New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-04-12
PERSIAN PROPHET HERE
Abdul Bahia AbbaS Comes to
Preach Universal Peace.

1 ABDUL bdha ADDaS, Persian prophet or
worldwide peace and brotherliness, whose
followers. it is said, now number 0C00. 00o.
/ arrived here yesterday aboard the White
star liner Cedric on his first visit to Amer
/ lea. Already he has a goodly following in
| the United States. being met at the pier
/ by forty prosperous looking men and woni-
! en-, including Mountford Mills and Arthur
! Pillsbury Dodge. lawyers. and Mrs. ". II.
! Beede, Of No. 412 West 115th street II was
! Mrs. Beede who predicted that the arrival
Of the Servant Of God" would become
notable as zone OF the greatest days I'm all
| history"
The prophet Of the Bahais win be seventy
eight years old on May %. He wears long
! iron gray beard, A white turban from which
his gray hair descends 70 his shoulders ami
! flowing Eastern garments which make him
! look taller than he really is. With him
| travelled his nephew. Or. Ameer Dared,
and two other disciples. Said Assadulah
and Effendi Shoghi
! "I am here" Abdul BAHIA said in his gen
! tie foreign English. ito unity the religions
| Of the world. to talk in the interests of uni
verSal peace. have no creed 20 preach. no
doctrines to PROFOUND. My word Is the
word Of love"
And a. a part Of his programme for uni
versal peace and good will he favors n UNI
versal language and woman suffrage, saying
on the latter subject:
/ I'm Persia, where women's faces arc
never seen save by their nearest relatives,
the women played heroic part in the early
days of the Bahai movement, urging the
husbands and sons on TO martyrdom and
]
suffragette is nghting FOR what must be-
and many of them are willing martyrs 20
/ Imprisonment for their cause. one might
not approve the ways OF some Of the moro
militant suffragettes. but in the end all this
will adjust itself If women obtained the
/ same advantages as men. their capacity
/ being the same, the result would be the
same.
The future generation depends on the
mothers Of to-day. Is not this a position
Of vital responsibility? Surely, God does
not wish such an important instrument as
woman to be less perfect than she is able
TO become. Divine justice demands that
I men and women should have equal rights
: There IS no difference between them.
Neither sex Is superior 10 the other In the
/ sight Of God"
On the very day that Abdul BAHIA was
/ born in the city of Teheran. All Mahomet
| began his notable career in another part
( of Persia as the reformer OF Islam, calling
himself the Bah" or gateway Of knowl-
edge, and proclaiming the coming Of a
messenger of God" who would follow
! after him. Among the early followers OF
the Bah. who suffered cruel persecution at
the hands OF the Mahometan authorities,
was Mira Hossein All or Nour, noble
man, whom the Rab named BAHIA o'llah
The Glory OF Cod" This was the father
of Abdul BAHIA. Bahia o'llah. after the
Bab's death. announced himself as the
| Promised One He founded the Bahai
movement, and upon his death bequeathed
the leadership TO his son.
In 1868 BAHIA o'llah and his followers, in
Guiding his family. were banishcd TO the
prison city Of Aka, in Syria. where the
family remained confined until the Young
Turks came into power, when the political
prisoners in Akka we're freed by cable
message At the same time Abdul BAHIA
regained some Of the wealth which had
been taken from his father. lie and his
family removed TO Alexandria, Egypt In
1910. and it Is from Alexandria that tho
prophet comes 10 New York. Except for
brief visits TO London and Paris last year,
this is his first excursion into the Western
! World.
Abdul BAHIA is married and has four
daughters three Of whom are married. HIS
teachings counsel monogsmy and favor the
marriage Of all In the absence OF sons
the leadership which he now exercises viii
at his death be vested in boards elected by
the believers