remarkable powers of endurance. He traveled on foot, as a rule eating nothing but onions and bread; and in all that time, he moved about in such a way that he was never once held up and never once lost a letter or a Tablet.…
Siyyid Mirza Husayn-i-Mutavalli was the recipient of the Tablet Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand. This man was a Babi who had been with 300 others under the leadership of Quddus at the Tabarsi fort, where they were attacked and starved. **…
When the prison authorities brought the Baha'i prisoners together in February, Tahirih saw her husband for the first time since their arrest. He had been so badly beaten that she could barely recognize him. **Tahirih Siyavushi, one…
Táhirih asked to borrow the writings and take them home. Mullá Javád violently objected, telling her: “Your father is an enemy of the Twin Luminous Lights, Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim. **…
For a time they stayed on in their own country, occupied with the remembrance of God, characterized by faith and knowledge, respected by friend and stranger alike, known to all for righteousness and trustworthiness, for austerity of life…
“Nothing is left me on this pathway. I have lost everything, including my bride. I have been able to give Him all I possessed.” ** Ustád…
He was high-minded, abstemious and chaste. When he became a believer, his urgent longing to meet Bahá’u’lláh could not be stilled; full of joyous love, he went out of the Land of Káf (Káshán) and traveled to Iraq, where he beheld the…
121 Concerning the remnants of the martyrs’ families, you have mentioned how eager they are to hear a word of commendation assuring them that this act of self-sacrifice and martyrdom will be acceptable in the sight of God. Therefore, I…
124 At the exalted Threshold of our Lord, the Best-Beloved of the world, I fervently beseech Him to graciously keep that assured leaf and the other handmaids of the Merciful safe and secure under the shelter of His bounty and…
89 The Guardian of the Cause of God has received your letter of 21 July 1932, telling of your and the other friends’ profound distress on receiving word of this calamity, this dire ordeal, that is, the ascension of the Most Exalted…
156 To the doves of faithfulness, ever since that most grievous of disasters, the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this world of dust has become a cage, and a place of torment; and to the unrestrained nightingales it is only a prison, narrow…
160 That supreme affliction, the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was the direst of ordeals; it was an anguish of mourning. The parting with mankind’s Beloved set fire to the hearts of all His lovers, and the souls of the believers dissolved…
164 It is clear how that most dire of calamities, that most great disaster which was the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, may our souls be sacrificed for His meekness, has set our hearts on fire and dissolved our very limbs and members in…
34 O ye who burn in the flames of bereavement! By the Day-star of the World, my bereaved and longing heart is afire with a grief that is beyond my description. The sudden, the grievous and calamitous news that the Most Exalted, the…
38 Brethren and fellow-mourners in the Faith of…
114 O exalted leaf, O distinguished friend! May the glory of God and His praise, His bounty and blessing rest upon you inasmuch as you have remained faithful to the Covenant of God and His…
115 May my life be sacrificed for those leaves who are steadfast in the Covenant of God—they whom the slander of the slanderer hinders not from holding fast to His divine…
205 The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so decreed that this house of sorrows should be encompassed by unending calamity and pain. Even before the dark clouds of one disaster are scattered, the lowering storm of yet a new grief takes…
Abbás Effendi, Who afterwards assumed the title of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (i.e. Servant of Bahá), was the eldest son of Bahá’u’lláh. He was born in Ṭihrán before midnight on the eve of the 23rd of May, 1844,20 the very same night in which the…
After much negotiation, at the request of the Persian Government, an order was issued by the Turkish Government summoning Bahá’u’lláh to Constantinople. On receipt of this new His followers were in consternation. They besieged the…
One of the social principles to which Bahá’u’lláh attaches great importance is that women should be regarded as the equals of men and should enjoy equal rights and privileges, equal education and equal…
When the Báb declared His mission in 1844, Bahá’u’lláh, Who was then in His twenty-seventh year, boldly espoused the Cause of the new Faith, of which He soon became recognized as one of the most powerful and fearless…
At that time Akká (Acre) was a prison city to which the worst criminals were sent from all parts of the Turkish Empire. On arriving there, after a miserable sea journey, Bahá’u’lláh and His followers, about eighty to eighty-four in…
About this time Bahá’u’lláh wrote His famous letter to the Sulṭán of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the Pope, and the Sháh of Persia. Later, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas16 He addressed other sovereigns, the rulers and Presidents…
Having in His earlier years of hardship shown how to glorify God in a state of poverty and ignominy, Bahá’u’lláh in His later years at Bahjí showed how to glorify God in a state of honor and affluence. The offering of hundreds of…
In the year 1869 Bahá’u’lláh wrote to Napoleon III, rebuking him for his lust of war and for the contempt with which he had treated a former letter from Bahá’u’lláh. The Epistle contains the following stern warning:— For what thou…
Even when the imprisonment was at its worst, the Bahá’ís were not dismayed, and their serene confidence was never shaken. While in the barracks at Akká, Bahá’u’lláh wrote to some friends, “Fear not. These doors shall be opened. My tent…
He was then in His seventieth year, and His long and arduous labors, culminating in these strenuous Western tours, had worn out His physical frame. After His return He wrote the following pathetic Tablet to the believers in East and…
Bahá’u’lláh constantly urges men to realize and give full expression to the perfections latent within them—the true inner self as distinguished from the limited outer self, which at best is but the temple, and too often is the prison…
Devotion to God implies also severance from everything that is not of God, severance, that is, from all selfish and worldly, and ever other-worldly desires. The path of God may lie through riches or poverty, health or sickness, through…
Both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also foretold a period of great social upheaval, conflict and calamity as an inevitable result of the irreligion and prejudices, the ignorance and superstition, prevalent throughout the world. The…
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,…
The title “Bahá’u’lláh” is the Arabic for “Glory of God,” and this very title is frequently used by the Hebrew prophets for the Promised One Who is to appear in the last days. Thus in the 40th chapter of Isaiah we read:— Comfort ye,…
In 1904 and 1907 commissions were appointed by the Turkish Government to inquire into the charges against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and lying witnesses gave evidence against Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, while refuting the charges, expressed His entire…
Another proposal frequently and powerfully advocated by Bahá’u’lláh was that a Universal League of Nations should be formed for the maintenance of international peace. In a letter to Queen Victoria, written while He was still a prisoner…
A remarkable instance of the foresight of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was supplied during the months immediately preceding the war. During peacetimes there was usually a large number of pilgrims at Haifa, from Persia and other regions of the globe.…
The Writings of the Báb were voluminous, and the rapidity with which, without study or premeditation, He composed elaborate commentaries, profound expositions or eloquent prayers was regarded as one of the proofs of His divine…
It was during Bahá’u’lláh’s nine-month exile to Karbilá in 1851, on the order of the Persian Prime Minister, that He “encountered, as He was walking through the streets, Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí, to…
View of Káshán On the eve of the Báb’s arrival at Káshán, [1847] Hájí Mírzá Jání, surnamed Parpa, a noted resident of that city, dreamed that he was standing at a late hour in the afternoon at the…
North-west building of prison complex Akka 1922 The dear friends in this city [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1912] engaged an apartment on the seventh floor of the Schenley Hotel and were…
One day the government leaders, pillars of the country, the city’s ‘ulamás, leading mystics and intellectuals came out to the Mansion. The Blessed Beauty paid them no attention whatever.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha entered. With one impulse we arose, paying unconscious homage to the majesty of the station of servitude. Surely there can be no greater station than this!
The night before his [Mullá Husayn's] arrival at Máh-Kú, which was the eve of the fourth Naw-Rúz after the declaration of the Mission of the Báb, and which fell in that year, the year 1264 A.H.,…
In the days of Bahá’u’lláh, during the worst times in the Most Great Prison, they would not permit any of the friends either to leave the Fortress or to come in from the outside.
During the time that Bahá'u'lláh resided in the house of 'Abbud, His fellow exiles had fully settled down in the city of 'Akká, and most of them were successful in their humble professions.
Mirza Ghorban Ali, who was one of the Seven Martyrs, a man of great piety and learning, was a strong Bábi, but he was very fearful and timid.
In Baghdad We Ourselves would go and take a seat in the coffee-house to meet the people - friends and acquaintances, strangers and inquirers alike.
“‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” writes Dr. J.E. Esslemont, “tells how one day He was allowed to enter the prison-yard to see His beloved Father when He came out for His daily exercise.
Early in the morning of July 9th, 1850, the chief-attendant of prison came to the barracks to conduct the Báb into the presence of the leading religious doctors of law in Tabriz.
The news of the tragic fate which had befallen the heroes of Tabarsí brought immeasurable sorrow to the heart of the Báb.
May Bolles Maxwell was one of the first group of pilgrims from the West who, in 1898-99, visited ‘Abdu’l-Baha while He was still a prisoner in ‘Akka.
Jináb-i-Mírzá Músá was the true brother of Bahá’u’lláh, and from earliest childhood he was reared in the sheltering embrace of the Most Great Name.
As the Bábís of Zanjan continued courageously to defend themselves against the assaults of the army, the Grand Vizier of Persia grew angrier than before.
It was the end of June, 1848. Outside the village of Badasht, located about 400 Km northeast of Tehran, Persia, on the other side of the Elburz Mountains in the Province of Semnan, there was a great…
We were awakened one night, ere break of day, by Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb-i-Shírází, who was bound with Us to the same chains.
In 1902 the late Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper in company with a group of friends made the pilgrimage to Haifa.
Muhammad Shah, the king of Persia, was torn between two conflicting desires. He wanted to meet the Báb.
My grandfather had many colored maids and servants. When the Blessed Perfection became the head of the family He liberated all of them, and gave them permission to leave or stay, but if they desired…
The life of 'Abdu'l-Baha is very significant among the lives of the past heavenly educators.
'Báb' means 'Gate’! The Báb was the Gate to a new Kingdom -- the Kingdom of God on earth. The Báb was very young when He told people about the Message which God had given Him.
...Among those who left their homeland were two carpenters, Ustád Báqir and Ustád Ahmad. These two were brothers, of pure lineage, and natives of Káshán.
A little under two years had passed since Bahá'u'lláh's confinement in the barracks, when suddenly a most tragic event occurred.
During His prison life in ‘Akka, ‘Abdu’l-Baha often gave His bed to those who had none, and He always refused to own more than one coat.
Aqa Jan Khan-i-Khamsih who carried out the order for the execution of the Báb The circumstances pertaining to the execution of the Báb provide us with many lessons to reflect on.
One evening 'Abdu'l-Baha was talking to a group of the friends who had gathered around Him, warmed and comforted by His love.
On a hot summer day in 1901, a young man named Thomas Breakwell walked the quiet streets of Paris, France, where he was visiting. The day was very still.
The August sun burned down on the stone walls of 'Akka as the sailboat rocked roughly into the harbor. The Baha'is had come a long way. They were hot, hungry, and thirsty.
During ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s visit to America, one of the Baha'i friends who was staying in the same hotel as ‘Abdu'l-Baha, narrated this story: I had a room in the same guest-house where Abdu'l-Baha was…
Some of the Governors of ‘Akka were very kind to 'Abdu'l-Baha, but others listened more to His enemies than to His friends and did very cruel things.
Resting place of Ásíyih Khánum and son Mirza Mihdi Many people loved Bahá'u'lláh when He was alive. Pilgrims traveled far distances just to look at His face.
'Abdu'l-Rahim was a fanatical Muslim. He was alarmed. The Baha'i Faith was growing in his town in Persia and he decided that it was time to ask the advice of a Muslim clergyman.
Mr. Bustard took a triangular shaped bar of glass from his briefcase. “Does anyone know what this is?" he asked as the four children in his class examined it. “Is it a mirror?" asked Anisa.
Badí was the name given to Aqá Buzurg by Bahá'u'lláh. It means "the Wonderful". Bahá'u'lláh didn't just hand out names without reason.
A long time ago there lived an old man in the town of Nayshábúr in eastern Persia. He made a living by selling turquoise stones and pure wool. He was Hájí ‘Abdu'l-Majíd.
Baha'u'llah lived in Persia. He was a wonderful person. His hair was black and His beard was black. He had happy, laughing eyes, and He made everybody happy because He loved them so much.
Mansion of Baha'u'llah's father This story is about a boy Who grew to be the latest Prophet of God.
Before Baha'u'llah became a follower of the Báb, he had a home in the country, surrounded by many acres of land, and a palace in the city of Tihran which had beautiful gardens around it.
Artistic conception of Mullá Husayn; no known photos are available "A secret lies hidden in that city," the Báb told Mullá Husayn, referring to Tihrán, Iran.
As the neighborhood was preparing for the Muslim Fast of Ramadan, one household near the prison of 'Akka was already celebrating a happy event.
In September 1846, after being banished from His home in Shíráz, Persia (now Iran), the Báb set out for Isfahán, a city known for its wise religious leaders.
Do you know who ‘Abdu'l-Baha was? He was a very important person. ‘Abdu'l-Baha was the Son of Baha'u'llah. He was always very kind and good to others.
The way to Ashok's school led past a Fire Temple of the Zoroastrians and Ashok was first attracted by the fragrance of sandalwood from it.
The Báb saw the sun rise over the sands of His native Persia for the last time.
Julie felt it happening. Surprising things often happened during Baha’i class that made her heart race fast. And it was happening again—ARRRGH! YAAAAAHHEE!
For many years of His life, 'Abdu'l-Baha lived in the Holy Land, in the city of Akka. For much of this time He was a prisoner and could not leave the city.
One day, behind the hot stone walls of the prison city of 'Akká, Bahá'u'lláh said, "I have not gazed on verdure for nine years." It had been nine years since He had rested His eyes on green and…
The Báb was a Prophet of God. He was sent by God to teach us how to live, and so, He was perfect. Are we perfect?
In the bitter winter of 1852, Bahá'u'lláh lay chained in an underground dungeon in Tihrán. Each night His wife slipped through the dangerous streets to learn whether He still lived — while at home a little girl held her frightened baby brother and waited. A retelling from Lady Blomfield's The Chosen Highway.
Corinne True made one of her nine pilgrimages to the Bahá’í Holy Places in Palestine ‘during the time of the Second Commission of Investigation by the Turks, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had again been confined as a prisoner to ‘Akka by order of the…
Day by day friends brought offerings of flowers and fruit, so that the dinner table was laden with these beautiful tokens of love for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Whilst cutting off bunches of grapes and giving them to various guests, He talked to us of…
Nabíl's chronicle records the Báb's removal from Iṣfáhán in 1847 to the remote frontier prisons of Máh-Kú and Chihríq, in the bleak mountains of north-western Persia. The intent of the authorities was to silence Him by isolation; the effect was the opposite — the journey itself became a teaching, the remote fortresses became places of pilgrimage, and from the cells the Persian Bayán was revealed.
Nabíl's chronicle records that in the autumn of 1852, after the attempt on the life of Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh by two distraught Bábís acting without authorisation, Bahá'u'lláh was arrested at Níyávarán and confined in the underground dungeon of Ṭihrán known as the Black Pit. There, in chains, He received the intimations of the Mission that would shape the next forty years.
During our sojourn in Adrianople, Bahá’u’lláh's custom was to walk only in the garden of the house, which was also His prison. Here the friends crowded, weeping and wailing, refusing to be comforted. They determined to resist the…
Early in 1904 Ethel Rosenberg made her second pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Still confined to the city of Akka the Master and His family were living in the prison house. For eight months Ethel stayed there as His guest. She wrote, ‘To sit…
In the *Epistle to the Son of the Wolf*, Bahá'u'lláh briefly recalls the conditions of His four-month imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál of Tihrán in 1852 — the underground dungeon in which the first intimations of His Revelation came to Him.
In the prison of 'Akká, Bahá'u'lláh's young son fell while lost in prayer. Given the chance to ask for his life back, he asked instead that his death open the prison doors to others.
How could this Prisoner give to the needy of 'Akká every Friday morning? Had not His exiled family's wealth and property been almost totally confiscated? One pilgrim found that, 'All that the Master gives is a real sacrifice, and is…
I had a servant who was black; his name was Isfandiyar. If a perfect man could be found in the world, that man was Isfandiyar. He was the essence of love, radiant with sanctity and perfection, luminous with light. Whenever I think of…
I myself was in prison forty years -- one year alone would have been impossible to bear -- nobody survived that imprisonment more than a year! But, thank God, during all those forty years I was supremely happy! Every day, on waking, it…
I was a child in Tehran when at the age of seven I contracted tuberculosis. There was no hope of recovery. The wisdom of this sickness became clear later. If I had not been ill, I would have been obliged to go to Mazindaran but because of…
I wish to tell you the story of two martyrs; one was a Persian nobleman, a favorite at court, possessed of much wealth and known throughout all the country. When it was discovered that he was a follower of Bahá'o'llah, this glorious man…
In 1907 Corinne True was in 'Akká with the Master. She was one of many who were deeply touched by the love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, demonstrated so clearly in His customary Friday morning acts of charity. From her window she 'saw between two and…
In 1914 The Christian Commonwealth carried words of praise for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: ‘It is wonderful to see the venerable figure of the revered Bahá’í leader passing through the narrow streets of this ancient town [Akká], where he lived for forty…
In Minneapolis a Jewish Rabbi came to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with a request that He speak in his synagogue. Part of their conversation reveals the Master’s radiant acquiescence in time of adversity. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá began speaking to him by saying, ‘I…
In the very early days Loulie Mathews came into the Faith while ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was yet imprisoned in Acca. She came in very quickly immediately, really, upon hearing of it, and she came in aflame with enthusiasm. She had been told that…
It was Mirza Yusif, who was able to help my mother about getting food taken to my father, and who brought us to the two little rooms near the prison, where we stayed in close hiding. He had to be very careful in thus defying the…
Jinab-i-Haji Amin was a shining star who served the Cause as the Trustee of Huququ'lláh for forty-seven years with eagerness and zeal, showing magnanimity, courage and incredible steadfastness. During the Ministry of Bahá’u’lláh he was…
When Áqá Faraj first heard the wonderful news, he clapped his hands and cried out for joy — and then he set off on a long journey that lasted his whole life.
Two brothers left their home and traveled far to be near Bahá'u'lláh — and their love for each other, and for Him, never let them go.
A young man named Muḥammad-Ibráhím was captured for loving Bahá'u'lláh — but he broke free and spent the rest of his life serving with all his heart.
For forty years a man named Husayn-Áqá served coffee to everyone who came to the door — and never once let anyone leave unhappy.
A kind man named Mashhadí Faṭṭáḥ lost all that he owned, yet he stayed quietly happy because he loved God most of all.
A famous teacher in Iran read two letters, found something he had been searching for his whole life, and gave himself a name that means doing good.
A gentle young man in a faraway prison made the bravest wish of his whole life — and because of it, people who longed to see Bahá'u'lláh finally could.
From a rooftop at sunset, 'Abdu'l-Bahá saw a carriage far away and somehow knew a holy soul was coming — a faithful traveler whose face seemed made of light.
A famous scholar who had everything gave it all up to serve in a faraway prison-city — and became the most beloved helper of all.
A man named Muḥammad-‘Alí was kept as a prisoner for the rest of his life — and yet, somehow, he was one of the happiest people anyone had ever met.
A devoted helper named Mullá Báqir spent his whole life carrying messages and serving the ones he loved most — and became the very last of a special group of believers.
Powerful men sent the Báb far away to a lonely mountain prison, hoping no one would ever hear of Him again — but the very opposite came true.
Locked deep in the darkest prison in all of Persia, weighed down by heavy chains, Bahá'u'lláh heard a voice in the night promising that He would never be alone.
Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou seest me in this day shut up in my prison, and fallen into the hands of Thine adversaries, and beholdest my son (The Purest Branch) lying on the dust before Thy face. He is Thy servant, O my Lord,…
Lua Gestinger, one of the early Bahá’ís of America, tells of an experience she had in Akká. She had made the pilgrimage to the prison-city to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. One day He said to her that He was too busy today to call upon a friend of His…
Mary Bolles (Maxwell) took an early pilgrimage to the prison city. She heard that the food man eats is of no importance, as its effect endures but a short time. But the food of the spirit is life to the soul and its effects endure…
Mary Bolles (Maxwell) took an early pilgrimage to the prison city. She heard that the food man eats is of no importance, as its effect endures but a short time. But the food of the spirit is life to the soul and its effects endure…
May Bolles (Maxwell) was one of fifteen fortunate pilgrims welcomed in the prison-city from December 1898 to early 1899. She recorded her experiences in An Early Pilgrimage -- a divine love story! In the Holy Land, whose very air was…
Another of those who left their homeland to become our neighbors and fellow prisoners was ‘Abdu’l-Ghaffár of Iṣfáhán. He was a highly perceptive individual who, on commercial business, had traveled about Asia Minor for many years. He…
Among those who emigrated and were companions in the Most Great Prison was Áqá ‘Abdu’s-Ṣáliḥ. This excellent soul, a child of early believers, came from Iṣfáhán. His noble-hearted father died, and this child grew up an orphan. There…
Another among the prisoners was Abu’l-Qásim of Sulṭán-Ábád, the traveling companion of Áqá Faraj. These two were unassuming, loyal and staunch. Once their souls had come alive through the breathings of the Faithful Spirit they hastened…
Also among the emigrants and near neighbors was Áqá ‘Alí Najaf-Ábádí. When this spiritual young man first listened to the call of God he set his lips to the holy cup and beheld the glory of the Speaker on the Mount. And when, by grace…
This eminent man had high ambitions and aims. He was to a supreme degree constant, loyal and firmly rooted in his faith, and he was among the earliest and greatest of the believers. At the very dawn of the new Day of Guidance he became…
In all these straits, Áqá Faraj was the companion of Abu’l-Qásim. When, in Persian ‘Iráq, he first heard the uproar caused by the Advent of the Most Great Light, he shook and trembled, clapped his hands, cried out in exultation and…
Two brothers from Káshán who emigrated to Adrianople with the community of believers, were arrested with the exiles and brought to 'Akká, and there both fell ill and died on the same night. Without permission for proper burial, the friends sold a prayer carpet to pay for their interment, and the two brothers were laid in a single grave, beneath the earth as in life embraced.
This man of God came from the district of Tafrísh. He was detached from the world, fearless, independent of kindred and stranger alike. He was one of the earliest believers, and belonged to the company of the faithful. It was in Persia…
Áqá Ṣidq-‘Alí was yet one more of those who left their native land, journeyed to Bahá’u’lláh and were put in the Prison. He was a dervish; a man who lived free and detached from friend and stranger alike. He belonged to the mystic…
Ḥájí ‘Abdu’r-Raḥím of Yazd was a precious soul, from his earliest years virtuous and God-fearing, and known among the people as a holy man, peerless in observing his religious duties, mindful as to his acts. His strong religious faith…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's portrait of Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí — the great teacher of Iṣfáhán whose lifetime of imprisonment, exile, and patient teaching across three Sudanese cities earned him the title *the Angel of Carmel.*
Yet another of the emigrants and settlers was the valiant Jamshíd-i-Gurjí, who came from Georgia, but grew up in the city of Káshán. He was a fine youth, faithful, trustworthy, with a high sense of honor. When he heard of a new Faith…
Two pure souls of Ádhirbáyján who freed themselves from the superstitions that had blinded them, left their province for Adrianople, and at length followed the exiles to 'Akká, where they died together of the fever that took so many of the early prisoners. Their two luminous tombs are in 'Akká.
Among the exiles, neighbors, and prisoners there was also a second Mír Imád,57 the eminent calligrapher, Mishkín-Qalam.58 He wielded a musk-black pen, and his brows shone with faith. He was among the most noted of mystics, and had a…
This man, noble and high-minded, was the son of the respected ‘Abdu’l-Faṭṭaḥ who was in the Akká prison. Learning that his father was a captive there, he came with all speed to the fortress so that he too might have a share of those…
Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá was a blazing light. He was the son of the famous scholar Shaykh Muḥammad-i-Shibl; he lived in ‘Iráq, and from his earliest youth was clearly unique and beyond compare; wise, brave, deserving in every way, he was known…
Sháh-Muḥammad, who had the title of Amín, the Trusted One, was among the earliest of believers, and most deeply enamored. He had listened to the Divine summons in the flower of his youth, and set his face toward the Kingdom. He had…
Khurshíd Begum, who was given the title of Shamsu’d-Ḍuḥá,105 the Morning Sun, was mother-in-law to the King of Martyrs. This eloquent, ardent handmaid of God was the cousin on her father’s side of the famous Muḥammad-Báqir of Iṣfáhán,…
Sulaymán Khán was the emigrant and settler who was given the title of Jamálí’d-Dín. He was born in Tunúkábán, into an old family of that region. He was cradled in wealth, bred to ease, reared in the comfortable ways of luxury. From his…
This distinguished man was one of the greatest of all the Báb’s companions and all the loved ones of Bahá’u’lláh. When he lived under Islám, he was already famed for his purity and holiness of life. He was talented and highly…
Most of those present at this luncheon party knew a little of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's life history, and, presumably, were expecting a dissertation from Him on the Bahá’í Cause. The hostess had suggested to the Master that He speak to them on the…
Muhammad-Hadi was from Isfahan, and as a binder and illuminator of books he had no peer. When he gave himself up to the love of God he was alert on the path and fearless. He abandoned his home and began a dreadful journey, passing with…
My noble father was hurled into this black hole, loaded with heavy chains; five other the Bábís were chained to him night and day, and here he remained for four months. Picture to yourself the horror of these conditions. Any movement…
Na'im was a truly devoted servant of Bahá’u’lláh. As a result of embracing the Faith, he suffered great persecutions in his native village of Sidih near Isfahan. By order of the clergy, he and four other believers had their arms tied to…
Mishkín-Qalam was the most celebrated calligrapher of Persia, honoured at the royal court and famed across Asia — a man whose art alone could have brought him every comfort. He left all of it to follow Bahá'u'lláh, was imprisoned for years on the island of Cyprus, and remained, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words, "detached from the world," joyous and steadfast in the Covenant to the end.
From within the prison-city of 'Akká — held under a sentence of perpetual confinement — Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book: the charter of a future world civilization, set down by a Prisoner whom the powers of the earth had meant to silence forever.
When Bahá'u'lláh lay chained in the Black Pit of Ṭihrán, condemned without cause and surrounded by the executions of His fellow-prisoners, help came from an unlooked-for quarter: the Russian Minister at the Persian court, who took up His case, pressed for His release, and afterward offered Him the protection of his government. Nabíl records it as one of the signs that no power on earth could extinguish the Cause of God.
From within the prison-city of 'Akká — where the world's authorities had hoped His Cause would die — Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book. Out of the most desolate confinement came the charter of a future world civilization: its laws, its institutions, and its summons to the unity of humankind.
In the bitterest days of His imprisonment in 'Akká — His sons fallen, His companions scattered, the gates barred against Him — Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Lawḥ-i-Qad-Iḥtaraqa'l-Mukhliṣún, the Fire Tablet. Its verses move through a long lament over the world's wrongs and then break, at the end, into the certainty of the dawn: the glory of His Cause shining out from the very depth of His affliction.
The Power that had banished Bahá'u'lláh to the worst prison in its empire could not keep Him there. In His last years the walls of 'Akká opened, and the once reviled Prisoner lived out His days in a mansion at Bahjí, honoured by pilgrims and notables alike — having shown, His family recalled, how to glorify God in abasement and how to glorify Him again in honour.
Mullá ʻAlí-Akbar of Shahmírzád — known as Ḥájí Ákhúnd, and later named a Hand of the Cause — taught the Faith so openly in Ṭihrán that he was the first to be seized whenever trouble broke out. Again and again he was chained, jailed, and threatened with the sword; a famous photograph shows him sitting in his fetters utterly composed. 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembered him in a single unforgettable line: openly at odds with his oppressors, he defied them, and he was never vanquished.
Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl of Gulpáygán was among the most learned men in Persia — head of a religious college before he ever heard the name of Bahá'u'lláh. Won to the Faith by the proofs he had once tried to refute, he was imprisoned three times for it and stripped of his worldly standing. He gave the rest of his life to defending the Cause with his pen and his voice across three continents, the very power of his learning laid at the feet of the Faith he had embraced.
When a commission of the Ottoman government arrived in 'Akká empowered to recommend His exile or execution, 'Abdu'l-Bahá met the threat without a trace of fear. He declared His readiness to submit to any sentence they chose, refused a consul's offer of escape, and went on planting trees and presiding at a wedding feast — until the empire that menaced Him collapsed and He was set free.
The recollections of the Holy Family, preserved in The Chosen Highway, tell of Mírzá Mihdí — the gentle younger brother of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, known as the Purest Branch — who fell through a skylight while pacing the prison roof of 'Akká wrapped in prayer. Mortally hurt and offered by his Father whatever he might wish, he asked not to be healed but that his death be accepted as a ransom, so that the pilgrims barred from Bahá'u'lláh's presence might one day attain it.
Through the long years in 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was surrounded not only by friends but by enemies — men who slandered Him, plotted against Him, and even schemed for His death. The recollections preserved in The Chosen Highway show how He answered them: with unfailing courtesy, with help sent quietly to their households, and with kindness returned for every injury — the perfection of a character that would not let another's evil change its own goodness.
Mishkín-Qalam was the foremost calligrapher of Persia, his pen "the wonder of all calligraphers." He could have kept his comfort, his fame, and the favour of princes. Instead he crossed deserts and seas to find Bahá'u'lláh, and turned his perfected art into an act of worship — writing the Most Great Name in countless beautiful forms even from prison, until 'Abdu'l-Bahá called him "a compendium of perfections."
Ustád Báqir and Ustád Aḥmad were two carpenter-brothers from Káshán who followed Bahá'u'lláh into exile and imprisonment. In the Most Great Prison of 'Akká they kept faithfully at their craft — tranquil, dignified, and joyful — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá remembered them with a single luminous testimony: through all those long prison years they were "never neglectful of duty, never at fault."
Mírzá Muḥammad-Qulí, a loyal younger brother of Bahá'u'lláh, spent his whole life within the shelter of the Blessed Beauty — and shared every stage of His exile from Persia to the prison-fortress of 'Akká. In 'Abdu'l-Bahá's own reminiscence, he accepted all that came his way — comfort and torment, hardship and respite, sickness and health — in one and the same spirit, returning thanks with a free heart and a face that shone like the sun.
Jamshíd-i-Gurjí, a valiant believer who came from Georgia and grew up in Káshán, was falsely denounced, chained, and dragged toward the Persian frontier to be handed over for execution. Thrown one night into a pit, he did not lament but proclaimed that the very depths into which his enemies had cast him were the heights of the Lord — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that he lived out his days tranquil and at peace, well-pleased with God and answering the call to return with a glad "Yea, verily!"
Ḥájí Abu'l-Ḥasan-i-Amín — the Trustee of the Right of God — spent some fifty years travelling the length of Persia on foot and by mule, sustaining the financial life of the Cause and carrying nothing of his own. Twice imprisoned for his open faith, he bore each captivity with the very same calm and good cheer with which he bore the endless roads, and after every release returned quietly to his work — content, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute, with whatever the will of God appointed for him.
For forty years 'Abdu'l-Bahá was a prisoner of the Ottoman state, and through every threat of exile to the deserts of North Africa and every renewed tightening of His confinement He remained serene, accepting each turn as the will of God. When in 1908 the gates of 'Akká at last swung open and He walked free, He met the long-awaited liberation with the very same tranquillity He had shown in captivity.
Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí, the beloved teacher of Iṣfáhán, was banished by the authorities to the remote Sudan and held in exile at Khartoum for some nine years. He bore the sentence not as a calamity but as the will of God — turning it into a teaching mission — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá records that he came at last into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh wearing the very same smiling face with which he had first set out upon the road of exile.
Through the long years of His confinement in the prison-city of 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá made the care of the poor and the sick His own daily work — a Friday almsgiving at the gate, a warm garment each winter for every one of the city's poor, and morning rounds to the bedsides of the feeble, the forgotten, and the dying.
In His own words, in the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Bahá'u'lláh recalls the four months He spent chained in the lightless underground dungeon of Ṭihrán — and how, in that very darkness, the first intimations of His Revelation broke upon Him like a dawn, a Voice calling from above His head and a sense that the whole creation had been set astir.
A learned man of 'Akká nursed a settled hatred for the Bahá'í prisoners, and one day, unable to bear hearing 'Abdu'l-Bahá praised, he stormed into the mosque to expose Him and laid violent hands on Him. The Master answered with a single sentence — and the enemy's wrath, and his hatred, simply left him. A story of the power of God to overturn a heart in a moment.
Through the years of the Great War, with a naval blockade strangling the coast and famine stalking the Holy Land, 'Abdu'l-Bahá — Himself again a prisoner — fed the hungry of every religion in 'Akká and Haifa. The grain He had quietly stored against the crisis kept a whole region alive; for it, a victorious empire offered Him a knighthood, which He accepted and quietly laid aside.
'Abdu'l-Bahá spent forty years a prisoner in the fortress-city of 'Akká — exiled as a child, freed only as an old Man when the empire that held Him at last fell. Asked in London how He had borne it, He answered that He had been happy the whole time; that prison had been freedom to Him; and that there is no prison anywhere but the prison of the self.
Banished to a bleak mountain fortress on the Turkish frontier, where His chief enemy hoped He would be forgotten and the hard people of the region would have no sympathy for Him, the Báb met cruelty with such gentleness that the warden, the guards, and the very Kurds of the district came to revere Him — gathering each dawn at the foot of His prison simply to receive His blessing.
An official set over the prisoners of 'Akká repaid 'Abdu'l-Bahá's every kindness with slander, fresh restrictions, and harassment. Yet when the man demanded the Master's coat, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave him the only one He owned — and promised to buy him a better — forgiving all the wrong done to Himself even as it was being done.
In the prison-city of 'Akká, where disease festered in the damp and the poor died unattended, 'Abdu'l-Bahá made the care of the sick His personal calling. He brought physicians to the bedsides of the destitute, paid for their medicines, sat with the dying, and ministered to the bodies and spirits of the people the city had abandoned — winning, by mercy alone, the love of an entire town.
Mishkín-Qalam was the foremost calligrapher of Persia, welcomed in the courts of Ṭihrán and famed across Asia. He laid all of it down for the love of Bahá'u'lláh, was slandered as a dangerous agitator, and spent nine years a prisoner in the citadel of Famagusta — yet remained, in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words, mild and submissive, peerless for sincerity and loyalty. His was an honour the world could neither give him nor take away.
Bahá'u'lláh and His companions were banished to 'Akká as the worst of criminals, shut in a foul barracks where nearly all fell sick and several died. The empire meant to strip them of every dignity and let the Cause rot behind those walls. Instead, as Shoghi Effendi recounts in God Passes By, the exiles bore their degradation with such serenity that the prison itself became a place of honour, and the city that had cursed them came at last to revere them.
Robbed of his small stock of goods in exile, Ḥájí ʻAlí-ʻAskar-i-Tabrízí was pressed by a powerful consul to inflate the loss and share in the spoils. With prison and banishment threatened against him, the impoverished old believer would not speak a single false word — and Bahá'u'lláh said of him simply, "I am pleased with him."
Mírzá Muḥammad was a man of gentle birth and high learning, accustomed to being waited upon. For the love of Bahá'u'lláh he left every comfort behind, walked to the prison of 'Akká, and spent himself as a servant at the believers' hospice — he who had been the master was now the servant, and counted it the highest honour of his life.
Ustád Ismá'íl was a master builder of high standing in Ṭihrán, prosperous and well regarded by all. For the love of Bahá'u'lláh he lost his work, his wealth, and even his bride, and ended his days peddling trinkets from a cave outside Haifa — counting himself, in that poverty, more honoured than he had ever been in his prosperity.
Two empires shut Bahá'u'lláh inside the prison-city of 'Akká, meaning to bury His Cause behind stone. Yet within those very walls a sovereignty shone that no decree could touch: governors and generals came humbly to His door, pilgrims crossed the world to reach Him, and from His captivity He addressed the emperors who held Him as a King addresses His subjects. Esslemont's account shows that the Captive of 'Akká was, in reality, no prisoner at all, but a King of Kings.
During the First World War the military governor of the region, Jamál Páshá, one of the most feared men in the Ottoman Empire, vowed to crucify 'Abdu'l-Bahá on Mount Carmel and raze the Bahá'í holy places. The Master met the threat with perfect calm — and before the general could carry it out, his army was routed and his power swept away.
On August 20th there arrived at Green Acre a young man, dishevelled, tremulous. His name was Fred Mortensen. Let him tell his story in his own words. He wrote it for the magazine, The Star of the West: In my youth my environment was not…
On the night of 20 August, a horrifying young man came to a meeting at the Kinney's house. From head to foot he was covered with soot. His blue eyes stared out from a dark gray face. This was Fred Mortensen, a reformed criminal. When…
One day a woman came to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with her sorrows. As she told her story, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tried to calm her and said, “Don’t be sad now, don’t be sad.” The Woman said, “My brother has been in prison for three years. He should not have…
One of the most beautiful stories we have is the one of May Maxwell (the mother of Rúhíyyih Khánum) and Thomas Breakwell. This was in the very early days, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was still a prisoner in Acca and May Maxwell was a young girl…
One of the most important pioneer families in the Fort Worth / Dallas area ws the Dobbins family. While Nancy (the mother of the community) passed away a number of years ago, Gordon (whose grandfather was brought into the Faith by…
One of the most striking examples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s imperturbability was His reaction to possible personal tragedy, further exile or execution. His troubles stemmed from the Covenant-breakers, those Bahá’ís who did not accept…
One summer day a luncheon was held in Dublin, New Hampshire, in the home of Mrs Parsons who had ‘asked some twenty people, all outstanding in various walks of life, to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Culture, science, art, wealth, politics,…
Prison walls themselves did not obscure the happiness in the heart of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In prison He could write, ‘Grieve not because of my imprisonment and calamity; for this prison is my beautiful garden, my mansioned paradise and my throne…
November 7th ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: I will speak to you today of Bahá’u’lláh. In the third year after the Báb had declared his Mission, Bahá’u’lláh, being accused by fanatical Mullás of believing in the new doctrine, was arrested and thrown…
November 22nd In this world we are influenced by two sentiments, Joy and Pain. Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the…
15 Rue Greuze, Paris, November…
4 Avenue de Camöens, Wednesday, October…
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. God has willed that love should be a vital force in the world, and you all…
Síyáh-Chál, the name of the prison to which Bahá’u’lláh was taken on that calamitous day, means the “Black Pit”. Originally a reservoir of water for one of the public baths in Tihran, it was at that time an underground dungeon in which…
Today, at table, let us speak for a little of proofs. If you had come to this blessed place in the days of the manifestation of the evident Light,29 if you had attained to the court of His presence, and had witnessed His luminous…
Now we come to Muḥammad. Americans and Europeans have heard a number of stories about the Prophet which they have thought to be true, although the narrators were either ignorant or antagonistic: most of them were clergy; others were…
Question.—Those who are blessed with good actions and universal benevolence, who have praiseworthy characteristics, who act with love and kindness toward all creatures, who care for the poor, and who strive to establish universal…
The substance wherewith God hath created Me is not the clay out of which others have been formed. He hath conferred upon Me that which the worldly-wise can never comprehend, nor the faithful discover ... I am one of the sustaining…
Glory be unto Him Who knoweth all that is in the heavens and in the earth. Verily there is no God but Him, the sovereign Ruler, the Almighty, the…
How can I praise Thee, O Lord, for the evidences of Thy mighty splendour and for Thy wondrous sweet savours which Thou hast imparted to Me in this fortress, in such measure that nothing in the heavens or on the earth can compare with…
O ye illumined loved ones and ye handmaids of the Merciful! At a time when the sombre night of ignorance, of neglect of the divine world, of being veiled from God, had overspread the earth, a bright morning dawned and a rising light lit…
O thou who hast been sore afflicted on the pathway of the Covenant! Anguish and torment, when suffered on the pathway of the Lord, Him of manifest signs, is only favour and grace; affliction is but mercy, and grief a gift from God.…
O thou who art steadfast in the Covenant! Thy letter of 9 September 1909 hath been received. Be thou neither grieved nor despondent over what hath come to pass. This trouble overtook thee as thou didst walk the path of God, wherefore it…
O ye sincere ones, ye longing ones, ye who are drawn as if magnetized, ye who have risen up to serve the Cause of God, to exalt His Word and scatter His sweet savours far and wide! I have read your excellent letter, beautiful as to…
O my spiritual loved ones! At a time when an ocean of trials and tribulations was surging up and flinging its waves to the heavens, when multitudes were assailing us and the tyrannical were inflicting upon us crushing wrongs—at such a…
O ye lovers of truth, ye servants of humankind! Out of the flowering of your thoughts and hopes, fragrant emanations have come my way, wherefore an inner sense of obligation compelleth me to pen these…
Praise be to Him Who hath rent the dark asunder, hath blotted out the night, hath drawn aside the coverings and torn away the veils; Whose light thereupon shone out, Whose signs and tokens were spread abroad, and His mysteries laid…
O ye who have turned your faces toward the Exalted Beauty! By night, by day, at morningtide and sunset, when darkness draweth on, and at early light I remember, and ever have remembered, in the realms of my mind and heart, the loved…
O thou who art enraptured by the sweet breathings of the Lord! I have noted the contents of thine eloquent letter, and have learned that thou sheddest tears and thy heart is afire from grieving over the imprisonment of…
O army of God! A letter signed jointly by all of you hath been received. It was most eloquent and full of flavour, and reading it was a…
Praise be to Him Who hath made the world of being, and hath fashioned all that is, Him Who hath raised up the sincere to a station of honour4 and hath made the invisible world to appear on the plane of the visible—yet still, in their…
The world’s great Light, once resplendent upon all mankind, hath set, to shine everlastingly from the Abhá Horizon, His Kingdom of fadeless glory, shedding splendour upon His loved ones from on high and breathing into their hearts and…
O thou who art firm in the Covenant, thy letter was received. Thou hast exerted a great effort for that prisoner, perchance it may prove to be fruitful. Tell him, however: ‘The denizens of the world are confined in the prison of…
Ásiyih Khánum, the wife of Bahá’u’lláh, Bahiyyih Khánum, their lovely daughter, Muniríh Khánum, the Holy Mother, and the four daughters of the Master, have never bemoaned the difficulties of their daily lives. The conditions of suffering…
Such was the Master's kindness, disregarding always the bitter persecution directed against Himself. The man was much ashamed of his behaviour, and begged the Master to forgive him all the harmful deeds he had wrought against Him. The…
Surely the simplicity of the marriage of Shoghi Effendi - reminiscent of the simplicity of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's own marriage in the prison-city of 'Akká - should provide a thought-provoking example to the Bahá’ís everywhere. No one, with the…
O thou confirmed by an inspiration from the…
O thou who art attracted by the Fragrances of the Kingdom of…
O thou who art attracted to the Beauty of…
O thou who art yearning for the Glad-tidings of…
O ye81 dear friends and maid-servants of…
O ye friends285 of this…
O ye my divine friends!32…
O ye7 who are sincere! O ye who are attracted! O ye who are yearning! O ye who are arising for service to the Cause of God, for the promotion of the Word of God and the spreading of the Fragrances of…
To the beloved of God in…
Tonight we met ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and a large number of believers from all parts of the East at the Feast, or Supper, under the shadow of the Blessed Perfection. As we entered the large hall, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá greeted us, extending both hands and…
Badí‘ulláh came in during the afternoon. At first he seemed somewhat self-conscious, but in a little while the Power came over him and the Light shone in his face. Then he forgot self and spoke with fervor and eloquence. His theme was…
“Moral life consists in the government of one's self. Immortality is government of a human soul by the Divine Will.” “The soul is the Sanctuary of God; Reason is His Throne.” “Our Actions reveal what we are, no matter what the…
“Why are women so favored in this Revelation?” “Women in Persia were treated badly in former times by the Muhammadans. When speaking evil of a man, they would say, 'He is just like a woman.' When they wished to lower a man's pride, they…
The early believers in Akká not only observed the Bahá’í Fast, but also observed the Muslim 30-day Fast of Ramadan during their incarceration in the Most Great Prison! These are Thy servants, O my Lord, who have entered with Thee in this,…
The following account occurred in the Siyah-Chal prison in Teheran around the Fall/Winter of 1853. The prisoners were awaiting execution for their Faith: We were awakened one night, ere break of day, by Mirza ‘Abdu’l-Vahhab-i-Shirazi, who…
The gates of the Akka prison were finally opened for Bahá’u’lláh, His family and companions after a confinement of two years, two months and five days. Many of His companions were consigned to the caravanserai, an unfit dwelling-place.…
The Governor of Baghdad at this time was a relative of my father, but his enemy on account of differences in religious opinion and family misunderstandings. This man, rendered uncomfortable by the sight of my father's increasing fame and…
The Master considered cleanliness of vital importance. He was indeed ‘the essence of cleanliness’ even as Bahá’u’lláh had taught His followers. Florence Khánum bore witness to this, for she found Him ‘dazzlingly, spotlessly shining, from…
The Master said to Mary Hanford Ford, alluding to the restriction of His and His family’s life in ‘Akka: ‘. . . we are all happy because we have the love of God in our hearts. When the heart is full of the love of God it loses…
There was a time when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in chains. The jailers were amazed that the Master sang and laughed. He informed them they were doing Him a kindness He had wanted to know the feelings of a man in chains. Now He…
This man who was close to the Divine Threshold was the respected son of Ali-'Askar-i-Tabrizi. Full of yearning love, he came with his father from Tabriz to Adrianople, and by his own wish, went on with joy and hope to the Most Great…
Thomas Breakwell, the first English believer, went to the prison city of ‘Akka as a pilgrim. In conversation with the Master, he described his position in the cotton mills of the South in the United States. Breakwell told ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
‘Three days after the arrival of Bahá’u’lláh and His companions in ‘Akka, the edict of the Sultan condemning Him to life imprisonment was read out in the Mosque. The prisoners were introduced as criminals who had corrupted the morals of…
absolutism in [the conduct of] affairs: on his own decisive resolution, without seeking permission from the Royal Presence or taking counsel with prudent statesmen, he issued orders to persecute the Bábís, imagining that by overweening…
When he reached Hamadán his character became known, and, as he was of the clerical class, the doctors vehemently pursued him, handed him over to the government, and ordered chastisement to be inflicted. By chance there fell out from the…
correspondence?” Then the Royal Command was issued that their Reverences the learned doctors and honorable and accomplished divines should write a reply to that epistle. But when the most expert doctors of the capital became aware of…
swords be blunted, and their footsteps slip. I know not how long they shall ride the steed of desire and wander erringly in the desert of heedlessness and error. Of glory shall any glory endure, or of abasement any abasement? Or shall…
To a minister who came to call on the Master in the Maxwell Home in Montreal, ‘‘Abdu’l-Bahá presented an armful of gorgeous American Beauty roses, standing in a tall vase at His side, sending him away with amazement and awe at the regal…
To most people the hardships of prison life would appear as grievous calamities, but for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá they had no terrors. When in prison He wrote: Grieve not because of my imprisonment and calamity; for this prison is my beautiful…
We were all huddled together in one cell, our feet in stocks, and around our necks fastened the most galling of chains. The air we breathed was laden with the foulest impurities, while the floor on which we sat was covered with filth and…
What most impressed 'Roy' was the spirit of sacrifice which he found among the Bahá’ís in the 'Most Great Prison'. He noted that, 'Nowhere have I witnessed such love, such perfect harmony. The desire of those in that prison was to serve…
When Elizabeth Cheney finally reached the end of her journey, further disaster awaited her. She had been given letters of introduction to various people political leaders, editors, and so on - who, it was hoped, might be of assistance to…
While ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a prisoner in Akka, there was a man in that city who behaved very badly towards Him. The ignorant man believed that he was following the teachings of Muhammad. He thought that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was not a good man and…
While Bahá’u’lláh remained under chains in the Siyah-Chal, His enemies were busy trying to obtain His death sentence from the King. Bahá’u’lláh, however, was loved by people high and low alike and could not be executed so easily. Proof…
Whilst her beloved husband was in prison, Navvab, the wife of Bahá’u’lláh, a pearl, a flower amongst women, was pregnant and alone with their three children, most of their servants ran away, it was too dangerous to stay in their home.…