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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."
273 stories where patience appears.
A young Bahá 'i lady pioneered to Bolivia in the 1930 s to open it to the Faith. Having no success in teaching anyone, she began to write to the Guardian expressing feelings of failure. With each passing month she wrote and he replied…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has explained many things in His writings, in His tablets, in His addresses, and even in His oral conversations with people, the explanation of the difference between two elements is the most excellent ever written by any pen…
“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.…
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…
At the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s second visit to Newark, He spoke in my Father's Brotherhood Church in Jersey City. My father had begged Him to do this, and at once Abdu'1-Bahá had consented, but He would set no date. Father was eager and…
From the death of that beloved youth due to his separation from you the utmost sorrow and grief has been occasioned, for he flew away in the flower of his age and the bloom of his youth, to the heavenly…
O thou who warmest thyself by the fire of the love of God, spreading from the Tree of the Covenant! Let thy soul be at ease and thy heart in peace concerning the perfect success and progress which the pen is not able to express, for in…
It behoveth thee to sever thyself from all desires save thy Lord, the Supreme, expecting no help or aid from anyone in the universe, not even from thy father or children. Resign thyself to God! Content thyself with but little of this…
O thou son of the Kingdom! If one possesses the love of God, everything that he undertakes is useful, but if the undertaking is without the love of God, then it is hurtful and the cause of veiling one’s self from the Lord of the…
With regard to the innate character, although the divine creation is purely good, yet the varieties of natural qualities in man come from the difference of degree; all are excellent, but they are more or less so, according to the…
The necessity and the particularity of the assured and believing ones is to be firm in the Cause of God and withstand the hidden and evident tests. Thanks be to God that you are distinguished and made eminent by this blessing. Anybody…
O ye beloved of God, know that steadfastness and firmness in this new and wonderful Covenant is indeed the spirit that quickeneth the hearts which are overflowing with the love of the Glorious Lord; verily, it is the power which…
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. One holy soul is better than one thousand other souls. If a few souls gather…
Thou hast written that thou art a student in the progressive spiritual school. Happy is thy condition! If the various progressive schools join themselves to the universal university of the Kingdom, such knowledge and sciences will be…
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 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…
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. **…
Let lovers be warned by his story; let them know how he gambled away his life in his yearning after the Light of the World. May God give him to drink of a brimming cup in the everlasting gardens; in the Supreme Assemblage, may God shed…
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…
Bahá'í Chronicles preserves the biographical record of John Ebenezer Esslemont — the Aberdeen physician who, after encountering the Cause in 1914, wrote the introductory work *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era,* moved to Haifa to serve at the Master's side, and was named by Shoghi Effendi a Hand of the Cause after his early death in 1925.
Gregory was instrumental in arranging for two major speaking engagements for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Washington DC to an audience of more than a thousand in Rankin Chapel at Howard University, and that evening to a large gathering of the Bethel…
They were pure souls who took the great step in their own country: they freed themselves from friend and stranger alike, escaped from the superstitions that had blinded them before, strengthened their resolve, and bowed themselves down…
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…
He was detached from every selfish thought, averse to every mention except to whatever concerned the Holy Cause. ** Mírzá…
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…
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…
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.…
"‘Abdu’l-Bahá recognized Chase as "the first American believer," and Shoghi Effendi later described him as "indeed the first to embrace the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in the Western world." ** Thornton Chase, Disciple of…
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…
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…
84 The letter dated 5 August 1932, from that spiritual friend has been received by the Guardian of the Cause of God, may our lives be sacrificed for him, and he has been informed of your receiving his telegram regarding the ascension…
15 O thou my sister, my dear…
85 What you had written concerning the memorial gatherings of men and women believers to mourn the Most Exalted Leaf, who was the peerless fruit of the Holy Tree, and to commemorate the ascension of her who was the most glorious trust…
91 Indeed, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Trust of Bahá’u’lláh amongst us, was the emblem of His boundless grace, a luminary shining in the heaven of tender mercy and gracious providence, the embodiment of the manifold favours of the Abhá…
56 O ye who share my anguish and are my comforters in my distress and bereavement! In these past few months, from the day of the passing of that fairest fruit of the Undying Tree, of the setting of that wondrous Star in the heavens of…
110 The letter in which that leaf had expressed the ardent longing of her heart and revealed the depth of her devotion has received my eager…
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…
Shoghi Effendi's tribute to Bahíyyih Khánum records the cost of the Adrianople exile to her own body — a winter of exceptional severity, a poor and unhealthy lodging, and dire financial distress that left her, as a young woman, with a permanent loss of vitality and a shadow on her face that would remain until the end of her life.
Shoghi Effendi's tribute to Bahíyyih Khánum preserves a single small image from her childhood in Tihrán: when Bahá'u'lláh was thrown into the Síyáh-Chál and the family's wealth was seized within the space of a single day, Navváb — the mother — placed a handful of dry flour into the hand of her young daughter as the substitute for daily bread.
In order that the power of spiritual healing may be brought fully into operation certain requirements are necessary on the part of the patient, of the healer, of the patient’s friends and of the community at…
In *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*, Esslemont describes the proximity of the Persian believers in 'Akká to the great Mansion of Bahjí — the pilgrim who, after the long road, would silently ascend the path each morning to be near the windows of the Master, then sit beneath the trees, then descend at dusk having barely spoken.
One of the fundamental teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that true science and true religion must always be in harmony. Truth is one, and whenever conflict appears it is due, not to truth, but to error. Between so-called science and so-called…
In the matter of divorce, as in that of marriage, the instructions of the Prophets have varied in accordance with the circumstances of the times. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá states the Bahá’í teaching, with regard to divorce, thus:— The friends…
He teaches that there are also many methods of healing without material means. There is a “contagion of health,” as well as a contagion of disease, although the former is very slow and has a small effect, while the latter is often…
The work of healing the sick, however, is a matter that concerns not the patient and the practitioner only, but everyone. All must help, by sympathy and service, by right living and right thinking, and especially by prayer, for of all…
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…
During the winter of 1919–1920 the writer had the great privilege of spending two and half months as the guest of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at Haifa and intimately observing His daily life. At that time, although nearly seventy-six years of age, He…
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…
As a religious body, Bahá’ís have, at the express command of Bahá’u’lláh, entirely abandoned the use of armed force in their own interests, even for strictly defensive purposes. In Persia many, many thousands of the Bábís and Bahá’ís…
In consequence of these declarations of the Báb and the alarming rapidity with which people of all classes, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, were eagerly responding to His teaching, attempts at suppression became more and more…
In *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*, Esslemont preserves Bahá'u'lláh's own brief description of the Síyáh-Chál — the underground prison in Tihrán in which He was held in chains for four months in 1852. The dungeon was *foul beyond comparison*, dark, and crowded with nearly one hundred and fifty fellow-prisoners.
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…
Unfortunately it is impossible, within the space at our disposal, to describe in detail the progress of the Bahá’í Faith throughout the world. Many chapters might be devoted to this fascinating subject, and many thrilling stories…
In *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*, Esslemont preserves a small story of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's strategic kindness — how He arranged for a respected local shaykh to plead with His Father for an outing into the countryside, and how the Master's quiet diplomacy ended decades of strict confinement.
It has been the general characteristic of religion that organization marks the interruption of the true spiritual influence and serves to prevent the original impulse from being carried into the world. The organization has invariably…
The power of spiritual healing is doubtless common to all mankind in greater or less degree, but, just as some men are endowed with exceptional talent for mathematics or music, so others appear to be endowed with exceptional aptitude…
The following story in the life of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, the outstanding scholar of the Cause and its famous apologist, is one which demonstrates that reading the Word of God with the eye of intellect…
Taking refuge from the attacks of the people of Barfurúsh and neighbouring villages at the persistent instigation of the vindictive leading divine of that district, Mulla Husayn and his companions…
While on pilgrimage in 1906, Florence Khan, the wife of Ali-Kuli Khan [1] related the following heart-warming and incredible incident: One evening, after sunset, Khan [Ali-Kuli Khan] came in great…
Mulla Sadiq-i-Muqaddas, was an outstanding believer who was entitled Ismu'llahu'l-Asdaq (The name of God, the Most Truthful) by Baha’u’llah.
On a hot June day in the year 1892, a middle-aged woman sat in a crowded lecture hall. Despite the heat, her face looked peaceful as she listened to the speaker talk about the life of the spirit.
...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.
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.
A short story for children, paraphrased from the Baha'i Stories for Children blog: a small girl who learns the difference between a prayer she says fast and a prayer she says slowly, and the way the whole room changes when she lets the words breathe.
Drip, drip, drip splashed little drops of rain as they landed on Tammy's nose and made dark splotches on her long grey dress. Tammy had been walking in the woods.
It was the summer of 1848. The followers of the Báb, the Bábís, were fiercely persecuted in Persia, the birthplace of their Faith. They needed guidance and support.
A short story for children, paraphrased from the Baha'i Stories for Children blog: a small yellow flower in the cracked sidewalk, the child who decided not to pick it, and the bee that came to visit it later that day.
A lady in Akka told this story about ‘Abdu’l-Baha and her little daughter: The Master came to visit her child when she was sick.
In Bahá'í World Faith, 'Abdu'l-Bahá uses the simple image of a seed unfolding into a tree, and the tree producing seeds that will become more trees, to teach that each human being carries within itself the same potential of multiplication — capable of becoming, in due time, a source of life to many.
In a passage preserved in Bahá'í World Faith, 'Abdu'l-Bahá lays out a short, plain principle: the sick are not to be neglected because they are ill, the child is not to be censured because it is undeveloped. Healing and patient training are the first responses; judgment is not.
In *The Chosen Highway* Lady Blomfield gives a quiet description, written from her 1922 pilgrimage to Haifa, of the Greatest Holy Leaf in old age — a small bent figure in white, whose eyes, Lady Blomfield writes, were *charged with memories* of a Cause she had carried since the age of six.
In *The Chosen Highway* the Greatest Holy Leaf recounts the bitter winter journey, in early 1853, by which the family was exiled from Tihrán to Baghdád — three months on horseback through deep snow, the children weeping with cold, and the small graves of those who did not survive the road.
In *The Chosen Highway* Bahíyyih Khánum recounts the night in August 1852 when soldiers of the Sháh seized her father in the village of Lavásán and carried Him to the Síyáh-Chál — and the long vigil her mother kept in their plundered house with the children clinging to her skirts.
For two years the family of Bahá'u'lláh did not know where He was. His young daughter, the future Greatest Holy Leaf, lived those years in poverty and longing — until a rumor of a holy dervish in the mountains brought Him home. A retelling from Lady Blomfield's The Chosen Highway.
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 records the nine-month imprisonment of the Báb at the mountain fortress of Máh-Kú on the western frontier of Persia — and the remarkable transformation of His warden, 'Alí Khán, from a hostile jailer into a devoted believer who could no longer hold the door closed against the friends.
Late in 1844 the Báb, accompanied by Quddús, sailed from Búshihr for the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The voyage was long, the water was scarce, the bedouins were thieves; and at the heart of the Sacred Mosque the Báb proclaimed His station openly to a prominent scholar of His age.
In the years between His release from the Síyáh-Chál and His exile to Baghdád, Bahá'u'lláh travelled to the holy city of Karbilá. There the faithful Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí — to whom the Báb had once given a written promise that he would behold the One whom God shall make manifest — saw Bahá'u'lláh in the streets and recognized Him, before any public Declaration had yet been made.
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 the few years of his adult life, Mirza Mihdi had acted as an amanuensis of his Father, and Bahá’u’lláh's Tablets in his distinguished handwriting are extant. According to Aqa Rida's testimony, who had seen him grow up to young…
In the *Epistle to the Son of the Wolf*, Bahá'u'lláh recounts the persecutions launched against the believers of Iṣfáhán by Áqá Najafí, the powerful Iṣfahání cleric who instigated the martyrdoms of the *King of Martyrs* and the *Beloved of Martyrs* in 1879.
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.
Florence Khánum relates two sayings she heard from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. On one occasion He said to her ‘”Sabr kun; mithl-i-Man bash” be patient, be as I am. The other was when some one expressed discouragement to Him, saying they could not…
Bahá'u'lláh entered the Garden of Riḍván on April 22, 1863. His family — the river having been impassable on the first day — joined Him on the ninth day, April 29. The Ninth Day of Riḍván commemorates that reunion, and Esslemont's account of the twelve days outside Baghdád sets the scene.
How an Iranian Mullah became a Bahá’í! The story goes back to some 60 years ago. Mohammad Movahed was a young Muslim priest who had entered the priesthood at an early age.He was around 7 when he asked his father to let him join a…
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 *The Diary of Juliet Thompson* the painter records an evening in New York in the summer of 1912 when, after one of the great public meetings, she found herself walking beside 'Abdu'l-Bahá through the dark streets — and the silence in which the most carrying conversations sometimes pass.
Four brothers lived right beside the house of Bahá'u'lláh, and just by watching Him come and go, their hearts began to fill with love.
A kind merchant lost his goods to thieves, and a powerful man tried to make him lie for money — but he chose the truth, no matter what it cost.
A young man named Faraju'lláh wanted to be near Bahá'u'lláh more than anything — so when hard times came, he chose to follow Him even to a faraway prison.
A doctor who was often sick spent seven whole years writing one clear little book about the Faith — and it went on to travel farther than he ever could.
Two friends from a cold country gave up everything they knew to be near Bahá'u'lláh, and stayed faithful and grateful even when things became very hard.
A wise man gave up his books to become a humble carpenter and a servant to everyone — and one day, when even the doctor had given up on him, something astonishing happened.
A gifted boy from Káshán heard about the new Light while he was still small, and loved Bahá'u'lláh so much that he crossed deserts and prisons just to be near Him.
A visitor came to a quiet house in Haifa and met a small, gentle woman in a white veil whose eyes seemed to hold a whole lifetime of memories.
One winter long ago, a family had to leave their home and travel for three months through deep snow — and a little girl never forgot how brave they all had to be.
A little girl waited two long years, not knowing where her father had gone — until a story about a holy stranger in the mountains brought Him back to her door.
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.
A man was given one job — to guard the Báb and keep everyone away — but the more he watched, the more his hard heart began to soften.
The Báb set sail across rough seas to the holy city of Mecca, and there He bravely told the world who He really was.
A man named Shaykh Ḥasan had waited many years for a special promise to come true — and one day, on a busy street, he saw the very One he had been waiting for.
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.
A river ran too high to cross, so a family had to wait nine whole days before they could join Bahá'u'lláh in a beautiful garden full of roses.
When 'Abdu'l-Bahá first stepped off a great ship onto American shores, reporters crowded close to ask why He had come — and His answer was about peace for the whole world.
Only a handful of friends gathered in one little parlour, but 'Abdu'l-Bahá came to them anyway — and told them that keeping the Faith in a quiet place is one of the most important jobs of all.
On a great ship crossing the wide Atlantic Ocean, 'Abdu'l-Bahá sailed all the way to America to meet His friends — and to share the truth with a whole new land.
After many busy weeks in the big cities, 'Abdu'l-Bahá went up into the green hills to rest, to walk among the pine trees, and to welcome everyone who came up the road to see Him.
Only about ten friends waited at the train station in Omaha — but 'Abdu'l-Bahá told them their tiny group held seeds that would one day grow into something great.
On a train climbing over the great mountains, 'Abdu'l-Bahá looked out at the new railway and saw something wonderful — a world that could one day be joined together like one big family.
Nothing famous happened on this ordinary spring day with the Master — and that is exactly why someone thought it was worth writing down forever.
After many long months of traveling all across America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá came back to the friends in New York who had been waiting and waiting to see Him again.
On a train crossing all the way to the ocean, 'Abdu'l-Bahá kept His prayers, watched the wide land roll by, and learned the names of the men who worked aboard.
A tired man carried a heavy worry he had never said out loud — and over a small cup of tea, 'Abdu'l-Bahá answered the very question hiding in his heart.
On a quiet mountain slope full of pine trees, one man walked back and forth for years, imagining a great curving path and beautiful buildings that did not exist yet.
A young man was given the hardest task in the whole Bahá'í world, and before he could carry it, he went up into the high mountains to walk, and think, and pray.
Shoghi Effendi sat at a quiet desk and turned a beautiful little book of holy words into English, working one tiny line at a time until it was just right.
Many years ago, Mable Rice-Wray Ives lived in Baltimore. It was in the far away days of streetcars, and in order to reach the down-town shopping district, Mable had to ride the streetcar for a long way from the residential part of the city…
Mahmúd's Diary records the first hours of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in America: the SS Cedric pulling into New York harbor on April 11, 1912; the rush of newspaper reporters at the dock seeking to know His purpose; and His steady answer that He had crossed an ocean for *the unity of humankind*.
Mahmúd's Diary records a brief stop in Baltimore in November 1912 — chiefly a day of rest in transit between Washington and New York, but with a small evening reception at the home of one of the city's three Bahá'í families.
Mahmúd's Diary records that during the May 1912 visit to Boston, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed audiences at Harvard University in Cambridge — including a memorable open-air talk on the lawn before Sanders Theatre when the hall could not accommodate the crowd that had come.
Mahmúd's Diary records the long Atlantic crossing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His small party aboard the S.S. Cedric in March and early April 1912 — the ten days at sea during which the Master, in His sixty-eighth year, prepared for the great American tour by simple devotions and long conversations with His attendants.
Mahmúd's Diary records the spring of 1912 when 'Abdu'l-Bahá travelled west of the Alleghenies for the first time, holding meetings in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and then continuing to Chicago. In Pittsburgh the smoke of the steel mills hung over the talks; in Cleveland the believers gathered in private homes.
Mahmúd's Diary preserves the final weeks of July and the opening weeks of August 1912, when 'Abdu'l-Bahá retired from the cities of the East Coast to the small artists' colony at Dublin, New Hampshire. The mornings were spent in dictation; the afternoons in walks through pine and fir; and the evenings in talks for the summer residents who came up the road to listen.
Mahmúd's Diary records a brief stop in Kansas City on the westward leg of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's American tour — a small reception arranged at short notice by friends from the Missouri-Kansas border who had heard the Master would pass through.
Mahmúd's Diary records the brief stop of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's party at Omaha on September 21, 1912 — a single afternoon in the great cattle-and-rail city of the central plains, with a brief talk in the parlour of a downtown hotel and the next morning's departure westward.
Mahmúd's Diary records the long train journey of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His party from Salt Lake City to Portland in early October 1912 — the steady westward crossing of the Rockies and the Cascades, the Master's hours of conversation in the parlour car, and the slow preparation for the Pacific coast portion of the journey.
Mahmúd's Diary preserves the small domestic record of an ordinary day in the New York apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kinney — the Master at His correspondence, at His tea, in brief conversation with the household, the rhythm of the hours unmarked by any public event.
Mahmúd's Diary records 'Abdu'l-Bahá's return to New York in late November 1912, after the long western swing — the re-engagement with the established New York friends, the receiving of a long backlog of pilgrims, and the preparation for the journey home.
Mahmúd's Diary records a brief station stop at Spokane, Washington, on the northern transcontinental route taken by the Master's party in October 1912 — a small group of friends meeting the train and a brief exchange in the station hall.
Mahmúd's Diary records the brief stop of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in St. Louis on 1 November 1912 — an evening reception in the parlour of the Statler Hotel and a meeting with the small community of Missouri believers who had asked Him to come.
Mahmúd's Diary records the long quiet stretches of the transcontinental train journey from Chicago to the Pacific in September-October 1912 — the Master at His prayers in the parlour car, the night plains rolling past, the small acts of hospitality to the train staff.
This was a patient and long-enduring man, a native of Káshán. He was one of the very earliest believers. The down was not yet upon his cheek when he drank of the love of God, saw with his own eyes the heavenly table spread out before…
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…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Áqá Ḥusayn-i-Áshchí — the household cook of Bahá'u'lláh through the long years of exile, whose patient service in the kitchen sustained the daily life of the prophetic Household for decades.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Áqá Riḍá of Shíráz — the steadfast companion who served the household of Bahá'u'lláh through the years of exile from Baghdád to 'Akká, never failing in his attendance on his Lord.
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…
Fáṭimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs of Iṣfáhán, lost her father at Badasht in childhood, married a husband whose faith would cost him his life, was stripped of every possession by the government, and ended her years in 'Akká, where the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh proved more than her heart could bear.
'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.*
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.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Furúghí — the gentle believer of Khurásán whose lifetime of patient service in the countryside, never seeking notice, brought the Cause of God into many small Khurásání villages.
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…
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas — the Khurásání cleric who, after recognising the Báb, suffered the bastinado in Shíráz with Quddús and went on to give the rest of his life to the Cause through every successive trial of its early decades.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's tribute to Sakínih Sulṭán — the mother of the Iṣfahán martyrs, whose life of steady faith carried her through the deaths of her sons and into the long quiet years of teaching that followed.
Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, was a small child when soldiers seized her Father and stripped her home. From that day she shared every exile and every imprisonment of the Holy Family, set aside the ordinary hopes of a woman of her time, and gave her whole long life to service. Lady Blomfield's *The Chosen Highway* preserves the memory of that quiet, unbroken renunciation.
In the shrine-city of Karbilá, the Báb gave one of His devoted followers a promise that asked everything of him: that he would live to behold "Him Whom God shall make manifest," but must tell no one, and must wait. Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí let the years pass in patient detachment, holding fast to that word — until the day in Karbilá when he beheld Bahá'u'lláh and the promise came true.
When 'Abdu'l-Bahá passed in 1921, His grandson and appointed successor, Shoghi Effendi, was a grief-stricken young man not yet able to take up his burden. In that hour the Greatest Holy Leaf, Bahíyyih Khánum — who had served the Cause since she was a child of six — steadied the whole community and held its affairs in her hands.
When Mullá Ḥusayn reached Iṣfahán in 1844, a devout seeker named Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas begged him to name the Promised One. Forbidden to tell, Mullá Ḥusayn pointed him instead to prayer. Alone in a quiet room, Mullá Ṣádiq saw in a vision the face of a weeping Youth he had once watched at the shrine of the Imám Ḥusayn — and knew, at last, whom he had been seeking.
When Bahá'u'lláh entered the Garden of Riḍván on 22 April 1863, His family could not follow Him at once: the Tigris had risen in flood and made the crossing impassable. Only on the ninth day, when the waters fell, did the Holy Family cross the boat-bridge to join Him — which is why the ninth day of Riḍván is itself a holy day.
For two years Bahá'u'lláh withdrew alone into the wilderness of Kurdistan, asking nothing, claiming nothing, known to no one but as a wandering dervish. Yet the sheer beauty of His character and wisdom could not stay hidden — the shaykhs and divines of Sulaymáníyyih were drawn to Him in wonder and love, until His fame at last revealed where He was.
The vast ocean of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation lay almost entirely in Persian and Arabic, beyond the reach of the growing communities of the West. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, set himself to gather from that ocean and to render its waters into a stately, faithful English — producing, in *Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh*, a book through which the West could at last drink directly from the Word.
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.
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."
A young American woman came to 'Akká with a notebook and a head full of questions — about God and the soul, evil and free will, the prophets and the life to come — and over visits stretching across the years 1904 to 1906 she laid them, one by one, before 'Abdu'l-Bahá at the lunch table. The answers He gave her, recorded and reviewed, became one of the best-loved books of the Faith: Some Answered Questions.
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.
Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, shared every exile, imprisonment, and bereavement that fell upon the Holy Family across nearly eighty years — the loss of her childhood home, the death of her little brother in the prison of 'Akká, the passing of her Father and then of her beloved Brother. Through all of it she remained, in the testimony of those who knew her, the very emblem of radiant submission to the will of God.
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.
Ásíyih Khánum — the lady Bahá'u'lláh named Navváb — was born to wealth and rank, a Persian noblewoman of such beauty she was called the Daughter of the Beautiful. When the storms of persecution stripped her household of everything, she let it all go without complaint and embraced a lifetime of poverty, exile, and loss at her Husband's side, accepting each stage of the descent as the will of God.
When Bahá'u'lláh entered the Garden of Riḍván outside Baghdád in April 1863, His daughter Bahíyyih Khánum — the Greatest Holy Leaf, then a girl in her teens — remained behind with the household, kept on the far bank by the flooding Tigris. On the ninth day the waters fell and she crossed at last to rejoin her Father in the Garden of Paradise.
Among the household of Bahá'u'lláh in the Riḍván days of 1863 was His younger son Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, then a gentle boy. The recollections preserved in The Chosen Highway let us picture him among the family on the near bank of the Tigris, waiting through the flood, and crossing on the ninth day to be gathered with his Father in the Garden of Paradise.
Why was the Holy Family's crossing to the Garden of Riḍván delayed until the ninth day? Drawing on Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, this retelling follows the swollen Tigris of the spring of 1863 — the river in flood, the bridge of boats made impassable — and the morning the waters fell at last and let the household cross into the Garden of Paradise.
When Bahá'u'lláh crossed the Tigris on the afternoon of 22 April 1863 to enter the Garden of Riḍván, the river ran so high that His wife and household could not follow Him. For nine days they waited on the far bank; then, on the Ninth Day, they crossed at last and were reunited with Him among the roses. The Ninth Day of Riḍván commemorates that homecoming of the Holy Family.
Ásíyih Khánum — the noble lady Bahá'u'lláh named Navváb — had shared with Him the loss of their home, the winter exile from Persia, and ten years in Baghdád. When He entered the Garden of Riḍván in 1863 the flooded Tigris kept her on the far bank; on the Ninth Day she crossed at last to join Him. The Ninth Day of Riḍván honours that reunion of the wife and mother of the Holy Family with the One whose every exile she had shared.
The family that joined Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden of Riḍván on the Ninth Day was no ordinary household. They had shared His imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál, the plundering of their home, banishment from Persia, and ten years of exile in Baghdád. Esslemont's account of those sufferings sets in relief the joy of their reunion in the Garden — and explains why the Faith keeps that reunion as a holy day.
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.
An austere and revered cleric of Khurásán recognised the Báb and, with Quddús, became one of the first believers ever to be publicly tortured for the new Faith. Through the bastinado, repeated imprisonments, and a lifetime of banishment, a strange power sustained him — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who knew him, remembered him among the heroes of the dawn.
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.
In the last great Tablet of His life, Bahá'u'lláh wrote to a man whose family had hounded and slain His followers — Shaykh Muḥammad-Taqí, son of the cleric remembered as "the Wolf." He neither flattered the persecutor nor cursed him. He counselled him, reasoned with him, called him to justice and to God, and held open to him, even then, the door of forgiveness.
Through exile, imprisonment, famine, and bereavement, Bahíyyih Khánum — the Greatest Holy Leaf, daughter of Bahá'u'lláh — made herself the tender refuge of everyone around her: nursing the sick, consoling the grieving, sharing what little the household had with the poor, and binding up the sorrows of a whole community with a mercy that asked nothing for itself.
In His own history of the Cause, 'Abdu'l-Bahá records a fact that astonished even the believers' enemies: through years of slaughter and plunder in Persia, with their numbers larger than ever, the followers of Bahá'u'lláh kept perfect order — none transgressed his bounds, none assailed anyone, all bore their afflictions patiently, looking unto God. It is one of history's quiet portraits of honour: dignity kept by the wronged who refused to become wrongdoers.
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.
When Bahá'u'lláh rode out of the Garden of Riḍván on the twelfth day, He did not step into freedom but onto a road — more than a thousand miles of mountain and plain, north and then west, to the Ottoman capital. With His family and twenty-six companions He set out on a march of more than three months, and at every stage along the way the people met Him not as a banished prisoner but as an honored guest.
In the very days of the Riḍván festival, on the eve of His banishment from Baghdád, Bahá'u'lláh revealed one of the great Tablets of His early ministry — the Súriy-i-Ṣabr, the Tablet of Patience, also called the Tablet of Job. Sent in honor of a survivor of the Nayríz upheaval whom He named Ayyúb, it lifts up the steadfastness of those who suffered for the Báb and crowns the Festival of joy with a hymn to patient endurance.
On the twelfth day of Riḍván the long-prepared caravan finally moved. With members of His family and twenty-six of His disciples, Bahá'u'lláh set out from the Garden on a march that would last between three and four months, over a thousand miles to Constantinople. The Cause that had grown in the quiet of Baghdád was now openly upon the road of history.
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…
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 would well remember the story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who when approached by a believer in the depths of discouragement despairing of ever acquiring the qualities and virtues that Bahá’ís are required to possess, replied with the greatest…
In *Portals to Freedom* Howard Colby Ives recounts an evening in May 1912 when, having sat through one of the great public meetings, he was invited into the Master's private room for a small cup of tea — and a quiet conversation that addressed, without his having spoken them, the very fears he had carried in.
In *The Priceless Pearl* Rúḥíyyih Khánum recounts how Shoghi Effendi, walking the slope of Mount Carmel year after year, conceived and laid out the great Arc of buildings — the International Archives, the Universal House of Justice site, the Centre for the Study of the Texts, the Teaching Centre — on which the world administrative institutions of the Faith would in time stand.
In *The Priceless Pearl* Rúḥíyyih Khánum gives the most reliable account of her husband's last days — a brief illness in a London hotel, the flu that turned to a heart attack, and the night of the fourth of November 1957 when the Guardian of the Cause of God passed from the world at the age of sixty.
In *The Priceless Pearl* Rúḥíyyih Khánum describes the months in 1922 and after when the young Shoghi Effendi, crushed by the weight of his appointment, withdrew to the Alps — walking long mountain paths, praying, gathering the strength he would need to take up the task the Master's Will had laid on him.
In *The Priceless Pearl* Rúḥíyyih Khánum describes the slow, exacting labour by which Shoghi Effendi rendered Bahá'u'lláh's *Hidden Words* into the English in which generations of Western believers have come to know them — a translation built one aphorism at a time, in the silent hours of his Haifa office.
Friday evening, October…
November 8th All over the world one hears beautiful sayings extolled and noble precepts admired. All men say they love what is good, and hate everything that is evil! Sincerity is to be admired, whilst lying is despicable. Faith is a…
November 19th How joyful it is to see such a meeting as this, for it is in truth a gathering together of ‘heavenly men’. We are all united in one Divine purpose, no material motive is ours, and our dearest wish is to spread the Love of God…
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.’8 The priests have interpreted this into meaning that baptism is necessary for…
On April 23, 1912, days after the sinking of the RMS Titanic, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gathered with the friends at the Parsons home in Washington and offered consolation: death, He said, is not termination but the soul's birth into greater light, as the infant is reluctantly born into the world.
At the Hotel Plaza in Chicago on May 2, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained the difference between Bahá'í consultation and parliamentary debate — drawing on the example of the early disciples of Christ to show what spiritual conference looks like.
Ridvaniyyih Khánum related that when her child was ill, the Master came and gave two pink roses to the little one, then, turning to the mother, He said in His musical voice so full of love: "Be patient." That evening the child passed…
In the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of St. John it is…
Question.—Is the ablution of baptism useful and necessary, or is it useless and unnecessary? In the first case, if it is useful, why was it abrogated? And in the second case, if it is useless, why did John practice…
Question.—One of the powers possessed by the Divine Manifestations is knowledge. To what extent is it…
It is said in the holy verse: “There is no partner for Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation136 in His Most Great Infallibility. He is, in truth, the exponent of ‘God doeth whatsoever He willeth’ in the kingdom of creation. Indeed the…
Question.—Have the stars of the heavens any influence upon the human soul, or have they…
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.—Some people heal the sick by spiritual means—that is to say, without medicine. How is…
Be Thou patient, O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, for God hath indeed pledged to establish Thy sovereignty throughout all countries and over the people that dwell therein. He is God and verily He is powerful over all things. Chapter…
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…
He is God, the Supreme Ruler, the Sovereign Truth, He Whose help is implored by…
O Peoples of the earth! By the righteousness of God, this Book hath, through the potency of the sovereign Truth, pervaded the earth and the heaven with the mighty Word of God concerning Him Who is the supreme Testimony, the Expected…
From Selections from the Writings of the Báb, a prayer revealed during the Báb's confinement in the mountain fortress of Máh-Kú in northwest Persia from 1847 to 1848 — a period of severe isolation during which the Báb composed many of His major works.
This Religion is indeed, in the sight of God, the essence of the Faith of Muḥammad; haste ye then to attain the celestial Paradise and the all-highest Garden of His good-pleasure in the presence of the One True God, could ye but be…
O thou distinguished physician!... Praise be to God that thou hast two powers: one to undertake physical healing and the other spiritual healing. Matters related to man’s spirit have a great effect on his bodily condition. For instance,…
When giving medical treatment turn to the Blessed Beauty, then follow the dictates of thy heart. Remedy the sick by means of heavenly joy and spiritual exultation, cure the sorely afflicted by imparting to them blissful glad tidings and…
O thou who art attracted to the fragrant breathings of God! I have read thy letter addressed to Mrs. Lua Getsinger. Thou hast indeed examined with great care the reasons for the incursion of disease into the human body. It is certainly…
O thou handmaid of God! The heavenly glad tidings must be delivered with the utmost dignity and magnanimity. And until a soul ariseth with qualities which are essential for the bearer of these tidings, his words will take no…
O thou son of the Kingdom! Thy most agreeable letters, with their pleasing style, ever gladden our hearts. When the song is of the Kingdom, it rejoiceth the…
O ye two patient souls! Your letter was received. The death of that beloved youth and his separation from you have caused the utmost sorrow and grief; for he winged his flight in the flower of his age and the bloom of his youth to the…
O ye the sincere loved ones of the Abhá Beauty! In these days the Cause of God, the world over, is fast growing in power and, day by day, is spreading further and further to the utmost bounds of the earth. Its enemies, therefore, from…
O thou servant of God! Do not grieve at the afflictions and calamities that have befallen thee. All calamities and afflictions have been created for man so that he may spurn this mortal world—a world to which he is much attached. When…
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…
The teaching work should under all conditions be actively pursued by the believers because divine confirmations are dependent upon it. Should a Bahá’í refrain from being fully, vigorously and wholeheartedly involved in the teaching…
O thou who art captivated by the truth and magnetized by the Heavenly Kingdom! Thy long letter hath come and it brought great joy, as it clearly betokened thy strenuous efforts and high purposes. Praised be God, thou wishest well to…
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…
The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and…
O thou who art firm in the Covenant! The letter thou hadst written on 2 May 1919 was received. Praise thou God that in tests thou art firm and steadfast and art holding fast to the Abhá Kingdom. Thou art not shaken by any affliction or…
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…
In *Stories of Bahá'u'lláh* Furutan preserves the practice that sustained Bahá'u'lláh's fellow Bábí prisoners in the Síyáh-Chál pit in 1852: each evening, the prisoners would divide into two rows and chant antiphonally — one row, *God is sufficient unto me,* and the other replying, *In Him let the trusting trust* — until the chant rose, in the dark, to fill the dungeon's vault.
In the autumn of 1918 the *Star of the West* carried the first reliable news of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's safety after the British liberation of Haifa from Ottoman rule, ending three and a half years of intermittent silence between the American friends and the war-strained Holy Land.
In the December 1921 and January 1922 issues of the Star of the West, the editors gave their readers the bare cable that had reached Chicago on the 29th of November and then, in the issues that followed, the fuller accounts of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's last days written by the household in Haifa.
In the Naw-Rúz issue of the Star of the West for 1916, the editors printed a Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Bahá received during the year — a brief message of cheer and exhortation to the American believers, written during the war years when communication between Haifa and the West had become difficult.
In 1913 the Star of the West printed words spoken by 'Abdu'l-Bahá about His own imprisonment. He distinguished three kinds of persecution He had endured — physical chains, governmental restriction, and the bitter words and criticisms of the believers themselves — and named the third as the hardest.
Stanwood Cobb wrote that on one occasion He spoke of the need for loving patience in the face of aggravating behavior on the part of others: ‘One might say, “Well, I will endure such and such a person so long as he is endurable.” But…
Among the agricultural parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá used in His conversations was the story of a farmer who, having sown his field, dug up the seeds the next morning to see whether they had grown — and the lesson He drew from his disappointment.
Among the small stories 'Abdu'l-Bahá would offer to teach the hidden dignity of the poor was the account of an old village woman who walked seven kos for a load of firewood — and a passing prince who learned, in a single conversation with her, what his court had not been able to teach him.
Among the parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá used in conversation with friends was the story of three ducks who set off across a meadow to find the great river of which their elders had spoken — and how their different ways of seeking shaped what each one finally found.
In a Tablet preserved in *Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas* (1909), the Master writes to friends under the pressure of opposition and persecution: the storms they were enduring would in time be remembered as the necessary precursor of a *divine spring* — the same logic by which winter precedes the verdant fields and orchards.
O God! O thou Attracted of the hearts of the favored ones toward the Manifest…
O maid-servant of God, who art supplicating unto the Sublime…
O thou confident soul who art content and…
O thou servant14 of…
O thou spiritual maid-servant of…
O thou spiritual…
O thou who art afflicted by a visitation by which thine eyes are overflowing with…
O thou who art attracted to the Fire of the Love of God!…
O thou who art attracted to the Fragrances of the Garden of the Covenant and art speaking the praise of the Orb of the…
O thou who art attracted toward the…
O thou who art commemorating the Name of…
O thou who art confessing the Oneness of…
O thou who art patient and resigning thyself to the judgment (of…
O thou who art seeking fire from the Fire of the Love of…
O thou who hast spread the Fragrance of God!—may God confirm…
O thou wooer of Truth and attracted one toward the Kingdom of…
O ye34 Cohorts of…
O ye my divine friends!32…
O ye207 whom God hath chosen from among those who are called!—know that “many are called but few are chosen”!—upon whom He caused the evident Light to descend; whom He guided into the right Path, and to whom He gave the Glad-tidings of…
An early Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to a Western servant of God, preserved in *Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas* (1909), gives a careful warning about the kind of association into which the Bahá'í community should be drawn — and the patient discernment by which trust should be extended.
In Julia Grundy's pilgrim notes from 'Akká in 1905, the Master takes up the practical question every believer must eventually face: how do you love the person who is unpleasant, ungrateful, or actively hostile? His answer points to Christ as the standard, and to the tree as the model.
‘Abdu'l-Bahá sent for me. I found Him in a little room opening from the courtyard. He was sitting upon a raised chair, His beautiful face, majestic in repose and strength, turned toward the only window. He greeted me joyfully. Both the…
The following day, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had been invited by the Mayor of Berkeley to give the public address in that city. Many dignitaries and University people were to gather. As the appointed hour for departure approached, the hostess went…
The great kindness that was such a prominent feature of Shoghi Effendi's character is shown in the manner in which he conveyed to Khánum the news of the death of her beloved mother, May Maxwell: The devastating news of May Maxwell's…
There was a Christian merchant in Akka who, like many of his fellow citizens, held the Bahá’ís in scant respect. It happened that he came upon a load of charcoal which some of the Bahá’ís had been permitted to buy outside Akka. (Inside the…
There was once a lover who had sighed for long years in separation from his beloved, and wasted in the fire of remoteness. From the rule of love, his heart was empty of patience, and his body weary of his spirit; he reckoned life without…
Think, for example, how the enemy had completely hemmed in the Fort, and were endlessly pouring in cannon balls from their siege guns. The believers, among them Ismu'llah, went eighteen days without food. They lived on the leather of their…
This is a story of one of the early Bahá’ís in the West, Lua Getsinger, and an important lesson she learned about prayer. Lua loved God very much, and she often turned to Him in supplication, that she might be enabled to live a life of…
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…
In *A Traveler's Narrative*, 'Abdu'l-Bahá recounts the Báb's confinement in the remote castle of Máh-Kú on the northwestern frontier of Persia — and describes how the warden 'Alí Khán's love for the family of the Prophet led him, despite official orders, to permit conversation between the prisoner and visiting believers.
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…
We journeyed six days, and arrived at Gallipoli, which is on the sea. On our arrival at this town we were met with the information that the Governor had a telegraphic order from the Sultan's government directing our separation; that my…
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in San Francisco, His hostess arranged an interview with the Mayor of Berkeley. Many dignitaries and university people were to gather at a reception. 'As the appointed hour for departure approached the hostess went…