Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-21
HEAD OF THE bAB|TES
Abbas Effendi Kept a Prisoner
at Acre.
WOULD HARMONIZE BELIEFS
Has a Considerable Following in This
Country.
ORGANIZATION IN WASHINGTON
Description Of the Movement by
Charles Mason Remey, Disciple Of
"the Center of the Covenant"
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record.
Herald.

Written for The Star and the Chicago Record.
Herald.
The Babite or Bahaite movement, con-
corning which have received a great many
inquiries has its headquarters at Acre, or
Acca. as the Turks write the name forti-
fled town on the coast of the Mediterranean
opposite Haifa. at the foot of Mount Car
mel. where the Crusaders made their last
stand against the Saracens. Acre Is now
and has for many years been a political
prison where the Sultan of Turkey sends
conspirators against his authority and
others who are accused of discomfort"
Abbas Effendi who is acknowledged by all
of the Bahates as their spiritual leader.
and who signs himself "Abdul-Baha
Abbas. which. being translated, is "Abbas.
the servant of Cod is detained there by
order of the sultan because he is regarded
as the leader of a heresy dangerous to the
Moslcm faith.
The object of the bahaite movement is
the religious unification of all peopie-Chris-
tians. Jews. atheists, Mussumen Budd-
hists. BrahminS. ZoroaSterians, Taois.s and
those who are following other paths to
Paradise.
On May %. 1914. a young man named Ali
Moha mined at Shraj. Persia proclaimed
himself the fOrerunner of Messiah-"He
whom God would manifest. He attracted
many believers, and two years later was
arrested. kept in prison for four years,
tried and condemned to death for heresy
by the Moslem priests. and executed July
y, 1871. While in prison he wrote many
epistles and cxhortatons to his followers
which have been collected in The Holy
Book of BayaR.' and constitute the Bible
of the sect.
Abbas Effendi Proclaimed.
Among the ablest and most Jealous of
the followers of Ali Mohammed or the
Bah" which means the gate door. was
BAHIA Ullah. young man of noble family
who. with number of other believers, was
imprisoned and banished from Persia, first
to Bagdad. then to Consta ntinople, and
finally Adrianople. where they remained
until 1868. Then they were sent to Acre,
where they have since remained In the
spring of 1892. the mission of BAHIA Ullah
being finished, he proclaimed his eldest son
Abbas Effendi. the authorized exponent
OF the cause. and called him 1.-The center of
the covenant
Abbas Effendi was born in Teheran May
proclaimed his mission. and he was the
first to recognize his father, BAHIA Ullah.
as the true Messiah. The latter trained him
from childhood to be the leader of the
movement. and he Is now recognized as
such by all concerned. except his two
younger brothers. Mohammed All and
Bedea ALA, who dispute hts authority and
insist that they are entitled to share 1t.
bitter. and the two younger have made the
elder great deal of trouble by denouncing
him to the authorities In Syria and at Con-
stantinople and accusing him Of treason.
conspiracy and other crimes They even
went so far as to write the authorities at
Constantinople that shrine and tomb
which Abbas Effendi vas erecting In honor
of his father the Messiah. on the slope Of
Mount Carmel was intended to be sold to
England, Germany or some foreign power
as fortress. The suspicious officials i'm
mediately recognized that it commanded the
Bay of Acre and were glad of an excuse for
stopping work on the building, which still
remains unfinished.
Betrayed by His Brothers.
Formerly Abbas Effendi was allowed
many liberties He was permitted to live
in the German settlement of Haifa across
the bay, where he had two residences, one
for the entertainment Of European and
American disciples and the other for the
accommodation of orlentals, but because of
the accusations OF his brothers he Is no
longer allowed to pass outside the walls Of
Acre except once a year to visit the tomb
of his father. He Is allowed $16O a month
by the government to pay r>r the support
Of himself and the remainder of the family
but his brothers receive the most of it, He
has to pay large sums Of blackmau to the
local officials whose compensa ton from
their government is very small and uncer-
tain These expenses and the cost Of carry
Ing on the propaganda are met by contri-
buttons from believers all over the world.
Abbas Enendi owns about eight or ten
thousand dollars worth of real estate in
Ha!fa. which has been paid for chiefly from
American contributions Some of his fol-
lowers In this country are quite wealthy.
Mrs. Phoebe Hearst has contributed Iiber-
ally toward the movement. but l under
stand that she has withdrawn her support.
Abbas Effendi is a man of remarkable
appearance; one of the most imposing of
ov,I ST
re garded by the foreigners and natives in
Syria as a man of great learning and high
principles. but impostor. They say
that he has two faces, one looking to the
east for the benefit of the Mohammedans
and the other toward the west to attract
disciples from the Christian world; that to
one he declares himself a true Moslem and
to the other Christian, and naturally they
of Islam and his pretensions as a reincarna-
ton Of Jesus Christ
Apparent Duplicity Explained.
Mr.. Charles Mason Remey, a disciple OF
"the Center Of the Covenant" and one of
the leaders in this country of the move
ment to unite all the religions of the world.
endeavored the other day to explain this
confusion.
"Abbas Efendi does not pretend to be |
the incarnation of Jesus" he said; NOR
the personifcation of the Holy Ghost nor |
the Messiah prophesied by the prophets
of the Old Testament. He believes how
ever. that his father, BAHIA Ullah. was that !
Messiah. the Manifestation of God the Es-
sence of God, the reincarnation of the |
Word that was made manifest to the world |
by Jesus. He believes. at the same time.
that his father. BAHIA Ullah was the rein
carnation of Christ. of Mohammed of
Moses. and the other Messiahs He be-
lieves that they represent the same things |
There is. however, distinction between
them. There have been two orders of
prophethood. for local manifestations and
world manifestations. Moses, Mohammed
and the lesser prophets, were sent by God
to certain nations with certain truths ap-
plicable to them only. whereas Melchisedek |
Jesus and BAHIA Ullah were intrusted with
world manifestations, and brought the
word to all mankind.
''It is true that Abbas Effendi Is both
Moslem and a Christian" continued Mr.