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| VOL. 22 | JULY, 1931 | No. 4 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
Holy Name, surely none save the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár [Bahá'i Temple] can most adequately provide the essentials of Bahá'i worship and service,—both so vital to the regeneration of the world. Therein lies the secret of the loftiness, of the potency, of the unique position of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár as one of the outstanding institutions conceived by
Bahá'u'lláh."—SHOGHI EFFENDI.
LEADERS of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves, unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inferences, or unauthorized interpretations of His Word."
| VOL. 22 | JULY, 1931 | NO. 4 |
| Page | |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 99 |
The Future Religion, Howard R. Hurlbut | 102 |
A Visit to Bahji, Nancy Bowditch | 106 |
Bahá’i Pioneers, A Short Historical Survey of the Bahá’i Movement in India, Burma, Java Islands, Siam, and Malay Peninsula, Siyyid Mustafa Roumie | 112 |
Promoted to the Supreme Kingdom—The Passing of Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg and Mrs. Claudia Stuart Coles | 116 |
The Glory of God, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 119 |
How I Became a Bahá’i, Anonymous | 122 |
Organic and Social Evolution, Kokichi Sumi | 126 |
Green Acre, a Poem, Elizabeth Hackley | 128 |
STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Associate Editor |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
Great Britain, Mrs. Annie B. Romer; Persia, Mr. A. Samimi; Japan and China, Miss Agnes B. Alexander; Egypt, Mohamed Moustafa Effendi; International, Miss Martha L. Root.
Subscriptions: $3.00 per year; 25 cents a copy. Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year. Please send change of address by the middle of the month and be sure to send OLD as well as NEW address. Kindly send all communications and make postoffice orders and checks payable to The Baha'i Magazine, 1112 Shoreham Bldg., Washington, D. C., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, 1897. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103 Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1922.
--PHOTO--
Bahá’is and their friends, Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 1931, Feast of Nawruz. Seated in the center is Dr. R. Masujima in whose garden the gathring was held; at his right Miss Agnes B. Alexander, Bahá’i teacher; and fourth from right, standing, Mr. Kokichi Sumi.
| VOL. 22 | JULY, 1931 | NO. 4 |
accord instilled into the nations . . . the activities which are trying to establish solidarity between the nations and infuse the spirit of universalism in the hearts of the children of men are like unto divine rays. . . .“
IN AMSTERDAM, Holland, is to be held during August, 1931, an “Industrial Relations Congress” to consider the causes and possible solutions of the present world-wide economic depression. In the first edition of the program, the call for the Congress states:
“Unemployment today is widespread throughout the world. Markets are restricted by lack of purchasing power. Yet productive capacity has been enhanced at an increasingly rapid rate by mechanization and the advance of technological invention. In a world of enlarged economic resources, employment is insecure and standards of living have not been raised or maintained in proportion to the increase in production. Maladjustment exists between economic capacity and buying power.
“In the present stage of economic life the task of achieving balance seems to demand international economic cooperation. Development of means of transport and communication is day by day establishing unity as the coming stage of economic evolution. The process is not yet complete. Some regions of the world remain largely self-sufficient. Others are more closely interdependent. But interdependence is rapidly taking the place of self-sufficiency. This constitutes the factual aspect of the subject.
“Nations and industries, however, are not fully conscious of this actual growth toward unity, and their policies are still largely shaped toward self-sufficiency as an objective, often to the detriment of human welfare, which can be assured only if economic and political policies are based upon the realities of economic development.”
INTERNATIONAL ideals in the realm of politics have been increasing rapidly since the beginning of the
Twentieth Century, for this century, as ’Abdu’l’Bahá stated, “is the century of new and universal nationhood. Sciences have advanced, industries have progressed, politics have been reformed, liberty has been proclaimed, justice is awakening. This is the century of motion, divine stimulus and accomplishment; the century of human solidarity and altruistic service, the century of Universal Peace and the reality of the divine kingdom.”
The World War brought to all peoples an immense realization of the importance and necessity for the international viewpoint in politics, a necessity which had been rapidly growing since the marvelous inventions of the railroad, steamboat, telegraph, telephone, radio and the aeroplane have been bringing the nations of the world into such close contact with each other.
It was not until the present economic depression, however, that the necessity for an international point of view in the realm of economics was clearly perceived. Up to now economic activities and plans have been considered the individual privilege of each nation. Whether to have tariff or not; where one should trade; where get raw materials; where dispose of manufactured
goods or agricultural products,–was a matter for each nation to decide as best it could according to its own apparent advantage. Whatever happened to other nations in this matter was felt to be no concern of the home nation.
IT HAS BEEN felt to be of no concern
to one nation what happened
to the industry, trade and general
economic welfare of another country.
But since the war this whole
viewpoint has been amazingly
changed. One of the first factors in
that change was the realization that
an economically prostrate Germany
was a great obstacle to the economic
recovery of Europe. Next came the
loss of the Russian market through
the establishment of Sovietism.
Now has been added a depression
which is nothing short of an economic
cataclysm. It is this which
has forced economists and statesmen
of the world to realize that
which happens in the economic
field of other countries vitally concerns
themselves. Now for the first
time we have worldwide conferences
on the economic problem, and
an endeavor to act with some degree
of unity upon this problem with an
attempt at solution by some international
agreement.
Already this country has been obliged to assume a tremendous amount of financial responsibility for European industry in order to maintain there a purchasing market for our goods. Some fifteen billion dollars have been invested by American citizens in European bonds and stocks in order that the industries of Europe could prosper sufficiently to buy our manufactured goods. Much of this investment
has been undertaken at serious financial risk to the investor, but that risk is considered to be preferable to complete loss of export markets.
In order to secure markets in Russia for machinery and other industrial goods of this country, American firms have been willing to accept terms most onerous to them and containing very little assurance of complete cash payment.
A most extraordinary situation as regards international aid is the proposal made to Congress, and seriously considered by it, that this country loan China three hundred and fifty million dollars in silver in order to stimulate the economic life of China sufficiently to maintain a market for our goods. This plan may never become effective. But the mere fact that it could be considered at all seriously indicates how delicate is the economic relationship between countries, and how anxious one country may become over economic perturbations in another country.
Latest of all national problems which have become international in scope, is the threatened economic disintegration of Germany, and the attempts of the other Great Powers to arrive at some method of aiding Germany in order to avert world-wide catastrophe. The mere suggestion of a moratorium or postponement of Germany’s reparation payments and of all international debt payments for one year, caused an upward trend in world markets. And it is clearly perceived by the Great Powers that this kindness to Germany is in reality kindness to themselves.
IT IS AN interesting fact that the world is being brought into this concept of close economic relationship not through theory but through the force of events themselves. Now we are beginning to realize that where one country suffers economically all the world will suffer to some degree; and when many countries suffer economically, the whole world is dragged down into a depression.
Mutuality is everywhere seen to be the secret of prosperous commercial relationship. It is so within any one country. It is so as between individuals. No person or group of people can continuously prosper at the expense of other people. True prosperity based upon lasting confidence is due to but one thing—the exchange of efficient services, of which money is merely a token.
Hence, the vital importance of such an international conference as the one to be held in Amsterdam. “The world’s experience today points to the conclusion that ‘economic integration must precede political cooperation.’” These leaders realize fully that the economic situation can be handled only from the international viewpoint. The meeting together of many minds representing the great countries of the world will start, let us hope, a careful investigation of this field and a willingness to view economics from a pure human standpoint which, we may be certain, will also be the most practical standpoint. It will eventually produce a sure and continuous prosperity for the world, and it is the only thing which can be relied upon to insure such prosperity.
through the breaths of the Holy Spirit unites nations and removes the cause of warfare and strife. It transforms mankind into one great family and establishes the foundation of the oneness of humanity. . . . Until all nations and peoples become united by the bonds of the Holy Spirit in this real fraternity, until national and international prejudices are effaced in the reality of this spiritual brotherhood, true progress, prosperity and lasting happiness will not be attained by man. . . . The basic plank in any economic program must be that man shall love his neighbor.”
This is the third installment in the series which describe the Bahá’i Movement as the fulfillment of prophecy and the solution of the world’s present needs. The first and second chapters appeared in the May and June numbers respectively.
The author, in his previous articles, has developed the idea that the seven days of creation can be taken symbolically representing the seven great world religions as historically manifested. In this article he shows prophecy as referring to the coming of Bahá’u’lláh and the establishment of the Bahá’i Dispensation.
THERE is the creational story, and the Genesis account holds no other meaning. You perceive in all of this that it is not presented in whole or in part as having features of foundation for schools of religion, but that it is solely in explication of scriptural allegory. The establishment of the several schools of religion is something with which another prophecy of Isaiah has to do, and this is to be found in the first verse of the fourth chapter of his book. It reads as follows:
“And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”
Inasmuch as this applies directly to this time and to the Manifestation of Bahá’u’lláh, it is essential that it shall have explication. Whensoever, in scriptural prophecy the term ‘woman’ is employed, it is introduced to signify either ‘soul’ or ‘religion,’ which is the life
of the soul. In this verse it takes on the latter meaning—religion. The term ‘man’ is used to identify the Perfect Man—the Manifestation of God—and, as we have previously explained, the term that day applies to this day in which we live—the end of the world.
Therefore, the prophecy, stripped of concealed meaning, is interpreted to read: “In this (our) day, seven religions shall present themselves before the Baha, and they shall say that it is their desire to continue in the teachings (bread) given to them by their particular prophet, and they will continue to be known by the name of their school of faith (apparel), only they ask to be admitted as a factor in His great temple of unity, in order that being so admitted as co-sharers in the belief of a single identity for all faiths they shall be called by His Name—Bahá’i, Glorious,—and in this way the reproach of having entertained differences will be taken from them.”
Has anything of this nature happened as yet, in order to validate the declaration of the prophet of thousands of years ago? Ask of those who, during the past twenty years, have made visits to Persia and the Holy Land. There, at a common board, they have witnessed the assemblage of adherents of every faith, each acknowledging
the divine station of the Founder of every other faith. There they sit, count them—Brahman and Parsee, Buddhist and Confucian (of which Tao is the soul), Christian, Muhammadan and Jew—peoples of the oldest and the newest faiths, hitherto ever at loggerheads, now rubbing shoulders as brothers, and all acknowledging their faith in Bahá’u’lláh. In some of the Persian cities, nearly the total of the Jewish population, numbering thousands, is Bahá’i and, being such, recognize the divinity in Jesus, and have erected schools for Bahá’i instruction and temples in the name of Bahá’u’lláh as places of worship for the adherents of every faith.
As to all of this, it may be said (and not without reason)—that such application of prophecy as has been made is really only an interpretation of the utterances to which scholars of other faiths have attached an entirely different meaning. Therefore, it is necessary to present a more concrete argument which shall leave no loophole for differences of opinion, and as opportunities to this end are numerous, these will now be presented.
The meaning of the prophetic utterance by Isaiah regarding the “light of the sun” is unmistakable-Bahá’u’lláh discovering to mankind all the expositions of the Truth previously made. In reality, His light being sevenfold, “as the light of seven days,” and as ’Abdu’l-Bahá was appointed as the Center of His Covenant and the Explainer of His Word, ’Abdu’l-Bahá stands as the “Moon” of this dispensation, shining with the fullness of the Light of the Sun itself.”
IN the mass of visionated utterance, it is difficult to know how best to begin. These references to the “final appearance” cannot well be placed in chronological sequence, for the reason that prophecy is not a matter of today or yesterday, but rather a kaleidoscopic vision of colorings of divine intent, wherethrough at intervals richly perceiving souls have been able to fix a time and place when and where these colorings shall merge into that of the shining luminary to be recognized by all men as the Light Divine. As the mission of Bahá’u’lláh is proclaimed as Divine, and all such in the past have had varied expressions of prophecy attached to them, the exalted personage, Bahá’u’lláh, is presented not only as One to whom numerous prophecies apply, but as the single and only one to which prophecies in all the books of religions can be made rationally to apply.
These attach not merely to the single personage–Bahá’u’lláh, but to that Holy Trinity of which He stood as the central and activating figure. There is none of the Christian mystery surrounding this Trinity, none of the Muhammadan mysticism, but three distinctly identified personalities expressing a single and unique individuality. One ignorant of prophetic meanings is as one ignorant of astronomy. Bahá’u’lláh was not only the fulfiller of prophecy, He was the Causer of the appearances of the prophets of the past to prepare
the world for His coming by their advance announcements of it.
Practically all students of scriptural chronology are agreed on the meanings of certain terms employed to determine time when given prophetic pronouncement. Firstly, a day is recognized as a year: a “time” as 360 days: “times” as 720 days: “half a time” as 180 days. The Muhammadan calendar is based on lunar periods and 354 days constitute a year. With Christian peoples, a year is 365 days. Understanding this, it is easy to fix the dates to which prophecies have reference. It will be interesting to begin with Daniel’s vision of that which the future was to expose. In the beginning of the seventh century A. D., when Jerusalem was conquered, the Holy of Holies (the Law of God) was outwardly preserved and when in those long centuries preceding this condition, the vision was given to Daniel, he gives us this—in the eighth chapter: “Then I heard one saint speaking and another said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?”
Then he answered (V. 14) “unto 2,300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
This dates from the issuance of the edict of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem—456 B. C. Deducting this date from 2,300 we have 1844.
Now, we will jump to the Revelation of St. John (ch. 11):
“The Holy City shall be trodden under foot forty and two months;” that is, the Gentiles shall govern Jerusalem during that time. This
forty and two months is 1260 days, (or years), and is the duration of the cycle of the Qur’an. The Qur’anic cycle began with the night flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, in 622 A. D., which followed by thirteen years the proclamation of His prophet- hood. To determine the date of the termination of the cycle, it is only necessary to multiply the 1260 years by 354 which totals 446,040 and divide by 365 which gives us 1222—1222 years according to our calendar.
Adding this to 622, the beginning of the cycle, we have 1844.
In Daniel, Ch. 12, verse 6, the prophet gives the period to elapse as “time, times and half a time,” which as we have already pointed out figures 1,260.
Now, to go back to the Revelation of St. John—in the 11th chapter, verse 3, the entire verse:
“And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and three score days,” by which you see the identical period. These “two witnesses” are Muhammad and Ali, his chief disciple, whose teachings were to be promoted during the stated period.
Again, in verse 9 of the same chapter, we read: “And nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half:” 3½ days are 3½ years, or 42 months—again, 1,260.
The meaning of “their dead bodies” is that the spirituality of the Revelation becomes so beclouded in doctrines and faulty interpretations of Truth, that it is as a thing that is dead.
Verse 11 also carries the same reference, as it reads:
“After three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them.” That is, that at the conclusion of the predestined period, all clouds would be removed in the appearance of the Glorious Manifestation of God-Bahá’u’lláh.
Then, there is chapter 12, verse 6: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and three-score days.” In scriptural symbology “woman” signifies religion, or soul. In this case, it refers to religion, and this prophecy goes back to Hagar, who was driven into the wilderness with her son Ishmael, from whom in direct line, after nearly two millenia, Muhammad was born. She is again injected into the picture in the 14th verse, which reads:
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent.” Again, you perceive, we have the 1260.
In the consideration of prophetic utterances, it may be clarifying to the reader to be informed that the Bahá’is regard the expression “Lord of Hosts,” wheresoever it may be found in Holy Writ, as applying to Bahá’u’lláh, and none other.
The tri-une character of the Divine Appearance will now be given attention, as prophetic pronouncements regarding it are numerous and cannot possibly be rationally applied to any other than that which has come to us in this day. In the Book of Malachi, the 3rd chapter, first verse: “Behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple: even the messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
Herein, Bahá’u’lláh announces His own coming in the flesh: He mentions His advance herald, who was the Báb, and Whose sole purpose was to prepare mankind for the transcendent Appearance. That is the meaning of the Persian and Arabic word “Báb” which designates the station of the Herald—that of the Door to Divine attainment. It was through Him that mankind was to come to an understanding of, and a meeting with, “Him whom God would make manifest.”
You know that a tenet of Islam is that Muhammad was the “Seal of the Prophets.” That is, that all prophecy as to the oncoming of God and the establishment of His Kingdom ended with the declaration of the Arabian Prophet. And this is absolutely true, because after Him no voice spake of the promised Hour.
The Báb was in no sense a prophet: He was the very Door of Manifestation, and there were to be no long centuries of waiting for the Promised One. As Malachi declared: “The Lord shall suddenly come.” Then Bahá’u’lláh speaks of the Messenger of His Covenant (Who was ’Abdu’l-Bahá) saying: “Behold, he shall come!” In the Will and Testament of Bahá’u’lláh, the mantle of authority was bestowed upon ’Abdu’l-Baha, and the designation of His station was “The Center of the Covenant.”
BETWEEN the sand dunes and the sea runs a road, wave-washed and uncertain, which leads from Haifa to the ancient city of Ákká in Palestine. Here Richard the Lion Hearted fought across the mighty ramparts, against whose sides the persistent onslaught of the sea still makes war. Near here Napoleon laid siege from an artificial hill, which he constructed in order to reach over the double walls of the city. There still remains the moat through which the strength of the sea used to be turned in times of war. It is outside of the walls of this town that “The Most Great Prison” stands, bleak and forbidding, and in this place Bahá’u’lláh and His family and followers were imprisoned. One can see the windows from which He gazed at the first pilgrims, who could only look at Him from a distance and be content to return many miles on foot with that precious memory. In a courtyard near the prison building is the long staircase up the outside of the house which leads to some rooms where the family were permitted to move later. Here came the first European visitors to see ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and it was here that “Some Answered Questions” were written. There is another house in Ákká where they were moved later, but this is a different story from the one I want to tell, for mine deals with the aftermath of those terrible and uncomfortable years, and it is with great comfort and joy that we can now turn toward Bahji.
After driving through the country
outside of Ákká, and passing under an old arch of a Roman Aqueduct and through a forest of eucalyptus trees, we at last arrive at the place where Bahá’u’lláh spent His last and happiest days. On the left as we approach is a walled-in area with cypress peering over the top, and a cluster of old farm houses; on the right a lovely sweep of cultivated fields and a distant range of mountains. At this point the old mansion at Bahji looms into view. Indeed it comes suddenly like opening one’s eyes on a ship at sea which one has not seen approaching. It is a big white house with an arched arcaded veranda around the second floor. All this is seen over the top of a high stone wall, vine covered at the base. Into this wall is set a small arch of plain white which frames the entrance door, a big green door, which seems to have been built to withstand any intrusion into this abode. But door and walls seem to cry “welcome” as the smiling Turkish Bahá’i servant swings open the gate and greets one with the “Greatest Name.” Shoghi Effendi has so carefully renovated this old place that he has not erased the air of ancient mystery and romance. So much has stirred within these walls that will never be forgotten.
But now we are eager to enter. Leaving the lovely yard filled with lemon trees we pass through another green door with a knocker, which the servant unlocks for us. We enter and mount a long closed-in marble staircase to the second
floor and turn to the right through a small hall. Passing through gold and blue draped damask curtains we enter the central room of the house. This is about twenty feet wide and thirty-one feet long. The ceiling is supported by eight white marble columns, and roofed with deep blue. Around the central point is a skylight letting in a soft light on the white marble floor and the elaborately stenciled walls. In the very center of the hall is a table which stands on a square of black and white marble with an inlaid design of simple pattern. The table is draped with a Persian cloth and on it rests a large vase of plumelike sprays of coral flowers, the favorite flower of Shoghi Effendi. There are, below that, small vases of flowers, and yet another set of roses of every hue floating in flat dishes—a fountain of flowers in a still room. There is an album placed among them all with pictures of the Bahái Temple near Chicago, showing its growth from the first to the latest picture.
As we look about we notice that the walls under the skylight and
--PHOTO--
Central Hall at the Bahji Mansion.
the walls above the columns are thickly stenciled with a design of small pink roses with green leaves on a white ground. All of the ceiling in the hall is blue, and the rest of the wall under the arcade is stenciled in broad perpendicular bands of designs in various dull shades of red and blue. A deep wainscoating of three broad stripes of blue, green, and red gives a strikingly Oriental look to the general effect,
and sets off the beauty of the white marble. Under the arcade are hung, on one side, two old colored prints, one of Mecca and one of Medina. At one end is a large picture of the “Greatest Name,” and at the other a view of the tomb of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and the Báb, showing the gardens and a view of the sea, with Ákká and Haifa. On the opposite wall there is a colored print of Jerusalem, and a painting, by Miss Marion Jack, of the view from the Mansion looking toward Ákká. There are ten doors leading off to various rooms, and one to a kitchen which is not used at present. These doors are dark brown with a panel of deep blue running crosswise about half-way, and each has a small brass knocker and a heavy lock. In the extreme left corner hangs a brown portier with a life-sized “Greatest Name” in gold, and behind this is the room in which Bahá’u’lláh used to stay, and where Professor Brown, one of the only two Europeans to do so, visited him in 1890. The account of that visit is framed and hangs outside the door. We read Prof. Brown’s words:
“My conductor paused for a moment while I removed my shoes. Then with a quick movement of the hand he withdrew, and, as I passed, replaced the curtain; and I found myself in a large apartment, along the upper end of which ran a low divan, while on the side opposite to the door were placed two or three chairs. Though I dimly suspected whither I was going, and whom I was to behold (for no distinct intimation had been given me), a second or two elapsed ere, with a throb of wonder and awe, I
became definitely conscious that the room was not untenanted. In the corner where the divan met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned with a felt head-dress of the kind called taj by dervishes (but of unusual height and make), round the base of which was wound a small white turban. The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one’s very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet-black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before One who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain.
“A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: ‘Praise be to God that thou has attained . . . . Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile . . . We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment . . . That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled—what harm is there in this? . . . Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the Most Great Peace shall come . . . Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? Yet
do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means of the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind . . . These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family . . . Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind . . . ’
“Such, so far as I can recall them, were the words which, besides many others, I heard from Bahá. Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely to gain or lose by their diffusion.”
But who can describe this room or this house where Bahá’u’lláh lived in exile, and from where mighty Tablets from His pen went forth to a world in need. We visited this room the last. The shoes, the bed of Him who lived there were set out for us to see. We stood just where Professor Brown was standing when he received this wonderful impression. But it is the whole house that speaks of those souls who lived under its roof. Some one said “people forget but places remember.” That is the feeling I had about the walls of Bahji. They have seen and remembered, and we can take from them if we will.
Shoghi Effendi has arranged a pleasant and convenient writing room for the friends. In it are two writing tables with every convenience, with the seal of the Mansion to stamp on the letter written there. Candles and flowers adorn the tables. A heavy straw matting covers
--PHOTO--
Porch of the Bahji Mansion.
the floor, on top of which are spread soft Oriental rugs. On the right hand table, among other things, is a framed “Grreatest Name” in gold on white. Above this hangs a rug with a picture of the Temple woven into it, and on one wall is a large picture, a copy of one of Mr. Bourgeois’ designs for a window in the Temple, an exquisite piece of architectural drawing by the hand of a genius. There are various photographs of Bahá’i groups, and other objects concerning the Cause, among which is a hanging bookcase of Bahá’i literature in different languages. Two big windows overlook the garden.
Opposite the writing room is a sitting room. On the central table is a lovely framed picture of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and two beautifully bound books in morocco, one red and one green, gold embossed. One
of these has recently been presented to Shoghi Effendi. It is the “Hidden Words” translated into Albanian by the first Albanian pilgrim, Refo Chapari, and the other is Shoghi Effendi’s translation of the same. On the left is a filing case on whose shelves rest translations of the Bahá’i writings in thirty-nine languages, and nearby is a map of the United States with the different assemblies marked in red. The opposite wall has eight framed tablets of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and Bahá’u’lláh, and above these tablets is an old formal painting of the Mansion. Here also is another picture of the Temple, a rug with the Temple woven in it, a picture of the view from the Mansion looking towards the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh and Ákká, the matting and Oriental rugs, and many other things of interest to the pilgrims.
Now we pass through the central hall, through a large corner bedroom, around the walls of which are long seats covered with white linen commonly found in this house, and out to the big veranda. Here is a marble fountain with gold fish and gently splashing water. The window sashes are of green, the blinds and doors of blue, the floor of white marble, and beyond all this the vistas of landscape through the pillars and arches which support the roof. These are the lovely scenes at which Bahá’u’lláh and His family must have gazed so often. Through some of the arches a distant view of the city of Ákká is framed. In the foreground are grey-green olive groves, and in the middle distance stately rows of cypress, then the old farm house, and a grove of pine trees with rounded tops. To the left are
--PHOTO--
Ridvan Garden.
more framed vistas of the rolling cultivated fields and distant mountains. Here, as we stand in the refreshing sun and breeze of spring, a camel caraven may pass slowly by reminding us that we are in Palestine, but otherwise it is hard to realize,—this place has such a feeling of freshness and freedom.
On the extreme right of the porch we have a lovely view of the enclosed garden adjoining the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, and from there we can view the sea and the big trees under which ’Abdu’l-Bahá used to stroll. Here a white donkey is tethered as of old, but this one is a descendant of the one ’Abdu’l-Bahá used to ride. But now, before we leave this veranda, we notice painted at intervals on its clean white walls above doors and windows, all sorts of interesting designs in ancient mode, having been skillfully
renovated under Shoghi Effendi’s careful direction. The subjects are put on as one would paint a coat of arms above a door, giving the effect of concentrated masses of color from a distance.
We spent a night of perfect rest in one of the comfortable high-studded chambers. We arose early the next morning and the birds were singing in the garden below our window; a wind tossed the breakers on the shore which we could see in the distance. It was quiet in the big Mansion so we moved cautiously about, did some writing, and then found our way under the arcades of the lower porch into the garden. The clouds were racing overhead, letting the sun in and out. How lovely it would be to live at Bahji and paint the views from there. Ákká in the sunlight for one picture, with the sea beyond and Mt. Carmel in the distance, olive groves with cypress, and old houses peeping through the green.
Before leaving we visited the shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. We approached it through the closed garden, by gorgeous hedges of red geranium, over the red gravel paths to the white pebble path before the door that leads to the outer shrine. Here a lemon tree stood heavy with golden fruit, and a great cypress pointed heavenward. In the shrine the air was sweet with yellow jasmine
that is thickly strewn on the threshhold to the inner shrine. The outer room is a bower of green, reaching to the high skylighted ceiling, and the floor is completely covered with the finest silky Persian rugs, so fine that it seems wrong to tread them even without shoes. It is a place of indescribable sweetness and peace. But each pilgrim’s heart knows best what sort of a place is the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. I shall but say that next to this divine spot stands the old, old Mansion in which Bahá’u’lláh moved and lived, shut away from the world,—He who was for light and glory. The pilgrims of His following are greatly privileged in being permitted to go there and spend a night. We rejoiced to sit about the table where ’Abdu’l’-Bahá used to receive the pilgrims in former days. We saw His simple little room just as He left it; and back of all these lovely experiences the painstaking hand of His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, in every room, among the books and relics and treasures saved, and so he it was whom we thanked in our hearts.
So at the end of the day, tired and happy, with our arms full of fragrant flowers, we returned along the tide-swept road, and home to Haifa and the Pilgrim House. We had slept at the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh, and our hearts were full of the richness of this experience.
“O ye humankind! Verily ye are all the leaves of one tree; ye are all the fruits of one tree; ye are all one. Hence associate with each other in amity; love one another; abandon the prejudices of race; forget forever this gloomy darkness of ignorance, for the Century of Light, the Sun of Reality, hath appeared. Now is the time for affiliation and now is the period for unification. For six thousand years ye have been contending and warring. It is sufficient! Now is the time for unity. Ye should abandon selfish purposes, and know ye for a certainty that all mankind are the servants of one God and all are to be mutually bound.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
In the first installment of this spiritual autobiography, Mr. Roumie told us of the work of the great teacher, Jamal Effendi, Persian apostle of the Bahá’i Canse who had proceeded to India by the command of Bahá’u’lláh - how he spread the Bahá'i teachings there; the author’s own meeting when a youth with this great teacher and his keen desire to accompany him on his missionary tour of India. The second installment follows.
AT the time I succeeded in carrying out my desire to accompany Jamal Effendi on his missionary tour through India, he had with him two other Bahá'is as his constant companions: they were Rafiuddin Khan of Hassanpur, and Haji Ramadhan of Rampur. After leaving Madras, our journey was broken for a couple of days at Gulburga where friends and officials from Hyderabad came to meet him. After a short trip to Bombay we set out for Rampur. On our way to the Cawnpore Railway Station Jamal Effendi met the very brother of the Ruler of Rampur State for whose sake he had undertaken this long journey. What happened was that the Rampur Chief, with the object of forming a closer acquaintance between Jamal Effendi and his brother, sent the latter to Cawnpore to meet him and travel with him up to Rampur State.
Jamal Effendi on this occasion stayed about a month and a half at Rampur, in the mansion of the Chief’s brother, and availed himself of this opportunity to hold several public and private discourses on the ideals and ethical teachings of the Bahá’i religion. Within a few days the Chief’s brother and those who were prompting him were silenced, their atheistic doctrines
were thrown into the shade, and all their casuistry proved to have no real foundation. In this way Jamal Effendi incurred the displeasure of one Nazir Ahmad Hassan of Aligarh, a most zealous supporter of atheism, who wielded considerable influence over the Chief’s brother and who, by some treacherous means, had cheated him out of more than thirty thousand rupees which resulted in much heated conversation and correspondence between the two. The Chief’s brother was indignant at the conduct of this old atheist friend and had imprisoned him. From his prison he wrote to Jamal Effendi asking him to intercede for his release. Jamal Effendi did so and he was duly released, eventually having to leave the State. He swore vengeance against Jamal Effendi, although from him he had received nothing but kindness.
Jamal Effendi and I accompanied by a servant boy, left Rampur for Lucknow via Kashipur State and Moradabad. At Lucknow he met the Rajas of Amethi and Balarampur States, who accorded him a very cordial reception. Meanwhile the Raja of Kashipur also arrived and took him to meet and interview the Governor of United Provinces (India).
The Rajas gave us a letter of introduction to the Maharaja of Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus.
Jamal Effendi then proceeded to Benares and for a fortnight remained the guest of the Maharaja at his palace. During this short period he became acquainted with many leading citizens of Benares, Hindus as well as Muslims of all schools of thought. One of his acquaintances was Agha Mohammed Taqi Benarasi of Khurasan, at whose house he happened to meet Haji Ahmed Bindani, an influential and wealthy citizen of Rangoon; and several leading Persian Muslims of Calcutta.
At the very first interview the conversation gradually turned on the question of time regarding the appearance of Imam Mahdi, the Qa’im and the Raj-at-i Hussayni according to Shi’ih creed. A learned Shi’ih theologian who happened to be present in the assembly at the time, declared that no time had been specifically mentioned in regard to that, either in the Qur’án or in the sacred traditions of the revered Imams. Jamal Effendi then cited several passages from the holy Qur’án and the traditions of Imam Jafari Sadiq which pointed to the year 1260 A. H. (corresponding to 1844 A. D.)—as the time when one should look for the coming of the expected Mahdi who would be born like other human beings in accordance with the natural law of procreation. He refused the theory of the sudden and phenomenal appearance of a youth of one thousand years of age from the strange and unknown region of ‘Jabulqa’ and ‘Jabulsa’.
Jamal further maintained that the Imam on his appearance would introduce a New Cause, a New Dispensation, a New Revealed Book, and a New Divine Law for the guidance of mankind. He also quoted numerous passages from the sacred traditions to the effect that the Imam would be subjected to all kinds of perseutions, humiliation and opposition, and eventually he and his followers would be martyred by men of his own race. It was an exceedingly interesting discussion which went on for a couple of days, at the conclusion of which the learned divine protested that although there was a good deal of force in Jamal Effendi’s argument, were they justified in accepting it since there was no appearance of the Anti-Christ or Sufyani. Jamal Effendi then in his usual friendly manner said, “Let us jointly pray for the divine guidance and endeavor to grasp the true significance and right meaning of the Words of the Holy Book, which according to the saying of Imam Jafar Sadiq could be comprehended only by his chosen ones and faithful servants whose hearts are pure.”
FROM BENARES we proceeded to
Calcutta, visiting Patna on the way.
We arrived at Patna at dusk and
went directly to an Inn where we
spent the night. Early next morning,
information was received that
the police had surrounded the Inn
the previous night and had been
checking the arrival and departure
of the guests. Shortly thereafter
some high European officials came
directly to Jamal Effendi and informed
him that the Chief Commissioner
desired to see him, and that he should accompany them. So we went with the officials to Danapur where the seat of government was at that time. On arriving at Danapur, we were ordered to wait in a room under police surveillance and remained there for four hours without knowing the cause of this sudden arrest. I suggested however that Nazir Ahmed Hassan, the atheist, who was offended with Jamal Effendi at Rampur, must have had something to do with this little surprise. My surmise proved to be quite correct for very soon a clerk came to Jamal Effendi with one of the letters which he had written to Nazir Ahmed Hassan, and began to question him about it. Finding that the reason of the arrest was some misunderstanding about this letter in the mind of the officials, I asked for permission to produce the letter of Nazir Ahmed Hassan to which that one was a reply. Upon receiving permission I promptly produced the letter in question, a reference to which at once cleared all doubts. We were immediately set free and all our effects were returned to us. Thus the attempt of an atheist to do mischief to the Cause was frustrated.
As this incident took place during the month of Moharram (Muhammadan New Year) the majority of the best citizens, like Nawab Mohammad, Nawab Welayat Ali Khan, and other illustrious persons, sympathetically, gathered together around Jamal Effendi and invited him to their homes, where he had opportunity to deliver the Bahá’i
Message freely in those large meetings.
After a week or two we left for Calcutta. On arriving there the party went to live in a house in Kolutollah which had been engaged for us by Nawab Safdar Ali Khan, the paternal uncle of the Rampur Chief. Here, too, within a very short time the magnetic personality of Jamal Effendi and his exceedingly affable manners attracted many leading citizens of Calcutta and its neighborhood. He soon became a well known figure in the community, particularly among men of a religious and philosophic turn of mind. Jamal Effendi however, was always eagerly seeking an opportunity to deliver the Great Message of universal love and peace, the message of the wonderful revelation of God’s mystery, the message of the advent of the New Age.
At last the opportunity presented itself when he met Haji Mirza Abdul Karim Shirazi, a renowned Persian merchant of Calcutta, at whose residence leading Muhammadans used to meet every day to discuss current topics. This was the time of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, and so the main subjects discussed were the events of the war as they appeared in the newspaper reports. In the course of these discussions, Jamal Effendi, as often as possible, directed the attention of his audience to various prophecies in the Holy Qur’án and the Tradition of the Prophet, regarding the signs of the appearance of the Promised Redeemer.
His marvelous eloquence and his unique method of presenting the subject made a great impression on his audience.
About this time Jinabi Haji Mirza Mohammed Ali Afnan and his assistant Agha Mirza Abdul Hamid arrived from Honkong, China. They were enroute to Persia via Bombay. Jinabi Afnan was one of the maternal uncles of His Holiness the Báb. Both these gentlemen had business in China and came to see Haji Mirza Abdul Karim in this connection, and were his guests. They were known to Jamal Effendi, and they recognized each other at the meeting in Haji Mirza Abdul Karim’s house. The unusual joy expressed by these friends on their sudden and unexpected meeting, the extraordinary warmth and affection manifested as they inquired about each other’s welfare, astonished all who were present at the gathering. The people then began to suspect that Jamal Effendi was a member of the new sect.
On the following day the visitors came to see Jamal Effendi, and after a long conversation about the war and much discussion of various passages of the Holy Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh (Lawhi-Rais—the Tablet of the Chief) relating to prophecies concerning Turkey, Jamal Effendi requested me to chant the Tablet for his two honored guests. As it was the first time that he had heard these supreme utterances,—while I was chanting the Tablet—he was conscious of a sudden flash of Heavenly Light and was quite overwhelmed with an inexpressible divine illumination. He could not at
the time fully realize the cause of the strange emotion that completely overpowered him. After the chanting of the Holy Tablet was over, the revered guests and Jamal Effendi discussed between themselves the fulfillment of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophecies, His teachings for the upliftment of mankind, His noble ideals raising the standard of morality, and the majesty of His mission, all of which I listened to attentively as if spellbound. At the termination of the discussion, I confessed the truth of Bahá’u’lláh’s claim and decided to dedicate my life to the service of the Divine Cause. The three veterans at once embraced me, and kissed me most affectionately. Jamal Effendi then in his supplication to the Sacred Threshold submitted my name, and a Holy Tablet was revealed in my behalf, the English translation of which is as follows:
“O Mustafa. (the chosen one or selected as the best one): The supplication of Jamal, who is soaring in the atmosphere of the love of his Lord, the Opulent and Exalted,–was submitted in the Holy Presence, and thy name was mentioned therein. We testify to thy truthfulness and sincerity, that thou mayst read it and be among the thankful ones. Say, ‘O God of the universe, who appeared with the Greatest Name! I beseech Thee by the essence of the existence in the name of those who were not prevented by the hosts from turning towards Thy Face, and those whom the Kings could not prevent from beholding towards Thy Horizon, to write for me with Thy Supreme Pen that which behooveth Thy
Generosity. O possessor of the Names and the Creator of heaven! O my Lord! I hereby testify that which Thou hast already testified before the creation of heaven and earth, and I acknowledge that which Thy tongue has already declared before the manifestation of the Kingdoms of Thy Command
and Creation. Verily Thou art He, there is no God but Thee. I supplicate Thee that thou mayst draw me in every condition near to Thy Horizon, and destine for me, O my God! that which is good in every world of Thy worlds. Verily, Thou art the Mighty, the Exalted, the High and the Great.”
“We cannot realize in this world the Bounty of God nor can we appreciate His Love. But in the next world we can do so . . . . The difference between this earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom is as the difference between the embryonic world and this world. After its ascension the spirit will enter into the presence of God in a form suited for eternity and for the Kingdom.”-’Abdu’l-Bahá.
ONE of the pioneers of the Bahá’i Cause in the western world, Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg, passed away recently at her home in London, England, crowned with age and the service of the Master. The end was peaceful for this devoted servant of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, whom He knew and loved so well and to whose devotion and untiring labors He often paid priceless tribute by voice and pen.
Known and loved by all the members of ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s family in Haifa where she had visited for months at a time in the earlier stages of the outpouring of the Bahá’i spirit from the East to Europe and America, Miss Rosenberg played no small part in the adaptation
of the Bahá’i Message to the western mind. Ever modest and unassuming, the full value of her work in this capacity seldom appeared on the surface but those who knew her well and were in close touch with her activities were and are well aware of the great assistance she gave to ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and how valuable was the help she rendered in the translation and transcribing of some of the outstanding works through which the truths of the Bahá’i Message were made known to the peoples of the western hemisphere.
No one is more fully cognizant of the worth of this servant's labors for the advancement of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, as developed and expounded by ’Abdu’l-Bahá, than the Beloved Guardian of the Bahá’i Cause, Shoghi Effendi, who, when
--PHOTO--
Miss Ethel J. Rosenburg, a pioneer in the Bahá'i Cause in England, who died at her home there recently.
he was advised of her passing, cabled forthwith to the friends in London a heartfelt message of condolence and appreciation.
“Deeply grieved passing England’s outstanding pioneer worker. Memory of her glorious service will never die. ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s family join in expressing heartfelt condolences to her brothers and relatives. Urge friends hold befitting memorial service.”
London Bahá’is held a fitting memorial meeting at the Bahá’i Centre for suitable expression of the love all the members of the Bahá’i Community felt for this long-time friend and counsellor. Here was voiced that reverent recognition due her for the clear vision she had of the Bahá’i Message and purposes, and the lucid and authoritative
expositions she was able, through contact with the Source of inspiration and the pure spirit that burned within her, to give to those who sought.
Miss Rosenberg, who was seventy-five years of age, was born in England and had lived for many years in London. She was one of the most prominent and active of the believers in Great Britain up to a short time before her removal to the higher plane.
During her long connection with the Bahá’i Cause her correspondence with ’Abdu’l-Bahá had been voluminous, and to her He had revealed numerous precious tablets, many of which, of a general nature, have been included in the Bahá’i Writings.
WITH the passing of this great character, Mrs. Claudia Stuart Coles, the Bahá’i Cause has lost one of its most loyal and enthusiastic adherents.
Mrs. Coles was born in South Carolina about sixty-five years ago. When quite young she moved to Washington, D. C., and it was here she heard and accepted the Bahá’i Teachings, and served as a faithful and honored member of the Bahá’i community for many years. In 1920 she moved to London, England, where her daughter and granddaughters lived, and thus for the past eleven years she was a member of the London Bahá’i community. She had been reelected many times to the National Bahá’i Assembly of
--PHOTO--
Mrs. Claudia Stuart Coles, Bahá’i teacher who recently died in London.
England, and as Secretary of this body served indefatigably.
Mrs. Coles’ home in London was a meeting place for traveling Bahá’is from other countries. It was always a joy to associate with and
consult this radiant enthusiastic Bahá’i to whom friends could turn for help and advice. She undoubtedly worked far beyond her strength in her great enthusiasm, and one might well say that from the standpoint of her physical health, there was always in her work and service the element of sacrifice. Particularly noteworthy, too, was her great efficiency. She was undoubtedly one of the best informed Bahá’i teachers in the western world, and knew where to find any quotation asked for. She certainly has been instrumental in spreading the Bahá’i Message around the world, for her personal correspondence had assumed voluminous proportions.
As a Bahá’i, Mrs. Coles had an international reputation, and was distinguished and will be forever remembered for her true spirituality and her unique spiritual enthusiasm. She classified among the most sincere and devoted Bahá’is, and we are told that “the rays of those spirits (the sincere) are the cause of the development of the people.” From this beautiful soul “will appear the traces of God.”
“Humankind have come to the world in innumerable numbers, and passed away; their physical bodies and that which belonged to them passed away with them. Their health and disease both passed away. Their rest and hardship both vanished. Their wealth and poverty ended. Their honor and misery terminated. But the reality of man is immortal. The spirit of man is everlasting. It is the spirit to which importance is to be attached. The difference (between spirit and body) is this, that one will enter the realm of enlightenment, whereas the other will fall into the world of darkness.”
The following is the third part of Chapter 5 in the series by the author under the general title “The Basis of Bahá’i Belief.” This concludes a brief but most illuminating study of the Bahá'i Message as related to Christianity.
AS ALREADY outlined, when the Manifestation of God comes into the world, He brings with Him not only that quickening power which revivifies the dead spiritual life of man, but reveals as well, a social program which will better the earthy conditions under which he must live. One of the most convincing proofs of the Divine power of Bahá’u’lláh, is the plan which He has outlined for the amelioration of human conditions.
Amongst the principles laid down by Him for the guidance of men toward a better social order, are the reconciliation of religion with science and reason; the independent investigation of truth; the conquest of prejudice; universal peace; a universal tribunal of arbitration; universal education; a universal language; the equality between men and women; the solution of the economic problem; a democratic form of government. Space forbids a further enumeration, but the principles indicated are sufficient to show that the executive power of God’s Word spoke through the Lips of Bahá’u’lláh; for although no concerted effort had been made previously to establish these ideas in the world, we find them developing with astonishing urgency as great human objectives after they had been enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh.
These are not new ideas, many of them have been in the world for thousands of years. Einstein has
come with a new idea and we hear that there are only twelve people who can understand him. Bahá’u’lláh has voiced the age old wistful longings of man, until now despaired of as possible of human accomplishment; but becoming at last through the superlative potency of His command part of the great forward-looking plan of humanity. Certainly universal peace is not a new idea, Isaiah prophesies of that time when “the sword will be beaten into the ploughshare and the spear into the pruning hook, when nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” We must recall that these principles were laid down in the Orient around the middle of the last century. Though there had been those who had seen a vision of universal peace previous to this time it was not until after Bahá’u’lláh included this among His principles that the present almost universal agitation in favor of peace was started; today there are innumerable movements numbering millions of members working toward this end. Before Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration that war must cease, as fundamental to the new order in the world, history had never witnessed anything comparable to our modern disarmament conferences. Thirty years after Bahá’u’lláh called for a universal tribunal, the Hague was established and later the World Court.
The sane and simple method of learning an auxiliary tongue in addition to one’s own language would enable universal communication. No human being can speak as many as a hundred languages, (there are supposed to be three thousand dialects and languages in the world) but if a man could speak a hundred languages, there would still be millions upon millions of people with whom he could not converse: by this simple expedient of learning two languages the problem of human communication would be forever solved, without forfeiting the rich treasures of our literature and traditions. Fifteen years after Bahá’u-lláh recommended a universal language Doctor Zamenhoff invented Esperanto. There have been other efforts to introduce a universal tongue.
Today the widespread movement throughout the world toward literacy, education, and enlightenment, is antithetical to the condition when Bahá’u’lláh called for universal education. In that day monarchs and despots prided themselves upon keeping their populace in ignorance. This more urbane and advanced attitude was not taken until Bahá’u’lláh had included mental development in His scheme of human progress.
The Báb enunciated the equality between men and women in 1844. It was not until 1846 that the first suffrage meeting was held in America. More and more startling discoveries of our scientists are carrying matter back into the realm of metaphysics. The great names in this field of activity such as Eddington, Pupin, Milliken, and Lodge, are today
advancing arguments to show that materialism is much too fantastic for science. Everywhere we see men throwing off the yoke of constraint, inhibition, and superstition, in order to follow truth whereever it may lead. These attitudes on the part of large numbers are much more recent than Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamation of the reconciliation of science and religion, and the independent search for reality.
Ancient empires have crumbled, while democratic principles have been almost univesally incorporated into those that still stand. These changes took place quite fifty years after Bahá’u’lláh suggested democracy as the most appropriate form of government in the world.
A graduated income tax and profit-sharing were among the recommendations of Bahá’u’lláh as a means of solving the economic problem. These were not generally employed until many years after Bahá’u’lláh had formulated them into His program.
It is evident that to continue this form of argument would carry us far beyond the confines of this series of articles but from the examples already given we are constrained to accept the conclusion that the relation of Bahá’u’lláh to the changes that have taken place in social practice, are far beyond the realm of the coincidental. In science if we find the same effect recurring three or four times, we look for the law back of its recurrence. If Bahá’u’lláh had indicated only three or four of these great social principles which had afterward appeared so prominently in human thought and activity we might perhaps say that he had caught the spirit of the times,
and was merely reflecting it; but it is utterly irrational to imagine that any human being not super humanly endowed could possibly grasp twelve or fifteen of the great trends of modern times not yet in practice (which appeared shortly afterward) without bearing to those events some form of interdependent and causative relationship. The candid and impartial inquirer, is bound to see the profound significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s having enunciated His program in every instance before it was commonly practiced.
Ruhi Afnan said in his paper before the Congress of Living Religions that when we see the teachings and principles of this Revelation at last stepping down out of the cold empyrean of idealism and becoming part of the everyday working order of the world, we cannot but agree with ’Abdu’l-Bahá that “the pulse of this mighty message of Bahá’u’lláh is beating; like an artery through the five continents of the world.”
Another evidence of the station of Bahá’u’lláh was His stupendous and irresistible personality. In the “Bahá’i World” is summarized the convincing tributes of some of the world’s greatest men to Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá. His power was so gigantic that though the captive of two powerful despots, the Shah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey, (who exercised over their subjects the right of life or death.) He arraigned them both in the Tablets already referred to, pointing out their crimes and injustices in a way that would have brought swift retribution to any other.
His magnanimity and superiority to His terrible sufferings were God-like
and humbled even His worst enemies, to paraphrase the words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
A history of His life shows that He invariably decided the terms on which He would live; as long as He accepted imprisonment, He remained a prisoner; as soon as He was ready to go free, He retired to the plains of ’Akká, there ending His days as He had begun them, in a Palace, which at will He had exchanged for His prison. When coming from Adrianople to the prison of ’Akká He defied the Sultan as to the terms on which He and His followers would go, and carried His point. Countless other examples can be given.
Most convincing of all is that indubitable power which Bahá’u’lláh has exercised over the lives of His followers. Upward of thirty thousand martyrs have joyously and willingly given their lives for the establishment of His Cause. Count de Gobineau, Lord Curzon, and other equally authoritative writers on Persia, point to this drama as indicative of the intense spiritual vitality of the Baha’i message.
’Abdu’l-Bahá says that these martyrs “hastened clad in holy ecstacy to the glorious field of martyrdom, and writ with their life blood upon the tablets of the world, the verses of God’s Divine Unity.” Men and women do not idly toss away their lives for base and ignoble purposes. These ecstatic souls, who drenched benighted and fanatical Persia in their blood, are the holy harbingers of that great power which is today sweeping like a mighty and majestic tide through the hearts and souls of those dedicated to this glorious command of
Bahá’u’lláh to establish peace and unity throughout the world.
Nothing is more inspiring than this phase of our Bahá’i proof, this transforming, and revolutionizing power which Bahá’u’lláh exercises over the lives of His followers. We recall the prophecy in John that “He will send his angels with a loud trumpet-blast to summon his elect from the verge of heaven and the verge of earth.” Like a great army of faith and strength His humble followers everywhere, without prestige, without importance, without means, often facing bitter opposition and sore trial, are going forth to vanquish the old, evil things of the world.
Daily into our ranks are flooding those who are seeking a complete and comprehensive program for human advancement. Today there are societies for a better understanding among races, for a solution of the problems between classes, for the improvement of international relations, for the reconciliation of religious differences; but the Bahá’i
* It is regrettable that very few adequate translations of His writings are available. Worthier translations are projected.
Movement is the only great organized movement in the world which definitely includes them all.
We must bear in mind that our cause is not tentative, experimental; we are not going about suggesting to people that it might be well to try such a plan with the hope that it would work. To use our American colloquialism the Bahá’i movement is an “up and going concern” in which millions have already found sanctuary, exchanging their prejudices, distrust, arrogance and resentment for that abundant life of harmony and accord that has ever flown from the appearance of God among men, throughout the ages.
Words are futile to convey the impression of the reality and vigor, the grace and power, of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.* We can only refer you to His multitudinous writings, so that “He, the spirit of Truth,” through His Own Words and Teachings may “guide you into all Truth.”
The following account of a religious experience—the seeking for and finding of that which satisfies the soul—is written by a member of the Bahá’i Youth Group in an eastern city. It well demonstrates how the youth of today are on the highmay of independent investigation of Truth.
MY religious training was received in a Christian church. When I was a very little girl, I was enrolled in the beginners’ department of the Presbyterian Sunday School. My attendance there every Sunday was as much a matter of course as my attendance
at the public school on the other days of the week. Some of my teachers were beautiful souls and unusually spiritual. When I grew older, I joined the Church and the Christian Endeavor Society. I then attended four services every Sunday; Sunday School and Church
in the morning, Christian Endeavor and Church in the evening, and in addition sang in the choir. I even took a teachers’ training course and then taught a class for a short time.
Trained in a knowledge of the Bible and Christianity, I believed, as all good orthodox Christians believe, that Christ was the only divine revelator and Christianity the only true religion. Buddha, Muhammad and the other prophets were all false, so their religions were untrue. The missionary books that I read more or less proved this to me. It almost seemed that the highest calling in life was to be a Christian missionary to the heathen in foreign lands. I was extremely religious by nature, so I liked books and articles on religious subjects. If I looked through a magazine, I would read the religious article and then throw the magazine aside.
This extensive reading broadened me considerably, for many articles written by people of different beliefs arrested my attention and not only interested but deeply impressed me. I began to realize that much of the Bible was written in symbolism.
To be an active member of the Christian Endeavor Society of the Presbyterian Church, one has to sign a pledge to read the Bible every day. Admitting to myself that I had not kept this pledge, my conscience troubled me. I therefore resolved to read the Bible through, and started with the New Testament, intending to read at least one verse every night before retiring. I found myself reading, instead of a few verses, several chapters. Somehow, to read from the Word of God
when the house is quiet and one can truly concentrate, is more beneficial than all the sermons and training one receives from teachers. I felt Christ’s power and greatness as I never had before and my love for Him was strengthened to a great degree. I read the New Testament through in a very short time, and then started on the Old, but my interest in it was not as great. Certain parts, like the Psalms, I loved, but some of the history and wars seemed very tiresome. When I meditated on the New Testament, I felt that I would like to understand some of the verses which apparently seemed contradictory, and I longed to understand “Revelations” and some of the symbolism. I was not satisfied. I was really seeking to understand the Bible.
MY FATHER had been a Bahá’i for
several years and, without any
knowledge of the teachings, the rest
of the family had always opposed
him. We thought it some peculiar
cult, one of those many false religions.
He tried to read to us and
to get us to read from the teachings,
but we thought that in order
to be loyal to Christ, whom we truly
loved, we should turn a deaf ear
to everything he said upon the subject.
Strange, how willing I was
to read about New Thought and
other sects, and how I resisted any
suggestion to read the teachings of
’Abdu’l-Bahá.
One memorable night, however, I was alone in the house. The town library was closed, and there was nothing about the house that I seemed especially to want to read. The bookcase was in my father’s room. I went in and looked over the books.
Nothing looked interesting. With my usual instinct for choosing something religious, I picked up “Some Answered Questions” by ’Abdu’l-Bahá. My first thought was how much I would like some questions answered, but felt very skeptical about ’Abdu’l-Bahás being able to answer them satisfactorily; just some more theorizing, and I could theorize about the meaning of the Bible just as well as anyone else and was just as apt to be correct in my theories. I opened the book and glanced over the chapter headings. My interest was aroused. The very subjects upon which I wanted more light were discussed. I started to read. I became amazed. I felt great power in the Words,—the same power that I felt when reading the Words of Christ. This teacher likewise spoke with authority. It was not like reading other books and articles on religion. I became thrilled. The same Voice which spoke through Christ was speaking through ’Abdu’l-Bahá. I was more and more aware of the power and authority with which He spoke. I did not put that marvelous book down until I had finished every word in it.
I not only read it but I drank in the meaning as one starved. I felt like a person who had stepped from a room dimly lighted by a candle, into a room flooded with electric light. Everything was clear. ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s logic was perfect. He left no room for argument or difference of opinion.
To me the Bahá’i Revelation fulfilled the second coming of the Lord. It had not occurred to be sure, as I had imagined it would, and as the Christian world
imagined it would, but “as a thief in the night” He had come and gone. The reason all of the Christians had not recognized Him when He came, was because they interpreted His coming literally, just as the Jews had done when Christ appeared, and so they, too, were prevented from recognizing Him as the promised Messiah. To interpret literally is to defy science and reason.
The spiritual meanings of the signs and symbols regarding the second coming are clearly explained in the Bahá’i teachings, and explained in such a way that they agree with science and reason. It would be beyond the scope of this article to explain them here.
HOW MUCH more reasonable it is
to believe, as ’Abdu’l-Bahá teaches,
that God has not only sent Christ
to train just a part of the people
of the world in the things of the
spirit and has left the rest to grope
in darkness all these years, but that
He has also sent all of the other
great prophets, Buddha, Muhammad
and others. ’Abdu’l-Bahá
says that each Prophet was sent by
the one true God to teach the one
true religion, but only in accordance
with the capacity of the people
to whom He appeared. Our capacity
is much greater today, so
Bahá’u’lláh has given us meat instead
of milk, as was promised in
the Bible. “Therefore be ye also
ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not, the Son of man cometh.
Who then is a faithful and wise servant,
whom his lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them
meat in due season?”—Mat. 24:44,
45.
Since all the founders of the great religions of the world were sent by the one true God to teach the one true religion, man-made theology and forms which were introduced after the Prophets had left this world, were the causes of the differences in the beliefs of the peoples of the various religions. ’Abdu’l-Bahá shows in “Some Answered Questions” what Muhammad accomplished among those wild Arabian tribes, and one cannot help seeing that more than human power was needed for this resurrection of souls. The same thing is true of all the great spiritual teachers. Muhammad was only taken as an example. The symbolism of the Bible which no one had ever been able to understand, was explained so that it agreed with science and reason.
THE NEXT morning to the amazement
of my family, I stated that I
believed ’Abdu’l-Bahá was a Divine
Messenger of God; that the second
coming of the Lord was fulfilled in
the person of Bahá’u’lláh. How
sorry I was, thereafter, for my human
prejudices as I so often read
these Words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá:
“Beware of prejudice! Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A star has the same radiance if it shines from the East or the West.”
My father rejoiced exceedingly over my great spiritual happiness and suggested a course of reading for me. I read all of the Bahá’i books which we had, and then went up in the attic and read back numbers of The Bahá’i Magazine for hours at a time. When everything had been read and understood by
* ”Baha’u’llah and the New Era” by Dr. J. E. Esslemont. **“Some Answered Questions.“
both mind and heart to the extent of my capacity, I longed to interest others so that they, too, would read. Nothing has such power as the Word of God as spoken through His chosen Messenger. “God, and God alone has the power to do whatever He wills, and the greatest proof of a Manifestation of God is the creative power of His word—its effectiveness to change and transform all human affairs and to triumph over all human opposition. Through the word of the prophets, God announces His will, and the immediate or subsequent fulfillment of that Word is the clearest proof of the Prophet’s claim and genuineness of His inspiration”*
Those who have read the Words of God—the Teachings for this New Day as spoken by Bahá’u’lláh, have laid aside their racial, religious and national prejudices. Colored and white, Jews, Christians, Muhammadans, and others, occidentals and orientals, are associating in perfect harmony.
In conclusion it is evident that I became a Bahá’i because I was not satisfied with the religious knowledge I possessed. I was seeking for Truth always, and the reading of this book** made “the crooked things straight.” The illuminating teachings I found therein swept the path which leadeth unto real life clear of “superstitious fancies;” I had found that which satisfied me, a religion to live for or to die for. And from that time I could truthfully state that I not only have mere faith about religion, but I know. And only the Word of God could have awakened me to the Divine Realities.
The following is an address given by a young Japanese student, member of an English Speaking Society in Tokyo. Mr. Sumi is deeply interested in the Bahá’i Movement. After attending the Bahá’i Nawruz Feast on March 21st last, he wrote to Miss Agnes Alexander, our Contributing Editor, that he “appreciated this merry garden party very much indeed. That warm, bright, fair atmosphere I found on that day is the symbol of the ideal form of organic society, which is the nature of the sun. Through it and through it only all organic existence is conceivable as a reality, and that is the Bahá’i Spirit I guess . . . that beautiful sunlike spirit is indispensable to our human society: that penetrating spirit from heart to heart is the only rope to make man’s society possible.”
LAST summer I made a trip to the central part of the Island of Shikoku. The district I visited lies thirty miles from the nearest town and is three thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is divided into many smaller districts by ranges of high hills and mountains. I spent a week among the solitary houses and villages dotting the valleys and the hillsides.
My first interest was to study the folk-psychology of the region, but to my great disappointment, the social conditions were quite contrary to my expectation. Before I started on the trip I was told that the life of the people there was very primitive, and that one could hardly discover any modern cultural influences among them. With such information I fully expected to see wild men of little or no cultural training, little capacity for counting, little ability in abstract thinking, and speaking an entirely different language or dialect.
But what did I really find? On the day that I reached the very farthest point of the journey, and supposedly the farthest from the centers of civilization, I was overtaken by a storm. Seeking shelter, I entered a hut near the summit of a mountain. To my astonishment I found children reading the National
Reader. At the entrance I saw little rubber shoes, and hanging on a nearby wall I observed a regulation school cap. Bicycles they know, motor cars, and even aeroplanes. And though they do not actually use it in their daily speech, they know quite well the same language Tokyo ladies and gentlemen speak so fluently.
Now what is the meaning of all this? It shows, it seems to me, the tremendous penetrating power of our culture, and the almost unbelievable capacity of a people to accommodate themselves rapidly to the demands of a changing social environment. Biological changes are very slow. It is said that our functional organs are almost identical with those of primitive man. And the capacity of modern men and women of backward races is almost the same as that of the more advanced races. The great differences are found, not in the field of biology, but in that of culture and civilization.
You may say that those primitive minded peoples are very mystical and superstitious. But I beg you to recall how many relics of superstition are still living amongst us. We do not eat dogs. We may be able to give many reasons for our refusal to do so. Perhaps it boils
down to this, “it is not customary.” If we are justified in saying that primitive peoples live by taboos, they can rejoin that dog-meat is taboo among us.
When we look back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient China, we must acknowledge that they could produce individuals equal in capacity to any modern man. Christianity has not produced a greater than Jesus or Paul. Plato’s world of ideas is no less broad and deep than that of Bergson; and Kanpi’s social observation is as keen as that of Karl Marx.
It is therefore not in the realm of individual capacity that the modern man exceeds the capacity of his more primitive prototype. It is rather in the realm of social evolution and interracial experience. Retaining practically the identical biological form of the man of milleniums ago, our civilizations have passed through various stages: tribal communistic, imperialistic, theological, feudal, aristocratic, democratic, socialistic and communistic. In passing through these stages we have increased our social inheritance and grown in wisdom acquired from this experience.
But it has been shown time and time again that it is not necessary to pass through all these stages to acquire the necessary wisdom for modern life. Just as the younger people of central Shikoku are able to enter into the problems of modern life quite successfully, though their parents represent a much more primitive type, so anywhere in the world the old customs and ideals of barbarous and semi-barbarous life can easily give place to
those of our modern scientific age.
Now the chief characteristic of our modern civilization is that it is proceeding along the line of tested knowledge and experience. Instead of being guided entirely by the hit-and-miss methods of our pre-scientific age, we are learning to verify and test causes and results, and guide our conduct according to the results of our study. And it is entirely possible to teach this method of procedure to peoples who have heretofore been guided entirely by superstition and inherited traditions.
I wish to apply this principle to an institution among us which is undoubtedly a relic of barbarism, and has no place in the progress of a well-ordered international society. I refer to the institution of war.
War is the child of our tribal antagonism. It grew up in a world when there were no intertribal relations, and no international contacts. In those days the only way to gain an advantage or secure justice was by the sword. In that early age Might was Right, and the Beautiful and the Good were compelled to yield to the god of material power.
But it has come about that our international and interracial relations must be developed, for modern science has thrown the ends of the earth together, until we are all the members of one great neighborhood. So that war has become the enemy of social progress, the awful disturber of international good will and commerce.
But it may be said that changes must come slowly, and that it is impossible to give up war within one generation. But I beg you to recall
my Shikoku experience. Within one generation the whole fabric of our social and political life has been changed. The feudal ideas of fifty years ago have given place to the international ideals of modern science, commerce and education. What has been done in these important fields of human achievement can and ought to be done in the case of war. If we had a mind to do it we could master this demon and throw him out in a single decade.
But what do we see? The fearful monster is taking advantage of all that our science has taught us. He squeezes our experience and prostitutes our tested knowledge, compelling us to act directly opposite to the demands of our reason. Our brain becomes his slave, and
our inventions become the food for his voracious appetite! The powder which Nobel invented for the benefit of the coal and mining industry becomes the explosive for war’s devastations. The gigantic Messenger of the Air invented by Zeppelin for peaceful international intercourse, becomes the frightful engine of the god of war.
Thus it is that war consumes its own offspring and destroys all the children of industry and peace. It is a menace to civilization which it is seeking to destroy. . . But we can now choose whether we will yield to war or rise up and forever drive it from our human society. We can now choose whether we will follow our tested knowledge or whether we will be guided by the Demon of Destruction.
- I would stand on the knoll that overlooks
- The radiant River of Light;
- And lift my eyes to the distant hills,
- From whence come strength and life!
- I would walk through forest aisles, where pine
- Trees rise like cathedral spires;
- And in the hush of early morning hours,
- Feel the peace that God inspires.
- Once again, I would enter the Inn,
- The Inn that is glorified,
- Because it had room and welcome for Him,
- Our Lord, to enter and abide!
- Green Acre, Green Acre* home of my soul,
- My heart ever turns to thee;
- The beautiful spot where the Master walked,
- And hallowed the earth for me!
* Baha’i Summer Colony, Green Acre, Eliot, Maine.
THE PROMULGATION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE, being The Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in America, in two volumes. Price, each, $2.50.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE NEW ERA, by Dr. J. E. Esslemont, a gifted scientific scholar of England. This is the most comprehensive summary and explanation of the Bahá’í Teachings as yet given in a single volume. Price, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents.
THE WISDOM TALKS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHÁ in Paris. This series of talks covers a wide range of subjects, and is perhaps the best single volume at a low price in which 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains in His own words the Bahá’í Teaching. Price, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
BAHÁ'Í SCRIPTURES. This book, compiled by Horace Holley, is a remarkable compendium of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It contains a vast amount of material and is indexed. This Paper Edition (only ¾-inch thick) Price, $2.50.
THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD, a Biennial International Record (formerly Bahá’í Year Book). Prepared under the auspices of the Bahá’í National Assembly of America with the approval of Shoghi Effendi. Price, cloth, $2.50.
All books may be secured from The Bahá’í Publishing Committee, Post office Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York City.
FIVE MONTHS' subscription to a new subscriber, $1.00; yearly subscription, $3.00. Two subscriptions to one address, $5.00. Three subscriptions to one address, $7.50. Ten new subscriptions to one address, $25.00 (in United States and Canada). If requested, the subscriber may receive one or more copies and have the remaining copies sent to other addresses.
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Bound volumes Nos. 15 and 16, covering the years 1924 to 1925 and 1925 to 1926, contain many of the most valuable and instructive Bahá'í teachings compiled from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, on such subjects as Education, Peace, The Solution of the Economic Problem, Cooperation and Unity, Proof of the Existence of God, and others equally as important. They also contain articles on various phases of the Bahá'i Cause and its teachings contributed by Bahá'í writers and presented with clearness and accuracy, reports of conferences and conventions, Bahá'í News and Travel Notes and other interesting information. Volumes 17, 18 and 19 contain valuable material and information for students of religion, sociology, science, etc., both Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís.
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Bound in half leather, each volume $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00; postage additional.
All of the bound volumes of earlier years are filled with such remarkable spiritual teachings of the New Age that they constitute a priceless library. Volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 contain many sublime records of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's teachings, addresses and interviews in Europe and America. (Volumes 2 and 3 are now exhausted and Volume 4 cannot be supplied in a complete form as several numbers of this volume are exhausted.)
Volumes 7 and 8, which are, also, often bound together, contain the wonderful compilations on the Divine Art of Living and the New Covenant.
Volume 9 contains varied records from the Holy Land and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words on the material, intellectual and spiritual education of children; and both volumes 9 and 10 filled with Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá written after the Great War.
Volumes 11 and 12 contain many Tablets and pictures and inspiring accounts of visits with 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Haifa, where members of all religions and races gathered in unity at the table of the Master. Volume 12 also gives the immortal narrative of His last days on earth and His ascension into the Kingdom.
Volume 13 contains priceless letters of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'i Cause, articles of universal interest and other valuable material.
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