Meeting of farewell to Abdul Baha. [edit]
September 29th 1911.
AT the invitation of Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper
about four hundred and sixty
representative people met in the hall of the
Passmore Edwards’ Settlement, Tavistock
Place, last Friday evening to bid farewell to
Abdul Baha Abbas on the eve of his departure
for Paris. Arriving in London on Monday
evening, September the fourth, he has spent
a happy and busy four weeks. in our midst.
Except for a brief visit to Bristol last week
he remained at 97, Cadogan Gardens. His
time was mainly occupied in interviews with
people who wished to meet him. These
included not a few whose names are house-
hold words in this country, and some travelled
long distances to see him.
A beautiful spirit prevailed on Friday
evening. The atmosphere was very different
from that of an ordinary meeting or religious
gathering. Everyone present was enriched
by the lofty spiritual tone of the proceedings;
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the notes struck were all in the direction of
Brotherhood, Unity, and Peace. While a
report of the speeches would give a very inadequate
idea of the effect produced, yet they
were so well-conceived, so sincere, so exquisitely
phrased as to be all worthy of reproduction.
Among others Ameer Ali Syed wrote.
regretting his inability to be present, and.
Archdeacon Wilberforce sent affectionate
greetings.
After the Lord’s Prayer and prayers for Unity of Baha’u’llah and Gelasius (V. century), Professor Michael Sadler spoke as. follows :—
WE have met together to bid farewell to Abdul Baha, and to thank God for his example and teaching, and for the power: of his prayers to bring Light into confused thought, Hope into the place of dread, Faith where doubt was, and into troubled hearts, the Love which overmasters self-seeking and fear.
Though we all, among ourselves, in our
devotional allegiance have our own individual
loyalties, to all of us Abdul Baha brings, and
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has brought, a message of Unity, of sympathy
and of Peace. He bids us all be real and true
in what we profess to believe; and to treasure
above everything the Spirit behind the form.
With him we bow before the Hidden Name,
before that which is of every life the Inner
Life! He bids us worship in fearless loyalty
to our own faith, but with ever stronger yearning
after Union, Brotherhood, and Love; so
turning ourselves in Spirit, and with our
whole heart, that we may enter more into
the mind of God, which is above class, above
race, and beyond time.
Professor Sadler concluded with a beautiful prayer of James Martineau.
Mr. Eric Hammond said the Bahai movement stood for unity: one God, one people; a myriad souls manifesting the divine unity, a unity so complete that no difference of colour or creed could possibly differentiate between one Manifestation of God and another, and a sympathy so all-embracing as to include the very lowest, meanest, shabbiest of men; unity, sympathy, brotherhood, leading up to a concord universal. He concluded with a saying of Baha’u’llah, that the divine cause of universal good could not be limited to either East or West.
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Miss Alice Buckton said we were standing
at one of the springtimes of the world, and
from that assembly of representatives of
thought and work and love, would go out all
over the world influences making for unity
and brotherhood.’ The complete equality of
men and women was one of the chief notes of
Bahai teaching.
Sir Richard Stapley pointed out that unity must not be sought in the forms and externals of religion, but in the inner spirit. In Persia there had been such an impulse towards real unity as was a rebuke to this so-called Christian country.
Mr. Claude Montefiore, as a Jew, rejoiced in the growth of the spirit of unity, and regarded that meeting as prophetic of the better time to come, and in some sense a fulfillment of the idea expressed by one who fell as a martyr to the Roman Catholic faith, Sir Thomas More, who wrote of the great Church of the Utopians, in which all varieties of creeds gathered together, having a service and liturgy that expressed the higher unity, while admitting special loyalties.
Mrs. Stannard dwelt on what that meeting and the sentiments expressed meant to the East, especially to the women, whose condition it was difficult for the West to understand.
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Tammadon-ul-Molk testified to the unifying
effect the Bahai movement had had in Persia,
and of the wonderful way in which it had
spread to America and other countries.
Then Abdul Baha rose to give his farewell address. An impressive figure, the face rather worn, but the eyes full of animation, he stood for about fifteen minutes, speaking in soft musical Persian. With hands extended, palms upwards, he closed with a prayer.
O NOBLE friends and seekers for the
Kingdom of God! About sixty years
ago in the time when the fire of war was
blazing among the nations of the world, and
bloodshed was considered an honour to mankind;
in a time when the carnage of thousands
stained the earth; when children were rendered
fatherless; when fathers were without
sons and mothers were spent with weeping;
when the darkness of inter-racial hatred and
animosity seemed to envelope mankind and
blot out the divine light; when the wafting of
the holy breath of God seemed to be cut off—
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in that time Baha’u’llah rose like a shining
star from the horizon of Persia, inspired with
the message of Peace and of Brotherhood
among men.
He brought the light of guidance to the world; he kindled the fire of love and revealed the great reality of the True Beloved. He sought to destroy the foundations of religious and racial prejudice and of political rivalry.
He likened the world of humanity to a tree, and all the nations to its branches and the people to its leaves, buds and fruits.
His mission was to change ignorant fanaticism into Universal love, to establish in the minds of his followers the basis of the unity of humanity and to bring about in practice the equality of mankind: He declared that all men were equal under the mercy and bounty of God.
Then was the door of the Kingdom set wide and the light of a new heaven on earth revealed unto seeing eyes.
Yet the whole of Baha’u’llah’s life was spent in the midst of great trial and cruel tyranny. In Persia he was thrown into prison, put into chains, and lived constantly under the menace of the sword. He was scorned and scourged.
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When he was about thirty years old he
was exiled to Baghdad, and from Baghdad to
Constantinople, and from there to Adrianople
and lastly to the prison of Akka.
Yet under chains and from his cell he succeeded in spreading his cause, and uplifting the banner of the oneness of humanity.
Now, God be praised, we see the light of Love shining in the East and in the West; and the tent of fellowship is raised in the midst of all the peoples for the drawing together of all hearts and souls.
The call of the Kingdom has been sounded, and the annunciation of the world’s need for Universal Peace has enlightened the world’s. conscience.
My hope is that through the zeal and ardour of the pure of heart, the darkness of hatred and difference will be entirely abolished, and the light of love and unity shall shine; this world shall become a new world; things material shall become the mirror of the divine; human hearts shall meet and embrace each other; the whole world become as a man’s native country and the different races be counted as one race.
Then disputes and differences will vanish, and the Divine Beloved be revealed on this earth.
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As the East and the West are illumined
by one sun, so all races, nations, and creeds
shall be seen as the servants of the One God.
The whole earth is one home, and all peoples,
did they but know it, are bathed in the
oneness of God’s mercy. God created all.
He gives sustenance to all. He guides
and trains all under the shadow of his bounty.
We must follow the example God Himself
gives us, and do away with all disputations
and quarrels.
Praise be to God! the signs of friendship are appearing, and as a proof of this I, today, coming from the East, have met in this London of the West with extreme kindness, regard and love, and I am deeply thankful and happy. I shall never forget this time I am spending with you.
Forty years I endured in a Turkish prison. Then in 1908 the Young Turks “Committee of Union and Progress” shook the gates of despotism and set all prisoners free, myself among them. I pray that blessing may be upon all who work for Union and Progress.
In the future untrue reports will be spread regarding Baha’u’llah in order to hinder the spread of truth. I tell you this, that you may be awake and prepared.
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I leave you with prayer that all the beauty
of the Kingdom may be yours. In deep regret
at our separation, I bid you good-bye.
The translation of the valedictory having been read by Professor Sadler, Abdul Baha closed the meeting by giving his blessing in undulating rhythmic tones.
By the time these lines appear Abdul Baha Abbas will have left our shores, but the memory of his gracious personality is a permanent possession. His influence will be felt for many days to come, and has already done much to promote that union of East and West for which many have long yearned.
