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WHO IS WRITING THE FUTURE? REFLECTIONS ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

GUEST EDITORIAL

THE CONVERSION OF THE GREAT-UNCLE OF THE BÁB

AHANG RABBANI

ALBERT C. KILLIUS-PHOTOGRAPHER OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

ADEN J. LAUCHNER [Page ii]World Order VOLUME 30, NUMBER 3

WORLD ORDER IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE, INSPIRE, AND SERVE THINKING PEOPLE IN THEIR SEARCH TO FIND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHY

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WORLD ORDER is published quarterly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, 536 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, IL 60091-1811. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher or of the Editorial Board.

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Copyright 1999, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. ISSN 0043-8804

IN THIS ISSUE

Who Is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century Guest Editorial

Interchange: Letters from and to the Editor

The Race poem by William P. Collins

The Conversion of the Great-Uncle of the Báb by Ahang Rabbani

A Chinese Reflection poem by Joan Imig Taylor

Albert C. Killius-Photographer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by Aden J. Lauchner [Page 1]

Who Is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century

BAHÁ’Í INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, NEW YORK

ON May 28, 1992, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies met in special session to commemorate the centenary of the passing of Bahá’u’lláh, whose influence is becoming an increasingly familiar feature of the world's social and intellectual landscape. His message of unity had clearly struck a deep chord with the Brazilian legislators. During the course of the proceedings, speakers representing all parties in the Chamber paid tribute to a body of writings which one deputy described as "the most colossal religious work written by the pen of a single Man," and to a conception of our planet's future which, "transcending material frontiers," in the words of another, "reached out to humanity as a whole, without petty differences of nationality, race, limits, or beliefs."¹

The tribute was all the more striking because of the fact that, in the land of his birth, Bahá’u’lláh’s work continues to be bitterly condemned by the Muslim clergy who rule Iran. Their predecessors had been responsible for his banishment and imprisonment in the middle years of the nineteenth century, and for the massacre of thousands of those who shared his ideals for the transforming of human life and society. Even as the proceedings in Brasilia were under way, refusal to deny beliefs that have won high praise throughout most of the rest of the world was bringing the 300,000 Bahá’ís living in Iran persecution, privation, and, in all too many cases, imprisonment and death.

Similar opposition characterized the attitudes of various totalitarian regimes over the past century.

What is the nature of the body of thought that has aroused such sharply divergent reactions?

1. Remarks by Deputy Luis Gushiken and Deputy Rita Camata. "Sessão Solene da Câmara Federal em Homenagem ao Centenário da Ascensão de Bahá’u’lláh," Brasilia, 28 May 1992. [Page 2]

I

THE MAINSPRING of Bahá’u’lláh’s message is an exposition of reality as fundamentally spiritual in nature, and of the laws that govern that reality's operation. It not only sees the individual as a spiritual being, a "rational soul," but also insists that the entire enterprise that we call civilization is itself a spiritual process, one in which the human mind and heart have created progressively more complex and efficient means to express their inherent moral and intellectual capacities.

Rejecting the reigning dogmas of materialism, Bahá’u’lláh asserts an opposing interpretation of the historical process. Humanity, the arrowhead of the evolution of consciousness, passes through stages analogous to the periods of infancy, childhood, and adolescence in the lives of its individual members. The journey has brought us to the threshold of our long-awaited coming of age as a unified human race. The wars, exploitation, and prejudice that have marked immature stages in the process should not be a cause of despair but a stimulus to assuming the responsibilities of collective maturity.

Writing to the political and religious leaders of his own day, Bahá’u’lláh said that new capacities of incalculable power—beyond the conception of the generation then living—were awakening in the earth's peoples, capacities which would soon transform the material life of the planet. It was essential, he said, to make of these coming material advances vehicles for moral and social development. If nationalistic and sectarian conflicts prevented this from happening, then material progress would produce not only benefits, but unimagined evils. Some of Bahá’u’lláh’s warnings awaken grim echoes in our own age: "Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth," he cautioned. "These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and their contamination would prove lethal."²

II

THE CENTRAL spiritual issue facing all people, Bahá’u’lláh says, whatever their nation, religion, or ethnic origin, is that of laying the foundations of a global society that can reflect the oneness of human nature. The unification of the earth's inhabitants is neither a remote utopian vision nor, ultimately, a matter of choice. It constitutes the next, inescapable stage in the process of social evolution, a stage toward which all the experience of past and present is impelling us. Until this issue is acknowledged and addressed, none of the ills afflicting our planet will find solutions, because all the essential challenges of the age we have entered are global and universal, not particular or regional.

2. Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, trans. Habib Taherzadeh et al., Ist ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1997) 69. [Page 3]

WHO IS WRITING THE FUTURE?

The many passages of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings dealing with humanity's coming of age are permeated by his use of light as a metaphor to capture the transforming power of unity: "So powerful is the light of unity," they insist, "that it can illuminate the whole earth." The assertion places current history in a perspective sharply different from the one that prevails at the end of the twentieth century. It urges us to find within the suffering and breakdown of our times-the operation of forces that are liberating human consciousness for a new stage in its evolution. It calls on us to reexamine what has been happening over the past one hundred years and the effect that these developments have had on the heterogenous mass of peoples, races, nations, and communities who have experienced them.

If, as Bahá’u’lláh asserts, "the well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established," it is understandable why Bahá’ís view the twentieth century with all its disasters-as "the century of light." For these one hundred years witnessed a transformation in both the way the earth's inhabitants have begun to plan our collective future and in the way we are coming to regard one another. The hallmark of both has been a process of unification. Upheavals beyond the control of existing institutions compelled world leaders to begin putting in place new systems of global organization that would have been unthinkable at the century's beginning. As this was occurring, rapid erosion was overtaking habits and attitudes that had divided peoples and nations through unnumbered centuries of conflict and that had seemed likely to endure for ages to come.

At the midpoint of the century, these two developments produced a breakthrough whose historic significance only future generations will properly appreciate. In the stunned aftermath of World War II, far-sighted leaders found it at last possible, through the United Nations organization, to begin consolidating the foundations of world order. Long dreamed of by progressive thinkers, the new system of international conventions and related agencies was now endowed with crucial powers that had tragically been denied to the abortive League of Nations. As the century advanced, the system's primitive muscles of international peacekeeping were progressively exercised in such a way as to demonstrate persuasively what can be accomplished. With this came the steady expansion throughout the world of democratic

3. Bahá’u’lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, trans. Shoghi Effendi, Ist ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988) 14. 4. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, trans. Shoghi Effendi, Ist ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1983) section CXXXI. 5. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982) 74, 126. [Page 4]institutions of governance. If the practical effects are still disappointing, this in no way diminishes the historic and irreversible change of direction that has taken place in the organization of human affairs. As with the cause of world order, so with the rights of the world's people. Exposure of the appalling suffering visited on the victims of human perversity during the course of the war produced a worldwide sense of shock-and what can only be termed deep feelings of shame. Out of this trauma emerged a new kind of moral commitment that was formally institutionalized in the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and its associated agencies, a development inconceivable to the nineteenth-century rulers to whom Bahá’u’lláh had addressed himself on the subject. Thus empowered, a growing body of nongovernmental organizations have set out to ensure that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is established as the foundation of normative international standards and is enforced accordingly.

A parallel process took place with respect to economic life. During the first half of the century, as a consequence of the havoc wrought by the great depression, many governments adopted legislation that created social welfare programs and systems of financial control, reserve funds, and trade regulations that sought to protect their societies from a recurrence of such devastation. The period following World War II brought the establishment of institutions whose field of operation is global: the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and a network of development agencies devoted to rationalizing and advancing the material prosperity of the planet. At century's end-whatever the intentions and however crude the present generation of tools-the masses of humanity have been shown that the use of the planet's wealth can be fundamentally reorganized in response to entirely new conceptions of need.

The effect of these developments was enormously amplified by the accelerating extension of education to the masses. Apart from the willingness of national and local governments to allocate greatly increased resources to this field and the society's ability to mobilize and train armies of professionally qualified teachers, two twentieth-century advances at the international level were particularly influential. The first was the series of development plans focussed on educational needs and massively financed by such bodies as the World Bank, government agencies, major foundations and several branches of the United Nations system. The second was the information technology explosion that has made all of the earth's inhabitants potential beneficiaries of the whole of the race's learning.

This process of structural reorganization on a planetary scale was animated and reinforced by a profound shift of consciousness. Entire populations found themselves abruptly compelled to face the costs of [Page 5]

WHO IS WRITING THE FUTURE?

ingrained habits of mind that breed conflict-and to do so in the full glare of worldwide censure of what were once considered acceptable practices and attitudes. The effect was to stimulate revolutionary change in the way that people regard one another.

Throughout history, for example, experience seemed to demonstrate and religious teaching to confirm-that women are essentially inferior in nature to men. Overnight, in the historical scheme of things, this prevailing perception was suddenly everywhere in retreat. However long and painful may be the process of giving full effect to Bahá’u’lláh’s assertion that women and men are in every sense equal, intellectual and moral support for any opposing view steadily disintegrates.

Yet another fixture of humanity's view of itself throughout past millennia was a celebration of ethnic distinctions which, in recent centuries, had hardened into various racist fantasies. With a swiftness that is breathtaking in the perspective of history, the twentieth century saw the unity of the human race establish itself as a guiding principle of international order. Today, the ethnic conflicts that continue to wreak havoc in many parts of the world are seen not as natural features of the relations among diverse peoples, but as willful aberrations that must be brought under effective international control.

Throughout humanity's long childhood, it was also assumed-again with the full concurrence of organized religion-that poverty was an enduring and inescapable feature of the social order. Now, however, this mind-set, an assumption that had shaped the priorities of every economic system the world had ever known, has been universally rejected. In theory at least, government has come to be everywhere regarded as essentially a trustee responsible to ensure the well-being of all of society's members.

Particularly significant-because of its intimate relationship with the roots of human motivation-was the loosening of the grip of religious prejudice. Prefigured in the "Parliament of Religions" that attracted intense interest as the nineteenth century was drawing to a close, the process of interfaith dialogue and collaboration reinforced the effects of secularism in undermining the once impregnable walls of clerical authority. In the face of the transformation in religious conceptions that the past hundred years witnessed, even the current outburst of fundamentalist reaction may come, in retrospect, to be seen as little more than desperate rear-guard actions against an inevitable dissolution of sectarian control. In the words of Bahá’u’lláh, "There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God."

6. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section CXI. [Page 6]During these critical decades the human mind was also experiencing fundamental changes in the way that it understood the physical universe. The first half of the century saw the new theories of relativity and quantum mechanics—both of them intimately related to the nature and operation of light—revolutionize the field of physics and alter the entire course of scientific development. It became apparent that classical physics could explain phenomena within only a limited range. A new door had suddenly opened into the study of both the minute constituents of the universe and its large cosmological systems, a change whose effects went far beyond physics, shaking the very foundations of a world view that had dominated scientific thinking for centuries. Gone forever were the images of a mechanical universe run like a clock and a presumed separation between observer and observed, between mind and matter. Against the background of the far-reaching studies thus made possible, theoretical science now begins to address the possibility that purpose and intelligence are indeed intrinsic to the nature and operation of the universe.

In the wake of these conceptual changes, humanity entered an era in which interaction among physical sciences—physics, chemistry, and biology, along with the nascent science of ecology—opened breathtaking possibilities for the enhancement of life. The benefits in such vital areas of concern as agriculture and medicine became dramatically apparent as did those brought about by success in tapping new sources of energy. Simultaneously, the new field of materials science began providing a wealth of specialized resources unknown when the century opened—plastics, optical fibers, carbon fibers. Such advances in science and technology were reciprocal in their effects. Grains of sand—the most humble and ostensibly worthless of materials—metamorphosed into silicon wafers and optically pure glass, making possible the creation of worldwide communications networks. This, together with the deployment of ever more sophisticated satellite systems, has begun providing access to the accumulated knowledge of the entire human race for people everywhere, without distinction. It is apparent that the decades immediately ahead will see the integration of telephone, television, and computer technologies into a single, unified system of communication and information, whose inexpensive appliances will be available on a mass scale. It would be difficult to exaggerate the psychological and social impact of the anticipated replacement of the jumble of existing monetary systems—for many, the ultimate fortress of nationalist pride—by a single world currency operating largely through electronic impulses.

Indeed, the unifying effect of the twentieth-century revolution is nowhere more readily apparent than in the implications of the changes that took place in scientific and technological life. At the most obvious level, the human race is now endowed with the means needed to realize the visionary goals summoned up by a steadily maturing [Page 7]consciousness. Viewed more deeply, this empowerment is potentially available to all of the earth's inhabitants, without regard to race, culture, or nation. "A new life," Bahá’u’lláh prophetically saw, "is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive." Today, more than a century after these words were written, the implications of what has since taken place begin to be apparent to thoughtful minds everywhere.

III

TO APPRECIATE the transformations brought about by the period of history now ending is not to deny the accompanying darkness that throws the achievements into sharp relief: the deliberate extermination of millions of helpless human beings, the invention and use of new weapons of destruction capable of annihilating whole populations, the rise of ideologies that suffocated the spiritual and intellectual life of entire nations, damage to the physical environment of the planet on a scale so massive that it may take centuries to heal, and the incalculably greater damage done to generations of children taught to believe that violence, indecency, and selfishness are triumphs of personal liberty. Such are only the more obvious of a catalogue of evils, unmatched in history, whose lessons our era will leave for the education of the chastened generations who will follow us.

Darkness, however, is not a phenomenon endowed with some form of existence, much less autonomy. It does not extinguish light nor diminish it, but marks out those areas that light has not reached or adequately illumined. So will twentieth-century civilization no doubt be assessed by the historians of a more mature and dispassionate age. The ferocities of animal nature, which raged out of control through these critical years and seemed at times to threaten society's very survival, did not in fact prevent the steady unfoldment of the creative potentialities which human consciousness possesses. On the contrary. As the century advanced, growing numbers of people awakened to how empty were the allegiances and how insubstantial the fears that had held them captive only short years before.

"Peerless is this Day," Bahá’u’lláh insists, "for it is as the eye to past ages and centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times."8 In this perspective, the issue is not the darkness that slowed and obscured the progress achieved in the extraordinary hundred years now ending. It is, rather, how much more suffering and ruin must be experienced by our race before we wholeheartedly accept the spiritual nature that makes us a single people, and gather the courage to plan our future in the light of what has been so painfully learned.

7. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section XCVI. 8. Bahá’u’lláh, quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, Ist ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990) 79. [Page 8]

IV

THE CONCEPTION of civilization's future course laid out in Bahá’u’lláh’s writings challenges much that today imposes itself on our world as normative and unchangeable. The breakthroughs made during the century of light have opened the door to a new kind of world. If social and intellectual evolution is in fact responding to a moral intelligence inherent in existence, a great deal of the theory determining contemporary approaches to decision-making is fatally flawed. If human consciousness is essentially spiritual in nature—as the vast majority of ordinary people have always been intuitively aware—its development needs cannot be understood or served through an interpretation of reality that dogmatically insists otherwise.

No aspect of contemporary civilization is more directly challenged by Bahá’u’lláh’s conception of the future than is the prevailing cult of individualism, which has spread to most parts of the world. Nurtured by such cultural forces as political ideology, academic elitism, and a consumer economy, the "pursuit of happiness" has given rise to an aggressive and almost boundless sense of personal entitlement. The moral consequences have been corrosive for the individual and society alike and devastating in terms of disease, drug addiction and other all-too-familiar blights of century's end. The task of freeing humanity from an error so fundamental and pervasive will call into question some of the twentieth century's most deeply entrenched assumptions about right and wrong.

What are some of these unexamined assumptions? The most obvious is the conviction that unity is a distant, almost unattainable ideal to be addressed only after a host of political conflicts have been somehow resolved, material needs somehow satisfied, and injustices somehow corrected. The opposite, Bahá’u’lláh asserts, is the case. The primary disease that afflicts society and generates the ills that cripple it, he says, is the disunity of a human race that is distinguished by its capacity for collaboration and whose progress to date has depended on the extent to which unified action has, at various times and in various societies, been achieved. To cling to the notion that conflict is an intrinsic feature of human nature, rather than a complex of learned habits and attitudes, is to impose on a new century an error which, more than any other single factor, has tragically handicapped humanity's past. "Regard the world," Bahá’u’lláh advised elected leaders, "as the human body which, though at its creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies."

Intimately related to the issue of unity is a second moral challenge that the past century has posed with ever increasing urgency. In the

9. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section CXX. [Page 9]sight of God, Bahá’u’lláh insists, justice is the "best beloved of all things."10 It enables the individual to see reality through his or her own eyes rather than those of others and endows collective decision making with the authority that alone can ensure unity of thought and action. However gratifying is the system of international order that has emerged from the harrowing experiences of the twentieth century, its enduring influence will depend on acceptance of the moral principle implicit in it. If the body of humankind is indeed one and indivisible, then the authority exercised by its governing institutions represents essentially a trusteeship. Each individual person comes into the world as a trust of the whole, and it is this feature of human existence that constitutes the real foundation of the social, economic, and cultural rights that the United Nations Charter and its related documents articulate. Justice and unity are reciprocal in their effect. "The purpose of justice," Bahá’u’lláh wrote, "is the appearance of unity among men. The ocean of divine wisdom surgeth within this exalted word, while the books of the world cannot contain its inner significance."11

As society commits itself—however hesitantly and fearfully—to these and related moral principles, the most meaningful role it will offer the individual will be that of service. One of the paradoxes of human life is that development of the self comes primarily through commitment to larger undertakings in which the self—even if only temporarily—is forgotten. In an age that opens up to people of every condition an opportunity to participate effectively in the shaping of the social order itself, the ideal of service to others assumes entirely new significance. To exalt such goals as acquisition and self-assertion as the purpose of life is to promote chiefly the animal side of human nature. Nor can simplistic messages of personal salvation any longer address the yearnings of generations who have come to know, with deep certainty, that true fulfillment is as much a matter of this world as it is of the next. "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in," is Bahá’u’lláh’s counsel, "and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."12

Such perspectives have profound implications for the conduct of human affairs. It is obvious, for example, that, whatever its past contributions, the longer the nation state persists as the dominant influence in determining the fate of humankind, the longer will the achievement of world peace be delayed and the greater will be the suffering inflicted on the earth's population. In humanity's economic

10. Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words, trans. Shoghi Effendi (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1939) no. 2 from the Arabic. 11. Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 67. 12. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section CVI. [Page 10]life, no matter how great the blessings brought by globalization, it is apparent that this process has also created unparalleled concentrations of autocratic power that must be brought under international democratic control if they are not to produce poverty and despair for countless millions. Similarly, the historic breakthrough in information and communication technology, which represents so potent a means to promote social development and the deepening of people’s sense of their common humanity, can, with equal force, divert and coarsen impulses vital to the service of this very process.

V

WHAT Bahá’u’lláh is speaking of is a new relationship between God and humankind, one that is in harmony with the dawning maturity of the race. The ultimate Reality that has created and sustains the universe will forever remain beyond the reach of the human mind. Humanity’s conscious relationship with it, to the extent that one has been established, has been the result of the influence of the Founders of the great religions, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and earlier figures whose names are, for the most part, lost to memory. Through responding to these impulses of the Divine, the earth’s peoples have progressively developed the spiritual, intellectual, and moral capacities that have combined to civilize human character. This millennia-long, cumulative process has now reached the stage characteristic of all the decisive turning points in the evolutionary process, when previously unrealized possibilities suddenly emerge: "This is the Day," Bahá’u’lláh asserts, "in which God’s most excellent favors have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things."13

Viewed through Bahá’u’lláh’s eyes, the history of tribes, peoples, and nations has effectively reached its conclusion. What we are witnessing is the beginning of the history of humankind, the history of a human race conscious of its own oneness. To this turning point in the course of civilization, his writings bring a redefinition of the nature and processes of civilization and a reordering of its priorities. Their aim is to call us back to spiritual awareness and responsibility.

There is nothing in Bahá’u’lláh’s writings to encourage the illusion that the changes envisioned will come about easily. Far otherwise. As the events of the twentieth century have already demonstrated, patterns of habit and attitude which have taken root over thousands of years are not abandoned either spontaneously or in response simply to education or legislative action. Whether in the life of the individual or that of society, profound change occurs more often than not in

13. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section IV. [Page 11]response to intense suffering and to unendurable difficulties that can be overcome in no other way. Just so great a testing experience, Bahá’u’lláh warned, is needed to weld the earth's diverse peoples into a single people.

Spiritual and materialistic conceptions of the nature of reality are irreconcilable with one another and lead in opposite directions. As a new century opens, the course set by the second of these two opposing views has already carried a hapless humanity far beyond the outermost point where an illusion of rationality, let alone of human well-being, could once be sustained. With every passing day, the signs multiply that great numbers of people everywhere are awakening to this realization.

Despite widely prevalent opinion to the contrary, the human race is not a blank tablet on which privileged arbiters of human affairs can freely inscribe their own wishes. The springs of the spirit rise up where they will, as they will. They will not indefinitely be suppressed by the detritus of contemporary society. It no longer requires prophetic insight to appreciate that the opening years of the new century will see the release of energies and aspirations infinitely more potent than the accumulated routines, falsities, and addictions that have so long blocked their expression.

However great the turmoil, the period into which humanity is moving will open to every individual, every institution, and every community on earth unprecedented opportunities to participate in the writing of the planet's future. "Soon," is Bahá’u’lláh’s confident promise, “will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead."14

14. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh section IV. [Page 12]

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LETTERS FROM AND TO THE EDITOR

LONG-TIME readers of World Order have come to expect the occasional appearance in these pages of articles that examine both the history of a topic and its implications for the present and future. This issue offers an array of studies, each different in approach and purpose, each covering a different moment in time, but each looking at its greater significance in the development of the Bahá’í Faith and in recent world history.

The guest editorial "Who is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century" was written by the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information in New York. It looks back over a century of dramatic and powerful social change: transformations and upheavals in humanity's collective life dominated not only by the rise of efficient new totalitarian systems and unprecedented capacities for self-destruction but by the crafting of international consultative mechanisms, the establishment of global agencies for coordinating a world economy, a revolution in attitudes toward women and their role in society, a new assault on racism and concepts of ethnic superiority, a recognition that poverty is not an inescapable feature of the social order but a failure of it, a loosening of religious prejudice, and a rise of interfaith efforts.

In short, the editorial looks at history through the perspective of unity, examining the social and spiritual forces that are driving humanity forward in its collective development. Rejecting a pessimistic analysis of the century now waning, the statement "places current history in a perspective sharply different from the one that prevails"; it "urges us to find within the suffering and breakdown of our times-the operation of forces that are liberating human consciousness for a new stage in its evolution." It closes with the promise that "however great the turmoil, the period into which humanity is moving will open to every individual, every institution, and every community on earth unprecedented opportunities to participate in the writing of the planet's future."

Ahang Rabbani’s "The Conversion of the Great-Uncle of the Báb" takes us from issues confronting the twenty-first century back to the beginnings of the Bahá’í Faith in the mid-nineteenth century. A remarkable collection of translations, with commentary, the article offers details about Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb never before available in English. The Báb’s great-uncle, Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad (1798-1876), known as Khál-i Akbar, was a witness to the birth of the Báb’s mission. In a series of letters to family members in 1845, Khál-i Akbar wrote about his nephew’s spiritual greatness (even though he did not yet accept the Báb as a divine Manifestation of God) and how important it was [Page 13]

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for the other family members to respect Him. Letters by other members of the great-uncle’s family describe meetings with the Báb and the oppression they experienced (at one point they had to wash the ink of His writings off the paper on which it was written because the governor of Shiraz forbade anyone to possess copies of His revelation).

The article then turns to the circumstances that led Khál-i Akbar to meet Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad in 1861. One recollection describes a conversation between Khál-i Akbar and a family member in which the uncle was told his nephew claimed to be the Qá’im, the Promised One of Islam. Khál-i Akbar was so startled that he agreed to go to Baghdad where he asked Bahá’u’lláh a series of questions about the Báb’s claims. Bahá’u’lláh responded by revealing the Kitáb-i Íqán, one of his most important works. A summary of Bahá’u’lláh’s description of the events and translations of the questions the Báb’s great-uncle put to Bahá’u’lláh are included. The article also contains a letter the uncle wrote to his son on 17 January 1861, just a few days after the revelation of the Kitáb-i Íqán, giving his reaction to meeting Bahá’u’lláh and providing (for the first time) a reliable date for the book’s revelation. As a result of these translations, Western readers now have access to crucial parts of the revelation history of the Íqán. The article closes with an account of Khál-i Akbar’s discovery in 1866 that Bahá’u’lláh Himself was a Manifestation of God (a claim He had not made in 1861), his acceptance of Bahá’u’lláh’s station, and his confession of faith.

Aden Lauchner’s “Albert Killius-Photographer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” a piece of historical biography, moves us back to the twentieth century. It offers the story of a humble photographer who took many pictures of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when He visited Chicago in 1912 and who was transformed by the experience. Killius (1872-1961) devoted the rest of his life to spreading the Bahá’í Faith, using his photography as a vehicle for moving from town to town, establishing or strengthening Bahá’í communities in Spokane, Washington; Anaconda, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula, Montana; Duluth, Minnesota; and finally his native Springfield, Illinois. Besides photographing thousands of clients, Killius constantly reproduced his photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to give away to Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís alike, content to live on little so he could share much with others.

World Order, as we hinted in the Interchange column in our Winter 1998-99 issue, is pleased to introduce you to three new members who have been added to the [Page 14]Editorial Board as it prepares for changes in its format and contents that will make it responsive to the new millennium almost upon us.

Arash Abizadeh is completing his doctoral dissertation on "Rhetoric, the Passions, and Difference in Deliberative Democracy" in the Department of Government at Harvard University. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed a Master of Philosophy in Politics at Queen's College, Oxford University, in 1994. He earned a B.A. with a major in political science and economics from the University of Winnipeg in 1992.

In addition to research assistantships, teaching fellowships, and an instructorship at Harvard, Arash has received a number of honors and awards during his graduate work, including the Harvard Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship, the Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship, and the Judith Shklar Prize Fellow in Government. He has published several articles.

Monireh Kazemzadeh brings to the Editorial Board a degree in history from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before entering law school, she represented the Bahá’ís of the United States at the United Nations, acting as the liaison between the U.S. Bahá’í community, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and the nongovernmental organizations of the U.N. In 1985 she participated in the NGO Forum at the U.N. conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, marking the end of the Decade for Women.

After completing law school, Monireh, who specialized in international project finance, joint ventures, and negotiated mergers and acquisitions, worked for Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, and Hamilton, an international law firm with offices in New York and Paris. For the last several years she has been pursuing a life-long dream of owning an equestrian center and of editing and writing.

Kevin A. Morrison, who is currently the Assistant Director of the U.S. Bahá’í Refugee Office in Evanston, Illinois, holds a B.A. degree in political philosophy and theoretical sociology from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. His honors thesis, which explored the communicative ethics controversy in social theory, received the Threshold Grant, awarded to a small number of graduates to develop their theses for publication. Kevin has been involved in publishing for a number of years, serving on the editorial boards of Reckoning, The Hampshire College Journal of Philosophy, and The Reader and as a member of the advisory boards of three journals of philosophy and literary criticism. Before entering college, he served for five years on various Bahá’í national advisory bodies for youth issues in the Hawaiian Islands and in New Zealand, where he also established the first Office of Youth Affairs. He is active in service and scholarly organizations including the American Lacanian Link.

GILLIGAN, GENDER EQUALITY, AND THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

I have just recently had the opportunity to read your Fall 1995 issue, and while it is somewhat late to respond, I wanted to commend the excellent article by Martha Leach Schweitz, "Of Webs and Ladders: Gender Equality in Bahá’í Law." The application of Carol Gilligan's groundbreaking, if often misappropriated, work to Bahá’í concepts of gender equality is one I found particularly enlightening and thought-provoking. Applying the concept of the validity of both the "ethic of care and the ethic of rights" and the need to equalize their influence on society sheds new light on ‘Abdu’l- [Page 15]Bahá’s statement about the new age being one in which the masculine and feminine qualities are more evenly balanced and puts the Master’s ideas into a language and style more accessible to contemporary thought.

Our tendency (at least in Western society) to equate gender equality with women acting like men may well be as much of a barrier to true justice and equity as the more blatant abuses and prejudices that still prevail in much of the world. As a long-time feminist, this issue has been of concern to me for some time, and it is only recently that I have begun to acquire the perspective necessary to separate the concepts of equality and sameness, to begin to pinpoint the flaws in reasoning and argumentation that have characterized so many feminist treatises on the topic. Until we truly value, both psychologically and materially, that which has been traditionally labeled feminine—and consequently undervalued and rejected by society—we will not begin to achieve true equality. And women, men, and children will continue to suffer as a result.

My thanks to Ms. Schweitz on a most illuminating and interesting article.

LINDA LEEB DUPER Oakland, California

[Page 17]

The Race

Greeting his father, a boy begs a race to the porch, affectionate gift, child to man.

What compels the father's breakneck speed to reach the goal before the tiny feet and turn with bare-toothed grimace on the defeated?

The humiliated, alone, contemplate the puzzles of cruelty, draw inward to future defenses, oblivious of linked destinies.

Three decades' knowledge remembers anew and knows the brutalized genealogy of-how many sons? No new knowledge can win that race and achieve a gift's acceptance.

Yet I know the race that was made for you, as you made mine for me.- (27 Dec. 1986) Mine ends differently.

-William P. Collins Copyright 1999 by William P. Collins

[Page 19]

The Conversion of the Great-Uncle of the Báb

BY AHANG RABBANI

ONE OF THE most significant figures in community was Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad (1798–1876), known as Khál-i Akbar (the greater uncle) because he was the oldest maternal uncle of the Báb, the Prophet-Forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith.¹ When Khál-i Akbar’s nephew, Mírzá Sayyid ‘Alí-Muḥammad of Shiraz, began His mission as a divine messenger in 1844, assuming the title of the Báb (the Gate), He announced His ministry gradually and in veiled language to avoid immediate opposition from Iran’s entrenched Islamic clerical establishment. Khál-i-Akbar has long been portrayed in English-language histories of the Bábí Faith as not being a believer, perhaps skeptical of his nephew’s claims.

But Khál-i Akbar’s private correspondence—only recently published in Persian, some of which is first translated into English in this article—reveals him to be a man with considerable sympathy toward the Báb, a man who recognized that his nephew was a remarkable spiritual teacher. The correspondence also brings the reader into the private discussions of the Báb’s family, showing their affection for Him and each other, their desire to share news about His movements, and their allegiance to His person.

In spite of that allegiance, however, Khál-i Akbar either did not immediately understand or accept the notion that the Báb was a Manifestation of God. Such recognition was delayed until 1861, almost a decade after his nephew’s execution by firing squad in 1850. It was brought about by Mirza Husayn-‘Alí (1817–92) known to the world as Bahá’u’lláh (the Glory of God), the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. During the opening days of January 1861 Khál-i Akbar visited Baghdad to discuss with Bahá’u’lláh his concerns about the claim and station of the Báb and acceded to Bahá’u’lláh’s request that he put his questions in writing (which are translated into English below). In reply Bahá’u’lláh revealed a treatise that He later called the Kitáb-i fqán. Khál-i Akbar’s private correspondence about the trip (also translated into English below) provides valuable historical context for understanding Bahá’u’lláh’s second most significant work, as well as pinpointing the date of its revelation.

Khál-i Akbar returned to Iran both a confirmed believer in the Báb and devoted to

Copyright 1999 by Ahang Rabbani. I wish to record my debt of gratitude to Abu’l-Qasim Afnan, my father-in-law, for his unceasing encouragement during this study and to the editors of World Order and Dr. Manuchehr Derakhshani for making invaluable comments on the manuscript.

1. Khál-i Akbar was the firstborn of Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-Husayn, the son of Aqá Mirzá ‘Abid (known as Zaynu’l-’Abidín), the son of Áqá Mírzá Sayyid Muhammad (see Muhammad-Ali Faizi, Ḥadrat-i Núqtih-i Úlá [Tehran: MMMA Publications, 1975] 64). Khál-i Akbar’s sister, Fátimih-Bagum, was the Báb’s mother. The Báb would declare Himself to be an independent Manifestation of God in 1844 when Khál-i Akbar was forty-six years old.

2. See Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844–1850 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1989) 212n; Hasan Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory (Oxford: George Ronald, 1992) 163; Hasan Balyuzi, The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days (Oxford: George Ronald, 1973) 33. [Page 20]Bahá’u’lláh, Who had not yet announced His own claim to be a Manifestation of God. In 1866 Khál-i Akbar came to understand and accept Bahá’u’lláh as a Manifestation of God, when Nabíl-i A’ẓam, a historian of the Bábí and Bahá’í faiths, visited Shiraz and proclaimed Bahá’u’lláh’s announcement to the Bábís. The Báb’s uncle (as the document translated below shows) quickly accepted Bahá’u’lláh as the One prophesied by the Báb. His will and testament (also given in translation) demonstrates that Khál-i Akbar ended his earthly life as a devoted follower of Bahá’u’lláh.

Khál-i Akbar’s Earliest Associations with the Báb

KHÁL-I Akbar’s family were among the best-known and the most trustworthy merchants in the province of Fárs. Khál-i Akbar’s wife, Ḥájíyyih Bíbí Fáṭimih-Ṣáḥib (a daughter of Ḥájí Muḥammad-Muḥsin) also came from a prominent merchant family of ‘Abdu’l-Ḥusayní, which traded in Shiraz and Bushire and eventually had commercial interests that extended from India to Europe.³ Khál-i Akbar ran the family office in Bushire, where he and the Báb were partners during the first four years in which the Báb worked there as a merchant.

Although Khál-i Akbar had no indication that the Báb would later declare Himself to be an independent Manifestation of God Whose purpose was to inaugurate a new religion and to prepare for the coming of “He Whom God shall make manifest” [Bahá’u’lláh], he grew increasingly concerned during those years about the Báb’s preoccupation with religious matters, fearing that such proclivities might cause problems for their prominent family.

Mírzá Ḥabíb Afnán, the late custodian of the House of the Báb in Shiraz and a prominent member of the Báb’s family, reports that

One day in Egypt during the time when [Mírzá] Abu’l-Faḍl was occupied with writing the Kitáb-i Fará’id, we began talking about the Báb’s early years, before His declaration, when He was engaged in trading.⁴ Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl related the following to me:

“I myself heard the late Ḥájí Sayyid Javád-i Karbilá’í relate that, when the Báb was pursuing a career as a merchant in Bushire, because of Ḥájí Sayyid Javád’s friendship and close association with the uncles of the Báb, he used to stay with them whenever he visited either Shiraz or Bushire. One day Ḥájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad came to him with a request, ‘Give some good counsel to my nephew. Tell him not to write or utter certain things that can only provoke the jealousy of certain people. These people cannot tolerate seeing a young merchant of little schooling showing such erudition and are, therefore, rendered envious and resentful.’”⁵

Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad was very insistent that Ḥájí Sayyid Javád should counsel the Báb [to desist from such activities]. Ḥájí Sayyid Javád, however, replied with these lines of verse: ‘The fair of face endureth not being veiled; shut him in, and out of a window will he show his

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3. Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥasan Fasá’í, Fárs-námih Náṣirí (Tehran: 1894) 2: 76–77.

4. Mírzá Abu’l-Faḍl of Gulpáygán (1844–1914), the foremost scholar of his generation, wrote extensively, proving the validity of the Bahá’í Faith and defending it. One such book is his Kitáb-i Fará’id (Cairo: n.d.) written in 1897 in response to polemics against Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán.

5. According to A.-L.-M. Nicolas (Seyyèd Alî Mohammed Dit le Bâb 190 [Paris: Dujarric & ‎Cic. Cie.‎, 1905]), the Báb, while in Bushire, wrote the Risáliy-i Fiqhíyyih (treatise in jurisprudence), which augured well for “a brilliant future in the path of Shi’ite orthodoxy.” It is conceivable that the writing of this treatise, or perhaps others similar to it, provoked Khál-i Akbar’s concern. [Page 21]visage.’ He added: “We are earthbound, and He is celestial. Our counsel is of no use to Him.”

In the summer of 1844, after His stirring declaration on 23 May of His being a Manifestation of God, the Báb instructed Mullah ‘Alíy-i Bastámí, the second to believe in Him, to journey to Bushire and to share the news of His proclamation with Khál-i Akbar. It appears that, in the course of this visit, the Báb’s uncle grew considerably in his understanding of his nephew’s claim.⁷

Khál-i Akbar’s Letter to His Mother and Sister

A FEW months after Bastámí visited Khál-i Akbar, the Báb visited His uncle while traveling to Mecca for His pilgrimage. On His return He again stayed with His uncle for some ten days, beginning on 15 May 1845.⁸ By the second visit Khál-i Akbar had developed a deep sense of respect and devotion toward the Báb, warmly welcoming Him into his home and showing genuine interest in his nephew’s claim. During the Báb’s return visit, Khál-i Akbar sent a letter to his mother and to his sister, Fátimih Bagum (the mother of the Báb):

O the Best of the Protectors!

To be conveyed to the illumined presence of the exalted lady, my mother, and to my sister, upon them rest the contentment of God.

He is.

To your sanctified presence it is respectfully submitted that first may your eyes and mine, and indeed all eyes, be illumined that, praised be God, in utmost health and well-being, the honored Hájí [the Báb] has arrived, and at present I stand in His service. It is deemed prudent for Him to tarry for a while in this place before proceeding [to Shiraz]. God willing, it will be soon that He will return to that city. Your blessed self [Khál-i Akbar’s mother] should be assured that He sent a letter from Muscat and a separate one that was addressed to my honored sister, though they arrived after His own arrival. When I first opened the envelope, I did not notice that it was addressed to my dear and honored sister and only noticed that there was a short letter addressed to the sister of Áqá Mírzá Abu’l-Qasim, which was forwarded. Now that I have determined it was meant separately for my sister, that one has been sent as well. Study them all. All eyes be solaced. In truth, His grace-bestowing Self brings light to the eyes of this world and of the next. He is the source of our pride. Praised be God, a thousand praises be upon God, the Gracious, the Benevolent. God willing, you have remained steadfast in His Cause and have not allowed the idle talk of the people to introduce doubt or uncertainty into your hearts. Permit no fear or anxiety about what you may hear. The Lord of creation is His protector and His support.

I have no other matter to present to you. With infinite longing, I stand eager to serve Him. I beseech your prayers. Peace, tranquility, and blessings of God rest upon you all. My children convey their warm greetings, saying, “May your eyes be solaced by His arrival.” The mother¹⁰ of my children, the lights of my eyes, also joins

6. “Táríkh-i Amry-i Fárs va Shíráz,” ms. 21–23; this translation is from the forthcoming book by Ahang Rabbani and Maryam Afnan-Rabbani, “In the Land of Refuge,” 145–46, to be published by Oneworld Press; the present translation has benefited from an earlier rendering appearing in Balyuzi, The Báb 39–40. 7. Abu’l-Qasim Afnan, A History of the Báb (London: Oneworld Press, 1999) 20 (forthcoming). 8. For a discussion of the dates associated with the Báb’s pilgrimage, see Denis MacEoin, Sources for the Early Bábí Doctrine and History (Leiden: Brill, 1992) 48. 9. A reference to Khadijih Bagum, the wife of the Báb. 10. A reference to Khál-i Akbar’s wife. [Page 22]in conveying her greetings and further adds her good wishes and informs my honored sister, “Would that I could be there to tell the mother of Áqá Mírzá Abu’l-Qásim, ‘Praised be God that she has a son-in-law [the Báb] Who is peerless in the world and all the inhabitants of the earth must obey His command.’”¹¹

Khál-i Akbar’s letter clearly indicates the extent to which he had come to believe, in some fashion, in his nephew’s Cause (amr). By urging his mother and his sister, the Báb’s mother, to remain firm in their belief of these claims as well, it can be inferred that at least some members of the Báb’s family had given their allegiance to Him and recognized Him as the instrument of a divine Cause, though they still perceived His station as being within the scope of Islam.

Khál-i Akbar’s Letter to His Brother

ABOUT the same time that Khál-i Akbar wrote to his mother and his sister, he sent another dispatch to his second brother, Ḥájí Mírzá Sayyid ‘Alí, known as Khál-i A’ẓam (the most great uncle).¹² From the content of this communication it is evident that the Báb’s claim had provoked considerable commotion. While many, including some of the Báb’s immediate family, were exerting pressure on Him to abandon His claims, the letter provides evidence that Khál-i Akbar was by then a devoted follower of the Báb, though he was yet unaware of the full magnitude of the Báb’s revelation.

. . . a letter was received about the Cause of the honored Sayyid and my Master [the Báb], may His station be exalted by the Almighty. Mírzá Abu’l-Qásim has written about it as well.¹³ Also, Ḥájí ‘Abdu’l-Ḥusayn has written, though his first letter did not arrive, but the second one did, and they contained the same.¹⁴ From what has been received, it is apparent that they have not deemed this matter [the claim of the Báb] to be the truth and have suggested that we conceal these imaginings and prevent Ḥájí Mullah Muḥammad from departing and spreading this claim of both.¹⁵ [Further, they have suggested that we] wait some time so that gradually this talk will be erased from people’s memory, as they fear that because of this [claim] we would suffer injuries or major losses.

My view, however, is that, if we were to consider the matter from the worldly point of view, it would be, indeed, as they have stated. After reading these missives, my Master, the honored Ḥájí [the Báb] became greatly saddened over the infirmity [lack of steadfastness] of those who had penned these [letters]. Nevertheless, He stated, “Regarding the teaching of the Cause, what Akhund Mullah Ḥusayn initially had spread to the King, the ulama, and the people should have sufficed, and this second time was only because of Our grace, as there was no need for it.¹⁶ Now that such reactions have been observed and will be discerned, for [the next] five

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11. The original of this letter in the hand of Ḥájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad (Khál-i Akbar) is among the private papers of Abu’l-Qasim Afnan. The text can be found in Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán 25–27.

12. After the death of the Báb’s father, Khál-i A’ẓam had served as his nephew’s guardian and had raised him until the age of fifteen, at which time the Báb moved to Bushire.

13. A brother-in-law of the Báb in Shiraz who shielded the Báb from the attacks of the governor and remained loyal to Him throughout his life. He is the paternal great-grandfather of Shoghi Effendi, whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed in His will and testament to be the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith after His death.

14. Ḥájí ‘Abdu’l-Ḥusayn was the paternal grandfather of Khál-i Akbar’s wife and an influential merchant in Fárs.

15. Presumably a reference to Quddús, whose full name was Ḥájí Mullah Muḥammad-‘Alíy-i Bárfurúshí. Khál-i Akbar is advising that both the Báb and Quddús be prevented from advancing the Báb’s claims.

16. Mullah Husayn-i Bushrú’í was the first to believe in the Báb when He declared His mission on 22 May 1844. [Page 23]

THE CONVERSION OF THE GREAT-UNCLE OF THE BÁB

years I have forbidden unto Myself the revelation of verses. This, indeed, is the most grievous punishment for those who have denied, and they will comprehend its effect only after they have been left with no recourse. After My arrival in Shiraz, as had been My practice in the past, I will remain in My house and will not associate with anyone and will not allow others to attain unto My presence. I will have no dealings with anyone and will leave people to themselves. Meanwhile should anyone be found who seeks the truth and be willing to embrace it, I shall designate one to answer his questions. Once I decline to associate with others, others will not bother with Me as well. If it were not because of My esteemed mother and grandmother, I would never return to Shiraz and single and alone would establish My home in this very city [Bushire], or would go in a direction that none would know."

If our honored mother desires to visit the sacred city of Mashhad, she can proceed with you. Accordingly, please arrange for her journey. And if by then the Hájí [the Báb] were to arrive [in Shiraz], they would be together for a few days, and she would depart afterwards. In any case, may they journey in peace.

In short, though they manifest His [the Báb’s] wishes, the above utterances indicate His honored Person's sadness over the event. God willing, once He has arrived in Shiraz, He would not associate with anyone, and the same has been His practice while in this place. And should anyone ask of this matter, the answer is the same, and it is incumbent upon him to show obedience and seek the explanation of what he does not understand of His laws from the one designated by Him. He Himself will not associate with anyone. The reason for designating another person is that, should people be found who in sincerity would recognize Him and seek to understand [His Revelation], they would make their inquires from this designate, who, otherwise, will not associate with anyone either. For five years it will thus continue, until He decrees what will occur.

He [the Báb] states, "We have nothing to do with anyone, and you are to continue with your business as before and fear no one. If you dislike My coming to Shiraz, I will not come." Thus His affairs will unfold as described above.

However, about what you had written, "These writings are not proof," and your inquiry as to how this servant attained certitude [in the Báb’s claims], I respond that, besides the fact that these writings are in themselves proof, consider how a Person like Him, Who is unschooled, now without consulting a book or referring to any text, is able to lift the pen and reveal such mighty verses. Is this not a proof? Moreover, your own self has written, and the esteemed mother of Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Husayn wrote the same, that through ascetic practices, He [the Báb] has attained spiritual advancement. Should one be the recipient of divine favors and be blessed to receive such [heavenly] grace, surely God will protect Him from satanic delusions. His honored person [the Báb] has written in many places, "If anyone is certain in his own ways and denies My Cause, let him come forth and engage Me in mubahilib.""

I take refuge in God! How could One Who is so self-assured, be not of truth? If you claim that He suffers from mental disturbance, I do not share your assess-

17. Mubahilib is the practice of opponents challenging one another to mutual cursing, expecting the truthful one to be safe and the wicked to receive divine chastisement. For example, while in Edirne, Bahá’u’lláh invited Mírzá Yaḥyá, His rebellious half-brother, to a public mubáhilih, but Yaḥyá did not appear. [Page 24]ment, as how could it be that a person is unlettered while he is sane, but then when he is mentally disturbed he becomes so erudite?

In short, that which must have been said has been repeatedly said. You know best how to act. Convey my greetings to our mother and our sister and kindly tell them of my condition. For me, no doubt remains. I have no proof, but my conscience directs me to see and perceive that this Cause is the truth. What they [my mother and my sister] wish to believe is up to them. Further, they should be aware that when the honored Hájí [the Báb] arrives in the city [of Shiraz], He will dismount and walk to the house alone. Therefore, it is best not to inform the people, so that He may be left to Himself. Until now it had been incumbent upon Him to obey the wishes [of the Báb’s grandmother and mother], but now it is the opposite, and they must strive to obey His every command. Under no circumstance should they disobey Him.

I have no other matter to present to you.

I have written a letter to Hájí ‘Abdu’l-Husayn, which you will also see, and perchance some things said here will be repeated there as well. He requested the appearance of some extraordinary event, such as revealing people's inner thoughts. Sanctified be God! Repeatedly we have beheld that people [fortune tellers], for a couple of small coins, reveal other people's thoughts, and that was nothing but satanic deeds. But if one's heart does not attain certitude by [His] knowledge and erudition, of what use is conveying such stories?18

From Khál-i Akbar’s letter to his younger brother, Khál-i A’zam, it is clear that the Báb was deeply affected by the lukewarm reception to His call. Although He had initially vowed to remain silent for five years and to cease revealing verses, He later reversed this decision while in Shiraz and continued to reveal many treatises, prayers, homilies, and books. It can readily be inferred that Khál-i Akbar counted himself among the Báb’s followers and was urging his younger brother to embrace the new Message. 19

However, one must ponder what Khál-i Akbar understood about the Báb’s claim and station in May 1845. The uncles of the Báb were able to occupy their professions as merchants by receiving the type of education—accounting and economics—and training readily available to the business class in Iran in the middle of the nineteenth century. Their education also exposed them to widely known poetic and literary works, particularly Hafez and Sadi. Khál-i Akbar himself was educated for a few years at the same school in the Masjid-i Naw (the New Mosque) that, years later, the Báb would attend. Although he had been given a rudimentary religious education (which consisted of reading the Koran and a general history of Islam and its

Footnotes

18. The original of this letter, in Khál-i Akbar’s hand, is in the private library of Abu’l-Qasim Afnan, while a typed version appears in Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán 27-31. The first part of the letter, which has not been translated, deals with the family commercial business. Amanat, in his Resurrection and Renewal 355, n. 127, questions the attribution of this letter to Khál-i Akbar, suggesting that it was penned by his brother, Khál-i A’zam. However, not only the original text of the letter clearly indicates that Khál-i Akbar authored it, but the narrative of his son, Vakílu’d-Dawlih, quoted later in this study, confirms that Khál-i Akbar was, indeed, in Bushire at this time.

19. It seems likely that this petition paved the way, some days later, for Khál-i A’zam to listen to Quddús and enabled him to accept, unreservedly, the revelation of the Báb (see Nabíl-i A’zam [Muḥammad-i Zarandí], The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation, trans. Shoghi Effendi [Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1921] 143). Khál-i A’zam had been deeply impressed by the devotion of his nephew and through his contacts with the Shaykhi community was already expecting the Manifestation of the Promised One. [Page 25]basic jurisprudence), Khál-i Akbar did not receive the rigorous seminarian education that many early Bábí converts had mastered through devoting years to acquiring incredibly detailed learning. While it is not clear, by the time Khál-i Akbar wrote the letters above, whether he had seen any of the writings of the Báb, such as the Qayyumu’l-Asmá’ and the Commentary on the Surih of the Cow (which are filled with subtle and complex allusions to the Báb’s prophetic mission and employ very sophisticated symbolism), in all probability, he would have been unable to discern their significance. One might assert that the central claim of the Báb to Qá’imiyyat (Messiah-hood) and Prophethood—had remained, therefore, essentially inaccessible to Khál-i Akbar. This assertion is further supported by two important documents written by Khál-i Akbar’s son, which clearly show that those who knew about the Báb’s claim generally thought Him to be simply a saintly figure, perhaps the gate to the Hidden Imam, but no more. This misunderstanding stemmed from the inaccessibility of the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’, in which the Báb advances a claim to be a Manifestation of God but in language decipherable only to those with substantial training and Shaykhi background. While the possibility remains that the Báb may have apprised His uncle of His mission orally, no such evidence is known. His instructing Quddús to speak to Khal-i A’zam about His mission indicates that He did not wish to introduce it to His family directly.

Two Documents Written by Khál-i Akbar’s Son

KHAL-I Akbar’s eldest son, Hájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqi, known as Vakílu’d-Dawlih (the trustee of the government), was born in 1830 and by 1845 had joined his father’s trading business in Bushire, occupying the former office of the Báb.²⁰ He has written several important narratives, the first of which to be considered here was composed in July 1906:

In J-2 [Jamádíy’th-Thání, a lunar month] A.H. 1324 July 1906 C.E.]"

The honored and revered Áqá Mírzá ‘Ali-Akbar-i Rafsanjání, who is numbered among the foremost teachers of the Cause, has come to ‘Ishqábád accompanied by Áqá Mírzá Ţarázu’lláh Qazvíní, the son of the illustrious Samandar, for the purpose of the Faith’s propagation. The former has asked that I write for him what I recall of the dawning of the Manifestation of the Báb and those kinsmen who have been named the Afnán by the Ancient Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh]. Although because of the passage of time, diminished memory, and advanced age, not all the details are recalled; however, to fulfill his wish, the following is noted:

What this servant remembers of the decreed events is that before His declaration, the deeds, manners, and associations of His Holiness [the Báb] differed from those of other people. In the proximity of Shiraz’s Masjid-i Naw, Masjid-i Fath [the Victory Mosque] and the Jewish neighborhood, His exalted mother, who was an aunt to this servant [Vakílu’d-Dawlih], resided in the blessed house on the Shamshirgarhá Street, situated between Masjid-i Naw, near the Fath Mosque and the Jewish quarter of Shiraz—a house that is now the celestial Kaaba [Point of Adoration] of the Supreme Concourse.²² Her

20. Hájí Muḥammad-Taqi was the architect of the Bahá’í House of Worship in ‘Ishqábád. 21. A.H. is the abbreviation for anno Hegirae (in the year of [Muhammad’s] Hegira); C.E. (of the common era) is the alternative designation equivalent to A.D. (anno Domini, in the year of the Lord). 22. In the Tablet of Carmel, Bahá’u’lláh refers to the Shrine of the Báb as "the celestial Kaaba." (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, comp. Research Department of the Universal House of [Page 26]Jussole offspring was that Sanctified Effulgence [the Báb], Whose father, Áqá Mírzá Muḥammad-Ridá, had passed away during His childhood.

This servant was a mere child when I attained His blessed presence, and a little of that time I recall, though other details have been forgotten. I remember that on Sundays I would go into the presence of my exalted aunt. It was in A.H. 1260 [1844 C.E.], but I cannot be certain which month, that one morning I attained the presence of the Báb. He was occupied with writing prayers. Melon was placed before Him, and with the tip of a knife, He graciously offered me a piece. I ate it. He handed me a page of a prayer, and, after I had read it, He asked, "What manner of supplication do you perceive this to be?" I was familiar with the Sahifihy-yi Sajjádiyyih, recited each day of the week and, therefore, replied, "It is similar to the prayer of Sahifih."23

I remember that at that time the majority of mystics and ascetics of Shiraz were anticipating the nearness of the Manifestation (Zuhúr). However, He had appeared but was concealed from all, except from the believers and devotees from the Shaykhí faction, who upon the passing of the late Hájí Sayyid Kázim had dispersed in search of Him. It was rumored that a certain Person had appeared, claiming to be the representative of the imam (náyib-i imam), and His command forbidding the use of water pipes was circulating among the populace. This servant asked Him [the Báb], "Is this true?" He replied, "Yes, it is indeed so, and the use of water pipes is forbidden."

A few days later, He departed for Mecca and left us. My late father was in Bushire. In Bushire the Báb had ordered the teaching of Shaykh Hasan of the ‘Usfúr family, the Imam Jum’ih [chief imam] of that city. Shaykh Hasan had neither accepted nor rejected His claim. 24

He boarded a sail boat, revealed a sermon, and then departed. In Muscat He won over the allegiance of that city's imam and revealed homilies.

Some two months after His departure,

tice, trans. Habib Taherzadeh et al., Ist ps ed. [Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988] 4). Many Bahá’í writers have adopted the same phrase to refer to the House of the Báb in Shiraz. It should be further noted that in Islam the Kaaba is the building in the court of the great Mosque in Mecca containing the sacred black stone and is the object of Islamic pilgrimage and the point toward which Muslims turn during their daily prayers. The Bábís turned toward the House of the Báb in Shirza as their Kaaba and the focal point of their prayers.

23. Commonly known as al-Sahifat al-Kalimát as-Sajjádiyya, it is the collection of supplications of the Fourth Shia Imam, ‘Ali ibn Husayn, surnamed Zaynu’l-’Ábidín, who is also known as Sayyid-i as-Sájidín—hence, the title of the book. The collection was translated into English by William C. Chittick and published under the title of The Psalms of Islam. In his introduction the translator notes that "al-Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya is the oldest prayer manual in Islamic sources and one of the most seminal works of Islamic spirituality of the early period. . . . Shi'ite tradition considers the Sahifa a book worthy of the utmost veneration, ranking it behind only the Qur'an and ‘Ali's Nahj al-balagha. The Sahifa has been called by various honorifics, such as 'Sister of the Qur'an', 'Gospel of the Folk of the House', and 'Psalms of the Household of Muhammad.'... According to Shi'ite tradition, Zayn al-’Abidin had collected his supplications and taught them to his children, especially [the fifth Imam] Muhammad-Baqir and Zayd. In later times the text became widely disseminated among Shi'ites of all persuasions. The specialists in the science of hadith maintain that the text is mutawatir; in other words, it was generally known from earliest times and has been handed down by numerous chains of transmission, while its authenticity has never been questioned." This collection contains fifty-four supplications, which make up the main body of the text, and the additional supplications, which make up the fourteen addenda (including the prayers for the days of the week) and the fifteen munáját or "whispered prayers."

24. Shaykh Hasan is the brother of Shaykh Husayn-i ‘Usfúrí, the great-grandfather of Vahid-i Dárábí. The Báb mentions Shaykh Hasan in chapter 27 of His Qayyumu’l-Asmá’. [Page 27]

THE CONVERSION OF THE GREAT-UNCLE OF THE BÁB

this servant left Shiraz for Bushire as well and was living with my late father when the Báb returned from Mecca. In Shiraz news about Him was spreading exceedingly fast, but in accordance with His instructions His blessed name was not known. The muezzin [the one who sounds the Muslim call to prayer] who ranked as His believers, were instructed to change the adhán formula [Muslim call to prayer] to "I testify that ‘Alí [the Báb] is a servant of Baqiyyatullah [the Remnant of God; Bahá’u’lláh], as recorded in all the preserved Books. Because of this, the ulama had issued a fatud [legal ruling] declaring the author of this command an infidel and had beaten and expelled from the city the prayer leaders—namely, the late Mullah Muḥammad-Şádiq [Khurásání] and Mullah Muḥammad-‘Alí [Quddús], may my spirit be a sacrifice unto them both.

When the news of His [the Báb’s] return from Mecca reached Shiraz, the governor sent ten soldiers to arrest His Holiness. The period of His stay in Bushire was ten or twelve days, and my late father and this servant would regularly attain His presence. One afternoon He said to my father, "Arrange for a mount, as I must journey [to Shiraz]." My father pleaded with Him to stay longer, but it was to no avail. My late father arranged for a mount, and He left. En route from Burázján He had arrived at [the village of] Dálaki, where the soldiers charged with His arrest had passed Him by. His Holiness sent His servant, Mubárak, to their chief, and he was brought before the Báb, Who asked him, "Why are you going to Bushire? State your purpose so that your troubles may be lessened." He had stated their charge and was told, "The Person that you seek is none other than I." Together they had left for Shiraz, and were I to tell of the events of the city, it would require a mighty book, which is beyond the abilities of this servant.

Several important points in Hájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqi’s recollections should be emphasized:

1. Abrogation of the use of water pipe: Within the Shiite system of jurisprudence, it is solely the mujtahid [Islamic legal scholar] who is authorized to pronounce on matters of personal law, and all others must defer to him. Clearly, the Báb was not certified as a mujtahid. Therefore, the fact that He had forbidden the use of such a commonly practiced habit as the water pipe illustrates that He had assumed the right of law-giving. In an important way this pronouncement was tantamount to innovation in matters of Islamic jurisprudence, signaling the abrogation of Shiite law.

2. The station of the Báb and how it was understood by his contemporaries: Even at the time of the Báb’s explicit claim to be a Manifestation of God in such early writings as the Qayyumu’l-Asmá’, such statements could initially be deciphered only by those sufficiently trained. It is of interest that Hájí Mirza Muhammad-Taqi reports that the Báb was known at that time as the Representative of the Imam. This suggests that the Báb had not yet chosen to divulge completely the full implications of His station.

3. The presence of Khál-i Akbar in Bushire when the Báb returned from pilgrimage: Hájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqi’s recollections, written in 1906, clearly confirm that Khál-i Akbar was in Bushire when the Báb returned from pilgrimage, providing further support to the

25. Nabil, Dawn-Breakers 144, gives the verse of the Khasa'il-i Sab'ih as, "I bear witness that He whose name is ‘Alí qabl-i Muḥammad [‘Alí before Muḥammad; the Báb] is the servant of Baqiyyatu’lláh [the Remnant of God; Bahá’u’lláh]." Almost without exception, all the Bab's writings are dedicated to extolling the station of Bahá’u’lláh; this verse is one such example.

26. A typed version of this passage appears in Faizi, Khándán-i Afán 113-17. [Page 28]notion that Khál-i Akbar’s second letter was written from that city.

The following account by Khál-i Akbar’s son was written some time after the one quoted above, possibly in 1906, and provides further insight into the early days of the Báb and the reaction of Khál-i Akbar to the events of that period:

1-5-2²⁷

After confessing my inability to thank the Almighty for His ever-present favors, the illustrious Mírzá ‘Alí-Akbar [Rafsanjání] has recently come to ‘Ishqábád to propagate and spread the Cause of God and has asked this feeble servant to record all that is recalled of the days of the Primal Point and to present the same to him. Although due to infirmity and being seventy-nine years of age, my memory is no longer precise, but in order to have obeyed his wish, I pen the following brief account.

I remember that in the years [A.H.] 1259 until [12]60 [1843–44 C.E.] many ascetics and holy men were anticipating the Manifestation (Zuhúr). [For example,] an unknown person had written on the pulpit of the Masjid-i Jámi‘ before the year 60 that within three years the Qa’im [He Who Shall Arise; the title designating the Promised One of Islam] would appear. Also, my esteemed uncle, the martyred Hájí Mírzá Sayyid ‘Alí, who attained the supreme station of martyrdom in Tehran, quit his trading some four years before the advent of the year 60 and secluded himself, expecting the Manifestation.²⁸ Upon the appearance [of the Báb], he [my uncle] readily accepted, but I was in Bushire and did not witness the great sufferings that were inflicted upon him by the governor-general of Fárs.

In the year 60, it was broadcast throughout Shiraz that a beloved Sayyid had advanced the claim to be the Representative of the [Hidden] Qa’im (Náyib-i Qa’im). However, His blessed name was not known.

I remember that on Sundays I would attain the presence of my illustrious aunt, the mother of His Holiness [the Báb]. During such visits I gained admittance unto His presence as well. One Sunday during the month of Rajab, or perhaps it was Sha‘bán [July or August 1844 C.E.] I attained such blessing, and He was sitting on the terrace of the House. After I received permission to sit, I noticed that melon was being served. With the tip of a knife, He offered me a piece. The Báb was occupied with writing certain verses and prayers. He showed me a page upon which a prayer for the days of the week was revealed and instructed me to read it. After I had recited that piece, He asked, "What manner of prayer do you perceive this to be?" I replied, "It is similar to the Sahifiy-yi Sajjádiyyih," a prayer that was well known to me.

It was rumored that the Representative of the Imam (Náyib-i Imám) had forbidden the use of water pipes. Therefore, I asked whether, indeed, this was true. He replied, "Yes, that is correct."

That week, or perhaps the next, He departed for Mecca and left by way of Bushire. Two or three months later, in accordance with the wishes of my father (who was in Bushire), I, too, left for that city. While in Bushire we heard that Shiraz was filled with commotion as the muezzins of two disciples of the late Hájí Sayyid Kázim [Rashtí] who were the Imam Jum‘ihs had added this verse to the call for prayer: "I testify that ‘Alí is the servant of Baqiyatu’lláh [the Remnant of God; Bahá’u’lláh] as has been sent down in every

Notes

27. The numbers 1-5-2 stand for the three letters A-H-B, which make up the word Bahá (lit., glory; the title of Bahá’u’lláh [the Glory of God]).

28. Afnán family records clearly demonstrate that the second uncle of the Báb continued with his trading business well into 1845. [Page 29]hidden Tablet." The divines of the city had heard of this incident and gathered to issue a ruling against these two Imám Jum’ihs—namely, the honored [Mullah Şádiq] Muqaddas and the honored Mullah Muḥammad-’Ali [Quddús]. These two esteemed personages were seized by the authorities and subjected to punishment, including burning of their beards and expulsion from the city.

The officials were eager to seize the Representative of the Imam [the Báb]. When He returned from Mecca, I was in Bushire. Day and night I would attain His august presence. All His time was devoted to revelation of verses and prayers. One night it was the opportune moment for me to beseech Him fervently and tearfully to pray on my behalf that I would have a good end. He responded, "Your end is good."

During this period in Bushire, my late mother observed two or three miracles from Him. During the days before His declaration, when He was engaged in trading in Bushire, He would frequently come to the home of my late father and would shower him with His favors.

His demeanor was very different from that of others. I do not recall Him smiling. I do not recall His exact utterances so that I could record them. In one of His tablets it is revealed: "All things will perish, except His countenance." He also stated, "Our kinsmen have been reckoned among the 'Letters of the Exalted.’"29 But not because they were deserving, nay, because of Our love for them." In the course of the next Manifestation, this matter was asked of His [Bahá’u’lláh’s] presence. He responded, "By 'Afnán,' it is meant the kinsmen of the Primal Point, may the spirit of all be a sacrifice unto Him."30

29. The original speaks of "hurúfi sajh,” which literally means "the Letters turned to Him," or "the Letters exalted by Him."

30. This passage and the typed text appear in Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán 110-13.

Repressive Actions Following the Declaration of the Báb

WHEN Khál-i Akbar returned from Bushire to Shiraz in 1846, he fell under the cloud of suspicion that had been cast over the members of the Báb’s family. In fact, some time before his return and shortly after the Báb’s departure for Isfahan in 1846, the family felt the threat of the vengeful governor and was compelled to destroy a large quantity of the Báb’s writings. Mírzá Habib Afnán’s reports on this matter are based on stories told to him by an eyewitness—Zahrá Bagum, the Báb’s sister-in-law:

He [Husayn Khán, the governor of Fárs] further issued a command that henceforth should any piece of paper be found in that city bearing the Báb’s handwriting or a verse revealed by Him, the members of that household would be punished by having their home demolished. Being a thoroughly ill-tempered person, he rounded up all the believers and devotees of His Holiness and, after administering severe beatings with sticks and causing them much injury, he extracted from the victims whatever sum they could muster. . . .

After the governor's order was broadcast in the city, whoever had received such writings [revealed by the Báb] would bring them in bundles and deposit the packs in a long vestibule in the house of Hájí Mírzá Abu’l-Qasim. On one side of the courtyard all such writings were stacked high, all penned on large exquisite cashmere papers in the hand of His Holiness. Were even a page of those precious writings available today, it would surely be worth an immense fortune. Those papers all contained innumerable commentaries, [Page 30]prayers, homilies, and learned scientific treatises on diverse themes. The illustrious uncle of the Báb31 was asked in what manner we were to dispose of those writings, and he replied, "These are all revelations from God and as such cannot be treated disrespectfully. Wash the papers, and throw the water in the well of the courtyard."

We placed four large wash tubs on the ground of the courtyard, and the four of us that is, the mother [of the Báb];32 Khadijih Bagum [the wife of the Báb]; the wife of Hájí Mírzá Abu’l-Qásim;33 and I began to place stacks of these papers in the tubs and wash them much as clothes are washed by hands. Page by page, the ink was washed away from all the sheets, and the wash water thrown down the well.34

Khál-i Akbar’s Visit with Bahá’u’lláh

THE repressive environment following the Báb’s declaration became more restrictive and arduous with the passage of time. The real difficulty must have been, however, in trying to determine the exact nature of the Báb’s newly founded religion. It is likely that the Báb’s uncle was never fully apprised of the exact claims of the Báb, which included the abrogation of the Islamic precepts and a new mission from God. Or, if he heard about the Báb’s claims, the full implication of the evidence remained, by virtue of his training, beyond his grasp. To understand the basis for this assertion one must consider a number of events.

With the martyrdom of the Báb and the systematic persecution of the Báb’s followers, the family of the Báb and, indeed, the vast majority of the Bábí community was overcome with disillusion and disappointment. By the late 1850s only one member of the Báb’s family, His widow, Khadijih Bagum, remained firm in her convictions about the Báb’s mission. She kindled the faith of her nephew, the young Áqá Mírzá Áqáy-i Núri’d-Dín, who, in turn, taught his parents about the Báb’s claim. Afterward, Núri’d-Dín began urging Khál-i Akbar to renew his commitment to the Bábí Faith by visiting Bahá’u’lláh, the most prominent Bábí, Who was in Baghdad educating the remnant of the Bábí community and winning new converts to the Cause. Núri’d-Dín’s son, Mírzá Habib-i Afnán, reports the following recollections spoken by his father:

At the beginning, when I broached the subject with Khál[-i Akbar], he would persistently refuse, and yet I would put forth more evidences and proofs [in support of the Báb’s claim]. It proceeded in such wise for several meetings.

One day during our discussion, I was strenuously enumerating proofs, when, with amazement, Khál exclaimed, "Áqá Mírzá Áqá, are you saying that my nephew is the Qá’im of the house of Muhammad?"

"And what if He is?" I responded.

Thoroughly astounded, he said, "That would be most extraordinary."

To which I replied, "There is nothing strange about it!"

After this comment, he became most reflective. Considering his condition, I smiled.

He asked, "Why do you smile?"

At first I refused to answer and replied, "It might not be polite on my part, and, therefore, it is best for me not to say."

However, he insisted, "Do not be reticent. Say what you are thinking."

"Since you wish," I responded, "I will comment. The objection that you have raised is the very same one that Abú-Lahab

31. Presumably a reference to Hájí Mírzá Sayyid ‘Alí. 32. The text simply states válidih (mother); it is interpreted to be the mother of the Báb.. 33. Her name was Sultán Bagum; she was from Jahrum. 34. Mírzá Habib Afnán, Tárikh-i Amry-i Fárs va Shiráz 113-15. [Page 31]

THE CONVERSION OF THE GREAT-UNCLE OF THE BÁB

raised of old." He, too, exclaimed, 'Is it possible for my nephew to be the Messenger of God?' Yet it was., Therefore, you must also exert yourself and investigate this matter. Know, assuredly, that this Sun has risen from your house, and this Light has become manifest in your family. You should be proud! Do not be surprised, and do not separate yourself therefrom. The Almighty is well able to have appointed your nephew as the Qá'im of the house of Muhammad. "The Hand of God is free.""

Then the honored uncle responded, "The light of mine eye! What an irrefutable answer! There is no further room for objection. What am I to do now?"

I said to him, "First, it is obligatory upon you to go on pilgrimage to the Arabát [Shiite shrines in present-day Iraq] and there to visit your exalted sister-namely, the mother of the Báb-just as she, after the news of the martyrdom, proceeded to that land. Second, Ishán [Bahá’u’lláh] now resides in Baghdad, and it behooves you to journey there for a few days and to inquire of your perplexities. You must endeavor to place your reliance in God. I hope that the veils will be lifted and certitude will be attained. 'Nothing shall be reckoned to a man but that for which he hath made efforts."37

35. An uncle of Muhammad who rejected and opposed His mission and participated in several armed battles against the Prophet. See the Koran, sura 111. 36. Ishin, a formal pronoun meaning "They," is a term of respect used for an exalted personage. The Bábís and the Bahá’ís used it, as a precaution, to avoid mentioning Bahá’u’lláh’s name. 37. The Koran, the Star (an-Najm), 53:39. 38. A slightly different translation of the above four paragraphs appears in H. M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh with Some Historical Background (Oxford: George Ronald, 1985) 220-21. 39. Hají Mírzá Hasan-'Ali, the youngest of the three maternal uncles of the Bab, was known as Khál-i Asghar (the junior uncle). He resided in Yazd most of his life. In the late-1860s he became a believer in the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

After hearing these remarks, he responded, "Your words have penetrated my heart. I will do as you say."

He wrote his [youngest] brother, Hájí Mírzá Hasan-Alí, who was then a merchant in Yazd, of his intention to go to the 'Atabát and visit their sister and invited him to come to Shiraz so they might journey together." On seeing this letter, the honored Hájí Mírzá Hasan-'Alí wrote, "I stand ready to join you on this journey. Kindly remain in Shiraz until my arrival, and from there we will travel to the 'Atabát."

Therefore, Khál-i Akbar began to prepare for the journey and awaited the arrival of his brother. A month later Hájí Mírzá Hasan-'Alí arrived in Shiraz, and together they set out for Bushire and the 'Atabát. En route Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad [Khál-i Akbar] did not divulge the true object of this expedition and waited until they arrived at the Abode of Peace [Baghdad] when he informed his brother, "The principal purpose of this journey was to make a religious inquiry of capital importance, and only secondarily did I wish to visit our sister in the 'Atabát. With your consent, we will tarry for a while in Baghdad and meet with His Holiness [Bahá’u’lláh], and after completing our investigation we will then proceed to the 'Atabát." Upon hearing these words, Hájí Mírzá Hasan-'Alí was moved with great indignation and, notwithstanding his brother's seniority, spoke harshly: "I will not stay for one moment and have no wish to hear of such discussions." That very day, true to his word, he departed from Baghdad.

Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Muhammad remained behind and tried to meet with Hájí Sayyid Javád-i Karbilá’í (a friend and business associate of the Báb’s uncles]. Upon their encounter, he informed the latter, "The [Page 32]purpose of my journey to Baghdad is to meet with His Holiness and make certain spiritual inquiries of Him. As you [regularly] attain His presence, kindly inform Him [of my request] and ask on my behalf for an appointment that I may gain the blessing of His presence." In the light of their long friendship and association, Hájí Sayyid Javád was deeply moved with Khál-i Akbar’s stated purpose and expressed his profound joy and felicitation over this matter.

Thereupon, Áqá Sayyid Javád attained the presence of the Blessed Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh] and stated, "The honored uncle of the Báb, Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Muhammad, has come from Shiraz to Baghdad and wishes to gain the bliss of attendance. May permission be granted?" Out of divine favor, Bahá’u’lláh expressed His joy and fixed the hour for such a meeting.

At the appointed time, Khál-i Akbar together with Hájí Sayyid Javád attained the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, at which time he [Khal-i Akbar] expressed some of his understanding surrounding the issue of the appearance of the Qá’im, prophecies associated with this event, and certain other matters. In response Bahá’u’lláh addressed some of these difficulties, but then, as a grace upon all, the Blessed Perfection [Bahá’u’lláh] said, "Commit to paper all that you have in mind about such propositions so that sufficient response may be written as well." On hearing this, the uncle of the Báb [Khál-i Akbar] was exceedingly happy and that night wrote in detail all the complex questions he had in mind regarding the appearance of the promised Qá’im and the proofs associated with such a Manifestation and sent forth these queries into the presence of the Blessed Perfection.40

The actual sheets of paper on which Khál-i Akbar wrote the questions that he presented to Bahá’u’lláh were found by Abu'l-Qasim Afnan, when he organized and classified the Afnán family papers in the 1950s and 1960s. He gave a facsimile of the document to Muhammad-Ali Faizi, who published it in Khándán-i Afnán. The following is a translation of Khál-i Akbar's questions, which occasioned Bahá’u’lláh's revealing the Kitáb-i ĺqán:

One: What previously was believed is that the promised resurrection will take place in another world. The raising of the dead, the Bridge, the reckoning of the deeds of all creatures, and the reward or punishment of those deeds will take place in that world.42 However, if, [as the Bábís claim], it is all in this world, and it has taken place, and, moreover, the days of the advent of every Manifestation of the Truth constitute the very Day of Resurrection for the period preceding it, in this new Revelation there has been no punishment for man's deeds. Nay, the insurgence and corruption of the people of tyranny and oppression have increased. If the real meaning of reward and punishment is nearness or remoteness from the Divine Court [of God], this would be the same, regardless of which world it occurs in. The People of Truth [believers] in this world, since they exist in God's good pleasure, are in a state of fortune; but they are outwardly caught in the grip of the people of oppression [the ungodly] and are persecuted by them. The people of oppression, although they are tormented by being far

40. Mírzá Habib-i Afnán, Táríkh-i Amry-i Fárs va Shiráz, ms. 157-64. The remarks represent what Núri'd-Dín recalled of his own comments.

41. See Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán unnumbered page after 41.

42. The Shiite orthodoxy holds that on the day of Resurrection people will pass over a bridge of judgment, which is thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword. The faithless will fall into hell, and the righteous will pass safety over the bridge to the gate of heaven. [Page 33]from the threshold of God, are outwardly in a state of comfort and by reason of their ignorance are unaware of that torment. If the requital for people’s deeds and the promised reward and punishment be as described above, and there be no other world than this one, where will the oppressed seek vengeance from the one who oppressed him and where will the people of punishment receive their justice? This is none but denial of the promised resurrection. I have not fathomed this subject fully, yet it is among the most important of matters to understand.

Two: From the inception of Islam until now it has been a belief of all the followers of the Shiite creed-a matter that no one has ever denied or even doubted, and concerning which traditions, prayers, and tablets of visitation have been revealed by the imams-that the Twelfth Imam was born from the womb of His glorious mother and that He was outwardly alive in this world and shall remain alive in it until He reappears. This is something that cannot be denied. Yet what we have now witnessed does not conform to this. I seek elucidation of this claim so that I may, God willing, attain complete certainty, nay the essence of certitude.

Three: The appearance of this new Cause is not in conformity or agreement with what has been understood from the accounts and traditions in the past nor with what all men have believed. We cannot reject all traditions of the past nor interpret away what the imams have said, nor will men’s hearts believe in such a thing. The manner and custom of the sanctified imams is to guide and give directions to men. To interpret their words in such a way as to say they did not intend the outward meaning is without foundation, for it will not prove the cause of men’s guidance; rather, it will cause them bewilderment. In some cases a tradition has come down that is not to be taken literally; but to interpret all the traditions other than by their outward meaning is in contradiction to the way in which the imams guided humankind. I would ask You to favor me with a clear explanation of this topic in such a manner that it will create certainty in men’s hearts and so that no one will be able to open up a path of doubt.

Four: According to those traditions that have come down to us from the sanctified imams concerning the time of the appearance of the Qá’im, such as: "An enemy will raise an army in Syria and will battle Him at a place whose name They [the imams] have specified as being between Syria and Mecca"; "The ground shall be divided in two, and the army of eight hundred thousand shall disappear in the ground, except for two men, who shall remain behind"; "They shall go to the army of the Qá’im and give him tidings"; "and that He [the Qá’im] shall rule and shall make Kúfa His capital"; "The size of His army shall be so great that they will demolish the mosque of Kúfa and shall build a new one with one thousand doors"; etc. There are many such accounts in the reliable books of traditions. Yet not one of these things has happened. I beseech You to provide a full explanation of this matter that it may be a cause of certainty for my heart, and, God willing, lead me to perfect faith." [Page 34]Bahá’u’lláh describes Khál-i Akbar’s visit in a tablet dated 27 Muharram A.H. 1306 [3 October 1888 C.E.], revealed in honor of Áqá Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd-i Shírází, a prominent Bahá’í in Fárs:

The Kitáb-i Íqán was revealed in Iraq especially for the honored Afnán, the illustrious Khál-i Akbar, upon him rest all My glory. The details are so: After he had attained the ‘Atabat and completed his pilgrimage, he arrived in Baghdad. The exalted Hájí Sayyid Javád, upon him be the Glory of God, came into Our presence and said, "Two of the uncles of the Báb, may the spirit of all be a sacrifice unto Him, at present have arrived in this city and soon will depart for Shiraz."

We inquired, "Have you spoken with them about this Cause?"

He responded negatively.

Upon hearing this response, We were saddened and said unto him, "Go and convey the greetings of this Wronged One to them and say further, 'Though We have not previously cherished meeting with others, We do desire meeting with you.'"

The illustrious Javád completed the entrusted mission and that afternoon returned forthwith with the celebrated Khál-i Akbar, who was able to attain Our presence. We said unto him, "It is hard for this Wronged One to see that you and the other members of the Afnán family have remained deprived of the sacred Tree that has appeared and flourished amongst you."

He responded, "There are certain considerations that have prevented us from such acceptance."

We replied: "What are those things that have caused you to hold back from the Exalted Horizon and the recognition of the Sacred Tree? Present your questions."

Another day he [Khál-i Akbar] returned, and, single and alone We met with him in the inner quarters of the house, and at that time he spoke those questions that had prevented his recognition.

In Our presence answers [the Kitáb-i Íqán] were revealed from the heaven of the Divine Will. That beloved and other friends of course know such details.

On another day he came into Our presence and said, "Ill-fated is the one who would peruse this Book, and yet desist in his belief."45

Fortunately, Khál-i Akbar’s letter, dated 17 January 1861, to his son, Vakílu’d-Dawlih, and written only a few days after Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Kitáb-i Íqán, has survived. Based on the letter’s date, it is possible to place the time of the revelation of the Kitáb-i Íqán in early January 1861:

O the best of the Protectors!

In the city of Yazd, Saráy-i Khán, please deliver this letter to my esteemed son, Hájí Mírzá Muḥammad-Taqí, the Shirazi merchant, may he ever be prosperous!46

The loving light of mine eye, the one who is more precious to me than my soul [Khál-i Akbar’s son], may God preserve you! I hope that you continue to live under the care of Almighty God and to be protected from all ills and wickedness and succeed in attaining your desired goals. If you wonder over our state, praised be God and His grace, on the night of the first of Rajab [12 January 1861] we attained the threshold of the Shrines of the twin imams at Kázimayn, upon them be a thousand, thousand salutations and blessings. Your place was, indeed, empty. On your behalf we offered pilgrimage and prayers. God

45. This is a provisional translation made from the text in Núri’d-Dín’s collection of Bahá’u’lláh’s tablets, pp. 97-98. Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán, 35-37, quotes a tablet of Bahá’u’lláh revealed in honor of the same Áqá Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd-i Shírází that closely correlates with the first half of the above quoted tablet but differs drastically in the second half. It is not known to the present writer why these two texts differ so markedly.

46. Saráy-i Khán was the business district for the major merchants of Yazd. [Page 35]willing, the day after next—that is, on the seventh of the month—we will depart this location.

We had a pleasant journey en route, and snow did not come while we were traveling, except for one night, and it rained for two days. However, we stopped at an inn, and the cold was not intolerable and caused no harm. Praised be God. I do not have much to write. I attained unto the presence of His Holiness Bahá [Bahá’u’lláh], upon Him be God’s peace. Your place was, indeed, empty. He showered us with utmost affection and kindness and asked that we stay for the night, and we remained in His presence. The evident truth is that to be deprived of the blessing of His presence is a mighty and evident loss. May God bestow His grace upon me so that I would everlastingly attain unto the blessing of His presence.

Kindly convey our greetings to the exalted Ḥájí Muḥammad-Ibráhím;⁴⁷ his place is, indeed, empty. Also convey our best wishes to all the honored friends. Peace be upon you!

5 Rajab A.H. 1277 [17 January 1861 C.E.]⁴⁸

The Kitáb-i Íqán, which Bahá’u’lláh revealed in the span of two days and nights, was initially known as the Risálih-yi Khálawíyyih [the Treatise for the Uncle]. Later Bahá’u’lláh changed the title to the Kitáb-i Íqán, or the Book of Certitude. Shoghi Effendi, in his history of the first one hundred years of the Bahá’í Faith, describes Bahá’u’lláh’s work as follows: “A model of Persian prose, of a style at once original, chaste and vigorous, and remarkably lucid, both cogent in argument and matchless in its irresistible eloquence, this Book, setting forth in outline the Grand Redemptive Scheme of God, occupies a position unequaled by any work in the entire range of Bahá’í literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh’s Most Holy Book.” The copy of the Íqán given to Khál-i Akbar was in the hand of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh. In a few margins Bahá’u’lláh had added comments or made alterations. The Afnán family presented that copy to Shoghi Effendi; ‎it now it is now‎ on display at the Bahá’í International Archives Building in Haifa, Israel.⁴⁹

In weaving together several strands, it seems reasonable to conclude that the purpose of the Kitáb-i Íqán was not to convince Khál-i Akbar that the Báb was the originator of a “Cause,” for Khál-i Akbar had already accepted that He was the author of divinely inspired tablets, treatises, and homilies. Rather, its goal was to disclose to the Báb’s uncle the full station of the young Prophet, thereby effecting Khál-i Akbar’s complete conversion in which he would recognize the same power and majesty that was manifested by all the Prophets of old.

After meeting Bahá’u’lláh, Khál-i Akbar proceeded to the ‘Atabát and, after having met with his sister, returned to Shiraz. There the Bábís came to meet him and to inquire about what had transpired in Baghdad. Having met with Núri’d-Dín, a nephew of the Báb, Khál-i Akbar asked him also to enlighten his sons about the true station of the Báb as an independent Manifestation of God. It continued in the same manner for several years, and the Bábí community of Shiraz began to flourish once again.

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47. A famous and untiring teacher titled Muballigh (teacher) by Bahá’u’lláh. At a later time, mostly through Muballigh’s efforts, the Afnáns of Yazd became Bahá’ís.

48. A copy of the original manuscript was published in Faizi, Khandán-i Afnán 42–43.

49. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, intro. George Townshend, new ed. (Wilmette, Ill., Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974) 138–39. See also Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory 165; Ugo Giachery, Shoghi Effendi: Recollections (Oxford: George Ronald, 1973) 149–50; and Faizi, Khandán-i Afnán 49–56 for a discussion of the fate of the original copy of the Book of Certitude. [Page 36]

Khál-i Akbar and the Bahá’í Faith

EVENTUALLY, in the fall of 1866, Nabíl-i A’zam, an itinerant teacher of the Faith, was instructed to proclaim the new Cause of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the length and breadth of Iran. He came from Baghdad by way of Ardistán to Shiraz and established his residence in the house of Núri’d-Dín. Before anything else, as bidden by Bahá’u’lláh, Nabíl made a pilgrimage to the House of the Báb. Afterward, the Bábís were informed and with great enthusiasm gathered around Nabíl. At first he spoke with great circumspection. Mírzá Ḥabíb Afnán, a son of Núri’d-Dín and a person knowledgeable about the early days of the Bahá’í Faith in Shiraz, reports the following recollection of Núri’d-Dín:

One morning, Nabíl said to me, “Instruct all the believers to gather at a suitable location and to bring with them whatever writings they possess. You bring all the writings in your possession as well, as I wish to divide them into separate groups. I have a particular charge that I must announce and desire to leave Shiraz shortly as I must travel to other areas.”

Complying with Nabíl’s request, I asked the friends to assemble in the home of Áqá Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-Karím [a prominent believer in Shiraz] and emphasized especially their bringing with them all the writings and tablets in their possession. At the appointed hour the friends gathered, bearing the tablets and sacred writings. After partaking of tea, Nabíl gathered all the writings and read each with great care. All the papers were separated into three groups and set apart each from the others. Having divided all the writings, Nabíl announced, “The first group includes the tablets of the Exalted One [the Báb]. The second group includes the writings of ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest’ [Bahá’u’lláh], the very Person Whose advent was promised by the Primal Point [the Báb] to the concourse of the Bayán and made the acceptance or rejection of all that He had revealed in the Bayán dependent upon His good pleasure. With great clarity the Báb said, ‘O people of the Bayán! The appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest is well nigh. Suffer not that the Bayán and all therein may deprive thee from His Manifestation.’ ‘The Bayán is like a leaf before Him. Were He to accept it, it is of His grace. And were He to reject it, it is a sign of His justice.’ In another passage the time of His appearance has been fixed with precision: ‘In the year nine, all good will be realized.’⁵⁰ He has now proclaimed His Cause and invites all people and the followers of the Bayán to His divine recognition. Whosoever accepts Him is considered of those that dwell in paradise. And whosoever rejects Him is of the people of fire and through fire they shall perish. The third group consists of the polemical writings, which are unworthy of consideration.”⁵¹ Nabíl then picked up the third group of papers and threw them into the stove where a fire was burning.

Upon such pronouncements, a tumult was precipitated among the friends. For example, greatly agitated, the honored Khál-i Akbar, Ḥájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad, protested vociferously, “What manner of scheme is this? What sort of talk is this? Do you take faith to be like a weed; you cut it in the daytime, and it grows again during the night?” He went on in the same vein.

It was then that I [intervened and] spoke calmly to Khál[-i Akbar], stating, “Assuredly, we must investigate and determine the actual veracity of such a mighty claim as this [the fulfillment of the promise of the Bayán]. It surely must rest on reality as none except the True One [Bahá’u’lláh]

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50. Arabic Bayán. 51. Nabíl may be referring to Azalí writings. [Page 37]has the temerity to advance such an assertion. Consider the time when the Báb was in Shiraz and proclaimed His divine mission. Was He not the Truth, and was He not sent by the exalted God to guide humankind? How was it, then, that all people rejected Him, vast multitudes rose in opposition to Him, and you yourself denied Him until you investigated, determined the truth of His claim, and drank from the chalice of assurance? Further, you hastened unto the Abode of Peace and there met His Holiness Ishán [Bahá’u’lláh], and the sublime book of Khálwfyyih [the Kitáb-i Íqán] was revealed specifically in honor of your good self. While in that city did you meet any person [worthy of such august claim] other than Ishán [Bahá’u’lláh]? Of a certainty, He, alone, is the essence of Truth. "Beyond Truth, there is naught except waywardness."52

After hearing such reasoning, the uncle of the Báb grew reflective and responded, "We must investigate this matter thoroughly as the question of such a claim is not a trifling matter."

In this manner the disputation among the believers subsided on that day, and the honored Nabíl was able to proceed toward Isfahan.

Afterward, the friends in Fárs, one and all, embraced the claim of Him Whom God will manifest—namely, the Blessed Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh]—and became firm and steadfast in their allegiance unto Him.

One question remains: In addition to the family's claim as reported above, is there any evidence from Khál-i Akbar himself to suggest that he actually believed in Bahá’u’lláh? And, if so, did he recognize Him as the one prophesied by the Báb? The answer can be found in the final will and testament of the uncle of the Báb:

In the Name of God, the Glorious, the Most Glorious.

These few words are written as my will in the middle of Dhi’l-Qa’dih A.H. 1291 [circa 24 December 1874 C.E.]

First, I testify to the oneness and singleness of God. He is supreme and sanctified from having a partner. I further testify that the exalted and hallowed Person [the Báb] Who declared Himself in A.H. 1260 [1844 C.E.] is, indeed, of truth and manifested the glory and ascendancy of the Almighty God. Whatsoever He decreed in His religion and all that He revealed of the divine spiritual stations are all manifest truth, and whosoever obeyed Him is among those that were saved, and those that opposed Him, indeed, rank as the ones who perished. Today the one true religion of God is that which His Holiness [the Báb] ordained. And further, today, the master of the Faith and the propagator of this luminous community is the exalted and elevated Bahá [Bahá’u’lláh], may my spirit and the spirit of the world be a sacrifice unto Him. His Manifestation is the same as the Báb’s Manifestation. Obedience unto Him is obedience unto God, and opposing Him is opposing God.

Immersed in an ocean of sin, because of infirmities of self, this servant concealed his convictions from all, even from his children and kinsmen. But now I have committed them to paper so that after my passing they may become aware of their condition and strive to understand the matter. God willing, they too will be numbered among those who believe.

I ask those who may come upon these pages, whether my children or kinsmen,

52. A different translation of this paragraph and the three preceding it appear in Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís 226-27.

53. As Nabíl explained Bahá’u’lláh’s claim and station, Khadijih Bagum listened behind a curtain separating the two rooms and immediately accepted Him as her Lord (see H. M. Balyuzi, Khadijih Bagum: The Wife of the Báb [Oxford: George Ronald, 1981] 31). [Page 38]or others, that, after my passing, in accordance with the laws of the Bayán, to prepare me for burial by washing [my body] and wrapping [it] in cloth, and, if I am in Shiraz, to bury my remains in the sacred shrine of . . . , which is the nearest cemetery to my house. And should those who claim to be Muslims but in truth have not benefitted from Islam keep you from burying me in a Muslim cemetery, it matters not; bury me anywhere possible, whether inside or outside the city. And should I pass somewhere other than in Shiraz, wherever I have expired, bury me at that spot.

Of earthly possessions, let it be known that I have none that would require disposition through a will. For some time now I have been meeting expenses through the support of my children. I do not possess anything myself. I owe the equivalent of a sum of 750 túmáns [discontinued unit of Iranian currency] that I cannot repay. However, my sons are aware of the details, and if they are able to meet this obligation to the creditor, I pray that the Lord of creation would recompense them through His benevolence. And if they are not able to do so, they know best.

At the time of writing of this page, God is aware that if I were to list the furniture of the house and other possessions, it would add up to about 40 túmáns, nay, 30. This residence was paid in full at first, but gradually the equivalent of a third of its value has been spent on it [that house] by Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí.⁵⁴ Let this be known to all. Peace.

Some monies are owed me, but it remains beyond collection. The borrowers, much like myself, do not have the funds to repay me. And should they be able to repay, certainly my creditors must be paid first. However, even if all the debts were paid in full, they would still not meet the amount that I owe.⁵⁵

Khál-i Akbar, the great-uncle of the Báb, died in Shiraz in 1876 and, in accordance with his will and testament, was buried where he wished. Bahá’u’lláh revealed a tablet of visitation in his honor, which forever will immortalize his radiant memory.⁵⁶

Conclusion

RELIGIOUS conversion is a process that often takes a lifetime of education and spiritualization. For Khál-i Akbar, with all his advantages—being related to and a business partner of the Báb and having the special privilege of meeting Bahá’u’lláh and of having a major work revealed in his honor—the process was no less arduous and slow than that for anyone else who had not met the Twin Manifestations of the Bahá’í era or who had lived in a different age. In the end, what proved beneficial for Khál-i Akbar was his constancy of purpose in striving to learn the truth about the mission of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and the dedication with which he pursued this goal. His example in this regard will no doubt remain a shining beacon for all who thirst for certitude.

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54. Ḥájí Mírzá Muḥammad-‘Alí was a son of Khál-i Akbar and a well-known merchant in Tehran. He is best remembered for his many generous contributions to the Bahá’í endowments.

55. As printed in Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán 43–46.

56. Faizi, Khándán-i Afnán unnumbered pages between 42–43. [Page 39]

A Chinese Reflection

(It is an old Chinese custom to visit the green forest in later years to review your life.)

The green forest is a pleasant place to be the years come together becoming one there is a Hand to hold you a Robe to keep you warm if you hold it close enough the heart beats strong dim eyes clear and the restless mind finds God.

-Joan Imig Taylor

Copyright 1999 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States

SPRIN 3 1999

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[Page 41]

Albert C. Killius- Photographer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

ALBERT C. Killius and his wife, Annie, two of the early Bahá’ís in North America, declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, in 1907. They soon became enamored with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s son and appointed successor.1 In 1912 their commitment to the Bahá’í Faith was deepened by their meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when He visited the United States and Canada to “set forth... the fundamental principles of the revelation and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, principles He said it would then “become the duty of the Bahá’ís”” in America to give “unfoldment and application in the minds, hearts and lives of the people.”2

Albert Killius acceptance of the Bahá’í Faith was the culmination of a long process of personal growth and development. He was born in 1872 to German Lutheran parents in Springfield, Illinois. At an early age he developed an interest in photography and subsequently became a talented professional portrait artist, a profession that would have a profound effect on his life and would serve him nearly to the end of his life. On 10 June 1903, after his thirtieth birthday, he married Annie Belle Warner, also a Springfield native, who was born in 1873 to English Episcopalian parents. In 1905 Annie and Albert left Springfield and settled in Spokane, Washington, where, in 1907, they were introduced to the Bahá’í Faith by Isabella D. Brittingham, a charismatic Bahá’í teacher, lecturer, and writer from New Jersey who traveled for several months in the Pacific Northwest, holding meetings to discuss the Bahá’í Faith. On 4 May 1907 both Albert and Annie became Bahá’ís, and on 12 May 1907, Mrs. Brittingham formed the first Spokane Bahá’í “Assembly,” or Bahá’í community, in their home.3

Mrs. Brittingham stayed with the Killiuses while she was in Spokane. Annie invited a class of fifteen Vedantists to study the Bahá’í Faith with Mrs. Brittingham, eleven or twelve

Copyright 1999 by Aden J. Lauchner. Photograph, opposite by Albert C. Killius: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in an artistic rendering taken from a group photograph, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1912.

1. Albert C. Killius, Bahá’í Historical Record Card, Bahá’í Archives, Springfield, Illinois (hereafter BASI). The Bahá’í Faith originated in Iran in 1844. Bahá’u’lláh (1817-92), its founder, encouraged the spread of the Bahá’í Faith to North America, but He did not live to see it. Under Bahá’u’lláh’s son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), Whom Bahá’u’lláh appointed to be the head of the Faith after His passing, the Bahá’í religion was taken to Europe and to the United States and Canada. When the Killiuses became Bahá’ís in 1907, there were Bahá’í communities in several dozen cities in the United States and Canada, and Bahá’ís resided in over half the United States.

2. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, comp. Howard MacNutt, 2d ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982) xv.

3. Early American Bahá’ís used the term “Assembly” interchangeably with the term “community” before Shoghi Effendi, whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá designated in His will and testament the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, asked them in the 1920s to elect local spiritual assemblies (local governing bodies) of nine Bahá’ís to administer the affairs of the Faith. [Page 42]of whom became Bahá’ís. The diversity of the Spokane Bahá’ís increased during the following ten years until its membership included individuals from Hindu, Jewish, and Christian backgrounds. Albert recalled in a 1946 letter that the early teaching work in Spokane became a "wonderful inspiration" and that many traveling Bahá’í teachers visited them during those years. Mrs. Brittingham, however, influenced the Spokane Bahá’ís the most and left an impression on Albert that lasted to the end of his life. He never missed an opportunity to extol her virtues or to praise her efforts as a Bahá’í teacher.

Photographing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

IN April 1912 Annie and Albert journeyed from Spokane to Chicago, Illinois, to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and to attend, on 1 May, the placing of the foundation stone for the House of Worship that was to be erected in Wilmette, just north of Chicago. During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s longest visit to Chicago (30 April through 5 May) He allowed Albert to photograph Him professionally, an honor accorded to only a few American Bahá’ís. This honor changed Albert’s life. Many years later he told this author that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was at his disposal for about two hours as he placed Him in various poses and positions while recording frame after frame of His magnificent face in a silence broken only by the sound of the shutter. In Chicago’s Lincoln Park, Albert also captured memorable group photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with children and with the American and Iranian adult Bahá’ís who gathered around Him wherever He went.

The photograph taken of the Bahá’ís gathered at the Plaza Hotel and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s neatly made bed in that same hotel show Albert’s more intimate recording of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s historic visit to Chicago.

Although Albert was the photographer, Annie can often be seen standing or sitting with groups of Bahá’ís in her husband’s historic photographs. Many years later she related the following story about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the children in the Plaza Hotel, and the Lincoln Park photograph:

In the great Plaza Hotel, in Chicago, a group of little ones had gathered in the beautiful parlor to meet ‘Abdul Baha. . . . After some anxious waiting the Master appeared in the door-way carrying in His Hands two baskets of flowers—one containing roses and the other carnations, and sealed envelopes. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and the children, coming in from all directions of the city, no one really knew how many there would be.

When ‘Abdul Baha entered He called each child to Him and to each of them He gave a rose, a carnation and an envelope. ‘Abdul Baha’s back was turned to the great entrance door and there were three more roses, three more carnations and three more envelopes resting in the baskets. The relator of this story [Annie Killius] watched these baskets wondering over the meaning of their contents, when three more little children rushed in and entered the circle. The Master whirled around and exclaimed

4. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Illinois (hereafter NBA). Vedantists believe in the Hindu philosophy, which reached its highest development around 800 C.E. through the philosopher, Shankara. (C.E.—of the common era—is an alternative designation equivalent to A.D.—anno Domini, in the year of the Lord.) 5. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, NBA, Wilmette, Illinois. 6. Bruce W. Whitmore, The Dawning Place: The Building of a Temple, the Forging of the North American Bahá’í Community (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984) 263. 7. Ella Goodall Cooper and Ella M. Bailey, "Abdul-Baha with the Children of the Friends in Chicago," Star of the West, 3.7 (13 Jul. 1912): 7. [Page 43]

ALBERT C. KILLIUS, 1872-1961

Photographer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Chicago in 1912

ANNIE BELLE KILLIUS AND ISABELLA D. BRITTINGHAM

Annie Killius (left), wife of Albert C. Killius, with Isabella D. Brittingham, who taught the Killiuses the Bahá’í Faith in Seattle in 1907 Photographer, Albert C. Killius

joyously: “Ah!” and hurrying towards them with outstretched arms He gave each the remaining gifts....

Then, without warning the Master hurriedly left the room and the great hotel, and entered Lincoln Park, where the relator[’s husband, Albert Killius] was waiting to take the picture of the Greatest and Most Beloved of the world. No one knew a picture would be taken, yet all followed in His Footsteps, and a magnificent photograph was taken, to gladden forever the hearts of the children of all nations for centuries to come!

The most frequently printed photograph taken in Lincoln Park is the one of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá holding a rose and accompanied by the Iranian Bahá’ís traveling with Him.” When Albert returned to his studio in Spokane, he exercised his artistic talents as a portrait painter and removed everyone from the background of that photograph leaving ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with

8. Mrs. [Annie B.] Killius as told to Mrs. [Anna] Jurgens, “Glory Stories: Roses and Carnations,” World Fellowship, 1.4 (Nov. 1923): 2. Bahá’ís frequently refer to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Master. 9. Star of the West, 3.8 (1 Aug. 1912), Persian Section, Photograph, 1. [Page 44]an added sunset painted behind Him. It has been reported that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá considered this photograph one of His favorites and gave it to Bahá’ís who visited Him in the Holy Land. Its importance as a major photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was established when it was selected as the frontispiece for the 1926-28 edition of The Bahá’í World, a comprehensive and authoritative international record of the Bahá’í Faith’s expansion and activities. So dedicated was Albert to reproducing this particular photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that it can be found all over the world. Albert later wrote that he and his wife sent to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá "seven hundred photos and fifty paintings to be given free to Oriental believers visiting Abdul Baha while in Egypt." Annie, in a 1919 letter, reiterated how busy distributing the photographs kept her husband and herself:

We sent over seven [hundred] large photos of Abdul Baha and over fifty large beautiful paintings of Him. . . and they were given to the believers all over the Orient that came to see Abdul Baha. . . . The Bahai students of Beirut College in Syria had their pictures taken and sent to us as they all received one of the pictures we sent. Abdul Baha’s grandson is one of them[;] he is now doing the translating for Abdul Baha... . His name is Shoghie Effendi Raboni [sic]. . . . We have given hundreds of His pictures in America also. Two paintings we sent to Abdul Baha to give to who ever He wished[;] he sent one to His wife and one to His sister [the Greatest Holy Leaf]. We also sent a painting to His wife, sister and four daughters each one.12

Albert printed copies of his photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá throughout the remainder of his life, never charging for any of them even when, in later years, he had only enough money for bare necessities. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s allowing him to photograph Him was a privilege in itself. But, perhaps more important, Albert grasped something of the essence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s name, which means "the servant of Bahá," and made servitude the hallmark of his life.

Tablets from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1912

WHEN Albert and Annie Killius settled back into daily life in Spokane, Washington, after their spring 1912 trip to Chicago, they were on fire with their love for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the blessings they had received by being in His presence. Annie conveyed her feelings in a letter to Him shortly after their return. He addressed a tablet, or letter, to her, to which she received a translation from New York in July 1912:

To the maid servant of God Mrs. Annie Belle Killius. Spokane Wash.

Oh [sic] thou who art advancing toward the kingdom of God[;] thy letter was received.

Thou hast expressed joy and happiness at the meeting. In reality meeting is the cause of rejoicing; if it is like unto the meeting of the candle and the fire, like unto the affiliation of the rain and the meadow, and like unto the breeze and the

10. Albert reported this to the author and to other Bahá’ís.

11. The Bahá’í World (Formerly: Bahá’í Year Book): A Biennial International Record, Volume II, 1926-1928, frontispiece; see also Star of the West, 3.19 (2 Mar. 1913): frontispiece. In 1992 Bahá’ís who visited the ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Pavilion in the New York Hilton during the Second Bahá’í World Congress (a commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the passing of Bahá’u’lláh) were treated to an historical and pictorial journey through the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Albert Killius’ photographs, which captured the essence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 visit to Chicago, brought tears to many eyes.

12. Albert C. Killius, Bahá’í Historical Record Card, BASI; Annie Belle Killius to [Mrs. Anna Jurgens and other Springfield Bahá’ís], 3 Dec. 1919, BASI. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sister, Bahiyyih Khánum, was given the title the Greatest Holy leaf by her Father, Bahá’u’lláh. [Page 45]

ALBERT C. KILLIUS-PHOTOGRAPHER OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ photographed by Albert C. Killius with children and adult Iranian and American Bahá’ís in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1912

trees wafting gently through the branches [sic]. I hope it will become as such.

You have written regarding your new home and the organization of the spiritual assembly. A home in which the real friends are gathered together, the verses of unity are read therein, the cause of God is conveyed to the people and the hearts are attracted toward the kingdom of Abha; that home is a heavenly abode[;] it is the nest of the divine birds and a rose garden of the paradise of Abha.

Convey to thy husband the utmost longing and the wonderful greeting of Abha. 13

13. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Annie Belle Killius, trans. 22 Jul. 1912, Killius Collection (hereafter KC), BASI. An approved translation of this tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic.

Again Annie wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and again she received a letter that was translated for her on 15 August 1912:

O thou beloved maid servant of God!

Thy letter was received and the details of your meetings became known. . . . [Page 46]One package of the photographs which were sent by you was received. I hope the other package will also be received. Regarding my trip to those parts, it depends upon divine destiny and the firmness and steadfastness of the friends in the Testament and the Covenant of the Merciful!14

On 15 August 1912 Annie received a letter from one of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s secretaries acknowledging receipt of two packages of photographs and conveying a request: "Our Beloved ‘Abdu’l-Bahá likes very much the single photos of Himself and He told me to write you to send Him a number of these."15

On 19 August 1912 Albert and Annie received from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a telegram from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who was possibly considering a visit to the Spokane Bahá’ís on His trip to the West: "Telegram of Assembly received. It imparted happiness, it expressed longing for meeting. I am likewise yearning to meet you. I beg of God to destine this meeting."16 No further correspondence has been found in the Killius Papers in the Springfield, Illinois, Bahá’í Archives about the hoped-for meeting. Although many Bahá’ís in the Western states asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to visit them, He spent time only in Colorado and California.

Although the Killiuses never met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá again, He continued to have a lasting impression on them. On Christmas morning 1912 Annie and Albert received two letters, one dated 9 December and the other 12 December, both written on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s behalf on board the S.S. Celtic as He was returning to Europe. The first letter contained a brief thank you for the Killiuses' kindness:

Dear Friends. In the midst of the Atlantic you are remembered. . . . The Master is feeling well and we are happy in his presence. Thanking you for your past kindness and hoping to see you again if God wills.17

The second letter, also written on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s behalf, thanked the Killiuses for Albert's photographs:

Dear Bahá’í Brother and Sister: This is the first chance that I have got to express to you my deep appreciation for all of the beautiful photos you sent to me and to other Persian brothers, as well as to our Beloved ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. We have been now eight days crossing the Atlantic and have experienced all kinds of weather. For three days the storm was raging. Through it all the Master keeps well and none of us got sea sick. We will arrive Saturday morning in Liverpool. Hoping to hear from you and thanking you again for all your kindness. 18

14. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Annie Belle Killius, trans. 15. Aug. 1912, KC, BASI. An approved translation of this tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic. 15. Ahmad Sohrab to Annie Belle Killius, 15 Aug. 1912, copy, KC, BASI. 16. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius, telegram, 19 Aug. 1912, copy, KC, BASI. 17. Mirza Mahmood to [Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius], 9 Dec. 1912, copy, KC, BASI. 18. Ahmad Sohrab to [Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius], 12 Dec. 1912, copy, KC, BASI.

Founding New Bahá’í Communities

ALTHOUGH the small American Bahá’í community grieved at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s departure on 5 December 1912, it became charged, as He had hoped on His arrival 239 days earlier, with a new understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings and a new determination to teach the Bahá’í Faith wherever they could.

Albert and Annie Killius, like many other Bahá’ís, developed a clear vision of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mission for them through their association with Him in 1912. For the Killiuses this vision was enhanced by three letters ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent to Annie in the following [Page 47]‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

photographed by Albert C. Killius with

Iranian Bahá’ís in Lincoln Park,

Chicago, Illinois, 1912 [Page 48]years, letters that cemented Albert's and her determination to devote their lives to spreading the Bahá’í teachings. In a letter translated for Annie in September 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá noted her wish to be of service to the Bahá’í Faith:

Thy letter was like the mirror in which were reflected the pictures of Divine Confirmations. Thou hast a heart which is turned toward the kingdom of Abha, a spirit rejoiced by the Glad-Tidings of GOD and eyes illumined by beholding the Lights of GOD.

Your aim is to render a service to the world of reality. Pure intention is the magnet of heavenly assistance and the means of attracting Great Power. I beg of GOD that you will become confirmed and assisted therein.19

The next year, in a letter translated in April 1914, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá acknowledged Annie's services in the Spokane area and encouraged her further service:

Thy detailed letter was received. It contained the glad tidings of the promotion of the Cause of God in those parts. Therefore it produced infinite happiness that[,] praise be to GOD[,] you are quickened with the Breaths of the Holy Spirit and you are rejoiced and gladdened by the Melodies of the Supreme Concourse. You have radiant hearts and spirits exhilarated with the good news of His Holiness the Merciful One.

Consequently with the utmost potency and assurance, arise ye in the diffusion of the Fragrances of God. Likewise all the believers and the maid servants of the Merciful who are living in those parts must with perfect accord and affiliation singly and collectively dedicate all the days of their lives to the Cause of His Holiness Baha’o’llah and engage in the promotion of the Blessed Teachings, in order that the human world may become illumined, the satanic hearts become merciful, the veil of superstition be rent asunder, and the light of Reality may shine forth, the basis of dogmas be destroyed and the truth of the Divine Religion may glow like unto the sun.

Rest ye assured in the Bounty and Favor of His Holiness Baha’o’llah; for He is the Supporter of the teachers of the Cause and the Defender of the sincere ones. 20

A few months later Annie received yet another letter, which had been translated in July 1914. In it ‘Abdu’l-Bahá congratulated her and the Bahá’ís in the area for their work in sharing the Bahá’í teachings and with deepening the new Bahá’ís:

Thy detailed letter was received. From its contents it became evident that[,] praise be to God[,] the Sun of Reality has cast the Splendor of Guidance over that region, blessed souls have entered in the Kingdom of God and unitedly they are inviting the people to take a share of the infinite Bestowals of the Almighty; they are awakening those who are asleep, making mindful those who are heedless[,] granting a portion of the Graces of God upon those who are deprived, suffering the thirsty ones to drink from the Water of Life and bringing back the wandering sheep under the training of the Real Shepherd. Praise ye the Lord that ye are so confirmed in the accomplishment of this Most Great Af-

19. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Annie Belle Killius, trans. 12. Sept. 1913, KC, BASI. An approved translation of this Tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic.

20. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Annie Belle Killius, trans. 16 Apr. 1914, KC, BASI. An approved translation of this Tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic. "Baha o’llah" is an older spelling of "Bahá’u’lláh, as are "Baha Ollah" and "Baha O’llah." [Page 49]fair-which is the Spirit of the regions and the Light of this manifest century.21 In the following years nothing seemed impossible to Annie and Albert as they dedicated their lives to the service of the Bahá’í Faith. Although they often traveled and worked alone, they developed connections through correspondence that seemed to circle the planet. In many of their letters, which are deposited in the Springfield, Illinois, Bahá’í Archives, they tell stories of their successes, hardships, and experiences during the years between 1912 and 1928 as they moved to a succession of cities to establish the Bahá’í Faith.

21. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Annie Belle Killius, trans. 12 Jul. 1914, KC, BASI. An approved translation of this Tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic. 22. Annie B. Killius, Bahá’í Historical Record Card, BASI. 23. For the text of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1 April 1916 letter to the Western States, see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan: Revealed by Abdu’l-Bahá to the North American Bahá’ís, 1st ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1993) 4.1-7. 24. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, NBA. According to an account Albert recorded, in his 31 March 1946 letter to the National Spiritual Assembly, of a conversation Annie had at the 1919 Bahá’í Convention in New York with Grace Ober, a Canadian and a well-known Bahá’í teacher who lived for many years in New York, Grace told Annie that the Killiuses "were the very first ones to arise" and leave their home to work in a "dead state"; Grace went on to say that they "had been an inspiration to all of the Assemblies in America." The authorized translation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablet to the Western states refers to states in which no Bahá’ís resided in 1916 (California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado were excluded) as being like "dead bodies" (Tablets of the Divine Plan 4.2). 25. The Butte Miner, 11 Feb. 1917, BASI. 26. Butte-Silver Bow Baha’i Assembly, Betty Bennett, secy., to Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Springfield, Illinois, 7 Mar. 1995, original, BASI.

In 1916 Albert and Annie went to Boston, Massachusetts, to share the Bahá’í message with their relatives on both sides of the family.22 On their return to Spokane, they read the first Tablet of the Divine Plan to the Western states, which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had sent by postcard to Helen Goodall, an early San Francisco Bahá’í and the mother of the San Francisco Bay Area Bahá’í communities. This tablet, dated 1 April 1916, set forth a plan for teaching the Bahá’í Faith in the Western states. 23 As a result, Annie and Albert decided to sell most of their household belongings and move to Montana to open one of "the dark or dead states" mentioned in the tablet.24 During the next several years they lived in Missoula, Butte, Anaconda, Helena, and Great Falls.

An article in the 11 February 1917 Butte Miner, typical of others published in other Montana newspapers, suggests the methods Annie and Albert used to teach the Bahá’í Faith:

Baha O’llah, Noted Persian, Taught That Universal Peace Could Be Secured-Ex- ponents Are in Mining City.

Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius of Spokane are at Room 108, the Acoma hotel, and will instruct those interested in the work of Baha O’llah. Their hours are 1:00 to 5:00 o’clock. The object of their visit to Butte is to establish centers where the study of Baha O’llah’s teachings can be pursued by those interested in a universal peace. 25

Annie’s and Albert’s efforts met with success when Mrs. Elizabeth Symons became the first person living in Butte to become a Bahá’í.26 Their teaching success in Montana is confirmed in a 13 March 1917 letter from Alfred Lunt, the president of the Executive Board of the Bahai Temple Unity, to Albert, acknowledging "the much appreciated list of names" of the Butte Bahá’ís and saying that "It is a wonderful thing to establish a center in a place like Butte, for in this way will grow [Page 50]the illumination of the entire State of Montana. 27

Despite the severity of Montana's climate, Annie and Albert persevered. The 9 June 1918 Helena Daily Independent contained an article announcing that Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius would be speaking about the Bahá’í Faith on Sunday afternoon in the Helena Unitarian Church. It said that they profess to believe "that this is the beginning of that Golden Age upon earth of universal peace and love," foretold by Christ. 28

The year 1919 was a year of contrasts for the Killiuses. Although they suffered physical hardships and illness, it was also a time of spiritual elation. In April they traveled to New York City to attend the Eleventh Annual Bahá’í Convention and Bahá’í Congress, both of which were held between 26 and 30 April. Drawn by the call of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they joined with more than six hundred Bahá’ís from all parts of America and the world for the formal unveiling of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan, a plan that outlined the future spread of the Faith throughout the world and named the American Bahá’í community as its custodian. 29 This event so inspired Annie and Albert that during their return trip to Montana they formed a number of new Bahá’í groups, including one in their home town of Springfield, Illinois.

The Springfield Bahá’í group was established on 23 May 1919 when five persons—Mrs. Emilie Loeb, Albert's aunt; Mrs. Anna Jurgens, Mrs. Loeb's oldest daughter and Albert's cousin; Mr. Rieke Jurgens, Anna Jurgens' husband; Mrs. Clara Ihlenfeldt, Mrs. Loeb's second daughter and Albert's cousin; and Russell Jurgens, Anna and Rieke Jurgens' son—declared their faith in Bahá’u’lláh in the home of Rieke and Anna Jurgens. All five remained steadfast and active Bahá’ís throughout their lives, and the Springfield Bahá’í community has continued to grow since that historic evening. 30

From Springfield, Annie and Albert traveled to York, Nebraska, and finally reached home in Helena, Montana, on 10 June 1919. To train and guide the small group of new Bahá’ís they had enrolled in Springfield, the Killiuses began a series of lengthy teaching letters, sent between 1919 and 1922, explaining the Bahá’í teachings. The letters were filled with challenges: "It looks to us that you two beloved ones will have to be the mother and father of the Bahai Cause in Springfield. Such is a blessed privilege. . . and of course with it also goes responsibility." They were also filled with counsel: "But my dear ones have no fear[;] you will be given the strength to do what you should do. Remember the Greatest Name. Read from the Hidden Words every day and it will help in your every day duties." Moreover, Annie and Albert showered the new Bahá’ís with love: "With love and Bahai greetings to you all and the friends from both Annie and I." 31

27. Bahai Temple Unity, Alfred Lunt, secy., to Albert Killius, 13 Mar. 1917, BASI. Bahai Temple Unity was a national Bahá’í organization established to coordinate the building of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette. 28. The Helena Daily Independent, 9 June 1918, BASI. 29. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, NBA. Five of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan reached the United States and were published in Star of the West on 8 September 1916 (7.10, 85-91) before World War I severed communications between Palestine and the United States. 30. Anna K. Jurgens, Bahá’í Historical Record Card, BASI. 31. Albert C. Killius to [Mr. and Mrs. Rieke Jurgens], 23 Jun. 1919, Jurgens Collection, BASI. The Greatest Name is the name of Bahá’u’lláh, which means "the Glory of God." Bahá’u’lláh described his Hidden Words as a "treasury of divine mysteries" containing the "inner essence" of the revelations of the Prophets of God (The Hidden Words, trans. Shoghi Effendi [Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1939] 3). [Page 51]Their teaching successes and sacrifices in the service of the Faith did not go unnoticed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In an October 1919 letter addressed to two California Bahá’ís, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent the following message:

Convey to Mr. and Mrs. Killius, Mrs. Charlotte Gillen and Mr. Hyde Dunn the utmost love and kindness on my behalf. On their behalf I address the following supplication:

O thou Omnipotent Lord! These souls have given up their rest, their happiness, their joy, and their comfort, have left their (homes) in order to raise the call of Thy Kingdom upon the seas, the plains and the mountains. They are giving the Glad Tidings of Thy Manifestation, are bestowing sight to the eyes, hearing to the ears. They are unloosing the tongues, vivifying the dead and purifying the unclean. O Divine Providence! Be Thou their companion during their travels, for they are helpless and lonely and they are firm in Thy love. Thou art the Powerful and the Omnipotent.32

Although the Killiuses had success in Montana, life was, indeed, hard for them. In a December 1919 letter Annie related that, on 9 December it was 43 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in Great Falls when the city ran out of coal. Families in the city were suffering and freezing. All the men of the city, even the bankers, traveled eighteen miles from the city to dig for coal. 33

On 27 March 1920 Annie and Albert received what would be their last letter from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Although it was addressed to them in Montana, it also holds great significance for the Bahá’ís in Springfield, which is the only city mentioned in the five letters addressed to Annie and the one to Albert and Annie:

To Mr[.] and Mrs[.] A. C. Killius of Montana. Upon them be the Glory of God the Most Glorious.

HE IS GOD!

O ye two who are firm in the Covenant. Your letter dated Jan. 28. 1920 has been received. Its contents were indicative of heart felt realities, which were conducive to firmness and steadfastness in the Covenant of God.

Thou shouldst render thanksgiving unto God, that thou art able to travel throughout the states and regions, and like unto the breeze of spring, transmit new spirit to every city through which thou passeth.

Praise be unto God that in Springfield Illinois the fragrances of the Love of God hath been diffused and the Call of the Kingdom hath been raised. . .

I am beseeching unto God that the

32. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Helen Goodall and Ella Cooper, quoted in "Charlotte Gillen 1869-1962," The Bahá’í World: An International Record, Volume XIV, 1963-1968, comp. the Universal House of Justice (Haifa: The Universal House of Justice, 1974) 341-42. Charlotte Gillen, a Springfield, Ohio, native who moved to Seattle in 1901, became a Bahá’í in the first decade of the century; in 1919, in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, she traveled throughout Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, teaching the Bahá’í Faith ("Charlotte Gillen 1869-1962," in Bahá’í World, Vol. XIV 341). Hyde Dunn, who was born in London, became a Bahá’í in Seattle in 1905; in 1919, in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, he and his wife Clara decided to move to Australia, where they remained for the rest of their lives. When Dunn died, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, called him "Australia's spiritual conqueror," adding that "The magnificent career of this veteran warrior of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh reflects the purest luster of the world historic mission conferred upon the American community by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá" (Messages to America: Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the Bahá’ís of North America, 1932-1946 [Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1947] 45).

33. Annie Belle Killius to [Mrs. Anna Jurgens], 11 Dec. 1919, BASI. [Page 52]friends of that city, may day by day attain to heavenly progress.34

In preparation for the arrival of Mírzá Asadu’lláh Fádil Mázindarání, an Iranian Bahá’í and a professor at the Shah’s University in Tehran whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent to assist the American Bahá’ís, Annie Killius began writing articles and placing them in the Montana newspapers. On Sunday, 26 December 1920, the Great Falls Daily Tribune reported that Jenabe Fazel, as he was known to the American Bahá’ís, would be in Montana from 7 through 12 January, "delivering lectures on the Bahai movement, which is... 'the Essence of the highest ideals of the century.'" In an accompanying article Annie Killius explained that he "receives no remuneration for his lectures and appears here as a special representative of Abdul Baha, whose father, Baha Ollah, founded the Bahai movement... "35

Jenabe Fazel arrived in Butte on 4 January 1912 at 5 P.M., three days ahead of the date reported in the Great Falls Tribune. He held his first meeting at 8:00 P.M. in an African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he spoke to an interracial audience about the oneness of the world of humanity. The pastor of the church, it was reported, was "overjoyed" with the message.36

Albert’s and Annie’s advance publicity was only part of their contribution to the success of Jenabe Fazel’s trip. They "left their work" and, with another Montana Bahá’í, Fred. Mortensen, accompanied him to "Butte, Anaconda, Helena and Great Falls, arranging meetings, interviewing newspaper men and doing everything possible to gather the people to listen to the talks of the great teacher." On 9 January at 3:00 P.M. in Great Falls, before a large audience in the Palace Theater, Albert introduced Jenabe Fazel, who was reported to have spoken "very beautifully" on the oneness of humanity and the elimination of prejudice. For Annie and Albert and the other Bahá’ís these "glorious meetings were the fulfillment of their prayers and hopes." On 10 January Albert, Fred Mortensen, and two New Thought friends were at the train station early in the morning to bid Fazel farewell as he left for Billings, Montana. 37

Annie’s and Albert’s years in Montana were drawing to a close. In a 1946 letter Albert described the challenges and successes of his and his wife’s years in Montana:

The cities we visited and worked in were Missoula[,] Butte[,] Anaconda [,] Helena & Great Falls. Several groups were started in Butte and one in Helena[,] also a small group in Great Falls. The newspapers all gave a most welcome and generous co-operation. They spared us space & asked us to give them all we could on the Cause. Although Mrs[.] Killius’ health was not good most of the time while in the high altitude [,] we were confirmed at every step during the four years stay in Montana.38

On 3 April 1921 the Killiuses left Great Falls and moved to Duluth, Minnesota, which would be their home for the next six years. In 1918, when Annie had visited Duluth to teach the Bahá’í Faith, Charles Hanson had become a Bahá’í.39 After Annie returned to

Notes

34. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Killius, 27 Mar. 1920, KC, BASI. An approved translation of this tablet does not yet exist; consequently, this translation cannot be considered authentic. 35. "Persian Philosopher to Explain Bahai Movement in Montana," Great Falls Daily Tribune, 26 Dec. 1920, BASI. 36. National Bahá’í Teaching Committee, Bulletin "B" (21 Feb. 1921): 4. 37. National Bahá’í Teaching Committee, Bulletin "B" (21 Feb. 1921): 6-7. 38. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, NBA. 39. Annie B. Killius, Bahá’í Historical Record Card, KC, BASI. [Page 53]Montana, he corresponded with the Killiuses, urging them to come to Duluth and help with the Bahá’í work.

While Annie and Albert were settling in Duluth, they learned about the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. On 28 November 1921, the day ‘Abdu’l-Bahá died, Albert wrote about the loss to his Bahá’í cousin, Mrs. Anna Jurgens, in Springfield, Illinois:

No doubt you will have the very very sad news before getting this letter, that our dearly beloved... Abdul Baha has passed to the Great Kingdom of Abha[,] the Heavenly Throne of God. . . .

. . . I am sure with this great sacrifice and loss God will open and extend greater and greater capacity and illumination, mercy and bounty. . . .

Annie feels so bad that she can not write.

The passing of Abdul Baha to the Kingdom of God marks a new Epoch.40

40. Albert C. Killius to Mrs. Anna Jurgens, 28 Nov. 1921, Jurgens Collection (hereafter JC), BASI. The Abhá Kingdom (the Most Glorious Kingdom) is the spiritual world beyond this world.

41. On 5 December 1921 Annie wrote to Mrs. Anna Jurgens (JC, BASI), saying: "But oh how sad we have all made Him, how much more we could have done and how much we failed to do that would have rejoiced His Precious Heart. May God forgive us all...."

42. Albert C. Killius to National Spiritual Assembly [of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace] Holley, secy., 31 Mar. 1946, NBA. Martha Root was a Pittsburgh journalist who, from 1916 until her death in 1939, traveled the world in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan.

43. Springfield, Illinois, City Directory, 1928. The address listed for Albert Killius is 835 South Second Street.

44. When the apartment building was purchased in 1995 to be converted into a European-style inn, it was described as follows: "With its hulking yellow brick facade and lovely, Georgian-style front door, the Bell Miller Apartment House looks much like the stately mansions that skirted the once fashionable neighbor- hood around Second Street" (The State [Springfield, Illinois] Journal-Register, 15 Feb. 1995, p. 1).

For Annie, the news of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s death contributed to her already poor health and marked the beginning of her physical de- cline, which ended with her death from cancer twenty-five years later.41 Albert, however, dealt with change and adversity in a different way.

In the letter he wrote on the day of ‘Abdu’l- Bahá’s death, Albert was clearly saddened by the news, but he was also looking forward to the release of "capacity and illumination" that would inevitably follow such a momen- tous event. He seems to have gained greater strength and spiritual capacity.

By January 1923 Albert and Annie had become established in Duluth and assisted Martha Root, a well-known Bahá’í teacher, during her trip to Duluth and to Superior, Wisconsin. But 1923 proved also to be a year presaging another change in Annie's and Albert's lives. In that year Albert's beloved aunt, Mrs. Emilie Loeb, one of the first five Bahá’ís in Springfield, Illinois, and the mother of Albert's cousin, Mrs. Anna Jurgens, died. In 1926 Albert's mother, Mary Killius, also died. The sister of Emilie Loeb, she had became a Bahá’í in the early 1920s.

Because of Anna Jurgens' loss of her mother and her aunt, and because of exhaustion from her intense Bahá’í activities, she begged her cousin Albert and his wife, Annie, to return to their home town of Springfield to help her with the teaching activities of the growing Bahá’í community. Since Duluth had grown large enough to become a stable, organized community by 1928, the Killiuses left for Springfield and settled there in August of that year.43

Years in Springfield

ALBERT Killius returned to Springfield a pros- perous and successful photographer and portrait artist. He and Annie rented a large first-floor apartment in a prestigious neigh- borhood, only four blocks from the Illinois State Capitol. They held many Bahá’í meetings in their new home, where many [Page 54]Bahá’í traveling teachers, including Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler, who would later become the first American Bahá’í martyr in Iran, gave talks. 45 When the Great Depression hit, the need for photographers, and especially portrait painters, declined rapidly. Annie and Albert suffered a financial decline from which they never fully recovered. By 1930 they had left their luxury apartment and begun a series of moves to more modest houses and apartments. At the time of Annie's death in 1946 they were living in a rather large second-floor studio loft over a restaurant in a lower income neighborhood.46 Because of their modest circumstances and to avoid having his more elite clientele come to his humble quarters, Albert concentrated on developing his business around photography in clients' homes. However, he always included his photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his portfolio to introduce his clients not only to the quality of his work but to the one Who was the center of his life. Springfield residents are only now beginning to find within their attics and family photographic collections the informal Killius poses composed in natural light and printed in sepia tones or highlighted with the stroke of the painter's brush. Without the loyal patronage of several prominent Springfield families who commissioned portrait paintings and the encouragement and appreciation expressed by the Bahá’ís, Albert might not have survived financially the austere Depression years.

The author, as a young boy, often visited the Killius studio with his Bahá’í grandmother, Katie Lauchner, to see a finished portrait or a collection of completed family photographs ready for delivery. During the Depression years, when the Killius finances were extremely limited, my grandmother helped Annie and Albert by bringing members of our family, including me, to the studio to be professionally photographed. Albert would place me in various poses and would always remind me that he had been given the great privilege of photographing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He would then give me a shy smile. I adored Albert's puckish sense of humor, and I loved his studio with its large camera, lights, backdrops, and artwork. Pictures of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were to be found everywhere. This place with its windowless walls, shielded skylights, theatrical lighting, and dark corners was where his creative magic took place. It was his sanctuary, which reflected love and devotion not only to his craft but also to his beloved ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Because Albert never owned or drove an automobile, Katie Lauchner would drive Annie and Albert to and from Bahá’í meetings. She had become a close friend of Annie's and visited with her on the phone almost every day. When Annie's health continued to decline in the early 1940s, Katie helped them by running errands and periodically preparing food for them. Albert, in turn, expressed his gratitude by giving her copies of tablets from and photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

As Annie's cancer progressed, it became difficult for her to attend Bahá’í functions on a regular basis. Albert spent much of his time caring for her, becoming, in the process, the stronger of the two, both physically and emotionally. Finally, on 17 March 1946, Annie

45. Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler, although in ill health, devoted the last year of her life to securing from the Iranian Government "a removal of the ban on entry and circulation of Bahá’í literature, as well as a final lifting of the heavy disabilities laid for so many years upon the Persian Bahá’ís." When she died in Persia in 1933, shortly after contracting smallpox, still in pursuit of her mission, Shoghi Effendi gave her the title of the "first and distinguished martyr" from America. (See "Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler's Mission," The Bahá’í World: A Biennial International Record, Volume V, 1932-1934, comp. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada [New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1936] 389, 398.)

46. Springfield, Illinois, City Directory, 1946. Albert Killius' address is listed as 1326 ½ South 11th Street. [Page 55]died, leaving Albert alone and bewildered. Annie's was the first Bahá’í funeral in Springfield. It was conducted by Mrs. Mabel Hyde Paine and Mrs. Anna Kunz of Urbana, Illinois, both of whom had visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Holy Land many years earlier. 47

On 8 April 1946, Albert received a letter from Horace Holley, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, thanking him for a photograph and for his "interesting account of the Baha’i history" of his "dear wife" and calling it "an important contribution to Baha’i history." Again on 11 December 1950, in response to a letter from Albert concerning Annie, Horace Holley wrote that "Mrs. Killius rendered notable service to the Cause, and her memory is to be honored and cherished in the Baha’i Community...."48

During the years following Annie's death, I often met Albert on the bus on his way to take photographs in someone's home. If he found a rider on a bus who would listen to him talk about the Faith, he would open his large portfolio and show pictures of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Since his hearing was failing rapidly, his audience was held captive as he expounded on the Faith. Finally, he had to resort to using two hearing aids, each of which made noise out of phase with the other. He could not hear well with either of them. Also, as his eyes began to fail, one would often find him wearing two pairs of glasses, one on top of the other.

In addition to his two physical conditions, Albert wore false teeth, which never seemed to fit well. However, nothing stopped him from teaching. His prayers and readings were always accompanied by clicking and clacking and the buzz of his hearing aids, but his problems never deterred him from reading aloud, even in public. Albert was always immaculately clean and his appearance meticulous. He found humor in his physical contraptions and made his audience feel comfortable with his problems. His shy, impish smile made everything okay.

After Albert adjusted to Annie's death, he decided to move into smaller quarters and began selling his and Annie's possessions and donating the proceeds in her name to the completion of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, the foundation stone of which they had seen ‘Abdu’l-Bahá lay in 1912. Some of the Springfield Bahá’ís purchased many of these items to keep them in the Bahá’í family. Before his death Albert had sold everything but his Bahá’í books, papers, photographs, and the bare necessities to sustain his living in two sparsely furnished rooms. Because of his severe hearing loss and his inability to communicate with his clients, he had given up his photographic business several years earlier. As he needed funds, he painted portraits of Abraham Lincoln and sold them to Springfield residents. He kept himself in good health and his surroundings, immaculate.

On 24 May 1961, at the age of eighty-eight, Albert became ill in the morning and was taken to the hospital, where he died two hours later. His brother and I cleared his tiny

47. Mrs. Mabel Hyde Paine (1877-1955) compiled The Divine Art of Living: Selections from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1944). She was the mother of Mrs. Sylvia Parmalee, who traveled with her mother in 1920 to Acre to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Mrs. Anna Kunz (1899-1973), for many years a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland and then of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Switzerland, was the mother of Mrs. Margaret Ruhe, wife of Dr. David Ruhe, retired member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing and administrative body of the Bahá’í Faith. Born in Switzerland, Mrs. Kunz moved to Urbana, Illinois, in 1913 with her husband; after her husband's death she returned to Switzerland in 1947 to help with the Bahá’í teaching work.

48. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Horace Holley, secy., to Albert Killius, 8 Apr. 1946, BASI; National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, Horace Holley, secy., to Albert Killius, 11 Dec. 1950, BASI. [Page 56]apartment in less than half a day. Albert’s funeral was conducted by the members of the Springfield Bahá’í community on 26 May 1961 at the Smith Funeral Chapel. He was buried beside Annie in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.49

Albert is remembered as "a brisk little sparrow of a man. He was both short and slight with a mostly bald head and bright little eyes full of curiosity. Albert always wanted to know. He was interested in everyone because he saw each person as a potential Bahá’í..."50

Even in death Albert’s wish seems to have been honored. When he died, the Springfield Bahá’í community had not had an enrollment since 1952. With his death, it was left with nine members, the exact number needed to maintain a local spiritual assembly, the local Bahá’í governing body, of which he had been a member. Yet within two weeks after his funeral his cousin, Clara Ihlenfeldt, who had been prevented by her husband who was not a Bahá’í from attending Bahá’í functions for forty-two years, took Albert’s place on the Assembly and became a full participating Bahá’í for the remainder of her life. The community then entered a period of growth that saw the enrollment of five new Bahá’ís within nine months of Albert’s death and continued to add at least that many new believers for the next few years.

On 20 May 1991, near the tomb of Abraham Lincoln, the Springfield Bahá’ís, together with the press, stood in the rain in Oak Ridge Cemetery at the grave site of Albert and Annie Killius to dedicate an historical monument honoring them as the founders of the Springfield Bahá’í community seventy-two years earlier.51

Springfield, a city where the concepts of federal union and the oneness of humanity were advanced, will always be reminded in the years to come of the contributions Annie and Albert Killius made toward the establishment and advancement of the Bahá’í Faith in the city.

Although the contribution Annie and Albert Killius made to the Springfield Bahá’í community was significant, it was only one victory that these two remarkable souls achieved in their long years of service to the Bahá’í Faith. Albert’s unique role as photographer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912 and his and Annie’s immediate response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s challenge in the Tablets of the Divine Plan have won for them a special place in American Bahá’í history. In Albert and Annie Killius one sees ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s power to attract people by His love, His ability to transform the lives of those attracted to Him and to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Annie’s and Albert’s willingness to sacrifice their comfort and possessions enabled them to spread the Bahá’í teachings far and wide by words and deeds. The simple lives and radiant spirits they demonstrated will be an inspiration for generations to come.

49. Two obituary notices in The Illinois State Journal-Register, 25 May 1961, and records at the Smith Funeral Home, Springfield, Illinois (which also buried Abraham Lincoln), indicate that Albert was living at 1180 North Third Street when he died. He was survived by a brother, George W. Killius, of Springfield; two sisters, Clara Killius and May Killius of Boston, Massachusetts; and several nieces. Bahá’í records show that May Killius attended Springfield Bahá’í functions in 1919 and 1920 (see Spiritual Assembly attendance records, JC, BASI).

50. Elizabeth Lower, "Memories of Albert C. Killius," 29 Jan. 1991, BASI.

51. "A New Dawn Breaking," Illinois Times, 16-22 May 1991, BASI. [Page 57]

Authors & Artists

WILLIAM P. COLLINS, whose articles appear frequently in World Order and whose Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths, 1844-1985 is a standard reference work, is Chief of the Cataloguing Division of the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. His interests included Mormonism, Judeo-Christian-Islamic history and doctrine, and millennialist movements.

ADEN J. LAUCHNER, the founder and chairman of the board of Lauchner & Lauchner, Inc., practices architecture in Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland. At the University of Illinois, where he received his degree in architecture, he has been the Allerton American Traveling Scholar in the History of Architecture, and he received honorable mention in the Ricker Prize Competition in the history of architecture. He is the archivist and historian for the Springfield, Illinois, Bahá’í community and has written an unpublished history of that community from 1919 through 1963. His unpublished genealogy of the Pinkerton family of Green County, Illinois, can be found in a number of libraries in the United States. Mr. Lauchner's interests include architecture, art, antiques, history, archival work, genealogy, music, and gardening.

AHANG RABBANI is a technical manager for DuPont and an associate editor of a mathematical-statistics journal. His translations of Persian and Arabic texts appeared in the Fall 1996 and 1998 issues of World Order. Dr. Rabbani has several books at press—a history of the Bábís of Nayriz, a history of the Bábí and Bahá’í faiths in Shiraz, a history of the Bahá’í community of Khurásán, and a translation of Dr. Habib Mu’ayyad’s diary. He is now completing a book in Persian on the life and writings of Quddus.

JOAN IMIG TAYLOR was a frequent contributor to World Order since its first poetry anthology in Spring 1971. She passed away on 10 July 1998 at the age of eighty-four.

ART CREDITS: Cover design by John Solarz, cover photograph, Stan Phillips; p. 15, Stan Phillips; p. 16, Steve Garrigues; p. 18, Darius Himes; pp. 40, 43, 45, 47, Albert C. Killius, courtesy Springfield, Illinois, Bahá’í Archives.