The new era., 1911-11-09

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A New World ReIIoion-syria Now
Offers Another Greed for the Allie
glance Of tho Whole Earth, Called
sehaism-Many American Followers
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

writer's in Europe and America, claim
to be the universal and final religion.
Since l have found religion to be, in
practice, fundamental to my main the
sis in this series of articles, THE
Awaking of the Older Nations l re-
paired hither to the home of the head
of the Bahists and its Messiah" Alb
dull BAHIA Abbas.
1t was somewhat of a shock to be
told, when l made inquiry at the large
gray stone house here, that Abbas Eff
fendi was away on a vacation for his
health. The house was full of people,
as l could tell by the voices of scurry-
ing females in the echoing hall, when
l succeeded in making my presence
known at the knobless doorbell. There
were several children playing in the
large. unsodded yard, and doubtless
one of these reported the strangers
coming. These were grandchildren;
for Abbas Effendi has four daughters,
but no sons. The whole family, or
group of families live in the one
house, Oriental fashion. An English
governess, who is not Behaist, lives
with them to teach the children.
A "Messiah" at Summer Resort.
There are no disciples of the Beha-
ist Messiah" in Syria, except the
pilgrims who come here, and the num-
Der of these is regulated by Abbas Ef-
fendi himself. He is highly spoken of
by his neighbors, and especially by the
poor, to whom he gives presents, some
times standing on the corner, and CIV
ing away hundred garments. He is
enabled to do this by the rich pres
ents of his followers, who are said
to number several million in Persia.
Abbas Effendi makes no claim to be
healer, and he himself occasionally
needs the doctors attention. He is
simple in his manner of life, and has
steadfastly refused to take more than
one wife, despite the fact that he has
no son, and that his father before him,
"The Blessed Perfection" had two
wives. His teachings permit polyg-
amy. but they counsel against 1t.
Incongruous though it seemed to
\ find Messiah" gone away to a health
( resort, 1 followed Abbas Effendi to
Alexandria, in Egypt. where I trailed
him by trolley car from a huge sum-
mer hotel to a magnificent private
house which he has rented for his
sojourn. There. Hospitality received,
for Abbas Effendi is fond of visitors, 1
had a most interesting interview with
the man whom considerable number
of Americans and Britons, and mil,
lions in Asia, call Master" and hail
as the latest and fullest manifestation
Of the Deity.
A New Religion and Its Martyrs.
The proof of martyrdom has been
abundantly given to Babism, or Beha-
ism. The Bah himself was executed at
Tabriz in 1850, at the age of 81, six
years after he had enunciated his gen.
tie doctrines, and had called himself
The Gate" to knowledge, recalling
the prophecies of the Bible and the
Koran, concerning coming one. In
the bitter prosecutions by the Mos
lens that ensued, the followers of the
Bah met death finely. There were few
recantations, and in single year the
number Of martyrdoms amounted to
as many as 10000.
Two years after the death of the
Bah, a group Of leaders fled to Bagdad,
among them Mira Hassyn All, whom
the Bah had called "Beha Ullah," "The
Glory of God" He spent two years in
the mountains In seclusion and medi-
tation. After time he announced to
n few of his closest friends, that he
HSas the Manifestation" of whom the
eAab had been the forerunner. In
%.S63 the Bagdad Babists were sent
into exile at Adrianople. Five years
later Beha, who had come to be gen
orally accepted by Babists as the
Messiah (although not without rivals),
who thenceforth called themselves
''Behaists," was sent into confinement
at Aka, few miles north of Haifa,
where ne produced many writings, and
died in 1892. He was succeeded by
his scn, Abbas Effendi, who is called
by Bahists "Our Master" and Our
Lord" He, too, has had rivals-and
the contentious of aspirants for the
leadership has been blot on the his
tory of Behaism, but he seems now TO
be generally accepted by nearly all
professors of the faith. His Tablets"
or messages. are regularly read in the
meetings of the faithful.
A Picturesque Personality.
The essence of Behaism Is the doc
trine that messengers, or manifesto
tions, Of God, are sent whenever the
voice of their predecessor becomes OBJ
scured These "Messiahs" are fire.
quently given as Moses, Zoroaster.
Buddha, Christ, 'Mahomet, and the
founders Of the Behai faith. OF the
Behai manifestations, the last is the
fullest revelation Of all. So read in
the book upon Behaism which finds
most favor with the leaders of the
cult OF course this doctrine makes
Abbas Effendi the greatest of all the
prophets and incarnations Of God; is
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