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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."
409 stories where devotion appears.
Rúḥíyyih Khánum recalled how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá carried flower-pots two miles in the heat to the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, and pumped water there until He was too stiff to walk away.
After the First World War the Mattoon family sailed from the United States with their two small daughters to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He told them never to forget Christ, so they also visited the Holy Places of Christianity.
When Ḥájí Amín brought the believers' offerings to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Master said something was missing. Praying in his room, Ḥájí Amín found a poor woman's coin in the lining of his coat, and the Master said it was worth more than all the rest.
Dorothy Baker almost always opened her talks with a prayer, and before approaching the platform she often said a prayer of Bahá'u'lláh asking that her speech bear a trace of God's exalted Word.
During 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to London in 1911, a painter asked Him whether art was a worthy vocation, and an actor raised the subject of the drama. His answers are recorded in 'Abdu'l-Bahá in London.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-Taqí, the Afnán, who believed after one reading of the Kitáb-i-Íqán, gave nearly all he owned to build the first Bahá’í House of Worship in ‘Ishqábád, and died near the Shrine of the Báb.
Leroy Ioas recalls that until Shoghi Effendi passed away in England he was sending cables about work to finish before his return, which suggests he did not expect to die.
The Vazír dreamed that his son Bahá’u’lláh swam in a limitless ocean, with a multitude of fishes clinging to His hair. A soothsayer explained the dream, and after meeting the boy praised Him greatly.
This wonderful age has rent asunder the veils of superstition and has condemned the prejudice of the people of the East.
O thou party who art assisted by the hosts of the Kingdom of El-Abhá!
Thy letter was received. Thou hast written of the organization of an assembly in that city. Look not at the small number; nay, rather seek the pure hearts.
A biography of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, from His childhood in Tehran and long years of exile and imprisonment to His ministry as Center of the Covenant, His journeys to the West, His writings and His passing in Haifa in 1921.
In the Mazandaran village of Máhfurúzak, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and his wife ‘Alavíyyih Khánum organized village life around prayer, schools and a cooperative; after his execution in Tehran in 1883 she devoted her life to the Faith.
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.
As a boy, Ibn-i-Asdaq travelled with his father to Baghdad and met Bahá'u'lláh, who revealed a prayer for him. Years later he became one of the four Hands of the Cause named by Bahá'u'lláh.
After a dream, a young Shíráz shopkeeper, ‘Abdu’l-Vahháb, follows Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Basṭámí out of the city. His furious father beats Mullá ‘Alí, but later repents, and after his son’s martyrdom he is taught the Faith by Bahá’u’lláh.
Faraju’lláh of Tafrísh came with his father to Adrianople, followed Bahá’u’lláh into the ‘Akká prison, later prospered in trade, and ended his days in India; his grave is in Bombay.
Three brothers from Tabríz gave their hearts to Bahá’u’lláh: Hájí Hasan was killed for proclaiming the Faith in Ádhirbáyján, while Hájí Ja‘far and Hájí Taqí followed Him into the ‘Akká prison.
Mírzá Ḥasan-i-Adíb, a celebrated scholar of Tehran, became a believer in 1889 and was named a Hand of the Cause by Bahá’u’lláh; he served the Tehran Assembly, taught Bahá’í youth and helped found the Tarbiyat School.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Mírzá Ḥasan, the great Afnán, a learned kinsman of the Báb who settled near Bahjí, studied the stars by night, and did not long survive the passing of Bahá’u’lláh.
Ḥájí Mírzá Músá, whose father had been devoted to Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad, longed to give Him the house He lived in; Bahá’u’lláh would accept it only by purchase, and revealed a Tablet in Mírzá Músá’s honour.
Hájí Muhammad-Tahir of Yazd begged Bahá’u’lláh for martyrdom and was told he would live long to teach the Cause. He served for decades as a teacher, historian and protector of the families of Yazd’s martyrs.
Ḥájí Mullá Ismá‘íl-i-Qumí, a disciple of Siyyid Káẓim named Sirru’l-Vujúd at Badasht, was kept from Ṭabarsí by illness and later met martyrdom in Tihrán, forgiving his executioner.
Driven from Yazd for his faith, Mullá Mihdí set out with his two sons for the Holy Land, teaching along the way. Sick, his feet torn, he reached Mazra‘ih and died close by the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Mírzá Músá, Bahá’u’lláh’s faithful brother, who shared every exile from Ṭihrán to ‘Akká, and recalls Bahá’u’lláh’s joy when the fame of the Cause reached Díyárbakr.
Born in Charleston to formerly enslaved parents, Louis G. Gregory became a Bahá'í in 1909, was seated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá at His right in Washington, gave decades to teaching and race unity, and was posthumously named a Hand of the Cause.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Mashhadí Faṭṭáḥ, who came from Ádhirbáyján with his brother, lost everything he owned, lived content and silent in the prison of ‘Akká, and died of grief after the passing of Bahá’u’lláh.
Mírzá Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz, an early believer and calligrapher of Shíráz for whom Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Tablet of the Verse of Light, was betrayed, imprisoned and put to death in his native city.
Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání completed the first volume of his chronicle of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 journey in America at the end of 1913; at his sudden death the Guardian cabled that his outstanding services would shine evermore.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalls how He sensed a holy soul in a carriage approaching ‘Akká and went to the city gate to meet the Afnán, and how, after the Afnán died in India, his body was at last laid to rest near Baghdád.
A respected scholar of Isfahán gave up every comfort to serve Bahá’u’lláh and the believers in ‘Akká; after Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension, unable to bear His absence, he wasted away and died.
Mírzá Mustafá of Naráq, a believer since the days of the Báb, teaches the Faith openly in Tabríz with Shaykh Ahmad-i-Khurásání; when captured he reveals who he is, and at the place of execution asks to die first.
Mirza Qurban-‘Ali, a revered dervish of Barfurush who embraced the Cause through Mulla Husayn, was arrested in Tihran, boldly defended his faith before the Amir-Nizam, and was beheaded as the second of the Seven Martyrs.
A nephew of Vahid Darabi found certitude after long years of study, visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in ‘Akká, taught the Faith in America and Persia, and served the Cause until his passing in 1959.
Muḥammad-Hádí, a master bookbinder from Iṣfahán, kept the square before Bahá’u’lláh’s house in ‘Akká swept and sprinkled, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalls how a bowl of barley soup once cured his long fever.
Áqá Muḥammad of Iṣfahán served the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs for years, then emigrated to ‘Akká, where he swept the ground about Bahá’u’lláh’s house and, after His passing, wept and prayed there each dawn.
Muḥammad Labíb survived the 1903 persecution in Yazd, founded a children's savings company that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá blessed, helped Effie Baker photograph the Faith's historic sites in Iran, and later pioneered to Japan and Rhodes.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá remembers Mullá ‘Alí-Akbar, a learned seeker who found the Faith, was chained and jailed again and again in Ṭihrán yet kept safe, and after his death appeared to Him in a dream, saying he had been teaching the Faith.
After his father was killed for his faith near Káshán, ‘Alí-Akbar attained Bahá’u’lláh’s presence in ‘Iráq, later crossed deserts and mountains with his wife to reach Him again, and stayed loyal to the Covenant.
A disciple of Siyyid Kázim, Shaykh Ḥasan met the Báb in Karbilá, later served Him as a scribe and go-between, and, as the Báb had promised, met Bahá’u’lláh in Karbilá in 1851.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalls Shaykh Ṣádiq of Yazd, a man of constant prayer in Baghdád, whom He healed at Bahá’u’lláh’s bidding, and who later died on the road to Mosul, longing to reach his Lord.
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.
Won to the Faith by Jamal Effendi, Siyyid Mustafa Rumi spent his life teaching in India and Burma. He was killed at Daidanaw during the Second World War, and in 1945 Shoghi Effendi named him a Hand of the Cause of God.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s memorial of Táhirih: the learned woman of Qazvín who recognized the Báb, taught boldly in Karbilá and Baghdád, appeared unveiled at Badasht, and was put to death in Tihrán.
Seeing that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had no time even to bathe, Yúnis Khán and Mírzá Ḥaydar-‘Alí arranged for the pilgrim architect Ustád Áqá Bálá to build a small bath in His house. Three days later the Master asked if it was finished, and answered with a story.
Led to the Faith by childhood dreams of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the broadcaster William Sears gave up his career to pioneer to South Africa, met the Guardian on pilgrimage in 1954 and was appointed a Hand of the Cause in 1957.
The Montreal architect William Sutherland Maxwell, husband of May Maxwell, spent his last years serving Shoghi Effendi in Haifa and designed the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb.
At Cadogan Gardens, before leaving London in 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that teaching the Cause called for undivided attention; for six months He had not written even to His sister and daughters, because He must teach.
Let these exalted words be thy love-song on the tree of Bahá, O thou most holy and resplendent Leaf: ‘God, besides Whom is none other God, the Lord of this world and the next!’
I deeply appreciate your sympathy. My loss is tremendous and my sorrow so profound.
I greatly value your sympathy in my cruel, my irreparable loss.
Your highly impressive and touching message brought much relief to my weary soul.
O my dear sister!
The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf has filled my heart with unutterable sorrow.
I wish to add a few words in person as a token of my deepfelt appreciation of your loving message of sympathy in the great loss the family of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and myself have sustained.
And in this fervent plea, my voice is once more reinforced by the passionate, and perhaps, the last, entreaty, of the Greatest Holy Leaf, whose spirit, now hovering on the edge of the Great Beyond …
Both in the Persian and Arabic Writings of the Primal Point—may the life of all men be offered up for Him—there are several …
I wish to express to your distinguished assembly my gratitude for the action they have taken in reproducing in facsimile my humble tribute to the Greatest Holy Leaf.
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated August 25th 1932 and to extend his deep appreciation for your kind words of sympathy.
O ye who share my anguish and are my comforters in my distress and bereavement!
Moved by an unalterable devotion to the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, I feel prompted to share with you, and through you with the concourse of her steadfast lovers throughout the West …
Surely there is nothing that will console the Guardian more than the happy news that the Cause for which the Greatest Holy Leaf lived and suffered is gradually spreading and embracing the whole of the people of the world.
GREATEST HOLY LEAF’S IMMORTAL SPIRIT WINGED ITS FLIGHT GREAT BEYOND.
106 ...He was deeply touched by the strong attachment of the friends to one who, besides being the beloved daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, exemplified perhaps more than anyone the true spirit that animates His teachings. His sincere hope is…
The good news that the Word of God is being raised up, and His Cause glorified, and that His friends, on fire with love for Him, are arising to spread His sweet savours abroad—is coming in steadily from every quarter of the globe.
GREATEST HOLY LEAF ASCENDED ABHÁ KINGDOM. OUR GRIEF IMMENSE, OUR LOSS IRREPARABLE. INFORM LOCAL ASSEMBLIES COMMEMORATE BEFITTINGLY SACRED EXPERIENCES SO RICH, SO SUBLIME, SO EVENTFUL A LIFE.
The purport of your letter is highly indicative of your steadfastness in His Cause, of your unswerving constancy in the Covenant, of having set your face toward Shoghi Effendi, the authorized Point to whom all must turn …
A physician treats every illness with a certain remedy and to every painful sore he applies a specially prepared compound.
In these days, when we are all mourning the loss of our beloved Greatest Holy Leaf, Shoghi Effendi’s sole comfort is to see the friends as ever devoted and active and striving day and night to promote the teachings of the Cause.
The letter you have written was received with the utmost joy for it was to us not only a message of love and unity but a message of humble devotion and servitude at the divine Threshold.
All praise be unto the Court of Holiness, that God has drawn certain blessed souls, entities delicate and pure, unto a realm where they have no desire save the good-pleasure of the Beloved; where …
O Díyá! It is incumbent upon thee, throughout the journey, to be a close, a constant and cheerful companion to my honoured and distinguished sister.
82 ...The news of the Memorial Service you had held for the Greatest Holy Leaf gave him the assurance that the friends are faithfully sharing his grief and are demonstrating in a befitting manner their profound devotion to one whose…
Praise be to God that through His gracious bounty you were enabled to visit His exalted, His sacred and luminous Threshold, to refresh and perfume your nostrils with the sweet-scented fragrances of God diffused from these imperishable, holy Places.
Your charming letter of June 20th has arrived and with it the spiritual waves of your love and devotion to the welfare of the Cause of God and to the prosperity of the dear friends throughout America.
Your numerous letters written to the beloved Guardian and myself have all arrived and brought with them the sweet perfume of your devotion, sincerity, strong faith and active and beautiful services you are inexhaustibly rendering to the Cause of God.
From this hallowed Spot I send heavenly greetings to those two faithful servants of the holy Threshold of the Abhá Beauty.
The letter from that spiritual friend has reached the beloved Guardian, and he is aware of your bitter grieving over the calamitous news that a most glorious fruit of the Holy Tree, the Most Exalted Leaf, the Remnant of Bahá, has passed away.
Your letter, laden with many a graceful phrase, many a wondrous inner meaning, has been received.
The Bahá’í glad tidings disclose a vision of the Bounty of God and of the future progress of humanity, which is surely the greatest and most glorious Revelation ever given to mankind, the development and fulfillment of all previous Revelations.
Abbás Effendi, Who afterwards assumed the title of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (i.e.
In order to attain to the Bahá’í life in all its fullness, conscious and direct relations with Bahá’u’lláh are as necessary as is sunshine for the unfolding of the lily or the rose.
Mírzá ‘Alí Muḥammad, Who afterwards assumed the title of Báb (i.e.
The Báb has been compared to John the Baptist, but the station of the Báb is not merely that of the herald or forerunner.
At that time Akká (Acre) was a prison city to which the worst criminals were sent from all parts of the Turkish Empire.
Bahá’u’lláh teaches that everyone endowed with the Station of Prophethood is given sufficient proofs of His Mission, is entitled to claim obedience from all men and has authority to abrogate, alter or add to the teachings of His predecessors.
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.
On the 9th of July, 1850, the Báb Himself, Who was then in His thirty-first year, fell a victim to the fanatical fury of His persecutors.
Bahá’u’lláh left instructions that temples of worship should be built by His followers in every country and city.
This last quotation reveals the spirit which animated the Báb’s whole life.
In concluding this chapter it will be well to recall ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teaching as to the right use of physical health.
Devotion to God implies a life of service to our fellow-creatures.
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.
In order that we may attain the spiritual condition in which conversation with God becomes possible, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:— We must strive to attain to that condition by being separated from all things and from the people of the world and by turning to God alone.
All things manifest the bounty of God with greater or less clearness, as all material objects exposed to the sun reflect its light in greater or less degree.
After the Báb’s martyrdom, His remains, with those of His devoted companion, were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall.
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 inspiration.
Esslemont's short account of the Báb's early life: born in Shíráz in 1819, raised by a maternal uncle, a merchant from the age of fifteen, and noted as a youth for His piety and nobility of character.
From that time onwards, He became His father’s closest companion and, as it were, protector.
Told by the Báb to await the promised Husayn in Karbilá, the aged Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí met Bahá'u'lláh there in October 1851 and became one to whom He confided the secret He would later reveal in Baghdád.
In 1955 John and Audrey Robarts gave Shoghi Effendi a springbok-skin kaross from Bechuanaland. After the Guardian's passing, Rúhíyyih Khánum showed John Robarts that it had been his prayer mat.
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.
In New York in June 1912, Valíyu’lláh Varqá told Juliet Thompson and Lua Getsinger how Bahá’u’lláh had taught his father, the poet Varqá, about the power of the Great Ether and the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
On the eve of Naw-Rúz 1848 ‘Alí Khán, warden of the castle where the Báb was held, dreamed that the Prophet Muhammad was coming to visit Him. At sunrise he met Mullá Ḥusayn at the bridge, arriving on foot as in the dream.
In April 1912 John Bosch set out to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and, after a detour to Washington, found Him in New York. The Master told him that with him it was the heart that speaks, and welcomed him as one of the family.
When Bahá’u’lláh was a child, His father dreamed that He swam in a limitless ocean with a multitude of fishes clinging to His hair. A renowned soothsayer interpreted the dream as a sign of His future ascendancy.
Bahá’u’lláh recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá served the Cause in Adrianople and ‘Akká, facing the world on His Father’s behalf and securing the mansions of Mazra‘ih and Bahjí.
In Mashhad in 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn's attendant is cruelly paraded through the streets; after the ensuing uproar Prince Hamzih Mírzá receives Mullá Ḥusayn as a guest, and an admiring officer gives him a sword and a horse.
Mullá 'Alíy-i-Basṭámí followed Mullá Ḥusayn to Shíráz, sensed that his friend had found the Promised One, and on the third night of prayer was led by a vision to the Báb, becoming one of the Letters of the Living.
Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí recalls going at dawn with his teacher Siyyid Kázim to visit a Youth from Shíráz in Karbilá, and later recognizing that Youth as the Báb.
May Bolles, one of the first Western pilgrims, recalls her journey from Marseilles by way of Port Said to Haifa and the morning she first met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
When the Báb asked Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím in Shíráz whether he was seeking the Manifestation, he wept, and later told his friends how a vision of Siyyid Kázim and, years afterward, a white bird that spoke those very words to him in prayer had prepared him for that moment.
Mullá Husayn walked from Mashhad to visit the Báb in the castle of Máh-Kú, arriving at Naw-Rúz 1848. The Báb sent him on to Mázindarán, where, reading a manuscript shown him by his host Quddús, he found “God’s hidden treasure.”
After the death of Siyyid Kázim, Mullá Ḥusayn urged his fellow disciples to scatter in search of the Promised One. He spent forty days in prayer at the Masjid-i-Kufih, then travelled by way of Búshihr to Shíráz.
Born in Bushruyih in 1813 to a wealthy father and a mother known as a poetess, Mullá Ḥusayn studied in Mashhad and was drawn to Siyyid Kázim. At eighteen he set out for Karbilá, with most of his family, to study with him.
Siyyid Kázim sent his young disciple Mullá Ḥusayn to Iṣfahán to win back the support of a leading cleric. Mullá Ḥusayn obtained a written testimony to Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Kázim, and returned the money the cleric sent him.
In July 1850 the Báb and His young follower Anís were suspended before a regiment in the barracks square of Tabríz. The first volley only cut their ropes; the second took their lives, and a dust storm darkened the city.
Confined in Sari, Quddús wrote a commentary on one letter of a short Súrih that was three times as long as the Qur'án; besieged at Fort Shaykh Tabarsí, he wrote as much again, filling his companions with wonder.
On the day before His martyrdom in Tabríz, a youth, Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí, surnamed Anís, forced his way through the crowd and begged to follow the Báb. That night the Báb chose him to share His martyrdom.
In July 1848 Mullá Ḥusayn raised the Black Standard and set out from Mashhad with his companions. Attacked near Bárfurúsh, he held back until the enemy had killed several of them, then charged, and a single stroke of his sword put the attackers to flight.
In Isfahán, a city famed for its clergy, the first to accept the Báb was a humble sifter of wheat, who later set out with his sieve to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí; the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh both refer to him.
Jináb-i-Fáḍil's 1924 account of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's life, from His birth on the night of the Báb's declaration through the exiles and His years in 'Akká to His release by the Young Turk revolution of 1908.
In June 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight while praying on the roof of the barracks in 'Akká. Offered recovery by Bahá'u'lláh, he asked instead that his life be accepted as a ransom so that the believers might enter His presence.
Tarázu'lláh Samandarí recalls hearing Bahá'u'lláh chant the Tablet of the Sultán on the First Day of Riḍván and handing roses to the friends at His bidding, and a later Riḍván in the Garden of Riḍván.
Hájí Muhammad-Táhir-i-Malmírí recalls how Bahá'u'lláh answered the question about the Imams he had carried in his heart for months, and how, when he longed for martyrdom, Bahá'u'lláh told him he must live to serve the Cause.
Shoghi Effendi describes how Táhirih, knowing her death was near, dressed as a bride and awaited her martyrdom in prayer, and how at her death she declared, “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”
On the night Bahá'u'lláh moved to the Mansion of Bahjí, Nabíl and Hájí Muḥammad-Ṭáhir followed Him to circumambulate it and found its paths crowded with a mysterious throng. Bahá'u'lláh later named them Bulbul and Bahháj.
Ásíyih Khánum shared fifty years of Bahá'u'lláh's life, through exile and imprisonment. Her daughter and granddaughter remember her gentleness, her unselfishness and her simple, prayerful life.
A man who once set out to kill a Bahá'í becomes a believer, walks six months to 'Akká, and passes unseen through the guarded prison gate into the presence of Bahá'u'lláh.
Moved to tears by verses Nabíl read to him, the unruly youth Áqá Buzurg walks to 'Akká, meets Bahá'u'lláh twice, receives the name Badí, and is given the task of carrying His Tablet to the Sháh.
When Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned, His faithful servant Isfandíyár, hunted by officers, stayed in Ṭihrán until he had paid every debt, and later obeyed Bahá'u'lláh by remaining loyal to the minister who had sheltered him.
After Bahá'u'lláh's passing, 'Abdu'l-Bahá made a garden by His Father's Shrine and carried water for it Himself. On Holy Days He led the pilgrims, carrying pots of flowers, to the Shrine.
A children's introduction to the Báb through the words of people who knew Him: His schoolteacher, a visitor who met Him in Karbilá, and His wife, who saw Him praying late at night.
During an asthma attack, seven-year-old Brently sits on his grandfather's lap and hears how the Báb sent His pens and seals to Bahá'u'lláh, with a blue scroll bearing the word Bahá in 360 forms.
The life of Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in the Báb: his mission to Tihrán, his walk to the prison of Máh-Kú, the defense of Fort Shaykh Ṭabarsí, and his death in 1849.
A boy in a wheelchair, rescued from bullies one Halloween, remembers his friendship with Isfandiyar, a Bahá'í named after the faithful servant of Bahá'u'lláh whom 'Abdu'l-Bahá praised.
During a day in the Garden of Junaynih with the pilgrims, Bahá'u'lláh sends them to welcome 'Abdu'l-Bahá as He arrives from 'Akká, and says that with the Master's presence the garden has become truly most delightful.
Thornton Chase, the first Western believer, felt the Bahá'ís were not ready for the Master's visit to California, and died in Los Angeles as He reached San Francisco. He left his Bahá'í papers to John Bosch.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls her mother Ásíyih Khánum's marriage to Bahá'u'lláh, her forty mules of wedding treasures, and their life of caring for the poor. The jewelled buttons were later exchanged for bread on the road to exile.
While 'Abdu'l-Bahá was again confined to 'Akká, Corinne True brought Him a petition signed by over a thousand American believers asking to build a House of Worship. He held it high with joy and told her to make a beginning.
During Bahá'u'lláh's twelve days in the Garden of Riḍván in 1863, roses were heaped so high in His tent that the companions could not see one another across them, and at night He spoke of the sleepless nightingales.
When Shoghi Effendi, aged five, begged the Master to write something for him, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told him to memorize and chant the prayers of Bahá'u'lláh. The boy chanted them so loudly the whole neighbourhood heard.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls the night Bahá’u’lláh came home to His family in Baghdád after more than two years as a dervish in the mountains, and how the young Abbas Effendi threw Himself at His Father’s feet, weeping.
Writing a century after the death of Mirza Mihdi, the Purest Branch, the Universal House of Justice recalls his dying plea to his Father and the words in which Bahá’u’lláh revealed the meaning of his sacrifice.
Visiting the poet Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne and her invalid husband, Dr T. K. Cheyne, in Oxford, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was moved to tears by her loving care and called her an angelic woman.
Longing to answer the Guardian’s call for pioneers to South America, the convalescent Grace Ober fell and ended up in a wheelchair, where she met guests from Chile, Argentina, Peru and Brazil and gave them the Message.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalled how, on the 1863 journey from Baghdád to Constantinople, her brother ‘Abdu’l-Bahá guarded Bahá’u’lláh day and night, snatching sleep ahead of the caravan with His head on His horse’s neck.
In the prison of Chihríq, after months of grief for the martyrs of Shaykh Tabarsí, the Báb named His attendant Sayyáh, the Traveller, and sent him to visit their resting-place on His behalf. On the way back, in the depth of winter, Sayyáh came to Bahá'u'lláh's house in Tihrán.
In New York on 19 June 1912, while Juliet Thompson was painting His portrait, 'Abdu'l-Bahá opened His eyes and named Lua Getsinger the Herald of the Covenant, telling her to go forth and proclaim it.
During the Second World War the Guardian wrote God Passes By, his review of the first Bahá'í century, racing to finish it in time for the Centenary. Rúhíyyih Khánum, who proofread it with him late into the night, recorded what the work cost him.
Ḥájí Muḥammad Khán, a Balúch dervish, searched far and wide for a true guide and found none until he attained the presence of Bahá'u'lláh in the Most Great Prison. He went back to share the news with his old friends, then settled near Bahá'u'lláh.
In December 1939 Shoghi Effendi moved the remains of the Purest Branch and of his mother, Navváb, from their graves in 'Akká to Mount Carmel, near the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf.
In 1952 Shoghi Effendi directed the levelling of land around the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, changed his design after viewing it from a ruined building's roof, and then moved his meetings to the edge of the new garden out of respect for the Shrine.
Arrested in Tihran as a Babi, Shaykh Salman was freed by a merchant who mistook him for someone else, and then told the merchant the truth. For some forty years he carried Tablets of Baha'u'llah on foot and never lost a letter.
In 'Akká in 1909 Juliet Thompson gave 'Abdu'l-Bahá her mother's wish that she give up teaching the Faith for her painting. He told her to do both, and gave her a message about her two arts to take home.
Pilgrims walking from Persia carried plants for Bahá'u'lláh's garden near 'Akká. After nine years within the prison city's walls, He was persuaded to leave them, and the Sultán's farmán against Him became a dead letter.
Muḥammad-Hádí, a bookbinder and illuminator from Iṣfáhán, kept the square before Bahá'u'lláh's house in 'Akká so clean that Bahá'u'lláh said he had turned it into the bridalbower of a palace.
Pilgrims who had walked from Persia were refused entry to 'Akká and could only glimpse Bahá'u'lláh at a window from beyond the moat. Another pilgrim, Ustád Ismá'íl-i-Káshí, gazed for hours, but his sight was too weak to see His face.
George Townshend, once a canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, writes that spirituality was the dominant element in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s character, whose single aim was servitude to God.
Badí', a youth of seventeen, carried Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh on foot from 'Akká to Ṭihrán, delivered it to the king, and was tortured and put to death for it.
In 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, Bahá'u'lláh's son, fell through a skylight in the barracks of 'Akká. Offered his recovery, he asked instead that his life be a ransom for the believers kept from Bahá'u'lláh's presence.
In Adrianople a messenger of Bahá'u'lláh foretold to Haji Mirza Haydar-'Ali how a devoted merchant, granted wealth, would fall away, lose everything and at last return to serve the Cause as a poor man.
'Abdu'l-Bahá tells how Nabíl-i-Zarandí, who had spent his life in the service of Bahá'u'lláh, was overwhelmed with grief when Bahá'u'lláh passed away in 1892, and could not bear to live on without Him.
Esslemont's account of the Báb's birth in Shíráz on 20 October 1819, His upbringing by a merchant uncle after His father's death, and a youth noted for piety, nobility of character and faithful observance of prayer.
Nabíl's account of the evening of 22 May 1844, when the Báb met Mullá Ḥusayn outside the gate of Shíráz, brought him to His house, and declared His mission to him, the first to believe in Him.
Leroy Ioas recalls how Shoghi Effendi embraced and kissed Charles Dunning, the plainly dressed Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the Orkney Islands, and seated him beside himself at dinner.
Ugo Giachery describes being overwhelmed on first entering the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, and Shoghi Effendi explaining that evening the spiritual influence of the earthly remains of the Messengers of God.
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.
In the fifty-ninth Arabic Hidden Word, the Voice of God calls the human heart His home and bids that it be sanctified for His descent.
The sixty-fourth Hidden Word in Arabic — Bahá'u'lláh's word that He has created His eternity and wrought His unity for the soul, and His call to the soul to clothe itself therewith.
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.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls how, after Bahá’u’lláh withdrew from Baghdád, her brother ‘Abdu’l-Bahá grieved deeply and spent His days copying and memorizing the tablets of the Báb.
Munírih Khánum recalls how Bahá’u’lláh summoned her from Iṣfahán, her guarded journey by way of Mecca to ‘Akká, and her simple wedding to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, at which Bahá’u’lláh Himself chanted the prayers.
Leroy Ioas describes Shoghi Effendi’s day in Haifa: prayer from 5:30 in the morning, his vast mail, the pilgrims from East and West and the International Bahá’í Council, until late at night, every day of the week.
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.
Visiting Haifa at thirteen in 1919, Margaret (Bahíyyih) Randall was told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that her name means light, but that there is no light without something within. Asked how she could serve, He answered, “Study. Study. Study.”
The Báb and Quddús spent about two months on a rough sea voyage from Búshihr to Jiddah. Through storms and hardship they remained calm, the Báb revealing writings and Quddús taking them down.
Warned in 1918 that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was in serious danger, Lady Blomfield sought Lord Lamington's help; Lord Balfour had a cable sent to General Allenby to protect Him, and when Allenby took Haifa he cabled that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was safe.
At the 1938 National Convention in Wilmette, Grace Ober reported on her teaching trip and called for pioneers, whispered her congratulations to Harlan, and passed away in her seat.
When the Báb was brought to Tabríz in 1847, crowds acclaimed Him and a crier warned that anyone who approached Him would be imprisoned. Yet Ḥájí ‘Alí-‘Askar was admitted to His presence seven times, as Mullá Ḥusayn had foretold.
In a village in northern Iran, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and ‘Alavíyyih Khánum started family prayer, schools for girls and boys, and a cooperative. He was martyred in 1883; she spent the rest of her life teaching the Faith.
When Áqá Faraj first heard of Bahá'u'lláh, he clapped his hands for joy and hurried to Iraq to meet Him. Later he went on foot to Adrianople and followed Bahá'u'lláh into the prison of ‘Akká, where he served Him faithfully.
In Adrianople, where food was scarce, Áqá Ḥusayn, Bahá'u'lláh's cook, saved meat and oil until he could cook a meal, and measured the coal for every brazier. When Bahá'u'lláh heard of it, He was amused and agreed such care was needed.
When Ibn-i-Abhar, a Hand of the Cause, asked Bahá'u'lláh for guidance, Bahá'u'lláh told him to consult with steadfast believers and act on their decision. He later taught across Persia, the Caucasus and India and promoted the education of women.
After a dream, young ‘Abdu’l-Vahhab left his shop in Shíráz to follow Mullá ‘Alí, a disciple of the Báb. His angry father beat Mullá ‘Alí, but years later Bahá'u'lláh brought the father to the Faith and he was forgiven.
Faraju'lláh of Tafrísh and his father left Persia to live near Bahá'u'lláh in Adrianople. He went with Bahá'u'lláh to the prison of ‘Akká, and later lived for many years in India.
Early in his ministry the Guardian added three rooms to the Shrine of the Báb, paid for by Haji Mahmud Qassabchi of Iraq. One of the Shrine's doors is named after him.
Mirza Hasan-i-Adib, a learned teacher and writer in Tihrán, became a Bahá'í in 1889. Bahá'u'lláh named him a Hand of the Cause, and he served the Faith as a teacher and poet and helped found the Tarbiyat School.
Mírzá Ḥasan, a relative of the Báb, was a merchant and scholar who came to love Bahá'u'lláh deeply. He settled near Bahjí to be close to Him, and died soon after Bahá'u'lláh's passing.
Ḥájí Muḥammad-Ṭáhir, a weaver of Yazd, asked Bahá'u'lláh to let him die as a martyr and was told he would live long to teach the Cause. He lived to be a hundred, teaching and caring for the families of the martyrs.
Ḥájí Mullá Ismá'íl of Faráhán searched for the truth from his youth and found it in the Báb. He was the third of the Seven Martyrs of Ṭihrán, and before he died he forgave his executioner.
Ḥájí Mullá Mihdí, who made rose-water in Yazd, was driven from his city for his faith. He set out with two of his sons to reach Bahá'u'lláh, teaching along the way, and died at Mazra'ih, close to the Mansion.
Mírzá Músá, the younger brother of Bahá'u'lláh, was raised by Him, wanted no rank or office, and went with Him through every exile, from Ṭihrán to Baghdad, Constantinople, Adrianople and the prison of 'Akká.
Mashhadí Faṭṭáḥ lost everything he owned, yet he lived content in the prison of 'Akká, always remembering God. When Bahá'u'lláh passed away, he died of grief.
Mírzá Áqáy-i-Rikáb-Sáz of Shíráz asked Bahá'u'lláh to explain the isolated letters of the Qur'án, and received the Tablet of the Verse of Light. He was later martyred for his faith.
From a rooftop in 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá saw a distant carriage and sensed that a holy being was in it. It was the Afnán, Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí, whose burial years later near Baghdád 'Abdu'l-Bahá guided by letter.
Mírzá Mustafá of Naráq gave up everything for the Faith and taught it openly in Tabríz. When the men sent to arrest him doubted they had the right man, he took off his hat to show his long hair and said, "I am the one."
Mírzá Qurbán-‘Alí, a much-loved man of Mázindarán, accepted the Báb through Mullá Husayn. Arrested in Tihrán, he told the chief minister that he had judged the Báb fairly, and he gave his life as one of the Seven Martyrs.
Muḥammad Labíb started a savings company for schoolchildren that 'Abdu'l-Bahá blessed. Later he travelled across Persia with Effie Baker as she photographed the places of early Bahá'í history.
When Ásíyih Khánum married Bahá'u'lláh, forty mules carried her wedding treasures. Together they cared for the poor, and when hard times came, her jewels paid for food and her gold buttons were traded for bread.
In a garden outside Baghdád, roses were piled so high in Bahá'u'lláh's tent that His friends could not see one another across them, and at night the nightingales sang until dawn.
Nabíl followed Bahá'u'lláh from 'Iráq to 'Akká, teaching His Cause wherever he went. When Bahá'u'lláh passed away in 1892, Nabíl's grief was more than he could bear.
The Báb was born in Shíráz in 1819 and raised by His uncle. As a young merchant He was known for His good character and for never failing in His prayers.
Mullá Ḥusayn was searching for the Promised One. Outside the gate of Shíráz a Youth in a green turban welcomed him, took him home, and that night declared that He was the Báb.
Saying goodbye to 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the ship that took Him from America, Howard Colby Ives knelt and placed the Master's hand on his head. He never forgot how still that hand lay.
In 1921 Shoghi Effendi, a student in England, walked into an office in London and read a cable on the desk telling of the passing of his grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's gardener said grass would not grow in that land, but Shoghi Effendi kept sending for seed until his lawns grew.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls the caravan of about seventy-five people that set out from Baghdad with Bahá’u’lláh in 1863, and how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá guarded His father day and night on the journey.
May Maxwell died only weeks after arriving in South America as a pioneer. The Guardian wrote that she laid down her life in a spirit that merited the crown of martyrdom.
As 'Abdu'l-Bahá left a country estate at Milford, Pennsylvania, in June 1912, He looked at its lush greenery and wept, remembering the sufferings of Bahá'u'lláh.
On December 5, 1912, believers crowded aboard the Celtic in New York to bid 'Abdu'l-Bahá farewell. He gave them His parting words, and as the ship sailed, a throng stretching as far as the eye could see waved goodbye.
On May 1, 1912, at the site of the future House of Worship in Wilmette, 'Abdu'l-Bahá dug the ground for the foundation stone with a golden trowel. Believers of many backgrounds followed, and He set the stone in place.
When he was very young, people thought of ‘Abdu’lláh Baghdádí as a libertine, solely devoted to pleasure.
Jináb-i-Muníb, a calligrapher, poet and singer of Káshán, walked beside Bahá'u'lláh's howdah from Baghdád to Constantinople. Gravely ill on the voyage to 'Akká, he was put ashore at Smyrna, where his grave lies.
Sháh-Muḥammad, who had the title of Amín, the Trusted One, was among the earliest of believers, and most deeply enamored.
Khurshíd Begum, who was given the title of Shamsu’d-Ḍuḥá, the Morning Sun, was mother-in-law to the King of Martyrs.
One of the emigrants who died along the way to the Holy Land was Zaynu’l-Ábidín of Yazd.
In 1872, on her way to 'Akká, Munírih Khánum stayed in Shíráz and asked Khadíjih-Bagum, the wife of the Báb, about her marriage. She recalled her dreams, her life with the Báb, and the night Mullá Ḥusayn came.
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.
Ṭúbá Khánum, a granddaughter of Bahá'u'lláh, recalls His last illness at Bahjí in 1892, His final words to the believers and the family, and the nine days of mourning the Master arranged after His passing.
Bahíyyih Khánum, daughter of Bahá'u'lláh, describes the underground prison in Tihrán where her father lay chained for four months in 1852, and her mother's struggle to get food to Him.
Nabíl, who compiled the Tablet of Visitation at 'Abdu'l-Bahá's request, was inconsolable after the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh and, a few months later, took his own life.
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.
J. E. Esslemont describes the nineteen-day Fast of the month of 'Alá', whose reality he calls severance from all save God, and quotes 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words that fasting is a symbol and that moderation is necessary.
Nabíl-i-Zarandí left his family in youth, sought out Bahá'u'lláh, and spent his life travelling and teaching at His direction. 'Abdu'l-Bahá records his devotion and his grief at Bahá'u'lláh's passing.
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.
Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí, the Afnán, a kinsman of the Báb, gave up his business and estates after Bahá'u'lláh's ascension and spent nearly all he owned building the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of 'Ishqábád, the first Bahá'í House of Worship.
Shoghi Effendi sent the American believer Keith Ransom-Kehler to Persia to plead for the freedom of the persecuted Bahá'ís there. The Sháh never received her, but she stirred the Persian community, and when she died in Iṣfáhán in 1933 the Guardian called her the first American martyr.
In 1909 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid the remains of the Báb in the Shrine He had built on Mount Carmel. Twelve years later, after His own funeral, His coffin was lowered into a vault beside that of the Báb in the same Shrine.
After Bahá'u'lláh's ascension, 'Abdu'l-Bahá asked the chronicler Nabíl to select passages from Bahá'u'lláh's Writings to form the Tablet of Visitation, the text now recited in the Shrines of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb.
'Abdu'l-Bahá remembers Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá Baghdádí, a fearless believer of Iraq who settled in Beirut to help pilgrims on their way to and from 'Akká, and who stood firm in the Covenant after Bahá'u'lláh's ascension.
Six days before His ascension in May 1892, Bahá'u'lláh called the believers and pilgrims at the Mansion of Bahjí to His bedside, thanked them for their services, and prayed that God would assist them to remain united.
Bahá'u'lláh ascended at Bahjí at dawn on 29 May 1892. A telegram beginning "the Sun of Bahá has set" carried the news to the Sultan, and for a week mourners of many faiths gathered at Bahjí to grieve with His family.
On the night He declared His mission in Shíráz, the Báb called Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in Him, the Bábu'l-Báb, "the gate of that Gate." Mullá Ḥusayn went on to carry the Báb's message to Tihrán and Khurásán, and fell at Shaykh Ṭabarsí.
Bahá'u'lláh called His eldest Son the Most Mighty Branch, the Master and the Mystery of God. Shoghi Effendi explains what the last title means, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in His own words, asks to be known only as the Servant of Bahá.
Quddús was the last of the Letters of the Living and the Báb's chosen companion on His pilgrimage to Mecca. At Badasht Bahá'u'lláh gave him the name Quddús. The Báb gave him the title of the Last Name of God.
Nabíl of Zarand left his home as a youth to teach the new Faith, wrote odes in praise of Bahá'u'lláh and travelled on His errands. From 1888 he wrote the chronicle published in English as The Dawn-Breakers.
Mullá Zaynu'l-'Ábidín, once the leading cleric of Najaf-Ábád, became a follower of the Báb and of Bahá'u'lláh, who named him Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín. His careful copies of Bahá'u'lláh's Tablets became a standard for checking published texts.
In 1920 Hyde Dunn, then in his sixties, and his wife Clara answered 'Abdu'l-Bahá's call and settled in Australia. Working as a travelling salesman, he carried the Bahá'í message to hundreds of towns, and the couple became known as "Father" and "Mother" Dunn.
Between 1948 and 1953 Shoghi Effendi raised an arcade, drum and golden dome around the plain stone Shrine 'Abdu'l-Bahá had built for the Báb on Mount Carmel. When it was finished he called it the "Queen of Carmel."
On Naw-Rúz 1909, after the Báb's remains had been hidden and moved for decades, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them with His own hands in the Shrine He had built on Mount Carmel, and wept so that all who were present wept with Him.
On 22 April 1863, on the eve of His exile to Constantinople, Bahá'u'lláh crossed the Tigris to the Najíbíyyih Garden. During the twelve days He spent there He declared His mission to His companions.
Bahíyyih Khánum remembered her mother, Ásíyih Khánum, who married Bahá'u'lláh in 1835: her wealth as a bride, her gentleness, and the care for the poor that led people to call her the Mother of Consolation.
Years later, the wife of the Báb told Munírih Khánum of the dreams that came before their marriage, of His hours of prayer, and of the night Mullá Ḥusayn came to their home in Shíráz.
In A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá describes the Báb's early years in a few lines: raised in Shíráz by His uncle, a merchant in Búshihr, and known for godliness and piety long before He made any claim.
Khadíjih Bagum, the wife of the Báb, told Munírih Khánum how His uncles and aunts revered Him before His Declaration, and how He called the papers He asked for each evening the Book of the accounts of all the peoples of the world.
J. E. Esslemont describes the young Báb as noted for beauty, charm of manner, piety and nobility of character, faithful in prayer and fasting, and living in the spirit of the Prophet's teachings as well as the letter.
Every year for some forty years Shaykh Salmán walked from Persia to Bahá'u'lláh with the believers' letters and carried His Tablets home, never losing one. After the ascension he served 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the same way.
In Adrianople Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Súriy-i-Ghuṣn, the Tablet of the Branch, which extols 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the "Branch of Holiness" and the "Trust of God" and foreshadows His appointment as Centre of the Covenant.
In December 1898 the first pilgrims from the West began to reach 'Akká to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá. One of them, Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper, later described entering the prison-city by night with Phoebe Hearst and being led up to the Master by candlelight.
The Báb told Mullá Ḥusayn that the last of His first eighteen disciples would arrive the next night. The next evening a travel-stained youth recognised the Báb in the street by His gait. He was Quddús, the last of the Letters of the Living and the first in rank.
In A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá tells how the Báb, in His twenty-fifth year, declared Himself the Gate, the channel of grace from a great Person still hidden, and how most opposed Him while a few seekers arose to spread His Cause.
In Shíráz in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn would not tell Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí whom he had found. Mullá ‘Alí prayed for three nights until a vision led him to the Báb, Who then sent him out as "the first to leave the House of God."
In Iṣfahán in 1844 Mullá Ṣádiq asked Mullá Ḥusayn to name the Promised One. Told only that God's door is never closed to a seeker, he prayed alone, and in a vision saw the face of a Youth he had often seen praying in Karbilá.
In Ṭihrán in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn learned from a young student of Núr about a son of Mírzá Buzurg who fed the hungry and befriended the poor. He sent Him a scroll by the student's hand, and Bahá'u'lláh, reading it, affirmed its truth.
In Karbilá, Siyyid Káẓim took his disciple Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí to visit a Youth from Shíráz whom he treated with deep reverence. Years later, when Shaykh Ḥasan heard the call of the Báb, he knew at once that it was the same Youth.
After Siyyid Káẓim's death, Mullá Ḥusayn urged his fellow disciples to scatter and search for the Promised One, spent forty days in prayer and fasting at the mosque of Kúfih, and then travelled by way of Búshihr to Shíráz.
When His house in Baghdád could not hold all who came to bid Him farewell, Bahá'u'lláh crossed the Tigris to the Najíbíyyih garden, later called the Garden of Riḍván, and there on 22 April 1863 declared His station to His companions.
'Abdu'l-Bahá, then eighteen, arranged His Father's stay in the Garden of Riḍván and crossed the Tigris with Him. There, The Chosen Highway relates, Bahá'u'lláh confided to Him that He was "He Whom God shall make Manifest."
Badíʻ, a seventeen-year-old believer, asked Bahá'u'lláh for the honour of carrying His Tablet to Náṣiri'd-Dín Sháh. He walked alone to Ṭihrán, brought it to the king, and was tortured and killed. Bahá'u'lláh named him the Pride of Martyrs.
In 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight while praying on the roof of the barracks of 'Akká. Dying, he asked Bahá'u'lláh to accept his life as a ransom for the believers who could not reach His presence.
In Ṭihrán in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn gave a student from Núr a scroll to hand to Bahá'u'lláh at dawn. Bahá'u'lláh read it aloud, declared that its words had the same regenerating power as the Qur'án, and sent Mullá Ḥusayn a gift of tea and sugar.
Shoghi Effendi went to Oxford to perfect his English for translating the sacred Writings. In 1935 he published Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, a selection of passages he had translated, which Professor Norman Bentwich and Queen Marie of Romania, among others, praised.
Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl, head of a religious college in Ṭihrán, became a Bahá'í in 1876 and spent the rest of his life teaching the Faith, from Egypt to Paris to Green Acre, yet he wept when believers praised him.
Mishkín-Qalam, the leading calligrapher of Persia, heard of the Faith and set out to find Bahá'u'lláh in Adrianople, wrote the Most Great Name in many forms, endured years of imprisonment in Cyprus, and remained firm in the Covenant.
Mírzá Muḥammad-'Alíy-i-Zunúzí, called Anís, was confined by his stepfather for his love of the Báb. In a vision the Báb promised that he would share His martyrdom, and on 9 July 1850 he died beside Him in Tabríz.
After the martyrdom of the Báb in 1850, believers hid His remains in shrines and houses in Ṭihrán for nearly fifty years, then carried them to the Holy Land, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them to rest on Mount Carmel in 1909.
After the martyrdom, the bodies of the Báb and His companion were left under guard beside the moat of Tabríz. Ḥájí Sulaymán Khán had them carried away by night, and at Bahá'u'lláh's instruction they were later brought to Ṭihrán and kept hidden.
Between 1904 and 1906 Laura Clifford Barney made several long visits to 'Akká and put her questions to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, often at the lunch table. His replies, written down and corrected by Him, became Some Answered Questions.
Shaykh Ṣádiq of Yazd, healed in Baghdád through words given by Bahá'u'lláh, stayed behind as bidden when the exiles left the city. After Bahá'u'lláh reached Mosul he could bear the separation no longer, ran after Him, and died on the open plain.
Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí, a Súfí poet, found Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád and begged to go with Him into exile as a groom. He walked beside the convoy by day, tended the horses at night, and served Him faithfully all the way to the prison of 'Akká.
As financial secretary of Bahai Temple Unity, Corinne True of Chicago gathered gifts from across America and the East for the House of Worship at Wilmette. She lived to see it dedicated in 1953 and was known as the Mother of the Temple.
From 1919 until her death in Honolulu in 1939, Martha Root travelled four times around the world teaching the Bahá'í Faith, from South American cities to the palace of Queen Marie of Romania. Shoghi Effendi called her the foremost Hand of the first Bahá'í century.
In 'Ishqábád, in Russian Turkistán, the Bahá'ís raised the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of the Bahá'í world, begun in 1902 under 'Abdu'l-Bahá's guidance, with a school, a travellers' house and a building for a hospital in its garden.
In 1894 Sarah Farmer opened Green Acre in Eliot, Maine, as a summer platform for speakers of every religion. After her pilgrimage to 'Akká in 1900 she offered it to the Bahá'ís, and in 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá spent a week there and prayed for her.
Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí, the Vakílu'd-Dawlih, a cousin of the Báb, gave up his business and estates to build the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of 'Ishqábád, the first Bahá'í House of Worship, spending almost everything he owned on it.
In December 1898 the first of fifteen Western pilgrims, travelling in three parties arranged by Phoebe Hearst, reached 'Akká and met 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi saw in their visit the opening of a new epoch for the Faith in the West.
In 1920 the American Bahá'ís chose Louis Bourgeois's design for the House of Worship at Wilmette. He then showed his drawings to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who called the design "the most beautiful in the world."
The Báb gave His followers a new calendar of nineteen months of nineteen days, each month named after an attribute of God, with Naw-Rúz as its first day. Bahá'u'lláh confirmed it in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and fixed the place of the extra days before the Fast.
In Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, J. E. Esslemont describes the close of the Bahá'í year: the intercalary days of hospitality and giving, the nineteen-day Fast, and then Naw-Rúz at the March equinox.
In November 1849, grieving for the martyrs of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the Báb sent His attendant Sayyáh from Chihríq to visit their resting-place, asking him to return before Naw-Rúz, "the only one I probably shall ever see again."
The Báb inaugurated a new calendar of nineteen months, named after the attributes of God. In the Bayán He made the last month the month of fasting, set Naw-Rúz at its close, and designated Naw-Rúz the Day of God.
In April 1863 Bahíyyih Khánum, then in her teens, helped the household prepare for exile while Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the Garden of Riḍván. The Tigris overflowed, and only on the ninth day could the family join Him there.
Mírzá Asadu'lláh Káshání and other companions pitched Bahá'u'lláh's tent in the Garden of Riḍván, cooked and made tea, held the tent ropes through days of wind, and kept watch at night during the twelve days of 1863.
'Abdu'l-Bahá was eighteen when He crossed the Tigris with Bahá'u'lláh to the Garden of Riḍván in 1863. Shoghi Effendi records that He had recognized His Father's station while still a child.
In 1910 the American Bahá'í physician Dr. Susan I. Moody wrote home from Tehran about her medical work, the Bahá'í women she met, and the community's plans for a girls' school, which it raised funds to open.
Sent by the Báb to Ṭihrán in 1844, Mullá Ḥusayn entrusted a scroll of the Báb's writings to a student from Núr, who carried it at dawn to Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh at once affirmed its truth, and the news brought the Báb great joy.
Ṭáhirih never met the Báb. She sent a sealed letter with her sister's husband to the Promised One he was sure to meet, and on receiving it the Báb named her one of the Letters of the Living.
In Iṣfáhán, a city famed for its divines, the first to accept the Báb's message was a sifter of wheat. Years later, sieve in hand, he set out to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, where he was martyred.
Mírzá Muḥammad, a scholar of good family in Iṣfáhán, gave up a life of comfort to go to the prison of 'Akká, where he served Bahá'u'lláh, the believers and the travelling pilgrims day and night.
After leaving the Garden of Riḍván on 3 May 1863, Bahá'u'lláh travelled with His family and twenty-six companions across eastern Anatolia to Constantinople. Officials and villagers welcomed Him along the way, and His companions served Him on foot.
In Baghdád 'Abdu'l-Bahá grew into a youth beloved by all who knew Him. The Chosen Highway records how, before the exile of 1863, He shielded His Father, arranged His move to the Garden of Riḍván and set out with Him on the journey to Constantinople.
At noon on 3 May 1863 Bahá'u'lláh rode out of the Garden of Riḍván on a red roan stallion, the best His lovers could buy for Him. Crowds bowed at His horse's feet, and believers and unbelievers alike wept.
On Naw-Rúz 1909, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the casket holding the remains of the Báb and His companion in the marble sarcophagus on Mount Carmel with His own hands, and wept so that all present wept with Him.
A parrot in the Pilgrim House had been taught to say ‘Allah-u-Abhá’ and ‘Say O Bahá.’ When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá meant to give it to the governor of ‘Akká, the bird said ‘Say, say’ and then ‘O Bahá!’, and He decided to keep it.
A Western pilgrim describes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on Mount Carmel in 1909 moving the remains of the Báb into the marble sarcophagus with His own hands, and weeping aloud as the believers wept with Him.
At the farewell aboard the S.S. Celtic in December 1912, Howard Colby Ives knelt and placed 'Abdu'l-Bahá's hand on his head. The hand lay still, and Ives remembered it ever after as a sign of the Master's humility.
Walking behind ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the sands near ‘Akká, Lua Getsinger placed her feet in His footprints. A scorpion’s sting, and the Master’s words afterwards, taught her what it means to walk in His footsteps.
On 29 November 1921 Shoghi Effendi, a student at Oxford, learned of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá by reading the cable that lay open on a desk in Wellesley Tudor Pole's London office.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's gardener said lawns would not grow in Palestine. Shoghi Effendi cabled friends and relatives and finally wrote to seed firms himself, and in time had lawns that satisfied him.
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.’
Aḥmad of Yazd lived near Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád and later set out to reach Him in Adrianople. In Constantinople he received the Tablet of Aḥmad, and instead of going on, he returned to Persia to teach.
The calligrapher Mishkín-Qalam, sent by Bahá'u'lláh from Adrianople to Constantinople, was arrested through the Persian ambassador's slanders and held for about nine years at Famagusta in Cyprus before he was freed and went to 'Akká.
May the glances of Him Whom God shall make manifest illumine this letter at the primary school.
This is an epistle from this lowly servant to the All-Glorious Lord—He Who hath been aforetime and will be hereafter made manifest.
All majesty and glory, O my God, and all dominion and light and grandeur and splendour be unto Thee.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. All praise be unto God Who was Ever-Existent ere created things were called into being, when there was no one else besides Him.
Consecrate Thou, O my God, the whole of this Tree unto Him, that from it may be revealed all the fruits created by God within it for Him through Whom God hath willed to reveal all that He pleaseth.
Do Thou ordain for me, O Lord, every good thing Thou hast created or wilt create, and shield me from whatever evil Thou abhorrest from among the things Thou hast caused or wilt cause to exist.
Glorified be Thy Name, O Lord!
Glory be unto Thee, O God. How can I make mention of Thee while Thou art sanctified from the praise of all mankind.
Likewise consider the manifestation of the Point of the Bayán.
O My God! I have failed to know Thee as is worthy of Thy glory, and I have failed to fear Thee as befitteth my station.
O My God! There is no one but Thee to allay the anguish of my soul, and Thou art my highest aspiration, O my God.
O People of the earth!
O Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love.
O Thou who art the chosen one among women! He is God; glorified is the splendour of His light.
Recite ye as much as convenient from this Qur’án both at morn and at eventide, and chant the verses of this Book, by the leave of the eternal God, in the sweet accents of this Bird which warbleth its melody in the vault of heaven.
Say, by reason of your remembering Him Whom God shall make manifest and by extolling His name, God will cause your hearts to be dilated with joy, and do ye not wish your hearts to be in such a blissful state?
The reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion is this, that thou mayest give thy best attention to the remembrance of God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved.
Twelve hundred and seventy years have elapsed since the declaration of Muḥammad, and each year unnumbered people have circumambulated the House of God [Mecca].
Verily I am Thy servant, O my God, and Thy poor one and Thy suppliant and Thy wretched creature.
Worship thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise.
O ye loving mothers, know ye that in God’s sight, the best of all ways to worship Him is to educate the children and train them in all the perfections of humankind; and no nobler deed than this can be imagined.
O ye two well-loved handmaids of God! Whatever a man’s tongue speaketh, that let him prove by his deeds. If he claimeth to be a believer, then let him act in accordance with the precepts of the Abhá Kingdom.
O thou daughter of the Kingdom! Thy letters were received. Their contents indicated that thy mother hath ascended to the invisible realm and that thou hast been left alone.
O thou who gazest upon the Kingdom of God!
Thy letter was received. I hope that thou mayest be protected and assisted under the providence of the True One, be occupied always in mentioning the Lord and display effort to complete thy profession.
O thou sincere and loyal handmaid of the Lord! I have read thy letter. Thou art truly attached to the Kingdom and devoted to the All-Glorious Horizon.
Praise be to God, thy heart is engaged in the commemoration of God, thy soul is gladdened by the glad tidings of God and thou art absorbed in prayer.
O living flame of heavenly love! Thine heart hath been so fired with the love of God that from ten thousand leagues afar its warmth and radiance may be felt and seen.
The teacher, when teaching, must be himself fully enkindled, so that his utterance, like unto a flame of fire, may exert influence and consume the veil of self and passion.
O ye faithful friends, O ye sincere servants of Bahá’u’lláh!
Whoso reciteth this prayer with lowliness and fervour will bring gladness and joy to the heart of this Servant; it will be even as meeting Him face to face.
In cycles gone by, each one of the Manifestations of God hath had His own rank in the world of existence, and each hath represented a stage in the development of humanity.
O ye handmaids of the Lord! In this century—the century of the Almighty Lord—the Day-Star of the Realms above, the Light of Truth, shineth in its meridian splendour and its rays illuminate all regions.
O handmaid of God, who tremblest even as a fresh and tender branch in the winds of the love of God!
O ye co-workers who are supported by armies from the realm of the All-Glorious!
Ye have written as to the meetings of the friends, and how filled they are with peace and joy.
It befitteth the friends to hold a gathering, a meeting, where they shall glorify God and fix their hearts upon Him, and read and recite the Holy Writings of the Blessed Beauty—may my soul be the ransom of His lovers!
Whensoever a company of people shall gather in a meeting place, shall engage in glorifying God, and shall speak with one another of the mysteries of God, beyond any doubt the breathings of the Holy Spirit will blow gently over them, and each shall receive a share thereof.
We hear that thou hast in mind to embellish thy house from time to time with a meeting of Bahá’ís, where some among them will engage in glorifying the All-Glorious Lord...
Thou hast asked about places of worship and the underlying reason therefor.
O ye blessed souls! The letter ye had written to Rahmatu’lláh hath been perused.
O bird that singeth sweetly of the Abhá Beauty! In this new and wondrous dispensation the veils of superstition have been torn asunder and the prejudices of eastern peoples stand condemned.
O thou maidservant of God!
Leroy Ioas recalled that Shoghi Effendi lived only for the Cause of God, rejoicing at news of the believers' victories and grieving at their sufferings, his heart like a mirror reflecting all parts of the world.
Before travelling to the West of America, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wished first to visit Montreal, where May Maxwell, founder of the first Bahá’í community in France, had established the first permanent Bahá’í community in Canada.
In June 1913 the Star of the West printed Edward Theodore Hall's tribute to Sarah Ann Ridgway, a silk weaver of Pendleton and the first Bahá'í in Manchester, who taught the Faith there quietly for many years.
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.
I ask God that thou mayest find a perceiving eye, an attentive ear and an eloquent tongue; that thou mayest loosen thy tongue in delivering the Cause of God, promoting the Word of God in that country …
O maid-servant of God who art swayed like a strong branch by the breeze of God!
O my God, my God! I am a servant attracted to Thee, humbly coming to the door of Thy Oneness and addressing the kingdom of Thy mercy.
O my Lord, my Beloved, my Desire!
O seeker of Truth!
O thou advancer to God! Verily, I have read thy brilliant letter which is elegantly composed. I supplicate God to alleviate thy trials and look upon thee with the eye of His mercy under all aspects.
O thou esteemed maid-servant of the Loving Lord! What thou hast written in recommendation of a number of Christians was perused.
O thou esteemed maid-servant of the Word of God! Praise be to God! upon thy departure from Acca, thou hast been assisted and rendered successful in serving the Kingdom of God.
O thou flower of the Rose-garden of God! Thou hast presented thy life. I have also accepted it, in order that thou mayest sacrifice thyself in the path of God and attain to the ultimate desire of the spiritual ones.
O thou opened rose in the garden of El-ABHA! I have perused thy excellently worded letter showing what is moving in thy heart by the emotions of the love of God.
O thou pure and spiritual one!
O thou pure soul who art kindled by the fire of the love of Baha’!
O thou servant of the Beauty of Abha! We considered all that thou hast written. It seems that the maid-servant of God, Mrs. ........., hath arisen to deliver (the truth).
O thou servant who art near and dear to the Glorious Threshold!
O thou that mirror in which the Light of Guidance is printed!
O thou who art accepted of God! Know thou that, verily, the eye of favors is directed to thee and is beholding thee with a divine glance, so that thou mayest, with clear eyes, see the lights of the Kingdom upon the horizon.
O thou who art advancing to the Dawning-point of Lights! Extend the hands of communion unto the sacred and brilliant Threshold and read the following prayer: O my God!
O thou who art advancing toward God! Verily I read thy letter of wonderful expression and eloquent composition and thanked God that He hath poured upon thee the bounty of guidance and hath made thy heart a lamp of piety.
O thou who art advancing toward the Kingdom! Thy letter was received.
O thou who art advancing unto the Face of God!
O thou who art agitated as oceans by the winds blown from the direction of the Kingdom of God!
O thou who art desirous of the Kingdom of God! Thy letter was the cause of happiness and its contents were the proof of thy turning to the Shining Beauty.
O thou who art directed to the Light of Guidance! Thank thou God, for thou hast chanted the verses of the Mighty guidance in the assemblage of knowledge and hast unfurled the banner of attraction in those most extensive places.
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.
O thou who art marching unto God! Thy letter was read. Its contents indicated thy devotion to the Horizon of the Living God and thy love for the Promised Perfection.
O thou who art set aglow with the Fire of the Love of God! Thy letter reached me and I noted its beautiful contents.
O thou who art skilled in the Knowledge of God and wise in the Wisdom of the Almighty!
O thou who art turned to the Kingdom of the Lord, the Forgiving!
O thou whose face is radiant with the light of the Love of God!
O thou whose heart hath been filled with the love of the Beauty of God!
O thou whose tongue is uttering the Name of God!
O thou wonderful leaf of the Tree of the Love of God! All that thou hast written was perused. It was read from beginning to end, and it caused joy and fragrance.
O ye dear servants of God! Your letter received and the contents proved excellent.
O ye firm ones in the Covenant! The report of [your meeting] was noted. All the arrangements of the meeting are suitable and acceptable.
O ye leaves of the Paradise of El-ABHA, and the maid-servants of the Merciful!
O ye members of the shining assembly! The letter which was written by you, was not a letter, but a musk sack.
O ye spiritual ones! O ye heavenly ones! The assembly which you have established in that city is a splendor from the congregation of the Supreme Concourse.
O ye two dear maid-servants of God! Your longing to visit the Sacred Soil is expressed and evident and your presence will be a source of pleasure to me.
O ye two pilgrims of the Holy Shrine! The news of your protected and safe arrival in Paris, France, reached here and made me glad and happy.
Rejoice, O maid-servant of God! —for that thou hast known God and heard His call and art attracted to His breaths!
Verily I approach Thee, O my God, in the darkest hour of this dark night, and pray Thee with my inmost heart, while I am moving by Thy fragrances, which are being diffused from Thy Kingdom of Abha, and say: O my Lord …
We looked again at the faces of the Blessed Perfection and the Báb in the inner room.
Julia Grundy records a private talk with 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká in 1905. He told her she would be a source of guidance to others and, when she regretted leaving, said she would never be absent.
After Bahá’u’lláh returned to Baghdad from the mountains, curiosity-seekers crowded to see Him; His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá put placards on the doors and admitted only genuine truth-seekers.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls how a daughter born after the Báb's prayer for a childless follower came to the Holy Family, and how, at Bahá'u'lláh's request, 'Abdu'l-Bahá took her as His wife.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls her brother's grief in Baghdad while Bahá’u’lláh was away, His devotion to copying and memorizing the tablets of the Báb, and His one diversion, horseback riding.
Driving with Javidukht Khadem, Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker prayed in tears for Elsie Austin, then explained that each morning she said many prayers so as to be spiritual enough for her Obligatory Prayer.
Bahíyyih Khánum recalls the order that sent Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdad to Constantinople, the grief of His followers, and how the family went to live in tents in a friend's garden until the departure.
As the exiles prepared to leave Baghdad, 'Abdu'l-Bahá shielded His Father from intruders. In the Riḍván garden, Bahá'u'lláh confided to Him that He was the One promised by the Báb.
In a Tablet to a woman who longed for the Heavenly Kingdom, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá counselled her to recite the Greatest Name every morning and turn to the Kingdom of Abhá.
Bahíyyih Khánum remembers 1852 in Ṭihrán: at six she held her little brother Mihdí in the dark while her mother, often with ‘Abbás, went out to learn whether Bahá’u’lláh was still alive.
A portrait of L. L. Zamenhof, reprinted in Star of the West: an oculist who struggled to support his family, sought neither profit nor power from Esperanto, and worked tirelessly to spare humanity the suffering of dissension and war.
When the lease on Thomas Breakwell's grave lapsed, his remains were moved to the cemetery's charnel house; later the French Bahá'ís placed a simple stone on the vacant site, which has become a focal point of pilgrimage.
On the slow journey through the fields and mountains of Turkey, the melodious chanting of Jinab-i-Munib brought joy to those who travelled with Bahá'u'lláh and testified to his love for Him.
In A Traveler's Narrative, 'Abdu'l-Bahá records how in 1844, in His twenty-fifth year, the Báb began in Shíráz to declare Himself the Gate, and how a few Shaykhí divines turned to Him while most of the learned opposed Him.
In June 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through an unguarded skylight in the barracks. Dying, he asked that his life be accepted as a ransom for those prevented from attaining the presence of their Beloved.
When the Báb set out on a camel from Jaddih to Mecca, Quddús chose to walk beside Him all the way, holding the bridle by day and keeping watch over Him every night.
Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas recalls how Shoghi Effendi went straight to the heart of every question, grew weary of long, roundabout letters, and wanted every task to bring an immediate result.