Bahá’í World/Volume 19/Essays and Reviews

The Bahá’í World
Volume 19

PART SIX

LITERARY AND MUSICAL WORKS

[Page 744][Page 745]I ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

1. GLIMPSES OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHA

EXCERPTS FROM THE MEMOIRS OF MUHAMMAD-S__HAF1‘ ROUHANI (RAWHANi) OF HIS THIRTY-NINE DAY PILGRIMAGE IN APRIL/MAY 1921 (TRANSLATED FROM THE PERSIAN BY BAHARIEH (BAHARiYYIH) ROUHANI MA‘ANi)

MUHAMMAD-SﬂAFT‘ ROUHANI (Rawhani) was born in 1894 in Nayriz, iran, and was descended from the generation of the early martyrs of the Bébi Faith who, as soon as Vahid arrived in Nayriz and proclaimed the coming of the Promised Qa’im, responded to His Call, fought under His Banner, and nurtured with their blood the Tree of His nascent Cause. As a youth, Mr. Rouhani was an eyewitness to the martyrdom on Naw—Rfiz, the Persian New Year, 21 March 1909, of eighteen Baha’is of Nayriz whose blood-stained and mutilated bodies were hung upside down at the entrance of the town as a warning to others. On that day his father was in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahé as He entombed the sacred remains of the Bath in their permanent resting place on Mount Carmel and eulogized the martyrs of Nayriz. As the enemies were bent on exterminating the entire male Baha’i population of Nayriz, Muhammad-fihafi‘ Rouhani’s mother disguised him as a girl and took shelter with some other women and children in a desolate place outside the town. The heart—rending events he witnessed made a lasting impression on the sensitive youth-who vowed to serve the Faith to his last breath, a pledge he fulfilled most scrupulously to the end of his long earthly life.

With his wife and seven children he pioneered to Mahml’ldabad in the Province of Mazandaran in the forty-five month teaching plan assigned to Train by the beloved Guardian, and assisted in the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly; and in his professional capacity as a cotton expert he travelled widely throughout Fairs devoting his free time to establishing deepening classes and presenting lectures on the Baha’i Faith. After retiring, he continued his travels and devoted considerable time to interviewing people and conducting research for the history books he was writing. His two—volume history of Nayriz was published under the title of Lama'dtu’l—Anvdr (The Gleam of Light). Although his history of Ardistan was approved for publication, the disruption caused by the Islamic revolution prevented its appearance.

In his eighty-fifth year, Mr. Rouhani, who was sought by the revolutionary authorities because of his long years of outstanding service to the Faith, left his homeland, accompanied by his wife, at the encouragement of his children who are pioneers in various parts of the world, and settled in India in 1979. In his absence his house was confiscated and razed to the ground and his belongings, including his valuable papers and records, were pillaged. Both in Panchgani and Poona, Mr. Rouhani devoted himself to deepening the friends, especially the youth, until his passing on 25 November 1984 in Poona at age ninety. ‘His LIFELONG SERVICES PROMOTION FAITH CRADLE FAITH UNFORGETTABLE,’ the Universal House of Justice cabled on his passing. _

When he was in his twenties, Mr. Rouhani joined the first group of seven pilgrims from Nayriz who visited the Holy Land after World War I. The following excerpts are from his memoirs of that period.

Passages in parentheses form an integral part of the memoir; interpolations by the translator appear in square brackets. Statements attributed to ‘Abdu’l-Bahé, although placed in quotation marks, represent the purport of His remarks according to the author’s recollection and, as such, have the status of pilgrim notes.

I from us. We were like dead bodies in His pres— ence. While He was leaning back, He said with ‘Abdu’l-Bahé admitted us to His presence a captivating voice, ‘Welcome! You sustained immediately upon our arrival in Haifa. There many diﬂiculties during your journey .. .’ were seven of us from Nayriz accompanied by As there were seven pilgrims from Nayriz, Nazimu’l—Mulk. We were 1ed to a small room ‘Abdu’l—Baha turned His loving attention to us, to the north of the blessed House. We entered asked after the friends there, and said, ‘Nayriz with utter humility and attained the honour of is a sacred place. The pure blood of many union. martyrs was shed on its soil. Among the martyrs We had been advised beforehand not to kneel is Aqa Siyyid Yahyay-i-Vahid who had com— before ‘Abdu’l-Baha. We were told to enter, mitted to memory thirty thousand traditions. say Allah’u’Abha, and await His instructions. He was foremost among the ‘Ulama of Train. We followed this advice, and bowed one by Also among them was Haj Muhammad-Taqi- one as we entered. With supreme dignity Ayyi’lb, who, as the gamblers say, risked his all. ‘Abdu’l-Baha welcomed us and bade us to be He sacrificed whatever he had in the path of seated. The power of prostration was taken God. He was tortured and made to suffer

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746

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[Page 747]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

greatly. Finally he went to Baghdad and became the recipient of endless bounties.’

II

The second day after our arrival was the first day of Ridvan. On that day ‘Abdu’l-Baha and His family went to Bahji to Visit the Shrine of Baha’u’llah. At His behest, bus tickets were obtained for all the pilgrims to go to ‘Akka and visit the Most Holy Shrine. As we entered the bus and were introduced to the person in charge, he manifested extreme respect for ‘Abdu’l-Baha and expressed delight that we were the followers of ‘Abbas Effendi.

We were dropped off at a place about one kilometer from Bahji. From there all of us walked towards the Shrine while singing a song, the opening verses of which are:

We, the followers of Baha,

with dilated hearts,

from the beginning of creation

to the end of time,

are proclaimers

of the Greatest Name:

Allah’u’Abha! Allah’u’Abha! And all of us, with cries of exultation, responded by repeating the last verse.

When we reached a curve in the path near the Bahji Tea House and saw before us in the distance the blessed figure of ‘Abdu’l—Baha, we stopped singing and approached him With absolute courtesy and humility. We bowed and uttered the greeting of ‘Allah’u’Abha.’ With a heavenly smile He said, ‘Welcome.’ Then with much compassion and in a very humorous way He pretended to scold us, saying, ‘You have publicly disgraced Us! There was a time when no one dared say “Allah’u’Abha”. Now you raise the cry of praise and glorification and openly utter the greeting of “Allah’u’Abha” as you come to the Blessed Shrine.’

111

One day the writer and another pilgrim from Nayriz were taken ill and were confined to bed. Dr. Lutfu’llah Hakim was our physician. The illness deprived us of the bounty of attaining the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Baha for a few days. I was able to leave my sick bed on the eighth day of Ridvan. I joined the other pilgrims at the Pilgrim House. However, the condition of Haj

747

Amru’llah, the other pilgrim, worsened. ‘Abdu’l-Baha issued instructions for the German doctor to Visit the patient and help Dr. Hakim in his attempts to cure him.

On the ninth day of Ridvan we again left Haifa, at ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s behest, and went to ‘Akka. On that day we Visited the Most Holy Shrine, the Garden of Firdaws,l and the Garden of Ridvan, which is also called by Baha’u’llah the Verdant Island. Dr. Hakim was directed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha to remain in Haifa and watch Haj Amru’llah’s condition, which had become critical.

Unfortunately, on this trip I developed diar- rhoea. In the morning the matter was reported to ‘Abdu’l-Baha. He ordered that one-and-a- half litres of milk be boiled. I was to drink it when it was cold. With this prescription 1 was completely cured; the immediate cure was obvi- ously effected through His blessed Will.

Two days later something happened that astonished us all. ‘Abdu’l-Baha was sitting in the little garden in front of the Shrine of Baha’u’llah2 and a group of us were in His presence. He was talking to us when Dr. Hakim arrived from Haifa and sought permission to attain ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s presence. Permission was granted. He, panic-stricken and perturbed, said ‘One of the patients from Nayriz is in a critical condition.’ ‘Abdu’l-Baha said calmly, ‘He will be all right.’ Dr. Hakim, who had given up hope and was certain the patient would die by the time he returned said, ‘My Master, even the German doctor has no hope for him; he is mori- bund.’ With a special gesture, which is His alone, and with considerable force, ‘Abdu’l-Baha repeated His assurance, saying, ‘He will be all right,’ and then He dismissed Dr. Hakim. There were some candies on the table. ‘Abdu’l-Baha took one of the candies known locally as Turkish Delight, gave it to Dr. Hakim and said, ‘You may also give this to the patient.’ The doctor took the candy, backed out respectfully, and returned to Haifa. On the twelfth day of Ridyan, when we returned to Haifa, Haj Amru’llah was out of bed, looking well and very much alive. He joined us in the Pilgrim House near the Shrine of the Bab.

' Paradise Garden, an extensive agricultural area immediately adjacent to the Ridvan Garden; see Door afHope, pp. 102— 2That Garden is no longer there; it has been dismantled and

now forms a part of the gardens surrounding the Most Holy Spot.

[Page 748]748 IV

One evening ‘Abdu’l—Baha granted an audi- ence to a large number of the friends in the hall of His House. With a captivating eloquence and in a state of joy and delight, He said, ‘No government was able to seize the fortress and port of ‘Akka, but when God willed it, it was conquered by two British cavalrymen. (‘Abdu’l- Baha with the use of His two fingers emphasized the figure 2). He then said, ‘It is the will of God that this Faith should advance, therefore, nothing can hinder its progress or check its growth. All the religions of God have been like this in the beginning. We are holding a pickaxe in our hand ready to build, but we see that the building is raised by itself.’ [At this point ‘Abdu’l-Baha related the story of Abu Muslim- i—Ighui‘asanil, and the seemingly trivial cir- cumstances that contributed to his Victory over the forces of Ibn-i—Marvan, and remarked that ‘the same force is in operation now’.]

V

One afternoon ‘Abdu’l-Baha was in the garden of His House pacing the path when He admitted a group of us to His presence. We were completely immersed in the bountiful ocean of His eloquent utterances when someone in— formed Him of the arrival of Aqa ﬂayhh Fara- ju’llah2 from Egypt and requested permission for him to attain ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s presence. Per- mission was granted. fihaylgh F araju’llah came and said one of the well—known scholars of Egypt by the name of ﬂaylgh Muhammad, with whom he had spoken about the Faith for some time and who had several unresolved questions, had come to Haifa with him to discuss his difficulties and pose his questions in person. ‘Abdu’l-Baha granted permission for them to attain His presence after supper (the pilgrims usually had their supper at the House of the Master and went to the Pilgrim House to sleep). After supper we were dismissed and returned

IA powerful chief of Persian origin, leader of the religious and political movement in Qurasan through which the Ummayads were overthrown and the Abbasids (Arabic family descended from ‘Abbas, the uncle of Muhammad) attained the throne. He died in 755.

Zﬂayﬂ Faraju’lléh Kurdi, a well-known believer who rend— ered outstanding services and who was responsible for print- ing many Baha’i books in Egypt. At the time he was in the process of publishing Makdn'b—i-‘Abdu’l-Bahd (Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha), Vol. III.

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to the Pilgrim House. Some time elapsed. I was in a state between sleep and wakefulness when I heard the voices of two Arabs coming up the mountain, who were talking together as they were approaching the Pilgrim House (the Pilgrim House is situated in the heart of Carmel and the voices of those who climbed could be clearly heard in the silent night. Therefore, I could hear their happy conversation. They were so jubilant, methought they had discovered a treasure house). As they drew nigh, they knocked at the door. Aqa Muhammad Hasan, the attendant . .. awoke and opened the door. It became known that the arrivals were Aqa S__hay@ Faraju’llah and his friend, _S_hayl_<_h Muhammad, the Mufti of Egypt. After arrival they lit the light in the corridor, sat there and started talking together. Sleep was lost to me completely. As I had studied Arabic and could follow their conversation to a measured degree, I understood what they were talking about. In but one meeting ‘Abdu’l-Baha had subdued the heart of the _S_hay@ in such wise that he had become an ardent lover. Their discussion was so intriguing, and the description of their Visit with ‘Abdu’l-Baha so exciting, that I lost the power to resist. I left my bed and with their permission sat on a chair next to them.

They continued their conversation. §hay_k_h Muhammad addressing ﬂayﬂ Faraju’llah said, ‘I had worked hard for several years and had selected some very difiicult questions Which I had noted down to ask. When I decided to accompany you to Haifa, I was thinking that my encounter with ‘Abdu’l-Baha would take a long time before settlement could be reached. However, after discussing one of my problems during the first meeting, the response was so comprehensive and all—embracing that I feel all my difficulties have been resolved. ‘Abdu’l-Baha has answered all my questions. For example, the problem of fate and free will which seemed to be very complicated and which I thought would have needed a long time to resolve, was disposed of in one meeting. As soon as the first question was discussed, the response was such that my other questions were also answered. It is like a key with which I can open the door to many other questions.’

The ﬂayﬂ spent several days in Haifa par- taking of the bounty of attaining ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s presence. On the night of the Ascension of Baha’u’llah I saw him in the Most Holy Shrine

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and in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Baha with absol- ute devotion and humility. He was so trans— formed and appeared so intoxicated with the spirit and filled with enthusiasm that I was envious of him. His tears were unceasing. He evinced such tender emotions at the time of prostrating himself at the Sacred Threshold that everyone present was affected.

This is the story of the meeting with ‘Abdu’l- Baha of one of the learned men of Islam whose transformation I witnessed with my own eyes. I saw how dust was transmuted by alchemy, and copper became gold.

VI

One day as ‘Abdu’l—Baha entered the court— yard and was going up the steps leading to His House, one of the pilgrims approached Him and said, ‘My purpose in life is to teach the Cause of God. I beseech confirmations.’ ‘Abdu’l-Baha turned back and addressing the petitioner said, ‘Every teacher is confirmed and Victorious. The Blessed Beauty has said: “Verily, We shall aid whosoever will arise for the triumph of our Cause with the hosts of the Concourse on high and a company of Our favoured angels.”’l He then said twice that purity of motive is needed and, alluding to Alma Knobloch, remarked, ‘A woman of slight build and of little formal education arose with pure intention and conquered Germany.’2

VII

One day ‘Abdu’l—Baha stepped out into the verdant garden of His House. The pilgrims stood in rows on both sides of the footpath awaiting Him. ‘Abdu’l-Baha called His faithful gardener, Isma’ﬂ Aqa, and asked him to bring a basket. ‘Abdu’l—Baha with His own Hands picked a considerable number of red roses and placed them in the basket. He then entered the path, followed by Isma’il Aqa who carried the basket. ‘Abdu’l-Baha was extremely happy and, as He walked past us, He gave each a rose and said (‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Words are paraphrased):

'G/eanings from the Writings Q/‘Balzd'u’l/(ilz, LXXII.

2Alma Knobloch became a Baha’i in 1903 in the United States. With the consent of ‘Abdu’LBahé, and assisted fin» ancially by her sister Fanny, Alma settled in Germany in 1907, the first pioneer to join Dr. Edwin Fisher. She re- mained until 1921. See ‘In Memoriam’, The B(I/Miz' World, vol. IX, pp. 641—43. Alma Knobloch died in 1943, Fanny in 1949.

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Today the news was received that a beauty divinely blessed has been martyred in Kir- manfiahan. This youth sought martyrdom from Me. I assured him with this verse, ‘0 Thou assured soul, return to thy Lord well-pleased and pleasing unto Him.’ Now the news of his martyrdom has arrived. I give you these ﬂowers in memory of Aqa Ya‘qI’ib-i-Muttahidih.3 He then continued as He walked, saying that when the Blessed Beauty [Baha’u’llah] was in Baghdad, there was a ﬂowering tree in the House, which had become weak. Baha’u’llah ordered that some blood from a slaughtered lamb be poured around the tree. This was done and the tree became very strong. This is the effect of blood on a tree. Behold the effect that the sacrifice of blood of a youth such as Aqa Ya‘qi’ib-i—Muttahidih will have on the tree of the Cause.

That day ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Words about mar— tyrdom were such that they caused even the most stone—hearted individuals among the audi— ence to desire martyrdom.

In the evening there was a beautiful gathering in the Master’s House. ‘Abdu’l~Baha ordered that the letter from Mirza Yﬂsifghan—i-Vujdani describing the circumstances attending the mar- tyrdom of Aqa Ya‘qfib-i-Muttahidih be read from the beginning to the end. The letter closed with the following lines of verse [by Jalalu’d— Din-i—Ri’lmi]:

Thou hast slain the lovers,

Thy hands are stained with their blood;

Thou hast then performed prayers

Over their bodies, one by one.

‘Abdu’l-Baha again spoke in praise of that beloved youth who had asked Him to be per- mitted to be the first martyr from among the Baha’is of Jewish origin.

3 Translator’s note: The Baha’i scholar ‘Abdu’I—Hamid Ishraq Eha’vari in his book Mullddidrdl‘ states that Ya‘qi'ib-i-Mut— tahidih was born in Kashan and raised in Hamadan. When he embraced the Faith, the intensity of his love was such that he beseeched ‘Abdu’l-Baha on several occasions to bestow on him the honour of martyrdom. ‘He is the only martyr from the Baha’is of Jewish background,’ I.s_h_raq _K_havari writes (there have been others since) and ‘he was the last to give his life for the Faith during ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s ministry.’ To please his mother, Hajiyih ghamim, Mr. Mut— tahidih had been about to marry, but when he recognized that his request to be martyred was to be granted, he declined to marry and asked his mother, instead to invite the Baha’is to a meeting after his death and offer them sweetmeats. She fulfilled her son’s wish each year on the anniversary of his martyrdom, inviting the friends for prayers, and then, with

stooped posture and a brave smile, passing sweets among the guests.

[Page 750]750 VIII

A meeting was convened one evening in the beautiful garden of the Master’s House. At His bidding tea was served. Then two Jews, who had returned to Haifa from Jerusalem, asked permission to meet with ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Per- mission was granted. They said, ‘We are Jews. We had gone to Jerusalem for pilgrimage. Now that we want to return, it is the time of [heavy rains], we are fearful that our ship may sink. We have heard that Your prayers for people are answered. We have come to You with our need and beseech Your guidance and prayers.’

‘Abdu’l—Baha said, ‘We will pray, rest assured. From here you should go to Port Said. You will be able to get a ship to take you directly from there to Basra and Bfishihr. You will reach home safely.’ Then He dismissed them. As they were saying farewell they said, ‘We are strangers in this City and have no place to rest tonight.’ ‘Abdu’l-Baha said, ‘Go to the Pilgrim House and spend the night there.’ They bowed and left with supreme happiness and humility.

When they left, ‘Abdu’l—Baha said, ‘I like them very much. Although they came to Us with a need to be fulfilled, they were frank and forthright. The friends should have such an attitude and use this as an example. . .’

IX

One day a meeting was held in the hall of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s House. A large number of people were present and ‘Abdu’l-Baha, While seated, spoke to the friends. At the end of His talk two small Children, four and six years old, whose father was of Armenian background and had embraced the Faith, stood up with their hands over their chests and, with ‘Abdu’l- Baha’s permission, recited in very sweet voices a poem which starts with the verse: ‘0 ‘Abdu’l— Baha, I am helpless, O ‘Abdu’l—Baha, I am homeless, hold Thou my hand, hold Thou my hand.’

It was very interesting to see the extra— ordinary kindness with which ‘Abdu’l-Baha treated those children. He called them to Him, seated them on His lap and, after showering His special favours upon them, let them go. The two children went to the other side of the meeting hall and sat on the lap of Aqa Husayn— i-Kahruba’i.I

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X

One day when we were in the presence of ‘Abdu’l—Baha, He was informed that the British Crown Prince2 was arriving in Haifa and that the Governor [of Palestine] wished to borrow His car, which was the latest model and had been presented to Him by the American friends. [‘Abdu’l—Baha expressed no objection]

XI

One day we were in the presence of the Master in Bahji. Something came up that prompted ‘Abdu’l—Baha to speak of Nayriz. Aqa Mirza Ahinad-i-Nayrizi conveyed a request from some of the friends, who had seen us off, that they be blessed and graced by the Master. ‘Abdu’l— Baha said, ‘They are all the recipients of favour.” Mirza Ahmad said, “They seek the good ple- asure of their Master.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha responded, ‘I am well pleased with the friends of Nayriz and the Blessed Beauty is also well pleased With them. How can I be dissatisfied? They have thrice sacrificed their lives in the field of mar- tyrdom.’ Mirza Ahmad said, ‘Our fathers gave up their lives but we are sinners and ashamed of ourselves.’ ‘Abdu’l—Baha replied, ‘We are all sinners but the bounty of the Blessed Beauty is immense, be assured.’

XII

On a certain day when a group of pilgrims and resident Baha’is were in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Aqa Siyyid Mustafa,3 the renowned Baha’i teacher from Rangoon, Burma, found an occasion to say that the land of India is like a jungle of difierent religions and denominations. He said the beliefs, customs, and manners are very diverse and superstitions are rampant. ‘Abdu’l-Baha said it was true, but He added that the establishment of schools and the promotion of knowledge will eradicate the foundation of superstition.

Aqa Siyyid Mustafa said, ‘The friends in India are awaiting the arrival of their Master there.’ ‘Abdu’LBaha said, ‘I was inclined to the taking of a trip to Japan, China and India,

1 A Baha’i from India who, with Curtis Kelsey from the United States, installed the lighting plants for the illumination of the Shrines. ,

2Edward VIII.

3Mustafa Rfimi, posthumously appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Efiendi. He died 13 March 1942.

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The Eastern Pilgrim House, Haifa (north Side) 011 4 April 1922.

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but now there are obstacles in the way. I have accomplished My work. The Mafiriqu’l- Aﬂkar of Turkistan has been built and the foundation of another one in the United States is in place.1 Today We have received the news that the Annual Convention has also been con— vened. The time has come for the friends to take over the work.’

These utterances conveyed the sad news of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s imminent departure from this world, but no one dared ask a question except Aqa Mirza Abu’l-Hasan—i-Afnan, who was an ardent lover of the Master. Because that ven— erable man was a trustworthy person, ‘Abdu’l- Baha shared with him the hidden meaning of His utterance. When we returned to Iran, we received the news that because Mirza Abu’l- Hasan could not bear the thought of separation from ‘Abdu’l—Baha, he, while the Master was still enjoying good health, wrote his will and drowned himself.

XIII

I was a youth in my twenties when I came on pilgrimage. As it is a condition peculiar to this age, I had not set a fixed pattern for earning a livin g and servin g the Cause. At times I wanted to leave home and finish my education, then arise and teach the Faith on a full-time basis. At other times, since I was married, I thought of having children and educating them for this work. And yet at other times, I contemplated seeking wealth in order to spend it in the path of service.

As I was sincere in my intention, I knew that once I made up my mind and sought ‘Abdu’l- Baha’s assistance, He would grant it. ‘But what should I request that would not be harmful?’ I asked myself. ‘If I request wealth, it may become the cause of negligence; if I seek knowledge for the purpose of teaching the Faith, that know- ledge may become a veil.’ I was doubtful about what to ask that would be beneficial and in my best interest.

Several nights, before going to bed, I pon- dered upon the subject and prayed with fervour in order to choose the best option. One night I had a dream which gave me the courage to set aside my own thoughts, leave my afiairs in

‘ The Houses of Worship in ‘Ighqabad and Wilmette, Illinois.

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the hand of the divine Physician, and implore Him to prescribe for me that which He saw was in my best interest. However, I knew that in His presence I would not have the power to utter anything, unless He granted me the strength to do so. Therefore, I chose a short sentence and practised it well with the intention of reciting it, if I ever had the bounty of attaining His presence privately.

Then I mentioned to Aqa Mirza _D_hikru’llah, ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s cousin, that I was longing to attain His presence in private. Because I knew ‘Abdu’l—Baha did not deprive sincere petitioners of reception in His Court, I made the necessary preparations for the Visit.

I had just received a letter from Nayriz con— taining the glad-tidings of the arrival there of Mr. Natiq,2 a Baha’i teacher, of the estab- lishment of Mimaqiyyih School, and the news of the inauguration ceremony. Attached to the letter was the text of the speech delivered by my brother. I kept this material with me to present to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, because I knew He appreciated receiving such news.

One day when all the pilgrims from Nayriz were in the House of the Master, Mirza thk- ru’llah gave me the awaited news. He told me that ‘Abdu’l—Baha was alone in the house of Mirza Jalal, His son—in-law, and had called me into His presence. I took the items which I wanted ‘Abdu’l-Baha to bless and with exceed- ing gladness accompanied Aqa Mirza thk— ru’llah to the appointed place. With extreme excitement and in a state of utter humility and lowliness I entered the vestibule of the house. Mirza D__hikru’llah went in and sought per- mission for me to enter. Permission was granted. I left the wrapper, which contained several items to be blessed, in the corridor. I then opened the door and saw ‘Abdu’l-Baha seated at a desk. I bowed and said ‘Allah’u’Abha’. He gave me permission to enter.

I immediately threw myself at His feet, held the hem of His robe and entreated Him tearfully saying: ‘0 my Beloved! Do not leave me to myself, cause me to move in accordance with Thy Will, and confirm me in my servitude and obedience to Thee.’

‘Abdu’l~Baha bountifully lifted me up with the hand of His power and with a penetrating voice said, ‘God hath confirmed thee in serving

2Mirza Muhammad Natiq.

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His Cause, in elevating His Word, and in spread- ing His fragrances.’

This blessed utterance opened before my face the portals of happiness. It imparted hope and assurance to my heart and helped me to know what course of actiorr to follow in my life. I immediately realized that I was not going to become wealthy, but knew of a certainty that He would grant me all that was necessary for rendering service.

After I arose to my feet, ‘Abdu’l-Baha granted me permission to sit on a chair. He then gave me the courage and the opportunity to give Him the glad-tidings from Nayriz. The news of the arrival there of Mr. Natiq, of the establishment of the Mithaqiyyih School, of the inauguration ceremony, and of the speeches read by the students of the school, was presented to Him. In the end I submitted the handwritten copy of the speech which I had received from my brother, Jalal, and sought divine con- firmations for the teachers and students of the school. ‘Abdu’l—Baha took the copy, read it carefully and in His own handwriting added the word ‘bagi’l to a sentence. He then called His amanuensis, who was not there. Therefore, He took the pen and at the foot of the same sheet of paper wrote the following prayer:

0 God, my God! I supplicate confirmation and assistance for those who have arisen to serve Thy Cause and educate the children who have been nurtured (It the breast of Thy Love. 0 God! Glorify these children in Thy Kingdom and teach them from Thy knowledge. T hou art the Powerful and the Mighty.2

Praised be God! ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s favours were far beyond anyone’s imagination and per- ception. It was providential that His amanuensis was not there, so that He wrote the prayers in His own handwriting.

It was the custom that unless ‘Abdu’l-Baha clearly dismissed a person by saying, ‘May you be in God’s trust,’ the Visit continued. There- fore, as He left the room, I followed Him. Outside in the corridor, I saw the items I had left there and forgotten about. I presented them to ‘Abdu’l-Baha and just said, ‘For blessing.’ He took them with the Hand of compassion

‘ A word introducing a summing up. equivalent to the phrase ‘in short’. 2Translation authorized by the Universal House of Justice.

753

and, while holding them, He recited a prayer and returned them to me.

He still did not dismiss me. As He was leaving the corridor to enter the vestibule, He rubbed His eyes with His Hands and said, ‘I am tired, it is the spirit that endures, the body cannot bear it.’ Then He recited a verse of poetry which says, ‘Servitude is captivity and Lordship a headache.’ He then immediately added, ‘Ser- Vitude is not captivity, although Lordship is a headache.’

As ‘Abdu’l-Baha entered the courtyard of the house, He ordered that chairs be set up and the pilgrims from Nayriz be called. This was done. As soon as the chairs were in place, ‘Abdu’l— Baha sat down and granted me permission to be seated. The other six pilgrims from Nayriz also arrived and were seated at His behest.

‘Abdu’l-Baha spoke favourably of the friends of Nayriz, of their successes in rendering service, of the arrival of Mr. Natiq there, of the estab— lishment of the Mithaqiyyih School, and He praised Mr. Natiq. When He was informed that before the arrival of Mr. Natiq, Mr. Mutlaq and Mr. Nabilzadih3 had Visited Nayriz, and produced great results, He said, “Mr. Nabilzadih and Mr. Mutlaq are indeed sacrificial.’ We were then dismissed.

XIV

On the first day of Ramadan we were in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Baha together with a group of pilgrims and resident Baha’is, such as Haji ‘Ali-i-Yazdi, the brother of Haji Muhammad Tahir-i-Malmiri. Because of the difference in the lunar calendar, some of the Muslims had observed the first day of Ramadan the previous day. ‘Abdu’l-Baha asked Haji ‘Ali whether the people in the market had observed the fast yes— terday or today. He replied that some started the fast as from yesterday and some from today.

‘Abdu’l-Baha said, ‘Because they have not understood the significance of the fast, they have abandoned the primary purpose and have clung to a secondary matter, thus they have become the cause of division. In the early days of Islam this was not so, it has gradually become like this.’ Then He continued, ‘Fasting means abstinence from that which increases the appe— tite for lust and passion. This has been the

3Mirza ‘Abdu’llah Mutlaq and Mira Munir Nabilzadih, noted Baha’i teachers.

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wisdom of the fast. Just as people abstain from indulging in food, they should likewise abstain from the promptings of the baser self and protect themselves from their evil effects. However, as it can be seen,’ He said, ‘they dispute with each other over the basic principle and instead of spending their extra time in med- itating and pondering upon the Writings, in performing good and charitable deeds, and in suppressing their evil promptings, they are engaged in advancing their personal interests and improving their business.’

XV

As the night of Baha’u’llah’s Ascension drew close, ‘Abdu’I-Baha instructed all the pilgrims and the resident Baha’is to go to Bahji on the eve of the Ascension. Therefore, in the company of a group of friends we travelled to Bahji the day before the Ascension and were accom- modated in the houses in the Vicinity of the Shrine of Baha’u’llah. (These houses were destroyed during the ministry of Shoghi Efiendi and became a part of the Gardens.) At about sunset there was a meeting of the friends. ‘Abdu’l—Baha blessed us with His presence and spoke about the sufferings of Baha’u’llah in a manner which deeply affected everyone.

At the instruction of the Master another gath— ering of the friends was held at night in the Biruni' opposite the Mansion of Bahji. ‘Abdu’l- Baha honoured the meeting with His presence. The Covenant-breakers were watching the meeting from the Mansion of Baha’u’llah and evinced signs of immense envy and rancour. They tried to attract attention by pretending that since they were the occupants of the Mansion, they were Baha’u’llah’s true heirs. When ‘Abdu’l-Baha was giving a discourse, one of them started Chanting one of the prayers of the Blessed Beauty’s with a very loud voice, so that it could be Clearly heard. After the prayer, ‘Abdu’l—Baha recited a poem in Persian, the gist of which is this: Once a fox stayed in a paint container for about two hours. When he saw his colourful coat and tail, he thought he was a peacock. His claim to be a peacock was nothing but the manifestation of his vain imagining.

That night the utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

‘ Outer part of an eastern house, separate from the women’s quarters, and used for receiving guests.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

revolved around the sufferings of Baha’u’llah and immersed us all in an ocean of sorrow. After the talk, when the darkness of the night had enveloped the land, ‘Abdu’l-Baha arose and left the meeting; in a short while He dis- appeared from our sight. No one knew where He had gone. When the meeting was over, we did not know what to do, because He had not indicated anything about how we should proceed.

I took advantage of the opportunity and decided that, since we were deprived of the opportunity of Visiting the Mansion, 1 would circuniambulate it. As I was walking around the Mansion, I was reciting one of ‘Abdu’l- Baha’s prayers. When I finished the prayer, and as I was still circumambulating, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in His white cloak appeared before my eyes. I felt completely lost and did not know what to do. I bowed and said ‘Allah’u’Abha.’ I had no power to utter anything. I followed Him to the place of the gathering.

As He stood there, He instructed the friends to form several groups and each group to con- tinue praying and meditating in one of the rooms. ‘Abdu’l—Baha left for the chamber on the second ﬂoor of the building in the small Garden of Bahji, which is now called the Tea House. It was either through the intervention of Providence or the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Baha that, when the rooms were being assigned, a room on the first ﬂoor of the same building which ‘Abdu’l—Baha was using, was allocated to those of us who had come from Nayriz. Hence the appointed night when ‘all were sleeping but we were awake engaging in prayer and meditation’2 was at hand.

‘Abdu’l-Baha was awake in the upper chamber. At about midnight He started reveal- ing a Tablet of Visitation in honour of Aqa Ya ‘qub-i-Muttahidih, who was mentioned earlier. We could hear the captivating and melodious voice of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.

Just before the time of the Ascension, we heard a sound. Thereafter we beheld @usraw, the faithful attendant of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, de— scending from the steps of the upper chamber with a lantern in his hand. ‘Abdu’l-Baha fol— lowed him down the steps and left the area. Immediately after, we were informed of ‘Abdu’l—

2 ‘Abdu’l-Baha, on an earlier occasion during the pilgrimage of the Baha’is from Nayriz had alluded to the observance in those words.

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Baha’s instruction to proceed to the Shrine of Baha’u’llah for the recitation of the Tablet of Visitation.l

We set off walking behind ‘Abdu’l-Baha until we reached the entrance to the Shrine of Baha’u’llah, the Qiblih of the people of Baha. As I approached the outer Threshold, I beheld ‘Abdu’l-Baha standing in the vestibule holding a large bottle of attar, with which He anointed those who entered. We stood in a line and went in one by one. As my turn came to be anointed, I stretched out my hand in such a way that my palm was ﬂat. ‘Abdu’l-Baha lovingly pressed the palm of my hand with His thumb in order to make a hollow. He then poured the perfume generously into it. I was afraid it would spill from the corners of my hand. To avoid losing the precious perfume which ‘Abdu’l—Baha had granted me, I sipped some of it. It burned my throat to such a degree that my tears started rolling down.

After all the friends were anointed, they stood in rows facing the Inner Shrine. The Master, Who was in front, with a movement of His Hand and in a very quiet voice, instructed one of the resident friends to recite the Tablet of Visitation. At that time the learned man from Egypt, who was the travelling companion of Shayﬂ Faraju’llah _D_hakiy-i—Kurdi and who had been completely transformed in one meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Baha, was standing in front of me. He was weeping profusely as He supplicated at the Threshold of the Blessed Beauty.

After the recitation of the Tablet of Visi— tation, ‘Abdu’l-Baha kissed the Threshold of the Sacred Shrine and backed away. Others did likewise. While the ladies of the Holy Family and other women believers Visited the Shrine of Baha’u’llah (in those days in the Holy Land the matter of ‘hz'jdb’ had not been abolished yet; therefore, men and women Visited the Shrines of Baha’u’llah and the Bab separately), the Master sat on a chair outside facing the Sacred Spot. For about half an hour He was fully wrapt in meditation in absolute silence and complete lowliness. During that time we were all standing behind Him in utter humility and supplication. When the morning light broke, we were dis- missed and proceeded to our rooms.

1 A Tablet revealed by Baha’ulléh which is read at His Shrine

and at the Shrine of the Bab‘ It is also frequently used in commemorating Their anniversaries.

755 XVI

On the afternoon of the Day of Baha’u’llah’s Ascension, the seventieth day after Naw-Rfiz, we had our last meeting with ‘Abdu’l—Baha at Bahjl. Thereafter, we had to leave the promised Paradise.

‘Abdu’l-Baha called the pilgrims from Nayriz one by one to His presence. He honoured us each with a separate Tablet and, after showering us with His supreme favours and endless bless— ings, He bade us farewell. When my turn came, I prostrated myself as I entered, kissed the thres- hold and kneeled before ‘Abdu’l—Baha. He pointed to a chair and invited me to sit on it. He quoted a verse of the Kitdb-i—Aqdas to the effect that God desires us to sit on thrones. He then graciously gave me a Tablet revealed in my honour, at the foot of which was the following prayer in the handwriting of His amanuensis:

0 my God, 0 my God! ‘Verily this plant hath yielded its fruit and standeth upright upon its stalk. Verily it hath astounded the farmers and perturbed *the envious. 0 God, water it with showers from the cloud of Thy favours and cause it to yield great harvests heaped up like unto mighty hills in Thy land. Enlighten the hearts with a ray shining forth from T hy Kingdom of Oneness, illumine the eyes by beholdz'ng the signs of T hy grace, and gratify the ears by hearing the melodies 0f the birds of Thy confirmatians Singing in Thy heavenly gardens, so that these souls may become like thirstyfish swimming in the pools of T hy guid— ance and like tawn y lions roaming in the forests of Thy bounty. Verily Thou art the Generous, the M erciful, the Glorious and the Bestower.2

The above prayer was revealed at my request for my use on a regular basis. I was then dis- missed when ‘Abdu’l-Baha said, ‘May you be under God’s protection.’

It can be well imagined how we felt; we had been invited to paradise and then dismissed. Methinks life was taken from us and our Vitality sapped. The thought of separation from our Beloved reduced us to spiritless bodies.

2Translation authorized by the Universal House of Justice.

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2. MEMORIES OF SHOGHI EFFENDI

ADAPTED FROM AN ORAL ACCOUNT BY ‘ALI’ M. YAZDi*

1 FIRST met Shoghi Elfendi in 1910 when he came to Ramlih, Egypt shortly after the Master arrived there. He was thirteen, and I was eleven. I had heard about him but had never seen him before. Now, in Ramlih, we attended the French Brothers” School. We started to become acquainted, slowly, as chil- dren do, and then we came to know each other better. I would see him at the house occupied by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and gradually we became friends. Even as a child, Shoghi Effendi was always dignified, but he was friendly. Although I was his junior he almost always addressed me as ﬂayth ‘Ali, but in writing he used the untrans— literated form ‘Sheikh Aly’. He was always full of zest, always energetic, eager, always full of life.

When ‘Abdu’l—Baha was making plans to Visit the United States, He wanted to take with Him Shoghi Efiendi, as well as a few other believers. Shoghi Effendi was in the seventh heaven: he had heard so much about America, and he looked forward to accompanying the Master as he travelled all over that land giving the Message.

Shoghi Elfendi was very close to the Master; ‘Abdu’l-Baha always treated him somewhat differently from other people, even When Shoghi Effendi was a child. He himself was devoted to ‘Abdu’l—Baha. He was dedicated to the Baha’i Cause from his earliest childhood; from the very beginning it was at the centre of his life.

On 24 March 1912, the day before their sched- uled departure, Shoghi Effendi invited me to Visit the ship and see his cabin. Accompanied by some other believers, we took the electric train to Alexandria, and then to the harbour. There stood the Cedric, a White Star liner. It was a beautiful ship, one of two that plied regularly between Alexandria and New York, stopping only at Naples. Shoghi Effendi and I went

A later version of this memoir appears in Blessings Beyond

M easm'e, Recollections of 'Abdu‘l—Ba/zd and Shoghi Efi’ena’i. (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1988.)

aboard and he took me upstairs and showed me his cabin, the dining room, and all that was available to our enthusiastic inspection. He was extremely happy, and I was happy on his account. I made him promise to write to me when he got to America, and he said he would.

At Naples, Shoghi Effendi was told that the doctors who tested his eyes had discovered that he had trachoma and insisted that he must leave the ship, although he had never had trouble with his eyes and displayed no symptoms of infection. Italy was at that time at war with Turkey and it might be inferred that ‘Abdu’l- Baha’s party was thought to be Turkish, or that other political considerations came into play; but for whatever reason, Shoghi Eifendi was sent back. He was heartbroken. Medical exam— iners at Ramlih confirmed that he did not have trachoma. Denied the opportunity to be with his beloved Grandfather and to witness the teachings of the Faith he loved proclaimed across America, I saw him lose weight, grow despondent, and actually become ill. It was some time before he regained his health and natural ebullience.

After ‘Abdu’l~Baha had travelled in the United States and Europe, He returned to Ramlih for five months. Shoghi Effendi, who had been in Haifa part of the time, came to be with Him. On 2 December 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Baha left Alexandria to return to the Holy Land.

I did not see Shoghi Et’fendi again until a few years later when we were fellow students at the American University of Beirut, then known as the Syrian Protestant College, where we were part of a Circle of Baha’i students who, as an extracurricular activity, would gather together and discuss the Teachings. A number of these students were Persians who were, in effect, marooned there, unable to go home because of the war and the blockade; so they were invited to spend their summer vacations in the Holy Land. There was an ante-room to the Shrine of the Bab which was assigned to them, and they spent very happy summers there. When I

[Page 757]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 757

was in Haifa in the summer of 1917 I also greatly enjoyed being with Shoghi Effendi and with them.

At the university, Shoghi Effendi was always jolly, optimistic and hopeful. He had a really wonderful personality. Sometimes, spon- taneously, a smile would light up his face, or he would suddenly break into hearty and infectious laughter. He had a well-shaped small mouth, beautiful expressive eyes, and very regular hand- some features. He had a buoyant nature, exuberant and resilient.

At college, Shoghi Eifendi and I were in the same building; his room was directly across the hall from mine. From time to time, he would receive parcels from Haifa containing good brown home—baked bread, honey, dried fruits and nuts. He would invite me to his room to share his gifts, and the two of us would sit together there, feasting and talking. He was always generous.

Our relationship was that of two young men, personal friends, just beginning their inde- pendent lives, and we had much to share. Although he was of holy lineage and I was a member of a family of early pioneers, we forgot all that and were just two young men, happy together, enjoying ourselves. That was what our relationship was like at that time and in later years. We both had logical minds, and we both enjoyed analytical discussion, especially if it reﬂected some degree of creativity and Vision.

As students, we often spoke about the future. Even then, Shoghi Effendi had a Vision of the Faith’s having been established around the world, with communities everywhere, actively serving. That was his principal ambition. A common goal we shared was that of personal service to the Faith. He did not appear to know that he was going to be the Guardian of the Baha’i Cause; even later, at Oxford, he never gave any indication that he knew he was to be the Guardian.

Shoghi Efiendi and I graduated on 15 May 1918. He went to Haifa; I went to Damascus. Later on, when the way was opened for com- munication and travel, Shoghi Effendi was exceedingly happy. His letters and diary of that time are a truly remarkable record of what the Baha’is were doing, as well as of his own feel— ings. After the long period of silence and iso- lation, mail was now ﬂooding into the Holy Land from the United States, Germany, France,

India, Burma and other centres. Letters came with news of the progress of the Faith; telegrams arrived expressing the joy of the believers in being able to again communicate with ‘Abdu’l- Baha. Shoghi Effendi, serving as amanuensis to his beloved Grandfather, was thrilled by these developments. The doors of pilgrimage were opened again; my father received permission to come to Haifa, and Shoghi Effendi described the Visit in a letter of 13 February 1919.

‘Abdu’l-Baha worked all hours. One morning, Shoghi Efiendi was sleeping when the Master summoned him to begin his work. Later that day, in a letter addressed to ‘Ahmad’, this tender description was written: ‘Early this morning I was awakened by a gentle knock on my door, followed by the sweet voice of the Beloved calling me to rise from my sleep, to shake off my drowsiness and to attend to my work.’

It was evident that the Faith was Shoghi Effendi’s life; his joy, service to ‘Abdu’l-Baha. He was happy in this period and intent on the future of the Faith. He also recognized that all the Persian students of our group were now going their separate ways, some to Persia, some to Europe, some to America. In his diary on 24 August 1919 he recorded that I was coming from Damascus to Haifa to take my leave of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. ‘Sad has been the farewell,’ he wrote, ‘but the idea that these young men, enlightened and active as they are, may one day each in his own sphere render a service to the Cause, affords sufficient consolation for the hearts that remain behind.”

I left Haifa by train for Port Said where I was to board a ship that would take me to Switzerland and Germany to pursue my studies. Shoghi Elfendi came to the station in Haifa to see me ofi“. He sat in the compartment until the train was ready to leave; then he said goodbye, and he asked me to write to him. It was the end of August. I did not Visit Haifa again until 1928.

There were three other young Baha’is, one older than the others, who had been students at Beirut and who were now being sent by ‘Abdu’l- Baha to Stuttgart to contact the believers. We travelled together by ship and had a beautiful trip along the Adriatic by the Dalmatian coast, with its sunny little hamlets and islands, to Trieste.

So all Shoghi Effendi’s friends had gone and he was left behind. But he was happy in his

[Page 758]758

work. He was busy translating into Persian the incoming mail written in French and English, and translating the Tablets revealed by ‘Abdu’l- Baha in reply to His petitioners. I corresponded with Shoghi Effendi now and then; we have all his beautiful letters.

After I arrived in Germany, I received this letter from him, written on 9 December 1919: ‘For a long time have I awaited your letters as I was in the dark as to your whereabouts. But now that your father has come for a few days from Damascus, I secured your address and am sending you herein some news of the Holy Land.

‘The Beloved is in the best of health and so are the friends and pilgrims. Your dear and devoted father is as ever warm—hearted, loving, rosy-cheeked and in full bloom. Your brother [‘Abdu’l~Rahim Yazdi] is studying at the S.P.C. [Syrian Protestant College] and all runs smoothly. I was told last night that he is growing wonderfully in height and his studies above par.

‘As to myself, the same work and the same room.

‘So please write me and forget me not as I do not and cannot forget the dear Sheikh.

‘Yours affectionately, Shoghi.’

Eight days later he wrote that fifty pilgrims had arrived from many parts of the world. He enclosed a Tablet revealed by ‘Abdu’l—Baha commending me to the believers in Germany and said, ‘I trust you have received my letter to you dated December 8 which I sent to the Techniche Hoschule and in which I enclosed some diary letters of mine which I thought might interest you.’

The time came when Shoghi Elfendi, too, had to leave the Holy Land. ‘Abdu’l-Baha wanted him to continue his studies, but his health had broken. The Master sent him to a sanatorium on the outskirts of Paris, there to rest, undergo treatment and recuperate. He was commanded not to open a book while he was there. I received a postcard from him, written on 8 May 1920, describing his condition, giving me news of my father, and saying, ‘Be sure dear friend that your place in my heart is ever reserved and warm! I wish, when recovered, I could come to see you. But I am afraid this is not possible . . . The Master is in splendid health. Fourteen American pilgrims have arrived. The Holy Land is astir!’

THE BAHA’i WORLD

On 28 June 1920 he wrote to say that he had almost recovered and was awaiting instructions from the Master concerning whether he would resume his work in Haifa or go to England for further study. He expressed his impatience to ‘plunge again’ into ‘Valuable, profitable work’.

Shoghi Efiendi then proceeded to England. He was happy with the Bahai’s there. He saw Dr. John Esslemont, whom he had met the previous winter in Haifa, and they struck up a friendship. Shoghi Effendi used to Visit his private sanatorium in Bournemouth; they had meals together, and they enjoyed talking. Then Shoghi Efiendi went to Oxford to resume his studies. He wrote to me from Balliol College on 5 October 1920 saying that although ‘immersed heart and soul’ in preparations for entrance at Balliol College and ‘fearfully anxious and occupied’ he was glad to have received my letter. I was experiencing financial difficulties at the time and he expressed deep sympathy although he had already taken measures to assist. His problems were of a different order, he said: ‘My field of study is so vast, I have to acquire, master and digest so many facts, courses and books— all essential, all indispensable to my future career in the Cause. The very extent of this immense field is enough to discourage, excite and overwhelm such a young and inexperienced beginner as myself.’ He wrote of his need to acquire a knowledge of economics, social con— ditions, the histories and principles of the great religions, and ‘for translation purposes’ a sound and literary ability in English. ‘Prayer, faith, perseverance and effort will alone do it,’ he concluded.

On my way to the United States from Germany in the Fall of 1920, at the invitation of Shoghi Effendi, I spent a couple of nights with him in his rooms at Oxford. He took me through the university, showed me the sights and unburdened his soul. In this situation, again, we were two young men, one of holy lineage and the other from a family that had long been in the service of the Faith, and we talked about the future of the Cause, and our part in it, and the opportunities that lay ahead.

After my Visit, I received a card from Shoghi Effendi dated 6 November 1920 expressing concern about my financial circumstances and, a few days later, shortly before I sailed for America, there came from his hand further eVi— dence of his tender heart, loving—kindness and

[Page 759]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 759

generosity. At a time when his own problems were almost overwhelming, Shoghi Effendi sent me five English pounds with the admonition, ‘For heaven’s sake think not of sending me back anything. I ﬂatly refuse and decline. Let your mind be at rest.’ The note was dated 10 Nov- ember.

A year later, in Berkeley, California news of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Baha reached me. It is strange, but we had never considered that ‘Abdu’l—Baha would die. Though He Himself alluded to His passing, our minds had not, could not have, accepted the responsibility. Now, I wrote to my fatherWI did not want to bother Shoghi Effendiﬂand I pledged my loyalty to the beloved young Guardian. Shoghi Effendi answered anyway.

The unexpected news of the passing of ‘Abdu’l—Baha almost broke Shoghi Effendi’s spirit. Coming suddenly, Without warning, it was too much to bear. Committing to the hands of the Greatest Holy Leaf the affairs of the Faith, he withdrew to recover from the shock and regain his strength. His answer to my letter to my father, which he wrote on 23 January 1922, gives a glimpse of how he felt at the time:

‘My dearest brother:—

‘The touching letter you have written to your dear father has been such a relief and comfort to me and to those who have perused it. In the midst of our sorrows, one ray of hope gives us

the solace and peace that the world can not give—namely His sure and repeated promise that He will send souls that shall gloriously promote His Cause after Him. My dear brother! The pure faith, the ardour and the services of your father, I am sure, as well as your own, will make of you an efiieient and energetic servant in His Cause and I assure you of my prayers at His hallowed Shrine, that whatever you do, whatever you acquire may in the near future be wholly and directly put to the service of His Cause.

‘I am too overwhelmed to write more fully but I assure you of my prayers for you, my attachment to you and my fervent hope that we shall both co—operate to the very last, in our servitude at His Holy Threshold.

‘The bereaved Holy Leaves remember you with tenderness and hope and wish you a bright future wherever you may be.

‘Yours in His Love and Service, Shoghi.’

An envelope was enclosed on Which he had written, ‘Rose petals that have been laid upon His Sacred Threshold.’

When I think of our brilliant, devoted, pur- poseful Guardian and his unbelievable accomplishment through his own efforts, unaided except at the end, I think of the majestic legacy he left us. Yet my mind keeps going back to that lively, handsome, happy young man who looked ahead so eagerly to the future.

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3. YUSUF ‘ABDU’L—WAHID OTOLUWA: AN APPRECIATION

K. H. PAYMAN

Yfisuf Otoluwa was of the Gorontalo people of North Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia. In about 1912 he began attending primary school in Kwanding in the Gorontala region, and he con— tinued his formal education in the HoIlands Inlandse School, an institution established during the Dutch colonial era for indigenous Indonesians.

During his childhood Yfisuf often heard, par- ticularly from his mother’s parents, that the Imam Mihdi would arise at the end of the age, and his father often admonished him to pursue this matter. After graduating from the Hollands Inlandse School, Yl'isuf was accepted to con— tinue his schooling at the Idaltevreeden School in BataVia (now Djakarta), then capital of the Netherlands East Indies, on the island of J ava. There he came across two books published in Amsterdam which mentioned the Baha’i Faith, at least one of which he kept till the end of his life. He investigated as well many populist movements within Islam that were active in Batavia at that time. But always in the back of his mind during these years there remained his father’s admonition to look into the matter of the coming of the Imam Mihdi.

In 1927, Yfisuf returned to Gorontalo. For the next thirty years he occupied various posts as a teacher on the island of Sulawesi, and was active in certain Islamic movements. Then in 1956, while occupying a post within the Depart— ment of Religion in Makassar (now called Ujung Pandang), he came across a small book entitled T he Bal1ci’1’ Comnnmiz‘y, reminding him once again of the Baha’i Faith. In 1957, Yl'isuf was appointed head of the Department of Religion for the municipality of Makassar in South Sulawesi. As one of the ‘Ulama in the world’s largest nominally Muslim country, his mastery of Arabic and knowledge of the Qur’an had gained him wide respect. But despite objec- tions from his superiors, he began to investigate the Baha’i Faith in depth. He learned that dis- cussions about the teachings of Baha’u’llah were held each F riday and Saturday evening at the homes of two Baha’i pioneers in Makassar. In March 1958, he declared his belief in the Baha’i Faith.

Yi’isuf made a valuable contribution to the early stages of the development of the admin- istrative order in Indonesia. The administrative institutions of the Baha’i Faith were banned in 1962 by the late President Sukarno. A similar ban was imposed at the same time on many internationallyaffiliated organizations. When the new regime came to power, the ban on other groups and organizations was rescinded but, despite many appeals to the authorities, the ban on the organized activities of the Baha’i Faith remained in force.

Despite the ban against the Faith, Yi’isuf took advantage of his official position and became known for his well—reasoned defence of the Baha’i Faith. He was also a patient and carefu1 teacher of the Cause, never pressing his spiritual pupils to declare their faith prematurely. In 1964 he obtained copies in Arabic of Baha’u’llah’s Hidden Words and the Kz‘tdb-i-Aqdas, and studied them assiduously. His study Classes became a regular feature of life in the Makassar Baha’i community until Yfisuf Otoluwa’s death in 1978, and helped bring the Baha’i friends there to a depth of understanding that has enabled them to remain staunch in the face of numerous adversities.

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761

4. MARK TOBEY AND THE ‘TWO POWERS’*

J ULIE OEMING BADIEE

MARK TOBEY is best known to the twen- tieth century as a painter of great originality who occupies a special place in modern art. Born in 1890 in Centerville, Wisconsin, Tobey’s career spanned the period in which American art moved from a rather timid provinciality to a position of world dominance. Tobey began his career as a commercial artist in New York about 1912, but he preferred to live and work in Europe or in the American Northwest. During the 19303 Tobey was a Visiting artist at Dartington Hall, a progressive school for the arts in Devonshire, England; he also taught at the Cornish School in Seattle. Tobey is often acknowledged as the foremost painter of the ‘Northwest School,’ a group including Morris Graves and Kenneth Callahan, centered around Seattle that explored mystic themes and was particularly interested in uniting Eastern and Western modes of expression.1 Tobey is best known for his ‘white writing’, an energetic deri- vation of the techniques of Eastern calligraphy, including Arabic, Chinese, and J apanese forms. Critical events in the development of Tobey’s style include his acceptance of the Baha’i F aith about 1918 and astay in a Zen monastery in Japan in 1934. Tobey’s career reached a high point in Europe in 1958 when he was awarded First Place at the Venice Biennale, the first American painter since Whistler to win such an award. He was also invited to give a retro- spective of his work at the Musée des arts déco- ratifs at the Louvre, an honor never before given a living American artist.2

Tobey was recognized and appreciated in Europe to a greater degree than he was in the United States. His delicate, small-sized paint— ings with their sometimes overt religious imagery ran against the tide of the huge heroic murals of the Abstract Expressionists that dominated the New York School of Abstract

Reprinted by permission from World Order, 20, nos. 3 and

4 (Spring/Summer 1986), 45—64.

lMartha Kingsbury, Northwest Traditions (Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1978) 47~61.

2 Mark Tobey: Retrospective (Paris: Musée des arts décoratifs, 1961).

Mark Tobey, circa 1935.

Expressionists in the 1950s. In 1962, in a belated recognition of his importance, Tobey was given a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 1974 his paintings were the subject of a large show at the National Collection of Fine Arts at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. After his death in 1976 Tobey’s paintings continued to be recognized as in a recent exhibit of his ‘City Paintings’ in the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in 1984 and a growing number of publications analyzing his art.3

Although Tobey’s contribution to modern art is now widely recognized, and his paintings are routinely included in surveys of the great masters of the twentieth century, Tobey had a second life commitment beyond that of art, one

3 William Seitz, Mark Tobey (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1962); Tobey’s 80: A Retrospeclive (Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1971); A Tribute to Mark Tobey (Washington DC: National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Insti- tution, 1974); and Eliza Rathbone, Mark Tobey: City Paint- ings (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1984).

[Page 762]762

which was of equal importance to him. For fifty-eight years his association with the Baha’i Faith sustained and nourished his spirit. In effect, the main achievement of Tobey’s life was to find a way to express what he called ‘the two powersl—‘Baha’i and Art.’1

The difficulties of Tobey’s balancing his religion and his art were exemplified at one of the major triumphs of his eareer—his one-man show at the Louvre in 1961. At the opening of the show, Tobey, instead of exulting at the concrete evidence of his success, lamented to Marion Hofman, a long-time friend, his wish that he had done more for the Baha’i Faith. Hofman later wrote:

I was privileged to see something of Mark’s humility and dedication to Baha’u’llah, when, on the second day of the exhibition, as I was sitting alone to read his catalogue, he came and sat with me. Here, in his hour of triumph in the world, with a great enlargement of his name in his own handwriting surmounting the entrance from the rue de Rivoli, he spoke wistfully of his life as an artist in comparison with a life of direct and active service in the Faith.2 On occasion Tobey even considered giving

up his art and working full—time in Baha’i activi— ties. In 1938, when he had returned to the United States after ten years in Europe, Tobey wrote to two Baha’i friends from Oregon, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bishop:

It was a hard time spiritually for me. . . .Ifind myselfremiss more than I want to say . . . I now see artmor anythin g like it as a deterrent—and find I should have gone another route long ago! This next year will probably decide many things. I shall make one more attempt to put the Kingdom before all elsemifI can’t, well. . . . there’sbeenplentysaidonthat!3

The same theme was repeated much later in an article written for Puget Soundings, a local publication in the Seattle area:

IMark Tobey: Paintings fi'om the collection of Joyce and Arthur Duh], exhibition catalog (Stanford: Stanford U, 1967) 15.

2Marion Hofman, ‘Recollections,’ in Arthur Dahl et al., Mark Tobey: Art and Belief(0xford: George Ronald, 1984) 56.

3Mark Tobey, letter to Helen and Charles Bishop, 8 Sep- tember 1938, Papers of Mrs. Charles Bishop, Portland, Oregon, quoted in Frederick Hoffman, ‘Mark Tobey: Toward a Psychology of Consciousness,’ diss., U of Cal- ifornia at Los Angeles, 1977, 137. ‘The Kingdom’ is a poetic reference to the Baha’i Faith.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

Mark Tobey is a member of Baha’i faith.

In discussing this facet of life with him I found

that he had strong religious conviction. One

day while walking together he told me that he was thinking about quitting painting for awhile and spending his time in preaching.

From time to time Tobey would invite me to

a Baha’i meeting, where sometimes he would

be speaking.4

Friends such as Marzieh Gail, an author, historian, and poet and daughter of Ali-Kuli Khan, Persian Consul in the United States during the early years of this century, often heard Tobey agonize over balancing his work as an artist and as a Baha’i. When she Visited Tobey in Basel, Switzerland, during the last decade of his life, she noted that ‘He spoke of his Baha’i work, and said that he had his usual problem: how much time to allot to the Faith, how much to his art.’5

As Tobey became an internationally famous artist, he had many opportunities to proclaim the Baha’i Faith. He willingly granted extensive interviews on the inﬂuence of the Baha’i prin— ciples and beliefs in his art. Even the shortest analyses of Tobey’s work contain references to the Baha’i Faith and how its universal outlook affected every aspect of Tobey’s style. Occasion- ally an inattentive writer might identify Tobey as a ‘Zen artist,’ but most critics who wrote about him realized the inﬂuence of the Baha’i F aith in his work.

However, Tobey was not satisfied just to pro- claim the Baha’i F aith in the world of art critics and gallery goers. For fifty-eight years, he also contributed his services to the Baha’i Faith in the realms of teaching, administration, and pioneering, an activity that included Changing his residence to serve the Faith. The strength of Tobey’s commitment has been illuminated by the recent discovery of a series of remarkable letters Tobey kept among his papers, which were found in his Seattle studio after his death. These documents, owned by the Seattle Museum of Art and made available in the micro-

4James Washington, J11, ‘Mark Tobey,’ Puget Soundings, n.d., Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Smith— sonian Institution, Microfilm reel 3209.

Inasmuch as the Baha’i Faith has no clergy, ‘preaching’ is a misnomer on the part of the article’s author for Tobey wished to spend time teaching the Faith as an unpaid vol- unteer. '

5 Marzieh Gail, ‘The Days with Mark Tobey,’ World Order 11.3 (Spring 1977): 26.

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film collection of the Archives of American Art, appear in print here for the first time.1

Spanning the years from 1919 to 1954, the letters show Tobey to have been in continuous touch with the World Center of the Baha’i Faith in Haifa, Israel. Particularly moving are letters between Shoghi Effendi, then newly appointed leader of the Baha’i Faith and authorized interpreter of the Baha’i teachings, and the artist, who was living in England and serving as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Great Britain, the national governing body of the Baha’is in that country. The letters appear here in chronological order with annotation and commentary. They show how Tobey used his talents throughout his life to serve one of those ‘two powers’ that meant so much to him—«the Baha’i Faith.

The Early Years Tobey’s contact with the Baha’i Faith began in 1918 when he was introduced to Juliet Thomp- son at a dinner party in New York City. Thomp— son was an artist and a member of the small Baha’i community active in New York at that time. Tobey already had a strong interest in religion; at one time in his youth he considered going into the ministry.2 Just before his encoun- ter with Thompson he had already had a decisive spiritual experience while returning home from a party at the studio of the famous painter Marcel Duchamp in which the importance of art had been discussed. Tobey recalled walking under a street lamp and wondering if ever there could be something greater than art: I remember one night, after an evening party in Marcel Duchamp’s studio, while waiting for an elevated train, I kept wondering if by chance there might be something else greater than art. This idea remained with me for several daysuduring which I thought con- siderably about the expression “the love of God.’ What it is, what it could mean to one like myself. This led to a prayer to know about this profound state.3

'The Mark Tobey Papers, owned by the Seattle Museum of Art, filmed by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Microfilm reels 3200-3210. I would like to thank the Archives of American Art for making this material available to me.

ZSeitz, Mark Tobey 89.

3 Mark Tobey, interview, Arthur Dahl, Jr., quoted in Edward Rulief Kelley, ‘Mark Tobey and the Baha’i Faith: New Perspectives on the Artist and His Paintings,’ diss., U of Texas at Austin, 1983, 37.

763

Shortly thereafter, Tobey met Thompson and offered to walk her home. When she asked him to pose for her, he agreed and recounted the following experience:

Upon a wall near where I was seated there was a photograph of a man with a white beard, wearing a white turban—a remarkable face, but I had no curiosity about him. Durin g this period of posing, I had a very strange and powerful dream which concerned this person in the photograph, or seemed to. When I told Miss Thompson about the dream she grew quite excited but didn’t say any- thing.4 The person in the photograph was ‘Abdu’l-

Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, the Prophet— Founder of the Baha’i Faith. ‘Abdu’l—Baha had been appointed by Baha’u’llah as the interpreter of the Baha’i writings and as the leader of the Baha’i community. Six years before, in 1912, during His Visit to the United States, He spoke about the teachings of the Baha’i Faith at many churches and societies in New York. His Visit had been extensively reported in newspapers across the United States, and He had attracted many new adherents to the teachings of Baha’u’llah.

Some time later, Thompson invited Tobey to come to Green Acre, a Baha’i school in Eliot, Maine. A religious and intellectual retreat, Green Acre had been founded by Sarah Farmer, daughter of the prominent New England Tran- scendentalists, Moses and Hannah Farmer. After becoming a Baha’i in 1899, Sarah Farmer had turned Green Acre into a Baha’i school. Here Tobey was introduced to the Baha’i teach— ings and studied them in some detail. He enthusiastically recounted his contact with the Baha’is there, where he found

a small group of Baha’is speaking of a new

religion, claiming that the Day of Judgement

[sic] was upon us and all the prophesies [sic]

were now fulfilled. Also I found out that Miss

Thompson was a Baha’i and had met the

man in the photograph while he was in New

York in 1912. Gradually it dawned upon me

that this little group of people with their

prayers, their smiling faces, and their unbounded enthusiasm regarding this new religion really had a new spirit. Anyway, something I couldn’t put exactly into words,

4Tobey, interview, Arthur Dahl, Jr., quoted in Kelley 37.

[Page 764]764

but convinced me that what they believed

was the truth.1

When Tobey returned from Green Acre to New York in 1918, he joined a study group that included several active Baha’is who later held important positions in the growing North American Baha’i community. The membership of this group is preserved in a letter from ‘Abdu’l-Baha, in the earliest dated cor- respondence to be found in Tobey’s papers.

December 9, 1920

Mr. Horace Holley, Doris Holley, Mr. A.W. Randall, Lillian L. Randall, Isobel F. Chamberlain, Mr. Mark Tobey, Marjorie Morten and Mountfort Mills, unto them be the Glory of God, the Most Glorious.2

He is God 0 ye friends of ‘Abdu’l-Baha!

The supplication which you have offered to the Kingdom of Abha was in reality a ﬂame which had arisen from enkindled hearts, because the hearts have been in the utmost purity and deeply mindful of the Kingdom, supplicating and imploring at the Supreme Threshold.

In brief, it was a touching melody and a supplication in the utmost sincerity. Rest ye assured that it will bring forth great fruits and thus invisible confirmations will reach ye.

Unto ye be the Glory of Abha! (signed) ‘Abdu’l-Baha ‘Abbas Dec. 9, 1920, Haifa c/o Mr. Roy Wilhelm Translated by Azizullah S. Bahadur, Mt. Carmel, Palestine3

‘Tobey, interview, Arthur Dahl, Jr., quoted in Kelley 38— 39.

2Horace Holley was later to be Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada and then was elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause of God, the highest position attainable to a Baha’i. His wife, Doris, was to be a future pioneer to Ireland. Mountfort Mills was later the first Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada and the formulator of the Trust and By-Laws of that institution. Marjorie Morten was a friend of Juliet Thompson and a patron of the Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran. She also lived for a time in Akka and was part of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s house— hold. A. W. Randall, Lillian Randall, and Isobel Chamber— lain later moved to California where they became part of the Baha’i community on the West Coast.

3 Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 3205. The ‘supplication’ is a reference to the letter written by the group to ‘Abdu’l-Bahé. According to the Baha’i writings, the ‘Kingdom of Abha’ is the spiritual world. The ‘Supreme Threshold’ refers to Baha’u’llah or God and alludes to the practice of praying at the shrines of the prophets or saints.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

Tobey’s papers also contain a letter from ‘Abdu’l-Baha addressed to him alone. This letter dates from 1919, and it could have been sent in answer to Tobey’s written profession of Faith, a practice common among new believers during ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s lifetime. ‘Abdu’l—Baha’s reference to his prayer for forgiveness of Tobey’s father and brother indicates that there may have been an uneasy relationship between Tobey and those members of his family:

To his honor, Mr. Mark Tobey c/o his honor

Mr. W. Randall, upon him be Baha’u’llah’il—

Abha.

HE IS GOD

O thou son of the Kingdom!

The last letter which thou hath written has arrived but the previous letter with the poems hath not been received. Nevertheless thy spiri- tual sentiments have reached the Holy Land. Rest thou assured. I hope that this year at Green Acre a remarkable life and stir may be witnessed and the friends of God may be so stirred and moved that Green Acre may be animated, the souls may turn toward God and may become attracted by the fragrances of God, that that region may be enlightened With the light of the love of God, the melody of praise and thanksgiving may reach the Supreme Concourse and ‘Abdu’l-Baha may be gladdened in this Holy Land from the effect of that melody.4

From the bounties of God, I supplicate that thy father and brother may be forgiven, may receive a share from His generosity and may be immersed in the ocean of pardon and forgiveness.

Upon thee be Baha’il-Abha.

Translated by Shoghie Rabbani,

Haifa, Palestine;

July 16th, 19195

In 1921, after the death of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, the leadership of the Baha’i Faith passed to His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the same young man who had translated ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s letter to Tobey. ‘Abdu’l-Baha had appointed Shoghi Effendi Guardian of the Baha’i Faith and His successor as leader of the Baha’i community.

4 According to the Baha’i writings, the ‘Supreme Concourse’ is the company of holy souls of the spiritual world.

5 Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 3205. ‘Baha’u’llah’iLAbha’ means the Glory of God, the Most Glorious. ‘Baha-il—Abha’ means the Glory of the Most Glorious.

[Page 765]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 765

Mark T obey with Juliet Thompson (centre) and Frances Fales (right) in the United States in the 19203.

Mark T obey at Geyserville Summer School in California in 1943 with Marion Holley (Hofman), and Frederick Laws and Charles Bishop seen on the right.

[Page 766]766

During this period of transition Tobey made his first pilgrimage to Haifa. In 1925, while living in France, he and some friends took a Mediterranean cruise to Barcelona, Greece, Constantinople, Beirut, and Haifa. The artist remained in Haifa for his first glimpse of Mount Carmel, the Baha’i Shrines in Haifa, and the ancient city of ‘Akka. In a lengthy description Tobey wrote about the effect this Visit had upon him:

Acca, my destination, looked like a shadowy spur of land extending into the sea. Eventually we drove down through the huge gate of entrance into Acca and went to Visit the home of the Master [‘Abdu’l-Baha]. There I was welcomed by an aged, bearded servitor of Baha’u’llah. . . i The house appeared devoid of furnishings. The light through the high narrow horizontal windows of colored glass decorated the walls opposite with many beautiful colors. In an old chest were many small lanterns, a symbol of journeying, of search in the darkness, for ‘When the dawn breaks, the lamps of journeying and way- faring are put out.’ How beautiful are these words, the promise fulfilled at the end of the long night, the long, long journey. At last, the radiance coming to spread its beauty everywhere—everywhere and for everyone. The great light given and the gift of the light of life . . . The Ancient Beauty, He called himself [Baha’u’llah]. The light to man, coming from age to age to endure untold aﬂliction, always through a life of sorrow and misunderstandings, calling to man until His last breath released Him from this thorny world. Always over and over has He appeared on the threshold of the world, each time a different face but the same beauty, ancient yet ever—living, ever appearing each time with a message of hope—the day will come. The knowledge of God and His ways, the coming together of the sons of man, the great oneness, to be discovered existing always with us but unrecognized. He, the promise of all ages, at last He appears and from a prison telling us that the time is fulfilled. ‘Mt. Carmel shall blossom like a rose’ These thoughts all associated with my Visit to Acca.1

Years later, in a newspaper article about his 1968 show at the Hanover Gallery in London, Tobey again recalled that first magical Visit to the Baha’i holy places: ‘The beginning of every—

THE BAHA’i WORLD

thing is very special. I remember, we went in an old surrey along those miles of sand to Acre, it was wonderful. You entered Acre, and it was just a walled city.’2

Tobey’s first Visit to the Holy Land had a profound effect upon him and inspired his art for the next forty years. He began to include specifically Baha’i subjects in his art; from then on Tobey’s ‘two powers’ united to determine the course of his creative endeavors. In 1931 when he moved to Devonshire, England, he began the pattern he would follow for the rest of his life: a double commitment to the muse of art and to an active participation in the foun- ding of the new world order promised in the writings of the Baha’i Faith.

Correspondence with Shoghi Eﬂendi

In 1932 Tobey entered into what would become a continuous correspondence with Shoghi Effendi. The two exchanged letters until the mid~1950s with Shoghi Efiendi consistently exhorting Tobey to teach the Baha’i Faith in whichever country he might be residing. The form of these letters was always the same—a long letter written by a secretary on Shoghi Eﬂendi’s behalf with a shorter personal note penned by Shoghi Efiendi himself at the bottom of the letter. In some cases the note extended up into the margins. Until 1949 all of these letters were handwritten.3 Considering the volume of Shoghi Effendi’s correspondence and the magnitude of his other duties, these personal notes must have been especially precious to Tobey.

It was while he was a resident at Dartington Hall, a progressive school for the arts in Devon- shire, England, where he lived from 1931 through 1938, that Tobey received his first letter from Shoghi Efiendi. Dartington Hall was an important center for the arts that had been founded by Mrs. Dorothy Elmhirst and her husband, Leonard. The school became a hayen

' M ark Tobey: Paintings 13. Bahé’u’llah is buried near ‘Akka; the Bab, the Prophet-Forerunner of the Bahé’i Faith, is buried in a mausoleum on Mount Carmel. The Shrines of both are objects of pilgrimage for Baha’is.

ZUndated newspaper article, Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Microfilm reel 3209.

3This letter and all subsequent letters from Shoghi Effendi are transcribed from originals in the Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 3201.

[Page 767]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

where Tobey could meet kindred souls who shared his interest in uniting East and West; Visitors to the school included such intellectuals as the English writer Aldous Huxley and two individuals who would later win the Nobel Prize for literature—the American writer Pearl Buck and the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. During his stay at Dartington Hall, Tobey became extremely active in teaching the Baha’i Faith in the Devonshire area. In a 1932 letter Shoghi Effendi encouraged Tobey in his teach— ing efforts, especially those having to do with Mrs. Elmhirst, an important patron of

Tobey’s: Persian Colony Haifa, Palestine 5.10.32

Dear Mr. Tobey:

Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your short but very encouraging letter dated September 14th, 1932. He sin- cerely hopes that wherever you happen to be you will strive to spread the message of love, spirituality and human brotherhood brought to the world by Baha’u’llah, for after all this is the only work which is worthwhile and of an abiding effect.

While Visiting the Shrines, the Guardian will think of you as well as of Mrs. Elmhirst and ask for both of you divine guidance and help.1 He trusts that through the reading of the literature you have presented to her she will become acquainted with the spirit and teachings of the Cause and find therein the realization of all her highest hopes and ideals.

In closing may I express Shoghi Effendi’s loving greetings and best wishes for the pro— gress of your work in serving the Cause.

Yours ever sincerely, Ruhi Afnan Dear co-worker:

I wish to add a few words in person in order to assure you of my prayers for your success in the efforts you are exerting for the spread of the knowledge of our beloved Faith. I appreciate the opportunities you have and the facilities you enjoy, and I pray that you may be guided to utilize them to the fullest possible extent, and thereby enhance the pres— tige of the Cause and extend its scope in these regions.

Your true brother Shoghi

767

During his second year at Dartington Hall Tobey wrote to Shoghi Effendi requesting a pilgrimage to the Baha’i Shrines in Haifa and ‘Akka. The following letter, found among his private papers, was Shoghi Effendi’s reply:

Persian Colony Haifa March 15th, 1933

Dear Baha’i Friend:

Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and to extend to you his hearty welcome to Visit him in Haifa.

It is a great privilege for you to come to the Holy Land and you will certainly enjoy this trip.

The Guardian was pleased to hear that through the endeavours of the Baha’is, the Cause is rapidly spreading in Devon. He will be indeed delighted to hear these glad-tidings from you, during your stay at Haifa. He prays for all the dear Friends, and asks Baha’u’llah to assist and guide them to fulfill their aim and establish the Faith in their country.

Shoghi Efiendi hopes that this letter will reach you in time so as to enable you to make the necessary arrangements for your trip.

With the assurance of [ ] prayers,

Your Baha’i sister, Mehranguise Rabbani

With my best wishes for your welfare and

spiritual development,

Your true brother, Shoghi

Tobey’s second Visit to Haifa cemented his relationship with the young leader of the Baha’i Faith. He reveled in the special atmosphere at Haifa and wrote about this Visit: Sunday the Guardian had lunch with us. His presence was very powerful. I made him laugh, which seemed to please him. Of course in Haifa many things happen and yet all seems to melt in time which is no time. You are there—that’s enough. Just to sit down in a chair seems as important as going to town. You are released from yourself.2 In 1934 Tobey was back at Dartington Hall, ready to prepare for another important journey. Through the invitation of the Elmhirsts, Tobey was to accompany the English potter Bernard Leach on a trip to the Orient. Leach, a friend

’ The Baha’is frequently refer to Shoghi Effendi as ‘the Guard— ian.’ lTobey, interview, Arthur Dahl, Jr., quoted in Kelley 47.

[Page 768]768 THE BAHA’i WORLD

from Dartington Hall, was the perfect traveling companion for such a trip; he had been born in Hong Kong and was fascinated with developing art forms that would speak of the unity of East and West. Tobey had become enamored of Chinese calligraphy and art through his friend— ship with Teng Kuie, a Chinese student he had met in Seattle. Leach and Tobey planned to Visit Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Japan. Upon learning of this opportunity, Tobey must immediately have written Shoghi Effendi, who replied:

March 14th, 1934

Dear Baha’i Friend,

It was such a pleasure for the Guardian to receive your welcome letter and to learn of your projected trip to China. He hopes that your stay in that country will be an oppor- tunity for you to do something for the Cause. In Shanghai we have a small group of believers, among them Mr. Ouskouli, orig- inally a Persian, but who has been living since long in China. He is an old and devoted servant of the Cause. You will also find there a young and enthusiastic Chinese believer by the name of Dr. Tsao who, in addition to his many intellectual gifts, is a wonderful soul, so active and so restless. He has already done some valuable translations into Chinese, among them the ‘Paris Talks’ of the Master and the ‘Some Answered Questions.” Dr. Ouskouli’s address is as follows: PO. Box 551, Shanghai, China. I am sure he will be delighted to introduce you to Dr. Tsao, who, you may be glad to know, is fully conversant With the English language.

In closing please accept Shoghi Effendi’s best wishes, and be assured of his prayers for your spiritual advancement and physical welfare,

Yours in His Service

H. Rabbani

May the Beloved bless ybur efforts, guide

your steps and enable you to promote effec— tively the best interests of His Faith.

Your true brother.

Shoghi

‘Paris Talks is a collection of talks given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Paris in 1911 and 1912 (London: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1972). Some Answered Questions is a collection of answers to eighty-four questions put to ‘Abdu’l-Bahé at table during 1904, 1905, and 1906 (collected and trans. Laura Clifford Barney [\Nilmette, 111.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1981]).

Tobey’s papers do not contain evidence of teaching trips or indicate that he contacted the Baha’is of Shanghai, but his firm adherence to the Baha’i Faith had an important impact on his traveling companion. In his autobiography Beyond East and West, Leach wrote of how his friendship with Tobey changed his life:

Mark Tobey was the profoundest inﬂuence

in my life. It was through him I became a

Baha’i.

I was first introduced to him at Dartington Hall in Devonshire, in 1932. He was the resi- dent artist; I came as a potter. There was an immediate exchange between us. He talked to me about the Baha’i Faith, sharing with me his books. I was most moved by Nabil’s narrative and its immediacy, but it took eight years for me to reach acceptance.2

Although Leach reports that the idea of the oneness of all religions was at first too diﬂicult for him to grasp, Tobey’s patient teaching sowed the seed which allowed Leach’s faith to ﬂower into a mature understanding of the new religion. Destined to become one of the most important potters of the twentieth century, Leach was only one of many who were pro- foundly inﬂuenced by Tobey’s teaching.

After the journey with Leach to Hong Kong and Shanghai, Tobey traveled to Japan where he spent a month in a Zen monastery in Kyoto. This experience was to have important impli— cations for the development of his later work, mo st particularly in his deepened understandin g of Oriental calligraphy and his more profound grasp of the macrocosms and microcosms of Nature.

Tobey must have been eager to share his new experiences with Shoghi Efiendi because he arranged for two scrolls of Chinese eal- ligraphy to be sent to Haifa. A secretary replied on Shoghi Etfendi’s behalf:

January 14th, 1935

Dear Mr. Tobey:

I am directed by Shoghi Effendi to inform you of the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message of the 17th of December, and also

2Bernard Leach, ‘Mark, dear Mark,’ World Order 11.3 (Spring 1977): 28. See also Bernard Leach, Beyond East and West: A/Iemoirs, Portraits, Essays (New York: Watson— Guptill, 1978) 164—65. Nabil’s Narrative is The DaMI-Br'ealc- ers, a detailed and poetic account of the early history of the Baha’i Faith, by Muhammad-i-Zarandi, surnamed Nabil, trans. and ed. by Shoghi Elfendi (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1932).

[Page 769]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 769

to thank you for the two Chinese scrolls which you had kindly sent to him some time ago. He has himself placed them in the hall of the Mansion ofBaha’u’llah at Bahji, and needless to say they have much beautified the place, and haye become an object of attraction and interest to all the Visitors.

The Guardian Views with great favor your plan to return to England, as the friends there stand in dire need of young and capable believers who can lend effective assistance to their work for the Cause, in both the teaching and administrative fields of service. Your presence among them, [it is] hoped will, as in the past, give them an added stimulus and wider vision to carry on the arduous task which they have set themselves to achieve.

Shoghi Effendi is continually praying at the Holy Shrines for your guidance and assist- ance, and trusts that as a result you will be enabled to attain the goal of your heart’s desire.

With loving greetings and best wishes,

Yours in His Service,

H. Rabbani

May the Almighty keep and bless you, sustain

your efforts, and enable you to extend the

scope of your valued, international activities, Your true brother,

Shoghi

Tobey’s attraction to the World Centre of the Baha’i Faith led him to Visit Haifa a second time, probably in 1935. His fellow pilgrims were Marzieh Carpenter (later Gail) and her husband Howard, Mountfort Mills, and Marjory Morten. Marzieh Carpenter described Tobey as ‘slender and timid,’ a person who made her ‘think of a skittish deer that would pause to nibble a leaf from the Guardian’s hand, before vanishing into the forest.’1 During this stay in Haifa Shoghi Effendi told Tobey that ‘art must inspire. Personal satisfaction is not enough.’2 Tobey repeated in several later interviews that Shoghi Effendi had ‘freed art,’ that there was no such thing yet as Baha’i art, because the Baha’i Civilization had not yet come into being.3 For Tobey, this insight permitted him to con— tinue developing his personal style, while still including Baha’i themes in his work.

lGail 12. 2Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Gail 13. 3Mark Tobey." Paintings 15.

Tobey returned to England in 1935 where he continued as a resident artist at Dartington Hall. He also continued his Baha’i activities and was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Great Britain. While not par- ticularly gifted in the attributes required for administration, Tobey was constantly involved in teaching activities. As the following letter shows, his teaching efforts were strongly encour- aged by Shoghi Eifendi:

December 7th, 1935

Dear Mr. Tobey,

Shoghi Eﬂendi is very happy to receive your letter of November 27th and to learn that you are back again in England after such a long absence. Your return has, no doubt, deeply rejoiced the friends who are in need of your assistance, and will, it is hoped, impart to them a fresh stimulus in their manifold duties and labors for the spread of the Cause throughout Great Britain.

The Guardian has been also pleased to receive your article on China, and has read it with sustained interest. He trusts that its publication in the next issue of the Biennial Will serve to deepen the interest of the friends in teaching the Cause in the F ar East, where the number of the believers is still quite neg— ligible, and where we, therefore, need a group of young and capable teachers who would be able to settle in the country and to gradu- ally open it to the Cause.4

With regard to Mr. Gordon Bottomley’s statement on the ‘Dawn—Breakers’; Shoghi Effendi is, indeed, gratified to note that this book has so much interested and impressed him.5 He trusts that your first contact with this noted English poet Will, through its encouraging results, stimulate you to keep it up, and even to make a few more attempts to deepen and confirm his interest in the Message.

With his renewed and loving greetings, and the assurance of his continued prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,

Yours in His Service, H. Rabbani

4‘The Biennial’ is a series of volumes (now numbering eighteen) issued periodically and entitled The Baht? ’1' World. The volumes constitute an ongoing record of worldwide Baha’i activities.

5 See p. 768, n.2 for an explanation of The Dawn-Breakers.

[Page 770]770

THE BAHA’i WORLD

Mark T obey at the All—American Intercontinental Conference in Wilmette, Illinois, USA, in April

1953 with (from left to right): Mrs. Samz'hz’h Bananz’, the Hand of the Cause of God M Lisa Bandnz’,

Mrs. Helen Bishop, the Hand of the Cause of God T ardzu ’lldh Samandarz’, Mrs. Marzieh Gail, and Mr. Charles Bishop.

Dear and valued co-worker:

I am very pleased to receive your con- tribution to ‘The Baha’i World,’ and wish to assure you in person of my appreciation and gratitude for the services you render. I would urge you to concentrate for a time your efforts on the work in London and help the friends to promote their teaching activities and con- solidate the foundations of their institutions. I will especially pray on your behalf.

Shoghi.

Tobey’s report on China was not published

in the 1934—36 volume of The Bahd’z’ World,

but his contributions to the teaching work were

mentioned in the report on 1936 Baha’i activities in the British Isles:

In April, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop went to Devonshire. Lectures were given in Torquay at the Theosophical Society, before a large audience at the Practical Psychology Center; then at half a dozen friendly firesides the Faith

1 The Bahd’z’ World: A Biennial International Record, Volume V1, 1934—1936, comp. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahé’is of the United States and Canada (New York: Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1937) 37.

was discussed with members of the Oxford Group, psychologists, Theosophists and Anglicans... Mr. Mark Tobey had been ploughing four years for contacts at Dar— tington Hall, where he teaches painting. He presented Mrs. Bishop and her lecture before a goodly number in his studio. An American- Norwegian home was then offered for suc— cessive lectures with the result that before Mrs. Bishop’s departure, the listeners v01— unteered to form a study class under Mrs. [sic] Tobey’s instruction. Good news has just come that interest is sustained; sixteen are faithful through the summer holiday season, while the autumn is promising, indeed.l It was also during this period that another artist at Dartington Hail became interested in the Baha’i Faith. The South African painter, Reginald Turvey, a long-time friend of Bernard Leach, had arrived at Dartington Hall in 1932. It was at the school that Turvey met Tobey and learned of the Baha’i Faith; after three years of study, Turvey had become a Baha’i. Turvey’s devotion to his new Faith manifested itself upon his return to South Africa and climaxed in the

[Page 771]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS 771

artist’s 1956 pilgrimage to Haifa where Shoghi Effendi called him ‘the father of the Baha’is of South Africa.’1

In the following years Tobey received a series of letters praising his teaching efforts and exhorting him to continue:

September 12, 1936 Dear Mr. Tobey,

Your welcome letter to the Guardian has been duly received to gether with the enclosed photographs, and has brought much cheer and encouragement to his heart. He is indeed rejoiced to learn of the growing success of your activities on behalf of the Cause, par— ticularly in the teaching field Where, he feels, you are called upon to render many dis— tinguished services to the Faith. The group of students you have at last succeeded in establishin g in your locality seems to be highly promising, and will, it is hoped, form the nucleus of a strong, united and active Assembly. He is confident that your labors will result in the formation of such an Assembly, provided you persevere in your efforts and strive by every means to maintain, nay deepen, the interest of these new-comers. Your idea to invite some London friends to address your group during next winter, he thinks is splendid, as this contact will inevi- tably serve to stimulate and widen the interest of the students, and will afford them a much- needed opportunity to widen the circle of their Baha’i acquaintances.

The Guardian would greatly deplore your departure from England, specially now that your painstaking efforts are beginning to bear good fruitage. He would certainly urge you to make every possible effort to prolong your stay, and if possible to permanently settle in England where, he feels, you are admirably qualified to teach, and thus can help rendering effective the new teaching campaign so splen- didly organized by the friends in Great Britain under the leadership of their N.S.A.

In closing let me assure you of the Guard- ian’s prayers for the confirmation and guid- ance of Mrs. Elmhirst, and of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, all of whom, he hopes, will be assisted in accomplishing notable services for the Cause in Devon.

IShoghi Efiendi, quoted in Lowell Johnson, ed., Reginald Turvey: Life and Art (Oxford: George Ronald, 1986) p. 5.

Assuring you also of his good wishes and ardent prayers for your welfare, protection and guidance,

Yours in His Service H. Rabbani

Dear and prized co-worker:

I certainly advise you to extend your bene- ficent stay, and intensify your meritorious activities and exemplary eﬂ°orts in the West of England and to persevere until a properly- constituted Assembly is definitely established. Your collaboration in connection with the consolidation of the newly~formed Summer School is no doubt Vital and of the utmost benefit to the Cause. My prayers will ever be with you, and I am always eager to hear from you, however heavy the load of cor- respondence which I carry. Affectionately, Shoghi

July 10, 1937 Dear Mr. Tobey,

Your letter of June 15th addressed to the Guardian was most welcome, and he was indeed happy to know that the work in Torquay is progressing steadily. He trusts that before long a deeply-rooted, effectively- functioning and united Assembly will be established in that center, and that from it the light of the Cause will radiate throughout the South-West of England. He would urge you to concentrate heart and soul on this objective and to never relax in your efforts until some substantial result has been accomplished. The task is surely difficult, and calls for the utmost perseverance, patience and courage. But your devotion to the Cause and your utter consecration to its service are surely forces wherewith you will be able to overcome every obstacle in your way, no matter how insuperable it may first appear.

Take courage, therefore, dear brother, and be confident that with Baha’u’llah on your side your task will be made easy, and the burden of your work considerably lightened. Whenever you feel depressed or discouraged over the results of your painstaking efforts do recall to mind His divine promise that though the forces of the entire world be arrayed against His Cause they would be powerless to resist its onward march and to prevent its eventual triumph.

The Faith is God’s, and as such is bound

[Page 772]772

to prevail, even though we fail in our tiny efforts. With loving greetings to you and to the friends in Torquay, Yours ever sincerely, H. Rabbani

May the Beloved bless richly your pains—

taking efforts and crown them with signal

success, and enable you to promote effectively

the best interests of His Faith and to con— solidate its nascent institutions.

Your true brother,

Shoghi

Feb. 15, 1938 Dear Mr. Tobey,

The Guardian has just received your message of the 8th instant and is indeed pleased to hear from you after such a long silence. He is glad to know that you are keeping in good health and are successful in your academic studies, but feels exceedingly sorry that you are not progressing in your Baha’i work. He wishes you not to feel dis— couraged about the immediate prospects of your labors for the Cause, but to draw con- fidence and strength from the unfailing prom- ises which Baha’u’llah has given regarding the future triumph of the Faith.

The Guardian is fully aware of the nature of the obstacles that hinder the progress and expansion of the teaching work in England, but is certain that sooner or later, this country will be stirred up and its people will be quick- ened spiritually and thus will be prepared to receive the Message. The forces of destruction are already at work, and are paving the way for the expansion and future consolidation of the Cause. The believers need not feel there— fore depressed if their teaching results are meagre, but should look ahead at the glorious harvest which the future has in store for them.

Regarding your plans to visit America next summer: the Guardian thinks it would be splendid if you could undertake this trip which, in addition to the physical benefits it would confer upon your health would give you the great spiritual bounty of refreshing your soul through close contact and personal association with the American believers who are indeed the vanguard of the Faith in the West. The recent developments in both the teaching and administrative fields of service

THE BAHA’i WORLD

in that country have been such as to inspire

and stimulate every sincere Baha’i Visitor.

May your Visit too serve to stimulate you

afresh in your services to the Cause in England.

With loving greetings,

Yours ever sincerely,

H. Rabbani

Dear co-worker:

The work you have achieved in England will always be remembered with keen appreci- ation and gratitude. Your splendid pioneer accomplishments under such diﬂioult cir~ cumstances are truly meritorious and praise- worthy. I will pray from the depths of my heart that you may be able to render still greater services in the days to come. Be happy and persevere. Shoghi.

The letters from Shoghi Effendi reﬂect the successful teaching campaign in the Devonshire area in which Tobey clearly had played a major role. However, by 1938, as Shoghi Effendi’s letter indicates, Tobey had become discouraged with teaching opportunities in Devonshire. In addition, the international situation had deteriorated, making a second world war inevi- table. In his last letter during that period Shoghi Effendi approved Tobey’s plans to Visit the United States, where the artist had frequently spent summers in Seattle, or, for short periods, in New York. Shoghi Effendi’s personal post— script at the end of the 1938 letter seems to indicate his realization that the artist’s pion— eering work in England was at an end. Indeed, due to the mounting international tensions, Tobey was unable to return to Dartington Hall in the autumn of 1938 as originally planned.

In early 1939 Tobey’s paintings and personal possessions were sent to him from Dartington Hall, and he settled in Seattle, which became his home during the 1940s. In Seattle Tobey obtained work as an artist in a government— sponsored Works Project Administration project. In 1939 he Visited the Baha’i school at Geyserville in northern California where he stayed during June and July. As a consequence of his long absence, he was dropped from the government project.1

During the 19408 Tobey’s career as an artist

lRathbone, Mark Tobey: City Paintings, p. 98.

[Page 773]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

began to develop at a faster pace. In 1942 he had a one-man show at the Seattle Art Museum. That summer, at the Baha’i school at Geys- erville, he met Arthur and Joyce Dahl, who became important patrons of his work. In the same year Tobey’s painting Broadway won sixth place in a~show for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and became part of that museum’s per- manent collection. In 1943 and 1944 his paint- ings began to sell at the Willard Gallery in New York, and his work was favorably reviewed by Clement Greenberg, an important critic of the developing New York School. By 1949 Tobey was recognized to the extent that he was included in the Western Round Table discussion on Modern Art sponsored by the San Francisco Art Association. Participants were the famed anthropologists George Boas and Gregory Bateson, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and painters Marcel Duchamp and Mark Tobey.l Although Tobey must have had less and less time for his Baha’i work, there is no doubt that his services to the Faith continued. He served on the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Seattle (the elected governing body of the Baha’is of Seattle) and was often a speaker at public meetings in the Seattle area. At one point he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to help maintain a spiritual assembly in that area. Tobey also reestablished the contact with the Baha’i World Centre that had been interrupted during World War 11. Letters to the artist were now handwritten by Ruhiyyih Rabbani, Can— adian wife of Shoghi Effendi. Postscripts from Shoghi Eifendi were still appended to the bottom, as in the first one to arrive:‘ Haifa February 5th 1949 Dear Baha’i brother:

Your letter to our beloved Guardian, with enclosures, and dated January 17th, has been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

He very much appreciates the work done by Mr. Per [sic] Hallsten, and hopes it will be found suitable for publication, as it would greatly add to the store—the very limited

“The Western Round Table on Modern Art,’ Robert Motherwell and Ad Reinhardt, eds., Modern Artists in America (New York: Wittenborn Schultz, 1951), pp. 24437.

773

store—of Baha’i literature available in Swedish. There is certainly no objection to your writing to the ETC. [European Teach— ing Committee] and inquiring what they plan to do about it, and so on.

He was pleased to hear you are able to make trips up to Canada and see the friends there. They have a heavy teaching schedule, and any help you can give them would be much appreciated.

Life everywhere in the world seems to be increasingly hard. The blindness of humanity seems to be catching up with it—when will men turn to their true haven and refuge and find the peace God has given them in this Revelation? We can only labor lovingly and leave the rest to Him.

Shoghi Effendi assures you of his loving prayers for your success, and the betterment of your affairs in general.

With Baha’i greetings,

R. Rabbani

May the Almighty bless, sustain and guide

you, and enable you to overcome all obstacles

in your path, and win great victories in the

service of our beloved Faith and its God- given institutions.

Your true brother

Shoghi

The ‘work done’ by Mr. Pehr Hallsten was an important project, initiated by Tobey, to translate The H idden Words ofBahd’u’lldh into Swedish. Hallsten was a close friend Whom Tobey had met in 1939 after returning from England. Through Tobey’s patient teaching and personal example, Hallsten had become a Baha’i. Anxious to perform some service for the Baha’i Faith, Hallsten, a linguist, had under- taken the translation of Baha’u’llah’s work whose original was written in both Arabic and Persian.2

In 1954 Hallsten wrote the following tes- timony about Tobey’s inﬂuence upon him:

To whomever it may concern

I herewith confirm that Mark Tobey has been the absolute and only instrument and

2 The Hidden Words, a poetic work concerning the spiritual life of humanity, was written by Baha’u’llah in 1858 during his exile in Iraq. See Baha’u’lléh, The Hidden Words of Bahti’u’lldh, trans. Shoghi Effendi (Wilmette, 111.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1939).

[Page 774]774 THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

factor in my translation of Baha’u’llah’s Hidden Words into Swedish.

Through his devotion to the Cause of Baha’u’llah, his sincere desire to promote the publication of this sacred work, having paid for the publication of this work, privately, besides having been through his good and idealistic example and indefatigable efforts to inspire me to do this significant work. Without Mark Tobey my translation could not have been done.

May God reward him for this.

I humbly place this document into his hands as a small tribute to him.

Gothenburg, Sweden Pehr Hallsten, Professor1

In addition to his proclamation, teaching, and administrative work for the Faith, Tobey was a generous contributor to the Baha’i Fund. Even after he moved to Basel in 1960, according to a long-time member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Seattle, checks from Mark Tobey would suddenly appear, often containing just the amount needed to begin an important teaching campaign in the area.2 Tobey also con- tributed generously to the Baha’i World Center, as the following letter shows: ‘

Aug. 5, 1951

Dear Baha’i brother:

The beloved Guardian was very glad to hear from you as it is some time since he had any news of you. Your letter just recently arrived (postmarked May 29), so you see it was a long time on the way.

He thanks you for your generous and loving contribution to the Shrine work, a receipt for which I am enclosing herewith.

Your services to the Faith are much appreciated, you may be sure.

With Baha’i love, R. Rabbani

With the assurance of my loving appreciation

of your contribution, and of my prayers for

your success in the service of our beloved

Faith,

Your true brother, Shoghi

1Pehr Hallsten, letter to Mark Tobey, April 1954, Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 3201.

2 Florence Winship, interview, 28 March 1985, Seattle, Wash- ington.

I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of the sum of three hundred dollars from my dear Baha’i brother, Mr[.] Mark Tobey, to be expended for the construction of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel.

(signed) Shoghi

Tobey’s final letter from Shoghi Effendi came in 1954, a critical time in Tobey’s career. During this period Tobey was in Seattle (J anuary), New York (February through June), Sweden (August and September), and Paris (October through June of the following year). Shoghi Effendi was Clearly pleased that Tobey had returned to Europe:

Haifa, Israel, November 15, 1954

Mr. Mark Tobey.

Dear Baha’i Brother:

Your letter of October 13th has been received by the beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

He is delighted to learn that you are now living in France, and he feels sure you will be of tremendous assistance to the teaching work there. As you know, he has been most anxious to see the Faith progress more rapidly in France, and recently it seems to have made great strides forward.

In whichever town or city you decide to locate, he hopes you will soon find a few searching and receptive souls whom you can confirm in the Teachings; so that, in a short time, there will be a nucleus of active sup— porters in yet another center in France.

The Guardian assures you of his ardent prayers for the abundant success of all your labors in France, and of his deep appreciation of your devoted and sacrificial services in the past.

With warm Baha’i greetings, R. Rabbani

Assuring you of my loving prayers for your

success and spiritual advancement, Your true

brother, Shoghi

This letter was the last from Shoghi Effendi among the papers in Tobey’s Seattle studio. Three years later, in November 1957, Shoghi Efiendi died while on a Visit to London. His death must have been a particular blow to

[Page 775]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

Tobey, who had received a great deal of affec- tionate support from Shoghi Effendi. A copy of the telegram sent from Ruhiyyih Rabbani announcing the death of Shoghi Effendi to the Baha’is of the world was among the papers kept by Tobey in his Seattle studio.

The Later Years

During the final two decades of Tobey’s life, his international artistic reputation continued to grow. Tobey maintained a studio in Seattle but spent most of his time in Europe where his art ﬂourished in a critical atmosphere more accepting than that of his native land. In 1960 he settled in Basel, where he was to spend the rest of his life.

During the 1950s Tobey’s travels did not allow him to stay long enough in one place to render any long—term local services to the Baha’i Faith. He did, however, attend Baha’i con- ferences, including the 1958 International Con- ference in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, at which the site of the new Baha’i House of Worship for the European continent was dedi- cated. In 1953 he had attended the dedication of the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Ten years later he came to the Jubilee Congress of 1963 in London, at which more than six thousand Baha’is from all over the world gathered to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Baha’i Faith. This experience must have been especially meaningful to Tobey because carefully preserved in his private papers are scores of newspaper articles cut from London papers giving daily reports of events at the Congress. It must also have been a par- ticularly emotional time for him as he was able to fulfill a pact with his old friends Bernard Leach and Reg Turvey that they would meet again at the Jubilee Congress after years of separation.1

As Tobey became more renowned, his attempts to work within the two worlds that he cherished became more difficult. Tobey understood the essential relationships between his work and his faith, but friends from both worlds often had problems understanding his priorities and interests. Some critics considered Tobey’s symbolism to be ‘obscure’, or they were uncomfortable with religious themes in an

IJohnson, Reginald Turvey, p. 101.

775

increasingly secular age. At times his adherence to Baha’i themes led to adverse reactions to his work as in‘ the following review in Art News: ‘One finds himself annoyed that such a talented artist often pushes his conclusions into obscur- ity, and this reviewer found himself even more annoyed with the pretentious religious philos- ophy which Tobey insists on dragging into his titles.’2

Some members of the Baha’i community also showed a lack of understanding of Tobey’s art. When he had his important one-man show at the Musée des arts décoratifs at the Louvre in Paris only a small number of Baha’is attended. Baha’i collectors who bought paintings from him often had to endure derogatory remarks from others who did not comprehend Tobey’s works or realize how they expressed Baha’i prin- ciples.

Tobey was particularly concerned When Baha’is Viewed his exhibitions more as teaching campaigns than cultural events. His distaste for this method was made clear in a 1962 letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States concerning projected activi- ties during his one—man show at the Museum of Modern Art, a critical event in Tobey’s career:

After consultation with Mr. and Mrs.

Dahl, I am writing to ask you not to go ahead

with plans for meetings of Baha’is in New

York at the time of my exhibition there. If my

exhibition concerned an attempt to illustrate

Baha’i themes it would be a different matter.

However, it doesn’t, although there is a

relation Which will be explained by Mr. Seitz

in the catalogue.3 As you well know the Guardian freed art

2 From an undated ArtNews review of a Tobey show in New York. Mark Tobey Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 3209. Concerning such reactions, Tobey wrote, ‘I shall try to make them conscious that we are traveling on one cylinder (science) and are practically blind to the fact that religion will come on as “dark horse.” The whole affair is very lopsided and this is my dilemma.’ Tobey, letter to Arthur Dahl, 7 May 1957, quoted in Mark Tobey: Paintings 15.

3William C. Seitz, art historian and curator of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions at the New York Museum of Modern Art, was the author of Mark Tobey, the catalog written for Tobey’s exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (see p. 751, n3). Seitz was one of the first critics to understand the importance of the role of the Baha’i Faith in the development of Tobey’s work. He also wrote a major essay about Tobey in William Seitz, Abstract Expressionist Painting in America (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U P, 1983) and taped a lengthy interview with Mark Tobey in 1962. A transcript of this interview is available from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

[Page 776]776 THE BAH, ’i WORLD

Mark Tobey, left, during the reception on the opening day of the ‘Mark T obey Retrospective’ in the Louvre in Paris, France, in September 1961. (T he man on the right is not identified.)

Mark Tobey working on a painting in his home in Basel, Switzerland; 1974.

I

[Page 777]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

from didactic purposes. ‘There is no oﬂicial Baha’i art.’ I think it would always be best - if the Baha’is would show they like art— respect it—it would be impressive to those non-Baha’is who are interested in art. This would be enough and a more rightful way.

New York is the nerve center of painting in the United States, and is very critical and as my painting constitutes my livelihood, there are many things to consider.1 In an undated letter to Arthur Dahl written

around 1963, Tobey wrote: I am, I hope, a Baha’i, but I am also an artist. But I am not a Baha’i artist. . . . This is how I feel about it—and not only that they see the paintings but that they are made cognizant of the sayings of Baha’u’llah and Shoghi Effendi. The combination will stick? Tobey often quoted Shoghi Eﬂendi’s assertion, recorded in a letter written on his behalf, that there could not yet be such a thing as ‘Baha’i art’: ‘As regards producing a book of Baha’i songs, your understanding that there is no cultural expression which could be called Baha’i at this time (distinctive music, literature, art, architecture, etc., being the ﬂower of the civilisation and not coming at the beginning of a new Revelation), is correct.’ Tobey felt that Shoghi Effendi had ‘freed art’ through similar statements: ‘The believers [Baha’is] are free to paint, write and compose as their talents may guide them. . . . As long as they have music for its own sake it is all right, but they should not consider it Balzd’z’ music.’3

Although Tobey was very careful that his paintings not be identified as Baha’i art, he continually acknowledged the seminal inﬂuence of the Faith on his work. He told the famous critic Katherine Kuh:

‘I’Ve been inﬂuenced by the Baha’i religion which believes there has been but one religion, which renews itself under different names.

lMark Tobey, letter to National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, Arthur Dahl, Jr., Papers, quoted in Hoffman, p. 410. 2Mark Tobey, letter to Arthur Dahl, n.d., Joyce and Arthur L. Dahl Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Microfilm reel 1785. 3Shoghi Ef‘fendi (through his secy.) to National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahé’is of the United States, 21 September 1957, and Shoghi Effendi (through his secy.) to National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, 20 July 1946, in A Compilation of Balui’z’ Writings on Music, comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice (Oakham, England: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1973), pp. 12—13, 12.

777

The root of all religions, from the Baha’i point of View, is based on the theory that man will gradually come to understand the unity of the world and the oneness of mankind. It teaches that all the prophets are one—that science and religion are the two great powers which must be balanced if man is to become mature. I feel my work has been inﬂuenced by these beliefs.’4 In spite of misunderstandings and difiiculties on the part of others, Tobey must have seen the ‘two powers’ in his own life as two wings of a bird, art and the Baha’i Faith, that needed to function to gether. In 1957 he wrote to Arthur Dahl, Jr.:

Now art should be a part of Baha’i life as I see it, and perhaps it could be in some locale, but not here. One wonders if one should sac— rifice to such a degree, but there is one’s nature and one’s livelihood. These questionings are endless, but I have written a few. We all have much to learn. When and if I go to Europe, I hope to settle somewhere where I can put the two to work.5 In 1971 Tobey was interviewed for a book

on the inﬂuence of Japanese art in the West. No doubt the interviewer expected to hear of Tobey’s experience in the monastery in Kyoto or of the influence of Oriental calligraphy on his work. Instead, he got a glowing description of the importance of the Baha’i Faith:

1 found in my life what I call the light. This light is the light of a new age, not the light of old times. I am not considering other things that exist today which we know about and talk about: they are old. And, as for the old, you can read things over and over, and do things again and again, but if a new reality has come, they are no good—they are nothing, that’s all. But if you know where reality is, if you have seen it, found it, and touched it, if you have been near it, then you know. I think that today in Baha’i—well, that’s where it is. That’s where the world must unite. Things cannot go on much longer without the realization that we are all the same. This may not happen for a while but . . . Of course, I don’t know what exactly will happen. I’ve

4Katherine Kuh, The Artist's Voice: T alks with Seventeen Artists (New York: Harper, 1962), pp. 239—40.

5 Mark Tobey, letter to Arthur Dahl, Jr., 26 November 1957. Joyce and Arthur Dahl Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 1785.

[Page 778]778

studied the Baha’i faith very hard and I think

this is the real truth.

In the same interview Tobey summed up a lifetime of his religious faith and its relationship to his art: ‘I believe that a considerable amount of what might be called my better work is derived from Baha’i love. That, I think, has had the strongest effect on me.’1

By 1960 Tobey had finished his period of wandering and had finally found a home, when he and his companion Pehr Hallsten With sec- retary Mark Ritter, moved to a house 'in Basel. Although Tobey’s advancing age (he was now seventy) and language barriers created difiicul- ties in this German-speaking part of Switzer- land Tobey was still eager to work for the Baha’i Faith in his new home. He served as chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Basel for sixteen years until his death in 1976.

In an undated letter written just after his move to Basel, Tobey wrote of his desire to contribute to the teaching work of the Baha’i Faith in his new home:

Well, in the passing of time three people have left my house Baha’is. They are all active—many come not knowing they are going to ask—what is Baha’i? I make no brags, but all this time somewhat in and out I have felt I was placed here to help and perhaps grow some for myself. The same things happened in England—slowly I worked with Baha’is there—when I left in 1938 Shoghi Effendi wrote me and said my work in England would never be forgotten. These words are naturally precious to me, but I didn’t expect anything like that again.2

Conclusion

Tobey’s services for the Baha’i Faith spanned almost six decades of the most formative and important period of the growth of the Baha’i Faith in the West. Like many other members of the Baha’i Faith, a religion without a clergy, Tobey often grappled with the desire to excel in his occupation and the deep and recurring need to contribute wholeheartedly to the world order of Baha’u’llah. This conﬂict must have

1Chisaburoh Yamada, ed., Dialogue in Art: Japan and the West (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1976), pp. 305, 304.

2Mark Tobey, letter to Arthur Dahl, Jr., n.d., Joyce and Arthur Dahl Papers, Archives of American Art, Microfilm reel 1785.

1,!

THE BAHA I WORLD

intensified in the last three decades of Tobey’s life when he became a world-class artist who could have easily dropped his Baha’i activities in favor of a life completely devoted to art. Yet Tobey clearly understood his commitment to the Baha’i Faith and never lost sight of his ultimate ‘occupation’ as a servant of Baha’u’llah. The fortunate preservation of the letters Tobey received from Shoghi Efiendi and the record of his contributions over fifty—eight years as a Baha’i show the continuing centrality of this role in his life and his devotion and sacrifice for the Baha’i Faith.

In a letter written to his Baha’i friends Tom and Helen Sousa when the artist was seventy- eight years old, in fragile health, and living in an area where he had never mastered the language, Tobey expressed his unquenchable desire to serve: ‘Success—ye godsl—So many people for so many demands—so much to keep up or go under. But I still hope to arrange life so I can do more telling about the Cause than ever before. . . .3 '

The following letter from ‘Abdu’l-Baha, although not written to Mark Tobey, can help to provide a possible assessment of Tobey’s life.

T ablet from ‘Abdu’Z—Baha’ to an Artist

Can you paint upon the page of the world the idealpictures 0f the Supreme Concourse?4 The pictures which are in the ideal world are eternal. I desire you to become such an artist. Man can paint those ideal pictures upon the tablet of existence with the brush of deeds.

The holy, divine Manifestations are all heavenly artists. Upon the canvas of creation, with the brush of their deeds and lives and ac- tions they paint immortalpictures which cannot be found in any art museum of Europe or America. But you find the masterpieces 0fthese spiritual artists in the hearts 0fthem that know Him.5 Mark Tobey did endeavor to paint upon the

tablet of existence not only with a brush of paint but also with a ‘brush of deeds.’ His wish to serve the two powers—art and the Baha’i Faith—seems to have been fulfilled.

3 Mark Tobey, letter to Tom and Helen Sousa, 9 March 1968. I would like to thank Helen Sousa for permission to use this excerpt.

4See p.764, n. 4.

5 ‘Abdu’l-Bahé, Star of the West 8.2 (1917): 28. I would like to thank Mrs. Sheila Cowan for drawing my attention to this information.

[Page 779]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

779

5. LILIAN VAUGHAN MCNEILL

LOIS HAINSWORTH

LILIAN VAUGHAN BARRON was born on 1 December 1879 into a military family. Her father, Major~Genera1 Sir Harry Barron, K.C.V.O. (Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order), of the Roya1Arti11ery, among other appointments, had served as chief instruc- tor at the Shoeburyness School of Gunnery, as Acting Governor of Malta and, later, as Governor of Tasmania and Western Australia. Her mother was the daughter of Major-General T. Conyngham Kelly.

It was during her father’s service as an artil— lery officer in Malta during 1888—89, (before he became Governor in 1909), whilst HRH. the Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Vic- toria and afterwards Duke of Saxe—Coburg Gotha, was Commander-in—Chief of the British ﬂeet in the Mediterranean, that Lilian first met the four daughters of the Duke of Edinburgh. One of them, Marie, was later (1893) to become the wife of King Ferdinand I of Romania who lived from 1865 to 1927. He was called to the throne in 1914 on the death of Carol 1. Marie Alexandra Victoria, who was born in 1875, died in 1938.

The five little girls played to gether in the sunlit gardens of the palace of San Antonio in Malta, although Lilian, who was then about ten years of age, had fallen from a pony in her earlier years and was, as a result, rather delicate, and unable to join the others in their wildest games. The eldest daughters of the Duke of Edinburgh always took the greatest care of her and called her ‘little’ Lilian, a name used thence- forth by Marie, even after her marriage to Fer- dinand I. It was during Lilian’s time in the seaport city of Valletta, Malta, that the Duke of Edinburgh helped her to make a collection of crests and monograms, perhaps nurturing an interest in art which in later life became an absorbing hobby.

Eventually, both families left Malta, and the girls resumed their friendship and games in the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House. In a letter to Queen Marie, Lilian recalls

2‘

Lilian Vaughan McNeil]

a blackberrying expedition in the grounds of Buckingham Palace when Lilian and Queen Marie’s youngest sister returned ‘looking like a pair of little tinkers’, and were taken by an irate nurse to the Duchess of Edinburgh who, instead of scolding them, gave them ‘dehcious Russian toiTee’.

All five girls married very young, and their ways parted. At the age of seventeen, when her father was serving in Gibraltar, Lilian met and married Captain Charles Findlay of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. After a honey— moon in Spain, she went with him to Egypt where his regiment was stationed. She was living in Cairo in 1898 when she heard that he had been killed at the battle of Atbara in the Sudan during the Nile campaign. Six months later her first son, Victor Alexander Charles, was born. The story of the widow of the young officer who had been killed in battle before his child was born touched the hearts of members of

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London society. Queen Victoria herself was godmother to the child, showing ‘the most won- derful kindness’, and surely remembered that as a child, Lilian had been a playmate of her own grandchildren. As a young widow, Lilian lived very quietly, and little is known about her life during the following few years, until her marriage to Angus McNeill in 1907.

Angus McNeill and Charles Findlay had been close friends, fighting alongside each other when Captain Findlay was killed. It fell to Angus McNeil] to take the sad news to the young widow in Cairo. This was their first meeting. At the time of their marriage in 1907, he was Adjutant of the Mounted Infantry School at Longmore, in Hampshire. The couple remained in Hampshire until Angus McNeill retired from the army in 1910, a year after the birth of Lilian’s second son, John Malcolm.

At the outbreak of World War I, Angus McNeill was recalled, and served from 1914 to 1918 with the Lovat Scouts Yeomanry. He commanded this regiment at Gallipoli, and afterwards led a brigade in General Allenby’s campaign in Palestine, as it was then known. He was awarded the BSD. (Distinguished Service Order) in 1918. During the war, Lilian lived in London and worked on behalf of refugees, making many friends among the Serbian and Russian peoples. She also helped to create the St. Clement’s School for Girls at Ochrida in Serbia. She was a brilliant linguist and spoke ﬂuently French, Italian, German and Spanish.

In 1922, the McNeills went to Palestine. Here Angus McNeill raised the British gendarmerie of Palestine, which he continued to command until it was disbanded in 1926. At that time the High Commissioner for Palestine, Lord Plumer, required an administrator for a new stock—breeding project near ‘Akka. As a proven administrator Who knew all the oﬂicials in Jerusalem, was familiar with every Village in the territory and was experienced in the breed— ing of horses, Angus McNeil was the ideal choice. The farm was engaged in the breeding of horses, cattle, mules, sheep, goats, chickens and even bees. He built up this stud farm from nothing, importing Arab stallions and other stock from England. For part of this time the McNeills lived in the Nashashibi quarter of Jerusalem.

While she was living in Palestine Lilian McNeill became acquainted with the Faith of

Baha’u’llah. She writes, ‘Queen Marie and I were reunited in close affection through the Baha’i teachings, with which we both became acquainted about the same time, she in Romania, I in Palestine.’ Martha Root, a renowned Baha’i teacher, met Queen Marie at the Controceni Palace on 30 January 1926. This, and Miss Root’s subsequent audiences with Queen Marie, are described in ‘Queen Marie of Rumania’, by Martha Root, T he Bahd’z’ World, vol. VI, 1934—36, pp. 580—83.

It was in 1929, during the course of building up the stock farm, that Angus and Lilian McNeill, making a voyage of discovery in the neighbourhood across country where only the roughest tracks existed, came upon a neglected, partly ruined old house. Beside it stood two enormous cypress trees, thought to be hundreds of years old. An inside courtyard was sur— rounded by a thick, high wall and, outside, an aqueduct ﬂowed through a paved terrace. A Bedouin family lived in tents in the garden, and olive—pickers from a village near Carmel occupied the lower part of the house during the olive harvest. The building was in a state of unimaginable dereliction. Lilian states that she ‘saw the possibilities and the poor old house with its vaulted lower rooms had an intense and almost weird fascination for me.’ Thus Lilian McNeill found Mazra‘ih where Baha’u’llah and His family lived after leaving ‘Akka in June 1877,1 (there He had been confined for nine years without sight of verdure), and before moving into the Mansion of Bahji in September 1879,2 a total of two years and four months, approximately.

In May 1931, When Angus McNeil] finally retired, the couple took a lease on the house and were able to restore it, creating a garden and a proper setting for a ‘dwelling with such sacred associations’. One ﬂoor they left untouched—the ﬂoor in the downstairs room which was Baha’u’llah’s Own special room— in the belief that His feet may have trodden upon it.

Lilian had hoped to meet her old school friend during the course of the Queen’s Visit to the Near East. Shoghi Effendi has written of this: ‘In the course of a visit to the Near East she

1H.M. Balyuzi, Balzd’u’lldlz T he King of Glory (Oxford: George Ronald Publisher), 1980, p. 362.

2David S. Ruhe, Door of Hope, (Oxford: George Ronald Publisher) 1986, pp. 12, 224 (note 4).

[Page 781]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

[Queen Marie] expressed her intention of Vis- iting the Baha’i Shrines, and, accompanied by her youngest daughter [Ileana], actually passed through Haifa, and was within sight of her goal, When she was denied the right to make the pilgrimage she had planned—to the keen dis- appointment of the aged Greatest Holy Leaf who had eagerly expected her arrival.’1 Lilian was herself actually in Haifa when the Queen ‘passed through like a ﬂash’ and was ‘gone again into another land’. A few months later, in June 1931, Queen Marie wrote in a letter to Martha Root: ‘Both Ileana and I were cruelly dis- appointed at having been prevented going to the holy Shrines’,2 and went on to speak of the forces beyond her control that ‘curtailed [her] liberty most unkindly’.

Following this, Lilian, who had written to tell Queen Marie about Mazra‘ih, received a letter in which the Queen stated: ‘Dear “little” Lilian, it was indeed nice to hear from you, and to think that you are of all things living near Haifa and are, as I am, a follower of the Baha’i teachings. It interests me that you are living in that special house; the Teachers so loved ﬂowers, and being English, I can imagine what a lovely garden you have made in that Eastern climate. . .’3

Shoghi Effendi Visited the McNeills at Mazra‘ih, and took tea with them on the terrace. He must have been a frequent Visitor, for Lil- ian’s letters to Queen Marie are full of allusions which he made to the Baha’i teachings. On at least one occasion he mentioned the Queen’s ancestral association with the F aith, her grand— parents, Queen Victoria of England and Alex- ander II of Russia, having been recipients of Tablets from Baha’u’llah. Lilian’s devotion to the Baha’i teachings shines through her letters to Queen Marie, and, she wrote telling the Queen of new books which became available and offer- ing to send her copies, as she had ‘access to the store at Bahji’.

The photograph of Lilian McNeill portrays a beautiful and tranquil woman, but she had a keen and analytical mind, and her letters and diaries show that she was well acquainted with the international situation; indeed, in her cor- respondence with Queen Marie during 1935—~

'See Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette: Baha’i Pub~ lishing Trust), 1944, p. 392.

2ibid. p. 393.

3ibid. p. 393.

781

36 she predicted the imminence of war. Lilian’s grasp of the political situation in Palestine was acute, and she was impatient of politicians who stirred up nationalist passions. There exist letters she wrote to leading Arab families deplor- ing in strong language their political activities, and stringently exhorting them to learn to live in peace with the J ews and not continually seek confrontation. Jews and Arabs worked peace- fully together at the stud farm and she saw no reason why this state of afiairs should not prevail elsewhere. When she espoused a cause she did so with all her heart, and she expressed her opinions vehemently.

During her later years, Lilian was severely stricken with arthritis and was often in great pain, having to walk with a stick—sometimes two—and the way in which she coped with her infirmity showed great courage and deter- mination. She always accompanied her husband when he went sailing or shooting, and on other journeys. She was a talented watercolourist, and her husband would leave her happily occupied with her paints when he had to walk far dis- tances.

During her years at ‘Akka and Mazra‘ih, Lilian wrote a series of short stories, some of which were published in the local English- language newspaper. Her stories reveal excep- tional insight into local life and present a very clear View of the situation which then existed.

Lilian and Angus McNeill were respected and much loved by the local Villagers; they called Lilian ‘Aziza’m‘dear one’. During the 1948 war, the McNeills convinced the Villagers at Mazra‘ih that they should not shoot or throw stones at Israeli buses, and so the Villagers were safe when the war was over. The Village was an Arab enclave entirely surrounded by homes occupied by Jewish families. Angus McNeill maintained a nominal roll of the Villagers and, during those difficult times, sent for rations for them which were brought from nearby Nahariyya by a policeman Who was a Jew.

When Lilian died on 16 August 1949, her husband wrote to Shoghi Effendi: ‘Her faith in the Baha’i teachings was a great comfort to her in the last twenty years of her life, and she always longed that she and her old school friend Queen Marie of Romania could have gone together to the Shrines.’ Angus McNeill did not long survive his wife; he died in Cyprus six months later.

[Page 782]782 THE BAHA’i WORLD

In 1981, members of the staff of the Baha’i World Centre discovered the grave of Lilian McNeill in the Commonwealth Cemetery in Haifa, marked by a simple wooden cross. The Universal House of Justice, Wishing to honour her early espousal of the F aith and her role in

the rehabihtation and protection of Mazra‘ih, has, with the acquiescence of her son, Major- General J ohn McNeil], erected a befitting and dignified memorial to this distinguished British lady.

Afterword

After the death of Brigadier General Angus McNeill in 1950, Shoghi Effendi commenced negotiations with the Israeli Government, into whose control Mazra‘ih had relapsed, to have this historic site secured to the Baha’i community. Through Shoghi Effendi’s direct appeal to the Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, the Baha’i interest in the prop— erty as a Holy Place was recognized by the Government of Israel, and he was able to lease the property. On 15 December 1950, Shoghi Effendi cabled the Baha’i wor1d: ‘ANNOUNCE FRIENDS DELIVERY AFTER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS KEYS QAsR MAZRA‘IH BY ISRAEL AUTHORITIES. HIS- TORIC DWELLING PLACE BAHA’U’LLAH AFTER LEAVING PRISON CITY ‘AKKA NOW BEING FUR- NISHED ANTICIPATION OPENING DOOR PIL- GRIMAGE.1

On 13 March 1973, the Universal House of Justice sent the following announcement to all National Spiritual Assemblies: ‘OCCASION NAW— R132 130 JOYOUSLY ANNOUNCE BAHAi WORLD ACQUISITION BY PURCHASE MANSION MAZRA‘IH RESULT SEVERAL YEARS PATIENT PERSISTENT DETERMINED NEGOTIATIONS THEREBY ADDING TO BAHA’i ENDOWMENTS HOLY LAND FIRST RESI— DENCE BAHA’U’LLAH AFTER NINE YEARS SPENT WALLED PRISON CITY ‘AKKA. CONTROL THIS HOLY SITE ,REACQUIRED BY BELOVED GUARDIAN AFTER LAPSE MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS WHEN HE SECURED LEASE MANSION 1950 EXTENDED TO PRESENT TIME. PURCHASE INCLUDES LAND AREA APPROXIMAT~ ING TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND SQUARE METRES HIGHLY SUITABLE EXTENSION GARDENS CUL— TIVATION. OFFERING PRAYER THANKSGIVING SACRED THRESHOLD THIS GREATLY CHERISHED BOUNTY...2

IShoghi Efiendi, Messages to the Bahd’z’ World 1950—1957 (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust), 1958, p. 7.

Subsequent1y, on 24 September 1980, the Baha’is of the world were informed by the House of Justice: PURCHASED NEARLY 50,000 SQUARE METRES AGRICULTURAL LAND ADJACENT TO AND NORTH OF MAZRA‘IH PROPERTY AS PRO- TECTION TO MANSION IN RAPIDLY DEVELOPING AREA.3

Lilian McNeill’s first—born son, Victor Findlay, worked in the Tse—Tse Research Department in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), and was killed by a rhinoceros in 1946 Whilst on duty. He was married with two sons; one was killed during World War II, and the other at present resides in Scotland. Lilian McNeill’s second son, John Malcolm McNeill, followed the family military tradition and joined the Royal Artillery. He served in India, western Sahara, Sicily, north-west Europe and Burma. He has been awarded the CB. and C.B.E., has held senior staff appointments, and was for two years aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth. His wife, Barbara, is also from a military family. They have two children.

Quotations in this article. are taken from ‘Treasured Memories’, an article by Lilian Mc- Nei11 in World Order magazine, Vol. IV, No. 10, 1939, and from unpublished letters. The author has also drawn upon an article in the 21 June 1979 issue of Country Life.

My grateful thanks to Major—General John McNei11 and his wife for their help in producing this article, and for the generous gift of photo- graphs of Lilian McNeill which have been sent to the international audio-Visual archives of the Baha’i World Centre. One of them is reproduced here.

2 The Universal House of Justice, M essages from the Universal House ofJustice (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust), 1976, p. 112.

3Door of Hope, p. 94.

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783

6. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOIPMENT IN THE BAHA’T COMMUNITY OF IRAN

HOLLY HANSON VICK

IN its message to the Baha’i wor1d of 20 October 1983,1 the Universal House of Justice cited the social and economic progress made by the Baha’is of Train as an example of the Vital efficacy of the Baha’i teachings in the affairs of the world. The essential aspects of Baha’i social and economic development are found in the history of the Persian Baha’i community during the early years of the Faith. Love and devotion to Baha’u’llah motivated the believers to improve their own lives and serve mankind; co-operative eiTorts on the local and on the provincial levels enabled the Baha’is to establish a broad network of schools and other service institutions; and adherence to Baha’i principles and standards of conduct caused the Baha’i community to stand out, despite official repression and universal prejudice against it, as manifestly more progressive than the rest of Iranian society.

The profound and transforming effect of the Cause in the lives of the believers and their communities was an accepted facet of life in Tran. Baha’u’llah had proclaimed that which will serve as the key for unlocking the doors of sciences, of arts, of knowledge, of well-being, prosperity, and wealth2 and His followers, using those ‘keys’, became different from other people. As Baha’is, they wanted to educate their children, to uplift themselves, to serve their com- munities. The Hand of the Cause ‘Ali-Akbar Furfitan, who was raised in Sabzivar, iran, and whose father became a Baha’i in advance of his mother, described this deliberate transition in his autobiography: ‘When my mother and grandmother declared their belief in the Cause, they conscientiously began to think in terms of the education of their children and promptly sent me and my brother, who was then nine, to the “school”.’3 The distinction achieved was

'Excerpts from this message appear on p. 346.

2 T ablets 0f Balzd'u’lldh, p. 96.

3 The Story of My Heart. (Oxford: George Ronald), 1984, p. 3.

so pervasive that Persian be1ievers take it for granted and others find it hard to comprehend: the Baha’i child among a group of children playing could be identified by his neatness and his manners; the Baha’i home in a Village stood out because of its c1ean1iness, orderliness and its light; and the Baha’i students were usually at the top of their c1ass. The relentless persecution sufiered by the Baha’is in Train from 1978—79 onward is the consummate and tragic proof of this distinction. The fanatical elements in Iranian society, fuelled by their ingrained prejudice as well as their envy of the Baha’is’ prosperity and advancement, and not able to accept that it is the consequence of putting the Baha’i teachings into action, have tried to destroy the Faith and all the evidences of its Vitality.

The inner transformation of the community, which is the essence of Baha’i development, was complemented by activities organized by the National and Local Spiritual Assemblies. The Baha’i schoo1s and the Missaghieh (Mimaqiyyih) Hospita1 and Maternity Clinic— established circa 1940 in Tihran and recognized as one of the most important and best equipped in the Iranian capita1~attained great prestige, and the programme of spiritual education for children and adults was comprehensive and efiective. In the few areas in which Baha’is formed a majority of the population, they were able to carry out many more activities.

The Persian Baha’i emigrants to ‘Ishqabad in Russian Turkistan created the first example of a community openly organizing its com- munity life according to the teachings and laws of Baha’u’llah. Encouraged by Baha’u’lléh and the Master, almost four thousand believers left Tran between 1880 and 1920 in order to practise their new religion freely in ‘Iﬂqabad, a fast- growing outpost of the Russian nation.4 They

4 A. A. Lee, ‘The Rise of the Baha’i Community of ‘ngabéd’, Bahd ’1' S tudies, Volume 5, J anuary 1979.

[Page 784]784

built a beautiful and imposing House of Worship where community members gathered to listen to dawn prayers every morning. Four dependencies were built on the grounds of the Mashriqu’l-Agkér: two elementary schools, a medical clinic, and a pilgrim’s hospice. The com— munity also established schools in two nearby communities, Mary and Qahqahih, and opened two kindergartens in ‘Iﬂqabad.1 They pub— lished a magazine and opened a library and public reading room. ‘Abdu’l-Baha encouraged them to build on this foundation, writing, N 0w must ye widen the scope of your endeavours, and draw up plans to establish schools for higher education, so that the City of Love [i.e. ‘Ishqé- bad] will become the Baha’i focal centre for sciences and arts.2 Since the time in the 19203 when development of the Baha’i community of ‘Ishqabad was disrupted by opposition to the Faith, no other community has yet advanced to the same degree.

The schools established by Persian Baha’is were the first Baha’i development activities. At a time when secular education was almost non— existent and religious education circumscribed and rudimentary, the Bahét’is in Tran built an educational apparatus that was widespread, open to everyone, and distinguished in every way. The premier Baha’i school of Train, the Tarbiyat School in Tihran, was officially opened in 1899, although it had already been in oper— ation for two years.3 The Tarbiyat Girls’ School opened in 1911.4 The example of the Tarbiyat School was emulated in the Ta’yid and Mawhi- bat schools in Hamadan, the Vahdat-i-Basfiar school in Kas_h_an, and similar schools in Bar— furfish and Qazvin.5 These schools ofiered six primary and six secondary classes, were recog— nized by the Government, and followed the official curriculum when it was introduced in 1925. Many other Baha’i communities organ- ized educational facilities according to their ability; some had a staff of teachers and hun- dreds of students, in others one or two teachers

1‘Intemational Survey of Current Baha’i Activities’, The Baha’i World, V01. V, p. 38.

2Baha’i Education: A Compilation, p. 35.

3Baha’i News, 9 June 1910, pp.4—7.

4Lillian Kappes, The Orient—Occia’ent Unity Bulletin, No. 6, March~Apri1 1912, pp. 6—7. Miss Kappes, with the encour- agement of ‘Abdu’l-Bahé, left her home in the United States in 1911 and settled in Iran where she headed the Tarbiyat Girls’ School until her death in 1921.

5 Shoghi Efiendi, God Passes By, p. 299.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

taught the children of a Village. Enquiries reveal that over forty schools of all sizes were operated by the Baha’is of Train.

Each one of these schools came into being as a response to Bahé’u’llah’s teachings on edu- cation, teachings which set forth the principles that the greatest means to the advancement of the world ofbez'ng is education of the child;6 that education is the indispensable foundation of all human excellence;7 and the source of honour, prosperity, independence and freedom for a nation.8

Individual Baha’is inspired by the spirit of the Faith founded the first schools which were open to Baha’is and non—Baha’is alike; as Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed they took the responsibility for education. Local Assemblies organized and administered schools, and ascer- tained that all children were able to attend, whatever their financial resources. Baha’i funds supported children who could not pay. Many of the village Baha’i schools were operated by Local Spiritual Assemblies whose mem- bers were themselves illiterate: they knew Baha’u’llah had made education obligatory, so they asked the Central Assembly in Tihran to send them a teacher.

Despite the strong prejudice against the Faith in Train, the Baha’i schools achieved a high stan- dard of excellence and gained a reputation of being the best schools in the country. Many notable people sent their children to Tarbiyat schools which trained a generation of leaders in every field. The standard for Baha’i schools was clearly established by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in an early letter to the Tarbiyat school: it must become evident that it is the first school ofPersz'a and its graduates are the most successful. Other- wise its non-being is better than its being.9

The international co-operation which charac- terized the schools from their inception was one cause of their success: the teachers who came from the American Baha’i community intro- duced modern educational methods. In 1906 the Tarbiyat Boys’ School was the only one in Tihran where mathematics was studied every day and children were separated into classes according to their ability.

6Bahe’t’u’llah, Baha’i Education: A Compilation, p. 4.

7 ‘Abdu’l—Baha, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’I-Baha, p. 129.

8‘Abdu’l-Bahét, The Secret ofDivine Civilization, p. 111.

9Star of the West, Vol. I, No. 5, June 1910, pp.2—7.

[Page 785]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

The Tarbiyat Girls’ School had recess and gymnastics more than fifteen years before Government schools allowed physical edu- cation for girls. Through the American con- nection, Baha’i schools were the first to have laboratory equipment for science classes, and former Tarbiyat students will remember the excitement of watching educational films—at that time their school was the only one in Tran with a film projector.

The fundamental distinction of the Baha’i schools, however, lay in the Baha’i concept of education, which declares moral and spiritual training to be the foundation of all learning. From 1925, all schools in Tran were required to follow a standard curriculum issued by the Government, and no mention of the Faith was possible, but the Baha’i schools were still unique. Former Tarbiyat students recall the effect of the prayer revealed by ‘Abdu’l—Baha that was chanted every morning while each class stood in line, and the atmosphere of love and trust that pervaded the school. Teachers and students shared a mutual respect and dedication to learning. The Baha’i students had been trained from infancy to be well-mannered, obedient, and conscientious, and their refine- ment of character raised the level of their aca- demic education. Members of other religious groups sent their children to the Baha’i schools, in part because the schools were known to be progressive and to have an enriched programme of study, and in part because conscientious parents were hopeful of having their children acquire the desirable manners and discipline associated with Baha’i children. The monthly evaluations of each child included not only a report to parents of his progress in academic subjects, but also a report from parents about the child’s behaviour at home.

A careful efibrt was made to involve parents in school activities, because in the Baha’i context, the school is a centre for the education of the whole community. The Tarbiyat Girls’ School held monthly conferences for mothers and other women, who had no other opportunity for education, no organized activities, and no life outside the home. At each conference students presented talks, plays, and demonstrations to illustrate a theme, such as the value of subjects learned in the second- ary school, or modern home management, which would interest and inform the women.

785

These conferences were immensely popular— 300 to 400 attended each conference when they were initiated in the early 1920’s.1 Teachers tried to show parents how to apply Baha’i principles in child-rearing, and, because they were well-educated and dedicated believers, the teachers became models for all the Baha’is.

Especially in the Villages, the Baha’i teachers were the hub of Baha’i community life. They taught Baha’i classes and adult education as well as the children, and through their own example created a momentum for self—improve- ment and development. The Baha’i youth of the 1920s and 19305 who left Tihran to teach school in the Villages set the example for the Baha’i youth volunteers of the present; through their love and respect for their host com— munities, their willingness to sacrifice their modern customs and habits, and their reliance on Baha’u’llah, they gained the confidence of the Villagers and helped them to realize the progressive qualities that characterized Baha’i communities in Train.

The first stage of Baha’i educational activity came to an end in 1934 when the Government closed all Baha’i schools because they refused to stay open on Baha’i Holy Days. The schools in Russian Turkistan had been closed by the Government four years earlier. Non-formal educational activity continued within the Baha’i community; thousands of Baha’i children attended character training classes every week, and national committees were organized to meet the needs of other. groups. In 1973 it was announced that the Baha’is had achieved a lit- eracy rate of one hundred per cent among women under the age of forty, a dramatic con- trast with the national literacy rate of fifteen per cent.2

The progress achieved by women was a remarkable aspect of the Baha’i community. The Baha’i teachings created a consciousness and self—image for women that was wholly new.

'Genevieve L. Coy, ‘Educating the Women of Persia’, Star of the West, V01. XVII, No. 1, April 1926, pp. 50—55. Dr. Coy, a graduate of Columbia University, was a specialist in the education of gifted children and a teacher of psy~ chology. She was the director of Tarbiyat Girls’ School from 1922 until 1924 when she returned to the United States to teach psychology at Dalton School, New York, and was later appointed its principal.

2‘International Survey of Current Baha‘i Activities’, The Bahd’i World, vol. XV, 1968—73, p. 248.

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At a time when the women’s world was entirely confined to the home, ‘Abdu’l-Baha instructed the Baha’i women to direct their minds to science, industry, and subjects that would improve the human condition. He constantly encouraged the Baha’i communities to establish schools for girls, emphasizing that this was more important than their other efforts.1 These girls’ schools were a radical departure from the stan- dards of the society and often met considerable opposition.2 Each student had to be escorted to and from her home, because girls were not permitted to appear in public by themselves. These girls’ schools trained the first generation of professional women in Iranian society, and the model of Baha’i women had an effect on the whole society.

The Nawnahalan Company, a community savings bank, was organized around the turn of the century to encourage savings by children and to provide funds for community develop— ment. The original plan, which was curtailed by the restrictions placed on Baha’i activities, was that projects to benefit the whole com— munity would be funded by loans from the accumulated capital. ‘Abdu’l—Baha encouraged the Nawnahalan Society and subscribed to it Himself; when it was confiscated by the Rev- olutionary Government, beginning in F ebruary 1979, it held the life savings of more than 15,000 Baha’is.3

The Persian Baha’i communities also organ- ized health-care faci1ities. ‘Abdu’l—Baha encour- aged Dr. Susan Moody, Dr. Sarah Clock, and Elizabeth Stewart, a trained nurse, to settle in Tihran.4 These noble women, constrained by social conditions from establishing a nursing school as they had hoped, provided primary health care, held classes for mothers, and quietly

lBahd’z’ Education: A Compilation, p.46.

2Dr. Genevieve Coy in her 1926 article cited above states, ‘Three years ago a reactionary Minister of Education said to the principal of another school: “The Tarbiyat School is the best school for girls in Tihrén. Alas that they are Baha’is!” ’

3The Government took over the Nawnahalan Company, as well as Umana’, a foundation for the maintenance and purchase of Baha’i community properties and holy places; see ‘The Persecution of the Baha’i Community of lran’, The Bahd’z' World, V01. XV’III, 1979—83, p. 252.

4Dr. Moody settled in Iran in 1909, Dr. Clock in 1910, and Miss Stewart in 1921.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

demonstrated the capacity of women. Dr. Moody, as early as 1910, in collaboration with some Persian physicians, established a private clinic. Both Dr. Moody and Dr. Clock died in Tihran, after years of selﬂess service to the Baha’is and the general public.

Before 1910, the Sihhat Hospital was started in Tihran by a group of Baha’i doctors, and here Dr. Moody lent her skills as gynaecologist and specialist in women’s diseases.

The high standard of personal hygiene and the emphasis on education found in the Baha’i Writings both contributed to the health of the Baha’i community. In 1930, a number of Baha’i communities were reported to be establishing modern public baths.5

Many individual health professionals donated their time and skills to facilities spon- sored by the Baha’i community: one example is the Takur Clinic.

The Persian believers who participated in Baha’i community life when it was not thor- oughly constrained by repression, who taught or attended Baha’i schools, and who witnessed the distinction achieved by the Iranian Baha’is in their society, have a perspective which is very relevant to the current development activities of Baha’is around the world.6 Their experiences of the Baha’i teachings in action, in the excel- lence of the Baha’i schools, the well-being of Baha’i Villagers, and the success of Baha’i women, can help us understand the Universal House of Justice’s statement that development activities ‘will ensure a deeper consolidation of the community at all levels’. Because the Persian friends accepted Baha’u’llah, read His Writings, tried to obey His laws, and followed the guid— ance of the Master and the Guardian, they achieved a remarkable degree of social and economic progress. The transforming power of the Cause of God gave them a motivation to change their lives, an ability to work together, and a Vision of their own capacity.

5 ‘International Survey of Current Baha’i Activities’, The Balzd’i World, vol. III, 1928—30, p. 33.

6The world-wide dispersion of the Iranian Baha’is will allow many communities to hear the stories of the earliest Baha’i development activities. In preparing this article, the author interviewed eight individuals who had taught in or admin- istered Baha’i schools.

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7. ANTON GRAF PROKESCH VON OSTEN — ‘WORTHY REPRESENTATIVE OF EUROPE’*

KENT D. BEVERIDGE

REPRESENTATIVES of several European governments, including Austria, have inter- vened with Iranian authorities in recent years on behalf of the followers of the Baha’i religion. The persecution suffered by the Baha’is under the current regime in iran, and the subsequent diplomatic démarches, have received extensive media coverage. Concern on the part of Eur— opean powers is not, however, unique to our times: diplomats from many of the same coun— tries which have made official representations concerning the present situation facing the Baha’is in iran, attempted to protect Baha’u’llah and His foliowers from the auto- cratic power of the Persian and Ottoman Imperial governments during the nineteenth century.

In 1852, three youths made an abortive attempt on the life of Nasiri’d-Din Shah. This incident gave the mm an excuse to imprison Baha’u’llah with the intent of silencing Him. Baha’u’llah’s innocence in the matter was clearly established, but He and His family were nevertheless banished from Persia.‘ Although the Russian Minister in Tihran, Prince Dol- gorukov, extended an offer of asylum in his country, Baha’u’llah chose to go to Baghdad whereupon the Prince provided an escort for the journey from Persia to ‘Iraq.

Other ofiers of aid include that of British citizenship made by Colonel Sir Arnold Burrows Kemball, representative of the British crown in Baghdad on the occasion of Baha’u’llah’s subsequent transfer to Con- stantinople in 1863; and repeated remon- strations addressed to the French and Ottoman

This is the revised version of an article published in the

M itlelungen des (‘J‘slet'reichisclzen Staalsarchivs, no. 40, 1990. I wish to thank the editors of that journal for their kind permission to publish the article here.

1 Cf Shoghi Elfendi, God Passes By (Wilmette: Baha’i Pub- lishing Trust, 1970), pp. 66 et sea, and HM. Balyuzi, Bahd’u’lldh, T he King of Glory (Oxford: George Ronald, 1980), chapters 15 and 19.

governments on Baha’u’llah’s behalf by Arthur Comte de Gobineau, French diplomat in Tihran and Athens.

Anton Graf Prokesch von Osten, Austrian ambassador to the Sublime Porte, stands out among the members of the diplomatic corps. Records in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna reveal that Prokesch-Osten interceded with the Ottoman authorities on behalf of Baha’u’llah in order to have the edict banishing Him and His adherents from Turkey to the notorious penal colony of ‘Akka in Palestine withdrawn.

Anton Prokesch’s adult life was spent in the service of the Austrian Empire. Inﬂuenced by his experiences during the course of the French occupation of Styria in his youth, as well as by his ‘enlightened’ education, he abandoned his law studies at the age of eighteen to join an Austrian regiment fighting Napoleon’s troops. After receiving several decorations for bravery, he was promoted to the General Staff, and soon rose to the position of adjutant to Prince Karl zu Schwarzenberg, Victor of the Battle of Leipzig. Prokesch found army service confining and unsatisfactory f ollowin g Schwarzenberg’s death and requested a transfer to the Austrian navy, which was granted in 1824.

Prokesch made his first acquaintance with the Orient as a result of this transfer, for the Austrian navy’s mission at that time was to protect the interests of Austrian merchants in the Levant who were enmeshed in the Greek war of independence.2 However, Prokesch’s early enthusiasm for the Greek cause, which had grown out of an interest in German romanticism and a sense of identification with Byron, soon withered; he wrote a former professor that, pre- cisely because he loved Greece, the sight of the

3 Cf Anton Prokesch-Osten, Geschichte des Abfalls der Grie~ Chen, 5 vols. (Vienna: C. Gerold’s Sohn, 1867) and Henry Kissinger, A World Restored: The Politics of Conservatism in a Revolutionary Age (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1964), 286 et sec.

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Greeks who presently populated that sacred ground filled him with such pain.1

His reports showed such insight into cOriental affairs’ that, when rising tensions between Muhammad-‘Ali Paw, Viceroy of Egypt, and the Sublime Porte2 made it necessary for the Austrian government to dispatch an observer to the Viceroy’s court in Cairo, Prokesch was chosen. This marked the beginning of his diplo— matic career. He was able to enhance Austria’s standing in the Near East by mediating the settlement of a long-standing feud between the Viceroy and the Ottoman Sultan, Mahmud 11.3

As a result of his successful mission to Egypt, Prokesch was appointed Chief of the Eastern Mediterranean section of the Austrian navy’s General Staff. Following the termination of the Greek war of independence, Prokesch was ordered to return to Vienna, arriving in February 1830. The success of his campaign against pirates in the area, during which he sank thirty-six pirate vessels with only two Austrian warships at his command, earned him the Leo- poldsorden and knighthood. He took the surname ‘of the East’ at this juncture: Anton Ritter Prokesch von Osten.4 The first of his numerous works on the Orient, which clearly express his love for the East, were published at this time: Erinnerungen aus Aegypten und Klei— nasien;5 Das Land zwischen den Katarakten des N 1'] , which included the results of his painstakin g research on Egyptian antiquities and the first astronomically determined map of Nubia;6 and

lProkesch to Julius Schneller. Cf Julius Schneller, Hin- terlassene Werke, hrg. Ernst Mi‘mch, V01. 2 (Leipzig: Hallber- ger’s Buchhandlung, 1836), p.313; and Friedrich Engel— Janosi, Die Jugendzeil des Grafen Prokesch van Osten (Innsbruck: Universitats-Verlag Wagner, 1938), p. 54.

2Cf H.M. Balyuzi, Muhammad and the,Course 0f Isldm (Oxford: George Ronald, 1976), pp.414 and 418—9; and Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 6th ed. (London: Macmillan, 1956), pp. 722 et sec.

3 Lawrence Ross Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten and Austria’s Balkan Policy 1860—1872’ (PhD. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1973), p. 2. At Prokesch’s suggestion, Met- ternich intervened with the Sultan to have the cause of the feud, Admiral K__husraw Pégé, dismissed. CfAnton Berger, Prokesch—Osten: Ein Leben aus Alté’sterreich (Graz: Verlag Ulr. Mosers Buchhalndlung, 1921), p. 62.

4Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. 3.

5 ‘Memories from Egypt and Asia Minor’, published by Arm- bruster in 1829, was well received by the orientalists of the day.

6 ‘The Land between the Cataracts of the Nile’ was published in 1831. As a result of his findings, Prokesch-Osten was invited to join the Institute of Archaeological Cor- respondence in Rome as well as the Imperial Academies of Science in Vienna and Berlin. Cf Berger, Prokesch-Osten, p. 63.

1,;

THE BAHA I WORLD

Die Reise in ’s heilz‘ge Land im Jahre I829.7

Prokesch-Osten returned to Eygpt as the Aus— trian envoy to the Viceroy’s court in 1833, fol- lowing Muhammad-‘Ali Paﬂa’s conquest of Syria. His instructions were to join the British envoy in attempting to convince the Viceroy to reduce his demands upon Sultan Mahmud II. The damage caused by Muhammad-‘Ali Paﬂa’s Syrian campaign had nearly given the coup de grcice to the entire Ottoman Empire8 and had therefore to be minimized lest Russia move into the void created by the weakening of the Sublime Porte’s control over the area. Although the mission was successful—the Egyptians eventually withdrew from Syria under pressure from the European powers— the respite for the Sublime Porte proved to be temporary.

Once Prokesch-Osten returned from Egypt, he was Viewed in Austria and Germany as the leading specialist in Oriental affairs due to his diplomatic activities, as well as to his careful research on Egyptian, Greek and Etruscan antiquities.9 His next appointment, therefore, was to the unfilled post of minister to Greece, in which capacity he spent fifteen years working to bring a stable, viable government to power.10 During this period, Prokesch-Osten was ennobled, receiving the title of Baron (Freiherr).

Prokesch-Osten was recalled in 1849 and appointed envoy, first to the Prussian court in Berlin, and later to the Deutsche Bundestag (the German federal Diet) at Frankfurt. Here he found himself pitted against Otto von Bismarck as Austria and Prussia vied for mastery of the German Confederation.11

While in Frankfurt, Prokesch-Osten first met

7 ‘The Journey to the Holy Land in 1829’ was published by Gerold’s in 1831. Prokesch visited ‘Akka during this journey and forced ‘Abdu’llah Pay, the Governor of ‘Akka who had desecrated the ﬂag ﬂying above the Austrian consulate, to make restitution. Cf Berger, Prokesch-Osten, p. 64.

8Hitti, History, p. 725.

9 Kissinger calls Prokesch-Osten ‘the Austrian diplomat best acquainted with the Ottoman Empire’ and ‘Metternich’s expert on the Eastern question’ (World Restored, p. 335).

‘0 Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. 3.

1‘ Prokesch—Osten, who was elected President of the Diet, was instrumental in convincing FrederickIWilhelm IV not to accept the imperial crown offered him by the Diet. In October 1850, when the tension between Austria and Prussia was at its height, Prokesch-Osten disregarded instructions from his Foreign Minister tantamount to a declaration of war and, together with the Prussian envoy Manteuffel, laid the foundation for the Olmfitz settlement. For his services at Frankfurt, he received the Grosskreuz 0f the Leopoldsorden from Emperor Franz Josef I.

[Page 789]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

Arthur Comte de Gobineau, recording in his diary: ‘Every evening with Comte Gobineau and his wife from Martinique.’l In the summary with which he closed his diary entries for the year 1854, Prokesch-Osten noted, ‘With thanks I accept the Gobineaus, whom this year brought me. Both good and spiritually mature. Through him, to my delight, introduced to Chinese and Indian literature.’2 Prokesch—Osten’s cor~ respondence with Gobineau, which began at this time, lasted until the former’s death in 1876.3

Austria’s foreign policy concerning the Ottoman Empire was vitally important since the course of the Danube River—the aorta of the Austrian monarchy, as Radetzky had styled it—ﬂowed through Ottoman territory to empty into the Black Sea. With this in mind, Austria endeavoured to strengthen the Ottoman Empire against the encroachment of Imperial Russia, and, during the second half of the nineteenth century, against the rising tide of nationalism in the Balkans.4

His background made Anton Freiherr Pro- keseh von Osten a natural choice for im‘emuncio5 of the Austrian Empire to the Sublime Porte. His appointment in 1855—at the age of sixtyé— was both the culmination of a life of service to the Austrian Empire and the fulfillment of a long—cherished desire.7 The legation in Con—

' Diary entry, 10 J uly 1854. Nachlass Prokesch-Osten, Haus~, Hof— und Staatsarchiv, Vienna (hereafter HHStA). Also quoted in Friedrich Engel—Janosi, ‘Der Briefwechsel Gob- ineaus Init Prokesch-Osten’, M itteilungen des cister— reichischen Institutsft‘ir Geschichtsforsclnmg 48 (1934), p. 457.

2Diary entry, close of 1854. Nachlass Prokesch—Osten, HHStA. Also quoted ibid.

3 Partially collected in Correspondance entre le Comte de Gob- ineau et le Comte de Prokesch-Osten (1854—1876), ed. Clement Serpeille de Gobineau (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1933).

4 ‘Almost from the time of the Congress of Vienna, the main— tenance of the status quo in the Balkans, more precisely the preservation of European Turkey for as long as possible, had been a cardinal principle of Habsburg foreign policy. This was in fact a corollary to Austrian rivalry with Imperial Russia, where Turkey had long been viewed as the primary obstacle in Russia’s southward expansion.’ Hugo Hantisch, Die Geschichte Osterreichs 1848—1918 (Graz: Verlag Styria, 1953), pp. 425—26. Translated in Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. 6. See also Kissinger, World Restored, pp.288— 91. This policy changed, however, as Beust became Minister of Foreign Alfairs. He viewed the Balkans primarily as an area in which to make concessions to France and Russia in return for support of his German policy.

5Although normally reserved for Vatican envoys, this was the traditional title of the Austrian plenipotentiary to the Sublime Porte, who had also represented the interests of the Vatican at the Sultan’s court for many years. CfBeaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. l, and literature cited therein.

6Prokesch-Osten was born in Graz on 10 December 1795.

789

stantinople was Austria’s foremost mission in the Near East. All other legations and con- sulates in this area reported to the internuncio, who in turn reported directly to the Minister of Foreign Aﬂairs in Vienna.

Prokesch—Osten had long desired this import- ant position, not only because of his familiarity with the Porte and with many of the oﬂicials in Constantinople, but also because of his aﬂinity for the Orient. He shared with Gobineau the feeling that European civilization was decay- ing, and that a wave of renewal sweeping west- ward out of the uncorrupted Middle East offered the only possibility of reversing the ever- inereasing decadence of Europe,3 a conviction reﬂecting the fascination he had felt for Ottoman customs and institutions since the Greek war of independence.9 Although he clearly saw the signs of political disintegration within the Ottoman Empire, Prokesch—Osten’s belief in Ottoman strength and potential was a constant theme in his actions and reports throughout his term of service in Con- stantinople. 1°

This term ended in 1872, when Prokesch— Osten resigned his diplomatic post and retired from public life. The death of ‘Ali Fags, a statesman whom he revered, on 7 September 1871, had been the final factor in his decision.11 At the ceremony in Which Prokesch~Osten ten- dered his formal resignation, Emperor Franz Josef I elevated him to the hereditary rank of count (Graf), as Berger has it, in order that it

7Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. 5. He was appointed as a result of his successful mediation during the Vienna Con- ference, which had been convened to find a compromise solution to the Crimean War. Prokesch-Osten informed Beust that the prospect of negotiation with ‘wise ‘Ali, the Grand Vizier, instead of with Bismarck at Frankfurt, seemed to him like an Oriental vision of the blessed.’ F rie- drich Engel-Janosi, ‘Austria in the Summer of 1870’, Journal of Central European Aﬂairs (7 April 1947), p. 342.

8 ‘L’esprit canaille, qui a la haute main en Europe, me dégofite jusqu’aux entrailles. Je crois que nous marchons a pas de géant vers la barbaric la plus hideuse, resultant de la pourriture de la civilisation.’ Prokesch—Osten to Gobineau, 5 December 1860, Correspondance, p. 218. CfEngel-Ianosi, ‘Briefwechsel’, pp. 457—58.

9Beaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, p. 5.

1° Ibid.

“ Alexander Freiherr von Hfihner, the Austrian minister in Paris, who had dealt with ‘Ali Paﬂa during the course of the international conference held there in 1856, also thought highly of him. CfAlexander von Hubner, Neun Jalzre der Erinnerung eines 6sterreicl1isclzen Botsc/zafters in Paris Lmter dem zweiten Kaiserreich, vol. 1 (Berlin: Gebr. Patel, 1904), p. 243. Even Beust had been favorably impressed by ‘Ali Pasha. Cf Engel-Janosi, ‘Summer of 1870’, p. 342.

[Page 790]790

be recognized with what regret the Emperor let him leave the diplomatic service.l During his final audience with the Sultan, he was awarded the Order of Osmanie with diamonds for his services to the Ottoman Empire, and, as the steamer carrying him away from Con- stantinople rounded the Golden Horn, the cannons ashore fired a parting salute.

Following his retirement from diplomatic service, Prokesch-Osten collected material for his memoirs—which were never completed— and traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa until his death on 26 October 1876.

Anton Graf Prokesch von Osten first learned of the Babi religion while reading a manuscript of Gobineau’s book Religions et Philosophies dans l ’Asie Centrale.2 He expressed his favorable impression of the teachings of the Bab in a letter to Gobineau dated 5 January 1866:

‘I am on page 336 of your book, in the middle of the teachings of the Babis, and close to becoming a Babi myself. Everything is won- derful in the history of this historical and humanitarian phenomenon, even the ignorance of Europe about a matter of such colossal importance. 1, worthy representative of Europe in this respect, know nothing of it. I heard of it from you.’

He notes that he is most impressed with ‘the explanation of evil as the sole result of the recession of the emanation from its source’. This doctrine, he remarks, ‘seems to me to be more worthy, more exalted than everything that has been previously said by any philosopher or founder of a religion’. Prokesch-Osten also states that ‘the teaching with regard to the pro~ phets pleases me infinitely, as it is conciliatory and completely excludes all fanaticism’.3

During a dinner which Prokesch-Osten gave at his residence on 6 J anuary of the same year he learned from a guest that Baha’u’llah, ‘the present—day Bab’, was interned in Adrianople.4

‘Berger, Prokesch-Osten, p. 109.

2Prokesch—Osten to Gobineau, 29 December 1865, Cor- respondance, p.285.

3Prokesch—Osten to Gobineau, 5 January 1866, Cor~ respondance, p. 287.

4 ‘The present—day Bab’: Baha’u’lléh announced in 1863 that He was the Manifestation foretold by the Bab. The majority of the Bébis’ accepted Baha’u’llah’s claim and gradually became known as ‘Baha’is’, i.e. followers of Baha’u’llah. Although Prokesch-Osten and Gobineau, following a wide— spread misconception, referred to the exiles in Adrianople as ‘Babys’, this paper will give them their correct name to avoid misunderstandings.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

He records in his diary that this guest, Comte Rochechounard, the French Chargé d’afiaires in Tihran, ‘spoke a great deal about Babism’.5 Prokesch-Osten broached the subject of the ‘Bab’ [Baha’u’llah] and the ‘Babi’ religion at his next audience with ‘Ali Pay on 8 J anuary, and recorded that ‘Ali Pam spoke of Baha’u’llah as ‘a man of great distinction, exemplary conduct, great moderation, and extremely dignified demeanor’; he expressed the opinion that the Baha’i teachings deserved great respect as they cleared away certain anomalies which Islam had taken from the Judaic and Christian teachings, such as the struggle between good and evil in which God, the Omnipotent, is nevertheless powerless against evil, or the concept of eternal punishment. From a political point of view, however, he maintained that these doctrines were unacceptable both in Persia and in Turkey, as they upheld the sovereignty of the Imamate. ‘Ali Pasha added that this View was the origin of the centuries-lon g dispute between the Shi‘ihs and the Sunnis, but noted at the same time that the ghi‘ih government in Persia had since

I)!

abandoned the position which the Baha is were now championing.6

Prokesch-Osten, intrigued by all that he had heard and read, directed a query regarding ‘the Bab’7 to the Austrian consul in Adrianople,

5Diary entry, 6 January 1866.

6Diary entry, 8 January 1866, and Prokesch-Osten to Gob— ineau, 10 January 1866, Correspondance, pp.288—89. The successorship of Muhammad constitutes a major difference between ﬂi‘ih and Sunni Islam. The ﬂi’ihs believe that Muhammad designated His son—in—law, ‘Ali, to be the Imam, or leader, of His people. The Imamate was here- ditary: each Imam was to appoint His successor from among Muhammad’s lineal descendants. The Sunnis, on the other hand, uphold the Caliphs (from @alz’fah, meaning ‘successor’ or ‘Vice—gerent’). The first Caliphs were elected from among the companions of the Prophet, but the Caliph~ ate soon became appointive, leading to the formation of dynasties. Cf Dwight M. Donaldson, The Shi'ite Religion: A History of Islam in Persia and Irak (London: Luzac, 1933); Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Ski ‘1‘ Islam: The History and Doctrines 0f Twelver Slzi‘ism (Oxford: George Ronald, 1985); and Balyuzi, Muhammad and the Course of Islam.

As the Baha’i religion confirms the legitimacy of the

Imamate, Ottoman officials felt that the Bahé’is would deny the authority of the Caliphate. However, Baha’u’llah had charged His followers not to interfere in partisan politics and to render obedience to every just government. This would have precluded, according to Baha’is, the challenge to the Caliphate feared by Ottoman authorities.

7Prokesch—Osten, a meticulous person, recorded the letters which he wrote, along with their dates, recipients (including city), and a note concerning their contents, in the back of his diaries. This entry thus reads ‘10 J an, Camerloher, Anfrage wegen Bab, Adrianople’. In addition, he often noted the date of the letter to Which he was responding.

[Page 791]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

Gustav Wilhelm von Camerloher on 10 J anuary.l Unfortunately, the text of this letter has not yet come to light.

Camerloher reports in his reply2 that Baha’u’llah, commonly known in Adrianople as Anshad Effendi,3 had been interned there for the past three years, along with his two wives, almost all of his relatives and more than sixty of his followers. The ‘Lhan’, as Camerloher refers to Baha’u’11ah, was formerly the gay- Qu’l-Islam of Persia, but had been banished from that country due to his ‘reformatory sec- tarian endeavours with strong Sunni ten- dencies’, whereupon he traveled to Baghdad. Following Persian protests, he was ordered to Constantinople, and then interned in Adri- anople. Camerloher states that Baha’u’llah receives a monthly allowance of 5,000 rials from the Ottoman government;4 from his followers, all of whom live in the patriarchal house-hold, he receives the proceeds of their activities as tobacconists, dealers in carpets 0r antiquities, confectioners, carpenters, painters or lamp- lighters; and that this money is then shared With each according to his needs and merits. According to Camerloher, Baha’u’llah is ‘barely thirty-six years of age’,5 yet he accepts the stron- gly Oriental homage paid him by his followers, including even his brothers and relatives, who approach him on their knees, as his due. He never leaves his house, but is affable and genial

lCarnerloher, born in Liedolsheim, Bavaria in 1825, received Austrian Citizenship simultaneously with his appointment as Austrian consul in Adrianople on 31 October 1859. Although knighted for services to the Imperial crown on 1 November 1869, he was consequently suspended on 3 December 1874 following the discovery that he had been embezzling official funds. He died shortly thereafter, on 29 June 1875.

2Camerloher t0 Prokesch-Osten, 14 January 1866, Nachlass Prokesch~Osten, Consular & Diplomat. Correspondenz 1864—1871, HHStA.

3 The Kurds referred to Baha’u’llah as I'sﬂdn (‘They’) during His sojourn in Sulaymaniyyih, a name by which He was also known in Adrianople according to Rosenberg’s reports, published in The Bdbz’ and Ba/ui ‘1' Religions 18444944: Some Contempary Western Accounts, ed. Moojan Momen (Oxford: George Ronald, 1981), pp. 194—97. Adib Tah- erzadeh states that He was known as ‘ﬂayﬂ Efiendi’, in The Revelation ofBa/id‘u’llcih, vol. 2, Adrianople 1863—1868 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1977), p. 63.

4Momen notes in Religions, p. 188n, that ‘this figure repre— sents the sum of the monthly allowances payable to each member of Baha’u’llah’s family and those exiled with Him.’ “Ali Paﬂé had informed Prokesch—Osten that the allowances were paid by the Persian government (diary entry, 8 January 1866).

5 ‘Barely thirty-six years of age’ — Baha’u’llah was forty-nine at the time.

791

to his Visitors. Sulayman Pay, the former Vali of Adrianople, whom Camerloher styles as fiayQ of a Darvifi lodge, is reported as having Visited Baha’u’llah several times, whereas Baha’u’llah does not associate with other oﬂicials. Camerloher further reports that it is rumoured in the city that Baha’u’llah brought great riches with him to Adrianople, ‘gold, pre- cious stones and other valuables’, but that he has had to sell many of them, ‘particularly mag- nificent horses as well as a carpet at a price of 80,000 rials’. Camerloher closes by stating ‘he is esteemed by everyone everywhere.’

Although the details concerning Baha’u’llah’s age and wealth are erroneous, Camerloher’s report basically agrees with the accounts of Aqa Husayn-i—Afichi and Aqa Muhammad-Riday- i-Qannad-i-Shirazi, two of Baha’u’llah’s adher— ents who resided in Adrianople at that time.6 In order to gather this information within the space of one or two days, Camerloher must have spoken with his contacts in the city. The reverence with which Baha’u’llah was generally Viewed is obvious in that, although He was a Persian of §_h_i’ih background exiled amongst Sunnis, the report contains no negative infor~ mation; in fact, Baha’u’llah is even attributed with Sunni tendencies, an apparent sign of the informants’ approbation.

Prokesch-Osten wrote several letters to Europe regarding the Baha’i religion: his letters to Sir Henry Bulwer7 and Alexander Freiherr von Warsberg,8 for example, attest to his admir- ation for both Baha’u’llah and His teachings. It has been impossible, however, to ascertain whether he communicated further with Gob-

6Cited in Balyuzi, Bahd’u’llci/i, chapters 27—29.

7 Contained in Korrespondenz mit H. Bulwer, Nachlass Pro— kesch-Osten, HHStA. Sir Henry Bulwer was the British minister to the Sublime Porte from 1858 to 1867. London and Vienna had mutual distrust of Imperial Russian expan- sionism as a bond. Furthermore, it was Britain, with her industry and navy, that had the power to speak with a decisive voice in any Balkan crisis. This power, along with their similar interests, lead to the common Anglo-Austrian front in questions concerning the Balkans, which lasted until the advent of the Anglo-German antagonism in the early twentieth century. CfBeaber, ‘Prokesch von Osten’, passim. However, it is obvious from their correspondence that Pro- kesch-Osten and Bulwer were bound by ties of friendship based on shared philosophical convictions as well as by those of a common policy.

8 Contained in Korrespondenz mit Alex. V. Warsberg, Nach- lass Prokesch-Osten, HHStA. Prokesch-Osten’s friend since childhood, Warsberg was regarded as one of the leading German—language poets of the period. He was a close friend of the Empress Elisabeth as well, and accompanied her on her trips to the Orient.

[Page 792]792

ineau about the Baha’is, as their correspondence between October 1866 and May 1868 is missing.1 Unfortunately, a comparison of the index of correspondence in Prokesch-Osten’s diary with the published Correspondance entre le Comte de Gobineau et le Comte de Prokesch-Osten reveals that other letters which he addressed to Gob— ineau are also absent from that collection.2

It was during this eighteen-month period that events with grave consequences for the Baha’i religion took place: one of Baha’u’llah’s half- brothers, known as Subh—i-Azal, contested Baha’u’llah’s claim to be the Manifestation of God promised by the Bath, and advanced his own claim to that station. Although the great majority of the community loyally followed Baha’u’llah, the Baha’is feel that this open break, and the subsequent divisions that it caused among the followers of the Bab, weak- ened their community in the eyes of its enemies and emboldened them to move against it.3 Unsigned letters, purporting to have been written by Baha’is and boasting of their numbers, were covertly thrown into the houses of notables in Constantinople, which height— ened the fears of such officials as were already concerned about the number of Baha’is in Adri- anople.4 In addition, erroneous stories about the deeds and plans of the Baha’is were cir- culated. One of these intimated that Baha’u’llah was involved with Bulgarian revolutionaries, which so alarmed F u’ad Pagha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,5 that he pressed the Sultan to take action.6 Thus, ‘Abdu’l-‘Aziz came to issue

' Correspondance, p. 320m.

2For example, the letter dated 28 August 1868, in which he describes his intervention on behalf of (Baha’u’llah, as well as those dated 23 June and ll December 1869; 20 April, 1 November and 2 December 1870; etc. Cf Engel~Janosi, ‘Briefwechsel’, pp. 456—58.

3 Cf Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, chapter 10.

4 Cf Balyuzi, Balzd’u'lldh, p. 252. ,

5 Fu’ad Pas_h_é had taken over the Foreign Ministry from ‘Ali Pasha in 1867.

6Balyuzi, Bahd’u’lldh, p. 254. These accusations are said to have originated with the followers of Subh-i-Azal. CfShoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 179.

The extremely unstable situation in the Balkans during that period helps to explain the reaction of ‘Ali Paga'and Fu’ad Paga. In the summer of l868, the Russians were smuggling arms on a large scale to the Serbians through the Danubian Principalities (two provinces of European Turkey), and local authorities were unable to stop them. The ruler of the Ottoman province of Serbia, which bordered on the Austrian Empire, had just been assassinated, and civil war was threatening to break out between the rival clans of the Karageorgevichs and the Obrenovichs. An

THE BAHA’i WORLD

a farman dated 26 July 1868 condemning Baha’u’llah and several of His followers to per— petual banishment in the penal colony of ‘Akka (St. Jean d’Acre), stipulating their close con- finement and forbidding them association with each other or with the local inhabitants.7 The

rationale for this drastic action was the accu-

sation that the exiles had grievously erred and had also led others astray.

According to documents in the archives of the British Public Record Office, the Reverend Mr. Rosenberg, a Protestant missionary from Britain, had acquainted the foreign consuls in Adrianople, including Camerloher, with the plight of Baha’u’llah.8 Mr. John D. Blunt, the British consul at Adrianople, sent a dispatch to his minister in Constantinople, Sir Henry Elliot, stating: ‘I do not know what the tenets of this ‘Babee’ sect are. The Reverend Mr. Rosenberg and Boghos Agha [head of the local Protestant community] believe that they are adopted from the Holy Scripture, and this belief naturally excited their sympathy and zeal on behalf of the ﬂayﬂ [Baha’u’llah].’ Furthermore, Blunt confirms the information that Camerloher had previously supplied to Prokesch-Osten, namely that Baha’u’llah ‘has led a most exemplary life in this city’, and ‘that he is regarded with sym- pathy, mingled with respect and esteem, by the native Mahomedans [sic]’.9

Aqa Husayn—i-Agicii relates in his account of that period:

‘. . . all of a sudden the consuls of the foreign powers became aware of what was happening and together they sought the presence of Baha’u’llah. The soldiers stationed around the house, blocking the way to everyone, could not prevent the consuls from entering. After paying their homage, they said they had come as a body, and any one of them whom Baha’u’llah might command would take up the issue with the Turks and ward off this evil.’10

uneasy peace was barely being maintained in Montenegro following an uprising which had been bloodily quelled by Turkish troops in 1863. Moreover, tensions were running high between the Muslim Turks and the Christian Bul— garians, who were also incited and supported by the Rus- sians. Agents of all these factions were operating throughout European Turkey.

7 Cf p.785, n.2 and Taherzadeh, Revelation, V01. 2, pp. 402 and 408—9.

88cc Momen, Religions, chapter 11, where the sources are quoted in full.

9Ibid., p. 189.

m Quoted in Balyuzi, Balzd'u’llci/z, p.256.

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According to this account, Baha’u’llah cate- gorically declined their ‘oft-repeated ofier’ of assistance. In an interview with a European living in Haifa some years later, ‘Abdu’l-Baha further clarified Baha’u’llah’s stance:

‘The European consuls in Adrianople offered to prevent [the banishment] but [Baha’u’llah] explained to them that if they thought it good to take steps on his behalf, they should do this without his petition and independently from him, but that he was decided to follow the decree of God. Thus he came to ‘Akkét.’l

The descriptions found in the government archives of the European powers involved con- cerning the circumstances surrounding these offers differ somewhat from the above accounts. For example, in a dispatch dated 10 August to Elliot regarding this matter, Blunt enclosed an appeal for the protection of the British con- sulate, written in Turkish and said to be from Baha’u’llah, and reported that similar appeals had been addressed to Blunt’s colleagues in Adrianople.2 Recently discovered evidence, however, suggests that the initiative for petition- ing consular protection may have come from within the Christian community in Adrianople.3

Camerloher apparently wished to discuss the situation and visited Blunt shortly after the latter had received this appeal. Blunt later reported that Camerloher, who had already sub- mitted the case to his superior, Prokesch-Osten, had ‘strong reasons’ to believe that Baha’u’llah and his companions were to be delivered into the power of the Persian government.4 As neither of the consuls felt that they could interfere officially without instructions, they sent telegrams to their

'Quoted in G[eorg] D[avid] Hardegg, ‘Kurzer AbriB der Geschichte einer Sekte unter den Muhamedanern in Per— sien’, Saddeutsc/ze Warte, vol. 28, 110.29 (20 July 1871); English translation from Rev. Henry R. Coleman, Light from the East: T ravels and Researches in Bible Lands in Pursuit of More Light in Masonry (Louisville, KY: by the author, 1890), pp.347—49. Hardegg was the head of the German Temple Society colony in Haifa and the recipient of a Tablet revealed by Bahé‘u’lléh.

2Balyuzi reports, ibid., p.457, that a copy of this appeal, ‘eight lines written in Turkish with a signature and seal both reading Husayn-‘Ali’ was found in the archives of the F rench Foreign Oﬂice. The handwriting, hOWever, is neither that of Baha’u’llah nor any of his amanuenses. ‘Expert opinion on documents in Turkish states that they “were written by non~Turks and contain numerous mistakes of grammar and spelling. Some misspellings are of Arabic words, and this suggests that the scribes were non—Muslim, possibly Armen- ians” ’, ibid., p. 257.

3 Momen, Religions, pp. 192.97.

4 It will not be known what these reasons were until the text of Camerloher‘s letter to Prokesch-Osten is found. Although

Embassies in Constantinople requesting guid— ance.5

The departure of the exiles did not take place as originally planned; Baha’u’llah refused to leave Adrianople until the debts which His agent had incurred in the bazaar were paid. Baha’u’llah and His followers finally departed Adrianople on 12 August, escorted by a Turkish captain, Hasan Eifendi, and a squad of soldiers.

Although Camerloher’s dispatch of 10 August is missing, Prokesch-Osten’s papers contain a copy of his reply, dated 19 August. Here Prokesch-Osten maintains that when one divests the exile of the Baha’is of ‘incorrect alarms, (e.g., the surrender of the [Baha’is] to the Persians or their interrogation by the ﬂaylghu’l-Islam, etc.)’ what remains is a ‘police measure, more or less severely executed, which is within the authority of every government, and in which, for that very reason, no independent government will brook interference.’ He himself, he informs Camerloher, had spoken with Fu’ad Pasha, ‘who is as enlightened as any European minister’, about the Baha’is and believes that Sir Henry had also done so. Baha’u’llah and his companions, Prokesch- Osten continues, are being banished to ‘Akka, ‘a less dangerous point’, not because of their doctrines, but rather because of the ‘divisive force inherent in every sect’. Such a force, he states, is especially dangerous in the Balkans, as ‘certain agents, sprinkled over the entire Eur- opean Turkey, have the crumbling away of the population in all directions as their objective’.

As further justification for his inability to intercede for the Baha’is, Prokesch-Osten men- tions the innumerable examples of intolerance toward dissension that Christian history—not

the Baha’is were not turned over ‘to an agent of the ﬂah’ in Gallipoli, as expressed by Blunt and Camerloher in their telegrams, it is known that Haji Mirza Husayn Qan—i- Qazvani, the Persian ambassador to the Sublime Porte, issued ‘telegraphic and written instructions’ that the injunc— tions of the farman be carried out to the letter, and appointed a representative in ‘Akka to ensure that these orders were obeyed. These actions, clearly interference in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire, appear to confirm Camer- loher’s fears. The Ambassador further informed the Persian consuls in ‘Iraq and Egypt that the Porte had withdrawn its protection from the Baha’is.

5 Momen, Religions, pp. 189—90. The statement that the ‘Baron [Prokesch—Osten] is personally acquainted with the ﬂaylgh [Baha’u’lléh]’, contained in the report, appears to be an exaggeration. Prokesch—Osten’s index of correspondence shows the receipt of a letter from Camerloher dated 10 August, which is unfortunately not to be found among his papers.

[Page 794]794

only in the Middle Ages, but also in recent years—wcontains.l Compared with these, Pro- kesch-Osten maintains, this policy measure against the Baha’is barely deserves mention. ‘This does not excuse intolerance, but it weakens our voice when we preach tolerance of dis- senters, who as a sect of Islam disquiet the faith of the masses.’

Prokesch-Osten indicates that he is familiar with the teachings of the Baha’i religion:

‘I know the teachings of the Baha’is [sic]. The naive report of the Rev. Mr. Rosenberg proves that he knows nothing of them, and that he has the most peculiar illusions [regarding them]. In the teachings of the Babis there are Views con— cerning the creation of evil and concerning the final reconciliation of the same in God to which an English missionary is as little likely to soar as a Turkish mulla—and the latter is probably more likely.’2

Gobineau wrote Prokesch-Osten on 25 August to say that he had read of the ‘incident’, in the Courrier d’Orient, but did not agree with the Ottoman policy towards the Baha’is, 6who have requested their [Ottoman] support and are willing to become their subjects.’ If the government persecutes the Baha’is, it will lose the special favour with which many Baha’is in the paﬂaliks of Van and Baghdad, as well as the Baha’is in Persia, View it. This special favour could be ‘a strong force opposed to the very aggressive disposition of the Qajar dyn- asty’. As the Baha’is very definitely require assistance, Gobineau believes they could receive it from the Russians, which would not be in Turkey’s best interests. Gobineau notes in closing that he feels he is doing something useful for the Porte when he intervenes for ‘the poor Babis’ and pleads for their protection.3

In spite of his rather brusque reply to Camer— loher’s dispatch, Prokesch-Osten records in his diary that he traveled to the Bosporus for

1It is evident from his other writings that Prokesch—Osten was thinking of the atrocities committed by the Greeks during their war of independence.(never reported in the European press, although Turkish atrocities against the Greeks had been given wide coverage), as well as of recent atrocities in Rumania; he expressly mentions Bratiano (or Bratianu), the Minister-President of Romania. 2Prokesch-Osten to Camerloher, 19 August 1868, Nachlass Prokesch-Osten, Consular & Diplomat, Correspondenz 18644871, HHStA. 3Gobineau to Prokesch-Osten, 25 August 1868, Car- respondance, p. 332.

THE BAHA’i WORLD

another audience with Fu’ad Pasha on 24 August, ‘mainly because of the Adrianople ban’.4 His dispatch to Cainerloher dated 12 August and the letter he wrote to Gobineau on 28 August, which describe his activities on behalf of Baha’u’llah and the Baha’is, are unavailable. However, Blunt, in his dispatch to Elliot dated 15 August, includes information which Camerloher, in turn, had provided regarding statements made by Fu’ad Pasha during this audience.5

Prokesch-Osten was apparently acting on his own behalf—not in his official capacity as inter- nuncz’o of the Austrian Empire—when he inter— vened in support of the persecuted Baha’is. This is substantiated by his inclusion of the entire correspondence with Camerloher concerning the Baha’is among his private papers, rather than in the official embassy files. In fact, no mention of the Baha’is has yet been found in Prokesch-Osten’s oﬂicial dispatches to the Min- istry of F oreign Afiairs. It is probable that he felt the Foreign Minister, Friedrich Freiherr von Beustm—who considered the Near East to be of secondary importance—would neither understand the doctrines of Baha’u’llah nor be concerned about His persecution or that of His followers. Thus Prokesch—Osten was required as internuncio to issue instructions to his sub- ordinate in Adrianople not to interfere in the matter, which must have been, at the very least, personally distasteful.

‘I recognize you very well indeed in that which you did for the [Baha’is],’ Gobineau responded on 31 August. ‘I am delighted that there were exaggerations in the reports [con- cerning the treatment of the Baha’is], but I believe that Fu’ad is not fullyinformed.’ Gob- ineau further reports that the teachings of Baha’u’llah are spreading rapidly amongst the 200,000 or 300,000 Persians living in the Ottoman Empire, and adds that the mission— aries are ‘z'mbéciles’ if they believe that they can make an impression on ‘the enthusiasm of the new faith’.

According to Gobineau, Baha’u’llah ‘has turned to me several times with reports of per-

“ Diary entry, 24 August 1868. He further records in his diary that he visited ‘Ali Péﬂa on 16 August, and Elliot (the British minister), Bourée (the French minister), and Ignatief (the Russian minister) on 24 August. Elliot Visited Prokesch- Osten on 20 August. It is probable that the situation of the Baha’is was discussed during these meetings.

5Momen, Religions, p. 192.

[Page 795]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

secutions in Mansuriyyah, Egypt, which were instigated by the Persian consul there’.1 Gob- ineau states his conviction that the Sublime Porte has a very serious interest in this matter, and not only because the Baha’is in Persia, if properly cultivated, could serve as a counter~ weight to the Qajars.2

Gobineau enclosed a letter he had written to Baha’u’llah, not only describing the actions Prokesch-Osten had taken on Baha’u’llah’s behalf but also attempting to reassure Him, and asked Prokesch-Osten to see that it was forwarded to Him. From Gobineau’s letter it is clear that Prokesch—Osten had spoken with more than one member of the Ottoman govern- ment regarding Baha’u’llah.

Carnerloher had responded to Prokesch- Osten’s letter of 19 August on 22 August with a critique of the Ottoman policy regarding the Baha’is very similar to that of Gobineau.3 Pro- kesch-Osten must have admonished him that the parallels drawn by Camerloher between the government’s treatment of the Baha’is and its treatment of the Bulgarian Catholic Union were incorrect, for in a later dispatch dated 12 Sep- tember Camerloher states that he was referring less to the concrete case of the Baha’is than to the general consequences derived from Fu’ad Pasha’s actions.4 Camerloher reports in the latter dispatch that he has arranged for Gob- ineau’s letter to Baha’u’llah to be delivered Via Gallipoli, and encloses a photograph of Baha’u’llah, ‘the noble-hearted martyr’, charac- terizing the portrait as ‘wohlgetroﬂen’ (a good likeness), which would imply that he had seen Him.

'Bahé’u’lléh ‘has turned to me several times with reports of persecutions in Mansuriyyah, Egypt, which were instigated by the Persian consul there’. For instance, the extortion of money from Haji ‘Abdu’l—Qésim-i-ﬂirézi, the arrest and exile of Haji Mirzé Haydar—‘Ali and six other Baha’is to the Sudan, and the imprisonment of Nabil-i-Azm. See Shoghi Efiendi, GodPasses By, p. 178; Balyuzi, Bahd’u ’lltih, pp. 265— 67; and Slal'iesfi'om the Delight ofHearts: T [18 Memoirs of dez’ Mirzd Haydar—‘Alz’, trans. A.Q. FaiZi (Los Angeles: Kalimét Press, 1980), pp. 29 et sec.

2Gobineau to Prokeseh-Osten, 31 August 1868, C0r~ respondance, p. 333.

3Camerloher to Prokesch-Osten, 22 August 1868, Nachlass Prokesch-Osten, Consular & Diplomat, Correspondenz 1864—1871, HHStA.

4Camerloher to Prokesch-Osten, 12 September 1868, Nach- lass Prokesch-Osten, Consular & Diplomat. Correspon— denz 18644871, HHStA. He also noted that K_hurs_hid Pasha had been absent from Adrianople for the past four weeks on an ‘inspection tour of bulgaricis’, i.e., Bulgarian affairs.

795

Another enclosure to Camerloher’s dispatch was a German translation of a letter written in Turkish from “Abbas Effendi, son of Husayn’ [i.e., son of Baha’u’llah], to the Rev. Rosenberg. Camerloher had probably translated the letter himself as his knowledge of Turkish was one of the reasons cited for awarding him the post of Austrian consul.

According to this letter, the trip from Adri— anople to Gallipoli required six days. When the Baha’is arrived in Gallipoli they were met by a Turkish major who had brought a group of Baha’is arrested in Constantinople.5 The major carried an order banishing Baha’u’lléh, two of His brothers and another of His followers, as well as two of His enemies, followers of Subh- i-Azal, to ‘Akka.6 The remaining Baha’is were to be taken to Constantinople and scattered in small groups among various fortresses through- out the Ottoman Empire. The Baha’is replied to this threat of dispersal that they would prefer to be ‘drowned in the sea, together with wives and children, or have our heads out ofi’ than to be separated from Baha’u’llah. The letter mentions that they sent a written petition to the English legation asking that the legation intervene for them at the Sublime Porte, and that they were ‘in despair of their lives’ as no answer had yet been received. It closes with the writer’s acknowledgement of the Rev. Rosen- berg’s zeal and goodwill, and conveys Baha’u’llah’s greetings to the Rev. Rosenberg, Boghos Effendi and Artin Effendi (another member of the local Armenian Protestant community), as well as the greetings of the writer and the other Baha’is.7

5 Among these prisoners were Mirza ‘Ali-i~Sayyéh, Miﬂkin- Qalam, Aqa ‘Abdu’l—Qhaﬂar-i-Isfahani, Muhammad~ Baqir-i-Qahvih-Qi, and Darviﬂ Sidq-‘Ali. CfTaherzadeh, Revelation, vol. 2, pp. 408—9.

6According to this letter from “Abbas Effendi, son of Husayn’, contained in Nachlass Prokesch-Osten, Consu- lar & Diplomat. Correspondenz 1864—1871, HHStA: ‘our honored Lord and Master (ﬂaygh Husayn—‘A.) and two (of his?) brothers, along with one other and two enemies of the 5113132123, The two brothers of Baha’u’llah were Mirzé Musé and Mirza Muhammad-Quh’, the other Darvish Sidq- ‘Ali, and the two enemies, Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahani and Aqa Jan Big.

7 It cannot be ascertained whether ‘Abbés Elfendi was indeed the author of this letter until the original is found. However, the contents of the translation give no reason to suspect that He did not write it. It would seem that this letter was written between 17 and 20 August 1868, which would support Taherzadeh’s theory (Revelation, vol. 2, p. 403) that the exiles were first informed of their final destination fol— lowing their arrival in Gallipolii

[Page 796]796

1,1

The original order assigning the Baha IS various places of exile was eventually revoked; the authorities in Constantinople instead decided to send all of the Baha’is, with the exception of those specifically exiled to Cyprus in the original farman, to ‘Akka. However, the Ottoman government agreed to pay passage only for those persons Whose names appeared on their prisoner lists. Much to the surprise of the ofiicials in Gallipoli, several Baha’is not included on the Ottoman registers came forward to pay their own passage on the Austrian Lloyd steamship which departed from Alexandria on 21 August 1868. In Alexandria, the exiles were transhipped to a second Austrian Lloyd steamer bound for Haifa, the port in Palestine closest to ‘Akka.l

The final letter regarding Baha’u’llah’s ban— ishment to ‘Akka which has come to light in the course of research was written by Gobineau to Prokesch—Osten on 18 November 1868. ‘I have received a long 1etter from [Baha’u’llah]’, ‘ he writes. ‘He is in St. J ean d’Acre, held prisoner in a barracks which stands in ruins, along with some of his companions—men, women, and children ’ Gobineau then describes the situation in ‘Akka as related to him by Bahe’r’u’llah.2

Concerning the reasons for this exile, Gob- ineau writes that he is willing to believe Fu’ad Pasha, who had assured Prokesch—Osten that ‘the money and intrigues of the Persian legation [in Constantinople] have nothing to do with this matter; what then remains is a Turkish brutality, committed without the least excuse.’3 The mis- sionaries’ conjecture that the Baha’is wish to convert to Christianity is ‘par trap ridicule’, he writes, ‘when one believes that he is God or companion of God, and leaves his country and suffers all of the persecutions of the world for

lCf Kent D. Beveridge, ‘From Adrianople to ‘Akka: The Austrian Lloyd’, Bahd ’1' Studies Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 1 (March 1986) and sources cited therein.

2Gobineau to Prokesch—Osten, 18 November 1868, Car- respondance, pp. 336-37. The description is very similar to that given in a second letter from ‘Abbés Effendi to Rev. Rosenberg which is cited in Momen, Religions, pp. 205—6, as well as that contained in the ‘Tablet to the Sultan of Turkey’ quoted in Bahé’z' Scriptures: Selections from the Utterances ofBahd ’u ’Ildh and Abdul Baha, ed. Horace Holley (New York: Brentano’s, 1923), pp. 81 et sec.

3Prokesch-Osten had obviously written of Fu’ad Pafia’s statement in one of his letters not contained in their published correspondence (see p.781, n.8). Blunt’s dispatch to Elliot (Momen, Religions, p. 192) shows that the assurance was given during the audience on 24 August.

'3;

THE BAHA I WORLD

this [belief], then he does not convert to another faith.’

Gobineau states he is attempting to do what he can to help these unfortunates, ‘. . . but you know how much chance I have of being under— stood’. He then adds that Baha’u’llah has asked him to convey his gratitude to Prokesch- Osten for the latter’s interest in his situation and that of his companions.

Gobineau emphasizes in closing that he cannot recommend this affair to Prokesch- Osten enough, ‘... for I fear that my book [i.e., Religions er Philosophies dans l’Asz'e Cen~ trale], by calling attention to Mirza Husayn- ‘Ali and his followers, had something to do with their persecution. I feel obligated by my conscience.’

The motives for the exile of Baha’u’llah and his followers from Adrianople to ‘Akka are portrayed in the writings of those European diplomats acquainted with the situation as essentially political rather than religious in nature. The Ottoman officials recognized that both the Bab and Baha’u’llah, in upholding the sovereignty of the Imamate, denied that the Caliphate was divinely ordained.4 The mis- givings of these officials were exacerbated by various accusations which followers of Subh-i- Azal made concerning Baha’u’llah’s intentions. Therefore, the Sublime Porte removed What it considered to be a disquieting inﬂuence in an already unstable area to ‘a less dangerous point’ without bothering to examine the charges seri— ously.5

The Austrian ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Anton Graf Prokesch yon Osten, as well as several of his colleagues, intervened in an attempt to have the edict banishing Baha’u’liah and some of His followers to ‘Akka, the ‘Bastille

4See p.780, n.6. 5Various notables in Constantinople had counselled Baha’u’lléh ‘to state your case, and to demand justice’. Baha’u’llah’s response is quoted as follows: ‘If the enlight— ened minded leaders [of your country] be wise and diligent, they will certainly make enquiry, and acquaint themselves with the true state of the case; if not, then [their] attainment of the truth is impracticable and impossible. Under these circumstances what need is there for importuning statesmen and supplicating ministers of the Court?’ A Traveller’s Nar- rative Written t0 Illustrate the Episode of the Bdb, trans. E.G. Browne, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891), vol. 2, p. 92. Baha’u’llah ignored the customs of court life while in Constantinople, which is said to have prejudiced various Ottoman ofi’icials against Him (Balyuzi, Bahd’u’lléh, pp.197—99; Taherzadeh, Revelation, vol. 2, pp. 55—56).

[Page 797]ESSAYS AND REVIEWS

of the Middle East’, rescinded. Yet, despite his great inﬂuence at the Court of the Sultan and his deep personal friendship with ‘Ali Paw, the Grand Vizier, Prokesch—Osten was unable to have the farman withdrawn. It cannot be assumed, however, that his actions were com— pletely without effect, for the original decision to

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[Page 798]798

THE BAHA’i WORLD

8. F ELIX ANDIAINGUSTIA MADDELA THE F IRST BAHA’IS OF THE PHILIPPINES

ADAPTED FROM A MEMOIR BY GRACE MADDELA BOEHNERT AND WALTER MADDELA

ALTHOUGH a number of Eastern and Western Baha’i travellers including Jamal Effendi, Mirza Husayn Tfiti, Martha Root and Siegfried Schopﬂocher Visited the Philippines for- brief periods in the early decades of the twentieth century, and although they carried in their hearts the Message of Baha’u’llah and made friends With the local people, no record has been found of natives of the Philippines embracing the Faith of Baha’u’llah until Felix

Felix and Angustia Maddela

Maddela — a truly prepared soul — became. a Baha’i in 1938.

Since the Light of God always finds its way to illumine the minds of men, it is not surprising that it was by a mysterious and unique means that the Message of Baha’u’llah became known to the first believer, lodging in his heart, and ultimately, in the years that followed, affecting and changing the lives of many people in far- ﬂung regions.

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Felix R. Maddela was born on 30 August 1889 in Bayombong, the capital town of the landlocked Province of Nueva Vizcaya in the northern Philippines. He was the sixth of the twelve children of the late Captain Vicente Maddela and Mauricia Addauan. His father was at one time the Alcalde Mayor of Bay— ombong, the highest executive of the town during the Spanish regime. 7

Mr. Maddela graduated from the Philippine School of Arts and Trades in Manila, was awarded a government scholarship enabling him to take specialized courses related to his profession, and immediately after completing his post graduate studies in 1914 he joined the Bureau of Education as a teacher of the Farm School in his home Province. As a school official he was deeply concerned about the welfare of the poor but deserving students. He employed those boys and helped them in their studies. Because of exemplary service, he was promoted to Assistant Industrial Arts Supervisor of Public Schools, Nueva Vizcaya Division.

During the course of his work, Mr. Maddela met and subsequently married Angustia Corales Danguilan, a Domestic Science teacher from the nearby town of Solano. Angustia, the youngest of the three children of the late Enrique Lumicao Danguilan and Melchora Alindada Corales, was ten years his junior, being born on 2 October 1899. Eight children were born of their union, four boys and four girls: Adeline, Orlando, Grace, Luisito, Sal— vador, Filipinas, Melchora and Armor. Through the industry, patience and perseverance of the couple, all their Children were able to acquire a good education.

Mr. Maddela loved to work, believing that work performed in the spirit of service is a form of worship, as the Baha’i Writings teach. He was a lover of the arts and had many fields of interest: he was an artist, a painter, an architect, a building contractor, a draftsman, a notary public and a businessman, for a time. But most important of all, being an educator, he was a moulder of youth.

Because his services in the public schools were greatly needed, Mr. Maddela, in 1921, declined a lucrative position as Superintendent with the Bureau of Prisons, despite his having excelled all others who attempted the civil service exam- ination. Later, he resigned from the Bureau of Education to become chief of the drafting pool

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at the Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company in Manila. The family therefore moved to that city and established their residence at Pasay, Rizal. Angustia began to teach at the Modern Oriental Academy of Manila.

Mr. Maddela was an avid reader and ardent truth-seeker, and remained so all his life. Over the years he investigated and became affiliated with a number of different religious movements, and at one time joined the Legionares del Trabajo, reaching the thirty-third degree, but he grew disillusioned and skeptical, distressed by the fact that the various religious denomi- nations and organizations contradicted one another, although purporting to base them- selves on the same spiritual foundation. At one point, Mr. Maddela seriously contemplated committing himself to atheism. This grieved Mrs. Maddela who prayed that her husband would find spiritual fulfilment.

One day, in early 1924, Mr. Maddela returned from work with food he had purchased for the children. The package was wrapped in a piece of old foreign newspaper which by chance carried a photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, a head- line referring to the Baha’i Faith, and a brief article by Martha Root outlining its principles. Mr. Maddela read and reread this material with mounting fascination but was disappointed to find no address. His enthusiasm about the Baha’i Faith was so intense that it caused his wife to wonder whether he were taking leave of his senses, but she was gratified that he had renewed his spiritual quest and prayed fervently that this Faith would bring answers to his questions and set him on the right path.

After the family returned to their hometown in 1927 or thereabouts, Mr. Maddela estab- lished the Rush Construction Service Company and became an accredited government con— tractor. As such, he designed and constructed several landmarks in the Province of Nueva Vizcaya including town halls, Rizal monu~ ments, market buildings and schools, some of which still stand today. He searched in vain for a Baha’i church or meeting hall where he might pursue study of the teachings of Baha’u’llah.

In February 1938, when Mr. Maddela was in Manila to supervise construction of the Nueva Vizcaya Pavilion for the Philippine Carnival Exposition, he was inspired to Visit the National

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Library where, at last, his search was rewarded. A few days before his Visit to the library, Mrs. Loulie Matthews, an American Baha’i who was a passenger on a cruise ship that had called in at Manila for a few hours, had deposited in the library some Spanish pamphlets about the Baha’i Faith, as she records in her book Not Every Sea Hath Pearls. Destiny must have guided Mr. Maddela to the library where his heart leapt with joy to see Baha’i pamphlets placed side by side with books on the ancient religions. He read all he could about the Message of Baha’u’lléh and noted down the address through which he could make contact with other Baha’is. He wrote immediately to the United States giving the address in Solano. Books, pamphlets and journals began pouring in after a week’s time. He read this material intently, jotting down sentence after sentence, writing ojo (‘mark well’) in the margin next to passages that particularly interested him. He began at once to tell his family and friends that he had found the religion he had been seeking. He started holding study sessions in his home and some eager friends came to hear the Baha’i Message. Sometimes Baha’i firesides were held in his garden, beneath the banana plants.

There was speculation among some of the townspeople of Solano concerning the nature of the Baha’i Faith. Some ridiculed Felix and his newfound religion, alleging that he had invented it. The few Baha’is were scorned and called ‘disciples of Felix Maddela’.

At this time, Angustia had not fully inves— tigated her husband’s Faith. Knowing that his wife and children had not shown interest, Mr. Maddela would leave Baha’i pamphlets and magazines on his table for his family to read. These Mrs. Maddela read secretly in her hus- band’s absence, as she did not wish to let him know the extent of her curiosity. She wanted to find out for herself the truth about what her husband was teaching. After a thorough investigation, she embraced the Baha’i Faith. Also at this time, Orlando, the eldest son and second child, who was studying for the Christian ministry, was antagonistic to his father’s belief. He used to hold discussions with his father, insisting that the church of which he was a member was the true one and no other. Mr. Maddela did not argue but simply gave his son some valuable gems of thought which aroused Orlando’s interest and led to his investigating

the Baha’i teachings and accepting them in January 1947.

Shortly before World War II broke out, the Baha’is of Solano numbered around fifty, and they had elected a Local Spiritual Assembly of which Mr. Felix R. Maddela was the chairman. The friends were temporarily scattered when war began, and some died during those years.

Although Mr. Maddela lost his sense of hearing, he continued to teach his friends. Unable to travel far, he sent his son in his stead. The other early believers who were deepened volunteered to go out teaching with the younger Maddela. Among them were Messrs. Mariano Tagubat, Federico Cruz, Tomas Alindada, Enrique Cacayan, Maurelio Beuza and Zacarias Tottoc. They traveled to the various towns of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan in the northern Philippines, the expenses being borne in part by Felix Maddela and in part by the teachers themselves, for the love of God and out of enthusiasm to spread the Faith. These activities were reported to the beloved Guard- ian, Shoghi Effendi, who lost no time in encour- aging the friends. A letter to the Spiritual Assembly of Solano dated 9 March 1946 bears a postscript in the Guardian’s handwriting, ‘I was so glad to receive your letter and wish to assure you in person of my great love for you, my prayers for your success, my appreciation of your constancy and devotion, and of my eagerness to hear regularly of your activities to which I attach the utmost importance. Persevere in your labours, and rest assured that the Beloved is watching over you and is well pleased with you.’ It was signed, characteristically, ‘Your true brother, Shoghi’. Mr. Maddela, too, corresponded with the Guardian, who assured him of his ‘loving prayers’ for the success of his efforts ‘in the service of our beloved Faith’.

The Guardian urged the believers in Solano to do all they could to spread the teachings, hold regular meetings, and to keep in Close touch with the American Baha’is. Shoghi Effendi expressed the hope that the American believers would be able to go to the Philippines and help them spread the Faith. Commencing in 1945, after World War II had ended, American Baha’is were at last able to fulfil the Guardian’s wish. The first to find his way to Solano was Mr. Alvin Blum who was at that time attached to the U.S. Medical Corps.

On 2 December 1946 the Local Spiritual

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Assembly of the Baha’is of Solano was incor- porated with the Securities and Exchange Com- mission, the first Spiritual Assembly to be recognized by the Philippine Government. Angustia and Felix Maddela were among the signatories to the documents of incorporation.

The second Baha’i from the United States to Visit the Baha’is of the Philippines was Michael Jamir. Miss Nina Howard of the U.S. Embassy in Manila came in 1947. On her second Visit, after two years, she came as Mrs. Nadler and she was very happy to meet more local Baha’is. In the Province of Isabela which she also Visited then, she met Mr. and Mrs. Dominador Anun- sacioon, two devoted Baha’i teachers who occasionally came to Solano and with the Maddela family and other Baha’is held very happy, spiritually-enriching meetings. Through the initiative of the Maddelas, and with the help of the friends, a Baha’i Center was erected out of love for the Cause of Baha’u’llah. From the small community of Solano, the Faith in time spread throughout the country, rejoicing the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Maddela. During the visit of the Hand of the Cause Dr. Rahmatu’llah Muhajir in the course of the Ten Year Crusade he spearheaded mass conversion which brought about the propagation of the Faith far and wide.

Mr. Maddela passed away on 24 June 1960, and Mrs. Maddela on 9 November 1982. On his deathbed, Mr. Maddela, with a smile on his face, kept murmuring in his native tongue, Gaddang, ‘Baha’i, Baha’i, the nine must work together faithfully,’ referring no doubt to the Local Spiritual Assembly. At Ridvan 1964 when the first National Convention was called to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of the Phi- lippines, Mrs. Angustia Maddela, who was a delegate, learning of the goal given by the Uni- versal House of Justice of acquiring a Hazira- tu’l-Quds in every major island of the country, donated a part of her land for the construction of the first such center. Before her passing, she also donated another piece of property, 2 hec— tares in size, in the town of Villaverde, to fulfill the goal of a Summer School site.

All the children of Felix and Angustia Maddela have become Baha’is and they, as well as a number of the grandchildren, have served or are serving in various capacities including membership on the Auxiliary Board and the National Spiritual Assembly. If Mr. and Mrs. Maddela were alive today they would witness with delight and pride the resistless power of the Faith as it penetrates even the remotest parts of the country bringing Baha’u’llah’s healing Message of peace, unity and brotherhood.

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9. ROSEY E. POOL: AN APPRECIATION

ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE BY ANNEKE SCHOUTEN-BUYS

Rosey E. P001

BORN on 7 May 1905 in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam where her father owned a cigar shop, the first child of Louis Pool and Jacoba J essurun Pool, Rosa Eva (later ‘Rosey’ to all her friends), was raised without prejudice against people who differed from her family.

In 1925, while studying to become a teacher of English, she developed a passionate admiration for the work of the American black poet, Countee Cullen, and wrote to him. Soon she was in correspondence with a number of other black poets and later graduated from University in Berlin, where she studied cultural anthro- pology, on the thesis ‘The Poetic Art of the North American Negro’. She Visited several other European universities and studied a number of languages.

Rosey’s marriage to the young lawyer, Gerhard Kramer, was very unhappy, although she loved him deeply, and after a few months they separated.

As the Nazi party assumed power in Germany

and persecution of the J ewish population inten- sified, Rosey lent assistance by giving to people about to ﬂee the country addresses of Dutch friends so that they would not be sent back by the Dutch authorities at the Border. By the end of 1938 the situation had grown too dangerous for her and she returned to Amsterdam which had become an asylum for refugees from Germany.

Rosey taught English at a centre for refugees and after the German invasion of the Nether— lands in May 1940 she became involved with the work of the underground, but she continued teaching. In December 1942, she became a teacher of English at the secondary school in Amsterdam which all Jewish children had to attend when ‘Aryan’ schools were closed to them.

In May 1943, Rosey and her family were rounded up and sent to the Dutch transit camp at Westerbork. On 9 July her parents died in Sobibor, followed by her only brother and his wife. In September, when Rosey’s name appeared on the list of those who were to be transported to death camps, her friends planned her escape. It was decided that Rosey would not return to the camp from a Visit to Amsterdam to fetch a quantity of books for a small library that was to be established. The plan succeeded, and Rosey spent the last nineteen months of the war in hiding in Baarn, writing poems and publishing a number of poetry translations through the underground press.

A few days after the liberation of the Nether- lands on 5 May 1945, Rosey was baptized a Roman Catholic, having studied the religion with a priest. She returned to Amsterdam where for two years she taught at a special temporary secondary school for students who had been in hiding. She again got in touch with her Amer— ican friends who sent her poems to replace the collection she had lost. Soon she was giving recitals of poetry by blacks. She had a won— derfully expressive voice and a warm personal style of reciting.

In this period a former acquaintance, Otto

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Frank, came to see Rosey, showed her the diary kept by his young daughter, Anne, and sought her opinion. At first Rosey advised against pub- lishin g it, but soon she recognized its importance and olfered to help find a publisher. Her English translation of the diary was, however, rejected by the publisher.

By the end of 1949, Rosey had settled in London with her friend, Miss ‘Isa’ Isenburg, an X—ray technician of German-Jewish descent who had lived in England since 1934. Their ﬂat at 23A High Point was to become the focal point of many activities. They gave parties; friends came to stay with them; African artists gathered there to talk about their work. With two friends, Rosey opened a travel agency, All-ways Travel. She gave short talks for the Dutch BBC radio programme, taught Dutch in evening courses at Holborn College of Languages, served as an interpreter for Scotland Yard, made summaries of English plays for a Dutch theatre office, trans- lated a Dutch musical into English, and kept up her correspondence with an increasing number of black poets.

In 1954, Rosey and Isa took a Mediterranean cruise that brought them to Israel. In Haifa, the women Visited the Shrine of the Bab, and later they Visited ‘Akka. Outside the prison where Baha’u’llah had been incarcerated Rosey suddenly had the same Vision she had had while undergoing torture at the hands of the Nazis: just as she was losing consciousness, she had felt herself to be on a brightly-lit pathway leading straight to God. Her friend was so alarmed at her emotional response to ‘Akka that she discouraged her from entering the prison.

In 1958, RoSey published two anthologies of poetry by black writers, Black and Unknown Bards, songs and poems used by a stage group called ‘The Company of Nine’, and I Saw How Black I Was, with Dutch translations by Rosey and Paul Breman. In later years these books were followed by two more anthologies.

From September 1959 until May 1960, Rosey Visited the United States on a Fulbright travel grant, lecturing on black poetry at a number of universities, and finally meeting many poets

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she had known only through correspondence. She returned to the United States several times, usually lecturin g on black poetry and or ganizin g workshops for creative writing. She was scorn- ful of racial segregation and when no ‘mixed’ restaurants could be found she refused to enter those catering only to Whites. Often she carried her lunch and ate it on a bench in a bus station or a public park.

While in Huntsville, Alabama Rosey began to investigate the Baha’i Faith which she accepted on 30 April 1965. On fire with enthusi- asm for the principles of the Cause, she taught it whenever possible and Visited fellow Baha’is wherever she travelled.

In January 1966, Rosey was invited to sit as a member of the pre-selection jury for literary prizes at the First World Festival of Negro Arts, to be held in Dakar, Senegal later that year. Encouraged to do so by a Baha’i friend, Marion Hofman, she submitted Robert Hayden’s A Ballad of Remembrance, which had been pub— lished in London by Paul Breman. Because she was chosento sit on the grand jury at Dakar, Rosey withdrew her own anthology of poetry by blacks, Beyond the Blues, from competition in the essay category which was open to authors of all races. On 7 April it was announced that the poetry prize was awarded to Robert Hayden, an American Baha’i. Subsequently, Mr. Hayden was to receive many honours for poetry, and he was appointed (1976—78) to the post of Con- sultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the first of his race to achieve this distinction.1

Wherever Rosey Pool travelled during the remainder of her life she gave lectures on the Baha’i Faith and made herself available for press conferences. In 1970 she fell ill with leukemia and passed away on 19 Sep- tember 1971. The Spiritual Assembly of Wil- mette on 18 February 1971 named for Rosey Pool an award which they presented during an observance of Negro History Week, a fitting memorial to one who brought to many black people an enhanced appreciation of their own history and literature.

' See Robert Hayden, ‘In Memoriam’, T he Baht? ’1' World, vol. XVIII, pp. 715~17.