Abdul-Baha

“ Abdul-Baha is at all times remembering you with infinite love and kindness and supplicates assistance and favor, at the Threshold of Oneness, so that the invisible confirmation may pour down, the divine bounties unveil their countenances, the friends in that region be ignited like unto lamps and the maid-servants of God shine like stars ”

“ Therefore, the friends of God and the daughters of the Kingdom must serve this purpose and become the cause of joy to the heart of Abdul-Baha. Thus can they bring together under the protection of the Tent of Oneness the other nations and peoples; make this gloomy world radiant, this mundane earth a plane of the Kingdom, and the material world the manifestation of divine signs. ”

“ Likewise instruct and give my love to thy dear son and say: “O dear one of Abdul-Baha! Be the son of thy father and be the fruit of that tree. Be a son that hath been born of his soul and heart and not only of the water and clay. A real son is such an one as hath branches from the spiritual part of a man. I ask God that thou mayest be at all times confirmed and strengthened.”
O thou servant of Baha’! Thou hast asked regarding the political affairs. In the United States it is necessary that the citizens shall take part in elections. ”

“ This assumption of authority by Abbas caused a bitter and angry schism at Acca.
Remey36 says: "He [Baha] has pointed to the one who should be looked upon as authority by all, and has closed the doors to outside interpretation. Therefore obedience and submission must be shown completely to him." Mirza Asad Ullah37 says: "Whosoever turns away from Abdul Baha is one of the companions of the left hand [a goat] , and one of the letters of hell-fire." The rejectors of Abdul Baha are termed Nakazeen—"the violators." They are "cut off," are "no longer of the Kingdom." ”

“ Convey greetings and respect from Abdul-Baha to the esteemed maid-servant of God, ........, and say: “Thou art always in our midst and art not forgotten, even for a moment. I beg the Beauty of Abha for confirmation in thy behalf. It is some time since, by the dust of calamities and occupation of mind, the correspondence hath been delayed; but there is no harm in that. For my heart is engaged in prayer and I beg for confirmation in thy behalf.” ”

“ I hope that you may become the cause of her spiritual development. This is the principle of progress.
“Unless man maketh spiritual progress in the world of spirit, intellect and heart, he cannot gather universal results from material advancements. Now you must gird up the loins of endeavor and reflect duly, so that you may quicken the people of Japan through the spirit of God.”
“O ye spiritual friends of Abdul-Baha!...” 264 O ye spiritual friends of Abdul-Baha!
“Perfume Thou the East! Illumine Thou the West! Bestow Thou light to the North! Grant Thou life to the South!” ”

“ Neither the one nor the other had much of what we call technical education, but both understood how to cast a spell on the soul, awakening its dormant powers. Abdul Baha had the courage to frequent the mosques and argue with the mullās; he used to be called 'the Master' par excellence, and the governor of Adrianople became his friend, and proved his friendship in the difficult negotiations connected with the removal of the Bahaites to Akka. ”

“ It appears to me that the essence of Bahaism is not dogma, but the unification of peoples and religions in a certain high-minded and far from unpractical mysticism. I think that Abdul Baha is just as much devoted to mystic and yet practical religion as his father. In one of the reports of his talks or monologues he is introduced as saying:
'A moth loves the light though his wings are burnt. Though his wings are singed, he throws himself against the flame. He does not love the light because it has conferred some benefits upon him. ”

“ Therefore strive that the greatest cleanliness and sanctity, which is the great desire of Abdul-Baha, should be resplendent among the Bahais, and that the companions of God should surpass the rest of mankind in all conditions and perfections; that they may be physically and morally superior to others; that through cleanliness and purity, refinement and health, they may be the chief of wise men, and that by their affranchisement, their prudence, and the control of their desires, they may be the princes of the pure, the free and the wise. ”

“ Abbas Effendi, the only son of the oldest wife, proclaimed himself the successor, the Interpreter, the Centre of the Covenant, the Source of Authority. Mohammed Ali and his brothers strenuously opposed Abbas and intense animosity was engendered which divided the followers in Acca and Persia. Abbas drew the greater number with him. He assumed the title of Abdul Baha (Servant of Baha) . He has the ambition to make the faith a world religion and has inaugurated a propaganda in the West. After the proclamation of constitutional liberty in Turkey, he resided in Egypt. ”

“ THE claims [249] of Bahais in regard to the conduct of Abdul Baha must be further considered. Mr. Phelps describes him as a man "who proves that self can be utterly forgotten: that all-embracing love can be substituted for egotism: the recorded love of Buddha and Christ may indeed be realized." M. Asad Ullah writes: "He sees the Moslem, the Christian and the Bahai, all with one eye,—he is equally kind to all." Mr. Sprague affirms: "Abdul Baha manifests universal love in every word and act." Mr. Chase says: "Bahaism does bring men into loving unity with each other." ”

“ The conduct of Abdul Baha and his followers towards the brothers and their followers, as well as that of Bahais to the Azalis, contradicts their fine professions of toleration and love to all religions and all men. Well may we exclaim with Professor Browne: "Where is the restraining power, when they can show such bitter animosity against those of their own household!" The numbers of Bahais living at Acca then was about ninety,596 and of them thirty597 or forty598 were of the opponents of Abbas. ”

“ In 1914 Abdul Baha visited Akka, living in the house of Baha-'ullah, near where his father was brought with wife and children and seventy Persian exiles forty-six years ago. But his permanent home is in Ḥaifa, a very simple home where, however, the call for hospitality never passes unheeded. 'From sunrise often till midnight he works, in spite of broken health, never sparing himself if there is a wrong to be righted, or a suffering to be relieved. ”

“ They displayed no love of country by striving for the cause of the people, nor any real love or loyalty to the autocratic Shah. Yet the influence of Abdul-Baha Abbas was thrown in favour of Mohammed Ali Shah, and after he had scattered parliament at the cannon's mouth and annulled the constitution, Bahais were granted appointments in the civil service and rejoiced in the reactionary régime. A tablet of Abdul Baha was circulated prophesying a long and prosperous reign for Mohammed Ali Shah, who before many months was driven from his throne into exile. ”

“ The visit of Abdul Baha did not leave any great impression. His personality had no deep influence. He appeared conspicuous neither for intellectuality nor spirituality. Many a distinguished traveller has got hold of the public ear and heart to a greater extent. I was in Baltimore when he was there. He caused scarcely a ripple on the surface. His addresses were tame and full of platitudes. It was told me that his visit led to doubt and coldness on the part of some adherents. ”

“ The unity in Bahai Assemblies is on so small a scale as to be not worthy of mention. How little Abdul Baha knows of or appreciates the reality and power of Christian spiritual fellowship is shown in his remarks at West Englewood, N. Y.98 "This gathering (of Bahais) has no peer or likeness upon the surface of the earth, for all other gatherings and assemblages are due to some physical basis or material interests. Bahai meetings are mirrors of the kingdom." When Abdul Baha speaks about the results of Bahaism in bringing about unification in Persia, his claims seem utterly extravagant. ”

“ In the Turkish empire they are few, for Sunni Moslems are utterly indifferent to Bahaism. The Egyptian Gazette says of Egypt where Abdul Baha resided for two years, "The new religion has made little perceptible progress; Islam remained indifferent, and the Christian community was ignorant of his presence." Of Syria, Mr. Phelps wrote:16 "All the Bahais in Acca are Persians. No other nationalities are among them." The inference is plain that no native of Acca had become Bahai through forty years of contact with Baha and his seventy followers. ”

“ O thou yearning servant of the Beauty of Abha! In the time that all the ulemas and sages, leaders, merchants and traders, nay, even the public itself from the highest to the lowest have taken refuge in the British Legation and began to complain and clamor that they are oppressed, His Royal Highness Shoa-Us-Saltanah, the son of the Shah, cried in the Assembly of Nobles: “These ulemas and Sheite leaders were always stigmatizing the Bahais, saying, ‘They are the ill-wishers of the government and the corruptors of nations!’ Now consider ye with the eye of justice! ”

“ What might the minority expect? The oppressions and anathemas received by the old Bahais from the followers of Abdul Baha Abbas give the answer.312 Fortunately for the world, the universal reign of Bahaism is not to be realized, neither is the prophecy of Abdul Baha to be fulfilled which says313 "that the flag of Baha Ullah will overcome every other flag and all rulers will do homage to it." ”

“ It was a matter of boasting that the Bab's writings were from 100,000 to 500,000 verses, and he was executed at twenty-five years of age. Of Baha's Abdul Baha says: "The Books of his Holiness number more than 100; each one sufficient for mankind." Abul Fazl62 writes: "His Holy Tablets exceed in quantity the [46] Heavenly Books and Divine Writings possessed by all the different nations of the earth." The number of these tablets is stated to be over 1,000. By way of contrast, Christ's teachings are said by Abdul Baha to consist of only a dozen pages scattered in the Gospels. ”

“ Thus Abdul Baha says,431 "When they brought Kurrat-ul-Ayn the terrible news of the martyrdom of the Bahais, she did not waver." Again he says,432 "Thousands of His (i. e., Baha Ullah's) followers have given their lives, and while under the sword shedding their blood they have proclaimed, 'Ya Baha-ul-Abha.'" He said433 in Doctor Cadman's church, "The King of Persia killed 20,000 Bahais." Again,434 "In all parts of Persia his enemies rose against Baha Ullah, imprisoning and killing his converts, razing thousands of dwellings." ”

“ To one who knows that country from long residence they are explicable only on the supposition that he has been misinformed or deceived by his own followers, for it must be borne in mind that Abdul Baha left Persia when a child of six or eight and has never returned. ”

“ In the following review, which covers several chapters, the conduct of Baha, Abdul Baha and their early followers is treated together. The claim made for the founders is nothing short of blessed perfection. For the disciples, it is one of superlative excellence. Myron Phelps says:380 "This faith does not expend itself on beautiful and unfruitful theories, but has a vital and effective power to mould life towards the very highest ideals of human character—as exemplified in the life of Abbas and the salient characteristics [180] of his followers." ”

“ Dreyfus107 says: "Long before these ideas, i. e., peace, brotherhood and arbitration, had taken form among [71] us, at a time when the Bab himself had sometimes excused the use of arms for the propagation of religion, Baha Ullah had made these high principles the one basis of his religion." Remey108 states this claim yet more strongly, saying: "Peace, arbitration, in fact universal civilization were unthought of, when over half a century ago these teachers (Baha Ullah and Abdul Baha) announced their message." ”

“ Though born a Jew, he tells us that believers in Judaism were no better than any other professedly religious persons, and that the only hope for the future lay in the success of the efforts of Abdul Baha, whose supreme greatness as a prophet he fully recognizes. He was born in Hungary in March 1832, and met Abdul Baha at Buda-Pest in April 1913. The letter was written shortly after the interview; some may perhaps smile at its glowing Oriental phraseology, but there are some Oriental writers who really mean what they seem to mean, and one of these (an Oriental by adoption) is Vambéry. ”

“ A prophet who steps aside from the region in which he is at home is fallible like other men. Even in the sphere of exposition of sacred texts the greatest of prophets is liable to err. In this way I am bound to say that Baha-'ullah himself has made mistakes, and can we be surprised that the almost equally venerated Abdul Baha has made many slips? ”

“ Sometimes even he has devoted a part of his scanty leisure to instructing them. We must remember, however, that of Bahaism as well as of true Christianity it may be said that it is not a dogmatic system, but a life. No one, so far as my observation reaches, has lived the perfect life like Abdul Baha, and he tells us himself that he is but the reflexion of Baha-'ullah. We need not, therefore, trouble ourselves unduly about the opinions of God's heroes ”

“ Except a man be purified and sanctified from the soil of his dependence on this world, the spiritual purity will not become manifest in him. The more the mirror is clear and pure the greater will the rays and the bounties of the Sun of Truth show forth from it.
As to those things published in journals against thee: Thou shouldst not be grieved nor sorry therefor, because thousands of journals have written traducing Abdul-Baha, have given false and base accusations and awful calumnies. ”