The establishment of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the Western
Hemisphere--the most outstanding achievement that will forever be
associated with 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry--had, as observed in the preceding
pages, set in motion such tremendous forces, and been productive of such
far-reaching results, as to warrant the active and personal participation
of the Center of the Covenant Himself in those epoch-making activities
which His Western disciples had, through the propelling power of that
Covenant, boldly initiated and were vigorously prosecuting.
The crisis which the blindness and perversity of the Covenant-breakers had
precipitated, and which, for several years, had so tragically interfered
with the execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's purpose, was now providentially
resolved. An unsurmountable barrier had been suddenly lifted from His
path, His fetters were unlocked, and God's avenging wrath had taken the
chains from His neck and placed them upon that of 'Abdu'l-Hamid, His royal
adversary and the dupe of His most implacable enemy. The sacred remains of
the Bab, entrusted to His hands by His departed Father, had, moreover,
with immense difficulty been transferred from their hiding-place in
far-off Tihran to the Holy Land, and deposited ceremoniously and
reverently by Him in the bosom of Mt. Carmel.
'Abdu'l-Baha was at this time broken in health. He suffered from several
maladies brought on by the strains and stresses of a tragic life spent
almost wholly in exile and imprisonment. He was on the threshold of
three-score years and ten. Yet as soon as He was released from His
forty-year long captivity, as soon as He had laid the Bab's body in a safe
and permanent resting-place, and His mind was free of grievous anxieties
connected with the execution of that priceless Trust, He arose with
sublime courage, confidence and resolution to consecrate what little
strength remained to Him, in the evening of His life, to a service of such
heroic proportions that no parallel to it is to be found in the annals of
the first Baha'i century.
Indeed His three years of travel, first to Egypt, then to Europe and later
to America, mark, if we would correctly appraise their historic
importance, a turning point of the utmost significance in the history of
the century. For the first time since the inception of the Faith,
sixty-six years previously, its Head and supreme Representative burst
asunder the shackles which had throughout the ministries of both the Bab
and Baha'u'llah so grievously fettered its freedom. Though repressive
measures still continued to circumscribe the activities of the vast
majority of its adherents in the land of its birth, its recognized Leader
was now vouchsafed a freedom of action which, with the exception of a
brief interval in the course of the War of 1914-18, He was to continue to
enjoy to the end of His life, and which has never since been withdrawn
from its institutions at its world center.
So momentous a change in the fortunes of the Faith was the signal for such
an outburst of activity on His part as to dumbfound His followers in East
and West with admiration and wonder, and exercise an imperishable
influence on the course of its future history. He Who, in His own words,
had entered prison as a youth and left it an old man, Who never in His
life had faced a public audience, had attended no school, had never moved
in Western circles, and was unfamiliar with Western customs and language,
had arisen not only to proclaim from pulpit and platform, in some of the
chief capitals of Europe and in the leading cities of the North American
continent, the distinctive verities enshrined in His Father's Faith, but
to demonstrate as well the Divine origin of the Prophets gone before Him,
and to disclose the nature of the tie binding them to that Faith.
Inflexibly resolved to undertake this arduous voyage, at whatever cost to
His strength, at whatever risk to His life, He, quietly and without any
previous warning, on a September afternoon, of the year 1910, the year
following that which witnessed the downfall of Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid and
the formal entombment of the Bab's remains on Mt. Carmel, sailed for
Egypt, sojourned for about a month in Port Said, and from thence embarked
with the intention of proceeding to Europe, only to discover that the
condition of His health necessitated His landing again at Alexandria and
postponing His voyage. Fixing His residence in Ramleh, a suburb of
Alexandria, and later visiting Zaytun and Cairo, He, on August 11 of the
ensuing year, sailed with a party of four, on the S.S. Corsica, for
Marseilles, and proceeded, after a brief stop at Thonon-les-Bains, to
London, where He arrived on September 4, 1911. After a visit of about a
month, He went to Paris, where He stayed for a period of nine weeks,
returning to Egypt in December, 1911. Again taking up His residence in
Ramleh, where He passed the winter, He embarked, on His second journey to
the West, on the steamship Cedric, on March 25, 1912, sailing via Naples
direct to New York where He arrived on April 11. After a prolonged tour of
eight months' duration, which carried Him from coast to coast, and in the
course of which He visited Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
Montclair, Boston, Worcester, Brooklyn, Fanwood, Milford, Philadelphia,
West Englewood, Jersey City, Cambridge, Medford, Morristown, Dublin, Green
Acre, Montreal, Malden, Buffalo, Kenosha, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Omaha,
Lincoln, Denver, Glenwood Springs, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Oakland,
Palo Alto, Berkeley, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Cincinnati, and
Baltimore, He sailed, on the S.S. Celtic, on December 5, from New York for
Liverpool; and landing there He proceeded by train to London. Later He
visited Oxford, Edinburgh and Bristol, and thence returning to London,
left for Paris on January 21, 1913. On March 30 He traveled to Stuttgart,
and from there proceeded, on April 9, to Budapest, visited Vienna nine
days later, returned to Stuttgart on April 25, and to Paris on May first,
where He remained until June 12, sailing the following day, on the S.S.
Himalaya from Marseilles bound for Egypt, arriving in Port Said four days
later, where after short visits to Isma'iliyyih and Abuqir, and a
prolonged stay in Ramleh, He returned to Haifa, concluding His historic
journeys on December 5, 1913.
It was in the course of these epoch-making journeys and before large and
representative audiences, at times exceeding a thousand people, that
'Abdu'l-Baha expounded, with brilliant simplicity, with persuasiveness and
force, and for the first time in His ministry, those basic and
distinguishing principles of His Father's Faith, which together with the
laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas constitute the bed-rock
of God's latest Revelation to mankind. The independent search after truth,
unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human
race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the
basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice,
whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist
between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings
on which the bird of human kind is able to soar; the introduction of
compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the
abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a
world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the
exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of
worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human
society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples
and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as
the supreme goal of all mankind--these stand out as the essential elements
of that Divine polity which He proclaimed to leaders of public thought as
well as to the masses at large in the course of these missionary journeys.
The exposition of these vitalizing truths of the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
which He characterized as the "spirit of the age," He supplemented with
grave and reiterated warnings of an impending conflagration which, if the
statesmen of the world should fail to avert, would set ablaze the entire
continent of Europe. He, moreover, predicted, in the course of these
travels, the radical changes which would take place in that continent,
foreshadowed the movement of the decentralization of political power which
would inevitably be set in motion, alluded to the troubles that would
overtake Turkey, anticipated the persecution of the Jews on the European
continent, and categorically asserted that the "banner of the unity of
mankind would be hoisted, that the tabernacle of universal peace would be
raised and the world become another world."
During these travels 'Abdu'l-Baha displayed a vitality, a courage, a
single-mindedness, a consecration to the task He had set Himself to
achieve that excited the wonder and admiration of those who had the
privilege of observing at close hand His daily acts. Indifferent to the
sights and curiosities which habitually invite the attention of travelers
and which the members of His entourage often wished Him to visit; careless
alike of His comfort and His health; expending every ounce of His energy
day after day from dawn till late at night; consistently refusing any
gifts or contributions towards the expenses of His travels; unfailing in
His solicitude for the sick, the sorrowful and the down-trodden;
uncompromising in His championship of the underprivileged races and
classes; bountiful as the rain in His generosity to the poor; contemptuous
of the attacks launched against Him by vigilant and fanatical exponents of
orthodoxy and sectarianism; marvelous in His frankness while
demonstrating, from platform and pulpit, the prophetic Mission of Jesus
Christ to the Jews, of the Divine origin of Islam in churches and
synagogues, or the truth of Divine Revelation and the necessity of
religion to materialists, atheists or agnostics; unequivocal in His
glorification of Baha'u'llah at all times and within the sanctuaries of
divers sects and denominations; adamant in His refusal, on several
occasions, to curry the favor of people of title and wealth both in
England and in the United States; and last but not least incomparable in
the spontaneity, the genuineness and warmth of His sympathy and
loving-kindness shown to friend and stranger alike, believer and
unbeliever, rich and poor, high and low, whom He met, either intimately or
casually, whether on board ship, or whilst pacing the streets, in parks or
public squares, at receptions or banquets, in slums or mansions, in the
gatherings of His followers or the assemblage of the learned, He, the
incarnation of every Baha'i virtue and the embodiment of every Baha'i
ideal, continued for three crowded years to trumpet to a world sunk in
materialism and already in the shadow of war, the healing, the God-given
truths enshrined in His Father's Revelation.
In the course of His several visits to Egypt He had more than one
interview with the Khedive, Abbas Hilmi Pa_sh_a II, was introduced to Lord
Kitchener, met the Mufti, _Sh_ay_kh_ Muhammad Ba_kh_it, as well as the
Khedive's Imam, _Sh_ay_kh_ Muhammad Ra_sh_id, and associated with several
'ulamas, pa_sh_as, Persian notables, members of the Turkish Parliament,
editors of leading newspapers in Cairo and Alexandria, and other leaders
and representatives of well-known institutions, both religious and
secular.
Whilst He sojourned in England the house placed at His disposal in Cadogan
Gardens became a veritable mecca to all sorts and conditions of men,
thronging to visit the Prisoner of Akka Who had chosen their great city as
the first scene of His labors in the West. "O, these pilgrims, these
guests, these visitors!" thus bears witness His devoted hostess during the
time He spent in London, "Remembering those days, our ears are filled with
the sound of their footsteps--as they came from every country in the world.
Every day, all day long, a constant stream, an interminable procession!
Ministers and missionaries, oriental scholars and occult students,
practical men of affairs and mystics, Anglicans, Catholics, and
Non-conformists, Theosophists and Hindus, Christian Scientists and doctors
of medicine, Muslims, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. There also called:
politicians, Salvation Army soldiers, and other workers for human good,
women suffragists, journalists, writers, poets and healers, dressmakers
and great ladies, artists and artisans, poor workless people and
prosperous merchants, members of the dramatic and musical world, these all
came; and none were too lowly, nor too great, to receive the sympathetic
consideration of this holy Messenger, Who was ever giving His life for
others' good."
'Abdu'l-Baha's first public appearance before a western audience
significantly enough took place in a Christian house of worship, when, on
September 10, 1911, He addressed an overflowing congregation from the
pulpit of the City Temple. Introduced by the Pastor, the Reverend R. J.
Campbell, He, in simple and moving language, and with vibrant voice,
proclaimed the unity of God, affirmed the fundamental oneness of religion,
and announced that the hour of the unity of the sons of men, of all races,
religions and classes had struck. On another occasion, on September 17, at
the request of the Venerable Archdeacon Wilberforce, He addressed the
congregation of St. John the Divine, at Westminster, after evening
service, choosing as His theme the transcendental greatness of the
Godhead, as affirmed and elucidated by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Iqan.
"The Archdeacon," wrote a contemporary of that event, "had the Bishop's
chair placed for his Guest on the chancel steps, and, standing beside Him,
read the translation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's address himself. The congregation
was profoundly moved, and, following the Archdeacon's example, knelt to
receive the blessing of the Servant of God--Who stood with extended
arms--His wonderful voice rising and falling in the silence with the power
of His invocation."
At the invitation of the Lord Mayor of London He breakfasted with him at
the Mansion House; addressed the Theosophical Society at their
headquarters, at the express request of their President, and also a
Meeting of the Higher Thought center in London; was invited by a
deputation from the Bramo-Somaj Society to deliver a lecture under their
auspices; visited and delivered an address on world unity at the Mosque at
Woking, at the invitation of the Muslim Community of Great Britain, and
was entertained by Persian princes, noblemen, ex-ministers and members of
the Persian Legation in London. He stayed as a guest in Dr. T. K. Cheyne's
home in Oxford, and He delivered an address to "a large and deeply
interested audience," highly academic in character, gathered at Manchester
College in that city, and presided over by Dr. Estlin Carpenter. He also
spoke from the pulpit of a Congregational Church in the East End of
London, in response to the request of its Pastor; addressed gatherings in
Caxton Hall and Westminster Hall, the latter under the chairmanship of Sir
Thomas Berkeley, and witnessed a performance of "Eager Heart," a Christmas
mystery play at the Church House, Westminster, the first dramatic
performance He had ever beheld, and which in its graphic depiction of the
life and sufferings of Jesus Christ moved Him to tears. In the Hall of the
Passmore Edwards' Settlement, in Tavistock Place, he spoke to an audience
of about four hundred and sixty representative people, presided over by
Prof. Michael Sadler, called on a number of working women of that
Settlement, who were on holiday at Vanners', in Byfleet, some twenty miles
out of London, and paid a second visit there, meeting on that occasion
people of every condition who had specially gathered to see Him, among
whom were "the clergy of several denominations, a headmaster of a boys'
public school, a member of Parliament, a doctor, a famous political
writer, the vice-chancellor of a university, several journalists, a
well-known poet, and a magistrate from London." "He will long be
remembered," wrote a chronicler of His visit to England, describing that
occasion, "as He sat in the bow window in the afternoon sunshine, His arm
round a very ragged but very happy little boy who had come to ask
'Abdu'l-Baha for sixpence for his money box and for his invalid mother,
whilst round Him in the room were gathered men and women discussing
Education, Socialism, the first Reform Bill, and the relation of
submarines and wireless telegraphy to the new era on which man is
entering."
Among those who called on Him during the memorable days He spent in
England and Scotland were the Reverend Archdeacon Wilberforce, the
Reverend R. J. Campbell, the Reverend Rhonddha Williams, the Reverend
Roland Corbet, Lord Lamington, Sir Richard and Lady Stapley, Sir Michael
Sadler, the Jalalu'd-Dawlih, son of the Zillu's-Sultan, Sir Ameer Ali, the
late Maharaja of Jalawar, who paid Him many visits and gave an elaborate
dinner and reception in His honor, the Maharaja of Rajputana, the Ranee of
Sarawak, Princess Karadja, Baroness Barnekov, Lady Wemyss and her sister,
Lady Glencomer, Lady Agnew, Miss Constance Maud, Prof. E. G. Browne, Prof.
Patrick Geddes, Mr. Albert Dawson, editor of the Christian Commonwealth,
Mr. David Graham Pole, Mrs. Annie Besant, Mrs. Pankhurst, and Mr. Stead,
who had long and earnest conversations with Him. "Very numerous," His
hostess, describing the impression produced on those who were accorded by
Him the privilege of a private audience, has written, "were these
applicants for so unique an experience, how unique only those knew when in
the presence of the Master, and we could partly divine, as we saw the look
on their faces as they emerged--a look as though blended of awe, of
marveling, and of a certain calm joy. Sometimes we were conscious of
reluctance in them to come forth into the outer world, as though they
would hold fast to their beatitude, lest the return of things of earth
should wrest it from them." "A profound impression," the aforementioned
chronicler has recorded, summing up the results produced by that memorable
visit, "remained in the minds and memories of all sorts and conditions of
men and women.... Very greatly was 'Abdu'l-Baha's sojourn in London
appreciated; very greatly His departure regretted. He left behind Him
many, many friends. His love had kindled love. His heart had opened to the
West, and the Western heart had closed around this patriarchal presence
from the East. His words had in them something that appealed not only to
their immediate hearers, but to men and women generally."
His visits to Paris, where for a time He occupied an apartment in the
Avenue de Camoens, were marked by a warmth of welcome no less remarkable
than the reception accorded Him by His friends and followers in London.
"During the Paris visit," that same devoted English hostess, Lady
Blomfield, who had followed Him to that city, has testified, "as it had
been in London, daily happenings took on the atmosphere of spiritual
events.... Every morning, according to His custom, the Master expounded
the principles of the teaching of Baha'u'llah to those who gathered round
Him, the learned and the unlearned, eager and respectful. They were of all
nationalities and creeds, from the East and from the West, including
Theosophists, agnostics, materialists, spiritualists, Christian
Scientists, social reformers, Hindus, Sufis, Muslims, Buddhists,
Zoroastrians and many others." And again: "Interview followed interview.
Church dignitaries of various branches of the Christian Tree came, some
earnestly desirous of finding new aspects of the Truth.... Others there
were who stopped their ears, lest they should hear and understand."
Persian princes, noblemen and ex-ministers, among them the Zillu's-Sultan,
the Persian Minister, the Turkish Ambassador in Paris, Ra_sh_id Pa_sh_a,
an ex-vali of Beirut, Turkish pa_sh_as and ex-ministers, and Viscount
Arawaka, Japanese Ambassador to the Court of Spain, were among those who
had the privilege of attaining His presence. Gatherings of Esperantists
and Theosophists, students of the Faculty of Theology and large audiences
at l'Alliance Spiritualiste were addressed by Him; at a Mission Hall, in a
very poor quarter of the city, He addressed a congregation at the
invitation of the Pastor, whilst in numerous meetings of His followers
those already familiar with His teachings were privileged to hear from His
lips detailed and frequent expositions of certain aspects of His Father's
Faith.
In Stuttgart, where He made a brief but never-to-be-forgotten stay, and to
which He traveled in spite of ill-health in order to establish personal
contact with the members of the community of His enthusiastic and dearly
beloved German friends, He, apart from attending the gatherings of His
devoted followers, bestowed His abundant blessings on the members of the
Youth group, gathered at Esslingen, and addressed, at the invitation of
Professor Christale, President of the Esperantists of Europe, a large
meeting of Esperantists at their club. He, moreover, visited Bad
Mergentheim, in Wuerttemberg, where a few years later (1915) a monument was
erected in memory of His visit by one of His grateful disciples. "The
humility, love and devotion of the German believers," wrote an eyewitness,
"rejoiced the heart of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and they received His blessings and
His words of encouraging counsel in complete submissiveness. ...Friends
came from far and near to see the Master. There was a constant flow of
visitors at the Hotel Marquart. There 'Abdu'l-Baha received them with such
love and graciousness that they became radiant with joy and happiness."
In Vienna, where He stayed a few days, 'Abdu'l-Baha addressed a gathering
of Theosophists in that city, whilst in Budapest He granted an interview
to the President of the University, met on a number of occasions the
famous Orientalist Prof. Arminius Vambery, addressed the Theosophical
Society, and was visited by the President of the Turanian, and
representatives of the Turkish Societies, army officers, several members
of Parliament, and a deputation of Young Turks, led by Prof. Julius
Germanus, who accorded Him a hearty welcome to the city. "During this
time," is the written testimony of Dr. Rusztem Vambery, "His
('Abdu'l-Baha) room in the Dunapalota Hotel became a veritable mecca for
all those whom the mysticism of the East and the wisdom of its Master
attracted into its magic circle. Among His visitors were Count Albert
Apponyi, Prelate Alexander Giesswein, Professor Ignatius Goldziher, the
Orientalist of world-wide renown, Professor Robert A. Nadler, the famous
Budapest painter, and leader of the Hungarian Theosophical Society."
It was reserved, however, for the North American continent to witness the
most astonishing manifestation of the boundless vitality 'Abdu'l-Baha
exhibited in the course of these journeys. The remarkable progress
achieved by the organized community of His followers in the United States
and Canada, the marked receptivity of the American public to His Message,
as well as His consciousness of the high destiny awaiting the people of
that continent, fully warranted the expenditure of time and energy which
he devoted to this most important phase of His travels. A visit which
entailed a journey of over five thousand miles, which lasted from April to
December, which carried Him from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast and
back, which elicited discourses of such number as to fill no less than
three volumes, was to mark the climax of those journeys, and was fully
justified by the far-reaching results which He well knew such labors on
His part would produce. "This long voyage," He told His assembled
followers on the occasion of His first meeting with them in New York,
"will prove how great is My love for you. There were many troubles and
vicissitudes, but in the thought of meeting you, all these things vanished
and were forgotten."
The character of the acts He performed fully demonstrated the importance
He attached to that visit. The laying, with His own hands, of the
dedication stone of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, by the shore of Lake
Michigan, in the vicinity of Chicago, on the recently purchased property,
and in the presence of a representative gathering of Baha'is from East and
West; the dynamic affirmation by Him of the implications of the Covenant
instituted by Baha'u'llah, following the reading of the newly translated
Tablet of the Branch, in a general assembly of His followers in New York,
designated henceforth as the "City of the Covenant"; the moving ceremony
in Inglewood, California, marking His special pilgrimage to the grave of
Thornton Chase, the "first American believer," and indeed the first to
embrace the Cause of Baha'u'llah in the Western world; the symbolic Feast
He Himself offered to a large gathering of His disciples assembled in the
open air, and in the green setting of a June day at West Englewood, in New
Jersey; the blessing He bestowed on the Open Forum at Green Acre, in
Maine, on the banks of the Piscataqua River, where many of His followers
had gathered, and which was to evolve into one of the first Baha'i summer
schools of the Western Hemisphere and be recognized as one of the earliest
endowments established in the American continent; His address to an
audience of several hundred attending the last session of the
newly-founded Baha'i Temple Unity held in Chicago; and, last but not
least, the exemplary act He performed by uniting in wedlock two of His
followers of different nationalities, one of the white, the other of the
Negro race--these must rank among the outstanding functions associated with
His visit to the community of the American believers, functions designed
to pave the way for the erection of their central House of Worship, to
fortify them against the tests they were soon to endure, to cement their
unity, and to bless the beginnings of that Administrative Order which they
were soon to initiate and champion.
No less remarkable were 'Abdu'l-Baha's public activities in the course of
His association with the multitude of people with whom He came in contact
during His tour across a continent. A full account of these diversified
activities which crowded His days during no less than eight months, would
be beyond the scope of this survey. Suffice it to say that in the city of
New York alone He delivered public addresses in, and made formal visits
to, no less than fifty-five different places. Peace societies, Christian
and Jewish congregations, colleges and universities, welfare and
charitable organizations, members of ethical cults, New Thought centers,
metaphysical groups, Women's clubs, scientific associations, gatherings of
Esperantists, Theosophists, Mormons, and agnostics, institutions for the
advancement of the colored people, representatives of the Syrian, the
Armenian, the Greek, the Chinese, and Japanese communities--all were
brought into contact with His dynamic presence, and were privileged to
hear from His lips His Father's Message. Nor was the press either in its
editorial comment or in the publication of reports of His lectures, slow
to appreciate the breadth of His vision or the character of His summons.
His discourse at the Peace Conferences at Lake Mohonk; His addresses to
large gatherings at Columbia, Howard and New York Universities; His
participation in the fourth annual conference of the National Association
for the Advancement of the Colored People; His fearless assertion of the
truth of the prophetic Missions of both Jesus Christ and Muhammad in
Temple Emmanu-El, a Jewish synagogue in San Francisco, where no less than
two thousand people were gathered; His illuminating discourse before an
audience of eighteen hundred students and one hundred and eighty teachers
and professors at Leland Stanford University; His memorable visit to the
Bowery Mission in the slums of New York; the brilliant reception given in
His honor in Washington, at which many outstanding figures in the social
life of the capital were presented to Him--these stand out as the
highlights of the unforgettable Mission He undertook in the service of His
Father's Cause. Secretaries of State, Ambassadors, Congressmen,
distinguished rabbis and churchmen, and other people of eminence attained
His presence, among whom were such figures as Dr. D. S. Jordan, President
of Leland Stanford University, Prof. Jackson of Columbia University, Prof.
Jack of Oxford University, Rabbi Stephen Wise of New York, Dr. Martin A.
Meyer, Rabbi Joseph L. Levy, Rabbi Abram Simon, Alexander Graham Bell,
Rabindranath Tagore, Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Mrs. William Jennings Bryan,
Andrew Carnegie, Hon. Franklin MacVeagh, Secretary of the United States
Treasury, Lee McClung, Mr. Roosevelt, Admiral Wain Wright, Admiral Peary,
the British, Dutch and Swiss Ministers in Washington, Yusuf Diya Pa_sh_a,
the Turkish Ambassador in that city, Thomas Seaton, Hon. William Sulzer
and Prince Muhammad-'Ali of Egypt, the Khedive's brother.
"When 'Abdu'l-Baha visited this country for the first time in 1912," a
commentator on His American travels has written, "He found a large and
sympathetic audience waiting to greet Him personally and to receive from
His own lips His loving and spiritual message. ...Beyond the words spoken
there was something indescribable in His personality that impressed
profoundly all who came into His presence. The dome-like head, the
patriarchal beard, the eyes that seemed to have looked beyond the reach of
time and sense, the soft yet clearly penetrating voice, the translucent
humility, the never failing love,--but above all, the sense of power
mingled with gentleness that invested His whole being with a rare majesty
of spiritual exaltation that both set Him apart, and yet that brought Him
near to the lowliest soul,--it was all this, and much more that can never
be defined, that have left with His many ... friends, memories that are
ineffaceable and unspeakably precious."
A survey, however inadequate of the varied and immense activities of
'Abdu'l-Baha in His tour of Europe and America cannot leave without
mention some of the strange incidents that would often accompany personal
contact with Him. The bold determination of a certain indomitable youth
who, fearing 'Abdu'l-Baha would not be able to visit the Western states,
and unable himself to pay for a train journey to New England, had traveled
all the way from Minneapolis to Maine lying on the rods between the wheels
of a train; the transformation effected in the life of the son of a
country rector in England, who, in his misery and poverty, had resolved,
whilst walking along the banks of the Thames, to put an end to his
existence, and who, at the sight of 'Abdu'l-Baha's photograph displayed in
a shop window, had inquired about Him, hurried to His residence, and been
so revived by His words of cheer and comfort as to abandon all thought of
self-destruction; the extraordinary experience of a woman whose little
girl, as the result of a dream she had had, insisted that Jesus Christ was
in the world, and who, at the sight of 'Abdu'l-Baha's picture exposed in
the window of a magazine store, had instantly identified it as that of the
Jesus Christ of her dream--an act which impelled her mother, after reading
that 'Abdu'l-Baha was in Paris, to take the next boat for Europe and
hasten to attain His presence; the decision of the editor of a journal
printed in Japan to break his journey to Tokyo at Constantinople, and
travel to London for "the joy of spending one evening in His presence";
the touching scene when 'Abdu'l-Baha, receiving from the hands of a
Persian friend, recently arrived in London from I_sh_qabad, a cotton
handkerchief containing a piece of dry black bread and a shrivelled
apple--the offering of a poor Baha'i workman in that city--opened it before
His assembled guests, and, leaving His luncheon untouched, broke pieces
off that bread, and partaking Himself of it shared it with those who were
present--these are but a few of a host of incidents that shed a revealing
light on some personal aspects of His memorable journeys.
Nor can certain scenes revolving around that majestic and patriarchal
Figure, as He moved through the cities of Europe and America, be ever
effaced from memory. The remarkable interview at which 'Abdu'l-Baha, while
placing lovingly His hand on the head of Archdeacon Wilberforce, answered
his many questions, whilst that distinguished churchman sat on a low chair
by His side; the still more remarkable scene when that same Archdeacon,
after having knelt with his entire congregation to receive His benediction
at St. John's the Divine, passed down the aisle to the vestry hand in hand
with his Guest, whilst a hymn was being sung by the entire assembly
standing; the sight of Jalalu'd-Dawlih, fallen prostrate at His feet,
profuse in his apologies and imploring His forgiveness for his past
iniquities; the enthusiastic reception accorded Him at Leland Stanford
University when, before the gaze of well nigh two thousand professors and
students, He discoursed on some of the noblest truths underlying His
message to the West; the touching spectacle at Bowery Mission when four
hundred of the poor of New York filed past Him, each receiving a piece of
silver from His blessed hands; the acclamation of a Syrian woman in Boston
who, pushing aside the crowd that had gathered around Him, flung herself
at His feet, exclaiming, "I confess that in Thee I have recognized the
Spirit of God and Jesus Christ Himself"; the no less fervent tribute paid
Him by two admiring Arabs who, as He was leaving that city for Dublin, N.
H., cast themselves before Him, and, sobbing aloud, avowed that He was
God's own Messenger to mankind; the vast congregation of two thousand Jews
assembled in a synagogue in San Francisco, intently listening to His
discourse as He demonstrated the validity of the claims advanced by both
Jesus Christ and Muhammad; the gathering He addressed one night in
Montreal, at which, in the course of His speech, His turban fell from His
head, so carried away was He by the theme He was expounding; the
boisterous crowd in a very poor quarter of Paris, who, awed by His
presence, reverently and silently made way for Him as He passed through
their midst, while returning from a Mission Hall whose congregation He had
been addressing; the characteristic gesture of a Zoroastrian physician
who, arriving in breathless haste on the morning of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
departure from London to bid Him farewell, anointed with fragrant oil
first His head and His breast, and then, touching the hands of all
present, placed round His neck and shoulders a garland of rosebuds and
lilies; the crowd of visitors arriving soon after dawn, patiently waiting
on the doorsteps of His house in Cadogan Gardens until the door would be
opened for their admittance; His majestic figure as He paced with a
vigorous step the platform, or stood with hands upraised to pronounce the
benediction, in church and synagogue alike, and before vast audiences of
reverent listeners; the unsolicited mark of respect shown Him by
distinguished society women in London, who would spontaneously curtsy when
ushered into His presence; the poignant sight when He stooped low to the
grave of His beloved disciple, Thornton Chase, in Inglewood Cemetery, and
kissed his tombstone, an example which all those present hastened to
follow; the distinguished gathering of Christians, Jews and Muslims, men
and women and representative of both the East and the West, assembled to
hear His discourse on world unity in the mosque at Woking--such scenes as
these, even in the cold record of the printed page, must still have much
of their original impressiveness and power.
Who knows what thoughts flooded the heart of 'Abdu'l-Baha as He found
Himself the central figure of such memorable scenes as these? Who knows
what thoughts were uppermost in His mind as He sat at breakfast beside the
Lord Mayor of London, or was received with extraordinary deference by the
Khedive himself in his palace, or as He listened to the cries of
"Allah-u-Abha" and to the hymns of thanksgiving and praise that would
herald His approach to the numerous and brilliant assemblages of His
enthusiastic followers and friends organized in so many cities of the
American continent? Who knows what memories stirred within Him as He stood
before the thundering waters of Niagara, breathing the free air of a far
distant land, or gazed, in the course of a brief and much-needed rest,
upon the green woods and countryside in Glenwood Springs, or moved with a
retinue of Oriental believers along the paths of the Trocadero gardens in
Paris, or walked alone in the evening beside the majestic Hudson on
Riverside Drive in New York, or as He paced the terrace of the Hotel du
Parc at Thonon-les-Bains, overlooking the Lake of Geneva, or as He watched
from Serpentine Bridge in London the pearly chain of lights beneath the
trees stretching as far as the eye could see? Memories of the sorrows, the
poverty, the overhanging doom of His earlier years; memories of His mother
who sold her gold buttons to provide Him, His brother and His sister with
sustenance, and who was forced, in her darkest hours, to place a handful
of dry flour in the palm of His hand to appease His hunger; of His own
childhood when pursued and derided by a mob of ruffians in the streets of
Tihran; of the damp and gloomy room, formerly a morgue, which He occupied
in the barracks of Akka and of His imprisonment in the dungeon of that
city--memories such as these must surely have thronged His mind. Thoughts,
too, must have visited Him of the Bab's captivity in the mountain
fastnesses of A_dh_irbayjan, when at night time He was refused even a
lamp, and of His cruel and tragic execution when hundreds of bullets
riddled His youthful breast. Above all His thoughts must have centered on
Baha'u'llah, Whom He loved so passionately and Whose trials He had
witnessed and had shared from His boyhood. The vermin-infested
Siyah-_Ch_al of Tihran; the bastinado inflicted upon Him in Amul; the
humble fare which filled His ka_sh_kul while He lived for two years the
life of a dervish in the mountains of Kurdistan; the days in Ba_gh_dad
when He did not even possess a change of linen, and when His followers
subsisted on a handful of dates; His confinement behind the prison-walls
of Akka, when for nine years even the sight of verdure was denied Him; and
the public humiliation to which He was subjected at government
headquarters in that city--pictures from the tragic past such as these must
have many a time overpowered Him with feelings of mingled gratitude and
sorrow, as He witnessed the many marks of respect, of esteem, and honor
now shown Him and the Faith which He represented. "O Baha'u'llah! What
hast Thou done?" He, as reported by the chronicler of His travels, was
heard to exclaim one evening as He was being swiftly driven to fulfil His
third engagement of the day in Washington, "O Baha'u'llah! May my life be
sacrificed for Thee! O Baha'u'llah! May my soul be offered up for Thy
sake! How full were Thy days with trials and tribulations! How severe the
ordeals Thou didst endure! How solid the foundation Thou hast finally
laid, and how glorious the banner Thou didst hoist!" "One day, as He was
strolling," that same chronicler has testified, "He called to remembrance
the days of the Blessed Beauty, referring with sadness to His sojourn in
Sulaymaniyyih, to His loneliness and to the wrongs inflicted upon Him.
Though He had often recounted that episode, that day He was so overcome
with emotion that He sobbed aloud in His grief.... All His attendants wept
with Him, and were plunged into sorrow as they heard the tale of the
woeful trials endured by the Ancient Beauty, and witnessed the tenderness
of heart manifested by His Son."
A most significant scene in a century-old drama had been enacted. A
glorious chapter in the history of the first Baha'i century had been
written. Seeds of undreamt-of potentialities had, with the hand of the
Center of the Covenant Himself, been sown in some of the fertile fields of
the Western world. Never in the entire range of religious history had any
Figure of comparable stature arisen to perform a labor of such magnitude
and imperishable worth. Forces were unleashed through those fateful
journeys which even now, at a distance of well nigh thirty-five years, we
are unable to measure or comprehend. Already a Queen, inspired by the
powerful arguments adduced by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the course of His addresses
in support of the Divinity of Muhammad, has proclaimed her faith, and
borne public testimony to the Divine origin of the Prophet of Islam.
Already a President of the United States, imbibing some of the principles
so clearly enunciated by Him in His discourses, has incorporated them in a
Peace Program which stands out as the boldest and noblest proposal yet
made for the well-being and security of mankind. And already, alas! a
world which proved deaf to His warnings and refused to heed His summons
has plunged itself into two global wars of unprecedented severity, the
repercussions of which none as yet can even dimly visualize.